nathanirwin.com

A lesson in high-school civics

2009-08-11T19:06:00.004-05:00

Because WCBU's indefatiguable News Director is taking a well-deserved vacation today, I'm at Peoria City Hall tonight, overseeing our live broadcast of tonight's City Council meeting. Council meetings are not necessarily the most exciting way to spend an evening, but the last time I was in this position -- back in March -- I did find myself curiously intrigued by the proceedings.

At one point in my sordid past, I had aspirations to a career in politics. I was a longtime member of the Student Senate back in college, even ran for student body president at one point. I was a delegate to a model state legislature for North Dakota college students, and was appointed to any number of faculty-student committees. This phase lasted about three or four years, until I eventually came around to the conclusion that my talents, and my best chance of career success, lay elsewhere.

Along the way, though, I spent a LOT of time in public meetings, debating policy. I learned more about parliamentary procedure than I will ever need to know. So when the Council goes half an hour on a request for an increase in water rates, or starts digging into proposals on how to close a ten-million-dollar deficit in next year's budget (both of which are on this week's agenda), my eyes don't immediately glaze over. I'm actually kind of interested: If I were a Council member, would I vote for or against this? Who's making a principled stand here, and who's just trying to score points for the next election cycle? Is the city better or worse off if it re-zones a residential street to allow for more bicycle traffic?

I also come back to two observations that gnerally hold true for most public bodies I've seen in action: 1) Most members of the Council genuinely want to do what's right and best for the city, but they occasionally disagree strongly about what constitutes the "right" action; and 2) Most of these guys aren't really any smarter or more civic-minded than I am. I could run for City Council and do about as good a job as they do. The real difference is that they're willing to get out there and ask for votes, and they're also willing to give up an awful lot of time sitting in meetings and having potentially tedious discussions about policy.

I actually find this reassuring, as a validation of Jeffersonian democratic sentiment. I could be a city councilman, or a school-board member. And so could you. And, overall, we'd do an okay job most of the time. Everyday citizens like you and I are capable of exercising personal judgment to make decisions for the collective good. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people ACTUALLY WORKS! Right?!

Right?

If I had to do this EVERY week, I might feel differently, though...

I am the King of the Political Geeks

2009-01-18T23:28:00.002-06:00

Guess who had the best political question in the WHOLE COUNTRY last week?

A little over a week ago, I was following all the news about the Senate holding hearings into Barack Obama's Cabinet nominees, and it got me thinking: How can the Senate act on nominations before they happen?

In case you had a more active social life in high school than I did, and had other things to think about during civics class, here's a primer: Members of the Cabinet are nominated by the President, then confirmed by the Senate -- usually following a confirmation hearing and a recommendation by one of the Senate's committees.

Barack Obama takes office on Tuesday (duh!) But the Senate was holding hearings last week. So how can someone who's not even President yet send Cabinet nominees to the Senate?

YES, this is a trivial question -- BEYOND trivial, even. But I was genuinely perplexed, so I sent my query off to the two people I thought might be able to give me an answer: Ken Rudin, the "Political Junkie" at NPR; and the Slate "Explainer."

And they BOTH responded on the web. Rudin posted a response on Wednesday. Slate answered the next day.

How long am I allowed to bask in the glory?

Dude. I MISSED it.

2007-08-09T23:28:00.001-05:00

So, I just heard that the Gin Blossoms were the featured musical act yesterday at the "Taste of Peoria."

Now, I've done the "Taste" before, and it was pretty good -- but, with work and rehearsals ganging up on me this week, I figured I could probably take a pass on it this year. Too many other irons in the fire. But then, we get a visit from one of our station reps this morning, and she's asking about it (I guess there were brochures in her hotel room last night.)

Now, I'll confess up front that I wasn't cool enough to have been a fan "back in the day." I couldn't be bothered at the time with something as common-denominator as popular music. But I vaguely remember hearing some of their songs during my irregular stints as a Triple-A host in my first radio job, and some of their stuff has turned up on collections and compilations I've picked up in the last few years. I don't know that the Gin Blossoms are my FAVORITE band, but I love their sound: the upbeat tempos, the messy guitar sound, the angsty lyrics. It's good stuff, and I'm kicking myself for not having paid more attention when I could have.

I figured I'd missed any chance of actually hearing them, since as far as I knew, they'd been borken up for a while. Turns out that's not the case: They got back together about five years ago. There's even a new album, released last year. And, judging by their website, they're still touring regularly -- playing bigger gigs than just food festivals in Peoria, too.

Had I known that they were going to be in my freaking back yard, I would have made a point of catching the show. I would have bailed on rehearsal, if necessary. ("Uhhhh, yeah. It's Nathan. I'm sick.... I think it's one of those 24-hour tumors that's been going around. See you tomorrow night.")

But I missed the boat on this one. Dang. On the other hand, it looks like they're playing a gig in Minneapolis the weekend I'm supposed to be there. Maybe I'll get another shot.

But for now, I may have to suck it up and shell out for the CDs.

