On Demand
The Next Big Thing
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Thirteen WaysA Man and a Woman and a Blackbird Are One
Perspectives on the voices coming out of the radio and how they got there. Also, a close reading of a Wallace Stevens poem - brought to you by a group of sometimes restless, but more often captivated, fifth graders. And jazz piano from musical guest Kenny Barron.
Insta-Movie
Heard on the street – actors on an impromptu movie set, improvising scenes that moments later are projected onto a screen before a live audience in a theater just a few yards away. It’s the work of the New York improv group Neutrino.
» Visit the Neutrino website
Hearing Voices
God? Satan? The dead? In the early days of transmission, those were just a few of the explanations listeners made up to explain the voices they heard coming out of their radios. Even today, for some, radio hasn’t lost its otherworldly power. Amanda Aronczyk travels through time and frequency, looking at how radio waves have made their way into our lives.
Western Winds
Novelist Paul Auster and the band One Ring Zero collaborated on the band's album, "As Smart as We Are." Then they pulled Auster’s 16-year-old daughter Sophie into the mix. We stopped by a modest recording studio in the heart of Brooklyn to listen in on the project.
» More about One Ring Zero
» Listen to of the other songs they recorded that day
Thirteen Ways
Step into a classroom in Queens, New York, filled with restless eleven-year-olds. At the front sits Sam Swope, a visiting writer who is determined to teach these children the pleasures of reading Wallace Stevens’s "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Take a seat. You might learn something. Produced by Pejk Malinovski, this documentary won the Director's Choice award at the most recent Third Coast International Audio Festival.
» Sam Swope’s essay on teaching Stevens’ poem to children, part of his forthcoming collection titled I Am a Pencil, is on Sam Swope's website
» Full text of Wallace Stevens' poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
» Third Coast Festival website
By Heart
Saxophonist Stan Getz once described pianist Kenny Barron as the "other half of my heart." Barron is known for his soft and soulful playing. Listen in as he joins Dean in the studio to play music and talk about his life as a sideman – and a band leader. Produced by Emily Botein. For more music from that session, click here.
» Listen to more music from that session