Show for Feb 17, 2013. Hear, Hear: Auditory Neuroscientist and Sound Savant Seth Horowitz.
Sound as vibration, sound as sensation, sound as means of manipulation. Sound as a state of mind and as a weapon. Seth Horowitz considers sonic phenomena from these and other angles in his new book The Universal Sense. And he’s a good one to do it: as a neuroscientist specializing in auditory phenomena, sound recordist, musician and aural explorer, not to mention the guy who proved that tadpoles can hear, Seth is a well-travelled guide to the sonic world. He and I listened to a sampling of audio curiosities while contemplating questions such as:
- What’s faster, our ears or our eyes?
- What’s it like to be a bat?
- What’s it like to be Evelyn Glennie?
- How do we build a picture of the world from auditory clues?
- Why are low sounds ominous?
- Can sounds kill?
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Jan 6, 2013. Filmmaker Ben Harbert on Louisiana prison music.
In 1933, folklorists John and Alan Lomax went inside Louisiana’s Angola prison and made a series of celebrated recordings and musical discoveries. Eighty years later, filmmaker and musicologist Ben Harbert followed in the Lomax’s footsteps, visiting Angola and other Louisiana penitentiaries to document the state of prison music today. Ben and I discussed his new film Follow Me Down: Portraits of Louisiana Prison Musicians, which screens in Santa Cruz this week (more details here). As we listened to performances from the film, Ben talked about the place of music in inmates’ lives and the ethics and challenges of shooting a doc in the joint. Also featured: Tony Seeger, musicologist (and nephew of Pete, Mike and Peggy Seeger), who advised Ben on the film.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
2012: The Home Stretch
Though it sometimes pains me to repeat material, I’ve been preoccupied with work and other non-radio commitments, so I’ve had to raid the archives in the final weeks of aught-twelve. Rest assured, I’m filling the hopper with new material for ‘13. Here’s what we’ve heard in the last couple of shows:
Dec 30, 2012: Getting seriously soulful with singer Gregory Porter
Dec 23, 2012: Mapping the brain with neuroscientist Sebastian Seung
Dec 16, 2012: Bringing music to life (and vice-versa) with composer Elena Kats-Chernin
Dec 9, 2012: Searching for happiness with filmmaker Roko Belic
Show for Nov 25, 2012. Your Brain on Music (Rerun).
An old fave makes its return: our 2007 jam with music producer/neuroscientist Dan Levitin.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Oct 21, 2012. Ukulele Hero, Mariachi Magic.
Two new movies pay tribute to musical instruments and/or traditions that haven’t always gotten their due in mainstream USA. In part one, Tad Nakamura, director of Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings. It’s a moving portrait of the musician who’s taken the ukulele—sometimes wrongly dissed as a novelty instrument—to virtuosic heights. In part two, Tom Gustafson, director of Mariachi Gringo, the tale of a young man from the midwest who falls in love with Mexico and devotes himself to mariachi music. Lead actor Shawn Ashmore devoted himself to the music too, going to school on vihuela.
(L) Jake Shimabukuro and Tad Nakamura, director of Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings;
(R) Mexican diva Lila Downs and Shawn Ashmore (with vihuela) in Mariachi Gringo. Both movies are part of the Pacific Rim Film Festival.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Aug 5, 2012: Filmmaker Eva Soltes on Lou Harrison’s Musical World.
An hour-long interview wasn’t enough to cover but a fraction of Lou Harrison’s many accomplishments, but Eva Soltes and I did our best to hit some of the high points. Her new documentary, Lou Harrison: A World of Music, uses footage she shot during her decades-long friendship with the eminent American composer, musical innovator and political activist, who died in 1982. The film was recently screened as part of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which Harrison helped found and which is honoring him this year with a performance of his Third Symphony. Details on the concert here. More information on Eva Soltes and Lou Harrison: A World of Music here.
Lou Harrison and life partner Bill Colvig, with one of their original instruments.
Click the Play arrow at the top of this post to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for July 29, 2012. Composer and Musician John Wineglass.
As an Emmy-winning soundtrack composer for TV and film and as a session/backing musician (piano, violin, viola), John Wineglass can write or play just about anything. Gospel, classical, R&B, country, folk, Latin – he can swing it. But it’s his serious concert works he’s most proud of, like his new orchestral piece Someone Else’s Child, premiering at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music on August 4. We discussed the new composition, John’s dual-track musical education – playing classical in a well-known youth orchestra and gospel in church – and his jack-of-all-genres commercial work.
Someone Else’s Child was inspired by the poems of kids in juvenile hall, published in the Beat Within magazine, which presents writing and artwork by incarcerated youths. Check out this 7th Ave Project from 2010 on the Beat Within writing program, including interviews with kids in the hall and instructors Jill Wolfson and Dennis Morton.