A Great Weekend to be in Peoria

2007-08-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I went straight from "The Fantasticks" into a production of "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," so I've been at rehearsals almost every night. And I've been pulling extra air shifts at the station, for a co-workers who's been on vacation.

But last weekend, I got a chance to take in two great concerts on consecutive nights. Alison Kraus and Union Station played the Peoria Civic Center on Friday night, and Art Garfunkel appeared Saturday. Under the circumstances, it would have been tempting to just take advantage of the opportunity to get some "me" time, but I've come to subscribe to a credo I picked up from my friend Jonathan: That when you live in a place like Peoria, instead if crying into your beer that there's never anything to do, you should make a deliberate effort to experience everything the place DOES have to offer -- to really live the place to its fullest.

On that advice, I've been to the local opera, ballet and symphony -- many times, in each case. I've taken in hockey games and baseball games, been to the big fireworks display down on the riverfront on the Fourth of July. I pack in as many plays and concerts as time and transportation allow. I've even been to the zoo, and toured the cemetary. So, when folks like Alison Krauss and Art Garfunkel pass through town, I'm going to be there.

I mentioned Jonathan earlier, because it's really through him that I first heard Alison Krauss. We were on a lunch excursion, and he'd just picked up the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which was spinning in the CD player. I was impressed, but it was a while before I thought to listen to it on my own. As soon as I did, I discovered one of the clearest, purest voices I'd ever heard; and I had to revise any number of assumptions I had about bluegrass music.

The concert was packed, and I was crammed into a folding chair in a far corner on the floor of the arena. Taller people around me made it impossible to get a clear line of sight to the stage for more than a minute at a time. But the band was just ON! Krauss' voice carries just as much punch in concert as it does in the studio.

They didn’t “jam” very much – it seemed like, after all those years playing together, all the solos and fills are pretty well nailed down, and they don’t experiment very much from night to night. But every verse and chorus, and every solo, were tightly and exactly executed. This is a band that has every note completely figured out.

To go back to Jonathan once again (and why not? He's a great guy), he’s also the only person I’ve met who’s an even bigger fan of Simon and Garfunkel than I am (though he claims that his wife beats him by a nose). I have all the albums – he’s got the imports never released in the States, and caught the “Old Friends” reunion tour in concert. And whereas I never gave two thoughts about Art Garfunkel’s solo career, he actually has all the albums, and has listened to them pretty carefully.

I actually toyed with the idea of NOT going to the Garfunkel show, but when ticket sales were coming up short, and the theatre offered a last minute discount, I remembered the Jonathan Credo, grabbed my credit card, and hustled myself downtown. The concert itself was a little short, once you factor out the opening act. Also, Garfunkel brought his seventeen-year-old son out for a few numbers. The kid has a great voice, and he’s earily reminiscent of a young Art Garfunkel, but I don’t know that he’s ready for prime time yet.

But when Artie was on stage [after twenty years of dropping my hard-earned cash on his old records, I'm entitled to refer to him informally], he just sold it. He delivered the old S&G material like the pro he is: “The Boxer,” “Homeward Bound,” “Sounds of Silence.” And let me just say that listening to him sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” live is one of those iconic artistic experiences that justifies the ticket price all by itself. Forty years on, he still brings it, every time.

There was also a great performance of “A Heart in New York,” one of the signatures from his solo career. His did a cover of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” that I was prepared to hate (I’m so in love with the original), but he convinced me. And he tore into a calypso version of “Cecilia” that gave the song a whole new lease on life. I only wish he done a couple more of the jazz standards that are on his new CD – he’s got such a lyric voice that I bet he’d do a perfect take on some of the old ballads.

It was a great couple of nights.

Nathan Irwin: The Soundtrack

2007-07-15T17:35:00.000-05:00

Apropos of nothing – and because I’m seriously busy, now that “The Fantasticks” has opened – I offer this reflection on some of the songs I’ve been playing most heavily on my iPod. If you subscribe to theory that a person’s personal play list, or the books on their bookshelf, provide an insight into their personality, have at it.

This list may be a little skewed by the fact that I put many of these songs into a play list I built while rehearsing for and performing in “Autobahn” – songs that either use car metaphors, or seemed to capture the attitudes of the scenes in the show. I cycled through that play list a lot back stage, so the songs show up pretty high on my “most played” list.

Steve Forbert, “Born Too Late”

I blame my cousin, Steve Irwin, for this one. Ten years ago, on the way back from a family reunion in Michigan, he popped Steve Forbert’s “The American in Me” into his tape player, and introduced me to this musician. When I got home, I quickly went out and got the CD, and it was one of the first ones I ripped into my iPod. I love Forbert’s style of roots rock, particularly the combination of driving rock and jaded lyrics in this song.

Johnny Cash, “I Won’t Back Down”

From the five-disc “American Recordings” series Cash released in his final years. This is a cover of a Tom Petty song, and I actually think that Cash’s version is better than the original. Cash brings a kind of gravelly last-act-of-defiance feel to it, from a man who sings like he has one foot in the grave. Petty, by comparison, seems like an aging pop star copping a rebellious attitude from the comfortable safety of his major-label record deal.

Uncle Tupelo, “Give Back the Key to My Heart”

When I was in college, my friend Kurt tried to turn me on to this band, and its subsequent spin-offs, Son Volt and Wilco. I assumed Kurt was out of his mind, I was wrong. So now, fifteen years too late, I’m having a lot of fun discovering the alt-country genre.

The Bodeans, “Good Things”

This band had a brief run in the mid-nineties with their single “Closer to Free.” That’s about the time I was getting started in public radio, and covering a Triple-A shift every few months. I moved on, but the Bodeans are still at it ten years later. Last month, I caught their performance on the Peoria Riverfront, and they’re still amazing. They’re a great band, and it’s a shame their moment in the sun didn’t last longer.

Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”

Another fantastic band I’ve only just come around to (sensing a theme, here?) I’ve found a few of their singles on compilations, and every one I’ve heard so far has been amazing. Apparently, they only put out two full-length CDs, then faded into obscurity. I haven’t had time to pick them up yet, but once I get through all the un-listened-to music I already have, this band is at the top of my list.

John Wesley Harding, “I’m Wrong About Everything”

From the “High Fidelity” soundtrack – a great movie, by the way, especially if you have a fondness for the romantic fumblings of hapless protagonists overlaced with the pronouncements of self-appointed music snobs. I remember listening to Harding a little, working at the aforementioned Triple-A station, then promptly forgot about him for ten years. The song is a great confessional from a deeply flawed, but repentant character. It has an oddly catchy, up-tempo pop hook.

Lyle Lovett, “If I Had a Boat”

My ex-girlfriend, Becky Beth, came home one day with a Lyle Lovett single called “Church,” which had one of the best gospel grooves I’ve ever heard. She put it on a mix tape we listened to in the car for about a year. Why I never followed up to check out the rest of his music is beyond me; it’s probably that I’m just an idiot. I like this song for the simplicity of it’s texture – barely more than a guitar and percussion – and the wistfulness of the lyrics.

Steve Forbert, “The American in Me”

Another Steve Forbert. Damn you, cousin Steve! This song is more down-tempo than “Born Too Late,” but I love the way the lyrics convey a mid-life anomie, using cars and driving as a central metaphor.

It's Ira Glass! In all his shiny, pixellated, downloadable goodness.

2007-07-11T23:28:00.001-05:00

Dude.

Episodes of the "This American Life" TV series are now available from iTunes.

DUDE!

Last September, at a public radio conference, I got a chance to see a preview of the series--most of what turned out to be the pilot episode of the show. Then, just before the show debuted, I saw a couple other episodes on a promotional DVD the producers sent out. But I never saw the full run of the series. Much as I love the radio show, I'm not a Showtime subscriber, and I didn't think a six-episode run justified ponying up the full cost of a subscription. Plus, I'm pretty sure I was working on a show at the time--which means I probably wouldn't have benn home to watch, anyway.

Nevertheless, based on what little I've seen of the TV series, it looks to be every bit as good as the radio show. The choice of stories is just as careful, the narrative style is the same, and so on. I don't know that the show broke ground in terms of using the craft of video production to tell stories, but it's safe to say that the show is twice as smart and curious about the world as anything else that's out there on the television dial.

That being the case, you should definitely go buy all six episodes. Now. At two bucks a pop, you'll get the whole run for slightly more than a download of "Zoolander." Which do you think you're more likely to watch without wanting to suddenly dash your iPod to bits against the nearest wall?

Thought so.

[Off-topic, I know, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Showtime has picked up "TAL" for ten more episodes. If so, that's great news--I might even break down and subscribe. But I wonder when (or even IF) the TV episodes will be available on DVD. Again, the safest bet is to fire up the credit card and get them while they're hot.]

Having a Fantastick time... (and no, that's not a typo!)

2007-07-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

UFF-da!

I'm tired. Just got home from the first technical rehearsal for "The Fantasticks," which goes up soon at Corn Stock Theatre. I'm playing Mortimer--a small role, but a very physical one. Pretty much the whole time I'm on stage, I'm moving. I carry another actor around the stage, engage in a mock combat sequence, and do an elaborate death scene. Factor in the temperature lately (it's been in the nineties) and the walk to and from the theatre, and you start to understand why I'm getting a little worn down.

None of which should be read as a complaint, mind. Because I've been waiting years for a chance to do this show.

"The Fantasticks" is one of those shows I seem to have a history with. Thirty years ago, my father (who was about the same age then that I am now) played the male lead in a community theatre production in Wisconsin. Though I only have a vague recollection of watching the show itself, I got to know all the music really well.

Ten years later on, I'm in college, suffering from a severe delusion I might have a career in theatre. In a musical theatre class, I was assigned some of the songs from the show, and loved them all over again. Since then, "The Fantasticks" has been one of just a handful of shows I swore I'd do as soon as the opportunity came along. In the end, it took twenty years before I happened to be living a city when there was a production coming up. So, when the auditions at Corn Stock were announced, I was there.

So, in brief, that's how we got to this point in the story. I still love the show and now, after just a twenty year wait, I get my chance to be in it.

Opening night is Friday. If you're in Peoria, you should come out and see it.

A quick update from the footlights

2007-07-05T23:23:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm in final rehearsals for a production of "The Fantasticks," opening next week at the Corn Stock tent. We've reached that point in the process where we run the full show every night -- which makes for some long, and tiring, rehearsals.

A couple of days ago, we lost the actor playing Henry, my very good friend Clark Rians. Fortunately, our director made some calls over the holiday, and Larry Stratton agreed to take on the role on very short notice.

While I'm devasted at losing Clark, I know it'll be great working with Larry. He played the same role ten years ago (the same production Madeline was in, as it happens), so I know he'll ready to go. He's a real pro, and we've worked together in the past. A couple of years ago, he was my sidekick in "The Crucible," and now the roles are reversed.

[EDIT: One of these days, I have *got* to figure out what it is that makes directors think to pair us up like we're the Mutt and Jeff of community theatre. I mean, Larry's got twenty-some years on me; he's tall, and thin; and I'm short and... umm, NOT thin.

We're getting better every night. I can't wait until opening -- a week from tomorrow.

Yesterday it was my birthday. I hung one more year on the line.

2007-07-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

(Apologies to Paul Simon for stealing his lyric)

Actually, my birthday was Friday, but the real celebration took place over the weekend. I got some time to finally watch the PBS special honoring Paul Simon as the first-ever recipient of the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The show aired Wednesday, but I was tied up in rehearsal, so it took me a couple of days to get around to it.

I've been a huge Paul Simon fan for just over twenty years. "Graceland" was the first CD I ever owned, and it inspired me to pillage my Mom's record collection for her old Simon and Garfunkel LPs. And I think I'm one of like twelve people who actually saw his Broadway musical, "The Capeman." So I'm delighted to see him receive this award. I think Bob Costas made a great point about Simon's musical longevity: He's been writing songs for forty years and he's written great material in each of the last five decades - compared to some contemporaries who had periods of brilliance, and decades of unremarkable work.

A few years ago, I probably couldn't have watched a show like this without getting all huffy about other artists performing Paul Simon's music, and butchering it by not performing it exactly the way he does. These days, though, I'm much more mellow; and as I watched a cavalcade of great musicians pay tribute to Simon's music, I was struck by how broad his influence really has been over the years. For instance, what other artists would bring Shawn Colvin and Allison Krauss together for the same homage? James Taylor and the Dixie Hummingbirds? Lyle Lovett and Marc Anthony?

A few random thoughts on the performance:

I would never, in a million years, have thought to put Shawn Colvin and Allison Krauss together in a duet. But it turns out their voices are spectacular together. And "The Boxer" is a great song to test that theory.
God, I love how Lyle Lovett sings. I wasn't too thrilled with the songs they gave him, though. I would have liked to hear what he could do with "Graceland." I bet he could knock it out of the park.
How awesome is it that they decided to include "Gone At Last"? This is like one of my favorite Paul Simon songs ever, and I figured everybody except me had just forgotten about it. Jessy Dixon and Yolanda Adams ROCKED on it.
Dianne Reeves. I've never been a huge fan of this jazz vocalist. But she was a great choice for "Something So Right." Her performance made me hear jazzy elements in the song that I'd never noticed were there before -- which is exactly what a good cover is supposed to do. Plus, again: Points for shining the spotlight on a song in the Simon canon that doesn't get a whole lot of attention.
I don't know who that guy is who plays guitar for Paul Simon these days, but he was the hardest-working guy on the stage. He's the size of a house, and vaguely Nordic-looking. Until I learn his actual name, I'm going to call him "Sven."
Stevie Wonder flubbed his entrance in "Loves Me Like a Rock," and asked to start the song over from the top. PBS didn't edit out the false start, and I think I can tell why: His cover ("I couldn't see my cue card") was actually pretty funny, and entirely genuine. Plus, on the second take, he came in like a freight train. Stevie Wonder rocks.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is still amazing, after all these years. Simon looked a little awkward singing with them (He always comes off a little uncomfortable on stage), but by the end, you could see real affection between him and LSM's lead singers. They really looked like two guys who've become musical brothers.
Was that concert given at Ford's Theatre? I went to a show there a couple of years ago, and it sure looked like it.

PS: This was one the first broadcasts I recorded to my new computer, using Windows Media Center and a direct cable connection. I know that other people have been doing this for years, but I was really pleased with the result. The only downside is that I can't watch it on my flat-screen TV. Then again, maybe that'll be my next project.

Tangled Up in Cables

2007-06-24T21:12:00.000-05:00

"So what did YOU do this weekend?..."

Thanks to a couple of home projects I'd been meaning to get around to, I spent most of mine getting to know my floors, the back of my furniture, and all the dust that's accumulated thereon.

