This story works because it accomplishes two things that by themselves might seem simple, but together are difficult to do successfully. First, Gwen tells a story, clearly and confidently, with pacing driven from the obvious chronologies of events - all crossing paths with the life of one homeless individual, Earl Hutchinson. Then she does something that is rare. She tells this story in such a way as to give us all a certain empathy to the story - not necessarily the individual. Those of us "of an age" have these stories in our past. Friends and acquaintances that have dropped off our radar, but who, somehow, pop up now and again in our memories - fond and rich with the clarity of a photograph. This allows us to attach ourselves to the story, relating to it, step by step, saying "Damn, that's sad, and I knew someone just like that." The story is the radio equivalent of a surveyor tying bright orange ribbon to the trees, and stakes, and brush in a field - that field of course is our memory. Those bright flags provide us with markers to measure our own story.
The length of this piece and its narrative tone lend itself to the likes of This American Life, or at least a show with longer-form content. It is compelling, well recorded, and beautifully written.
Beth and Samantha are sisters... and friends. The kind of friends that share deep secrets, support one another through thick and thin, and do those things that only true friends will tolerate. They're at a precipice in their relationship; one pregnant and happily married, the other recently "dumped" and angry at the world.
As radio plays go... it's unusual in its brevity. It's also unusual in its deep content. Two sisters deal with their differences and thier obvious familial bond. There is no attempt at cheap humor. Too many radio plays seem to go that route, looking for the quick and often irksome laugh. Crying abounds as does sniffling and a constant coming-and-going roar of the surf.
The two actresses do a presentable job. One could actually believe they are sisters. We've all had these conversations before, whether with sisters or brothers or friends. Ones where every word creates the opportunity for potential ignition. There are turns, and pauses, and button-hooks of emotion here.
I love radio drama; was born and raised on it. This reminds me of old time radio without the melodramatic affectation. It's duration presents both opportunities and challenges for the program director. While at eleven and some minutes it might be squeezed in somewhere, the content begs for more like-programming to wrap it in.
Richie Duchon has produced a delightful and, dare I say, airy little gem here. His subject, Jeff Hannon, uses whistling as an escape from the world around him. In his own words, he finds himself whistling in those same moments he allows himself to "zone out." Mr. Hannon describes to us why he whistles, where he whistles, and the origins of his whistling affliction.
The only voice heard is that of the subject. It's a self-contained micro-feature. The producer claims to have already sold this to NPR's ATC. It seems like a good light-hearted filler just waiting for the proper opening in a show like that.
This is a great premise. A twenty-something woman - our animated producer Rebecca Sheir - attempts to gain back a bit of high-school glory by passing the President's Physical Fitness award test. She wants that patch! And she'd fallen short of it in high-school. So she tracks down the nearest high school and gives it a whirl. Yoga, jogging, and a certain adult confidence help Rebecca prevail in this fitness journal read to a the Rocky soundtrack.
It's short and sweet, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to like her or hate her for her successes; seventy five curl-ups! Stretching fifteen inches BEYOND your toes! Who does she think she is, Jennifer Garner? Just the thing for inspiring those lazy - slug-a-bed early morning listeners, like me.
Cheryl-Anne Millsap spins a short yarn with a leaning towards the absurdity of growing older. With raw prose she includes us in the wordplay exchanged with a dear friend "of a certain age." The puns seem to fall out of her mouth pushing her friend to the limits, but letting us understand the thier relationship just a little. We learn that Cheryl-Anne loves words, and can't help using them to cajole and cavort through this conversation.
The subject matter is generic and undated. The tone is engaging and soft, befitting a spot on a morning news broadcast, or tossed into a magazine show.
This is a breif vignet. A moment or two taken from someone's life. Monica Mueller has a wonderful presence. Maybe its her rich voice and the comfort she has in speaking these words. Maybe it's the decided curiousness of her Austro/European accent. I felt immediately transported back in time upon hearing this 1:22 piece.
It leaves you hanging in mid-air, craving more of this story...or others. Fascinating concept. Worth a listen.
Continuing his series of well-written, historical musings on the labor movement Dick Meister hits stride with this description of one true meaning of May Day. Dick's pieces are like those short side-bars in your college history text book. They focus on one moment, in one aspect of history, concentrating it into something you remember after turning the page.
These are stories with a lot of teeth in them. Dick has obviously seen these events unfold and looks back on them with clarity, allowing us all to share the view. This, and all of Dick's essays, are short and easy to drop in during any broadcast. If you have a local news program that needs a little labor edge, Dick might be your shop-steward.
Comment for
"Primary Sources - Bear River Massacre" (deleted)
Review of Primary Sources - Bear River Massacre (deleted)
Kass Fleisher stumbles upon the story of the worst act of genocide in US history in the unlikiest of places - an in-flight magazine. (The piece is based on Fleisher's book - "The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History - SUNY Press 2004.)
We tend to recoil at the sound of the word massacre and toughen ourselves for what we assume we know will come next. What Kass tells us is something deeper and more heart-breaking; it is the shameful story of a culture that refuses to learn from its own mistakes.... our culture.
She quickly describes her immersion into this piece of American history by suggesting that she "went nuts at the local library" trying to research the event. She found conflicting stories that seemed to paint a larger picture of a world innured to the immense pain and suffering of others, especially it seems when whole cultures are at risk. Genocide has no historical limit, and the lessons learned from such horrors seem to be lost in an ever quickening cycle of madness.
Kass's voice, and the overall tone of the piece, lends a dynamic tension and irony. She is always calmly spoken, never strained, yet the story she tells is shameful for us all.
It is a well-done piece, short and to its point, but leaving plenty of room for the listener to create her or his own conclusion. I'd suggest a minute added to the end for the listener to catch a breath, take it in, and get permission from their psyche to move again through the day.
Dick Meister leads us through a veritable micro-history (3:22!)of the US labor movement from the 1950's through today. He does this by focusing on the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and it's fundamental tenets in serving the middle class of America.
