Category: Story/Archives

PHW = NPR Story of Day

The 1st in our series Project Healing Waters is the NPR Story of the Day podcast.

Project Healing Waters- NPR

A new series daily this week for NPR Day to Day: Retired Navy Captain Ed Nicholson is an avid fly-fishermen. He realized fishing would be good therapy for disabled veterans. So he hooked up with Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers, and with private donations and volunteer guides, they began teaching wounded vets, including many amputees, how to fly-fish. Project Healing Waters, now regularly takes vets on these therapeutic fishing outings. Captain Eivind Forseth spent a day catching trout at Rose River Farm in Virginia.

Tin Can Orchestra

Weekend America ran the HV story “Tin Can Orchestra” by Ann Heppermann & Kara Oehler: Bobby Hansson is a phtogrpaher, filmmaker, blacksmith, and tin can artist. He’s created an orchestra of musical instruments from them, and other dumpstered materials. They’ve never been played all together before. Until now, for this radio piece. His book is The Fine Art of the Tin Can: Techniques and Inspirations.

This is Bobby Hansson with his friend Andrew Hayes holding the “sascatuner,” a musical instrument made out of a bicycle seat, two horns, plastic tubing and a trumpet mouthpiece.

This is where Bobby fires the coals for his blacksmithing work. He built the coal forge himself.

Bobby’s blacksmith shop. He built it himself out of old tires, recylced wood and bottles for the windows. To the right,
you can see the speaker where he rigged up a record player to blast
opera music.

Bobby sitting in the kitchen table with his own rendition of American Gothic hanging above him.

Bobby Hansson playing “Big Gray Elephant” on an instrument he made out of a giant maple syrup can (0:29):

Pedestrian Fanatic cast

This week’s HV cast is “Pedestrian Fanatic” (mp3) by Abner Serd: The paving of America as seen from the shoulders and sidewalks of our country’s roads. Musings-in-motion recorded during a 5000 trek from Arizona to Georgia to Maine. “It is becoming illegal to travel this country by foot.” Music by Jeff Arntsen of Racket Ship. (9:55):

Papua New Guinea- Goroka

Airing today on NPR Day to Day: An audio postcard from the Goroka Cultural Show in Papua New Guinea, by producer Skye Rohde.

Nature Stories podcast

The Nature Conservancy: Nature Stories podcast has been having an HV orgy lately. Recent casts include HV pieces by Scott Carrier, Jeff Rice, Jack Chance, and me.

Kiss & Dying cast

As promised in prev post, here’s our latest HV Podcast:

The Kiss and the Dying by Ceil Muller (7:36)
“His mouth might have been the most antiseptic place in that hospital. Certainly it was the most welcoming. Greedily reaching out for every possible life giving experience he could get. Death was not without pride, it just was greedy.” An etiquette list for those who may be dying soon, and for the soon-to-be survivors. (Photo by Man Ray.)

Pin Pia cast

The latest of our HV Podcasts is:

Pin Pia by Jack Chance (2:46)
In a Thailand market, Manop Thammadoonpinij, a music teacher and luthier, performs traditional songs on a haunting little-known ancient stringed instrument, the Pin Pia. (Collected along the travels of the Mountain Music Project).

We put new noise up every Monday. Tomorrow a piece by Ceil Muller.