Speechification

Another Speechification exclusive (you won't hear this anywhere else). Steve Shepherd (the man who made the Lenny Bruce programme we published here in April), produced this portrait of divine eccentric Moondog for Radio 3 (MP3). The narrator is again Charles Shaar Murray.

Steve sent me these words about the making of the programme:

Moondog was another of my heroes/obsessions, a legendary NYC street performer and driven outsider who made some of the strangest records on the planet. Charles Shaar Murray shared my fascination with him and when I managed to sell the idea to R3 he jumped at the chance of presenting. The budget for these 30min jazzfile docs was very low so it was basically an illustrated talk but we managed to find two people who had actually experienced Moondog on the streets of New York: Charles knew musician Patti Palladin from way back and I was friendly with composer John Zorn. I think their eye witness statements bring this piece alive alongside the incredible Moondog interview I found buried in the BBC archive. The hardest thing to source when we were making the show was the Moondog / Julie Andrews collaboration. It's since been reissued but at the time it seemed as if someone had invented it just to give me something to search for. We eventually tracked down a copy via a Julie Andrews completist in Holland - the things we do for radio! Hope you enjoy Moondog - spread the word about him and if you're going buy some of his music get the early stuff.

(The video uses numbers from Flickr to illustrate a Moondog piece called 'Fog On The Hudson (425 West 57th Street)'. I found it on YouTube).

Apologies for posting another New Yorker fiction podcast so soon, but this is just such an affecting piece: Richard Ford reading John Cheever's 1962 short story 'Reunion'. It was the magazine's first fiction podcast, before they'd acquired some theme music. I listened to this twice, and the second time nearly lost it - but then, since becoming a father as well as a son, my threshold for such things has been obliterated. This series also illustrates how good writers are at reading. That might sound obvious, but there's certainly a writerly insight at play when narrating these pieces, and Ford brilliantly performs this one.

Reunion [mp3]

In New York State there's a community—called Lily Dale—established in 1879 by Spiritualists. Yes, Spiritualists. As a consequence the town is full of mediums. This lovely half-hour doc by Frank Falk was originally made for CBC Canada and went out in a religion slot on The World Service at the crack of dawn this morning (MP3).

And I've just noticed that's two CBC programmes in a row! Pic by Ross G.

This won't go in the podcast because I just feel bad about uploading This American Life while they're making such an earnest effort to make a living from this stuff over there. So you'll just have to get over to the web site where you can listen to the show for nothing in your browser (or pay for a download). The second item in this episode (which starts at about 8:10) is a really gorgeous little story, told by crime writer (Clockers and Lush Life), TV script writer (The Wire) and screenwriter (The Color of Money) Richard Price.

It's a snapshot from the time he's spent shadowing NYC cops while researching his writing and it was actually recorded at a 'storytelling club' in New York that I'd now really like to visit called The Moth (and they have their own excellent podcast). His language is so disarming, so light of touch (and so American) you'll find yourself laughing with pleasure at the dialogue and the picture painted (or your money back).

Two New York gems. A really lovely afternoon play (you don't hear that very often round her do you?) called Imagining Them from Judith Kampfner and a glorious RadioLab. Kampfner is an unusual creature: transatlantic radio talent. She makes programmes for the BBC and for Public Radio via an independent production company grandly called The Corporation for Independent Media.

The play, which is in three parts—written and performed by Wendy Spero, Meg Wolitzer and David Cale—is so New York it hurts. It really stood out from the schedule this afternoon (it originally went out in February last year). The short RadioLab is an aural treat recorded by Ben Rubin on the open outcry trading floor at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Now, pay attention: here's an MP3 of Imagining Them and here's one for the RadioLab show. Only Imagining Them will show up in the podcast and the RadioLab might go away at some point because I've linked to the MP3 at the WNYC web site. You could get an MP3 of your own by subscribing to RadioLab's podcast, which I would recommend. And while you're at it you could make a donation to WNYC funds here. And while I'm going on and on: the credits below are for Imagining Them.

Thoroughly entertaining memoir of the events of May '68 in Paris, London, New York and San Francisco. From David Zane Mairowitz, who was both there and can recall enough of it to vividly conjure it up for us. Some fabulous archive footage, some hilariously frank, half-remembered incidents.

(Bonus points for starting with the beautiful, sparkling tones of 'Dark Star', double-bonus for some interstellar Syd-era Pink Floyd in the middle, and triple-bonus points for a raucous splash of Albert Ayler at the end.)

Radio Eye: My 68 [mp3]

I stayed at The Chelsea Hotel once. Spent a few nights there in the early nineties (with my old pal Ivan). I guess things had gone off the boil a bit at The Chelsea by then but it was still unbelievably exciting to be walking those corridors and riding those clunky old lifts. There were still plenty of nicely-pickled old artists and junkies in (permanent) residence - but nobody you'd have heard of.

Stanley Bard - the owner - still patrolled the public areas talking to anyone. Cats wandered the halls. Someone who looked like he probably ought to go upstairs for a lie down was painting a mural in the lobby - it was like a kind of old people's home for beats and punks. My TV didn't work but that didn't seem terribly important. I mentioned it at the front desk, though, and they sent a very old man in a wig up to look at it.

Anyway, here's another item from the archive: a Radio 3 interval talk from April 2005 by Barry Miles, a slightly bouffant beat historian who spent time at The Chelsea back when it was the centre of the world. He has some lovely stories and delivers them in an appropriately laid-back tone. I wonder if it's been turned into a themed boutique hotel by now? (MP3).

The pic is by wallyg on flickr.