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Tag: comedy/Archives

2011-10-22

HV124- Walk in the Park

Lisa Miller descending Angel's LandingHearing Voices from NPR®

124 Walk in the Park: National Parks, Neighborhood Parks

Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices

Airs week of: 2011-10-19

“Walk in the Park” (52:00 mp3):

Yellowstone, Zion, the Everglades, and William Pierce Park in DC:

“Bobby’s Park” (2003 / 2:26) Katie Davis

From the series Neighborhood Stories– Park Life, profiling the daily life of a community’s urban oasis: “Country Bobby” Lowry is the guardian of Walter Pierce Community Park in Washington, D.C. He’s been keeping an eye on the park for almost three decades, and knows more about how it than any city official — he knows the trees, the plants and the kids. In the first of four stories about the park, we meet this transplanted farm boy who never takes shortcuts in his work. See NPR’s has great photo gallery.

“Angel’s Landing” (4:47) Scott Carrier

Utah’s Zion National Park draws 2.7 million visitors a year, and a major attraction for hearty hikers is a trek along the Grotto trailhead to Angel’s Landing. From the banks of the Virgin River, the yellow-and-red sandstone sides of Zion Canyon rise 2,000 feet. It feels like being inside a huge body. The canyon walls are the rib cage spread open and Angel’s Landing is like the heart.

Take an Angels Landing eHike. Photo gallery at NPR.

“Leah’s Doing Hair” (1:05) Katie Davis

Mural from Pierce Park, Leah doing hair next to the courtFrom Neighborhood Stories– Park Life: An ode to Leah at Walter Pierce Community Park, who braids hair by the basketball court while the guys play 5 on 5.

“A Long Walk” (1:00 excerpt) Jill Scott

Music from Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Vol. 1

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2011-04-01

All Twitter Radio

Public radio’s annual April 1 attempts at humor are often as funny as a Farm Report. But there were a couple exceptions in this year’s crop.

Here & Now nailed me, and their host, in “Social Media Experiment: Twitter Takes Over Radio Airwaves” (5:24 mp3):

“Most of the midday NPR programming is geared towards people in their sixties and seventies,” said Smith. “We want to expand our audience to a younger demographic.”

And NPR Morning Edition was quick and clever with “Advances In 3-D May Mean No Ridiculous Glasses” (1:42 mp3):

Mr. ANDERSON SMITH (YHR Analysts): Well, I think it’s pretty well established that 3D is the future.

SANDS-WINDSOR: That’s Anderson Smith, entertainment expert with YHR Analysts.

Mr. SMITH: There are going to be 3D televisions, 3D billboards, 3D computers. The only thing standing in the way now is those ridiculous glasses.

SANDS-WINDSOR: San Diego ophthalmologist Dr. Sebastian Marsh says he has a solution.

Dr. SEBASTIAN MARSH (Ophthalmologist): We’ve developed the first surgical procedure that lets people’s eyes act like 3D glasses.

SANDS-WINDSOR: The operation is still considered experimental. One of the first patients, Rebecca Stern, says she’s happy with the results so far.

Ms. REBECCA STERN: Seeing “Gnomeo & Juliet” without those horrible glasses was life changing. There are no words to describe it.

SANDS-WINDSOR: There are still some kinks to work out.

Dr. MARSH: Some patients have complained of blurred vision when they are not looking at 3D screens. So we’re actually working now on some special corrective lenses that will allow our patients to see real life normally.

2010-12-29

HV107- Strange Days

Paul Bowles sittingHearing Voices from NPR®
107 Strange Days: Paul Bowles, Coyle & Sharp, Ayahuasca
Host: Larry Massett of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-12-29

“Strange Days” (52:00 mp3):

Way beyond the norm:

“Paul Bowles” (21:03)

Host Larry Massett has an audio essay on the life and literature of Paul Bowles (December 30, 1910 – November 18, 1999) on his 100th birthday.

Includes the ZBS 1967 conversation “A Time in Tangier,” readings of The Sheltering Sky by Paul Kiernan (IMDb | “A Slight Discomfort” for stage & HV radio), “The Hyena” (Collected Stories) by Erica Heilman (VT Folklife Ctr | HV), and PB himself from his 1992 album Black Star at the Point of Darkness.

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2010-11-24

Very Very Underground

We are know the feeling, what music’ll do to ya…

“Uomo d’acqua dolce:”

My Italian friend, DJ Lara Vaienti, sent me the vid, and this story summary:

[Sez Lara: GOSH I LOVE that guy — you can’t even imagine how much I laugh out loud–every time.]

So he  [comedian Antonio Albanese] goes in (awesome way to enter) and he says “Excuse meeee” Hey DISC JOKEY!!, MR DISC JOKEY–excusee meee!!–”

Then he starts uttering those sounds… finally he gets the attention and speaks in… English: “I’m a countryman.”

He says he’s looking for something very underground, he wants something very, very underground. Then he gets suggestions, and he’s like “no, no — NO. I mean, I mean, very very underground.”

