Strange Fruit

Eighty years ago, on the courthouse square in Marion, Indiana, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were murdered by a mob of townsfolk. A photo of the lynching prompted the poem by Bronx schoolteacher Abel Meeropol, “Strange Fruit,” which became lyrics to a well-known Billie Holiday song.

Decades later, a box of recordings was found in a basement with recollections of people who witnessed — even took part in — the murders. This riveting Radio Diaries premiered this week on NPR…

“Strange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching” (13:00 mp3):

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On Aug. 7, 1930, Lawrence Beitler took this photograph of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, lynched in the town center of Marion, Ind., for allegedly murdering a white factory worker, Claude Deeter, and raping his companion, Mary Ball. But the case was never solved.

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

WWI-Era Sound NOT Public Domain

Some disturbing news from Techdirt: “Why World War I Recordings Won’t Enter The Public Domain Until 2049.” Seems sound-recordings were left out of the 1909 Copyright Act, purposely:

First, Congress wondered about the constitutional validity of such protection. The Constitution allows Congress to protect “writings,” and Congress was uncertain as to whether a sound recording could constitute a writing. Second, Congress worried that allowing producers to exclusively control both the musical notation and the sound recording could lead to the creation of a music monopoly.

Turns out, tho, even tho Congress intended sound-recordings to have less or no © protection, by not covering it in the 1909 © Act, sound now has greater protection. The article has all the arcane details, and a mention of this nifty Cornell list: public domain tracker.

Meanwhile, HV continues its ongoing effort to flagrantly violate the law:

“Over There” sung by Billy Murray, written by George M. Cohan (3:34 mp3):

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Thanks:
First World War.com – Vintage Audio – Over There
Virginia Tech Special Collections: Early Sheet Music

Otters

Took this picture of two otters at Trout Lake in Yellowstone National Park. The one on the right is chowing down on a good-sized cutthroat trout:

{click pic for full-size 80K image)

HV094- Working with Studs

Hearing Voices from NPR®
094 Working with Studs: America’s Greatest Listener
Host: Sydney Lewis of Transom
Airs week of: 2010-08-04

“Working with Studs” (52:00 mp3):

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A Transom.org tribute to the great broadcaster and author Studs Terkel (1912-2008):

For many years, Transom.org editor, Sydney Lewis, worked side by side with Studs on his radio show and his books. For this remembrance, a blend of documentary and reminiscence, she brings together a crew of Stud’s co-workers. They share great stories and wonderful previously-unheard tape of Studs himself. Sydney Lewis co-authored Studs’ book Touch and Go: A Memoir.

Studs Terkel: Conversations with America

Studs @ Transom: Special Guest | Radio Special | PRX Piece

FCC’s Fuqn Fine History

From Carlin’s 7 words to Stern’s shock Jock to Jackson’s right breast, Newsweek put together this entertaining timeline of FCCProfanity on TV: The FCCs Evolving Rules.”

via Amy Mayer.

HV065- Cowboy

Hearing Voices from NPR®
065 Cowboy: Cheyenne Frontier Days
Host: Josh Darsa of NPR
Airs week of: 2010-07-28 (Originally: 2009-07-22)

“Cowboy” (52:00 mp3):

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Host Josh Darsa of NPR spends nine days with rodeo riders in a rural Wyoming town:

This 1980 classic radio doc from the NPR archives visits Cheyenne Frontier Days, “The Daddy of ‘em All.”

Along the way, Darsa digs into the the history of the “cowboy,” mixing in the experiences of Baylis John Fletcher on an 1879 cattle drive, herding 2000 longhorns from Texas to Wyoming (read by Paul Blakemore from the book Up the trail in ‘79.

And underscoring it all is the wild-west symphonies of Aaron Copland.

Josh Darsa wrote and narrated. The technical director and recording engineer was John Widoff, assisted by Miles Smith, Dave Glasser and shop technician Bob Butcher.

“While we were at the rodeo, Josh Darsa wanted to record multiple vantage points of a single scene. For instance, I’d have a Nagra tape recorder on the roof of the grandstand and Miles Smith would have a Nagra in the chutes where the riders would bust out for their ride. Then we would have a free-running Nagra III on the rodeo announcer. We ran them in sync kinda like you would do in video with multiple cameras. This gave us three vantage points. During the show you hear the perspective change through cross fading which is a result of these different but simultaneous perspectives.

There must have been 70 hours or more of tape we shot out there in Cheyenne and every single thing got dubbed. What you heard in the halls of the old NPR were rodeo sounds coming from RC1. Constant horses, bulls, things crashing, just all kinds of things. I think it drove people nuts hearing this stuff up and down the halls.

This was the height of my career at NPR. It was a combination of everything… the music recording, the production sound recording, interviews… every single thing that I had ever done for this company all came together in this show. This was probably how Walt Disney felt when he made Mary Poppins. It was a dream come true for me to build something like this. ‘Cowboy’ is the kind of show you would listen to in a darkened movie theatre. The writing is spectacular.”
–John Widoff, “‘Cowboy,’ a Study in Radio Tale-Telling”
Read the entire interview.

More Josh Darsa at NPR.org: “An Italian Mosaic” (1978) | “Josh Darsa Obituary” by Alex Chadwick (2000)

Fresh Louis C.K. Air

Here’s the Fresh Air ep that got the series cancelled in Mississippi, featuring the phenomenal “Comedian Louis C.K.: Finding Laughs Post-Divorce” (37:23 mp3):

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A MS Pubcasting exec explained why they pulled TerryG off their air: “Too often Fresh Air’s interviews include gratuitous discussions on issues of an explicit sexual nature.” Damn, I’m gonna have to start listening more often.

No Sunshine

Amazing how much feel you can pack into a two-minute song, “Ain’t No Sunshine” Bill Withers 1972:

via Some Velvet.

And here’s RRKIrk’s take on same tune…

“Ain’t No Sunshine” Rahsaan Roland Kirk Blacknuss (1971 / 2:29 mp3):

Play audio: