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Comment for "Aspiring Teen Musicians"

Review of Aspiring Teen Musicians

Soulful a capella singing welcomes the listener into the mood of this piece. The narrator goes shares the dream she and her sister share of being Teen Musicians. She interviews other hopeful teenagers about these same dreams. These teens want to be famous and wonder if they would change their image to achieve their goal. To my surprise, a lot of the teenagers she interviewed said they did not want to be famous, just do what they want to do. Most of the teens said that they would never change their image for anyone. The narrator seems to think more about these issues than her peers. She decided that if she wants to be famous she might change her image to attain her dream. The end of the piece leaves the listener with a very optimistic view of teen musicians. I hope they all achieve their dreams.

Comment for "Summer on 64th"

Review of Summer on 64th

Summer on 64th is a short look at Tonette’s summer life in New York. This is a very poetic piece creating a mood in which even an old lamppost can be the most beautiful thing on the street. She talks about the different characters who hang out at the corner of 64th. The listener can almost see the two guys who greet grandma as she comes out of the house. The one problem with this piece is that it is hard to hear the recordings of the street, and I wish the sound of the interviews was clearer. The end leaves me with the sound and the feel of New York on my headphones as Tonette’s voice fades away.

Comment for "Girlpants"

Review of Girlpants

The piece starts out with a very funny introduction of some girls realizing that they own the same pair of pants worn by a guy walking by. Throughout America, guys are beginning to wear girlpants in a growing fashion trend. Katie Zager really explores this issue from every angle, going into a lot more depth than most people would have thought to do. She explains the reasons why guys wear girlpants and why they look different on guys’ bodies compared to girls. Katie says that most guys who wear girlpants are inspired by the music they listen to, mainly punk rock. I really love Katie’s voice as she narrates the piece. She is so excited and really puts some feeling behind every word. Throughout the piece there are a few weird inserts of interview clips, the over all sound of the piece is not very smooth. I definitely learned a few things from listening to Girlpants.

Comment for "Alaska Fashion Crisis"

Review of Alaska Fashion Crisis

The title is what hooked me in, I mean who wouldn’t want to listen to a piece called Alaska Fashion Crisis. This tells the story of two teenagers with very different views of what fashion should be. Personally I must agree with Sara Perman who, like me, sacrifices comfort for fashion. Michael Eddy represents the other side of the spectrum, the comfortable and yet side practical of fashion. They go on to interview teenagers at the Baltimore and D.C. Youth Radio Conferences about what they are wearing, and compare it to themselves. The conclusion of the piece ends with a very random and yet funny punk rock song, which I'm not really sure fit in with the piece.

Comment for "Thrift Town"

Review of Thrift Town

Lauryn Silverman tells the story of going to shop at her local thrift store called Thrift Town. OK, first off I wanna say this is my kinda girl! I gained so much respect for Lauryn in these four minutes. She strives to be what I strive to be, not another clone from Abercrombie and Fitch. She mixes good zipper sound effects with sass from her and her friend Emily, “There are so many leather bags, it’s like 500 cows, on a rack.” Although I agree with Lauryn’s message completely her piece is a little rough around the edges and could use just a bit more editing. I really loved hearing about another teenager who loves shopping thrift like me, and I just have to say: Next time you go shopping Lauryn and Emily, call me.

Comment for "Blood Donation"

Review of Blood Donation

Maia Chong’s voice is very relaxed as she retells a very stressful part of her life. She tells the story of when she donated blood for the first time at her high school. For someone who is very squeamish myself, I can sympathize totally with what Maia went through. She is very descriptive when she recalls the long needle puncturing through her abnormally large vein, it sent goosbumps up my spine. She adds sound effects very well to make me feel I'm in the gymnasium about to give blood with her. At the end of the ordeal she reflects that it was not so bad and leaves the listener with a moral of how everyone should donate blood. She almost guilt trips me into it, like my Jewish grandmother would. The simplicity of this piece makes it a very enjoyable listen.

Comment for "Boredom"

Review of Boredom

Boredom talks about an ordinary summer day gone to the dogs by a simple mistake, brought on by, you guessed it-- boredom. Callie Dean, the narrator, tells the listener her lament about her previous summer experiences. She talks about how her boredom leads to her drawing on a bus shelter with an Expo-marker and the result of being arrested by the cops. This radio piece is also a little look into police and the way they enforce the law. Callie is so funny I laughed out loud at some points while listening. It is great that she looks back on this very serious incident and makes fun of it. The listener is left with both a lesson on how to combat tediousness, and a way to correct yourself learning from Callie’s mistakes. This piece has everything, an interesting story with a real plot, great music and sound effects, a main character you really care about, and a moral.

