Audio: Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme is one of those writers whose texts are dense to a degree that they're almost impenetrable for me (maybe I'm what's really dense). But because the language is so rich, the need to understand all of what's going on just kind of spits from the equation.

I'd never heard Barthelme's stories read aloud until I started subscribing to the New Yorker podcast. Hearing them rather than reading them may be the key to gaining a more severe appreciation for Barthelme. Even if you still don't really get it, the language opens up even wider when someone else takes over latching the words together.

This is taken from one of those New Yorker podcasts. It's read by Chris Adrian.

Donald Barthleme - Indian Uprising.mp3

Radio: Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks

Interesting piece by Madison-based producer James Mills about the critical role that black American soldiers played in the establishment of the National Parks. It also goes into how segregation and racism has made blacks averse to visiting the Parks and wilderness in general in this country.

Listen to the whole episode.

Mills' piece is a few minutes in, but the entire hour is worth a listen.

Listen/Read: Sam Lipsyte

Interesting interview on KCRW's Bookworm with Sam Lipsyte. He talks about his new book, The Ask.

Of course, after hearing this, I had to skip (well, skip as best you can in an car, which is not at all) to the library to pick up one of the few copies in the city that weren't already checked out.

So far, great stuff. Like it as much as I liked Home Land. Not that far into it, but there are some doozy sentences, like:

Interweb, webnet, interpipe - the joke had begun to grate. If they flubbed it and winked, what? I was tired of the semantic evasions, mine included. I was tired of many things. I had been keeping a list, got tired of the list.

and

My outburst was deemed a hate speech, which called for immediate dismissal. I could hardly argue with them. I think it probably was hate speech. I really fucking hated that girl.

Also, he mentions Barry Hannah. I like anytime Barry Hannah is mentioned.

Listen to the interview.

what i love about radio

David Greene's piece on Morning Edition today, Kentucky Houseboat Maker Struggles To Stay Afloat, does all the things good radio should do. It tells an important story that touches on painful issues, where peoples' lives and livelihoods are in danger, but manages to infuse humor and a general multi-dimensional realness to show how everyday life tramps on, even during the most difficult times.

Recently, I watched a presentation that Ira Glass gave the GEL Conference where he talks about exactly this idea.

I have a hard time focusing on things that are either too purely serious or too purely funny, too purely abstract or too purely real. Stuff that holds my attention needs to strike a balance. Like Greeen's story.

Maybe, probably, it's a personal defect. Short attention span and all that.

Decibully live @ Cactus Club (Milwaukee, WI) - 1/23/2009

Decibully Cactus Club 1_23_2009.MP3

One in 8 Million

The NYTimes' new One in 8 Million series is a brilliant, brilliant, beautiful merging of two of my absolute favorite things in this world: personal narrative documentary audio and photos!

Can't stress it enough: GO LOOK/LISTEN!

Thanks to Hearing Voices for the link.

wiretap

If you've ever listened to This American Life, which I'm sure you have, then you're likely familiar with Jonathan Goldstein. But did you know he has his own show called Wiretap on CBC.

Let me go one step deeper. Did you know that CBC stands for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which means that it's a Canadian show on a Canadian station, which likely means that you've never heard the program?

It's all true.

Probably due to licencing issues, CBC doesn't offer the show as a podcast, so if you're American and aren't the type who likes to sit on their computer listening to stupid .ra files, you've definitely never heard it.

All this is a long winded way of saying that you should really go to this questionably legal site to either download .mp3 files of the show or put http://feeds.feedburner.com/Wiretap_Unofficial_Podcast in iTunes to subscribe to it as a podcast!

It's really funny stuff, especially if you like hearing people talk to their parents.

voices of lynchburg

The "Voices of Lynchburg" lp was released in the early 1960s. It archives the lives of folks in Lynchburg, TN, the city where Jack Daniels is distilled.

Each track on the album tackles a different Lynchburg-centric topic. Here's what's covered:

SIDE ONE
1. "Around the Square"
A "get acquainted" stroll around the one block business district with Herb Fanning, Mr. Tom Motlow, Mrs. Reagor (Jeanne Garth) Marlow, and Mr.. J.B. Murray.

2. "Moonshine - and other Natural Phenomena..."
Personal reminisces of whiskey-making in Moore County - both legal and otherwise. Herb Fanning, Tom Motlow, Lem Tolley, and Clarence Rolman.