Saturday involved getting my apartment ready for a new TV stand (the TV itself won't arrive for another week, but it's best to be prepared for these sorts of things). This meant reaching behind my old audio cabinet, unplugging speakers and pulling RCA cables and power cords. Then the components came out, getting deposited randomly all over the living room. I grabbed a tape measure, and moved furniture around until I'd cleared enough floor space.

With all the furniture and electronics out of the way, I quickly discovered just how must dust I've let build up over the years. So, out came the vacuum cleaner, followed by several good passes over the carpet as Ginger went to go hide under the bed.

(NB: Ginger is my cat. Just so we're clear...)

My friend Clark, his big shiny truck, and I made a quick run out to Sears to pick up the stand and haul it back. Npw, I had a clean, open floor; an upacked and unassembled TV stand; and electronics strewn all over creation. This, to me, is an untenable situation, so I went to work on assembling the stand, and cleaning and re-installing my components, and re-stringing all the cables and wires.

Today, the big project involved splitting the cable TV line in my spare room, and running a new line into my computer. According to the documentation, this is supposed to make it possible for me to watch TV on my computer, ot use it to record live TV to my hard drive. I lost about half an hour because I was trying to run a line IN to an OUTPUT jack, but it seems to be working now. The big test will come when I try to record an episode of "Heroes" on my computer later tonight.

I've got NPR in my pocket!

2006-09-02T00:58:00.000-05:00

(...not literally, of course)

So I'm about a month into life with my new iPod, and I'm still loving it.

I'll try really hard not to gush too much, but I have to gush just a little bit about the joys of podcasts. In particular, I'm loving the podcasts available from public radio--at least, the few that I've had the time to listen to.

Now, I make my living working at an NPR affiliate, so it will come as no special shock that I'm a huge, raging NPR geek. But one of the curious things about working at an NPR station is that, since I'm working pretty much the whole time I'm there, I don't get to listen as much as you might think.

Enter NPR podcasts, which let me catch up on all the stories I end up missing, on account of my job and all. Lately, I'm really digging "NPR Shuffle," which pulls together about half a dozen stories and interviews from the news magazines. It ranges from 25 to 40 minutes every day, and usually 15-20 on the weekends. Since my communte's only 15 minutes, it's actually a little too long for me; in fact, I built up a backlog over the week, and I've been listening to them tonight to catch up. But I bet it's perfect if you're stuck on the subway for an hour each day.

The only downside for me: I think this means that I've spent perfectly good money, just so I can take my work home with me.

Maybe the iPod wasn't such a great idea, after all.

iLove my iPod (but iHate air travel)

2006-08-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

Bad weather in Chicago is causing all kinds of cancellations and delays in and out of Peoria airport today. No to mention hightened airline security today. Looks like I picked the worst possible time to visit my girlfriend in New York for a couple of days.

Fortunately, the slings and arrows of airport hell are a little easier to bear these days, thanks to my newest toy. A few weeks ago, I decided to jump headlong into the 21st century, embrace my inner geek, and buy an iPod.

Can I just take a few minutes here to say how much I love it?! I went for one with a 30-gig hard drive, which means I can store an ungodly amount of music. Being the huge public radio nerd that I am, I immediately ripped a bunch of complilation CDs from the World Cafe, plus four "best-of" CDs from This American Life. Throw in a handful of podcasts from NPR, and I'm set for hours.

Right now, I'm jamming out with the BoDeans, waiting for my plane to board. I'm not exactly happy that I've been delayed four hours; but I won't run out things to listen to.

A little gratuitous linkage

2006-04-09T17:15:00.000-05:00

Back in my early college years, I got my first introduction to what eventually became the Internet. In my freshman year, I got an account on BITNET -- a network linking mainframe computers on college and university campuses around the country. Among the many time-killers I discovered online, my favorite was SFSTORY.

SFSTORY was a collaborative, science-fiction parody -- much in the style of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," only written by college students. The original idea was that one author would post a chapter introducing a plot and a set of characters, and other authors would post additional chapters to move the plot forward. By the time I became involved (around 1988), there were multiple authors, each pursuing separate plotlines, set in a common universe (or "multiverse," as they were called for some reason I've long since forgotten.) I became an Authors, posting at irregular intervals, until SFSTORY folded some time around 1990. It was reborn later, and incorporated into another collaborative writing project called Superguy. But that's a much longer story.

In any event, the other day I was Googling "SFSTORY," to see if there were still any traces of it lingering on the web. In the process, I turned up a couple of my old colleagues. Troy Cheek, who wrote under the name "The Cowboy," now has a web site at cheek.org. He seems to be working on a new SFSTORY plot, and he posts other things he's written. Also, Eric Burns -- known in his SFSTORY days as "Eric, Lord Sabre" -- is still writing, too. He has a blog here, and he also operates Websnark, a site devoted to web comics.

Consider this an unsolicited plug. You should check out their sites. Yes, they're old friends of mine. But, more importantly, they're great writers, and they deserve the attention.

