Jon Langford of The Mekons

I have been meaning to post this fifteen minute clip for a little while (it was broadcast in early summer). This American Life isn’t really our stock and trade, but as this clip has a musical theme I thought it deserves a mention here.

The feature is taken from one of The American Life’s Classified specials, where all of the content from the show is harvested from one day’s classified ads in the local Chicago papers. Here Jon Langford of The Mekons puts together a band of never met before musicians for a rendition of a classic tune.

There are lots of things I really like about this clip: the narrator’s amazing Dawson’s-Creek-meets-Juno delivery, the theremin player that likes to amaze people and then spurn their fawning adoration, but the cherry on top is reserved for the violin player who is in anger management. Have a listen.

The American Life—Band For One Day

You know what the big problem is with radio interviews? You’ve heard it all before. Usually the guest is doing the rounds to plug their latest product, so they’re on the promo carousel, and will, this very same week, be appearing on five other stations near you. And even if the show has managed to wangle an exclusive interview on a subject you’re interested in, the presenter will follow the approved route; talk about stuff the guest is well known for, talk about stuff they’ve been doing recently, talk about their new product. If this is Tuesday, it must be Bono. Thursday, we’ve got Tom Cruise. And on, and on…

Thankfully for the adventurous internet surfer, there are alternatives.

The Sound Of Young America is, in the words of its host Jesse Thorn ‘A radio show about things that are awesome’.  But then, Jesse bills himself as ‘America’s Radio Sweetheart’, and revels in the lofi production, getting listeners to intro the show over the phone, and proclaiming at the top of each show that it’s ‘live on tape from my home in Los Angeles’. So I think we can safely assume tongues are planted firmly in cheeks.

TSOYA is unique in that it a) books guests that are interesting, even if you’ve never heard of them before, and b) then goes on to have a really good time with them. Recently Lloyd Kaufmann, the completely hatstand head of lo-budget schlock factory Troma Films, came on the show to claim that he was the best producer ever. Thorn was actually falling about laughing at Kaufmann’s ridiculous chutzpah, and it made for a fantastic interview.

I go weeks on end without listening to TSOYA because I don’t recognise the names that come up on the list on my iPod, but then after being lured in by a name or act I recognise, I gorge again – three or four editions in a day.  Jesse’s presenting style is addictive like that.

The guest list ranges from actors, including Bunk and Bubbles from The Wire, and musicians – from the reclusive and legendary Betty Davis to underground rappers – to writers, such as ‘The IT Crowd’s Graham Linehan and comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, the man who’s been charged with recreating Spiderman for Marvel comics.

However, Thorn’s main love is comedy, in all its forms. Films, TV, books and stand up, plus some others that I haven’t heard yet. From big Hollywood names to US circuit stars who haven’t broken in the UK, they all get love from TSOYA. Which is nice (for them), and also good for listeners, who get to hear some really funny people doing what they do best, which is be funny.  Go on, have a laugh.

A missive from subscriber Terence Dackombe;

Ever since our earliest ancestors told the first joke, “A man walks into a cave…”, commentators have debated on why there is a difference between what an American, and a Brit, finds funny.

There are immediate and obvious disparities. UK comedians want to be your mate; for them, life is an ordeal and fundamentally grim. Comics from the USA perform, they are not one of the crowd, and they don’t want you to buy them a beer. They have hope, and they believe the sun will come out tomorrow. The British anticipate a cloudy day ahead.

As Matt commented recently, from the perspective of this side of the Atlantic, we don’t really know how NPR works. What we do know is that it provides a seemingly endless supply of quality programming, which, thanks to the free podcasts, can make even the most frustrating commute considerably more bearable.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is, loosely, a quiz, based on the weekly news, recorded on Thursday nights at Chicago’s Chase Auditorium, and broadcast across NPR affiliate stations in America, on Saturday mornings.

It would be tempting to draw comparisons with Radio Four’s  News Quiz, or even its televised cousin  Have I Got News For You, but here we return to the theme of two nations divided by a common language, or more accurately, divided by comedy.
Both of these British shows are supposed to be based on a bedrock of satire and irony, lampooning the foolish and the pompous. However, over the years (the News Quiz was first heard in 1977) the humour seems to have filtered away, to be replaced by a rather childish, immature reliance on sniggery-pokery about undergarments, toilets, and sexual preferences. Increasing numbers of potential guests return the ‘thanks but no thanks’ slip to ‘Have I Got News For You’.

‘Wait, Wait’ manages to avoid these traps, and regularly provides a mature, but still ‘laugh out loud’, review of the week’s political news stories, draped over the theme of a quiz.

