Comments by Marjorie Van Halteren

Comment for "Never Again War: The Sacrifice of Käthe Kollwitz"

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A different angle on war for Veteran's Day

A lovely, meditative production of a story from a point of view very rarely, if ever heard, on American radio. Artist Kathe Kollwitz' story as detailed in her diaries is indeed moving and dramatic and will interest listeners as something quite new to them. Beautiful words, music, sound and performances.

Comment for "Moon Graffiti"

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Something New

This is a really creative idea - and different. The best programs that I've been able to hear that are being broadcast in the US right now all seem to be based around intensive, confessional "true" storytelling - some of these programs are REALLY good of course, but others just seem to be riding the TAL bandwagon. I was starting to wonder if anyone would ever do anything that wasn't based on individuals just mining "something that really happened." So here's an imaginative effort from some talented people who want to imagine and compose in another way. I hope it gets stations, an audience, and enough support to give it a chance to take more and more risks with its material.

Comment for "The Emergence of Joni Mitchell" (deleted)

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Review of The Emergence of Joni Mitchell (deleted)

Aside from her reputation as poet, musician, and artist, Joni Mitchell is in every way a sound artist after our own hearts, pushing tone, rhythm and mood to the very limit. She did certain things in her productions before anyone else. Her songs are tattooed on my inner ear for their expansive creativity, especially the later ones, when she was really deep into chasing inspiration as though the music business didn?t even exist. Every time I hear someone say, ?Oh, I never liked Joni Mitchell, I never liked that voice,? I just think, what a shame to be stopped at the door of something so extraordinary, all on account of not hearing what?s expected, what?s simply soothing. This is *voice* in the literary, artistic sense. And if that comes off as pretentious, perhaps this program, with its amazing collection of archival interviews (I don?t think I?d ever heard the voice in ordinary conversation before!) and thoughtful insights can bring you around. And for you other Joni fans out there ? this is the show you?ve been waiting for.

Comment for "Whole Foods is a grocery store. Get over it."

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Review of Whole Foods is a grocery store. Get over it.

Ian rips the pretension off of another sustainably responsible behemoth presence. Ian, you're right - it is totally out of control - so overdone that the claims and the mantras don't evene mean anything anymore.

Comment for "Table For Two (Empty Chairs)"

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Review of Table For Two (Empty Chairs)

This one's a real prx story. Ken's an accomplished guitarist and songwriter with a flair for writing. He wanted to write a short story about Jan and Jack, and a search on the web turned up prx and a piece I did here. He read that I had known her. We struck up a correspondance, exchanged CD's and books, and he decided to try a radio piece, which delights me for many reasons. First, he really pierces through that beat-male self-seriousness in a way that is so appropriate to Jan. And as a Dad himself, he strikes just the right note and does just *the right thing* with the ending, from that sorely needed, other point of view - the *dead-beat Dad* we can't hear from.

Some beats like to commemorate Jack's passing in October (Gone in October) - and there are other popular anniversaries as well (and why not father's day?). The next time pieces are rounded up for one of those moments, this one should definitely be in there. Good writing, nice voice, full of music, sound, and humor, and truly from the heart.

Comment for "How To Deal With Ice Breakers"

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Review of How To Deal With Ice Breakers

This light, clear piece feels like fall, when you are asked to "hang out with new people" and come out of yourself in a class or other new group. I like the sound elements she uses. The interviews are good and "in situ."

Criticisms would involve a little tighter structuring (without losing the nice elements), and certainly she needs to deliver her own narrative with more pacing and energy, and alittle less "page."

The problems are mild, however. This piece is ready for airing in a back to school mood.

Comment for "The Peabody Sisters: an interview with biographer Megan Marshall on ThoughtCast"

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Review of The Peabody Sisters: an interview with biographer Megan Marshall on ThoughtCast

In the early years of radio, when society was arguing over the new psychic real estate that the airwaves were offering, it was deemed that radio should "inform, enlighten, and entertain" (and "educate" in Britain). This credo has nearly been lost, but we have a new chance with podcasts. "Thoughtcast" is one I subscribe to. For us perennial students (I think we are many), what a pleasure to get the gist of a fascinating academic's book and subject, and have Jenny Attiyeh stand in for us to ask well-prepared and thought-provoking questions? "The Peabody Sisters" sheds light on a time and a history that I wish I knew more about.

Comment for "Here's Soupy!"

