There is something enjoyable about hearing from a person who takes pride and pleasure in his work. And after 64, that's right, 64 years of waiting tables at a fancy restaurant in New York City, that's how you would have to describe Fred Christina. A polished and pleasurable story indeed, probably as much so as a dining experience at The Plaza.
This is an amusing piece that most listeners are bound to connect with in one way or another. Some interesting little surprises along the way, cool period music in all the most appropriate places, nice breezy pace.
Well,it was bound to happen:"This American Life"paints itself into a corner that's easily susceptible to parody.
"This American Cheese",clearly with a loving cheekiness ,takes the aural timbre of "TAL"and boils it down to such an accurate portrayal,some might think this is Ira himself who was taking a swipe at self-mockery. Of course,anyone who's ever listened to "TAL"enough times will easily recognize the basic recipe(quirky background music,diary-like vocal presentation,Glass's signature nasal delivery replete with pauses)so almost anyone could pull off something similar. However,being that this is the first time I've ever heard such a blatant parody,it's rather fresh and needs to be added onto the next"TAL"live CD. Good stuff. The"Fonzie/Fondue" segment is pretty amusing,too.
This story is just plain fun to listen to. The artfully understated beginning (history of Crayola) slowly and smoothly accelerates into a rather delightful blend of crayon lore, nostalgia, children, crayon cliches, and what turns out to be a surprisingly familiar sound-- a rhythmic back-and-forth-back-and-forth rub that most all of us experienced when our hands were much smaller, heads and ears bent low over our work. Your listeners will all smile and nod knowingly.
As the producers say, this is a "parable of public relations and the price of fame", a story about a crusty old fellow who has a charming sense of honesty. Does he really dislike skiing that much? Does his wife really have the right to complain about his lackluster employment record? This guy seems to have the kind of "crusty-on-the-outside-but-a-heart-of-gold-inside" personality that TV sitcom producers try to replicate, but never quite achieve. And the story treatment first reveals and then moves beyond the typical PR cliche in a way that I think most public radio listeners appreciate.
An interesting, listener-friendly eleven minutes.
why is it that the evil things we do as kids (when we're supposed to be learning the ropes of the whole morality thing) cut us so deeply as adults? This piece revisits a real moment in the author's life, in a first grade classroom, valentines day, 1955, and the aftermath of that brutal ceremony known as trading valentine cards. The writing is dramatic, the read very close-to-the-mic, which fits the intimate, confessional tone. This is an honest, engaging piece that does a lot in 2 minutes. I would love to hear stations play this kind of edgy, memorable material around valentines day.
In “Democracy,” the struggle for black voter registration in Mississippi is re-evoked in all its horror through first-person accounts from people who were there. As one European paper put it at the time, a Mississippi Negro’s life was not worth “a whistle.” Even now, hearing the stories, it is hard to make sense of what was happening in this country mere decades ago. “It don’t make no sense” one woman says at the end, looking back. And somehow it just doesn’t, even with the benefit of time. “Democracy” presents the stories, the paradoxes-- the sense of terror—while avoiding easy pronouncements.
A very powerful voice, bringing news from the front - an important glimpse into the life of an ordinary soldier living with the impact of war. Would fit easily into any news magazine or soft feature hour. It is well produced, with just the right music to heighten the emotion. It could be shortened a bit, if necessary, to fit into a tighter slot without losing the impact.
The story is pretty silly, just the sort of thing they play at the end of the hour on Morning Edition while you're waiting for the local weather. What made it impossible to stop listening to was the skilled sound mixing -- complex without letting you lose the thread of the story. The male voice also had a nice Clint Eastwood sound that gave some heft to the piece. Nice piece of whimsy.
I think this piece will keep listeners in their driveways glued to the radio until the end. A soldier returns from Iraq, and says he saw "everything that probably a lot of Americans SHOULD see, but don't WANT to see." Then he tells of an incident that he may never forget. He's a patriot, without easy answers, one who is struggling with his conscience. He probably wants us to struggle along with him. If you put this story on the air you'll give your listeners a chance to do just that.
A very polished piece smoothly mixing narration, interview and, of course, tango music. It helps that Robin Tara has a smoky, engaging voice. Every woman of a certain age nurtures tango fantasies and here is the tale of one who pursues those fantasies and is rewarded with both a business and a man. This certainly belongs in a "follow your dream" category and will be very appealing as such.
