2008-12-24
HV043- Go By Train
Hearing Voices from NPR®
043 Go By Train: Riding the Rails
Host: Calvin Johnson of K Records
Airs week of: 2010-06-30 (Originally: 2008-12-24)
“Go By Train” (52:00 mp3):
Musician Calvin Johnson (of the band Beat Happening, and owner of K Records) hosts train tales:
“Julie the Amtrak God” (2:17) Jenny Asarnow.
An existential interaction with an automated Amtrak voice.
“Aunt Grace’s Train Trip” (3:00)
Calvin reads from his Great Aunt Grace’s diary of a 1891 train ride from Boston to San Francisco.
“America- Before the War” (8:59) Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet performs the first movement of Steve Reich‘s Different Trains.
“Jules Shear’s Train Song” (5:07) Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler
In the Song & Memory series, musician Jules Shear recalls singing for a school principal while riding the rails as a kid.