You're listening to FM 91.1, serving southeastern Idaho's public radio needs for over five years. This is KISC Pocatello. The clock has started. Here's the theme.
[theme: Mozart, Symphony No. 24]
Hello there, I'm Peter Schickele, and this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good. And speaking of good, our bills are paid by the good sports at this radio station and the program is distributed to the various franchises by PRI, Public Radio International.
[music: Waring/Walker/Ford/Moore/Bralower/Walker/Bedeau/Charles/Clark/George/George, "Basketball" (Basketball’s Greatest Hits); Kurtis Blow]
Hey, basketball. I love basketball. That's true. No, I've been to a basketball game. I mean a pro basketball game. My daughter took me a few years ago. And I've been to a baseball game. And a football game. In fact, I think I've been to two football games in my life. I'm still talking pro here, I'm not talking about when I played bassoon in the Fargo Central High Marching Band at halftime. And actually, you know, I never went out for teams or anything, but I played a lot of vacant lot softball when I was a kid, and even as a teenager, when I was practicing piano and bassoon every day, I often found time to go out and join a punishing game of touch football.
But listen, a lot of musicians are real jocks, either as fans or even players. I don't know if it's still true, but there used to be very serious softball at the Aspen Music Festival and School in the summer. There was sort of an unspoken rule that a pitcher, for instance, might not try to snag a sizzling line drive that whistled by him, and he wouldn't worry about it, since all his teammates knew that you need all ten fingers to play the Brahms piano concertos.
When I first met Itzhak Perlman, all he talked about was basketball. And I was at a Juilliard alumni dinner once, I was at a table with the president, Joseph Polisi and his wife, and some of the others, where it was a long time ago, but Itzhak Perlman and a famous Metropolitan Opera baritone, and I don't remember who else. Anyway, at one point, Mrs. Polisi and I just sort of looked at each other. We were the only people there who couldn't talk sports.
I mean, the rest of them weren't just saying, hey, how about those Mets? They were talking about, hey, they're crazy. They're trading pitchers. They can't do that. They don't have the depth. The singer said he'd just gotten off the phone with Dave Winfield, and believe me, he's just as upset about his injury as everybody else. Anyway, welcome to the show.
Grab a six-pack, take off your shirt or your blouse, and hunker down for an hour of jocular banter. A little play on words there, jocular, get it? Okay, everybody, it's a call-in show today. If you want to shoot your mouth off about something, let's hear from you. Give us a call at 1-900-273-9754. That's 1-900-BREWSKI, and we'll put up with you for a few seconds at least.
But before I take any calls, you know, I listen to a lot of stuff to prepare these shows, and every once in a while I hear something that, well, that makes me say, whoa, wait a minute here, Peter, you're in the presence of something special.
I heard a song a few days ago, a song of such moving profundity that it made me realize that not only is life a game, that's not a new thought, everybody says that, but that also a game is life. You know what I mean? And I think that when we forget that, we tend to lose sight of just exactly what it is that it is. Life, I mean.
And games, too. Both of them. What they are. It's sort of a Zen thing, really.
Magnificent, sung by either Beth Reynolds, Jeanette Sartain, or Connie Marshall, I can't tell which, on an album called Extraordinary Golf, Songs of a Wonderful Game by Pete and Fred Shoemaker. Definitely a hole-in-one. Okay, let's take a call. Now, as you regular listeners know, I'm usually here all by myself.
But a call-in show sort of needs a producer to, you know, screen the calls and everything. So, Mrs. Mudridge, the receptionist here at the station, is helping me out today. So who's on deck? Mrs. Mudridge, can you hold, can you just slant the card down a little? The light's glaring on it. Okay, we've got Fred on line one. Hi Fred, you're on the air.
Fred (on the phone): Uh, yeah, you know, it's really true, golf really is like the game of life.
How's that?
Fred (on the phone): Well, like the cup is your goal, you know, what you want to achieve in life. And the stroke, see, your swing is how you're going to achieve it, achieve your goal.
So who's your favorite golfer, Fred?
Fred (on the phone): Well, I'd have to say Tiger Woods.
Okay, why Tiger Woods?
Fred (on the phone): Well, it's really because of his name.
Hey, he's a good player, but there are a lot of great golfers out there, and you're picking a guy...
Fred (on the phone): But see, I've always loved tigers, because Corn Flakes is my favorite breakfast cereal.
