HV023- This Is Insanity

Hearing Voices from NPR®
023 This is Insanity: Disturbed Mental States
Host: Scott Carrier of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-03-03 (Originally: 2008-08-06)

“This is Insanity” (52:00 mp3):

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A survey of disturbed mental states:

With the music of Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcracy (rapper Michael Franti and percussionist Ron Tse), from the 1993 CD Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales.

A first-person account from an anonymous reporter of his experience undergoing ElectroConvulsive Therapy.

Music from the Australian mashup/cut-up artists 2000 CD Since I Left You.

Our host travels the Utah backroads testing folk for schizophrenia.

The narrator is pathologically challenged by time, and the stories societies tell themselves, excerpted from the 2006 radio hour “Time’s Arrow.”

Howard Dully traces the reasons and repercusssions of his transorbital or “ice pick” lobotomy, a radical new procedure in the treatment of mental illness in this country, pioneered and performed by psychiatrist Walter J. Freeman.

Produced by Dave Isay and Piya Kochhar, with help from Larry Blood, Eliza Bettinger, Brett Myers, Jessica Tickten, Anna Goldman, Maisie Tivnan, Colin Murphy and Jonah Engle Narratored by Howard Dully; edited by Gary Covino. Jack El-Hai was project advisor. Special thanks to: Barbara Dully, Andrew Goldberg, Christine Johnson, Lyle Slovick & David Anderson at the GWU Gelman Library archives. Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

HV085- Protest

Hearing Voices from NPR®
085 Protest: From the National Mall to Town Halls
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-03-24

“Protest” (52:00 mp3):

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Complaining about the government is an American pastime. We hear protest music and mashups; we go to protest marches, from Vietnam War era actions on the National Mall, to modern-day Tea Parties and Town Halls:

Protest used to be mainly for the young and left-leaning, but recently older right-wingers have joined the party — the Tea Party. When Congressmen went home in 2009, this is what they heard from constituents. Music: Jeff Arntsen, mix: Robin Wise, audio: excerpted from YouTube videos.

A sound collage of protests and protest music over the past 40 years

The popular Burmese rock band Iron Cross is using music to challenge the nation’s infamously repressive regime. In the great tradition of rock and roll, Iron Cross is taking on Burma’s military government with song.

Music made from field recordings at 2003 anti-war protests. MP3s at Hawks and Sparrows:

…originally existed as an edition of 100 cd-rs packaged individually with the first flowers of spring in clear glass cases. the audio on each disk is made up of reconstructions and rearrangements of field recordings from 4 anti-war protests (seattle, new york, philadelphia, and washington dc) that took place in the late winter of 2003, with a specific intent to remove any rhetoric, any dogma, incantations, chants, or spoken language of any sort, and leave musical constructions culled from in-between pauses, whistles and yells, drums, sirens, helicopters, electric hums, boomboxes, etc… distributed by reverse shoplifting, filed under “h” in a store near you. never pay for this cd.

In Fall 2009, President Obama flew into Bozeman, Montana. He gave a health care talk… in an airplane hanger. The protesters were kept a half-mile away from the airport, in a field — what the Police called a “free-speech zone.” The local Tea Party had reserved it, but plenty of single payer advocates had showed up. There were dueling megaphones, simul-chanting, and even some level-headed discussions. Voices include Chief Bill Dove, Linda Kenoyer, Tom Hunter, Don McClarty, Bob Adney, Alene Brackman, John Chaffer, Kent Madin, Lance Craighead, Henry Kriegel, Joanne Kessler, Tammy Hall, and Bob Folsick.

Every day protesters take over Zocalo plaza in Oaxaca City, Mexico; recorded for quiet american in 2003.

From May 3 1971, an excerpt from All Things Considered’s first broadcast. The debut program takes to the DC streets to cover that day’s anti-war (Vietnam) actions. Host Robert Conley describes “the crush, catcalls, flux and flow of the demonstrations in Washington.” Reporter Jeff Kamen bears witness: “Today in the nation’s capital, it is a crime to be young and have long hair.”

Based on a recording of protest against Iraq War, New York, March 2003. Written/produced/performed by Bob Goldberg/BAN Radio “Orchestra”, 2003 (and of Famous Accordions). MP3 found at Another Protest Song.

“Town Halls 2009″

Audio/Video Production: Barrett Golding
Music: Jeff Arntsen
Audio mix: Robin Wise
Video clips: ABC World News, WGNO- New Orleans, David William Hedrick, The Young Turks, Hot Air Pundit Kathy Castor, Hill Newspaper, YouTube. Video playlist- Town Halls 2009 (videos).

