Happy birthday to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)…
Common, produced by Will.i.am “A Dream” Freedom Writers soundtrack
“Dr. King at Temple Israel” Queena Kim
In 1965 Martin Luther King. Jr. delivered a sermon at Temple Israel in Hollywood. King was invited to the temple by Rabbi Max Nussbaum, who himself used the pulpit to rail against injustices in Nazi Germany. King’s sermon was recorded on an old-fashioned reel-to-reel audio tape and buried in a pile in the Rabbi’s home. His widow Ruth, now 95-years-old, tells the story of that day. [transcript]. Aired Jan 15 2007 on NPR Day to Day (7:55 mp3)
“Taylor and Bessie Rogers” StoryCorps
Retired Memphis sanitation worker Taylor Rogers and his wife, Bessie, remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech (more strike StoryCorps), (1:35 mp3)
The first of a three hour-long retrospective of the first decade, of the century, of the millennium:
Shortcut Thru the 21st Century, Part One (52:00) Peter Bochan
After a quick 2009 intro, we survey selected speech, song, and soundbites from 2000 thru 2002; from the 2000 election and recounts, with Bush, Gore, Bill and Hill, thru 911, Homeland Security, and Afghanistan.
Shortcuts are assembled, mixed and mashed by audio wizard Peter Bochan, of All Mixed Up, WBAI-NYC and WPDK-Bridgeport CT. Next week, part two: 2003-2005 (all three at PRX).
I visited the world’s newest tallest building today — Humanity’s latest height.
The whole experience smelled of new paint.
From the 124th observation floor I could still see starving people all over the world.
I could almost see Mesopotamia where I had been in Iraq, where the tower of Babel once stood and where people still fight.
Many tourists, many languages, we all took photos, that’s what we do.
I could not see the desert though we stand on it and are surrounded by it.
There’s no where to sit, to contemplate. The gift kiosk sold stylish tissue box covers, there was only one urinal in the men’s room and it didn’t have auto-flush.
I could see the past but the building promoted only the future.
Freelance pubradio people have been smacked hard recently, with the cancellation of freelance friendly shows, and NPR’s slashing of freelance acquisition budgets at their remaining series. Seems same trend towards “the free in freelance” is happening to writers, LA Times “Freelance writings unfortunate new model“:
Trails.com will pay $15 for articles about the outdoors. Livestrong.com wants 500-word pieces on health for $30, or less. In this mix, the 16 cents a word offered by Green Business Quarterly ends up sounding almost bounteous, amounting to more than $100 per submission.
Other publishers pitch the grand opportunities they provide to “extend your personal brand” or to “showcase your work, influence others.” That means working for nothing, just like the sailing magazine that offers its next editor-writer not a single doubloon but, instead, the opportunity to “participate in regattas all over the country.”
What’s sailing away, a decade into the 21st century, is the common conception that writing is a profession — or at least a skilled craft that should come not only with psychic rewards but with something resembling a living wage.
Elvis Presley (born Jan 8 1935 Tupelo, Mississippi; died Aug 16 1977 Memphis, Tennessee), a 75th Birthday Party fit for a King, with fans, friends, religion and rockin’:
Interviews from the Elvis archives, and new ones with Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires (Elvis’ backup singers) and Elvis friends (aka, Memphis Mafia) Jerry Schilling and Patty Parry. Produced by Paul Chuffo and Joshua Jackson of Joyride Media, for the Sony Elvis 75 project, which has more music and interviews. Also check Joyride’s other Elvis hours: The Early Years, In Memphis, and He Touched Me- Elvis Gospel Music.
Chuck Denault is a Police Officer for the small town of Kittery, Maine. He has two passions;: Serving the community he lives in and being the best possible Elvis Impersonator he can be. In April of 2003 the producer went for a squad car ride-along for some behind the scenes aspects of law enforcement and Elvis.
Kind of a breathless take on the wonders of video compression and the progression over the last 15 or so years, but interesting if you’ve ever wondered how they cram all that crap programming into such a small space, Ars Technica “From Cinepak to H.265: a brief history of video compression“.
This week he found what he accurately describes as “Stunning Unheard Nigerian Gem”. The LP is Hikima (Creativity) by sax great Yusef Lateef. All the album trax are up at WFMU BOTB. Here’s a taste…
[Jake’s out of Iraq, and back in Dubai…]
Kind of a breathless take on the wonders of video compression and the progression over the last 15 or so years, but interesting if you’ve ever wondered how they cram all that crap programming into such a small space, Ars Technica “