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Review of Here's Soupy!

For the boomers, Soupy Sales was like a member of the family, and even more so if you grew up in Detroit, like I did.

However, I appreciated this program for more global reasons. First, it provides a glimpse into what early TV was, how it operated more like radio, and the vast difference between broadcasting and broadband!

Secondly, in understanding in long ago and far away hindsight what Soupy really was (probably the first mainstream TV hipster by way of vaudeville), it dawns on me that it could be HIM that ignited my own appreciation of such American delights as jazz, blues, beats, Marx Brothers or Lenny Bruce, when, as an upper middle class kid in a Detroit suburb, I had little or no claim to any of those influences. Who realized?

The caveat here about the program is: I prefer production that does not depend so heavily on interviews conducted by telephone, knowing that it is unavoidable for many, but it can't complete with the production values of the better offerings. Secondly, the interesting points made in the program were made several times over by different speakers, from various angles. It sounded alittle bit like not working long enough on editing, or wanting to use ALL the tape, or not being sure how to fill an hour.

But despite all that, this was a very happy hour of listening for me.

Comment for "Why Lawns?"

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Review of Why Lawns?

Down with lawns! Ok, not to be too radicial, but before I listened to this guy (who describes his lawn as "multicultural"), I didn't realize that this grass everywhere isn't even native. No wonder it takes so much useless care! I am personally replacing mine with other stuff, step by step.

I liked this piece for the lively use of sound, the subject matter for end of summer, and the producer's nice reading personality, from which he could lose even more of the "page" in his friendly voice.

Comment for "A Huey P. Newton Story" (deleted)

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Review of A Huey P. Newton Story (deleted)

What a beautiful labor of power and love on the part of Roger Guenveur Smith and his sound designer partner, Marc Anthony Thompson. For those who, unlike Gore Vidal, do not profess to sleeping through the 60's, but instead to wrestling with often incoherent dreams of what it all meant, and what was happening (Mr. Jones?) Some of us didn't quite know what it was, but we were marked for life anyway. This direct communique from Huey P. Newton is in part what it was, and, in all it's shades of black, white, brown, red, green and gray, is just about the most evocative descent back to that time that I've heard or seen to date.

Perhaps you were lucky enough to catch Spike Lee's film version of this performance. Me, no. But here it is complete in an audio version. For once the recording control that can be lost to room playback and shouting actors is NOT a factor, and the presence of the audience is in fact truly key to Guenveur Smith's approach, as he plays the audience and the microphone like the word jazz musician he is.

Why don't people write like this for radio? Exactly, why don't they? Huh?

It's a bit long, but worth it. Any station that prides itself on bringing art and culture direct to its audience should air this.

Comment for "Subtext: Communicating with Horses"

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Review of Subtext: Communicating with Horses

Take a great, well focused and edited interview, and then complement it with a simple narrative coming from a very original angle, and there you have the recipe for this attractive series of short animal pieces from Jay Allison and Christina Egloff, circa 1985. This one is the horse (check out snakes, dogs, and all the others), and his whisperer, and we hear him as loudly and clearly as she does. I remember these pieces in their original incarnation, and they sound just as fresh today. At that time, we called it "creative use of actuality," where real voices collided with dreams and poetry. It seemed so exhilarating and new then. The odd thing is that it still seems new simply because it's a liberty not so often taken. Who would have thought that 25 years later stories would have stayed so straight?

Comment for "The Boat"

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Review of The Boat

Individual confession seems to have become the style of choice for a majority of creative radio projects at the moment. Stories, stories, stories: there are a lot of people tapping on that vein out there.

This one catches my attention because it strikes me as an existence so unlike mine or that of anyone I know. This young man has a unique point of view to say the least. I will resist a stale term like *refreshing* to describe it (although it is), to instead say *astonishing in it's dramatic simplicity.* In the 30's he would have been lost, in the 50's beatific, in the 60's real, and after that everyone stopped counting (and too bad!).

From a production point of view, I was annoyed by the change in music cuts behind every mood change - especially because it was stock choices that have they nothing to do with each other or the story.

However, The Boat is well-written and well-read, and although on one side of my mouth I say, OK, another story, on the other side I'm saying, so, what happens next?

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Review of Travels In Stasis (deleted)

Sound art and radio make complicated bedfellows. I suppose if radio is an art form, it is always the art of contexts, the first being that it only goes by only once. (That and a deep, abiding insecurity and never-ending lack of faith in the listener from many gatekeepers for a myriad of reasons peculiar to broadcast.)