HV084- Place Your Bets

Hearing Voices from NPR®
084 Place Your Bets: What Happens in Vegas
Host: Alex Chadwick of Conservation Sound
Airs week of: 2010-02-17

“Place Your Bets” (52:00 mp3):

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We play keno, cards and craps in Sin City:

Up all night in America’s gambling Mecca: Vegas, baby.

A classical composition, in three parts, for strings, winds, and an interview with Tom Martinet, who trained to be a priest, but, instead, started working Nevada dice tables. Premiered 1997 in Vegas, performed by Sierra Wind Quintet. Re-released on PKB’s 2006 Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica.

An NPR hosts pits his wits against the regulars at a downtown small-town casino. Guess who wins. Produced by Carolyn Jensen; sound engineer by Michael Schweppe.

An excerpt from Joe’s hour “Zen” in his series The Other Side. What happened in Vegas… definitely didn’t stay in Vegas. Getting on the wrong side of Sin City’s collection crew.

Jazz bassist Kelly Roberti (David Murray Quintet) lost his bass to the keno machines. He kicked the habit; the scars remain, but the bass is back. Kelly was a 2010 Governor’s Arts Awards winner.

A radio drama written for Ridley’s 2001 LA Series on NPR Morning Edition. Performers are Bob Wisdom, Yang Chee, and Jim Wallace (script).

Above photo of the Las Vegas sign by Kcferret, June 2005.

HV047- Snow and Ice

Hearing Voices from NPR®
047 Snow and Ice: Winter Weather Advisory
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-02-03 (Originally: 2009-01-21)

“Snow and Ice” (52:00 mp3):

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Gliding, sliding, and speed (photo cc Tabbymom):

NPR Alex Chadwick invites America to share their stories of Flexible Flyers and downhill runs in a cross-USA audio Sledding Party, produced by Katie Davis. (Music: “Come to the Meadow” Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet (1974).)

Seven skiers go into the back-country, only six return; the story from the perspective of the survivors: Dave Carter, Dwight Butler, Alan Murphy, Chris Larson, and Larry Olson; in memory of Greg McIntyre.

A training day in the life of three women at the U.S. High Altitude Sports Center in Butte, Montana; with skaters Chantelle Bailey, Tara Laslo, and Mary Doctor, and trainers Michael Crowe and Susan Sandvig.

And the sounds of Iceland’s largest glacier, captured by field-recordist Chris Watson, on his CD Weather Report (Touch Music).

Watson’s Vatnajökull sounds were also used in this Sigur Rós film, “Heima” (trailer):

US Artists

Hearty congrats to radio producers Scott Carrier and Long Haul Productions (Elizabeth Meister & Dan Collison), recipients of this year’s United States Artists:

Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, these exceptional artists embody our nation’s vast cultural, ethnic, and geographic diversity. Each was awarded an unrestricted grant of $50,000 in recognition of their outstanding creative contributions.

HV034- To War

Hearing Voices from NPR®
034 To War: Getting In and Getting Out
Host: Scott Carrier of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2009-11-18 (Originally: 2008-10-22)

“To War” (52:00 mp3):

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We get out of one conflict and into another:

Our show host travels the country in early October 2001, asking everyone the same question: “Are You Ready for War?”

An NPR chronicle leading up to the last day of US flights out of the Vietnam War, 30 April 1975: the fall of Saigon, with original recordings by one of the helicopter pilots.

UH1 helicopters at sunrise in Vietnam, photo by Lowell Eneix, 121st Assault Helicopter Company, US Army (from Vietnam Helicopter online gallery).

HV076- Small Town

Hearing Voices from NPR®
076 Small Town: Rural Routes
Host: Larry Massett of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2009-11-11

“Small Town” (52:00 mp3):

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Spending time in some shrinking American townships:

The postmistress of describes her Mississippi River community’s dwindling population. Music: Larry Massett.

Four former Massachusetts municipalities were flooded to make room for a reservoir. But the villages live on in the former residents’ minds. A ShortDocs winner, from Third Coast Festival.

This town in California never did exist, though it’s full of folk who live there: an unofficial RV Park and home to the homeless thrives in culture and community.

Little Talcott, West Virginia has a big claim to fame: It’s home to a famous story and song.

Slab City photo © DesertDutch.org.

MaJones- Burma

A Scott Carrier (2006) article in Mother Jones, “Rock the Junta; In Burma, a band of heavy metal Christians speaks of liberty between the lines”:

Burma is a forgotten country. You might have a hard time finding it on a map, and it may not even be called Burma on the map you’re looking at. It might be called Myanmar, as that’s the official name for it now. It’s an extremely fucked-up place, the size of Texas, located between Thailand and India, south of China. For the past 44 years, it’s been cut off from the rest of the world by a junta of xenophobic and superstitious generals calling themselves the State Peace and Development Council. Others call them mendacious assholes and hungry ghosts.