And then he makes up some American, something like “watcha get down, hey get down,” etc..

So again suggestions — “Ben Harper!”

“CHIIIIIIIII????” [means “who???”]

“Lou Reed!”

“NO–”

“James BROWN!”

“no, NO –NO!”

“Fine Young Cannibals!”

So then the owner is sweating over thism, and the “countryman” is trying to comfort him. He calls him “MASSIMINO” [“little Max”], it’s ok, it’s ok, you did your best…” etc.

[Lara: The part where he is dancing makes me cry. Italians—]

2010-10-16

Shibboleet

Funny ’cause it’s too true, the latest xkcd, “Tech Support:”

Wondering about “Shibboleet”? So was I. The answer comes from the CSMonitor.com, “Shibboleet: XKCD’s clever code word explained:”

“Leet” (more often “1337”) is half-joking hacker code for elite, or skilled. A leet programmer or gamer is at the top of her game.

“Shibboleth” comes from the Bible. It’s the Hebrew word for an ear of corn, but requires a true native accent to pronounce properly. Because the word was so difficult for foreigners to say, shibboleth became a code word for early Israelites, a dead giveaway that someone was an interloper. Now, shibboleth is a catchall term for any custom or belief that sets one group of people apart from another.

2010-07-23

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):

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.

Louis C.K.: site | tube | “Louie” FX TV series | Time Q&A

2010-07-14

HV067- Jean Shepherd 1

Jean Shepherd in WOR studio, 1970Hearing Voices from NPR®
067 Jean Shepherd 1: A Voice in the Night
Host: Harry Shearer of Le Show
Airs week of: 2010-07-14 (Originally: 2009-08-12)

“Jean Shepherd 1” (52:00 mp3):

Hour one in this two-part tribute to radio raconteur Jean Shepherd:

“Jean Shepherd (Part 1 of 2)” (52:00) Harry Shearer

Jean Shepherd used words like a jazz musician uses notes, winding around a theme, playing with variations, sending fresh self-reflective storylines out into the night. Marshall McLuhan called Shepherd “the first radio novelist.” From 1956-1977 Shep spun his late night stories over WOR radio, New York City. PBS gave him a TV series, “Jean Shepherd’s America.” In 1983 he co-wrote and narrated the film version of his “A Christmas Story.”

Shep inspired a new generation of spoken narrative artists who tap into the American psyche. Among them was Harry Shearer (Le Show), who hosts this two part tribute to Jean Shepherd. Shearer interviews Shep’s co-workers, friends and fans, including Robert Krulwich, Joe Frank, Paul Krassner, and Jules Fieffer.

Thanks to Mr. Shearer, KCRW– Santa Monica (and Sarah Spitz), NPR, and Art Silverman for production support, and for allowing us to re-air this two-hour tribute. This is part one; part two is next week.

One time I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning. My radio was still on, and a man was talking about how you would try to explain the function of an amusement park to visitors from Venus. It was Jean Shepherd. He was on WOR from midnight to 5:30 every night, mixing childhood reminiscence with contemporary critiques, peppered with such characters as the man who could taste an ice cube and tell you the brand name of the refrigerator it came from and the year of manufacture. Shepherd would orchestrate his colorful tales with music ranging from “The Stars and Stripes Forever” to Bessie Smith singing “Empty Bed Blues.”
–Paul Krassner (from “How the Realist popped America’s cherry“)

The Realist: series of Jean Shepherd essays, Radio Free America, issue #42, #44, #48, #50.

Jean Shepherd – The Great American Fourth of July – PART 1

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2010-05-27

HV006- Radio Dial

KPRK art-deco building, Livingston MTHearing Voices from NPR®
006 Radio Dial: Signals from the Sky
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-05-26 (Originally: 2008-04-09)

“Radio Dial” (52:00 mp3):

Radio stories about radio, then stories about radio stories:

“Dueling XMTRs! #3: VOIRI vs. the World” (2003 / 1:01 excerpt) ShortWaveMusic

These “Dueling Transmitters” are an atmospheric found-sound un-manipulated mix of Spanish ham-radio operators, slow Morse code, data squalls, and the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. From the Shortwavemusic blog post “The Effects of Radiation.”

“Urbana FM” (2004 / 4:05) Jake Warga

An FM radio station in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, is called Urbana. It’s hip, bilingual, plays music from all over the world, and is famous in Uruguay for its 30-second sound portraits featuring the voices of famous people mixed over avante-garde music.

“Radio Reloj” (2005 / 1:02 excerpt) Vocal Sampling

The Cuban a-capella ensemble approximates a radio dial with their vocal chords. From the group Vocal Sampling’s (site | space) CD Una Forma Mas.

“The Grotesque” (2007 / 1:07 excerpt) Myke Weiskopf

Shortwave/music mixes by LA sound artist Myke Dodge Weiskopf, off his 30: a Retrospective 1976-2006

“WWV- The Tick” (0:46) Douglas Grant

The government’s all-time all-the-time radio station goes commercial, voiced by former WWV announcer John Doyle.

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