Corn Flakes.
Fred (on the phone): And, you know, Tony the Tiger, they're gr-r-reat!
Okay.
Fred (on the phone): And then woods. I mean, how neat is that? Having a last name that's, you know, one of the, like, tools of your trade.
I never thought of that. Oh, woods, right.
Fred (on the phone): It's like if you had a tennis player named Rick Rackets, or a bowler named Lucille Ball.
I get it.
Fred (on the phone): Or hey, if Dennis Rodman was a fisherman.
Okay, Fred.
Fred (on the phone): Oh, okay, speaking of basketball, here's a good one. What if Larry had an aristocratic brother who was a duck hunter, and his name was Flip DeBird? Now that would be good.
Okay, thanks, Fred. I think it's time for some more music here. Although, actually, I don't know of an awful lot of music about golf. But I do have a couple of things here. The second one's a song, but the first number in this little suitelet is a solo piano piece. No words. The reason we know it's about golf is because it's called golf. And it's accompanied by a little programmatic note here.
The Colonel is dressed in Scotch tweed of a violent green. He will be victorious. His caddy carries the bags. The clouds are threatening. The holes are all trembling. The Colonel is there. He's going to make his shot. His club bursts into cheers. And let me just add that this first piece was written years before Tea for Two.
[music: Satie, “Sports et divertissements,” “Le Golf”; Aldo Ciccolini]
[music: Shoemaker, "Remember Them All" (Extraordinary Golf)]
Okay, that was Remember Them All from the same album that our very first song came from, Extraordinary Golf, Songs of a Wonderful Game, by Pete and Fred Shoemaker. The label is Teed Off Records. Before that, Aldo Ciccolini played Le Golf, No. 14 of Sports et divertissements by Erik Satie. He spelled his first name, by the way, with a K at the end of it.
I use an R at the end of mine, which is Peter, as in Peter Schickele, the host of Schickele Mix from PRI, Public Radio International. Schickele Mix Sports Radio!
All right, we're talking and we're talking sports. And you know, these days when the salaries that players make are as much a part of the news as the games they play, I'd just like to tell you a nice little story about Erik Satie and that piece, Sports et divertissements, that we just heard part of.
It was written in 1914, and according to a note by Edward Cole here, this set of 21 pieces were composed. It seems to me that should be this set of 21 pieces was composed, but anyway, composed to serve as a musical counterpart to a set of drawings by Charles Martin, and I've seen that book, by the way, it's really beautiful, big oblong book, with the drawings, as I remember, on the left, and each piece by Satie, none of them longer than one page, on the right. And I think I remember that the music had more than one color ink, maybe red and black. Anyway, here's the part of the story I like: Stravinsky originally had been requested to write the music, but his fee was too high. Satie was suggested as an alternate for the task. This time the publishers set the fee beforehand, and it was much lower than Stravinsky's.
Satie replied that he felt it was enormous, far too much for the job, and several weeks of negotiations followed until the publishers lowered to a figure he found acceptable. It's a great story, but I would like to point out, just in case you're thinking of using it as an idealistic commentary on the relationship between commerce and art, I want to point out that most people, myself included, consider Stravinsky by far the greater of the two composers.
So maybe you do get what you pay for. Although it's a terrific piece. But anyway, listen, let's take another call. We've got Bernard on the line. Are you there, Bernard?
Bernard (on the phone): Oui, monsieur, c'est Bernard.
Okay, Bernard, what's on your mind?
Bernard (on the phone): That story you have just now told about Erik Satie, that was very informative, because you see, Stravinsky was not French. He was Russian. Satie, he was French. And the French, they do not care about money. They never think about it.
Bernard (on the phone): Unlike, by the way, you Americans who think about nothing else. You think about money all the time. That's all you ever think about. Money, money, money, money, money.
Well, you know, Bernard. You know, Bernard, there are times when I actually think you're right, but I don't know that much about France.
Bernard (on the phone): No, no, it's really true. I'm telling you, you couldn't pay me enough to move to America, but you know, I must admit that I do love the sport, the American pastime national, the ball.
You mean baseball.
Bernard (on the phone): Bien sûr, that's what I have said, the ball, the ball. And I am hoping that you would play my favorite song of the ball, the ball, the Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Do you know this song?
I've heard of it, yeah.
Bernard (on the phone): Well, it is so charmant.