Well, I cheated. I listened to this one three times. In these five elegant pieces I found some lovely sound and much impressive poetry, and sometimes they worked together beautifully:

*I am deafened by the train's tympany.*

As much as I liked all the *stolen sounds*, sometimes I felt the writer needs to recognize that words and voices ARE sounds as well. Especially when we come to the longest poem, Exile, and a passionate evocation of the desert.

*Where are all the people? She asks when she visits.*

And what follows cancels out the emptiness, the writing being so packed with images, that they make you dizzy, so occasionally the sounds get in the way. Even the voice of the piece admits,

*Home is any ordinary sentence doing its work. *

I agree, so these sentences, about missing home, are far from ordinary.

*This phantom limb of location.*

I find something wonderful in each of the pieces, including three interviews snippets that I like very, very much (*You're a ghost when travelling,* says a young woman, sounding so wise and brilliant.)

But I don't feel the five have been made to truly work together. No compositional motif has been created to relate them in a continuum. Even the primary voice, so specific but disembodied (and sometimes a little too coy for my taste), gives me little clue to help me contextualize.

However, the writing is far and above the usual radio fare. When the voice in the poem calls for,

*A posse of gatekeepers to comprehend stories unconcerned with getting to the point* (here an excellent spiral sound and poetic reference to horseshoes is an example of sound and words succeeding as one)

I heartily agree, with my willingness to listen carefully more than once. Perhaps this is the difference between the ipod and the driveway: could the latest sound of media splintering be announcing new hope for art on the air?

Please air, at the very least in a showcase for adventurous work.

Comment for "Walking"

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Review of Walking

Sound art and radio make complicated bedfellows. I suppose if radio is an art form, it is always the art of contexts ? the first being that it only goes by only once. (That and a deep, abiding insecurity and never-ending lack of faith in the listener from many gatekeepers.)

Well, I cheated ? I listened to this one three times. In these five elegant pieces I found some lovely sound and much impressive poetry ? sometimes they worked together beautifully:

*I am deafened by the train?s tympany.*

As much as I liked all the *stolen sounds*, sometimes I felt the writer needs to remember that words and voices ARE sounds as well. Especially when we come to the longest poem, Exile, and a passionate evocation of the desert.

*Where are all the people? She asks when she visits.*

And what follows cancels out the emptiness, the writing being so packed with images, that they make you dizzy, so occasionally the sounds get in the way. Even the voice of the piece admits,

*Home is any ordinary sentence doing its work. *

I agree, so these sentences, about missing home, are far from ordinary.

*This phantom limb of location.*

I find something wonderful in each of the pieces, including three interviews snippets that I like very, very much (*You?re a ghost when travelling,* says a woman, sounding so young and wise and brilliant.)

I personally don?t feel the five have been made to truly work together. No compositional motif has been created to relate them in a continuum ? even the primary voice, so specific but disembodied (and sometimes a little too coy for my taste), gives me little clue to help me contextualize.

However, the writing is far and above the usual radio fare. When the voice in the poem calls for,

*A poss? of gatekeepers to comprehend stories unconcerned with getting to the point* (here an excellent spiral sound and poetic reference to horseshoes is an example of sound and words succeeding as one)

I heartily agree, with my willingness to listen carefully more than once. Perhaps this is the difference between the ipod and the driveway ? could the latest sound of media splintering be announcing new hope for art on the air?

Please air, at the very least in a showcase for adventurous work.

Comment for "Philosophy Talk: Leadership" (deleted)

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Review of Philosophy Talk: Leadership (deleted)

A program like this can make a valuable contribution to the airwaves. Personally, I am responsible for coursework in upper education, and being geographically isolated from a place like Stanford University, this is real opportunity for me to learn. The program didn?t disappoint in general. The tagline is a good one: questioning everything but your intelligence, and at the end of the program, and thank you for thinking. So I am potentially a loyal listener, from that corner here is a personal plea: please, please, please remain who you are, and develop that. Don't forget the basic truth that the Car Talk guys are talking about CARS. Recognize that the brilliance of Radio Lab is not only the interchange between the two hosts (which is about who THEY are), but also their masterful, layered, psychological and subtle use of compositional sound production. Didn't hear any of that sensibility here so go somewhere else. I'm happy to hear Ian Shoales in the same program to break it up by the way, some fun music is OK, but don't forget why you're there. Please?

