Today is the 100th birthday of writer/composer Paul Bowles (December 30, 1910 – November 18, 1999). Here’s a celebratory sonic survey of his audio efforts…
From the Library of Congress album Folk Music and Song, “Chorus and Dance,” rung and played by Rais Mahamad ben Mohammed and ensemble, musicians of the Haha tribe in Tamanar; recorded by Paul Bowles in Essaouira, Morocco, August 8, 1959 (1:11 mp3): More…
Paul Simon is offering a free download of “Getting Ready For Christmas Day.” It’s off his upcoming album So Beautiful Or So What (Spring 2011; Hear Music/Concord Music Group) and samples a 1941 speech by American Christian preacher and gospel singer, Reverend J.M. Gates:
The original JM Gates sermon “Gettin’ Ready for Christmas Day” is online at Dust-to-Digital, and on their 2004 5-CD set Goodbye, Babylon.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
106 Courage to Create II: Interviews with Artists
Host: Russ Germain of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Airs week of: 2010-12-15
The conclusion of this 1978 NPR/CBC radio classic, featuring interviews with artists on the origins of the creative impulse (part one). Interviewees include:
Comes with lotsa prestige, an astounding collection of performances put on for us last night at Jazz at Lincoln Ctr (gotta be NYC’s best venue) by current and former fellows, and a whopping $50K.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
105 Courage to Create I: Interviews with Artists
Host: Russ Germain of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Airs week of: 2010-12-08
The assault ads of Xmas carpet-bomb our consciousness. The malls deck their halls, running polyester red and green. And we consumers, armed only with our plastic shields, chant “Yea, tho we walk into the valley of debt…”
The airwaves take a sadistic turn toward the holly-jolly, bombarding us in a non-stop psych-ops aural attack of Xmas music. Thank HaShem, the season also comes with sonic refuge, found in Christmashups like…
An expert on both Russia and insurgency offers the definitive guide on activities in Southern Russia, explaining how the Russian approach to counterinsurgency is failing and why the conflict will continue to escalate.
The unique geopolitical characteristics of the North Caucasus has made it a site of conflict for thousands of years. It was, in many ways, the testing and training grounds for today’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Understanding this volatile region is especially important now in light of President Obama’s effort to “reset” the relationship between Russia and the United States.
The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad is an exhaustive treatment of the 400-year period leading up to the present. Thematically organized, it cuts through the rhetoric to provide a contextual framework through which readers can understand the conflict in the region.
—ABC-CLIO (publisher)
The book is part of the Praeger Security International series. Some early praise for Schaefer’s work:
“Incisive, insightful — in short, invaluable.” – Liz Fuller, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
“A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the nuances of the conflict in Caucasus.”
– Brian Glyn Williams, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
“Demystifies our longest running graduate-level conflict…” – Col. Andrew N. “Nick†Pratt, USMC (Ret.), Director, Program on Terrorism and Security Studies and Professor of Strategy and International Politics, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
Tell me everything that happened
Tell me everything you saw
They had lights, inside their eyes
They had lights, inside their eyes
Did you see the closing window
Did you hear the slamming door?
They moved forward and my heart died
They moved forward and my heart died
Please please tell me what they looked like
Did they seem afraid of you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
I can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
Did you touch them
Did you hold them
Did they follow you to town?
They make me feel I’m falling down
They make me feel I’m falling down
Was there one you saw too clearly
Did they seem too real to you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
I can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
I can say it but you won’t believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
For Veterans Day, Vietnam, Korean, and World War Two vets, recorded by StoryCorps, along with a Marine Sergeant’s recent “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” discharge. And we plug into the iPods of active-duty troops in Iraq (photo gallery), asking them what they’re listening to, and what their lives are like:
“Specialist “Laser†Lawrence” (2:08) Jake Warga
Soldier Soundtrack, Iraq- Song: “Indestructible†by Disturbed from Indestructible. “You got to show people that soldiers aren’t just war fighters, they’re peace keepers too…â€
Bob Harlee served as an Army Chaplain for 18 years. In 1965, Harllee was sent to Vietnam, and he had to leave his wife and three children behind. One of those children, Carol, now 47, recently asked her father about his life in those days. As part of the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell, Ky., Harllee had to reconcile his role as a spiritual guide within a unit whose job it was to destroy the enemy. Still, Harllee says, his task was clear: “to encourage everybody to keep their faith strong, even though they’re in the midst of the most terrible thing that mankind can bring upon itself.” Bob Harllee died in Charlottesville, Va., several months after his interview session. He was 73.
Soldier Soundtrack, Iraq- Song: “Send in the Clowns†by Barbara Streisand from The Broadway Album. “They’re not really geared towards a democratic or republic sort of society… the biggest issue will be trying to keep Iran or Syria from moving into the power vacuum when we leave…â€
After a year producing professionally for Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios, my contract has finally come to an end. The gag order is released, and my classic Disney mixes are allowed back online.
Let’s rev-up this election process with a cross-county Political Party:
“Salt Lake City Debate” (2007 / 15:52) Scott Carrier
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson publicly debates FOX News host Sean Hannity. The spectacle took place inside a chasm called Us versus Them. Produced in 2007 for This American Life; music: Rickie Lee Jones, “Nobody Knows My Name” from Sermon On Exposition Boulevard.
Politics can be frustrating. It can make you scream — which made one Presidential candidate became famous for. Here’s Howard Dean’s scream put to music (more mixes at James Lileks’ Bleatophony).
Leo Grillo locates lost pets in Los Angeles. He cares for animals, thousands of them. Today, his organization, D.E.L.T.A Rescue (Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals), is the world’s largest animal rescue shelter.
A mid-90s visit to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Everyone knows this one of the places where the government developed the first atom bomb during World War II. But our host was interested in Chaos Theory, an elaborate mathematical description of turbulent systems like the weather, and possibly the stock market, and who knows what all else. Chaos Theory was all the rage in Los Alamos then. Along with the theory, it turned out there was also real chaos in Los Alamos. It was slinking up and down the streets late at night in the form of a feral dog. Produced for the radio series SoundPrint.
From the CD Baptism Of Solitude
by Paul Kiernan (
) by Erica Heilman (
.
), scupltor 
It’s official: I (Barrett Golding) have just been named a 2010 USA Rasmuson Fellow: “
The assault ads of Xmas carpet-bomb our consciousness. The malls deck their halls, running polyester red and green. And we consumers, armed only with our plastic shields, chant “Yea, tho we walk into the valley of debt…”
A new book is out by Lt. Col. Robert Scheafer, U.S. Army Special Forces, Eurasian Foreign Area Officer, and poet in the NEA book 
This be one haunting song, “Dead Hearts” by 
— mp3 courtesy of 