Meister laments the obvious downslide of organized labor over the past three decades or so. He craftily ties the early days of the CIO and the great depression, Franklin D. Roosevelts efforts, and the basic assumptions of solidarity itself, slowly bringing us to the conjoining of the two seminal labor groups in the U.S., the AFL and the CIO, in 1955. He brings the key diffences between the two groups without judgement and provides just enough information to keep us tuned in and wanting to hear more.
He is unapologetically a labor/progressive. This is surprisingly relieving to hear in this day of social security "reform," constant downsizing, and the seeming unending bleeding of American jobs overseas.
This is a timely and precise commentary, leaning heavily on historical fact. It is pointed, yet without colorful rhetoric. If Daniel Schorr were a labor leader or a political scientist instead of a journalist, this is what he'd be saying. And he'd sound a lot like Dick Meister.
It's format is perfect for any news program. Drop it in. At just over 3:00 minutes, it'll fit anywhere.
Ray Luke Levasseur reflects on a life...missed. He spent 20 years in prison for the crimes of the Ohio Seven. Beginning in 1974 he and his partners went underground and simply dissappeared. Then in 1984 after a major FBI manhunt, he was captured and imprisoned for crimes against the US government, including more than 20 bombings.
The piece is one side of an interview with Levasseur recently let out of prison, and beginning to rebuild his life. He comes off changed, mellowed, but clearly unrepentent for the bombings that he says "resulted in no personal injuries, simply property damamge." Moments after he says this he proudly shows off pictures of this children and grand children, then jumps right back into detailing some of the crimes he considered are still perpetrated everyday by the US Government in communities around the world. "One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter!"
The piece is mixed with occassional elements of rythmic ethereal music, but is otherwise clean of only this man's voice. It is moving in its simplicity and the clarity of Levasseur's thoughts. It would need to be placed properly within a larger context. The audio quality is excellent, as is the editing.
Comment for
"The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City (full episode)" (deleted)
Review of The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City (full episode (deleted)
Jeff and Tom's excellent New Yawk adventure... "you got ah problum witdat?"
I liked the audio postcard versions of this show when I reviewed those last week. They worked well as humorous, hit-and-run, episodic segments. But frankly I couldn't imagine an entire hour of that. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when settling into my chair to listen to the hour-long version. The short subjects don't do justice to the serious technical and content efforts put forth by this crew from Connecticut.
The traveling radio show itself is a small crew, host - Jeff, engineer - Tom, and producer - Nicki.
The show makes its way around Manhattan to the usual and not-so-usual haunts. I grew up in New York, so this is stuff close to home, and I can be pretty critical about efforts to cover its many colors and textures. These guys do a great job!
What makes this show unique is the obvious comfort that the trio have developed together, and their ability to put the listener right in the middle of that comfort zone. There's a playfulness that is obvious amongst this crew, and they're not shy about showing it with tape rolling. Those are the best parts of the show, where the host says something ridiculous and the other two chide and cajole and laugh along with him.
The occassional tomfoolery provides an even balance to the sometimes historical, sometimes culturally alluring, and oft-times just plain quirky production elements. Imagine going on a safari with Marlon Perkins AND Ted Nugent!
Stations, this is a fresh take at travel and culture. It's out of the studio, where it belongs, and it's got a real youthful feeling. A show like this is prime for some national corporate sponsorship. The audio quality is excellent, as is the voice-work and announcing. The story-telling is top-notch, fun, and of such a variety that it keeps the show moving at a brisk pace. I think I'll be getting tickets for their next excursion myself.
Lan parties! Man, I am getting old! This sounds so foreign to me. BYOC means bring your own computer, so that you can hook up to a computer network and play an interconnected video game with thirty co-horts. Aaron Henkin does a great job of capturing the sense of the what these gamers are seeing, hearing, and doing.
It's an odd conflagration of gleeful kill-or-be-killed game playing and my-computer-is-faster-than-yours computer geekdom.
This is a terrific longer-form news feature. Henkin acts as our tour guide, stepping into this alien,sci-fi, world bravely talking "some serious smack" with this new breed of video gamer afficianado. As an uniformed onlooker, I loved this piece. It did that thing that Public Radio is supposed to do. It educated me on something I would otherwise have no reason or prediliction to learn about. Do your listeners a favor and find a nine minute block to slip this into. If you don't, may they find talk some serious smack about you! Cheers Aaron, great job.
Comment for
"The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City - Five Audio Postcards" (deleted)
Review of The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City - Five Audio (deleted)
Hartford, Connecticut's WNPR takes it's Traveling Radio Show to New York. These five audio postcards are designed as teasers for the full program. They are quirky, funny little vignets, that remind me of how Conan O'Brien might sound if he did Public Radio. Fishmarkets, tours of Chinatown, and other gems of New York's backstreets find an appreciative and audience in TRS, and it's eclectic crew.
Designed specifically as inserts to ME, or ATC. If you're playing the whole Traveling Radio Show on your station, you must use these! If not, they'll work on their own too.
These pieces show how fun informational programming can be.
Comment for
"Reaching for Peace in the Holy Land" (deleted)
Review of Reaching for Peace in the Holy Land (deleted)
Making Contact covers serious international issues in Israel and Palestine. This is a program from the point of view of peace advocates, looking for a peaceful solution to the seemingly intractible problems in this conflict ridden area of the mideast.
We follow a group called "checkpoint watch" as they go to the border crossing stations in Jeruselem. It gives a chilling, yet calm, look at the day-to-day activities of people in this violence stricken area. There is such a clear dichotomy of interests here, and not much middle ground.
Several stories about Palestinians and their difficulties just attempting a simple existence.
The most interesting stuff here is when the Making Contact reporter Reese Erlich talks to young palestinians. These are the voices we rarely hear in the national media debates about this issue.
Another point of interest is a visit to a community outside Jeruselem where Israelis and Palestinians live and work together - another side of this complex story we rarely hear about.
Making Contact is serving a powerful role in public broadcasting news. It showcases serious issues from unusual points of view. It includes well-edited segments, excellent audio quality, and a refreshing voice and focus for public radio.
