Pittsburgh's illustrious musical history (McKeesport, Aliquippa: for sale, home, hot)

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Yeah, let's obfuscate with a music thread while the right takes away things like democracy, separation of church and state, a woman's control over her body, etc.

dont we already have other threads about democracy, church/state integration and enslavement of women?


that should keep you busy.


ps: get the vaccination?

[Burghophilia]

Can we toss in Stephen Foster, or has he been canceled?

And lost to history, but I understand there was a colonial soldier stationed at Fort Pitt that was a virtuoso fife player, and also lost to history is the name of a native who could lay down some "sick" drumbeats.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

Originally Posted by Burghophilia

Can we toss in Stephen Foster, or has he been canceled?

And lost to history, but I understand there was a colonial soldier stationed at Fort Pitt that was a virtuoso fife player, and also lost to history is the name of a native who could lay down some "sick" drumbeats.

Stephen Foster was a straight-up musical genius - he basically invented popular music as we know it

The Father of American Music

https://sites.google.com/site/pittsb...stephen-foster

“A melodic genius with tender, sympathetic lyrics and infectious rhythm, Stephen Foster is often credited as "America's First Composer" and widely regarded as one of the first who made professional songwriting profitable. Fosters' songs were the first genuinely American in theme, characterizing love of home, American temperament, river life and work, politics, battlefields, slavery and plantation life.” – Song Writer’s Hall of Fame

Birth in Lawrenceville

"Stephen Collins Foster was born on July 4th 1826 in a white cottage on a hill above the Allegheny River on his family’s 171 acre estate in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, Pa. The ninth child of William Barclay and Eliza T. Foster's ten children, little Stephen became the baby of the family after his youngest brother died as an infant. The Fosters were a socially and politically prominent Pittsburgh family. Stephen’s grandfather James Foster, who came to Pittsburgh in 1796 when it was a small frontier settlement with 1,300 residents, was a prosperous land owner and a founder of Washington-Jefferson College. His father William Barcley Foster held several government posts including three terms in the Pennsylvania State Legislature and two terms as the Mayor of Allegheny City. After a series of financial set backs the Fosters lost their Lawrenceville property and to moved to Alleghany City on Pittsburgh’s north side in 1832."

https://issuu.com/berkeleyrep/docs/program-ps/s/39142

"Stephen Foster fundamentally shaped the American music canon in the late 1800s and forward, penning songs that reached the masses. He built the foundation of American popular music as a genre; his songs reached larger audiences than any composer ever had before, and his melodies endured long after his death."

The Lyrics And Legacy Of Stephen Foster

https://www.npr.org/2010/04/16/12603...stephen-foster

"I think that Stephen Foster really did create popular music as we still recognize it today, and he did it because he took together all these strands of the American experience," Emerson said. "And he consciously or -- it was hard to talk about the degree of consciousness -- but he clearly, effectively merged [other ethnic genres] into a single music. And I think he merged them in a way that appeals to the multicultural mongrel experience of America in its history and culture."

[Reggiezz]

How about Gene Kelly? Not a great singer. Great dancer.

Kelly was born in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He was the third son of James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and his wife, Harriet Catherine Curran. His father was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Irish Canadian family. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry, Ireland, and his maternal grandmother was of German ancestry. When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes. As Kelly recalled, they both rebelled: "We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies ... I didn't dance again until I was 15." At one time, his childhood dream was to play shortstop for the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates.

By the time he decided to dance, he was an accomplished sportsman and able to defend himself. He attended St. Raphael Elementary School in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh and graduated from Peabody High School at age 16. He entered the Pennsylvania State College as a journalism major, but after the 1929 crash, he left school and found work in order to help his family financially. He created dance routines with his younger brother Fred to earn prize money in local talent contests. They also performed in local nightclubs.

In 1931, Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics, joining the Theta Kappa Phi fraternity (later known as Phi Kappa Theta after merging with Phi Kappa). He became involved in the university's Cap and Gown Club, which staged original musical productions. After graduating in 1933, he continued to be active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as the director from 1934 to 1938. Kelly was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Law School.

His family opened a dance studio in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, they renamed it the Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance and opened a second location in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1933. Kelly served as a teacher at the studio during his undergraduate and law-student years at Pitt. In 1931, he was approached by the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Pittsburgh to teach dance, and to stage the annual Kermesse. The venture proved a success, Kelly being retained for seven years until his departure for New York.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Yeah, let's obfuscate with a music thread while the right takes away things like democracy, separation of church and state, a woman's control over her body, etc.

haters gonna hate

[Reggiezz]

If you've never watched "An American in Paris", you should check it out. Gerschwin never falters nor does Gene Kelly.

[svband76]

Thanks Reggiezz. Good suggestions.

Let's talk vocalists. Crooners, perhaps.

Perry Como is one of my favorites. Underrated and much better than Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Born in Canonsburg. I think about him every trip to Sarris for chocolate or ice cream/

Then you have The Polish Prince, Bobby Vinton. Mr. Blue Velvet and Melody of Love. Still alive in his 80s.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by BUILD PENN SQUARE

haters gonna hate

Bingo…interesting how there wasn’t any complaining about threads when they were clamoring for vaccine mandates

[USC1986]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Yeah, let's obfuscate with a music thread while the right takes away things like democracy, separation of church and state, a woman's control over her body, etc.

More ludicrous twaddle, and irrelevant to boot.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...) Emerson.

[USC1986]

Some major jazz artists: Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, Billy Strayhorn, Stanley Turrentine,
Some pop singers: Billy Eckstine, Shirley Jones from Smithton.
Classical pianist: Earl Wild, from McKeesport I think.