Today is the first day of the semester at Carolina Shout Podcast University. Experience a brief freshman orientation and jump right into Ragtime 101 with Professor Ethan. According to the syllabus, today's topics will include the Maple Leaf Rag, St Louis Blues, and more. Our sponsor is Bernard's Dehydrated Water. Tuition is free so you might as well enroll!
Vocalist Laura Windley opens the show with a number fresher than Starkist tuna. Ethan plays a polka written for a Civil War Sanitary Fair, and he explains what a Sanitary Fair is (no, it is not a soap circus). Then Ethan puts together a complicated Piano Puzzle, sings a song about a spunky country girl named Neuralgia and, finally, presents an epic narrative ballad about a couple who fall in love, get married, have children, and die - without ever leaving the confines of JC Penney.
Ethan puts together a train-themed episode. First he sings a song that rhymes just about every train line from the Cotton Belt to the Wabash Cannonball. Then he plays a Scott Joplin march about a massive train collision. After that, Ethan reveals his true nature as a hardened criminal. He takes out his revolver, puts a bandana over his face and holds up a train. Finally Ethan plays a WC Handy number about the Ole Miss - fastest train out of Memphis.
This episode begins with Gina Marie singing "Squeeze Me." Then, Ethan reads an email from Gina about her adventures in Europe, which leads to an expensive musical gondola ride. Raw Press, our sponsor for the episode, requests Ethan to sing about juice, which he does. Ethan then plays a song about opium smoking (Limehouse Blues) and ends the episode with some Scott Joplin and some semi-investigative journalism about the all-powerful pineapple industry.
Ethan presents a program of puzzle songs from the 1920s and 30s with insights provided by special guest Will Shortz, editor of the NY Times Crossword. Vocalists Doug Bowles and Gina Marie sing "Cross Word Mama You Puzzle Me (But Papa's Gonna Figure You Out)," "Cross Words Between My Sweetie and Me," and more. Ethan also presents the first known recording of an Argentinian crossword song that loosely translates to the "Horizontal Tango."
Vocalist Anna Cecilia swings by the podcast studio and regales us with a few scorching hot jazz numbers. And for the first time in Carolina Shout history, we have a live studio audience (of 4 people). HIGHLIGHTS: Anna Cecilia singing My Baby Just Cares For Me, Old Fashioned Love, and Dear Old Stockholm - in Swedish! LOWLIGHTS: Ethan croons an original song about shopping at Ikea.
Ethan has fun with the music of Frederic Francois Chopin. He plays some hit songs of yore that were based on Chopin's melodies, and of course, Ethan makes his own hot Chopin arrangements as well, including a romping C# Minor Waltz and a Prelude played in the styles of Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton. Finally he ends the show with Joseph Lamb's Ragtime Nightingale, which drew inspiration from the Revolutionary Etude.
Chicago jazz vocalist Gina Marie DeGregorio drops in to sing a few tunes with Ethan. Their chit-chat topics range from middle school jazz band repertoire to where/when you can get half-price martinis. Songs included are "Exactly Like You," "Love Me or Leave Me," "I Like Pie, I like Cake" and more.
In this episode, sponsored by Unicorn Drops, Ethan opens up the show with a short "Carolina in the Morning." He then introduces the episode's theme: Madame Butterfly (you know, the opera by Puccini). Then he plays a jazzy "Cho-Cho San" which is a fox-trot based on Madame Butterfly themes. Opera singer Melinda Whittington drops in for "Poor Butterfly" and its not-so-feminist sequel, "Poor Little Butterfly is a Fly Girl Now."
In this episode, Ethan pays his income tax and sings a song about it. Then he digs up an obscure Irving Berlin tune about an immigrant facing deportation. Finally, Ethan opens up the phone lines, and to his utter dismay, gets a robocall. He responds the only way he knows how - by playing some syncopated piano music about robots.
On this April 1st episode, Ethan plays Gershwin's only cowboy song, and then transforms "I Love a Piano" into "I Love to Podcast." After a discussion of Dorsey boogie confusion, Ethan plays "Jimmy Dorsey's Boogie" and then an obscure rag by a composer who ate flowers. Upon realizing the podcast studio doors are unlocked, Ethan is rudely interrupted by his 7-year son, who sings a song about jaguars and hijacks the podcast. Our new host informs us that Ethan has been fired. Is this the end of the Carolina Shout?
As a prelude to Fat Tuesday debauchery, brother Ethan finds religion and plays a hymn. Then he plays the Tiger Rag and tells the story behind it, which involves shocking accusations of Russian espionage. Finally, Ethan learns what it means to miss New Orleans when he rides a unicycle down memory lane. Lots of old school New Orleans piano-playin' in this episode - don't miss it!
Ethan has fun with a couple WWI songs. First he clones an army of Ethans to whistle Col. Bogey's March, and then he takes the listener to HELL for a live duet sung by the Devil and his son. Finally, Ethan embraces his inner drill sergeant and urges his listeners, through song, to sign up for the Merchant Marines.
Prima donna Lady Melinda Whittington joins Ethan for an anglo-inspired Downton Abbey-themed program. Put on your lorgnette as Lady Whittington warbles one of the smash hits from London's hit 1916 musical: Chu Chin Chow. Then, take off your dinner jacket and enjoy some low-falutin American jazz. And be sure to stick around for the grand finale: Ethan and Melinda assume the roles of Lady Edith and Lady Mary, engaging in a rhyming musical insult-fest that would titillate the dowager countess to no end.
Ethan opens up the mailbag and fields some interesting piano questions from a listener. This leads him to play "The Entertainer" and then some fancy Harlem-style fingerwork. Will Ethan's digits get all tied up in knots, like spaghetti twined around a battery-operated self-twirling spaghetti fork? Listen to find out!
Wearing sweatpants and nursing an acute hangover, Ethan sings his 2017 New Year's resolutions. Then he plays a strenuous duet with Abby the Spoon Lady. Finally, an airline pilot bursts into Ethan's home with an emergency ragtime question pertaining to a Memphis hotel-bathroom blues.
For the final episode of the season, Ethan relishes the opportunity to open up the phone lines. To his surprise, the world's foremost authority on pickles calls in. Then Ethan reflects on the song that helped him make Romanian friends, and then finally, we celebrate the first Cubs championship since the ragtime era.
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Special guest Dr. Kendra Preston-Leonard talks about the Silent Film Sound and Music Archive and we hear Ethan play music from the silent movies. We wrap things up by forming a human pyramid while we listen to Ethan's college football music.
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In the name of science, Ethan performs an experiment on the Moonlight Sonata. Then he introduces a new segment called "Book Report" where he talks about a nefarious con man who ran for office. Then he tries to calm you back down with "Stars Fell on Alabama" before he premieres two original compositions. Huzzah!
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Laura Windley is back to sing what is (probably) the only jazz song about North Carolina. Then Ethan plays variations on a Dutch-Indonesian rock song that was originally an American pseudo-Mexican waltz. Finally we hear the world's most beloved Irish cakewalk.
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Ethan answers a FAQ and travels back in time to 1988, when he was 9 years old and went to New Orleans for the first time. Then he demonstrates a piano technique that he invented, called Pi-Yodeling.™ Finally, Ethan wraps it up by playing a soundtrack to a movie that exists only in his mind.
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