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The Next Big Thing / October 17, 2003

The Next Big Thing

Friday, October 17, 2003
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    Secrets and Worries

    Secrets collected on the steps of a public library, and a secret invented by writer David Cale and told by Jerry Adler, now of “Sopranos” fame. Also, the worries of fathers, sons and fathers-to-be, and a word of protest from a not-so-worried but rather frustrated umpire. And, finally, a conversation carried on over the rhythms of rhumba and mambo with novelist Oscar Hijuelos.

Instant Poets

Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer have created a new approach to writing poetry. Give them a topic, and they’ll give you a poem – on the spot, the two of them, tossing words back and forth. Produced by Jill Krauss.

Secrets

If you tell someone your secret, it’s not a secret anymore. But what if you just write it down on a scrap of paper, and put it in a stranger’s rucksack? Then what does it become? A sound montage created by Next Big Thing Secret Collector Pejk Malinovski.

Worry

More persistent than a fleeting thought, but something less than full-blown anxiety, worry accompanies many of us as we go about our days. Next Big Thing’s Curtis Fox documents one day’s worth of worries, in an attempt to figure out what – if anything - all that worrying is good for.

A Father’s Worry

When the phone lines are working, and he can get access to a computer, Larry Harrold’s son writes emails home. He’s in the Air National Guard, flying supplies into Baghdad, while his father waits impatiently for him to come back. Recorded by Jordana Gustafson and produced by Michael Kavanagh.

She’s Out

Women umpires are not allowed to officiate major league games, but that’s not for lack of interest on their part. Dean gets the score from Perry Lee Barber. She’s been restricted to the unaffiliated minor leagues for twenty years, but is determined to get off the bench. Produced by Amanda Aronczyk.

Judy Garland on the Beach

You know those people you meet, on a bus or at the bar, whom you can immediately sense are itching to tell a story? Bill Fleischman is one of them. He is a New Yorker in his 70s. He springs from the imagination of writer David Cale, and is brought to life by actor Jerry Adler. Produced by Emily Botein.

Mambo Kings from Page to Stage

Oscar Hijuelos's novels are full of passionate Cuban musicians playing their rhumbas and mambos and struggling to make a living. He culls many of his stories from the true histories of Cuban musicians who've left the troubled island and spread their music across the cities of the world. The band led by the late Chico O'Farrill is one such source of inspiration, and Hijuelos takes Dean to Birdland to hear the band, now led by Chico's son Arturo, perform. Produced by Michael Kavanagh.

"With Us or Against Us"

photographs by Warren Lehrer

Adis Nuhanovic is a teenage refugee from war-torn Bosnia. Ramon Mappala is a real estate broker who, back in the Philippines, was imprisoned for his opposition to the Marcos regime. Both now live in Queens, New York. And both lent their voices to this musical piece about what it means to be "American," created by Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer with composer Scott Johnson. It's part of Sloan and Lehrer's multimedia "Crossing the BLVD" project, now out as a CD and book.

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