Comment for "A Piece of Paradise"

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Review of A Piece of Paradise

An excellent palette of sound is provided here to take the radio listener to a place most of us will probably never have the chance to visit for real. The luminous sunshine, azure sea, and verdant spaces invade the brain directly through the ears. As welcome a listen in the middle of a grey Flanders winter as at the beginning of summer. The stories that the natives have to tell are surprising and sometimes shocking. However, although this lucky (and intrepid!) reporter is performing a ?correct? reading (smooth, well-written, proper emphasis), it sounds strangely removed from the amazing environment. It might have something to do with the fact that I?m convinced I can hear the walls in much of the recording (as well as the page) or just that he hardly varies his delivery whether he?s interviewing an ebullient local character, lurking in the bushes outside a village celebration or partaking of a drink made from ?the spit of five men? (and ?feeling a little stoned?). The recordings, human and natural, are impressive. I wish the narration and the structure of the piece (which seems to repeat quite a bit of information from subject to subject) were a bit more dynamic.

Comment for "NO DOGS OR JEWS ALLOWED: The Story of Antisemitism in America." (deleted)

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Review of NO DOGS OR JEWS ALLOWED: The Story of anti-Semitism in America. (deleted)

The historical perspective and variety of voices is far-ranging, and the overall effect is informative about me, you, and the people that make up so much of our country. When you rock and roll and swing in America, you need to know you're at least a little bit African American. So you laugh outloud at almost any of our home grown comic greats, you're standing on a brand of tears, determination and deep humanity found Only In America.

Comment for "IPR : Irrational Public Radio - demo"

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Review of IPR : Irrational Public Radio (demo)

No, it's not TAL-esque at all. Just kidding! But it probably soon will be, and in a best case scenario, on a station near you. A spoof of public radio has endless possibilities. While some of the material is alittle self conscious and gross (acne medine for cat migraines? wait I think I'm getting a cat migrane), alot of it is downright surreal and funny. I think they need to lean into the mic's alittle more, think into those *Men Who Bake Bread And Are Not Ashamed* voices and *Women Who Are Practical Enough to Leave Their Men Alone With the Kids" voices, then toss it all off and away slightly and they've got it!

Comment for "RN Documentary: Whether Diaries"

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Review of RN Documentary: Whether Diaries

This program sent me into a daze and a reverie with its confident beauty. Two women trying to decide if they've made the right decisions, especially about place. The program seemed so aimed at me personally, down to Dhjeera's portrayal of the ex-pat's favorite activity: complaining about their adopted country. The ex-pats, travelling in their little herds, what a bunch of losers/winners, genuises/fools! So brave and admirable and so cowardly too. So enlightened and so ignorant. Citizens of the world caught in various decades. So nice to know we're the same everywhere.

I don't think it would be only my kind that would love this, though. Because the secret is that almost everyone I've ever met worries at one moment or another whether they should have invested the precious time of their short lives somewhere else then where they did. Is it too late to change? IS it me or here? And then always settling on the ultimate truth, of course, that you take yourself with you whither you go.

Comment for "Leaving the Gay Ghettoes"

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Review of Leaving the Gay Ghettoes

In this style of first-person story radio, which only seems to get more and more popular (if that's possible), we get taken on an anecdotal voyage through what is often characterized as one of the most traumatic life changes of all: moving. It's the little details that make it the most engaging, such as the host and first subject bringing his real estate agent to the mic, his ability to vividly recall exactly how he felt uprooting himself, and the place descriptions that make you see where you are. I thought some of the material could have been tightened up, however. And unlike the first two, the third and final piece, about the man in Alaska, who was very interesting, was a bit too choppy as it jumped between the narrator and the interview, and didn't have the strong sense of place that it could easily have had.

This program, a series which I have never listened to before, is so honest, true to its name. There must be many, many listeners out there who connect with it in a significant way. For myself, I really enjoyed meeting the people in the program. It really felt like meeting new friends.

