Today is National Underwear Day, and radio station WWOZ-FM of New Orleans notes the occasion with a terrific video of the city’s Nat’l Underwear Day celebration from 2016:
The New Orleans National Underwear Day Parade rolls again Sunday at 7p, starting and ending at 3610 Toulouse pic.twitter.com/7VoQW2tqk9
— WWOZ 90.7 FM (@wwoz_neworleans) August 5, 2018
It should be observed that underwear unites almost all musical genres. Bela Bartok wore underwear. So did Sarah Vaughan. So did the legendary tango singer Carlos Gardel. I could go on and on. Of course it’s possible (I’m imagining) that some music legends skipped wearing underwear on occasion (see Ludwig von Beethoven and Roland Kirk). But their negligence represents the exception that proves the rule. So Happy National Underwear Day to hybrid highbrowists one and all.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun Times has a moving farewell to retiring music host Carl Grapentine, who served up the drive time classics on station WFMT-FM for 22 years.
“He melded the familiar with the esoteric, offering mini-lectures on the history and origins of the music,” reminisces columnist Laura Washington. “Carl would play a lovely piece, then tell me about it. I would scribble notes. There are scraps of paper about beautiful music are all over my apartment, stuffed in drawers, files, and sofa cushions.”
Chicago is arguably the second most important city in the USA for classical music (New York City is the first). It is where Theodore Thomas established himself as the USA’s first major classical symphony conductor. Thomas also reinvented the idea of classical music in the 1890s, redefining the genre as the “serious” musical form.
That legacy is still with us. Laura Washington praises Grapentine for the accessibility of his broadcasts. “I am no classical music expert,” she writes. “Carl Grapentine made me a classical music lover.” Gilded Age Chicago played a major role in promoting the idea (or at least the feeling) that you had to be an “expert” to enjoy classical music. I’m not sure that that’s a bragging point, but it is a historical fact.
Grapentine will be replaced by Dennis Moore on Monday. Hopefully Mr. Moore will continue to rescue listeners from the delusion that they have to possess some kind of expertise to love Debussy.
