Richard and Becky Stanislaw present “Songs that Stick” — the last presentation of the Ocean City Historical Museum’s Thursday night Series — 7 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 4) at the Ocean City Historical Museum.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Stanislaws will look at music that “everybody knows” and examine why it has sticking power. The audience will sing these tunes with them and learn the reasons for their popularity.
Selections include a wide range of styles, including: “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Proud To Be An American (God Bless the USA),” “God Bless America,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Amazing Grace,” “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad” and even “Happy Birthday.”
Musicologist Richard Stanislaw and English Professor Becky Stanislaw, who each hold doctoral degrees, will lead the singing and examine why people tend to know these melodies.
Richard recently retired as president of the Ocean City Tabernacle. Prior to that, he was a music professor and administrator at Waynesburg University and earlier at Taylor University and Bloomsburg University. Becky, now a real estate agent with Goldcoast Sotheby’s International Realty, before coming to Ocean City, taught English at California University of Pennsylvania and Ball State University. So, the discussion will include both music and texts that influence these sticky songs.
Ocean City Historical Museum has an extensive collection of memorabilia from residences and businesses in Ocean City, dating from the first regular vacationers tenting at the “Camp Meeting” to the present. Come a little early to allow time to walk around the Museum, located in the Community Center (the Library) at 17th and Simpson.