Comment for "The Cost of War"

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Review of The Cost of War

Here is a debate and it is a subtle one. So here I go weighing in: I found the piece very disturbing. The production is on a professional level: the interview is very, very good and the producer writes well for himself and reads it well. I sympathize with him entirely, and feel that he does make an honest attempt to grapple with what has happened, which for him is very hard because the woman seems to have been a friend on top of everything. But there is so much we don't know. The situation is so unusual and shocking that so many questions are left behind. A single line announces that the woman we have been listening to (and directly emphasizing with) has been murdered by her father. Then she's gone. Say that again? Then it's tidily wrapped up into "the cost of war" leaving a whole universe of information submerged. What happened here was more complex than platitudes about war. This piece for me reflects the cost of the need to simplify, and even to shock and then dump out. It's a "driveway moment" alright. Without the drive. Or the way into what it could all mean.
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Update to the review, September 06: I see what my fellow EB member wrote about my "driveway moment" comment. I in fact agree with him exactly. It should NOT be reduced to a driveway moment. But the hurried ending that does not properly delve into what has gone on here but instead tries to wrap it all up boldly IS influenced by a medium that doesn't encourage ambiguity.

I played this piece for a group of students that were really puzzled and had nothing but questions that I couldn't answer - even after we went over all the facts and every word he said.

Comment for "A Radio Rorschach Test"

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Review of A Radio Rorschach Test

This piece is very clever. It's science...Well, no it's not...it's culture...wait, it's both! In fact, it's all about what people might be thinking about when they're listening to sound and what they're expecting when it comes to music. I thought the interview subjects were excellently chosen, and the editing and voicing is impeccable, as usual. The whole package is mighty entertaining, but just one point. The descriptions of the music are fascinating, and are perhaps the whole point...besides, that is, the music itself, which is tantalizingly strange and could I hear a little more of it to relate to the experiment? I think this is the third time in a row I've said something about that in a review. Umm I'm repeating myself. Um I'm repeating myself. I'm um I'm.

Comment for "Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver"

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Review of Everything Was Right: The Beatles' "Revolver"

I thought, two hours ?! and then I wished it would never end. Why does there seem to be an unlimited number of things to say about the Beatles at their best? Perhaps it?s the uncanny combination of personal memory (so many of us living through those sounds as we were forging our souls) and the effect of the curtain being yanked away now. Plus so much of it is about the poetry of recording! This program reminds me a lot of The Wire: relentless, meticulous work on the part of the producer and host, with a rich overflow of excellent interviews. Finally, once each song has been perfectly framed, they actually let you hear it in its entirety, or nearly. And it?s like you?re hearing it for the first time.

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Review of Transonic Arts (deleted)

These very short pieces are enjoyable for me because I am interested in new music - and, too, it is of interest to get a glimpse behind what exact speck of of dirt has led to the unique pearl in each of these oysters. Good interviews, expertly edited with the music dancing behind. My one misgiving is that once I have been offered the glimpse inside the composer's work, I would like to hear more of the music. This kind of music requires attentive listening - which is arguably a rare thing these days - but once I'm committed, and I'm there - I need to hear more of what they did to pay it off. These pieces would be excellent as lead-in's to any broadcast of the composers' work. Without that, they're slightly frustrating. Do we not trust the listeners to give this sort of music a decent chance?

Comment for "Stories of Liberation"

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Review of Stories of Liberation

The text posted with the piece says that 100 veterans of WWII pass away every day ? so the very fact that here is a recording of two men alive who were there, and saw it with their own eyes, is already important. Both men also state that they weren?t able to talk about the experience until recently ? so, it?s great to have them on tape. Their reluctance to talk may explain the dispassionate tone they both take when explaining what they saw. The information flows along ? all in much the same tone ? first the self-conscious laughter heard during a discussion of eating nothing but spam ? then a description of the starving prisoners they liberated ? and again cut short with that little self-conscious laugh. They?re still not ready to talk about it ? perhaps they never will be. The men do agree that it?s important to let people know what war really is?and it could be quite interesting in itself that the experience will seems so controlled and under wraps for both of them. However, the peaceful, mellow jazz music only underscores this - if you don?t catch exactly what they?re saying, it?s all so strangely just another bit of easy listening. A different approach to editing could have given the piece some dramatic structure.

Comment for "WNYC's Fishko Files: An Hour with Henry Butler"

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Review of An Hour with Henry Butler

When it comes to music pedigree, veteran host, producer, programmer Sara Fishko is your top of the line. This hour that she spends pianoside with New Orleans blues artist Henry Butler is a pleasure - equally from the interview point of view as well as the playing, the wonderful music punctuating the conversation just as it should. A thorough hour for those of us that like our jazz full out and in vivid detail.

