This email today from my friend Marvin Granger, former GM of Yellowstone Public Radio:
It is with more than a little sadness that I report the death of Bruce ‘Utah’ Phillips. He died in his sleep at 11:30 last night following a long battle with heart disease.
Over the past 25 years I benefited from his music and his stories in person, his recordings and on his public radio program, Loafers’ Glory. Utah was a proud, card-carrying member of the International Workers of the World (IWW). I learned the meaning of ‘oral tradition’ largely from his stories of American labor history; that ‘truth’ is not a accurate account of facts so much as personal human experiences that are felt as much as known.
Bruce Phillips was a native of Cleveland, spent many years living and working in Utah, later in Spokane and Nevada City, California. He was a unique entertainer, folklorist, human being.
From Starlight On The Rails : A Songbook, Utah talks about his song “Talking NPR Blues” (1:15 mp3):
The folk music family took me in, carried me along, and taught me the value of song far beyond making a living. It taught me that I don’t need wealth, I don’t need power, and I don’t need fame. What I need is friends, and that’s what I found—everywhere—and not just among those on the stage, but among those in front of the stage as well.
Most mashups are mess ups, uninspiring overlays of songs whose combination adds nothing but a bit of sonic amusement. Sometimes, tho, these musical Chimeras form a melodic and lyrical whole, which is equal or even greater than its parts. When that happens, the mashup is often by one of the forms foremost practitioners, Mark Vidler, aka, Go Home Productions.
His new Spliced Kripsies collection has several gems. Best is “Rolling Confusion” which mashes The Rolling Stones (’Street Fighting Man,’ ‘Gimme Shelter,’ and drums from ‘Slave’) with The Temptations ‘Ball Of Confusion’ (3:47 mp3):
GHP gives away hi-fi (320kbps) mp3s, but doesn’t keep them up long, so grab ‘em while they’re hot. He also mashes video to match the audio, and has production notes for each. About the audio:
Absolutely love Beggars Banquet and that whole era of the Stones. Had to slow the tempo of the Temps vocal to fit but I think I got away with it. Quite like the way that the track slips between half and double time…you can’t dance to it. The drum break is pilfered from ‘Slave’ off the ‘Tattoo You’ album.
This video was the last to get completed. There’s no promo for the Stones track, so I had ‘improvise’ so the footage is actually from ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ and ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ performed as part of their Circus spot from 1968. Similar problem with Ball Of Confusion but there was enough ‘vocal’ footage to fill a couple of verses. Amazing how relevant the lyrics of BOC are today. Frighteningly relevant.
The ethanol-injected Noise comes burning down the NPR airways today on Day to Day. Joe Skyward and myself capture the sounds of engines, drivers, and fans at this year’s Long Beach Grand Prix, an ocean-side street race with top pro race-car drivers from around the globe. One-hundred-and-eighty thousand aficionados around a two mile course of Fast & Loud in downtown LB — 186mph avg and 200+ on the straightaways.
Here’s the long version, “Long Beach Grand Prix 2008″ (6:16 mp3):
Host Doug Fabrizio of KUER-SLC Radio West debuted excerpts today from our upcoming HV hour “A Slight Discomfort - My Prostate Diaries.”
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (2008-05-20) Jeff Metcalf is a writer, so when he discovered he had prostate cancer, that’s how he worked his way through the experience. He set about organizing a clear story out of the more abstract jumble of desperation, humiliation and revelation. Today on RadioWest, we’re playing excerpts from the latest incarnation of Jeff’s story – it’s a piece of radio theater. Jeff will join us to talk about the piece.
The Orb often makes ambient-electro music out of spoken-voice snippets using of the rhythm of the speech. Their best-known spoke-sampled-song (details on clips used below) is from 1991, off The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, “Little Fluffy Clouds:”
Wikipedia has a complete history of the song. Sampled are Ennio Morricone’s “The Man With The Harmonica” (soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in the West) and “Electric Counterpoint” composed by Steve Reich and performed by guitarist Pat Metheny. The voice is Rickie Lee Jones from a promotional interview. Reich was “flattered.” Jones sued.
In 2007 Alan Parker: Urban Warrior (comedian Simon Munnery) parodied the song on BBC Radio 1 announcer Annie Nightingale’s compilation Y4K— The Orb & Alan Parker, “Grey Clouds” (2:30 mp3):
Hearing Voices from NPR®:
Host— Major Robert Schaefer of US Army Special Forces
Airdates— 5/21/2008 - 5/28/2008
Green Beret and poet, Major Robert Schaefer, US Army, hosts the voices of veterans remembering their comrades: We talk with troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reading their emails, poems, and journals, as part of the NEA project: “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.” We hear interviews from StoryCorps, an essay from This I Believe, and the sounds of a Military Honor Guard, recorded by Charles Lane. And we attend the daily “Last Post” ceremony by Belgian veterans honoring the WWI British soldiers who died defending a small town in western Belgium (produced by Marjorie Van Halteren).
I’m a sucker for Emily Dickinson, and for Sean Cole’s radio pieces, including his latest in which Billy Collins seduces poor Emily and Sean gets misty-eyed over a piece of string. From Studio 360’s American Icons series, Sean Cole “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (13:24 mp3):
The internet can still surprise. Years ago we grew tired of Stevie Nicks diaphanous-ness. But lo+behold long comes a backstage video catching in the spontaneous act of…… no, not throwing a tantrum, nor snorting controlled substances with underage hermaphrodites, but rather: “Stevie is singing Love in Store and then Wild Heart in her dressing room while Robin is putting on Stevie’s make up and Lori sings back up.” Reminding us all what a lovely voice she has, “Stevie Nicks Wild Heart- extended:’
Host Doug Fabrizio of KUER-SLC 
Green Beret and poet, Major Robert Schaefer, US Army, hosts the voices of veterans remembering their comrades: We talk with troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reading their emails, poems, and journals, as part of the NEA project: “
I’m a sucker for 
Subscribe