Listening In

“LISTENING IN WITH STEVE GRABLE, TRUCKER: WHAT MAKES A GOOD ROAD SONG?” to air Saturday, July 29, 2006 on Weekend America.

Hear the Original Broadcast

LOCATION: TA Truckstop, Breezewood, PA – intersection of Interstates 76 and 70 on the old Lincoln Highway, near the Maryland border — In this piece, we’re in the cab with Steve Grable and we get a chance to hear what makes a good road song for him. Grable’s speaks with us over the strains of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (Poison), “Is This Love?” (Whitesnake) and “Caught Up In You” (.38 Special).

About trucks, he says “They’re loud, they’re obnoxious. Nobody wants em, they’re hard on the road system. They do more damage to our highways than anything. But the bottom line is this – nobody wants to drive six hundred miles for a roll of toilet paper. And until you do want to drive 600 miles for a roll of toilet paper, this truck’s gonna have to go down the road.”

About four-wheelers (that is, the rest of us who use the road), he has this to say – Watch out! Don’t cut off a truck just cuz you can. A fully loaded truck and trailer weights 80,000 pounds, 40 times more than the average car! I promised him I would help put out the word. Every trucker I talked to said the same thing.

About road songs, he says “A lot of guys, what they would consider road songs are different. For me, the songs that I like going down the road are songs that… memories – that bring back little pieces of my life. Music like this… when I don’t have time to stop to enjoy the view, to get out of the truck for a few minutes, because I’m pressed on having to be there. I’ll put the music in and listen to different tunes that make me feel good inside because there’s a little part of that song that’s special to me, because it either meant something to me personally.
So, what’s a good road song for you? Let me know – I’m putting together the ultimate playlist for the road and I’m looking for suggestions. Tell me title, artist and why it’s a good song for the road (gideon at listeningin dot org).

 

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At his Nashville studio, John Prine and I listen to the recordings that first gave him the idea that he might be able write songs of his own: Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol,” Roger Miller’s “Dang Me” and Hank Williams’ live radio broadcast, “The Health and Happiness Show.” The piece ends with Prine’s reminiscences his father’s birthplace of Paradise, Kentucky and the song he spun from it.

Original Broadcast

 

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“Music and Mardi Gras” begins in New York with Tom Piazza, author of “Why New Orleans Matters,” playing recordings that show us why New Orleans matters to him.  Next, we are transported to New Orleans, listening to the same songs with Gregg Stafford on his porch.  Stafford is a staunch proponent of New Orleans’ traditional music and occasional bandleader at Preservation Hall.   Mardi Gras “Indian” songs elicit their feelings about having a Mardi Gras in the wake of Katrina. The piece features music by the Silver Leaf Brass Band, Danny Barker and the Wild Tchoupitoulas.

Original Broadcast

 

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On commercial music radio, it seems Wolfman Jack has been replaced by just… Jack. Features Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, who went to Sirius after WCBS’s controversial flip to the Jack format. Gideon D’Arcangelo reports.
Original Broadcast

 

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Software companies that enable users to share files illegally can now be held liable. This has created an opportunity for legal peer to peer networks — “legal” meaning that copyright holders get paid. Gideon D’Arcangelo reports.
Original Broadcast

 

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“Pass the CD” is a portrait of a New York City CD Club, called the Bobcats. The idea behind CD Clubs is simple: 12 people get together, each gets a month. When it’s your month, make a mix CD, burn 11 copies and mail them out. We learn about the personalities of the Bobcat CD Club through their musical tastes. Then we are there when the club members meet each other for the first time. At the end of the show, the host, Bill Radke, issued this invitation to listeners:

“To join Gideon D’Arcangelo’s CD club, send an email to mycdclub at yahoo dot com. The first eleven to respond are in the club.”

Hundreds of listeners responded. I decided to launch two clubs, the Penguins and the Owls. That accomodated 22 listeners. To everyone else, I wrote back and asked if they would like to put in touch with 11 other listeners so they could form their own clubs. Yes, was the overwhelming response.

At the time of this submission, I know of at least 9 CD clubs launched by this program that are still going strong. The self-organizing clubs have given themselves names like the Gecko’s, MIXMOO, 24 Ears and my favorite, Gideon’s 13. Many have set up blogs to track their progress and playlists:

Gideon’s 13
The Owls
The Penguins
The Geckos
MIXMOO

Original Broadcast

 

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LOCATION: Union Square, New York City
In this episode, we encounter a 19 year old fashionista tuned into C.E.X. (pronounced “sex”) and Bobbie Gentry’s “Chickasaw County Child” on the mix CD he dubs “Flux;” an 80 year old former jazz trombonist and musician’s union cardholder tuned to the US Airforce Big Band – aka, “The Airmen of Note;” and a girl from the Bronx tuned to a popular R&B song by Nick Cannon, sung from the perspective of a baby in the womb,
Original Broadcast

 

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With so much more music becoming available on-line each year, how can music fans sort through it all and discover the music they want? One answer may lie in the personal playlist, that simple compilation that digital music enthusiasts use to keep track of their favorite tunes. From New York, Gideon D’Arcangelo reports.
Original Broadcast

 

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The Creative Remix, with host Benjamen Walker, is an hour-long “lawyer free” examination of the art, culture, and history of the remix. The hour kicks off with a musical analysis of DJ Dangermouse’s infamous remix of the Beatles and Jay-Z. Then we go back in time to check out the ancient Roman art of the poetry mash-up, or the Cento. Then we rewind to the 18th century to check out the birth of copyright and how it effected writers like Alexander Pope; and the early 20th century when the visual artist Marcel Duchamp used the remix to reinvent everything. We also take a field trip to the Mass MOCA museum of modern art to check out the exhibit “Yankee Remix.” Walker brings along a few grad students and a pair of curmudgeonly New England antique collectors to investigate different attitudes towards remixing.  In the second part of the program Benjamen Walker speaks with unique remix artists, including Gideon D’Arcangelo the walkman buster.
TOE Broadcast

 

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LOCATION: UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY

In this special all-iPod episode of “Walkman Busting,” we listen in with:
1) RENE, a Cuban immigrant who loves Cher because she always changes, hates Cuban music “because it always stays the same.”
2) LIZ, a radical student listening to underground hiphop artist and political activist Saul Williams.
3) TAMSIN, who tunes us into her “Treadhop” (her own term) playlists, specially devised for hip hop dancing on the treadmill.
4) JEFF, who turns us on to four different jazz versions of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön”
Original Broadcast

 

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