On the Record
Audio recordings of music and spoken word
from the 1893 World’s Fair
RECENT POSTS ABOUT WORLD’S FAIR AUDIO RECORDINGS AND MUSIC
May 10, 2024: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great Worldโs Fairs” (Clarks Summit, PA)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great โWorldโs Fairsโ on May 10, 2024, in Clarks Summit, PA. A spectacular musical celebration of the legendary worldโs fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis Worldโs Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Music played a key role in these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians. This new Paragon Ragtime Orchestra program features dozens of stirring worldโs fair hits, performed from rare original scores, along with the continuous projections of [...]
Mar. 27, 2024: โLove and Laughter: An Evening of Songโ (Chicago)
A concert at the University of Chicago on March 27 will include music from a notable 1893 Worldโs Fair participant. โLove and Laughter: An Evening of Song,โ featuring acclaimed baritone Kenneth Overton and internationally recognized pianist Casey Robards, will be a celebration of the rich artistic contributions of Black American composers and poets. The program will include a special performance of a song cycle composed by Anthony Patterson, Robardsโ husband, set to the poignant and evocative texts of renowned poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar made his first appearance at the Worldโs Fair on โColored People Dayโ (August 25) through [...]
Doctor Who goes to the 1893 Worldโs Fair
If you could travel anywhere in space and time, what would be your destination? If there is a golden colossus, a giant rotating wheel, mammoth chocolate statues, and a tower of oranges involved, then get yourself to the Doctor. Doctor Who and the TARDIS take a trip the fairgrounds of the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition in Max Kashevskyโs โAllโs Fairโ a new audio-drama included in the collection Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles Volume 05: Everywhere and Anywhere from Big Finish. Starring Jacob Dudman (as the Doctor) and Safiyya Ingar (as companion Valarie Lockwood), the story is described as: [...]
โAfter the Ballโ entertains and enrages at the 1893 Worldโs Fair
One song served as the (unofficial) anthem of the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition. More popular than โTa-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,โ more often sung than โAmerica,โ and more frequently parodied than โDaddy Wouldnโt Buy Me a Bow Wow,โ this tune could be heardโfor better or for worseโthroughout the fairgrounds all summer. Groups ranging from John Philip Sousaโs band to the marimba quartet at the Guatemala Building to the donkey boys on the Street in Cairo performed the hit of Fair, โAfter the Ball.โ The cover of sheet music for Charles K. Harrisโs incredibly popular โAfter the Ball,โ the unofficial theme song [...]
โNo Holmes Barred!โ A Worldโs Fair Radio Show Podcast
History, hilarity, and histrionics characterize a new satirical radio-show podcast about the 1893 Worldโs Fair in Chicago. No Holmes Barred! is written, directed, and produced by Daniel Ciarrocchi (you may have seen him on Jeopardy!) and tells the dual stories of Daniel Burnhamโs construction of the fairgrounds in Jackson Park and the bloody trail of murderer H. H. Holmes in nearby Englewood. If this premise sounds like a certain best-selling work of narrative nonfiction that introduced millions of readers to the majesty of the White City and the devilish doings of the alleged serial killer, youโd be right โฆ [...]
A satirical podcast about the 1893 World’s Fair?
Jeopardy! clues relating to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (such as ones about belly dancing and promotional pickle pins, the Field Columbian Museum, and Fannie Barrier Williams) are always a fun surprise. On the April 18, 2023, episode, returning champion Dan Ciarrocchi mentioned that he is writing a scripted podcast that is a satirical look at the 1893 Worldโs Fair. We can't wait to hear it!
Come on Feel the Fair! Illinois, the musical
โOh, great White City I've got the adequate committee Where have your walls gone? I think about it now.โ โSufjan Stevens Come on Feel the Fair! A stage musical adaptation of Sufjan Stevensโ acclaimed 2005 concept album Illinois, which features a song about the 1893 Worldโs Fair, will open this summer. The lyrics in Illinois reference iconic persons, places, and events related to the Prairie State. In addition to tracks about UFOs, zombies, and predatory wasps is the triumphant "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" (Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition โ Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a [...]
Nov 3, 2022: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great Worldโs Fairs” (Williamsport, PA)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great โWorldโs Fairsโย on November 3, 2022. A spectacular musical celebration of the legendary worldโs fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis Worldโs Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). This new Paragon Ragtime Orchestra program features dozens of stirring worldโs fair hits (from rare, original scores) with the continuous [...]
Listen to the journey of the Viking Ship to the 1893 Worldโs Fair in Chicago
Few surviving artifacts from the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition are as treasured as the Viking, an exact replica of the Gokstad ship that sailed from Norway to be displayed at the Fair. Friends of the Viking Ship in Geneva, Illinois, work to preserve and educate about the Viking and her crew. They have released a new audiobook version of Viking: From Norway to America (Friends of the Viking Ship, 2014), an English translation of the memoir written by crew member Rasmus Rasmussen. The audiobook is available through many online retailers, including: Apple Books Barnes & Noble Chirp Google Play [...]
Aug. 19-21, 2022: โSangamon Songsโ Musical Play Tells of Illinois Boy Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair (Skokie, IL)
A diary written by a 16-year-old Illinois boy who visited the 1893 Worldโs Fair in Chicago is the source material for Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play by Tom Irwin and John W. Arden. The show will be performed at the Skokie Theatre for Performing Arts on August 19-21, 2022. After discovering Harry Glen Ludlamโs journal in his family farmhouse, Tom Irwin began composing an acoustic song cycle about late-nineteenth-century life of a teenager in a small town in Central Illinois. Irwin's 2012 album Sangamon Songs collects twelve of the pieces, including one titled โHurrah for the World's Fair.โ John [...]