Comment for "Personals"

Review of Personals

I love this piece starting with the first note of the organ from the Doors song “Light My Fire.” The narrator (Casey Brackett) starts off by saying a whim to look through the personals ads in her local newspaper leads to the creation of the piece. Brackett is very sarcastic throughout the piece about the different people who have personal ads, which leads to a whimsical and funny piece. She calls up some of the personal ad authors and records their voice mail. A computer voice reads out the facts, including age and astrological sign; this computer’s voice is very sensual. I wonder if the computer has a personal ad, too? Some people on the personal ads page you want to know, and some should just be avoided like the plague. All in all, it is the oldest story in the world, of people lookin’ for love.

Comment for "Obesity"

Review of Obesity

Obesity starts out with Jennifer Rowe (the narrator and producer) running on a treadmill, giving her voice a panted, jolted sound, I love the piece already! Starting with such an unusual intro makes the rest of the piece a joy to listen to. The commentary takes a huge issue that is sweeping America and turns the concern of obesity into a personal matter between Jennifer and her friends. Jennifer combines short, interesting, personal, interviews with facts that apply to the whole country. Her sense of humor about obesity mixed with some quite frightening facts adds to a nice mix of feelings from the listener about obesity.

Comment for "Don't You Have Some Homework To Do?"

Review of Procrastination

“Do I do my homework Friday night or Sunday afternoon?” is a drastic choice all teenagers go through every weekend. Procrastination is the story of the constant struggle between teenagers and their homework. Procrastination is a very nicely done piece; I enjoyed the guitar music in the background and how it reflects the tone of the narrator. The guitar music ties in nicely with the story and really makes this piece for me. I like the addition of a different voice besides the narrator which is unusual in a personal tale. The addition of sound effects, like pencil writing on paper, gives the listener a good picture of what is happening to the narrator. The piece has undertones of the different views of this generation and the last generation. One problem I had with this piece was the guitar sometimes became too loud and made it hard for the listener to hear the narration. I really liked this piece and would highly recommend it.

Comment for "Voting Behind Bars"

Review of Voting Behind Bars

This piece has an interesting subject about people in jail who vote, those who don’t, and those who don’t care about voting. The piece is nicely put together with a variety of opinions and points of view on the subject of voting; some people care about the economy and rights of the public while others only care about the legalization of marijuana. This piece has no intro or outro, thus making it confusing if you did not know what the subject was about. I would have liked to know more about the people who were interviewed and why they care about the issues they do. Voting Behind Bars moves quickly with short snippets of speech, however some music might have made it more interesting. The person doing the interviewing did not seem to care about what they were doing, interviewing in a dead-pan and uninterested voice. Voting on all levels is a topic that is very current and important, especially in the last two elections; I feel that more care and substance should have been added to help the overall flow of the piece.

Comment for "Shakespeare in prison"

Review of Shakespeare in prison

It is a very unusual and interesting idea to put on a Shakespeare play in prison. To hear of people who often have not had more than a 4th grade education reciting A Midsummer Nights Dream is very inspirational. Learning to read is a very important gift that they are finally learning. This piece really makes you have hope in everybody, even condemned criminals. This piece is very visual. I can really see men with buzz cuts and many extensive tattoos in togas tiptoeing through the fairy laden forest of cardboard and PCV pipe. Putting on this play teaches the inmates teamwork and self-confidence. The tone of the piece is factual, and the reader seems to have no input on the matter one way or another. The only reason I did not give this piece five stars is because the editing is very basic with not much background sound and interesting choices.

Comment for "Slip of the Tongue"

Review of Slip of the Tongue

While listening to this poem I feel as if I were sitting on the roof of some apartment building one hot and sticky New York night, while drinking iced coffee. This spoken word poem gives new grace and meaning to the art of picking up girls. The entire poem is based upon the metaphor of cosmetic makeup compared to ethnic makeup and background. The final metaphor “this is not make-up but make-believe” sent chills up and down my spine. The poem is skillfully written, and performed with a wonderful rhythm. The reader tells the story so well, that I feel as if they had put their heart and soul into the reading. The only problem is that the speaker has a tinny sound when he speaks. I think this wonderful poem would have been done more justice if he would have recorded the poem again, and checked the mike to get rid of the tinny sound.

Comments by Adrian Boyes