Every once in awhile you hear a new band and think: “What is that?”— in a good way. That happened the other day with Akron/Family. Not sure what to think about their music, or I should say musics, cuz every song is a different style; hell, there’s often several styles in the same song.
The press on them only deepens confusion, like these descriptions in an emusic review:
“band of itinerants, wandering between the Pacific Northwest, upstate New York, and rural Pennsylvania…” “came together in Brooklyn in 2002 under the freak-folk banner.”
From their latest Love Is Simple, “Ed is a Portal” (7:32 mp3):
In this week’s HV cast— A woman sits cross-legged, panhandling on a busy city sidewalk. She takes money only from white folks, and gives it to blacks who pass by. Her sign reads: “200 Years of Slavery in the United States. Reparation payments accepted here.” damali ayo is a street performance artist. “I offer people a convenient opportunity to pay for the unpaid labor of African Americans.” This piece is part of her “living flag” project. A story by Dmae Roberts and damali ayo, “Living Flag- Reparations” (9:02 mp3):
And “Wino” even adds some sound effects (2:08 mp3):
Wagoner “conducted field research by visiting the Skid Rows of Chicago and Minneapolis, dressed in disheveled attire, the better to soak up the seedy atmosphere.”
Saturn is one noisy celestial, and the Cassini orbiter and Huygens probe are catching it all. A/V from Saturn and its moons are housed in NASA’s Cassini-Huygens: Multimedia-Sounds exhibit. This audio is from the Cassini video “Sounds of Enceladus” (0:13 mp3):
NASA calls them “The Eerie, Bizarre Sounds of the Saturnian System,” as in this recording by Huygen’s microphones while “Speeding Through Titan’s Haze” (1:42 mp3):
The Cassini spacecraft is a multimedia reporter and has been snapping some astounding pix of Saturn:
“Sounds from a left speaker trace Huygens’ motion, with tones changing with rotational speed and the tilt of the parachute. There also are clicks that clock the rotational counter, as well as sounds for the probe’s heat shield hitting Titan’s atmosphere, parachute deployments, heat shield release, jettison of the camera cover and touchdown.
Sounds from a right speaker go with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer activity. There’s a continuous tone that represents the strength of Huygens’ signal to Cassini. Then there are 13 different chimes – one for each of instrument’s 13 different science parts – that keep time with flashing-white-dot exposure counters. During its descent, the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer took 3,500 exposures.”
Voices of the Streets has some “artistic activism” called “Land of 10,000 Homeless,” a music/doc/vid– “Every day, approximately 10,000 people in Minnesota will sleep outside or in temporary shelter. This video allows us a chance to see the world from their eyes:”
Animating water in watercolor, the beautiful short film “L’Eau Life” is at The Animated Life – Opinion – New York Times Blog. It’s by painter Jeff Scher: “I wanted to get the feel of water and the emotion of being in it, while capturing the water action moments that are the most fun to draw: jumping, swimming, falling in and climbing out.”
Publisher Penguin Group has Ira’s intro online. Profits from the book benefit the writing center 826 Chicago.
Sez I-Glass “The contributors are some of the best nonfiction authors alive: Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point); Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief); New York Times Magazine writer Jack Hitt (a contributing editor of our show), and more. David Foster Wallace does the best piece of reporting I’ve ever read on right-wing talk radio. Mark Bowden explains what Saddam Hussein — the man — was really like. Dan Savage recounts how he decided that the best way to change the Republican Party would be to sign up (he ends up as a delegate to their Washington State convention; havoc ensues). Jim McManus tells the story of how he went to cover the World Series of Poker for Harper’s Magazine and ended up at the final table, carrying home a quarter million dollars.”
That latter McManus piece is one stellar article I’m particularly looking forward to reading again: Gave me an appreciation for Texas Hold ‘Em that continues to this day.
From BBC NEWS | UK chooses most ludicrous laws, the results of a UKTV survey asking which laws were most ridiculous. The top 10 laws on their list of legal lunacies:
1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down (7%)
3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)
4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned(5%)
5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter (4%)
6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman’s helmet (4%)
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)
8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour
10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)
The top 10 bizarre foreign laws as voted by those polled:
1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%)
2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)
3. A male doctor in Bahrain can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)
4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)
5. It is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle in Alabama (6%)
6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)
7. Women in Vermont must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth (6%)
8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits (5%)
9. There is no age of consent in Japan (5%)
10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%)
From 2004, a phone message left by a WHYY reporter to laptoplobbyist.com. She was frustrated with their spam. Her apology wasn’t enuf to get her job back after getting fired for (0:16 mp3):
Stephin Merritt stays in NPR studios until he comes up with song. The song is inspired by a Phil Toledano photo (right). Two days later, from a shaky start, he gets a fine tune. The process is all captured on video and in an NPR-ATC report : “NPR Music: Stephin Merritt: Two Days, A Million Faces.”
Memorable quotes from Merritt’s studio incarceration: “Normally I would sit around in a bar…” “The last two snare hits, Agnus and Billy, goes Agnus, Billy, Agnus, Billy…”
A few of us HV types have been working on The DNA Files, along with an army of engineers, producers, journalists, and scientists. The series of five hours are now online and on-air. Lotsa work, lotsa science, and lotsa sound went into these SoundVision productions.
An intervu at NPR pointed to this post by a guy who’s given and received waterboardings, all in the employ of the US.gov, “Waterboarding is Torture… Period.”
The blogger (at Small Wars Journal) is “counterterrorism consultant Malcolm Nance, who has trained hundreds of American service members to be ready for interrogation techniques.” From NPR’s story “Expert Sheds Light on Waterboarding“—
The Third Coast Festival conf is having a live broadcast party at :Vocalo, ChiPubradio’s new station. You can contribute pieces to this on-air extravaganza (how-to: start a user acct, then upload audio w/ tag “Third Coast Festival”).
My niece-in-law, Chase Sbicca, has a new blog, Puddles of Thought. So far she’s linked to 4 vids and I’ve liked ’em all (even her fren’s wedding demo): ie, she’s batting 1000. She’s fresh outta Eugene J school w/ a broadcast degree, an encyclopedic knowledge of several major sports, and an interviewing prowess that’s even bent Beckham. Won’t someone give this future TV sports-reporting star a job?
The Public Radio Talent Quest has posted vid of the winners, presented at the PRPD. The tape proves once again proves how much Glynn (Snap Judgement) rox:
From Wholphin DVD mag comes a short (4:11) directed by Miguel Arteta, writ by Miranda July. John C Reilly asks several folk (including July) “Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody?:”
Every once in awhile you hear a new band and think: “What is that?”— in a good way. That happened the other day with Akron/Family. Not sure what to think about their music, or I should say musics, cuz every song is a different style; hell, there’s often several styles in the same song.
In this week’s 
WFMU’s blog has a collection of albums cover and mp3s by country music giant “
My copy of the Ira-edited 
Stephin Merritt stays in NPR studios until he comes up with song. The song is inspired by a Phil Toledano photo (right). Two days later, from a shaky start, he gets a fine tune. The process is all captured on video and in an NPR-ATC report : “
A few of us HV types have been working on 
On Halloween’s NPR-ATC cast,