Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Radio

Ross Amico’s Mother’s Day Radio Magic

Once upon a time (today), Classic Ross Amico beat the alarm on Mother’s Day. He drank some caffeine, took a quick shower, and double-checked his radio bag, just to be sure it was still full of music inspired by nursery rhymes and fairy tales and bedtime stories he recollected from childhood. So much nostalgia and security was contained in that bag that he had to try very hard to resist falling back to sleep.

In fatigue and despair, he cried out to his fairy godmother, “O Fairy Godmother! Why must I get up so early on Sundays, when other, more sensible mortals get to sleep in on their days off?” Then he glanced in the bathroom mirror and noticed that he had been transformed into a raccoon.

So he traded the family cow for some magic coffee beans at the House of Wawa and set off for Princeton University’s Bloomberg Hall. There he found the equipment left in disarray by DJ Bluebeard, who had evidently been cavorting with the Bridge Trolls. It was with some frustration and embarrassment that he began his carefully prepared air shift, since the condition of the studio directly impacted the playing of both underwriting and music, until he reconnected the machinery and located the station log, which is often the first quest of the morning. But when at last he played his first selection, the good people of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and more distant lands awoke delighted from their enchanted sleep, and were refreshed by the Raccoon-Man’s noble sacrifice.

The Fairy Godmother smiled and waved her magic wand, and after spending the rest of Sunday in a fog, Classic Ross Amico awoke as if from an enchanted sleep to discover that it was Monday, and time to go back to work.

Not all the nursing takes place in the nursery on Mother’s Day. I’ll call for my pipe, I’ll call for my bowl, and I’ll call for my fiddles three, from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. You’ll find me living still, if I am not yet dead, on Classic Ross Amico.

May 13, 2018
WPRB’s Walpurgis Night Pledge Drive

You don’t have to sell your soul for great music, but we sure would appreciate your support.

This Sunday morning on WPRB, I’ll be tossing my pointy hat into the ring – or pentagram, as the case may be – in an attempt to elicit your contributions, on the eve of Walpurgis Night. Walpurgis Night, the night before the feast day St. Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. There’s a memorable scene in Goethe’s “Faust,” with witches gathered for an orgy of the damned on the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains. So don’t be surprised if there is a fair amount of witchery – and Goethe – reflected in my musical selections.

Walpurgis Night also happens to be the eve of May Day. We’ll temper the horror with equally pagan cavortings around the May Pole, replete with mummers, hobby horses, and musical depictions of Robin and Marian. And, as if that weren’t enough, Sunday is also a full moon, so get ready for a cosmic convergence of lunatic proportions. Tobias Robison of “Masterclassics” (heard Tuesday mornings on WPRB) will be my sorcerer’s apprentice, as we venture to conjure your pledges.

Remember that WPRB is independently owned and operated. The station relies on listener support for the bulk of its operating budget. When you make a financial commitment to WPRB, you not only support off-the-beaten-path classical music, you provide a variegated platform for stimulating programming in all genres, with on-air hosts fully engaged in putting together their own playlists and sharing the music they love. This makes for a uniquely rewarding radio experience.

For the convenience of true believers everywhere (to say nothing of its staff), WPRB is adding a sustaining member option. For as low as $10 a month, you can make an ongoing commitment to the station by way of an automatic charge to your credit card. The commitment can be for whatever amount you decide, but $10 a month is the minimum. The donation will continue, in perpetuity, until you tell us to stop, which you may do at any time by emailing cancel@wprb.com. It’s that easy.

A sustaining membership means you’ll never have to renew, and that WPRB can save time, paper, and postage on not having to remind you. Think about all that lost revenue at the end of a year, as memberships lapse. It could be weeks before the station secures a renewal. I mean, you’re going to renew anyway, right? The hassle is eliminated with a sustaining membership.

WPRB has until May 4 to acquire 1000 unique pledges. Anyone who donates tomorrow morning between 7 and 10 EDT will be eligible for one of three prize drawings (one per hour), which could make you the winner of a fistful of lovingly curated CDs. That’s above and beyond any of the other loot to which you’re entitled for the amount of your pledge. Call 609-258-1033 or visit pledge.wprb.com.

Toby and I will be raising hell and dancing around the maypole, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Thank you for your ongoing support of Classic Ross Amico.

Luis Ricardo Falero, “Departure of the Witches” (a.k.a. “Witches Going to their Sabbath,”1878)

April 28, 2018
Earth Day Classical Music on WPRB 103.3 FM

People of Earth!

We convene this Sunday morning on WPRB for much marvelous music inspired by our wondrous world, a collection of captivating classical creations calculated to corral our consciousness, pieces to prod our promise as protectors and preservationists as precursor to properly ‘ppreciating our precious planet.

Surf’s up for Earth Day, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Attend the astral airwaves with Classic Ross Amico.

Alluding to the alliterative artistry of Stan “The Man” Lee, illuminatingly illustrated by the illustrious Jack “King” Kirby. Excelsior!

April 22, 2018
Rediscovering Lost Incidental Music

The play’s the thing – not only to uncover the conscience of the king, but to inspire music from untold composers down the ages. We refer to this kind of music, somewhat belittlingly, as “incidental.”

No doubt, there are instances of incidental music having entered the standard concert repertoire – Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt,” Georges Bizet’s “L’Arlésienne,” Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – but so much more numerous are those that have suffered from neglect. Generally speaking, even under the best circumstances, the music is distilled into concert suites, offering but a few numbers, while some excellent work by some very fine composers goes unheard.

This Sunday morning on WPRB, we’ll listen to incidental music by composers both well-known and perhaps not-quite-so, and marvel at the ingenuity on display, as acts are bridged and scenes are set in flourishes that last no more than a few moments.

The highlight of the morning will be a complete performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Wasps,” written for a 1909 Cambridge University production of Aristophanes’ satire. Vaughan Williams re-arranged parts of the music to create a five-movement concert suite – the overture is especially well-known – but the complete, original, 80-minute score had faded from memory until this 2005 world premiere recording. The whole is held together by judicious narration and a pinch of salty dialogue.

Join me for these unstung pleasures. We offer them incidentally, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Needless to say, it will all be very “playful,” on Classic Ross Amico.

February 24, 2018
The Bell Tolls Remembering 2017 Losses

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

– John Donne

Remembering those we lost in 2017, until 11:00 a.m. EST on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.

December 28, 2017

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