News from the other end of the dial

2006-01-06T00:47:00.000-06:00

As a general rule, I try to waste too much time following what goes on in the world of commercial radio, but this story has been creating some buzz in the public radio world:

Bonneville International made some headlines today by announcing a shakeup of their stations in Washington, DC. Bonneville will move news/talk station WTOP, and classical station, WGMS, to new frequncies, and launch a new news station. According to an article in the Washington Post:

...[T]he stations will be the "long-form" version of WTOP's shorternews reports, with interviews, commentary and news provided by The Post's journalists.

Radio Ink says the new station

will include in-depth local, national and international news and commentary
provided by The Post's reporters, editors, and columnists as well as news
makers and other local media personalities.

There's plenty I don't know about commercial radio, but I'm having trouble seeing how this is a good move in the long run. Is there really a compelling need, or much of an audience, for more news/talk in a market that akready includes WTOP, WMAR, C-SPAN radio, and two all-news NPR stations? I can buy the argument that DC denizens have a healthy appetite for news, but it sounds to me like they're slicing the salami pretty thin.

I could be wrong, of course. When WETA dropped its classical music and went all-news, I predicted that there wasn't enough audience for them to split it with WAMU and still stay in business. The jury's still out on that one, in my opinion. But I guess we're about to find out just how much news Washington really wants.

An interesting side note: Classical music fans in DC continue to get the shaft. WETA defended its format change a year ago by pointing out that classical music was still on WGMS. Now Bonneville moves WGMS and its music to a frequency that doesn't have quite as much reach.

More Audio

2006-01-03T00:37:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

Thought I'd post some new audio. Or maybe, NOT so new. These are some generics promos I produced last fall for WCBU live, in-studio jazz show, "Jazz from the Hilltop." The music beds are all taken from performances recorded in the studio. The scripts were designed to reflect the findings of the PRPD "Core Values of Jazz Radio" study.

Promo 1 -- "Hot/Cool"
Promo 2 -- "America's Classical Music"
Promo 3 -- "Live Jazz"

More audio coming soon -- I promise!

My New Toy

2005-09-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

As much as I hate to admit it, in a few ways I'm a lot like an overgrown kid. That's especially been the case for the past week, as I've been breaking in (okay--let's be honest about it--playing with) my new toy: a Samsung SPH i500 smartphone.

I got my first Palm Pilot about two and a half years ago, and loved it from the start. Aside from th instrinsic "cool" factor of having a high-tech gadget to play around with, I found it enormously useful for coordinating all my e-mail and phone contacts in one place, keeping my work and personal schedules together, and being able to carry itineraries and directions in one place while I travel.

But lately, I'd been having trouble with my Palm. First, I frequently found that I wasn't carrying it when I needed it. I'd be at Borders, trying to figure out if I already owned a copy of a book I was salivating over. I know this will sound geeky, but I keep a copy of my book inventory on my Palm for just such an emergency--if I remember to bring it along, which I frequently didn't. Also, during the summer, it's just too bulky to carry PDA, cell phone, wallet, keys, etc. I needed to lose a gadget, or find one that would do double duty. And, in the end, my dear old m130 was just starting to show its age: wouldn't hold a charge for more than a few hours, not wanting to sync with my computer at work.

I also like the idea of having a mobile phone that's entirely mine, as opposed to one that's given to me for work. Frankly, I feel guilty using a station phone for personal business. And I was using the phone most heavily when I was travelling--which is not neccasrily always on station business.

Hence the smartphone. Initially, I was looking at the new Treo, from Palm. But I tried playing around with a couple of display models. I love the device, but it seemed to take up a lot of space, and I worried that I'd end up leaving the thing at home a lot--especially in the summer--thus leaving me worse off than before, with neither phone nor PDA. And the $400 price tag put me off; that's a lot to throw at a device I might end up not liking.

The Samsung, however, is basically a cell phone on steroids--powerful enough for what I wanted, but convenient to slip into a pocket. The hands-down coolest thing about it is being able to check the web from damn near anywhere: I'm at the theatre, wondering whether I'm going to get rained on during a dress rehearsal. No problem! Just get a weather forecast off the internet. Bango! Any news break since I left the house? Let's hit the New York Times and find out!

Yes, I'm a geek. But I actually find this incredibly cool.

The first few days were kind of rough. I couldn't figure out how to access my e-mail through it at first, and I still can't follow links in my e-mail messages. Some web sites take impossibly long to load (it's a lot slower than my connection at home), and I don't have my favorite sites all bookmarked and ready to go. But compared to where I was a month ago, I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

AWOL

2005-08-29T01:19:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a long time. I don't have any easy excuses for the inattention on my part, but I have been quite busy lately.

