Tag: romance/Archives

HV126- Joe Frank

Joe Frank in rehearsal and production for his spoken work show Just An Ordinary Man at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Photo Credit: Mark Campbell CreativeHearing Voices from NPR®
126 Joe Frank: God and Girls
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-11-16

“Joe Frank” (52:00 mp3):

An hour under the influence of radio maestro and radical raconteur Joe Frank. Many of these pieces pulled from the collection Joe Frank Team Favorites- Vols 1 and 2. Thanks to Michal Story for her help with this episode:

“God” (2004 / 1:48)

Voice: Joe Frank.
From the hour: “Duplicity.”

“I Have Seen God” (1989 / 2:07)

Voice: Ryan Cutrona.
From the hour: “Great Lives.”
Series: Work in Progress.
On the CD: Work in Progress- Characters and Scenes.

“Always There” (1999 / 4:30)

Voices: David Cross, Joe Frank.
From the hour “Jam.”
Series: Word in Progess.
On the CD Joe Frank Team Favorites- Vol 1
Music: James Brown “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” Hell.

More…

My First Crush

A video just right for Valentine’s Day, animated by Julia Pott, with original music and sound by Christopher Frost. People recall “My First Crush:”

More Julia Pott vids. And here’s some of HV’s past posts.

HV050- Love’s Labors

Artwork of hearts, flowers and couple dancing

Hearing Voices from NPR®
050 Love’s Labors: For Valentine’s Day
Host: Amy Dickinson of Chicago Tribune “Ask Amy”
Airs week of: 2012-02-08 (Originally: 2009-02-11)

Love’s Labors (52:00 mp3):

Affairs of the heart, and the intricacies of intimacy:

Lovelorn letters to an advice columnist, our Host, “Ask Amy.”

A “Valentine” from Kevin Kling (from his Stories from the Shallow End CD).

The Girls Glee Club of New Palestine High School, Indiana singing the theme from “Midnight Cowboy” (off the out-of-print Poly High – School Bands Play The Classics).

Women’s tales of true but tainted love, what Nancy Updike calls “Cringe Love”, from This American Life.

One of the “6 terrific teen-age tunes sung by Barbie and Ken (and you can sing along, too!),” a 45-rpm record from Mattel Toymakers (mp3 at UBU.com’s 365 Days Project– May 31).

PostSecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.”
PostSecret postcard- I secretly hope you're going to be miserable. But even more secretly I hope you're going to be happy.

Frank Warren came up the concept, catalogs the cards, and created a community.
PostSecret postcard- To the man who held my hand and made sure my son was okay when I totalled my car 9 years ago, I'm sorry I didn't ask your name, but I will never forget your kindness.

Frank Warren has been on NPR’s WE-SAT and ATC. And PostSecret has spawned a swarm of of books and flock of videos. These animated PostSecret cards accompany Donora‘s song “Shhh” in the film “PostSecret – A Valentine Video:”

Valentine’s Day, 2008

(photos/text © Jake Warga)

Man and woman in masks and costumes; Photo by Jake Warga

It’s the anniversary of some massacre, that much I know, that much is comforting. It’s another invented holiday to remind me of what’s missing. They all do, they hurt. My romantic dinner is a slice of pizza, the only smile tonight, the crust, big nose, it’s all in the geometry, you see it right? A bachelor’s bite. The pizza place doesn’t smell like pizza, but that’s neither here nor there.

I fell in love tonight. She was shopping for glue, I was shopping for a juicer. Wanted the manual squeeze ones, but they only have an electric one, suspiciously cheap, in five languages, from a country I’ve never been, from a people whose language I’ll never speak, neither here nor there. I’m in a country where 9:30 at night, on Valentine’s day, I can buy a slice of pizza and an electric juicer. More…

S&M and Internet Dating

That title sure got your attention. So I recently started internet dating. Which is kind of funny because the first collaborative radio piece Kara and I ever did was on sex and the Internet.

Filling out the profile I realized a few things 1) Pro Tools figured prominently, 2) I mentioned my cat three times and 3) while both 1 & 2 seemed sad, I figured I could exploit this online meet-and-greet for our Song and Memory series. Hence, my profile says,

“If you have a really cool story about your most memorable song from childhood…let me know, you might go on the radio.

Really. Write and let me know. Even if you don’t add me to your hotlist.”

And it worked! Men ripped through my ethernet cable to share their most heartwrenching/heartwarming memories. OK. Not really. But I have gone on a few dates (fun, but no love connection Chuck) and found one promising Song and Memory story (it involves cheesecake, Brooklyn and NWA). I’ve also gathered sounds. Because if you date me, you date my microphone.

Date Sound #1:

Peter is a Ph.d guy who makes music videos, robots and audio software. He’s also into exploring things like abandoned subway tunnels. Rather than doing the standard bar and drinks, our date consisted of sneaking down a ladder at the end of an MTA platform. He brought his camera to film. I brought my stereo microphone to record. And no, we didn’t make out.

Date Sound #2:

Anders grew up in Sweden. He sent me this email.

“Not sure if this is a cool story, but my most favorite childhood song comes from a schlocky Swedish comedy duo called “Trazan and Banarne.” Back in the day, me and basically every other Swedish kid under age 10 would obsessively be up by 7a.m. watching two grown men in monkey suits singing with their mouths full of bananas.”

The date was standard (drinks) and the story was just OK. But now I have the sound of two Swedish men in monkey suits, singing in Swedish and eating bananas.

Which goes to show that maybe I’m not really looking for love at all…maybe all I need to be happy is good sound.

And my cat.