Well, I'm glad you like baseball, and au revoir, Bernard. But I'm not going to do that particular song. I've got some things that are a little bit more out of the way. Our "buzz-a-buzz" [baseball, in a French accent] suite has three numbers, and the first is part of an opera about baseball called The Mighty Casey. This excerpt is from the middle of the opera. We'll hear the crowd in the stands, and then the pitcher and the catcher of the opposing team conferring.
The second number is another solo piano piece. It's called Some Southpaw Pitching. Maybe the title explains the sometimes fierce activity in the left hand. Then the last number is a vocal one again, this time from a musical. We'll call this suite Three Base Hits. And don't go away, sports fans. I'll be back in about 11 minutes.
[music excerpt: Schuman, "The Mighty Casey"; Rosalind Rees/Thomas/Bogdan/Richard Muenz/The Gregg Smith Singers/Adirondack Chamber Orchestra/Smith]
[music: Ives, "Some Southpaw Pitching"; Alan Mandel]
[music: Adler/Ross, "Six Months Out of Every Year" (“Damn Yankees” Original Soundtrack Recording)]
Three Base Hits. One by William Schuman, one by Charles Ives, and one by Adler and Ross. The excerpt from Schuman's one-act opera, The Mighty Casey, was performed by Gregg Smith, conducting the Adirondack Chamber Orchestra and either the Long Island Symphonic Chorale Association or the Gregg Smith Singers, or maybe both. The catcher was Richard Muenz.
Alan Mandel played Some Southpaw Pitching by Ives, who as a student, by the way, played on the Yale baseball team. And finally, Six Months Out of Every Year from Damn Yankees, with Shannon Bolin and Robert Shafer. That's from the soundtrack of the movie version. And now it's Tidbit Time here on Schickele Mix Sports Radio. And I'll come right out and say it. I'm looking for a little help here, folks.
Our tidbit today is based on [sung: a short tune].
and I heard recently somewhere that that snippet has something to do with baseball, but I don't know what. I myself associated with some of the old Spike Jones recordings, but I've never known what it came from. So if anybody out there has a clue... All right, we've got a caller. Uh, Mrs. Mudridge, excuse me, folks, our station receptionist is helping me out today, being my call-in coordinator.
We've got this TV monitor set up with a camera in the lobby. Mrs. Mudridge, you have to hold the card up higher. It's behind the ficus tree. Okay, that's good. Denny! Denny is on line one. You're on the air, Denny. How you doing?
Denny (on the phone): Listen, that thing you sang is from a baseball song, and the words are "Over the fence is out,
boys!" Hey, well, thank you very much. You know, I've always wondered about...
Denny (on the phone): It's a baseball song. And I wrote it.
Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean, you wrote it? The piece I'm about to play, which is based on that song, was written in the 19th century.
Denny (on the phone): I don't care. You play it, you pay me royalties.
I don't believe this. There's no way that-
Denny (on the phone): Hey, listen, pal. You play, you pay.
Eh, wrong, Buster. I'm not gonna-
Denny (on the phone): Don't [bleep] me, you [bleep] classical music [bleep].
Hey, now-
Denny (on the phone): Money makes the [bleep] world go round. You don't [bleep] like it, you can [bleep] yourself. But you're not gonna [bleep] me, you [bleep] café latte drinking [bleep]. You [bleep] me and you'll [bleep] wish you [bleep] never [bleep]. [bleep]
I'll tell you what, I'm not hearing any more of what you're saying, you bellicose bum. Man. Hey, I gotta hand it to you, Mrs. Mudridge. You were really on top of it there with the cuss-canceller. I've never seen such virtuoso bleeping. Whew. What's that? Hold it up. Bernard is on line one? Oh, all right. You're on the air, Bernard.
Bernard (on the phone): You see, I told you so. Money, money, money.
Thanks a lot, Bernard. Give me a call if you ever get low on euros. I might be able to tide you over. Okay, let's do our tidbit, come what may. This is by John Knowles Paine, a 19th century American composer, and it's based on "Over the Fence Is Out, Boys!" But it's not your standard song setting.
Malcolm Frager, playing the Fuga giocosa by John Knowles Paine, who taught at Harvard and was one of the first American composers to achieve distinction. In this case, I think we could translate fuga giocosa as jocular fugue, with jocular being spelled with a C-K, just as Schickele is in Peter Schickele, host of Schickele Mix, from PRI, Public Radio International.
Schickele Mix Sports Radio!
