Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
“O hai. I’z in ur radio crackin’ mahself ups.”
- Wow, recording a full story for radio is really hard work! You have to slow way down, waaaaaay down, when you read, and then, sometimes, you have to say stuff over and over and over again. “Okay, now try it this way…” and then, sometimes, if you’re me (which I am), you lose your place because you’re a little bit nervous even though there is no reason for you to be except for the sheer nerdtastic excitement of the fact that you’re in your local NPR studio and all the way across the country is Tony Kahn in his NPR studio and there he is, also, in your headphones! It’s nice if your friend that works at KUOW happens to be on the other side of the glass with your husband, both of them smiling and making reassuring faces and giving you the thumbs up. Wow. That was fun and nerve wracking and oh so great. Wow.
- Plan to score swag at local NPR station. First, ask for beverage, but insist it’s in a station branded mug. Then, slosh coffee on self - after waiting for java to cool sufficiently “Ooops! Would you have a t-shirt around? What a mess!” Ask for NPR branded t-shirt. After session is over, ask for NPR branded tote bag to “… carry coffee stained shirt home in.” Surreptitiously slip coffee cup into bag. Comment on pouring rain and how you’ve forgotten your umbrella, ask if there might be a spare as you don’t want your notes to get wet on the way to the car. And so on.
- Unfunny radio jokes: Show up with several changes of clothes and say “Do these pants make me sound fat?” or “Do you think this shirt makes my eyes sound inarticulate?” Also worth trying? “Roz, can we have the next caller please?” or “I’m a long time listener, first time caller.”
- Wow, that was fun. Of COURSE I’ll let you know when it airs. Like you could stop me from telling you. And yeah, it’s a travel story.
NPR, Morning Stories, KUOW, WGBH, radio, storytelling
Posted in Nerdio | 6 Comments »
Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
Pennies From Heaven [4:01m]:
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Here’s a little video in which I do not entirely mangle this delightful 1936 tune. This is the fourth take. I’m posting it with mistakes, crazy bed head hair, and the dropped last couple of seconds because who do I think I am, Madonna? I have no stylist, video production crew, sound engineer, or, oh, yeah, shame. It’s a .wmv file, you’ll need Windows Media Player to watch it.
Sometime back I learned to play this song for a workshop on alternate chord use and playing by ear. I did not get it. A year or more later, when I sat down to noodle this thing out, it all came together.This isn’t exactly the way we learned it and I’m not playing it by ear, but I did use a lot of what I learned in that class while playing this tune.
If you need a little ear/eyewash after that, here’s Louis Prima and his crew swinging the tune the way it oughts to be done.
Hey, if you showed up at my house with your saxamaphone, we could record this together. That would rule.
Now you, go practice your uke. You know who you are.
ukulele
Posted in Nerdio, Uketopia | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
I Will Survive [3:53m]:
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I try to avoid the me me me sort of stuff that fills a lot of blogs. If I’m writing about something, I exert a little effort to transcend the mundaneness of daily existence. That’s why when I write Fish Wednesday, I frame it in the context of environmentalism or cooking. Or if I go do something, I don’t write about it unless I want to warn you to avoid it or think it’s something you’d also enjoy. Occasionally, I’ll step up on the old soap box and rant about the political, but even that I keep to a minimum. Rambling editorializing about crap that’s only interesting to me is boring to you. So I beg your forgiveness while I wander off on a brief diversion that goes as follows: F*ck this, I am falling apart. God dammit.
Last week I had a little medical issue. I’ll spare you the details and thankfully, it turned out to be almost nothing. Woot. But here’s what pissed me off about it. The doc, upon diagnosis of my common non-issue said this: “You know, when you get to be about your age [fill in the blank].” And I am aggravated about that.
Then, today, I went to have an eye exam. About a month ago, I noticed that my glasses were just not working so good any more. Nothing tragic, but what the hell? And what does my doc say to me? He says, “You’re - oh, look. Usually this happens a year or so earlier. I’m not surprised at all…you are going to need bifocals.” He sent me off, pupils dilated like a junkie that just found a twenty on the bus, with a script for new lenses. “You’re probably going to need bigger frames than the ones you’ve got,” he said, condemning me to the rest of my life in frames that make me look like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie rather than the Euro-Japanese hipster look I favor. Damn you, eye doctor! Damn you Father Time! [Insert fist shaking to the heavens here.]
Next week, I’m off for a physical. And I just know my doctor, well meaning as she is, is going to mention some kind of offensive crap about my slowing metabolism and bone density and a bunch of other things I do not want to hear one tiny word about. Not one. We are going to have to talk about the fact that my gene pool is ridden with all kinds of hereditary evils. Good brains and teeth we got, but the rest of it? A Chernobyl cocktail of central European slush. Bleh. I am going to scowl at her, refuse medication (and resuscitation), and stomp out of the office in a teenage snit.
I whined about my declining youth to two friends, both very close to me in age. One told me that had we been born several generations earlier, we’d be dead by now. My other friend told me that it’s all downhill from here. Both responses are completely accurate but neither implies a course of action, and I’m an action figure kinda person. I am not quite ready to buy a skirted tank swim suit and start taking water aerobics. I am also not interested in getting a convertible and a trophy boyfriend, well, not in any more than an academic way, though I look okay and am very funny and any young man would be lucky to… no, let’s put a stop to that line of thinking. Plus, oh, yeah, married. No, those are all bad plans.
Not to worry, I’m on it. Last week I borrowed an electric uke on the loan-to-own plan. And yesterday, I picked up an amp. Dude, it’s really loud, and yes, I said “Dude.” I’ve been messing with it, seeing how much distortion I can get out of it without having an effects rack and yes, I said effects rack. I realize that my mid-life crisis is kind of a weird one, but it would be so boring to go mainstream. Tennis pro? No thanks. Convertible? Fun, but I’m not in to cars. I could quit my job and go see the world, but that’s something I do regularly anyway.
Nope, I’m going to work through this phase by playing bluegrass versions of disco tunes on my electric uke. I’m going to memorize the chords so I don’t have to wear glasses to read the music. I’m going to dress in black like Johnny Cash because it goes with the uke. I’m going to fight it all the way. If I’m going downhill, I’m going downhill swinging, without dignity or shame. Time, you might be after me, but you bastard, you’re gonna have to catch me first.
Join in on the chorus, okay? Dm>Gm7>C>F>Bb>Eb>A>A7
Event Note: Our “band”, the Flip Flops, is the opening entertainment for Rainbow Bingo on Friday night. “You don’t have to be gay to play!” Drag queens, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Fabulous Prizes. We’re on early, at 5:30, playing mostly 60’s beach tunes. Afterwards, we’re going to trash a hotel room.
ukulele, aging, bifocals, disco
Posted in Nerdio, Op/Ed, Uketopia | 14 Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Production notes: The ocean sound is from the indispensable Freesound. The music is from Blue Hawaii, nothing says cartoon beach cliche like Elvis. I produced this podcast using MixMeister Propaganda. The full text is below the jump.
(more…)
Posted in Nerdio, Op/Ed, Seattle | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Husum Morning [5:52m]:
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I got some nice mail about this bit, so I’ve recorded it. The music is Nanci Griffith, Morning Song for Sally, off Other Voices, Other Rooms. The birdsong is from a cool site called Freesound where there’s loads of stuff for aspiring podcasters and audio nerds to use in their work.
It’s been a while since I’ve made one of these, I forgot, it’s fun.
podcast, Husum, audio postcard
Posted in Nerdio | 4 Comments »