Hosted by the quick-off-the-mark Peter Sagal, and featuring veteran newscaster, Carl Kassel as judge and scorer, the show has a panel of three guests, drawn from a set of about ten regular contributors. With the exception of P.J. O’Rourke, these people are not widely known outside the USA, but listeners from elsewhere will soon pick up that if it is a week when any of Paul Provenza, Mo Rocca, or Paula Poundstone, is on the panel, then it’s a ‘not to be missed’ edition.

Although, as with the best shows, the whole thing feels effortless, the team of up to ten writers contribute about a hundred gags each week, of which maybe ten will beat the cut and make the programme.

The show has a regular set of ‘rounds’ which vary a little week to week, but are always set up to provide the host and guests the opportunity to riff on the hot issues of the week. It helps if the radio audience has some knowledge of world affairs, and perhaps a little understanding of American politics, but the casual listener will still enjoy the lightning fast repartee and razor sharp humour.

Don’t err… wait for ‘Wait, Wait’. The podcast can be downloaded from everywhere you would expect, including  iTunes

The original cheetah enjoying his retirement

This American Life is one of the most celebrated speech radio shows to be found on any network anywhere. If you are a subscriber you will know that there is something about the perfectly paced stories, the use of first person narration (emphatically feeling like storytime for grown-ups) and the excellent use of music (often from America’s best alternative bands) that feels right. Unlike other radio documentaries found elsewhere the stories never feel too dense, and the conversational tone set by presenter Ira Glass means that his world feels warmly familiar. 

A couple of weeks ago was #350. The theme was human resources exploring the uneasy interactions between humans and their institutions. This show is separated into three different acts telling different stories: the prologue has Ira talking to a human resources specialist about how to fire people; act one examines ‘The Rubber Room’, where US teachers go when they are suspended; act two looks at the conspiracy behind American real estate (TAL often appeals to the Trot inside us all), but the real magic comes in act 3.

The final act sees reporter reporter Charles Siebert talk to Ira about retirement homes for chimps. Apparently there are thousands of retired entertainment and medical industry monkeys in sipping cocktails and playing crazy golf all over the States. I was very pleased to hear that those previously engaged in the medical industry love endless reruns of E.R. and House on the telly. That factling, and much more chimp retirement trivia, means that I will be dining out on this item for WEEKS. 

Listen to this episode here or, if you haven’t done so already subscribe here.

I recently picked up the unputdownable Moondust (as recommended by Richard & Judy no less), a light read that puts the space race into the context of the American Era through interviews with the remaining 9 Apollo astronauts. It nudged me to return to the much more brain twisting ‘Welcome To Mars’, a series for Resonance FM presented and written in 2006 by one of the most singularly interesting minds around- Ken Hollings. 

I came across Mr Hollings through a mate that is in the band Biting Tongues with him. He told me Ken had presented this documentary (or informal lecture) without any script, which—when you listen—beggars belief. This unbelievable series is riffed live.

Welcome to Mars is a work of genius from a brain of Mekon dimensions. Its ambition is to look at the ‘fantasy of science in the American half century.’ It does this through Hollings’ polemic and a wonderful theremin-laced electronic soundtrack from a chap called Simon James. 

Recently I looked at the BBC’s ‘Science Fiction Britannia’ season and couldn’t help feeling that Hollings’ contribution would have been exactly what was missing. Over Welcome To Mars’ twelve parts of 20-35 minutes it remains completely compelling (if somewhat heavy going.)

As Hollings says—’my work turns the universe inside out’.

Download all 12 episodes from iTunes here, or have a preview of Episode 1 (‘1947: Rebuilding Lemuria’) below.

[audio http://ia311202.us.archive.org/2/items/Welcome_to_Mars/mars_1.mp3]

It’s not often I listen to a radio programme more than once. Actually I never do. But I have with this one. Three whole times. Even more mysterious, this programme involves a significant amount of Phil Collins. I know, trust me on this. Anything that can make you view the Collins in a new light must be packing some powerful voodoo.

This is a package from This American Life on the theme of Break Ups. The programme wasn’t particularly memorable apart from this one story, a first hand account of the reporter’s quest to write a song about the end of her relationship. So far so contrived. But brilliantly, along the way, she manages to enlist the help of Phil Collins. What makes this so great is the interview she manages to get with him. Now if this was a British programme it would inevitably have gone down the slightly snide ‘Louis Theroux’ route but happily it’s more generous than that. Even to the reporter’s surprise, it turns out to be quite a moving and revealing encounter. By the end, you’re left quite touched. with an insight into what drives someone to write a love song.

So, a perfect bit of bedtime listening, download here.