First off, I've been spending most of my evenings at the theatre, with rehearsals for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Corn Stock. We opened last Friday night, and our run continues through Saturday the 3rd. I'll admit I was initially disappointed with the role I was offered, but the production has turned out to be a huge amount of fun. First, it's a sure-fire script with plenty of guaranteed laugh lines, and lots of opportunities to come up with funny bits and business. Our cast is almost uniformly exceptional. For my part, it's the first opportunity I've had to work with Dave Montague and Ed Peck, though I've known them for a little over a year, and run into them more than once at auditions. But now, seeing them every day and working on stage with them is an education in the craft of theatre. They both have impeccable comic instincts, and they're utterly delightful in their roles. I learn from just watching them. hope I get to work with both of them again. Chip Joyce, Jimmy LaHood and Josh Whitmore are the Proteans, and they're improvisational geniuses. Half the laughs in the show come from stuff they just made up in rehearsal. And it goes without saying that it's good to be able to work on a production with Madeline again, after we both spent the last year pursuing separate productions.

The only problem with the show is, it's exhausting. I don't have much to do in the first act, but once I go on, it's an hour of running around in fifteen pounds of leather armor, cape, sword and helmet. Once we got to where we were rehearsing every night, I found that I just didn't have enough energy to get through the show and my ordinary daily business. So, I'm on vacation this week, resting up for the show. That'll be nice in and of itself, and it should give me some time to take care of a few projects around the house. Who knows? I might even get to read a whole book!

Okay, probably not. But I can hope.

Work aggravation

2005-07-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

Unproductive day at the station today. Our afternoon host is on vacation for two weeks, so I spent the whole day on the air.

I knew going in that I wasn't going to get any significant amount of actual work done. Moreover, I'm just now getting back up and running after having the hard drive on my computer go up in flames (in a purely literal sense, of course; no actual combusition took place). A new hard drive was installed Tuesday, but Bradley's computing services people are awfully selective about what they'll transfer in the course of these kinds of repairs. So, all of my documents were restored (thanks, Mike!), but NOT a handful of specialized applications I keep on my computer: Audio editig tools, programs that analyze Arbitron data, or any of my handheld utilities.

So, in between station breaks, I spent the majority of the day running back to my computer and re-installing software from backup CDs. I think I've been through the Installation Wizard a dozen times today. On the up side, I'm pretty much done, other than a couple of programs that didn't feel like cooperating.

On an unrelated computer note, the WCBU audio streaming computer has finally been replaced--a project that has been dragging on for months with many protracted delays. The new machine crashed early Wednesday morning, but was purring away like a kitty when I left. Check it out for yourself.

Until I Find You

2005-07-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

Jut finished reading "Until I Find You," the new novel from John Irving.

I've been reading Irving for almost twenty years now, and made a point of grabbing each new book as soon as it's out. He's probably my favorite writer, hands down. And "Until I Find You" didn't disappoint.

Most of Irving's novel are premised on a conceit, requiring a healthy suspension of disbelief. If you can't accept the premise, then the novel may be a lost cause for you. In "Until I Find You," the conceit is Jack Burns, the central character. Jack grows up with no knowledge of his father, and is evidently so attractive that women--older women, especially--find him irresistible. His sexual initiation comes early, and he has a series of affairs with (mostly) older women.

And this is where, to some extent, Irving lost me. I consistently had trouble buying Irving's portrayal of Jack as so universally appealing to so many older women. The relationships struck me as authorial contrivances, not driven by a clear concept of who young Jack is. Instead of responding to, or changing, as a consequence of these affairs, Jack seems to be emotionally dis-associated from them, and emerges into adulthood as a kind of cipher.

The novel is essentially a Bildungsroman, taking us through Jack's life from age of four to age thirty-eight, at which point he undertakes a journey to find his biological father, and heretofore hidden aspects of his own history. The story ends with father and son meeting, on a note that's simultaneously poignant and comic.

The novel suffers from Irving's sometimes cloying authorial presence. He has a tendency to interject himself into his narrative: describing events, and then immediately telling us what they mean and how we're to feel about them. A little more "show" and a little less "tell" would have made this a stronger novel. But this is a long-standing Irving device: If you really can't tolerate it, put the book down and read Carver instead.

All told, a good story told very well, by one of the masters of the craft. I enjoyed it enough that I'm feeling inspired to re-visit some of his more recent work as well--either "A Widow for One Year" or "The Fourth Hand." I know I'll have to go back soon to read through "Until I Find You" again, and I'm already feeling deflated by the fact that I now have another four years to go before another new Irving novel.

Two deaths in the (public radio) family

2005-07-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

Last week, WBUR announced the cancellation of "The Connection," a daily call-in show it had been distributing (via NPR) to public radio stations across the country. This comes a couple of weeks after WBEZ decided to cease production of its own show, "Odyssey."

It's pobably a coincidence that the announcements come so close together. Shows get started and canceleld all the time in radio. But the symmetry begs for some analysis--an attempt to discern the connecting thread, to puzzle out the greater meaning behind two isolated decisions.

My opinion: About damn time. Let's hope some more shows take the hint, and close up shop right behind them.

Ultimately, both programs suffered from the problem of being extraneous. They were just two of many programs contending for space on the midday schedules of mostly news/talk stations. And stations have plenty of other options to chose from: "The World," "Day to Day," "Fresh Air," and a brace of others. In the face of strong competition, these two couldn't pick up enough affiliates ("The Connection" was on 65 stations; "Odyssey" on 30) to pay the bills.

