Aired 3 months ago 15:47

Who is Gladys Liu?

Who is Gladys Liu?

Aired 10 months ago 37:24

Gladys Knight

Motown legend and seven-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight reflects on coming of age in the music business, the harsh reality of touring during the 1950s in the segregated South, and finding her own voice late in her career. Gladys also explains how she's finally come to understand now, with her fourth husband, what marriage truly means. In 1996, Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Gladys is on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.”

Aired 5 d ago 2:26

This is Where Elvis Bought His First Guitar

This is Where Elvis Bought His First Guitar

Aired 9 months ago 28:25

Singing the Gender-Bending Blues

Gladys Bentley loved women, wore men's clothing, and sang bawdy songs that would make sailors blush...and did it openly in the 1920s and 1930s. This was long before the gay rights or the civil rights movements, yet Bentley became a darling of the Harlem Renaissance alongside icons like Langston Hughes and Josephine Baker. While her provocative performances kept her from becoming as well-known as her peers, they are exactly why she is being rediscovered—and admired—today. In celebration of Women's History Month, we follow the life of a trailblazer who was unapologetically herself at a time when she would’ve been acutely aware of the risks.

Aired 9 months ago 1:51

polyglot

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2019 is: polyglot • \PAH-lee-glaht\  • adjective 1 a : speaking or writing several languages : multilingual b : composed of numerous linguistic groups  2 : containing matter in several languages  3 : composed of elements from different languages 4 : widely diverse (as in ethnic or cultural origins) Examples: With vacationers arriving from all over Europe and other parts of the world, merchants in the resort city must adjust to serving a polyglot clientele. "Learning the basics of any language is a quick task. Programmes like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone can guide you through a few greetings and simple phrases at lightning speed. For a more personal experience, polyglot Timothy Doner recommends reading and watching material that you already have an interest in. 'If you like cooking, buy a cookbook in a foreign language; if you like soccer, try watching a foreign game,' he says." — Peter Rubinstein and Bryan Lufkin, BBC.com, 19 Feb. 2019 Did you know? You've probably run across the prefix poly- before—it comes from Greek and means "many" or "multi-." But what about -glot? That part of the word comes from the Greek term glōtta, meaning "language" or "tongue." (Glōtta is also the source of glottis, the word for the space between the vocal cords.) Polyglot itself entered English in the 17th century, both as an adjective and as a noun meaning "one who can write or speak several languages." You could call the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V a polyglot. He claimed that he addressed his horse only in German, he conversed with women in Italian and with men in French, but reserved Spanish for his talks with God.