Comment for
"Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway" (deleted)
Review of Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway (deleted)
Sarah's piece shines the equivalent of an infrared light on a miles long section of upper Broadway in Manhattan. Hidden in plain view on the narrow boulevard along Broadway's wide expanse are fairy tale sculptures, from 71st street on up to 146th street. These sculptures exist with little explanation, and this piece shines it's light on one enormous bronze after another. These fairy tale sculptures from sculptor Tom Otterness tell stories in their symbolic language about human culture. Sarah takes us on a walk with the artist as he lovingly cleans his works. He explains the significance of each piece, both from his midwestern perspective and from that of his artwork's intended viewers.
The piece is simple, mostly the artist's voice with an occassional narration from the youthful sounding Sarah. The sounds of Broadway's busy traffic add a layer of "city authentique." The clip includes the Studio 360 outro attribution; minus this it would work well in any station's segment about the city, hidden treasures, artists, etc. Well done!
Sarah Baughn lies in bed, telling us her feelings in regard to her upcoming birthing. She has some difficulty due to gestational diabetes, and she worries about the challenges ahead. We accompany her as she and her husband Eric go to the doctor for an antipartum audiogram to listen to the baby's heartbeat.
She considers inducement of labor. The technical, logistical, and emotional ride she's on is evident with every word. This is first-person essay in action, in process, and very intimate. "That's when I knew I was going to have a pretty unusual birth." she says at one point, and she takes us with her through the doors of the hospital natal unit.
She gives birth to Max, a healthy baby boy, after a hairy event following a petosin injection to induce labor. His gaffs and gurgles are the sound of triumph for the piece, and for Sarah.
It's a short, richly recorded, piece that takes the unusual direction of putting the microphone in the hand of the guest, who is also the producer. Nicely done. A unique voice easily finding home in any news broadcast or narrative programming.
A biting and critical preview of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's next stay in the Bush II Whitehouse. Dick Meister uses his knowledgable, off-hand, approach to slice and dice one of the only survivors of George W. Bush's first term cabinet. From Meister's point of view, the world of labor has four more years of worry ahead of it. He states clearly that Chao "May be the most anti-labor labor secretary ever." Dick's delivery is part Daniel Schorr and part Morley Safer. Brevity is his specialty, and he packs a punch with each word.
This piece begged for a new tonal adjective. "Haunting" is what I requested. Helen Englehart Hawkins tells the personal story of surviving family members of Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie Scotland sixteen years ago, taking 270 lives. Helen uses a combination of prose poetry, narration, spare music and rich interview content, to tell the story of decisions made, missed opportunities, and fate's steady hand. "It's like somebody sucked all the air out of the room," says one of the voices. This impression is left several times during the piece. How do you justify such an event in the larger scheme of your life? How do these women make sense of the losses to their families? (The voices heard are all women who have lost their husbands.)
At twenty minutes, it's a commitment, but worth the time. The piece is self-contained, with built-in introduction and lead-out, and will play well during segments where people listen closely and at length. Definitely a "stayed in the car in the driveway" segment.
Vox-pop is a misnomer on this piece. It's more a micro-essay, nano-story. One voice telling of a funny little family event. An 80 year old New Yorker is convinced her granddaughter's fiddling with the television caused the famous nationwide blackout of a few years back. It's told as a short joke, with a funky musical undertone, and big vocal theatrics. In the right context it could be a perfect punctuation for a news program. It's quick and painless. At least give it a listen.
Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams have fans in Jerry Stearns, Brian Price, and this lively contingent of audio theaterites. It's a live on-stage romp with two distinct pieces. The first, High Moon, full of bucking bronco dragons and... dragonboys? A saloon full of electronic wizards,and neo-magicians with no "fourth wall" present in this theater. Well rehearsed, and full of wink-and-a-nod audience participation. It's rollicking good fun.
The second piece, Tell Them Napa Sent You, another comedy this time of future vehicular recalls. Think Car Talk's humor compressed into fourteen minutes. High on the jokes, without the distraction of any useful information. It's a Homeresque Odysey to find the long lost parts for our hero's antique 2001 hatchback. Dozens of quirky characters.
Midwest Radio Theater Workshop patrons will enjoy this duo of classic radio comedy. As will A Prairie Home Companion afficianados. Well recorded, professional FX, all the more delightful for the live audience that seems to be with the actors at every utterance and sway. Great stuff for the holiday season of sitting around the house. Fill your listeners homes with laughter!
A personal wide angle lens of an essay. Shaker Square, a neighborhood in Cleveland, OH is in sharp focus. Judah brings us another autobiographical jaunt through a place he calls home. This essay, skews towards prose with a pace and a syncopation more like music. The writing is concise and colorful, filling in each corner of the neighorhood he paints. There is a brief mention of a John Kerry campaign office that is somewhat dating, but not for a while yet. The locale is definitely Ohio on the water, but applicable elsewhere. It's a good piece, but get it quick lest John Kerry becomes John Who in this our collective electoral archive.
Comment for
"The Landscape of Substance Abuse" (deleted)
Review of The Landscape of Substance Abuse (deleted)
A clearly spoken and well written documentary-style feature. Begins with the picture of substance abuse in Nashua, New Hampshire. Introduces the scarier side of substance abuse perception - heroin, prescription drugs, marijuana. Then seals the deal with a serious look at the largest area of substance abuse - alcohol!
How is it that alcohol doesn't fall into the realm of concern for otherwise intelligent people. Alcohol abuse is astoundingly expensive to communities. What is the cause of this? What are the solutions? The producer wraps the piece with "In the landscape of substance abuse, alcohol is our Mt. Washington." The metaphor strikes home, and is backed up firmly by the solid reportage within the feature.
Hard news, especially suitable for the lead-up to the New Year's Eve alcohol pour-a-thon. A short piece packed with information. While it leans specifically towards New Hampshire's locales, the message is universal.
