Although I work in the non-visual medium of radio, by training I'm a visual artist. I graduated from art school, and worked for ten years as a graphic designer and illustrator before moving to radio via my lifelong love of music. I think that radio actually is a visual medium, it's just that the associated images are conjured in the imagination of the listener, rather than on paper or on canvas.

Last week's Movies on the Radio featured music from the TV show "Star Trek," and was illustrated with a photo of actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as their iconic Star Trek characters Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. It's been corrected since, but at first our caption for the photo identified them as "Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock."

This week at a dinner party I met Pam, who left the get-together early. I'm a night owl myself (on the air weekend evenings, after all), but Pam told us that she regularly gets up at 4 am each day. She feels that rising early lets her "own the day," and gives her invaluable time to think and get things done.

Computers both isolate and connect us. Here's a strange, spooky, but pretty-sounding example of this contemporary condition.

David Garland welcomes baroque orchestra Juilliard415 to the WQXR Studio and speaks with Music Director Monica Huggett about Juilliard's new Historical Performance program, from which Juilliard415 draws its musicians.

This Sunday at 4:05 pm, you'll hear the baroque orchestra Juilliard415 join me in the WQXR Studio to perform and chat. Juilliard415 features graduate-level students from The Juilliard School's new Historical Performance program. So these are young people performing on very old-style instruments.

Mother’s Day is Sunday, and WQXR listeners have already eloquently told us about their mothers' musical influence.

I'm going to the theater more often than I used to.

This Saturday, April 17, Hungarian-born singer Marta Eggerth will celebrate her 98th birthday. Knowing Marta, as I’m fortunate to, she will surely have a lively celebration with humor and music.

I love the way radio brings music directly to the listener. Gigantic symphonies can become an intimate experience; a full opera is staged in the imagination of each listener; great performers play for you as you sit comfortably at home or in your car. It's a beautiful way to experience music, but it's not a substitute for attending a live performance. The experience of the living, breathing moment music is made, in the presence of the musicians and other listeners, adds another dimension altogether.

In the comments on last week's blog, listener Michael wrote of the "brilliantly talented artists" who worked in advertising in the mid-20th Century. He's right, they certainly were brilliant.

The television series Mad Men concludes its current season this Sunday night at 10 pm. I've been following it closely for its intricate, provocative story, intriguing characters, great acting, and period detail. I feel that Mad Men, set in the New York advertising world of the early 1960s, is the TV equivalent of those "meeting points of Art and Pop" I like to present on Spinning On Air.

I was moved when reading the many passionate comments on my previous blog post. I'm keen to know what you have to say, so please express yourself, and keep the comments coming.

Who needs radio? Online, you can pursue your enthusiasms to their deepest nooks and crannies, but with radio, you have no control over content. In this age of digital dissemination, when everything is available all the time, when you can use your computer to seek and find practically any recording you can think of, why would you listen to the radio?

The Transition Project tracks the introspective thoughts of WNYC staff on the pivotal move from New York Public Radio's long-time home at the historic Municipal Building to the newly renovated and eco-modern offices at 160 Varick Street. Compiling extensive interview clips with ambient sounds, the Transition Project reveals the experiences, musings, anecdotes, and first impressions of the WNYC staff.

For the last 20 years David Garland has been a host WNYC listeners turn to when they want to hear the latest in space-age bachelor pad music, pixie-ish folk-rock, and just about anything else offbeat and under the radar. But when he's not busy hosting two programs on our airwaves ...

From Looney Tunes to Ren & Stimpy to The Simpsons, animators continue to use Raymond Scott's idiosyncratic music to score cartoons. Kurt speaks with WNYC's David Garland about the bandleader and composer.

(Originally aired: February 10, 2001)