January 3, 2009 (#81) -- The Just Good Radio Show
Originally aired December 22, 2007


Bells In Europe
Peter Leonhard Braun - Producer, Germany
(Adaptation by Steve Wadhams - Producer, Canada)

In film, the Germans have Herzog. In music, Wagner. In literature, Goethe. And in radio, Braun.

40 years ago, Peter Leonhard Braun inspired a revolution in radio-making and developed a whole new way of telling stories with sound. Before Braun's legendary work, audio documentaries were stuck within the confines of the studio, with a talking head telling listeners about an event. But in the mid-1960s Braun took radio-making out of the studio and into the world.

One of his most famous pieces, called "Bells in Europe", chronicles European history through the sound of bells. It investigates what bells were used for -- to call communities together, to warn people of coming disasters, to celebrate weddings and mourn funerals. And it also looks at the darker history of how bells were melted down for munitions during European wars.


Artist Crawls to Canterbury
Conor Lennon -- Producer, BBC

British performance artist Mark McGowan specializes in bizarre spectacles of endurance. Like standing outside 10 Downing St. and kissing a photograph of Tony Blair 100,000 times. Or sitting for two weeks in a bath of baked beans, with two french fries stuffed up his nose and 48 sausages strapped to his head, to promote the much maligned traditional British breakfast. Or, as documented in this story by Conor Lennon, crawling for sixty miles from Southwark to Canterbury in search of love.


Featured Music:

Coming soon!

Extras:

Learn more about audio luminary Peter Leonhard Braun.

Visit artist Mark McGowan's webpage.

December 27, 2008 (#82)- The What Remains Show
Originally aired January 12, 2008

A Year to Live, A Year to Die
Mary Beth Kirchner - Independent Producer

Forty-eight year old Stuart Selman was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2004. After his diagnosis, he agreed to keep an audio diary during his last months of life to leave a record for his wife Rebecca Peterson and their two children. After sifting through fifty hours of these diary entries, producer Mary Beth Kirchner interviewed Selman's wife who was startlingly candid about her husband's decline and its unpredictable effect on their family.

Conversation with producer Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Peterson
Moderated by independent producer Joe Richman

Despite three years of collaborating on this deeply personal project, producer Mary Beth Kirchner and collaborator Rebecca Peterson had never really talked about how the project came together or the considerable difficulties they had to overcome during the process. At the 2007 Third Coast Festival conference in Chicago, the two sat down with moderator Joe Richman and discussed what was going on behind the scenes.

What Remains
Sue Mell - Independent Producer

The aftermath of someone's death is always difficult and unpredictable. Always there is the question of who and what is left behind. Producer Sue Mell first met painter Mary Yntema in 1975 in college. When Mary died in 2002, she left behind a body of work, cloistered away in her mother's house in New Jersey. Unearthing the paintings unearthed the memories of the artist, her work, and her untimely death.

Lost and Found Love
Dan Gorenstein - Producer, New Hampshire Public Radio

Another story of what remains... A family caught up in the aftermath of Alzheimer's disease pays homage to the past while still investing in the future, in this surprisingly complicated love story.

Featured Music:

Hauschka, "Belgrade", Room to Expand (Fat Cat, 2007)
Chihei Hatakeyama, "Bonfire on the Field", Minima Moralia (Kranky, 2006)
Fridge, "Harmonics", Happiness (Temporary Residence, 2001)
Yuichiro Fujimoto, "Small Mountain", Komorebi (Smalltown Supersound, 2004)
Prefuse 73, "Hide Ya Face (reprise)", Surrounded by Silence (Warp Records, 2005)


Extras:

Back in 2006, we dedicated a whole Re:sound show to the work of producer Mary Beth Kirchner. Listen here!

Listen to producer Sue Mell's excellent podcast "Unintended Detours".

Hear more sessions from the 2007 conference, including the full conversation between Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Peterson.

December 20, 2008 (#106) - The Sean Hurley / Sherwin Sleeves Show

This week we feature the work of producer Sean Hurley, a writer and musician who lives on top of a mountain in New Hampshire. Sean has an alter-ego, a character named Sherwin Sleeves, who's become central to Sean's radio storytelling.

At first, Sherwin was a just a funny voice, but implied in that voice was a whole character that seemed to emerge from Sean’s imagination fully-formed, as if he’d lived in there for years and only needed a chance to slip out. Sherwin (pictured at the left and below) is a wise old actor and adventurer who used to travel across the country, performing in shows. He’s also an excellent musician and storyteller, among other things...


Restful, Shady Places
Sean Hurley - Producer, Radio Ephemera

The authors of Trailer, Ahoy! and Trees as Good Citizens enjoy a written correspondence relating to their books' proximity in the library.


Sarro's Balloon
Sean Hurley - Producer, Atoms, Motion, and the Void

In which Sherwin Sleeves's insomnia leads to a late night voyage up into the sky. 


Featured Music:

Chihei Hatakeyama, "Towards a Tranquil Marsh," Minima Moralia (Kranky, 2006)
Melodium, "Not Yet 1," Cerebro Spin (Audio Dregs Records, 2008)
Melodium, "Eustacian Tubes," Cerebro Spin (Audio Dregs Records, 2008)
Melodium, "Flacana 12," Flacana Flacana (Audio Dregs Records, 2006)

Extras:

Visit Sean's website and hear more from Atoms, Motion, and the Void.

House in Eden -- a song by Sherwin Sleeves

Hear all 72 pieces of Radio Ephemera.