3. "Goin' Fishing"
Everone in Lynchburg fishes. And those who don't like to talk talk about it: Jack Hobbs, Bill Fanning, Lem Tolley, Connor Matlow, Garland Dusenberry, Irvin Crutcher, Clarence Rolman.

SIDE TWO
1. "Whittlin'"
Herb Fanning and Connor Motlow discuss the techniques and philosophies of therapeutic whittling, Lynchburg style.

2. "A Country Banker"
The Personal legend of Mr. Tom Motlow, recorded in his ninety-first year, and shortly before his death.



The record was released by a Jack Daniels-related private society called Tennessee Squires Association. Wikipedia describes the Squires this way:

A Tennessee Squire is a member of the Tennessee Squire Association, which was formed in 1956 to honor special friends of the Jack Daniel's distillery. Many prominent business and entertainment professionals are included among the membership, which is obtained only through recommendation of a current member. Squires receive a wallet card and deed certificate proclaiming them as "owner" of an unrecorded plot of land at the distillery and an honorary citizen of Moore County, Tennessee.

The record is a special relict of a town that is now certainly changed. Its population is up from 400-odd to 5,740. And being home to Jack, it's surely gotten radically corporatized. Of course, I can't say for sure, but it seems like a hunch I'd throw money on.

Here are the folksyfolksy liner notes, for your reading enjoyment while you download: Voices of Lynchburg (.zip)

These “Voices of Lynchburg” are real voices, belonging to real people. What they say is spontaneous and unrehearsed. What they say—and how they say it—is reflective of both their peaceful surroundings and their quiet life-style in this middle Tennessee town, nestled in the foothills of the Cumberlands. Lynchburg was settled shortly after the Revolutionary War, and has never grown beyond about four hundred inhabitants. The present population seems to include as many lively, vita eight-year olds and it does live, normal teen-agers. Numbers notwithstanding, there is no ‘communication gap’ in Lynchburg. Ever one is neighbor to every one, and most families are distantly related to each other.

Lynchburgians love to talk, once they get to know you. Nothing seems to be all that important but what it can be postponed long enough for a chat on the courthouse lawn, or on the sidewalk benches in front of the Lynchburg Hardware and General Store, or the feed store, or the drug store, or the old Farmer’s Bank. A spirited conversation is always underway in the whittlers’ chairs up at the Price brothers’ service station.

There are calm, good-natured, humorous people—intensely loyal to each other. Their reserve with strangers is tempered by a quick and friendly hospitality. They are strongly independent, candid, and forthright in their beliefs, and reflect a quality of pride and patience which only thrives where people roots are many generations deep.

“The Voices of Lynchburg” is no ordinary listening experience. It is not a record to play as background to conversation. It is conversation...with some of the warmest, wisest, possibly wittiest, and certainly most unforgettable people we have ever met. It is an unqualified pleasure to introduce them to you.

The material on this record was selected and compiled from more than thirty hours of recorded conversation with citizens of Lynchburg, Tennessee. The original tapes cover a span of some twelve years. They were variously recorded, on diverse equipment, and in “studios” ranging from the subjects’ kitchens, front parlors, and porches, to sidewalk benches and other public meeting places in town.

We hope that you, as a Tennessee Squire, will enjoy this documentary glimpse of a fading facet of our traditional heritage and culture. Your host for the record is Mr. Herb Fanning.

audio fest

Firstly:

If I were to start a band today, we'd be called The Glad It's Him and Not Me(s). Not sure why or what that means or where it came from, but there you have it.

 

& Secondly:

If you're a fan of pop music, you could definitely do a lot worse than downloading the wonderful, free seasonal compilations that Eardrums Music has been curating.

 

& Lastly:

I've done everything short of packing my overnight bag in preparation for the Third Coast International Audio Festival, which happens in Chicago (well, Evanston) this weekend. My excitement could burst any excitement-measuring device.

 

Much to A-'s continual dismay, I spend a good portion of my life with my ears cloaked by headphones. I keep telling myself that it's making me a better listener, but really, I think it's just making me more ravenous for sound. Unending sound.

 

I was planning on listing out the breakout sessions I'm thinking of attending here, but now that I look at the list again, everything looks so good that it's impossible to pick from this distance. Guess I'll have to wait to be smacked by split-second inspiration. Whatever the case, hopefully I'll be disciplined (not likely) to follow up with a report of what I learn.

 

Keep your eyes peeled. Or better yet, delete this blog from your RSS reader, forget everything I said, head over to Hearing Voices and cement on a pair of headphones...