Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Father’s Day

Prodigal Son Ballet Father’s Day

Nothing is guaranteed to get Dad out on the dance floor faster than ballet music inspired by the Prodigal Son.

As related in the Gospel of Luke, a young wastrel burns through his family fortune, then returns home to the arms of a forgiving father. The son’s elder, more responsible brother is none too pleased, but the father explains that since the younger son has repented and returned, as if from the dead – in essence, was lost, and is now found – it is cause for celebration.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” it’s an off-center Father’s Day tribute, as we listen to ballet music inspired by the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

We’ll hear a late, folk-inspired score by the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén, staged in honor of his 85th birthday in 1957, and Sergei Prokofiev’s alternately pungent and transcendentally lyrical opus, written for the Ballets Russes in 1928. The latter was developed simultaneously with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4 and shares much of the same thematic material.

Father knows best. Celebrate the Day of the Dad with “Son Dance,” ballet music inspired by the Prodigal Son, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 20, 2021
Father’s Day Sports Music on The Lost Chord

Happy Father’s Day! This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we pay tribute to Dad, with an hour of music about sports.

I realize it’s a possibility that not all dads necessarily like sports. However, it’s been my experience that Sunday afternoons and Monday nights have always been off-limits, as far as the family television is concerned. For me personally, that meant that after Abbott and Costello or the Bowery Boys, it was football, golf, or “Wide World of Sports,” and that I never saw “MAS*H” during its first run.

Be that as it may, it’s Dad’s day, so we’re going to give him what he wants – an hour of rough-and-tumble, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.

We’ll hear “Rugby” by Arthur Honegger, “Half-Time” by Bohuslav Martinu,” “The Yale-Princeton Football Game” by Charles Ives, and highlights from the baseball opera “The Mighty Casey” by William Schuman.

Combine with a La-Z-Boy and a cold beer, and it’s a recipe for dad contentment. I hope you’ll join me for “Good Sports,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 21, 2020
Father’s Day Graduation Crossword Puzzle

‘Tis the season for ties and diplomas!

There’s much to celebrate, as Father’s Day meets graduation season in this week’s Classic Ross Amico crossword.

To fill out the puzzle, follow the link and select “solve online” at the bottom of the page. You’ll then be able to type directly into the squares. Once you feel you’ve exhausted the puzzle, you’ll find the solutions by clicking on “Answer Key PDF.”

Honor our dads and grads here:

https://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2020.06/2106/21064957.169.html

June 21, 2020
Movie Dads Father’s Day Special on WWFM

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we anticipate Father’s Day with an hour of music celebrating movie dads.

Vito Corleone may not exactly have been a model father, though he did adhere to a particular code of ethics. Besides, what father doesn’t love “The Godfather” (1972)? “The Godfather” was recognized with 11 Academy Award nominations – of which it won three, including Best Picture. However, the awards were not without controversy.

Of course, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony to decline his Oscar, in protest over Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in television and film. Then there was the matter of the score, by Nino Rota. Rota was nominated, but the nomination was withdrawn when it was discovered that he had used one of the themes in a 1958 film called “Fortunella,” which starred Giulietta Masina and Alberto Sordi. In the end, the Academy turned around and gave Rota the award anyway, two years later, for “The Godfather Part II.”

“Field of Dreams” (1989) is one of those rare films that has the ability to reduce manly men – even those without father issues – to a pool of tears. Phil Alden Robinson’s superior adaptation of W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe,” is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption, and a new understanding of his father, in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland. And it’s all brought about courtesy of America’s pastime, baseball. The evocative score is by James Horner, who rides on the shoulders of Aaron Copland. The composer seems particularly smitten with Copland’s “Our Town.”

William Powell plays Clarence Day, the irascible paterfamilias of an upper class family of redheads, in the comedy “Life with Father” (1947), for which Max Steiner wrote the music.

And Gregory Peck plays one of his most memorable roles as defense attorney – and model father – Atticus Finch, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), based on Harper Lee’s beautiful “coming of age” novel. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor a year later. The score is one of the best-loved of Elmer Bernstein.

You can try to rank the music, but Father’s Day generally yields a tie. (Yes, it’s a pun. Dads love puns.) Spare a thought for dear old Dad, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 19, 2020
Meteor Disaster Avoided! Father’s Day Music

Wait? John Williams was supposed to write the music for “Meteor?” Well, I suppose it makes sense, following on his association with “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Earthquake,” and “The Towering Inferno.” Thankfully, this was one disaster he was able to avoid.

Share that sense of relief, as we enter the weekend with another Classic Ross Amico double-feature.

First, it’s all about Father’s Day – with music from “The Godfather” (Nino Rota), “Field of Dreams” (James Horner), “Life with Father” (Max Steiner), and “To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein) – on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, at 6 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Then Roy Bjellquist and I will take on The Mother of All Asteroids, as we dissect “Meteor,” on the Facebook live-stream “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner” at 7.

https://www.facebook.com/roytiediescificorner/

Getting ready to rock your world (literally). Mom and Dad would be so proud.

June 19, 2020

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