Host Mark Cramer from Harvard takes us along as Journalists discuss their place on the battlefield, and in the news. Cramer is director of Harvard's Neimann School for Journalism. Their annual conference is the basis of the conversations we hear. Seymore Hersh makes up the bulk of this hour with some time set aside for Molly Bingham,and David Finkle. Hersh is brilliant and to the point as ever, but I do think we've heard all this before on a half-dozen other NPR type broadcasts. Bingham's comments are raw and matter of fact, building the drama. Her voice is new and fresh, and worth hanging on every word. Finkle talks about his experience being "unembeded" on the front of several wars for the Washington Post. The piece has that specific and identifiable sound of "open mics on a podium." In the realm of National Press Club. There's an uncomfortable musical interlude between two of the speakers. The content, however, is rich. The words - the reason we listen at all - are real and instructive. I don't know if we really learn anything more about a journalist's role in war, but we certainly learn about how a journalist's job is controlled by the people and powers who manage the war. Serious and important stuff.
Whoa, where do we start? How 'bout in the studio, then to a virtual stage with virtual audience members, and is that a virtual guest? No, the guest is real, and it's Eric Idle. It's a running jumble of interviews and stand up acts, of in-your-face music parody, all over the map of the imagination. THIS IS NOT TERRY GROSS! Kind of scary and refreshing at the same time. It's good to know all of Public Radio isn't calm, cool, and ingesting qualudes. These guys have been up all night, and they want you to know it. As the Ruttles said, "We've suffered years with our music, now it's your turn!" It's a fun, rambunctious, revelry of radio. I like the chances taken. I like the feeling that maybe something bad is going to happen any moment. Not for the stations weak of heart, but those strong and sturdy, give a listen. Remember the sequence from Monty Python's Life of Brian, where Brian is about to be impaled by hundreds of centurians and suddenly he's swept off the planet by a befuddled duo of aliens? Yeah, this is it and turned sideways!
Straight ahead commentary on the retirement of the big two, Rather and Brokaw, leaving the airwaves. It's a quick analysis. Kind enough, no surprises or major reformulations of TV reality. Discusses the idea of Rather, Brokaw, and - the last man sitting - Peter Jennings winding down a particular era in network broadcast television history. Well spoken, but not particularly interesting. Sound quality is good. It is dry - of both humor and sounds. It is a short piece, and listenable.
Sports stadium rant. It's kind of funny though. It's Frank DeFord with a sense of humor and a degree in Journalism! A factual news piece, punctuated by sound effects, interviews, and good natured banter. Informational and ultimately listenable. Technically about the concept of building sports stadiums in cities around the country. Do they really make sense? Good use of a multitude of movie clips and and music. Long music tail to fade at end of piece.
A moving portrait of a group of developmentally disabled adults writing poetry, that is then set to music and sung by professional musicians. The project helps to fund the program and is very successful. The sounds range from snippets of the poetry writing workshops, interviews with writers, performers, and the music itself. THe piece helps make the point of seeing these people as adults, as perceptive, intelligent, feeling people like us. It is quite elegant and very effective. If public radio is here to keep us learning, to help us understand what is unfamiliar to us, and to enrich our lives, then this piece fits swimmingly.
Shades of Bill Cosby's infamous Old Weird Harold tale of a snowball's revenge. This time the snowball appears in the knave of a Catholic church somewhere in snowy buffalo. "God says yes to the fallen world." "Even the seven feet of snow deserved an amen." The humor fades to a contemplative reflection in the shadows of this God's church. A moment in time burned into a young man's mind. The religious element is there to fill in the picture, not to make a point or proselytize. The essay is plain, dry, no sounds or music. Plenty of opportunity to drop into a show with little effort.
"Anglo-pats" go through the paces at a funky cooking school in the offices of a Paris chamber of commerce building. Rich sounds of the kitchen, and a veritable casting call of French Chef boisterousness. We learn that this crew of intrepid chefs-to-be are American pastry students, under the watchful eyes of a French master. Easy to fit in a short segment. Light hearted. Its a quick postcard from a quirky side street in Paris. Fresh Napoleon's anybody?
Wow! The sound and the focus is on the money. The piece, like the music, is rhythmic, percussive, pulls you along with little bits of genius.
Corey Harris is a musician crossing boundaries. The blues is the father, hip/hop/rap the son. His patriarchy of song stretches from Mali to the streets of LA, touching all weighpoints on the journey.
This short-subject is delectable. Harris speaks the language of the blues like its his own, and makes it clearly recognizable to us living on its periphery. Certainly made me want to hear more of what Corey has to offer.
Comments by Bill Palladino
Comment for "The Mayor of Nichols"
Bill Palladino
Posted on June 28, 2005 at 10:55 AM | Permalink
The Mayor of Nichols Compels
This story works because it accomplishes two things that by themselves might seem simple, but together are difficult to do successfully. First, Gwen tells a story, clearly and confidently, with pacing driven from the obvious chronologies of events - all crossing paths with the life of one homeless individual, Earl Hutchinson. Then she does something that is rare. She tells this story in such a way as to give us all a certain empathy to the story - not necessarily the individual. Those of us "of an age" have these stories in our past. Friends and acquaintances that have dropped off our radar, but who, somehow, pop up now and again in our memories - fond and rich with the clarity of a photograph. This allows us to attach ourselves to the story, relating to it, step by step, saying "Damn, that's sad, and I knew someone just like that." The story is the radio equivalent of a surveyor tying bright orange ribbon to the trees, and stakes, and brush in a field - that field of course is our memory. Those bright flags provide us with markers to measure our own story.
The length of this piece and its narrative tone lend itself to the likes of This American Life, or at least a show with longer-form content. It is compelling, well recorded, and beautifully written.
Comment for "Beth and Samantha (2005) (Audio Drama)"
Bill Palladino
Posted on June 18, 2005 at 09:09 PM | Permalink
Review of Beth and Samantha
Beth and Samantha are sisters... and friends. The kind of friends that share deep secrets, support one another through thick and thin, and do those things that only true friends will tolerate. They're at a precipice in their relationship; one pregnant and happily married, the other recently "dumped" and angry at the world.
As radio plays go... it's unusual in its brevity. It's also unusual in its deep content. Two sisters deal with their differences and thier obvious familial bond. There is no attempt at cheap humor. Too many radio plays seem to go that route, looking for the quick and often irksome laugh. Crying abounds as does sniffling and a constant coming-and-going roar of the surf.
