On Demand
The Next Big Thing
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"Let’s Go Right Into a Solo"
Music created in kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms – from a group of homebound senior citizens and from Nick Zammuto of the band The Books. Also, the story of a woman who is determined to get her father out of prison – more determined, perhaps, than he is. And a chronicle of sweatshop labor in the name of high art.
Heard on the Phone
A conference call among ten homebound senior citizens. Most have never actually met, but once a week they spend an hour singing on the telephone with (and for) each other, assisted by Pat Grondahl of the Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center in New York. Produced by Matt Lieber.
» Isaacs Neighborhood Center website
I'm Sick – An Audio Diary
Next Big Thing contributor Mary Purdy's intimate record of a non-life-threatening and not-especially-protracted bout of the flu. Produced by Curtis Fox.
Paper Work
The order came from Deitch Projects: 125 flowers, each made from 48 individually folded pieces of paper, to be delivered to the SoHo gallery in less than a week. Making origami under deadline and for pay – is it art, zen, or hell? Next Big Thing contributor Matt Power offers his participatory observations. Produced by Emily Botein.
More Telephone Sing-Along
Participants of the weekly Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center Sing-Along continue to croon into their handsets...
Whose Justice?
Five years into a ten-year prison sentence for multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and making false statements to the SEC, Bruno Rumignani is trying to make the best of his situation. He takes pottery classes, and has taught opera to fellow inmates. Meanwhile, his daughter Suzanne has given her life over to an effort to get her father (whom she believes is innocent) back home with his family. The Next Big Thing’s Amanda Aronczyk follows Suzanne as she makes yet another trip from New York to Duluth, MN, to visit her father in jail.
Bedroom Music
It's a teenager's dream come true – a bedroom equipped with guitars, keyboard, a computer and sound editing software. In this case, the bedroom belongs to post-teen Nick Zammuto, who, along with Paul de Jong, forms the group The Books. The two mix instrumentation with voices and sounds they collect from archives and on the street. Host Dean Olsher joins Zammuto in the bedroom to sample some of their works-in-progress. Produced by Jamie York.
» The Books' website