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Review of Catalogue of Ships (deleted)

What is a podcast ? vs radio? I?m not a programmer, so I can?t say ? but my ipod is like a chocolate box, and this downloaded is one of the little pleasures I save for later. "COS" has been criticized as being too ?TAL.? Well, many shows seem to falling over themselves to duplicate TAL ? and I think someone needs to remind that the words ?story? and ?storytelling? are not copyrighted features of any broadcast. In fact ? for me, what I listen to does not have to be even described with those extremely over-used terms - I simply enjoy the pings and the pongs of the dance Terry and Kraskin do together. Catalogue of Ships is the sound of me howling outloud alone in my car at the often callow, usually self-effacing, always desperately honest, very young-sounding man - and his slightly more-grounded friend over there somewhere. They don?t take themselves too seriously. They write extremely well for themselves. They?re a bit addicted to Fruity Loops or something just like it but so what? Me, I?m a fool for marizipan. And for the moment I?m also addicted to the two nutty guys.

Comment for "Ruth Bell Graham: A Pilgrim Journey" (deleted)

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Review of Ruth Bell Graham: A Pilgrim Journey (deleted)

I listened to this program very carefully, twice. I praise the professional production ? proper actors reading text with true feeling, well-written copy, and music created for the program carefully laid in to move things along. There are interviews with extremely prominent people, and the use of Walter Cronkite as narrator lends a real sense of occasion. Poetry and personal jottings from the subject are an element any producer of an audio portrait would be pleased to have ? and , I must say I am left with the impression that the subject, Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham - is a fine and modest woman of exceptional character, and I believe it. But even so, I went to the website and scanned the photos, trying to connect with something real about her ? because ? the program does not let me in. It repeatedly tells me that she is admirable and accomplished ? but does not show me. There is little drama. We are told that she has suffered ? but except for some colourful and rather grisly anecdotes about her life in a missionary family in China, no real suffering is mentioned aside from her separations from her husband because he?s off being very, very famous. She has five children to sing her praises and five fireplaces to comfort her. The music is a compilation of Windham Hill style tasteful cuts that assure a certain serenity. Even on the subject of 1920?s China, Cronkite states that, ?the impressions of most Americans? on the subject of China come from the writings of Pearl S. Buck.? Did he really say that in the present tense? Although Mrs. Graham?s writing includes some admiring observations of the culture to which she became so intimate, but the one statement (in what seems to have been a short and unforthcoming interview that the producers tried to stretch to the maximum) states that the main problem in the China of her youth was horrible and dark superstition, and it was the missionaries alone that provided hope. The entire program in fact rests on an assumption: and that is that a certain religion of a very particular strain trumps absolutely everything, including drama, ambiguity, reflection, LIFE. PRI where art thou?

Comment for "Nativity: one-hour version"

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Review of Nativity

For Mother's Day: an hour dedicated to "making life" instead of taking it. Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller have applied their talents as performers and writers to make a very original documentary, that is deceptively low-key, while holding a subtle intensity within. In the beginning; Conrad says, they thought they would make a documentary talking to many woman of all ages and races and cultures - but in the end, they didn't - they just talked to people they knew about giving birth to YOU. In fact, he breadth of the experience of their friends and friends of friends is large and deep - and travels pretty far over the map of something is "messy, hard work and a miracle and a gift." Spirituality is embraced without being too directive and excluding any faith or lack there of . In disclaimer I admit that this reviewer has not experienced childbirth herself - but having said that, I seem to know that thousands and thousands of listeners will walk straight into these stories with recognition. I feel I have lived parallel to this universe - but oddly as daughter, one-time wife, sister, neighbor, friend - I've been there all along. "A big boy now: I see my husband at 19 and fall in love again." In its subtlety, this hour is the exact opposite of a greeting card, but not without the decorative pleasures.

Comment for "'The Mad Russian': Reflections of a Cold War Wrestling Villain"

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Review of 'The Mad Russian': Reflections of a Cold War Wrestling Villain

Aaron Henkin is a multiple threat: he conducts excellent interviews, he writes well for himself, his reading style is crystal clear with lively phrasing, his voice is attractively deep without being so into itself that it lulls you to sleep - and then he goes and provides pristine production values including subtle dramatization. Finding all those chops in one producer is very, very rare. This story, about an ex-pro wrestler from Eastern Europe, was carefully made over a bit of time - and has a high level of human interest. I thought it was ever so slightly long - but the quality is so high it's going to make the air sound good.