The two actresses do a presentable job. One could actually believe they are sisters. We've all had these conversations before, whether with sisters or brothers or friends. Ones where every word creates the opportunity for potential ignition. There are turns, and pauses, and button-hooks of emotion here.
I love radio drama; was born and raised on it. This reminds me of old time radio without the melodramatic affectation. It's duration presents both opportunities and challenges for the program director. While at eleven and some minutes it might be squeezed in somewhere, the content begs for more like-programming to wrap it in.
Comment for "The Whistler"
Bill Palladino
Posted on June 08, 2005 at 01:34 PM | Permalink
Review of The Whistler
Richie Duchon has produced a delightful and, dare I say, airy little gem here. His subject, Jeff Hannon, uses whistling as an escape from the world around him. In his own words, he finds himself whistling in those same moments he allows himself to "zone out." Mr. Hannon describes to us why he whistles, where he whistles, and the origins of his whistling affliction.
The only voice heard is that of the subject. It's a self-contained micro-feature. The producer claims to have already sold this to NPR's ATC. It seems like a good light-hearted filler just waiting for the proper opening in a show like that.
Comment for "Let's Get Physical" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on June 08, 2005 at 11:37 AM
Review of Let's Get Physical (deleted)
This is a great premise. A twenty-something woman - our animated producer Rebecca Sheir - attempts to gain back a bit of high-school glory by passing the President's Physical Fitness award test. She wants that patch! And she'd fallen short of it in high-school. So she tracks down the nearest high school and gives it a whirl. Yoga, jogging, and a certain adult confidence help Rebecca prevail in this fitness journal read to a the Rocky soundtrack.
It's short and sweet, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to like her or hate her for her successes; seventy five curl-ups! Stretching fifteen inches BEYOND your toes! Who does she think she is, Jennifer Garner? Just the thing for inspiring those lazy - slug-a-bed early morning listeners, like me.
Comment for "Home Planet: Trying for that 'Sun Kissed' look."
Bill Palladino
Posted on June 08, 2005 at 06:52 AM | Permalink
Review of Trying for that 'Sun Kissed' look.
Cheryl-Anne Millsap spins a short yarn with a leaning towards the absurdity of growing older. With raw prose she includes us in the wordplay exchanged with a dear friend "of a certain age." The puns seem to fall out of her mouth pushing her friend to the limits, but letting us understand the thier relationship just a little. We learn that Cheryl-Anne loves words, and can't help using them to cajole and cavort through this conversation.
The subject matter is generic and undated. The tone is engaging and soft, befitting a spot on a morning news broadcast, or tossed into a magazine show.
Comment for "Letter"
Bill Palladino
Posted on May 04, 2005 at 06:50 PM | Permalink
Review of Letter
This is a breif vignet. A moment or two taken from someone's life. Monica Mueller has a wonderful presence. Maybe its her rich voice and the comfort she has in speaking these words. Maybe it's the decided curiousness of her Austro/European accent. I felt immediately transported back in time upon hearing this 1:22 piece.
It leaves you hanging in mid-air, craving more of this story...or others. Fascinating concept. Worth a listen.
Comment for "The Real May Day"
Bill Palladino
Posted on May 04, 2005 at 06:14 PM | Permalink
Review of The Real May Day
Continuing his series of well-written, historical musings on the labor movement Dick Meister hits stride with this description of one true meaning of May Day. Dick's pieces are like those short side-bars in your college history text book. They focus on one moment, in one aspect of history, concentrating it into something you remember after turning the page.
These are stories with a lot of teeth in them. Dick has obviously seen these events unfold and looks back on them with clarity, allowing us all to share the view. This, and all of Dick's essays, are short and easy to drop in during any broadcast. If you have a local news program that needs a little labor edge, Dick might be your shop-steward.
Comment for "Primary Sources - Bear River Massacre" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on March 02, 2005 at 06:36 PM
Review of Primary Sources - Bear River Massacre (deleted)
Kass Fleisher stumbles upon the story of the worst act of genocide in US history in the unlikiest of places - an in-flight magazine. (The piece is based on Fleisher's book - "The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History - SUNY Press 2004.)
We tend to recoil at the sound of the word massacre and toughen ourselves for what we assume we know will come next. What Kass tells us is something deeper and more heart-breaking; it is the shameful story of a culture that refuses to learn from its own mistakes.... our culture.
She quickly describes her immersion into this piece of American history by suggesting that she "went nuts at the local library" trying to research the event. She found conflicting stories that seemed to paint a larger picture of a world innured to the immense pain and suffering of others, especially it seems when whole cultures are at risk. Genocide has no historical limit, and the lessons learned from such horrors seem to be lost in an ever quickening cycle of madness.
Kass's voice, and the overall tone of the piece, lends a dynamic tension and irony. She is always calmly spoken, never strained, yet the story she tells is shameful for us all.
It is a well-done piece, short and to its point, but leaving plenty of room for the listener to create her or his own conclusion. I'd suggest a minute added to the end for the listener to catch a breath, take it in, and get permission from their psyche to move again through the day.
Comment for "Lessons of the CIO"
Bill Palladino
Posted on March 02, 2005 at 06:12 PM | Permalink
Review of Lessons of the CIO
Dick Meister leads us through a veritable micro-history (3:22!)of the US labor movement from the 1950's through today. He does this by focusing on the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and it's fundamental tenets in serving the middle class of America.
Meister laments the obvious downslide of organized labor over the past three decades or so. He craftily ties the early days of the CIO and the great depression, Franklin D. Roosevelts efforts, and the basic assumptions of solidarity itself, slowly bringing us to the conjoining of the two seminal labor groups in the U.S., the AFL and the CIO, in 1955. He brings the key diffences between the two groups without judgement and provides just enough information to keep us tuned in and wanting to hear more.
He is unapologetically a labor/progressive. This is surprisingly relieving to hear in this day of social security "reform," constant downsizing, and the seeming unending bleeding of American jobs overseas.
This is a timely and precise commentary, leaning heavily on historical fact. It is pointed, yet without colorful rhetoric. If Daniel Schorr were a labor leader or a political scientist instead of a journalist, this is what he'd be saying. And he'd sound a lot like Dick Meister.
