Well-Bred & Well-Brewed

Jazz Royalty Count Basie shares a birthday with a prominent Israeli artist, known for his…sheep paintings…Today’s poem is an Edgar Allen Poe classic.Listen HEREAugust 21st, Wednesday | Count Basie & an Israeli Sculptor

Estonia’s path to renewed independence was peaceful, and they achieved it with their Baltic neighbors! Also: Happy World Mosquito Day! A dog-and-cat poem.Listen HEREAugust 20th, Tuesday | Estonia Breaks Free After a Human Chain

From convent to boudoirs to hat-making, French designer Coco Chanel at one time befriended Igor Stravinsky. Today’s poem by a humorous birthday poet.Listen HEREAugust 19th, Monday | Coco Chanel befriends Stravinsky

An important editor in the Harlem Renaissance and an Australian poet who spent time in Paraguay. A patriotic poem by the birthday poet.Listen HEREAugust 16th, Friday | The Good, the Bad, and an Australian Poet

Samuel Coleridge Taylor is not the person you might be thinking he is: an African-English composer and violin prodigy. Plus, a related poem.Listen HEREAugust 15th, Thursday | Samuel Coleridge Taylor

Who invented the blender? Probably someone you’ve never heard of! And the impetus for the gadget? Milkshakes, of course. Plus, a baseball poem.Listen HEREAugust 14th, Wednesday | Inventor of the Blender

Today, birthday-ers Don Ho and Annie Oakley make and break stereotypes – isn’t everyone more real up close? Love poem by e.e. cummings.Listen HEREAugust 13th, Tuesday | A Hawaiian Pop Star & a Sharpshooter

The woman who penned “America the Beautiful” and a Harlem Renaissance cross-dressing performer share a birthday. “America the Beautiful” shines as today’s poem.Listen HEREAugust 12th, Monday | “America the Beautiful” & Gladys Bentley

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton was more than just Alexander Hamilton’s wife. A Swiss developmental psychologist shares a birthday. Plus, a poem from Willa Cather.Listen HEREAugust 9th, Friday | Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

 Sara Teasdale’s missed-chance love is a common theme in her work. An Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder shares a birthday. Poem from our birthdayListen HEREAugust 8th, Thursday | Sara Teasdale’s lost love