Public Radio Redux
There's way too much audio in the world to catch everything that comes out of your clock radio. Public Radio Redux shines a spotlight on stories that makes you turn and look at your speakers. It's a curated list, a place to make comments, and ...
There's way too much audio in the world to catch everything that comes out of your clock radio. Public Radio Redux shines a spotlight on stories that makes you turn and look at your speakers. It's a curated list, a place to make comments, and a blog about making radio. Consider it the espresso in your daily public radio fix.
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The Real LeWitt
Last week we went down to my favorite museum, MASS ...
Last week we went down to my favorite museum, MASS MoCA, for their 10th anniversary extravaganza. There was an opening for 3 new exhibitions, a black tie dinner (which we didn't go to), and a party with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Best of all perhaps, we got to finally see the Sol LeWitt wall drawing retrospective. MASS MoCA is built in 19th century factory buildings on a 13-acre campus. Only a portion of the buildings have been renovated and are in use. The retrospective is housed in an newly renovated building spanning 3 floors representing the 3 stages of LeWitt's work. The wall drawings are deceptively simple in concept. The art is merely a set of instructions. They can be as simple as "The location of one hundred random specific points. (The locations are determined by the draftsman.)," but the execution is something entirely different. The exhibit took 65 people just about 6 months to install. The result is breathtaking. Wall after wall of massively intricate pieces of art painted or drawn directly on the wall. At this point you are surely thinking, "If I have the instructions can't I just do it myself at home?" Studio 360 conveniently explored this topic the day before we saw the exhibit. The official answer is that each drawing has an official certificate and if you sell the artwork, you hand over the certificate and have to paint over your wall. If you buy a LeWitt a team of official draftspeople come and install it on your wall of choice. Between you and me, I'm thinking about drawing a Sol LeWitt in my house and I'm pretty sure it would make me happy too. This was the first time I really felt like I understood, not just appreciated, conceptual art and it was a really nice feeling. I recommend everyone heads to North Adams and gets that really nice feeling. If you are too far away, MASS MoCA has a great web component to the retrospective and the catalog will be coming out in July (designed by friend of the blog and museum design director, Dan McKinley). Also in this episode: speaking in (Klingon) tongues, Jill Sobule finds her long tail, and Design for the Real World tells us how to cubicle got so wrong.
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Wilco Madness!
Between my love of Marketplace Money and Dinner Party Download ...
Between my love of Marketplace Money and Dinner Party Download you'd think I'd have Marketplace overload, but no. They keep churning out great radio and I keep listening. A few weeks ago they stepped away from the current economy and went back in time with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. If you know Wilco at all you know they love Woody Guthrie. In fact, they recorded 2 albums worth of his unheard material called Mermaid Avenue with singer Billy Bragg. Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, pulled Jolly Banker out of the archives because she felt it was once again relative in today's economic situation as it had been when it was originally written. She asked Wilco to record a version and that's how we're lucky enough get a great musician on Marketplace. The song is available for a choose-your-price donation to the Woody Guthrie Foundation on Wilco's site. In other Wilco news, they have an finally recorded a self-titled album that is coming out June 30. The whole album is suppose to be available for streaming, but doesn't seem to be working at the moment. You can also pre-order the record (yes, even on vinyl). Lastly, no summer would be completely without a giant slew of outdoor Wilco shows. We're going to see them in Lowell, MA if anybody wants to stop by and say hi.
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A Dinner Party Where You Won't Have to Make Awkward Small Talk
After the first 20 seconds, I was hooked. Literally 20 ...
After the first 20 seconds, I was hooked. Literally 20 seconds (or after the Icebreaker as they call it). I'm not sure how this episode ended up in my iTunes, but I'm pretty sure it was kismet. After hearing a recent Marketplace Money about credit, we all know that the Rico Gagliano likes to win (even though he didn't happen have the highest FICO score in the office). It's only fitting that he and fellow Marketplacer Brendan Francis Newnam are the hosts of DPD, "the show that helps us win our next dinner party." The show is a highly produced and brilliantly fast-paced whisking us through offbeat news, history lesson, drink recipes, interviews, and music. They pack what a normal show might cover in an hour into around 15 minutes. This episode includes a history lesson about Gandhi, a tasty lassi recipe, an interview with Ondi Timoner (pictured above) who directed We Live In Public and Dig, and a grilled cheese fixation. To top it off, they closed with a song from my favorite new album Jewellery by Micachu and the Shapes. Dinner Party Download, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Thanks to the infamous Robert Scoble for the photo.