It's format is perfect for any news program. Drop it in. At just over 3:00 minutes, it'll fit anywhere.
Comment for "Time, Place, and Conditions"
Bill Palladino
Posted on January 10, 2005 at 04:49 PM | Permalink
Review of Time, Place, and Conditions
Ray Luke Levasseur reflects on a life...missed. He spent 20 years in prison for the crimes of the Ohio Seven. Beginning in 1974 he and his partners went underground and simply dissappeared. Then in 1984 after a major FBI manhunt, he was captured and imprisoned for crimes against the US government, including more than 20 bombings.
The piece is one side of an interview with Levasseur recently let out of prison, and beginning to rebuild his life. He comes off changed, mellowed, but clearly unrepentent for the bombings that he says "resulted in no personal injuries, simply property damamge." Moments after he says this he proudly shows off pictures of this children and grand children, then jumps right back into detailing some of the crimes he considered are still perpetrated everyday by the US Government in communities around the world. "One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter!"
The piece is mixed with occassional elements of rythmic ethereal music, but is otherwise clean of only this man's voice. It is moving in its simplicity and the clarity of Levasseur's thoughts. It would need to be placed properly within a larger context. The audio quality is excellent, as is the editing.
Comment for "The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City (full episode)" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on January 06, 2005 at 06:25 PM
Review of The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City (full episode (deleted)
Jeff and Tom's excellent New Yawk adventure... "you got ah problum witdat?"
I liked the audio postcard versions of this show when I reviewed those last week. They worked well as humorous, hit-and-run, episodic segments. But frankly I couldn't imagine an entire hour of that. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when settling into my chair to listen to the hour-long version. The short subjects don't do justice to the serious technical and content efforts put forth by this crew from Connecticut.
The traveling radio show itself is a small crew, host - Jeff, engineer - Tom, and producer - Nicki.
The show makes its way around Manhattan to the usual and not-so-usual haunts. I grew up in New York, so this is stuff close to home, and I can be pretty critical about efforts to cover its many colors and textures. These guys do a great job!
What makes this show unique is the obvious comfort that the trio have developed together, and their ability to put the listener right in the middle of that comfort zone. There's a playfulness that is obvious amongst this crew, and they're not shy about showing it with tape rolling. Those are the best parts of the show, where the host says something ridiculous and the other two chide and cajole and laugh along with him.
The occassional tomfoolery provides an even balance to the sometimes historical, sometimes culturally alluring, and oft-times just plain quirky production elements. Imagine going on a safari with Marlon Perkins AND Ted Nugent!
Stations, this is a fresh take at travel and culture. It's out of the studio, where it belongs, and it's got a real youthful feeling. A show like this is prime for some national corporate sponsorship. The audio quality is excellent, as is the voice-work and announcing. The story-telling is top-notch, fun, and of such a variety that it keeps the show moving at a brisk pace. I think I'll be getting tickets for their next excursion myself.
Comment for "Pimp my PC! Portrait of a LAN Party"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 31, 2004 at 09:02 AM | Permalink
Review of Pimp my PC! Portrait of a LAN Party
Lan parties! Man, I am getting old! This sounds so foreign to me. BYOC means bring your own computer, so that you can hook up to a computer network and play an interconnected video game with thirty co-horts. Aaron Henkin does a great job of capturing the sense of the what these gamers are seeing, hearing, and doing.
It's an odd conflagration of gleeful kill-or-be-killed game playing and my-computer-is-faster-than-yours computer geekdom.
This is a terrific longer-form news feature. Henkin acts as our tour guide, stepping into this alien,sci-fi, world bravely talking "some serious smack" with this new breed of video gamer afficianado. As an uniformed onlooker, I loved this piece. It did that thing that Public Radio is supposed to do. It educated me on something I would otherwise have no reason or prediliction to learn about. Do your listeners a favor and find a nine minute block to slip this into. If you don't, may they find talk some serious smack about you! Cheers Aaron, great job.
Comment for "The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City - Five Audio Postcards" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 31, 2004 at 08:46 AM
Review of The Traveling Radio Show Goes to New York City - Five Audio (deleted)
Hartford, Connecticut's WNPR takes it's Traveling Radio Show to New York. These five audio postcards are designed as teasers for the full program. They are quirky, funny little vignets, that remind me of how Conan O'Brien might sound if he did Public Radio. Fishmarkets, tours of Chinatown, and other gems of New York's backstreets find an appreciative and audience in TRS, and it's eclectic crew.
Designed specifically as inserts to ME, or ATC. If you're playing the whole Traveling Radio Show on your station, you must use these! If not, they'll work on their own too.
These pieces show how fun informational programming can be.
Comment for "Reaching for Peace in the Holy Land" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 31, 2004 at 08:31 AM
Review of Reaching for Peace in the Holy Land (deleted)
Making Contact covers serious international issues in Israel and Palestine. This is a program from the point of view of peace advocates, looking for a peaceful solution to the seemingly intractible problems in this conflict ridden area of the mideast.
We follow a group called "checkpoint watch" as they go to the border crossing stations in Jeruselem. It gives a chilling, yet calm, look at the day-to-day activities of people in this violence stricken area. There is such a clear dichotomy of interests here, and not much middle ground.
Several stories about Palestinians and their difficulties just attempting a simple existence.
The most interesting stuff here is when the Making Contact reporter Reese Erlich talks to young palestinians. These are the voices we rarely hear in the national media debates about this issue.
Another point of interest is a visit to a community outside Jeruselem where Israelis and Palestinians live and work together - another side of this complex story we rarely hear about.
Making Contact is serving a powerful role in public broadcasting news. It showcases serious issues from unusual points of view. It includes well-edited segments, excellent audio quality, and a refreshing voice and focus for public radio.
