Nawlins jazz flute player Eluard Burt passed this week. We did a nice (if we say so ourselves) sound-portrait of him in 2005. It’s part of our New Orleans [Yawp] webwork.
Burt’s flute was recorded at Dave Brink’s 17 Poets January 2005. Here’s “Eluard Burt, NOLA” (5:28 mp3):
George Ingmire of WWOZ is playing a tribute to Eluard on his show today.
This week’s HV cast: Great literature allows us to learn to empathize with the experiences of others. So how is it a man now on trial for crimes against humanity is an avid reader of fiction? Might he simple be reading the wrong books? A trip to The Hague to hand-deliver the ‘right’ books to Slobodan Milosevic. A story by Ben Walker, “Remedial Theory” (13:29 mp3):
This week’s HV cast is Sleepless in Tbilisi. A twenty-four hour tour, from Turkish baths to Batumi beaches, through the country of Georgia. High-speed sight-seeing driven by the accidental tourguide: “a ‘detective,’ or ‘special police,’ or ‘security force.’ It’s not clear. Sometimes he even says ‘KGB,’ though that no longer exists… does it?” A story by Larry Massett, “Long Day on the Road” (14:52) mp3):
This week’s HV cast is a trip to Easter Island to gather recordings of local musicians and theories on who made and moved the “moai,” the ilse’s famous stone heads. A mystery of aliens, archeologists; and arboreal emptiness: What happened to all the trees? A story by Jack Chance, “Big Stone Heads” (6:09 mp3):
This week’s HV cast is a portrait of the non-fiction writer Charles Bowden, told by the people he’s written about and the editors he’s worked with. Bowden lives in Tucson, Arizona, and has written extensively on the cultural and physical environment of the Southwest. His style is both harsh and beautiful, and somewhat painful to read, as he takes the position that we are all to blame, or perhaps that there is no one is to blame, for the violent and destructive acts committed against nature and society. He writes about child molesters, drug traffickers, savings and loan executives, real estate developers, and crooked politicians in a way that implicates all of us. And so his work has been largely ignored. These interviews, hopefully, will help end his anonymity. A story by Scott Carrier, “The Thing Just Beyond Our Reach” (22:41 mp3):
This week’s HV cast for a hot Summer’s day— It is 120°. The birds and animals, and even insects hide. We hear the the words, thoughts and sounds of desert residents: writer Charles Bowden, the Tohono O’odham poet Ofelia Zepeda, and ambient composer Steve Roach, whose composition “Slow Heat” scores the piece. A story by Jeff Rice, “Heat- extended mix” (7:30 mp3):
This week’s HV cast for Independence Day— People with different regional, ethnic, and national accents recite and reflect upon the single-sentence, century-old poem “The Pledge of Allegiance.” A story by Barrett Golding, “The Pledge” (5:23 mp3):
This week’s HV cast starts Summer with some Mississippi moonshine, barbecued goat and the last of the old-time Fife & Drum picnics. A story by Ben Adair, “Otha Turner’s Picnic” (13:10 mp3):
Scott’s piece on “Sun Tunnels” (9:21) sculpture in the Utah desert runs this solstice week on The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Stories podcast:
If you’re a Harper’s Magazine subscriber, you can now get pdf versions of paper articles online; e.g., here’s Carrier, Scott – Articles (Harper’s Magazine).
This week’s HV cast is a Father’s Day ditty. Going in and out of cool, in syncopated time, a daughter and dad’s ever-changing relationship moves to the beat of a jazz standard. A story by Rebecca Flowers, “My Father’s Music” (mp3 6:30):
This week’s HV cast: The eerily beautiful music of moth wings. A tale of bat-detectors, beehive destruction and the intersection of insect and synthesizer. A story by Jeff Rice, “Moth Music” (mp3 3:02):
NPR has a new CD collection called The Declaration in Sound. Most of the tracks are NPR intervus and commentaries; ya know, Edwards, Krulwich, Stamberg and such on presidential drinking problems and Declaration of Independence quotes, like “Cruelty & Perfidy,” “of justice and of consanguinity,” and “merciless Indian Savages.”
But check track six. That one’s a masterpiece.
This week’s HV cast is for Memorial Day, part two (of 2) of our special “For the Fallen“: Host Major Robert Schaefer, U.S. Army Special Forces, a Green Beret and poet, presents troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reading their emails, poems, and journals, as part of the NEA project: “Operation Homecoming,” and selections from the NEA CD Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience with well-known authors reading their poems, prose, and essays about their time in the military. Major Schaefer, the Host of this special, contributed the poem “Clusters” to the book.
“For the Fallen 2” mp3 29:00):
HV audio was all over pubradio last weekend. Jake Warga searched Ethiopia for “The Perfect Photo” on All Things Considered. On This American Life Scott Carrier, in Salt Lake City, watched “The Lake Effect” form as SLC mayor Rocky Anderson debated FOX New’s Sean Hannity.
I finished a bike “Trek through Yellowstone, Part 2” for Weekend America. “Part 1” was the weekend america before, as was Scott C’s “Steelhead Fishing” trip. And a final grand total of 384 stations broadcast our “For the Fallen” special.
This week’s HV cast is for Memorial Day, part one (of 2) of our special “For the Fallen“: Host Major Robert Schaefer, U.S. Army Special Forces, a Green Beret and poet, reveals his love-hate relationship with the bugle call “Taps.” We join a “Military Honor Guard” in Long Island, recorded by Charles Lane. We hear interviews with World War Two and Vietnam vets from the public radio’s StoryCorps and This I Believe series. Composer Phil Kline sets to music the slogans Vietnam soldiers etched into their lighters, in Zippo Songs. And we attend the daily ceremony by Belgian veterans honoring the WWI British soldiers who died defending a small town in western Belgium (produced by Marjorie Van Halteren and Helen Engelhardt).
“For the Fallen 1” mp3 23:00):
Jake Warga’s hunt for “The Perfect Photo” in Ethiopia ran tonight on NPR All Things Considered. Here’s the slideshow:
Jake’s: site | videos.
Our Memorial Day hour special, “For The Fallen,” airs on 300+ 370+ stations this weekend. Check the webwork for audio, casualty charts, and video slideshow. The host is Major Robert Schaefer, US Army Special Forces, a poet and Green Beret.
This week’s HV cast is from the Song and Memory series. What song from your past brings back a strong memory? Kelly Kinsey tells us about a Beatles tune that takes her back. Produced by Ann Heppermann, Rick Moody & Kara Oehler, “Eleanor Rigby” (mp3 3:23):
This week’s HV cast: A woman’s song on the streets of Taipei, Taiwan, leads the producer to the outskirts of town, to climb the rock steps of the White Temple. There, high in the clouds, one hundred voices are singing a salutation to the Buddha. A story by Dmae Roberts, “”White Temple- Taiwan”” (mp3 1:51):