Yes sir, we're walking the walk and we're talking the talk. Schickele Mix Sports Radio. And who are we talking with? You, that's who. The number is 1-900-273-9754. That's 1-900-BREWSKI. And okay, I see we've got Steve on line one. Steve, what's up?
Steve (on the phone): Hi, Pete. Yeah. You know, you were talking about the players' salaries getting out of hand and everything.
Yeah.
Steve (on the phone): And I've got this plan about how to handle the whole thing, you know, about how big they are and everything.
Okay, Steve, what's your plan?
Steve (on the phone): Well, it ought to be like waiters.
Like waiters?
Steve (on the phone): Well, I mean, like, a basketball player should receive a basic salary. And on top of that, he would get maybe $1,000 a point in addition. So the better he played, the more he's paid.
Yeah, but Steve, it's built in the way basketball teams are set up that not all players have equal opportunities to make shots, you know?
Steve (on the phone): Yeah, yeah. Well, they could pool, you know, like waiters and waitresses in some restaurants pool their tips. They could pool the point money. You know, it's all about having some kind of correlation between the juice and the job. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Steve (on the phone): I read that one of the cast members of that movie, There's Something About Mary, got a basic fee plus a percentage of the gross.
And we are talking about gross there. Okay, Steve, good to talk to you. You keep working on your, your very practical plan there. And meanwhile, let's hear some basketball songs, three to be exact, and the first one is specifically aimed at people like Steve who think players make too much money. This suite is called Dribble On Down the Road, and I'll be back in about 11 minutes.
[music: Barnes/Claude-oliver/Carter/Hamilton/O'neal, "No Love Lost" (You Can’t Stop the Reign); Shaquille O'Neal]
[music: Sedaka/Greenfield, "Meadowlark" (Basketball’s Greatest Hits); The Globetrotters]
[music: Babe the Blue Ox/Thomas, "Basketball" (The Way We Were); Babe the Blue Ox]
Dribble on down the road. We started with Shaquille O'Neal and No Love Lost. Then came Meadowlark sung by the Harlem Globetrotters. I've always wanted to see them live. Their act is real vaudeville, and I love it. And we ended with Babe the Blue Ox doing Basketball. And uh, okay. I've got to put my cards on the table here. Truth in advertising.
Because it's a good song, but aside from that, I had to play that song. Because the people mentioned at the top of the song, here, let me just cue up that opening
[music excerpt: Babe the Blue Ox/Thomas, "Basketball" (The Way We Were), opening (again); Babe the Blue Ox]
Well, that's my kids they're talking about there. Yeah. Yeah. They've known Tim and Hanna and Rosalie for years and play basketball with them. And hey, I am so proud of my kids, you know, they've grown up so great, and they're both involved in music, and they really rock, but they're really nice too, you know what I mean? And what's that, Mrs. Mudridge? Karla's on line one? Hey, Karla.
Karla (on the phone): Dad!
Okay, okay, I'll shut up. Let's take it on out here. This is something a little different. Another example of program music in which I don't think anybody could guess what it's about just hearing the music. But when you know that the piece is called Fencing School, you see that the composer was inspired by the subject to write things he might not otherwise have come up with. Here's the European Community Baroque Orchestra under Monica Huggett performing Fencing School by the 17th century composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer.
[music excerpt: Schmelzer, "Fechtschule (Fencing School)"; The European Community Baroque Orchestra/Huggett]
The Fencing School by Schmelzer. And okay, our clock is running out here. So listen folks, thanks for dropping in to Schickele Mix Sports Radio!
And remember it ain't over till it's over. We're going to go out with Charlie Chaplin's music for the boxing match scene from City Lights. Great scene, great movie. Played by Carl Davis and the City Lights Orchestra. Chaplin obviously feels a connection between boxing and bullfighting.
[music excerpt: Chaplin, “City Lights,” “The Boxing Match”; The City Lights Orchestra/Davis]
And that's Schickele Mix for this week. Our program is made possible with funds provided by this radio station and its members. Thank you, members. And not only that, our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International. We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program with album numbers and everything. Just refer to the program number. This is program number 164.
And this is Peter Schickele saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. You're looking good. See you next week.
[music excerpt: Chaplin, “City Lights,” “The Boxing Match”; The City Lights Orchestra/Davis]
If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Schickele Mix, that's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Schickele Mix, care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, MN 55403.