Comment for "Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 31, 2004 at 08:11 AM
Review of Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway (deleted)
Sarah's piece shines the equivalent of an infrared light on a miles long section of upper Broadway in Manhattan. Hidden in plain view on the narrow boulevard along Broadway's wide expanse are fairy tale sculptures, from 71st street on up to 146th street. These sculptures exist with little explanation, and this piece shines it's light on one enormous bronze after another. These fairy tale sculptures from sculptor Tom Otterness tell stories in their symbolic language about human culture. Sarah takes us on a walk with the artist as he lovingly cleans his works. He explains the significance of each piece, both from his midwestern perspective and from that of his artwork's intended viewers.
The piece is simple, mostly the artist's voice with an occassional narration from the youthful sounding Sarah. The sounds of Broadway's busy traffic add a layer of "city authentique." The clip includes the Studio 360 outro attribution; minus this it would work well in any station's segment about the city, hidden treasures, artists, etc. Well done!
Comment for "Welcome Baby Max"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 28, 2004 at 08:15 AM | Permalink
Review of Welcome Baby Max
Sarah Baughn lies in bed, telling us her feelings in regard to her upcoming birthing. She has some difficulty due to gestational diabetes, and she worries about the challenges ahead. We accompany her as she and her husband Eric go to the doctor for an antipartum audiogram to listen to the baby's heartbeat.
She considers inducement of labor. The technical, logistical, and emotional ride she's on is evident with every word. This is first-person essay in action, in process, and very intimate. "That's when I knew I was going to have a pretty unusual birth." she says at one point, and she takes us with her through the doors of the hospital natal unit.
She gives birth to Max, a healthy baby boy, after a hairy event following a petosin injection to induce labor. His gaffs and gurgles are the sound of triumph for the piece, and for Sarah.
It's a short, richly recorded, piece that takes the unusual direction of putting the microphone in the hand of the guest, who is also the producer. Nicely done. A unique voice easily finding home in any news broadcast or narrative programming.
Comment for "Our Anti-Labor Secretary of Labor"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 25, 2004 at 04:54 PM | Permalink
Review of Our Anti-Labor Secretary of Labor
A biting and critical preview of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's next stay in the Bush II Whitehouse. Dick Meister uses his knowledgable, off-hand, approach to slice and dice one of the only survivors of George W. Bush's first term cabinet. From Meister's point of view, the world of labor has four more years of worry ahead of it. He states clearly that Chao "May be the most anti-labor labor secretary ever." Dick's delivery is part Daniel Schorr and part Morley Safer. Brevity is his specialty, and he packs a punch with each word.
Comment for "Yesterday and Forever" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 20, 2004 at 05:58 AM
Review of Yesterday and Forever (deleted)
This piece begged for a new tonal adjective. "Haunting" is what I requested. Helen Englehart Hawkins tells the personal story of surviving family members of Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie Scotland sixteen years ago, taking 270 lives. Helen uses a combination of prose poetry, narration, spare music and rich interview content, to tell the story of decisions made, missed opportunities, and fate's steady hand. "It's like somebody sucked all the air out of the room," says one of the voices. This impression is left several times during the piece. How do you justify such an event in the larger scheme of your life? How do these women make sense of the losses to their families? (The voices heard are all women who have lost their husbands.)
At twenty minutes, it's a commitment, but worth the time. The piece is self-contained, with built-in introduction and lead-out, and will play well during segments where people listen closely and at length. Definitely a "stayed in the car in the driveway" segment.
Comment for ""My Daughter Knocked Out The Power On The Whole East Coast""
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 20, 2004 at 05:39 AM | Permalink
Review of "My Daughter Knocked Out The Power On The Whole East Coast"
Vox-pop is a misnomer on this piece. It's more a micro-essay, nano-story. One voice telling of a funny little family event. An 80 year old New Yorker is convinced her granddaughter's fiddling with the television caused the famous nationwide blackout of a few years back. It's told as a short joke, with a funky musical undertone, and big vocal theatrics. In the right context it could be a perfect punctuation for a news program. It's quick and painless. At least give it a listen.
Comment for "Jerry Stearns' High Moon/Tell Them NAPA Sent You"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 19, 2004 at 08:55 AM | Permalink
Review of High Moon/Tell Them NAPA Sent You
Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams have fans in Jerry Stearns, Brian Price, and this lively contingent of audio theaterites. It's a live on-stage romp with two distinct pieces. The first, High Moon, full of bucking bronco dragons and... dragonboys? A saloon full of electronic wizards,and neo-magicians with no "fourth wall" present in this theater. Well rehearsed, and full of wink-and-a-nod audience participation. It's rollicking good fun.
The second piece, Tell Them Napa Sent You, another comedy this time of future vehicular recalls. Think Car Talk's humor compressed into fourteen minutes. High on the jokes, without the distraction of any useful information. It's a Homeresque Odysey to find the long lost parts for our hero's antique 2001 hatchback. Dozens of quirky characters.
Midwest Radio Theater Workshop patrons will enjoy this duo of classic radio comedy. As will A Prairie Home Companion afficianados. Well recorded, professional FX, all the more delightful for the live audience that seems to be with the actors at every utterance and sway. Great stuff for the holiday season of sitting around the house. Fill your listeners homes with laughter!
Comment for "Shaker Square"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 16, 2004 at 05:14 PM | Permalink
Review of Shaker Square
A personal wide angle lens of an essay. Shaker Square, a neighborhood in Cleveland, OH is in sharp focus. Judah brings us another autobiographical jaunt through a place he calls home. This essay, skews towards prose with a pace and a syncopation more like music. The writing is concise and colorful, filling in each corner of the neighorhood he paints. There is a brief mention of a John Kerry campaign office that is somewhat dating, but not for a while yet. The locale is definitely Ohio on the water, but applicable elsewhere. It's a good piece, but get it quick lest John Kerry becomes John Who in this our collective electoral archive.
Comment for "The Landscape of Substance Abuse" (deleted)
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 16, 2004 at 10:19 AM
Review of The Landscape of Substance Abuse (deleted)
A clearly spoken and well written documentary-style feature. Begins with the picture of substance abuse in Nashua, New Hampshire. Introduces the scarier side of substance abuse perception - heroin, prescription drugs, marijuana. Then seals the deal with a serious look at the largest area of substance abuse - alcohol!
