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Soundcheck

Thursday, November 15, 2007
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    Culture: The Other Financial District

    Conversations about New York City’s financial well-being tend to start and end with Wall Street. Today on Soundcheck, the author of The Warhol Economy argues that policymakers are ignoring an even more vital economic sector: music, fashion and the arts. Later on the show: composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain mixes classical music with progressive electronica. He joins us to talk about his debut album and a new multimedia piece, plus he plays live in our studio.

Broadway in Dollars

What happens to New York's economy when most of Broadway comes to a grinding hault? Robert J. Hughes, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, explains how the current stagehands strike is impacting the city's business climate.

The Warhol Economy

In the new book The Warhol Economy author Elizabeth Currid dares to suggest that New York's cultural sector is just as important, or more so, than Wall Street. But, she argues, that contribution has long been underestimated and it's now in danger of slipping. She joins us to explain why.

Weigh in: Do you need to be in New York to be an artist? Can you be as successful elsewhere?

More about The Warhol Economy
The Warhol Economy on Amazon.com

Daniel Bernard Roumain

Genre-busting composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, or DBR, joins us to talk about his debut album and his new multimedia piece about loss and isolation. And, he performs live in studio.

DBR's website

audience

Soundcheck Smackdown: When Contemporary Met Classical

Soundcheck

Like vegetables stuck into a delicious meal, contemporary classical music is forced on concert audiences before they are allowed to enjoy their Brahms. So says humorist, critic and author Joe Queenan. Today, Queenan and John Berry, Artistic Director with English National Opera, join us for a Soundcheck Smackdown debate on the merits of contemporary music.

musical clouds

You Are What You Hear

Soundcheck

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi takes us through some of the most famously botched song lyrics in rock history. We’ll explore why the words we make up are usually more interesting than the real version. Then, listeners confess their favorite and most embarrassing reinvented lyrics.

Leave a comment: Give us your favorite set of misheard lyrics! Were you disappointed when you learned the actual words?

Rosanne Cash and Mark O'Connor

Soundcheck

For her, he was a father. For him, he was a boyhood hero. For the nation, he was an icon. Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and composer and violinist Mark O'Connor join us to talk about how Johnny Cash has inspired their musical collaboration. And they will play live.

Katy

Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll

Soundcheck

Every year, popular and critical opinion somehow converge to settle on a "summer song." In 2007, it was Rihanna's "Umbrella." The year before, it was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. The practice stretches back to the very dawn of pop radio. Yet defining the essence of a "summer song" is a bit elusive. We enlist the help of Blender editor at large Lizzy Goodman -- and of our Soundcheck listeners, in an online poll.

Cast your vote: Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll 2008

Can't decide? Check out audio and video clips of the contestants here.

Our blog: John Schaefer asks what makes a good summer song,

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