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The Next Big Thing
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Endangered
This Week: The Next Big Thing explores all-things-ephemeral. Bird enthusiast Brad Klein marks the 90th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, while activist-lexicographer Erin McKean labors to save words that are teetering on the brink of extinction. Plus, the latest in Harvard Square hamburger fads. Also, we slip inside the mind of a flea market collector and a living room concert from singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia.
A Modern Day Soapbox
Nestled between Lower Manhattan’s courthouses lies the Freedom of Expression National Monument, a public art project reconstructed to celebrate its own 20th anniversary. The enormous red megaphone invites all to “step up and speak up.” The Next Big Thing was there to listen. Produced by Megan Martin
You Are What You Eat
And no where is this more present than at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage where what you eat may align strongly with where you stand on Election Day. Next Big Thing Contributor Sean Cole introduces us to the latest in government grub. Produced by Julie Subrin
The Living Room Concert
House concerts are a vital alternative-performance circuit for acoustic musicians-- luring an audience that prefer the familial intimacy of a living room concert. Host Dean Olsher, takes a trip to a tiny apartment where singer/songwriter, Nina Nastasia writes and practices her songs amidst the din of New York City. In her version of the living room concert, Nastasia performs a few as-of-yet untitled new songs for The Next Big Thing. Nina’s last album was “Run to Ruin.”
Produced by Jamie York
» More on Nina Nastasia
Passenger Pigeons
It was 90 years ago this week that Martha, the last passenger pigeon on Earth, died at the zoo in Cincinnati, hometown of Next Big Thing contributor Brad Klein. Klein considers what led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon, and along with the help of actor David Cale and diary excerpts of John James Audubon, imagines how the birds would have looked and sounded.
Produced by Sherre Delys and Emily Botein
» See an electronic edition of Catesby's two volumes from the University of Virginia website
Ages Ago
Living anywhere strange for a period of time, one accumulates bits and pieces- odd objects, tentative friendships, a growing sense of belonging. But memories are the things we collect most. When Next Big Thing producer Sherre DeLys lived in a Belgian village, she went to flea markets to find these things. In this excerpt of Ages Ago, Delys offers some of her mismatched ‘sound objects’ to help us think about the things we collect. Produced by Sherre Delys
Novelist to the Rescue. Part II
Dictionary Editor Erin McKean, who’s made it her mission to rescue words that are in danger of neglect, and promote words that are too new to have a place in the dictionary, checks in with Novelist Meg Wolitzer. Last week, Wolitzer was recruited to help preserve three such words in her new novel. This week, we learn their fates. Produced by Julie Subrin
Spellbound
There are forms of childhood humiliation that adults spend their lives trying to forget. But as contributor Dave Johns found out, there’s at least one group of adults who spent an evening consciously reliving a particular form of embarrassment: the spelling bee. Produced by Amanda Aronczyk