Click the Play arrow at the top of this post to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for May 13, 2012: Documentary Filmmaker Joshua Dylan Mellars
Joshua Mellars has a thing for world travel and world music, and he combines both passions in his latest pair of films. Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan is a portrait of the late Indian classical virtuoso and his son Alam Khan, who’s carrying on the family musical tradition. Heaven’s Mirror: A Portuguese Voyage is about Portuguese Fado music, and features some of the top contemporary fadistas (fado singers), including Katia Guerreiro, Ana Moura, Camané, and Carlos do Carmo. Joshua joined me to discuss the films and the music that inspired them.
Play Like a Lion is screening at the Santa Cruz Film Festival.
Ali Akbar Khan, with sarod. Fado singer Camané.
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As”; If using a PC, right-click and choose “Save Target As”).
Show for April 8, 2012: The Life and Music Edith Piaf (rebroadcast)
It was Easter Sunday, so I resurrected my 2011 interview with Carolyn Burke, discussing her book No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf. Carolyn is equally strong on the biographical details and the musical oeuvre of France’s great songstress, and provided astute commentary on some of Piaf’s signature songs.
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Feb 12, 2012. The Living Music of Elena Kats-Chernin.
Despite an old-school classical education in the Soviet Union, where she grew up before emigrating to Australia as a teen, composer Elena Kats-Chernin is anything but tradition-bound. Her influences run the gamut from ragtime to nuevo tango to minimalism and pop. Her work is powerfully evocative and unabashedly listenable. She says for her, “music is a living thing.” She writes daily, and a lot of her own life inevitably makes its way into her compositions. In this interview, we listened to some exquisite tunes and dug deep into the sources of her music, including the very personal story behind some of her most affecting works.
Note: I previously interviewed Elena prior to the U.S. premiere of her Astor Piazzola tribute Re-Collecting ASTORoids at last year’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Jan. 22, 2012. They Might Be Giants at 30
The last time I spoke to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, it was about the group’s science album for kids. This time we talked about the whole TMBG phenomenon: their beginnings and surprising success, aesthetic aims, being taken seriously while also having fun, and Sleestaks. TMBG turns 30 this year and is about to launch a national tour (1st stop, Santa Cruz) with some retrospective elements. Seemed like a good time to look back on their singular career.
TMBG’s two Johns: Linnell (L) and Flansburgh (R).
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Jan. 1, 2012: The Real Vocal String Quartet (Rebroadcast)
For our New Year’s day we replayed my interview/live recital with the wonderful Real Vocal String Quartet, originally broadcast in Jan 2011. More info here.
Show for Sept. 18, 2011. Donny McCaslin: The Making of a Jazzman
Donny McCaslin grew up in Santa Cruz, where this program is based, and got his musical start here. Today he’s a widely-known, much-admired tenor sax player based in New York. Donny returned to our area recently to play at the 2011 Monterey Jazz Festival. We talked about his formative years (playing with his dad’s band on the streets of Santa Cruz) and rapid success (he joined Gary Burton’s quintet right out of college). Donny’s a very thoughtful and knowledgeable musician, and I took advantage of the occasion to ask some detailed questions about his work and development.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for August 14, 2011. Guitarist/Composer D.J. Sparr.
“Classically trained to rock your *#!@ socks off,” to quote Tenacious D. The very tenacious guitarist D.J. Sparr was in town to perform at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and he swung by our studio with instrument in hand. We talked about his many musical loves (country, rock, classical), his career from toddlerhood on, the folly of aesthetic snobbery and the moment he realized it’s OK to play a G major chord. We also listened to a selection of his wide-ranging performances and compositions, and he demonstrated some wicked picking and finger tapping.
D.J. Sparr as an up-and-coming country star back in the day, as orchestra front man now, and in our studio (with a sweet Taylor T5 hollowbody).
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for July 31, 2011. Composers Elena Kats-Chernin and Behzad Ranjbaran
Two composers coming to the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music demonstrate once again how outmoded that term “classical music” is. Elena Kats-Chernin, who grew up in Russia and now lives in Australia, is a joyous musical pluralist, cozy with modernism, minimalism, tango, ragtime and pop. Elena and I discussed a sampling of her work, including her surprise hit Eliza Aria (used in the Lloyd’s Bank advert below) and Re-Collecting ASTORoids, her tribute to Nuevo Tango maestro Astor Piazzolla, to be performed at the Cabrillo Fest Aug. 6. Also on the bill that night will be Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Piano, written for virtuoso Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Thibaudet will be on hand at Cabrillo to perform it. Behzad was born in Iran, and we talked about the echoes of Persian folk music in his concerto and other compositions.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Heads-up: I’ll be anchoring KUSP’s live broadcast of Cabrillo’s opening night concert on Aug. 5. The broadcast starts at 7PM; concert’s at 8. Visit the Cabrillo Festival website to see all the performances and events.