Review of Pop Vultures #2 Boy Bands and Poptarts (deleted)
I just got the difference between about 8 different female pop singers. In spite of opinions and taste every one gets their fair due - good or bad - and that is pretty impressive. The host and her guests speak their minds but they keep each other in check too - everyone has to back up what they're saying, got to have good reason to dis a performer, it's not enough to just not like him/her. So in the meantime, you get some history or background intelligently spelled out for you. You, who don't know.
vm
I’m sure Giantman is a metaphor for something— in fact, it might just be a metaphor for everything. It’s inspiring. Hillary Frank makes good radio with pretty much nothing-- none of that fancy ProTools or bourgeois pause button stuff-- just ideas, talent and a good story. Careful volume fades have made us soft. Perhaps not enough radio stories end with an abrupt stop. It’s sort of Brechtian—DIY, punk—just like Giantman himself.
Paul has a great voice and a very engaging style. He manages to give a lightness to some heavy-duty pondering through his folksy style. This would be a good commentary piece that would help lighten the overall tone of a program.
A good piece for hearing the voices of people without the mediation of a narrator interpreting and introducing. The editing is also superb, creating a richly textured and seamless experience. Tupperware had a helpful role in transitioning women from their post-WWII expectation of staying at home back to the workforce before 1960s feminism dawned. Therefore, while this piece is amusing, it could be used to balance a more serious program about 20th century women and work.
Great title, especially when the fisherman point out that the funny smell is actually money. Descriptive voiceover during good natural sound. I could easily hear this anytime on a national magazine show. Interesting on it's own, doesn't need to be part of a fishing segment or anything like that. I really like pieces like this, that bring into focus a work-life that I wouldn't otherwise know about it. It took a couple of interesting tangents, too.
This piece is perfect for Women's History Month. It is also appropriate fro any programming about the Cold War, Anti-Semitism, and/or academia.
Barry Vogel interviews author and historian Gerda Lerner. It's a phone interview and that interface is effective because it adds a sense of immediacy and intimacy to the piece, which is highly intellectual.
Lerner covers a lot of territory: remembrances of growing up in Anti-Semitic Austria; her life as a black-listed communist working to unionize the film industry.
Gerda Lerner has a great radio presence : she's at once philosophical and very accessible. And Vogel does a nice job of keeping the conversation moving and expanding without losing focus. cm
Despite that this story is almost a quarter-century old, it's still fresher than most of what you hear on public radio. Inspiring to me as a producer, fun to listen to for anybody, great style but with substance. Lots of energy, which matches the saccharin-sweet voices they interview. Great use of sound. Very nice. I think many stories could benefit from this 'voice' -- this energy.
After hearing this piece you will know what sea cucumbers are, who buys and eats them and who doesn't (and why), how much money you can make fishing for them, how to process them, which central American countries almost all the sea cucumber processors at this plant come from, how much it would cost to smuggle their children here, what they had for dinner that night, what you would pay for rent if you were willing to share a trailer with eight other people, and more. An interesting and straightforward piece, complete with a sense of place.
All Comments
Comment on piece: Fred Christina Remembers Everything
Phil Easley
Posted on February 20, 2004 at 08:54 AM | Permalink
Review of Fred Christina Remembers Everything
There is something enjoyable about hearing from a person who takes pride and pleasure in his work. And after 64, that's right, 64 years of waiting tables at a fancy restaurant in New York City, that's how you would have to describe Fred Christina. A polished and pleasurable story indeed, probably as much so as a dining experience at The Plaza.
Comment on piece: The Miseducation of Josh Frank
Polly Vinograd
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 11:59 PM | Permalink
Review of The Miseducation of Josh Frank
Inspiring for teenagers (and adults)
Comment on piece: High School Reunion
Phil Easley
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 02:58 PM | Permalink
Review of High School Reunion
This is an amusing piece that most listeners are bound to connect with in one way or another. Some interesting little surprises along the way, cool period music in all the most appropriate places, nice breezy pace.
Comment on piece: This American Cheese
Kyle Garrett
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 02:11 PM | Permalink
Review of This American Cheese
Well,it was bound to happen:"This American Life"paints itself into a corner that's easily susceptible to parody.