How is it that alcohol doesn't fall into the realm of concern for otherwise intelligent people. Alcohol abuse is astoundingly expensive to communities. What is the cause of this? What are the solutions? The producer wraps the piece with "In the landscape of substance abuse, alcohol is our Mt. Washington." The metaphor strikes home, and is backed up firmly by the solid reportage within the feature.
Hard news, especially suitable for the lead-up to the New Year's Eve alcohol pour-a-thon. A short piece packed with information. While it leans specifically towards New Hampshire's locales, the message is universal.
Comment for "Journalists and War"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 06:31 PM | Permalink
Review of Journalists and War
Host Mark Cramer from Harvard takes us along as Journalists discuss their place on the battlefield, and in the news. Cramer is director of Harvard's Neimann School for Journalism. Their annual conference is the basis of the conversations we hear. Seymore Hersh makes up the bulk of this hour with some time set aside for Molly Bingham,and David Finkle. Hersh is brilliant and to the point as ever, but I do think we've heard all this before on a half-dozen other NPR type broadcasts. Bingham's comments are raw and matter of fact, building the drama. Her voice is new and fresh, and worth hanging on every word. Finkle talks about his experience being "unembeded" on the front of several wars for the Washington Post. The piece has that specific and identifiable sound of "open mics on a podium." In the realm of National Press Club. There's an uncomfortable musical interlude between two of the speakers. The content, however, is rich. The words - the reason we listen at all - are real and instructive. I don't know if we really learn anything more about a journalist's role in war, but we certainly learn about how a journalist's job is controlled by the people and powers who manage the war. Serious and important stuff.
Comment for "New Audio Showroom #1 "The Rumpus Room""
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 06:15 PM | Permalink
Review of New Audio Showroom #1 "The Rumpus Room"
Whoa, where do we start? How 'bout in the studio, then to a virtual stage with virtual audience members, and is that a virtual guest? No, the guest is real, and it's Eric Idle. It's a running jumble of interviews and stand up acts, of in-your-face music parody, all over the map of the imagination. THIS IS NOT TERRY GROSS! Kind of scary and refreshing at the same time. It's good to know all of Public Radio isn't calm, cool, and ingesting qualudes. These guys have been up all night, and they want you to know it. As the Ruttles said, "We've suffered years with our music, now it's your turn!" It's a fun, rambunctious, revelry of radio. I like the chances taken. I like the feeling that maybe something bad is going to happen any moment. Not for the stations weak of heart, but those strong and sturdy, give a listen. Remember the sequence from Monty Python's Life of Brian, where Brian is about to be impaled by hundreds of centurians and suddenly he's swept off the planet by a befuddled duo of aliens? Yeah, this is it and turned sideways!
Comment for "Anchors Say Goodbye"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 05:50 PM | Permalink
Review of Anchors Say Goodbye
Straight ahead commentary on the retirement of the big two, Rather and Brokaw, leaving the airwaves. It's a quick analysis. Kind enough, no surprises or major reformulations of TV reality. Discusses the idea of Rather, Brokaw, and - the last man sitting - Peter Jennings winding down a particular era in network broadcast television history. Well spoken, but not particularly interesting. Sound quality is good. It is dry - of both humor and sounds. It is a short piece, and listenable.
Comment for "If You Build It, Then So What?"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 05:38 PM | Permalink
Review of If You Build It, Then So What?
Sports stadium rant. It's kind of funny though. It's Frank DeFord with a sense of humor and a degree in Journalism! A factual news piece, punctuated by sound effects, interviews, and good natured banter. Informational and ultimately listenable. Technically about the concept of building sports stadiums in cities around the country. Do they really make sense? Good use of a multitude of movie clips and and music. Long music tail to fade at end of piece.
Comment for "The Power of Song"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 15, 2004 at 05:31 PM | Permalink
Review of The Power of Song
A moving portrait of a group of developmentally disabled adults writing poetry, that is then set to music and sung by professional musicians. The project helps to fund the program and is very successful. The sounds range from snippets of the poetry writing workshops, interviews with writers, performers, and the music itself. THe piece helps make the point of seeing these people as adults, as perceptive, intelligent, feeling people like us. It is quite elegant and very effective. If public radio is here to keep us learning, to help us understand what is unfamiliar to us, and to enrich our lives, then this piece fits swimmingly.
Comment for "Snowballs at Midnight Mass"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 14, 2004 at 12:29 PM | Permalink
Review of Snowballs at Midnight Mass
Shades of Bill Cosby's infamous Old Weird Harold tale of a snowball's revenge. This time the snowball appears in the knave of a Catholic church somewhere in snowy buffalo. "God says yes to the fallen world." "Even the seven feet of snow deserved an amen." The humor fades to a contemplative reflection in the shadows of this God's church. A moment in time burned into a young man's mind. The religious element is there to fill in the picture, not to make a point or proselytize. The essay is plain, dry, no sounds or music. Plenty of opportunity to drop into a show with little effort.
Comment for "Learning Chocolates in Paris"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 14, 2004 at 11:57 AM | Permalink
Review of Learning Chocolates in Paris
"Anglo-pats" go through the paces at a funky cooking school in the offices of a Paris chamber of commerce building. Rich sounds of the kitchen, and a veritable casting call of French Chef boisterousness. We learn that this crew of intrepid chefs-to-be are American pastry students, under the watchful eyes of a French master. Easy to fit in a short segment. Light hearted. Its a quick postcard from a quirky side street in Paris. Fresh Napoleon's anybody?
Comment for "Corey Harris: 'Genius' of the blues, In his own words"
Bill Palladino
Posted on December 14, 2004 at 11:47 AM | Permalink
Review of Corey Harris: In his own words
Wow! The sound and the focus is on the money. The piece, like the music, is rhythmic, percussive, pulls you along with little bits of genius.
Corey Harris is a musician crossing boundaries. The blues is the father, hip/hop/rap the son. His patriarchy of song stretches from Mali to the streets of LA, touching all weighpoints on the journey.
This short-subject is delectable. Harris speaks the language of the blues like its his own, and makes it clearly recognizable to us living on its periphery. Certainly made me want to hear more of what Corey has to offer.