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The Other New President: Vivian Schiller
Vivian Schiller; NPR's new president, CEO and head cheerleader; joined ...
Vivian Schiller; NPR's new president, CEO and head cheerleader; joined Tom Ashbrook for the first hour of WBUR's On Point yesterday. Despite the potential awkwardness of interviewing your boss, the conversation turned into what could have been an amazing keynote for South by Southwest. There was some navel-gazing given that NPR had record ratings in 2008, up about 9% from 2007 to 23.6 million listeners per week. Other fun facts include: Morning Edition's average daily audience (7.6 million) is 60% larger than ABC's Good Morning America and 1/3 larger than NBC's Today Show. The audience for Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is twice as much Daily Show and Colbert Report combined! After that, they ventured into some standard sign-of-the-times economic stuff. Newspapers are dying. Advertising models are changing. Schiller says NPR won't "rest on their laurels"...they will adapt and (here's the kicker) "deliver news and information to people in any platform they choose to consume it." In our humble opinion, this is why public radio's listenership is up while newspaper readership is down. Public media has done an amazing job of adapting and adopting emerging media. Of course, this doesn't change the economics of the situation and NPR revenue is still down. While they didn't talk much about it, NPR will announce another round of cuts (likely including layoffs) in the next month or two. No live radio experience would be complete without crazy listeners calling in and that definitely happened towards the end. I turned it off when callers started debating whether NPR was "liberal media", but I think I know how this one ends...
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Elvis Perkins: Holding Back the Dirge
I've been entranced by Elvis Perkins since I saw him ...
I've been entranced by Elvis Perkins since I saw him at SXSW in 2007. Under a hot tent in the back of a parking lot, Perkins and his band mates bounced around the makeshift stage. Throughout the set, they gathered together around one microphone, leaning against each other as they sang with full force. The drummer banged away on a big round drum strapped to his chest, looking like a toy monkey come to life under the Austin sun. When I got home and heard Perkins' 2007 release Ash Wednesday, I wondered who drained all the color from his music. It's a stunning album that unfurls in intricate shades of gray, but it doesn't sound anything like the band I had heard just days earlier. Once I read Elvis Perkins' bio, everything came into focus. Steve Inskeep manages to hold tight to the joy in Elvis Perkins' newest album in this Morning Edition interview. Perkins seems tight lipped at first, but Inskeep circles around the meaning until Perkins rewards him with a smile and a remarkably poetic explanation. Perkins' metaphors may be sorrow-tinged, but just like seeing him perform live, the interview isn't the least bit grim. Instead, Inskeep's genuine desire to understand Perkins' life and music keeps the interview buoyant, rewarding us with a big bass drum and the slightest brush of optimism. (photos by Rich Orris)
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If Outfront Can't Make It, Who Can?
Another sad day in public radio. The Canadian Broadcasting Company ...
Another sad day in public radio. The Canadian Broadcasting Company announced major cuts in programming and the superb documentary series Outfront was amongst the casualties. This innovative program put microphones into the hands of Canadians from all walks of life and helped them tell their own stories. The result was some of the best first person, sound rich radio out there. The show was staffed by a small but dedicated army of talented producers, led by the always thought-provoking Neil Sandell. (If you haven't heard his 2007 Third Coast session "Secrets, Whispers and Lies" it's definitely worth a listen.) No word on how soon Outfront will be going off the air, so we'll leave you with another round of compelling stories from teenagers growing up on the remote island of Alert Bay, B.C. Let's hope someone cares enough about the next generation of Canadians to record their stories before it's too late.