"This American Cheese",clearly with a loving cheekiness ,takes the aural timbre of "TAL"and boils it down to such an accurate portrayal,some might think this is Ira himself who was taking a swipe at self-mockery. Of course,anyone who's ever listened to "TAL"enough times will easily recognize the basic recipe(quirky background music,diary-like vocal presentation,Glass's signature nasal delivery replete with pauses)so almost anyone could pull off something similar. However,being that this is the first time I've ever heard such a blatant parody,it's rather fresh and needs to be added onto the next"TAL"live CD. Good stuff. The"Fonzie/Fondue" segment is pretty amusing,too.
Comment on piece: Crayola
Phil Easley
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 12:09 PM | Permalink
Review of Crayola
This story is just plain fun to listen to. The artfully understated beginning (history of Crayola) slowly and smoothly accelerates into a rather delightful blend of crayon lore, nostalgia, children, crayon cliches, and what turns out to be a surprisingly familiar sound-- a rhythmic back-and-forth-back-and-forth rub that most all of us experienced when our hands were much smaller, heads and ears bent low over our work. Your listeners will all smile and nod knowingly.
Phil Easley
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 11:47 AM
Review of The Endless Winter (deleted)
As the producers say, this is a "parable of public relations and the price of fame", a story about a crusty old fellow who has a charming sense of honesty. Does he really dislike skiing that much? Does his wife really have the right to complain about his lackluster employment record? This guy seems to have the kind of "crusty-on-the-outside-but-a-heart-of-gold-inside" personality that TV sitcom producers try to replicate, but never quite achieve. And the story treatment first reveals and then moves beyond the typical PR cliche in a way that I think most public radio listeners appreciate.
An interesting, listener-friendly eleven minutes.
Comment on piece: The Valentine 1955
Gregory Warner
Posted on February 19, 2004 at 11:06 AM | Permalink
your first moral failure, revisited
why is it that the evil things we do as kids (when we're supposed to be learning the ropes of the whole morality thing) cut us so deeply as adults? This piece revisits a real moment in the author's life, in a first grade classroom, valentines day, 1955, and the aftermath of that brutal ceremony known as trading valentine cards. The writing is dramatic, the read very close-to-the-mic, which fits the intimate, confessional tone. This is an honest, engaging piece that does a lot in 2 minutes. I would love to hear stations play this kind of edgy, memorable material around valentines day.
Comment on piece: Mississippi Becomes a Democracy
Jonathan Goldstein
Posted on February 18, 2004 at 04:33 PM | Permalink
Review of Mississippi Becomes a Democracy
In “Democracy,” the struggle for black voter registration in Mississippi is re-evoked in all its horror through first-person accounts from people who were there. As one European paper put it at the time, a Mississippi Negro’s life was not worth “a whistle.” Even now, hearing the stories, it is hard to make sense of what was happening in this country mere decades ago. “It don’t make no sense” one woman says at the end, looking back. And somehow it just doesn’t, even with the benefit of time. “Democracy” presents the stories, the paradoxes-- the sense of terror—while avoiding easy pronouncements.
Comment on piece: Johnny Comes Home
Susan Barrett Price
Posted on February 18, 2004 at 11:40 AM | Permalink
Review of Johnny Comes Home
A very powerful voice, bringing news from the front - an important glimpse into the life of an ordinary soldier living with the impact of war. Would fit easily into any news magazine or soft feature hour. It is well produced, with just the right music to heighten the emotion. It could be shortened a bit, if necessary, to fit into a tighter slot without losing the impact.
Comment on piece: Make Way for Ducks
Susan Barrett Price
Posted on February 18, 2004 at 11:19 AM | Permalink
Review of Make Way for Ducks
The story is pretty silly, just the sort of thing they play at the end of the hour on Morning Edition while you're waiting for the local weather. What made it impossible to stop listening to was the skilled sound mixing -- complex without letting you lose the thread of the story. The male voice also had a nice Clint Eastwood sound that gave some heft to the piece. Nice piece of whimsy.
Comment on piece: Johnny Comes Home
Phil Easley
Posted on February 17, 2004 at 03:36 PM | Permalink
Review of Johnny Comes Home
I think this piece will keep listeners in their driveways glued to the radio until the end. A soldier returns from Iraq, and says he saw "everything that probably a lot of Americans SHOULD see, but don't WANT to see." Then he tells of an incident that he may never forget. He's a patriot, without easy answers, one who is struggling with his conscience. He probably wants us to struggle along with him. If you put this story on the air you'll give your listeners a chance to do just that.
Comment on piece: Tango!