And, believe it or not, their demise is a good thing. The loss of these two shows is a preliminary step toward solving the "me-too" phenomenon of having multiple "sound-alike" programs that are essentially indistibguishable in terms of concept and content. It's something I first noticed a couple of years ago, when NPR launched its personal finance show, "Motley Fool." Presumably, the intent was to compete with PRI's personal finance show "Sound Money" (which is now named "Markeplace Money" and distributed by American Public Media). Another example could be the competing one-hour gardening programs "Talking Plants" (NPR) and "You Bet Your Garden" (WHYY).

That's where "The Connection" and "Odyssey" fell short. Whatever its merits, the former was still one of three two-hour midday call-in shows in public radio, along with "Diane Rehm" and "Talk of the Nation." And I never understood who would want to carry "Odyssey" instead of the obvously superior "Fresh Air."

I'm all for more choices when it comes to programming, but come on! Does public radio need THREE midday call-in shows? Is gardening really such a vital topic for our listeners, that we need two full hours of programming to it? I doubt it. Fortunately, these two casualties clear the decks for some of the other shows out there, and make the survivors more likely to survive. Stations still have plenty of options in assembling their schedules.

This also sends a much-needed warning sign to local stations about the temptation to try to turn your local programs into a profit center by marekting them for national distribution. WBUR in particular, was long due for some come-uppance. In the last ten years, they've developed three shows as "local" services, then decided to recoup their investment by trying to take them national. I don't know if the attempt has paid off financially, but it's a shame to see a good station develop a strong local service, then strip it of its local connection.

Making good programming is hard, and takes a real commitment of resources. If you're going to do it, why not develop platforms that speak to and reflect the community you're licensed to serve? Is your mission to serve a national audience, or to do a good job for your listeners and supporters on the issues closer to home?

Which isn't to say that local station's should never pursue national programs. WBUR gave us "Car Talk." WBEZ originated "This American Life." Public radio is better, funnier, and more interesting as a result of the shows they developed. But pursuing national production for its own sake, or to develop additional revenue streams, is a disservice to the system and to your own audience.

With any luck, WBUR and WBEZ will take the staff assigned to those programs, and reassign them to creating high-quality local content.

More new audio

2005-07-07T12:56:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been lending some production assistance to the City of Peoria's "Night Out Against Crime." Using some materials from the National Night Out campiagn, and some voicers I recorded with Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard, I produced these three public service announcements. Listen and enjoy!

FYI: I was NOT responsible for writing or recording the jingle in the spots. So don't go blaming ME.

PSA 1: 36 seconds

PSA 2: 59 seconds

PSA 3: 59 seconds

New additions to the book shelf

2005-07-07T00:03:00.000-05:00

Madeline and I were out running some errands last weekend, and I used the opportunity to pick up a couple of books I've been meaning to read. Of course, with rehearsals for "Forum" underway (about which, more later), I doubt I'll get to dig into any of them for a long time. But, for better or worse, here are the new finds:

"The World is Flat," Thomas Friedman
(I actually gave a copy of this to my Dad as a birthday present, then decided I also needed one for myself)

"Freakonomics," Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

"Blinding Light," Paul Theroux

Also, John Irving's new novel comes out July 11th. I've decided to be a total geek and run out and get it the first day it's on sale. And THAT one, I'll be sure to start in on as soon as it's in my hot little hands.

God, I love books.

Audio

2005-07-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

I mentioned the promos that I produced yesterday for the WCBU Used Music Sale. I made mp3s of them.

Version 1 -- Lee Wenger
Version2 -- Nathan Irwin

New developments

2005-07-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

"Day to Day" made its debut on WCBU today. As of now, I'm doing double duty as a classical announcer, as well as a news host and newscaster. Got off to a rough start -- I'm not used to the show's clock, so I stumbled a little. Also, my air shift is now an hour longer, and my lunch break is getting pushed back to 1:00.

In other news, Madeline's dog Camille is staying in the apartment for a few days. The family that's been taking care of her is going on vacation. She's a sweet, funny, wonderful dog -- but she's 80 pounds. That's a lot of dog to have around the apartment. Ginger Kitty's not too thrilled, I guess -- she hid under the bed most of the day.

And I prodcued two new promos for the WCBU Used Music Sale, coming up July 14th to 17th. They'll start airing tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Another show...

2005-06-30T21:53:00.000-05:00

Corn Sotck Theatre has announced the cast of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." It's posted on the Peoria Theatre web site:

http://peoriatheatre.com/photos/05-forum.html

The good news is that Madeline and I are both in the cast; this will be the first show we've done together since February of last year. But I'm not sure how I ended up with the part of Miles Gloriousus. Most people don't look at me and instuitively think, "Oh, yeah, Roman general. I get it."

But, hey! A part's a part, and the show should be a hoot. Rehearsals start next week.