Susan Barrett Price
Posted on February 17, 2004 at 10:57 AM | Permalink
Review of Tango!
A very polished piece smoothly mixing narration, interview and, of course, tango music. It helps that Robin Tara has a smoky, engaging voice. Every woman of a certain age nurtures tango fantasies and here is the tale of one who pursues those fantasies and is rewarded with both a business and a man. This certainly belongs in a "follow your dream" category and will be very appealing as such.
Transom Editors
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 06:15 PM
Review of Pop Vultures #2 Boy Bands and Poptarts (deleted)
I just got the difference between about 8 different female pop singers. In spite of opinions and taste every one gets their fair due - good or bad - and that is pretty impressive. The host and her guests speak their minds but they keep each other in check too - everyone has to back up what they're saying, got to have good reason to dis a performer, it's not enough to just not like him/her. So in the meantime, you get some history or background intelligently spelled out for you. You, who don't know.
vm
Comment on piece: Giantman
Jonathan Goldstein
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 03:19 PM | Permalink
Review of Giantman
I’m sure Giantman is a metaphor for something— in fact, it might just be a metaphor for everything. It’s inspiring. Hillary Frank makes good radio with pretty much nothing-- none of that fancy ProTools or bourgeois pause button stuff-- just ideas, talent and a good story. Careful volume fades have made us soft. Perhaps not enough radio stories end with an abrupt stop. It’s sort of Brechtian—DIY, punk—just like Giantman himself.
Comment on piece: I Don't Know
Susan Barrett Price
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 10:06 AM | Permalink
Review of I Don't Know
Paul has a great voice and a very engaging style. He manages to give a lightness to some heavy-duty pondering through his folksy style. This would be a good commentary piece that would help lighten the overall tone of a program.
Comment on piece: Tupperware
Susan Barrett Price
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 09:36 AM | Permalink
Review of Tupperware
A good piece for hearing the voices of people without the mediation of a narrator interpreting and introducing. The editing is also superb, creating a richly textured and seamless experience. Tupperware had a helpful role in transitioning women from their post-WWII expectation of staying at home back to the workforce before 1960s feminism dawned. Therefore, while this piece is amusing, it could be used to balance a more serious program about 20th century women and work.
Comment on piece: Smells Like Money to Me
Hans Anderson
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 09:10 AM | Permalink
Review of Smells Like Money to Me
Great title, especially when the fisherman point out that the funny smell is actually money. Descriptive voiceover during good natural sound. I could easily hear this anytime on a national magazine show. Interesting on it's own, doesn't need to be part of a fishing segment or anything like that. I really like pieces like this, that bring into focus a work-life that I wouldn't otherwise know about it. It took a couple of interesting tangents, too.
Comment on piece: A Pioneer in Writing Women's History
Transom Editors
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 09:09 AM | Permalink
Review of A Pioneer in Writing Women's History
This piece is perfect for Women's History Month. It is also appropriate fro any programming about the Cold War, Anti-Semitism, and/or academia.
Barry Vogel interviews author and historian Gerda Lerner. It's a phone interview and that interface is effective because it adds a sense of immediacy and intimacy to the piece, which is highly intellectual.
Lerner covers a lot of territory: remembrances of growing up in Anti-Semitic Austria; her life as a black-listed communist working to unionize the film industry.
Gerda Lerner has a great radio presence : she's at once philosophical and very accessible. And Vogel does a nice job of keeping the conversation moving and expanding without losing focus. cm
Comment on piece: Tupperware
Hans Anderson
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 09:03 AM | Permalink
Review of Tupperware
Despite that this story is almost a quarter-century old, it's still fresher than most of what you hear on public radio. Inspiring to me as a producer, fun to listen to for anybody, great style but with substance. Lots of energy, which matches the saccharin-sweet voices they interview. Great use of sound. Very nice. I think many stories could benefit from this 'voice' -- this energy.
Comment on piece: Smells Like Money to Me
Phil Easley
Posted on February 16, 2004 at 09:00 AM | Permalink
Review of Smells Like Money to Me
After hearing this piece you will know what sea cucumbers are, who buys and eats them and who doesn't (and why), how much money you can make fishing for them, how to process them, which central American countries almost all the sea cucumber processors at this plant come from, how much it would cost to smuggle their children here, what they had for dinner that night, what you would pay for rent if you were willing to share a trailer with eight other people, and more. An interesting and straightforward piece, complete with a sense of place.