Filed under: Music
We love it when musicians perform live in our studio here in NYC, and Joe Henry was this week's big treat. We had the singer/songwriter/producer/ brother-in-law-to-Madonna on our show yesterday, but what you heard on the air or in the podcast was only half of the conversation he had with Alison Stewart.
The rest of the interview was just too good to let it slip into the ether. Here, you can listen to the whole thing, including three full songs: two from his new album, Civilians and one made famous by his sister-in-law.
Jacob Ganz
12:42 PM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: Inside The BPP
NPR's Korva Coleman was here at the BPP to observe this morning's show. She sat next to me in the control room and witnessed some fairly impressive technical meltdowns. Now, I don't know Korva well, but the impression I have formed of her is that she's pretty mellow. As a not-mellow person myself, I appreciate that quality about her. But she got increasingly nervous as a weird technical "burp" that happened 15 minutes before show-time kept sabotaging our show in unexpected ways. By the time we got into the second hour, Korva's leg was jumping a mile a minute.
She, of course, blogged about it for us:
Continue reading "Guest Blogging from the Eye of the Hurricane" »
Tricia McKinney
12:12 PM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: City Living
"Tell me about your last job...and your mother."
John Dominis/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
If you've been job hunting lately, there's a pretty good chance you've been subjected to a relatively new set of criteria. And you may have been asked some questions you didn't expect, such as, "True or false: Sometimes I feel like stepping into mud and letting it ooze between my toes."
The idea that people who play well with others tend to get ahead isn't new, but the idea that personality is replacing experience as the top criteria for employers, and that a team of consultants is waiting to coach your personality after you're hired, certainly is.
Marci Alboher, who writes the Shifting Careers blog on NYTimes.com, wrote a post about psychological testing of prospective employees and it got so many comments that she did more research and wrote a follow-up.
Marci joined the BPP in studio this morning to talk about the legality, morality, and efficacy of these psychological tests. We asked her about the pros and cons, and whether there's a way to game the system. Click the link at the top to hear the interview, and tell us your job hunting horror story.
Dan Pashman
9:48 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under:
Changed her mind about women's colleges
Yesterday we interviewed an professor and author about why someone would choose to attend an all-women's college in 2007. Some of you blogged that you weren't satisfied with her answer.
So I went to my personal focus group -- my 17-year-old niece Kelley, a self-identified feminist, who explained how a visit to Wellesley changed her mind about single-sex schools.
"Touring Wellesley seemed like a harmless feat at the time; I knew that I was not interested in attending or even applying, but it seemed like an easy way to please my mom while college touring.
However, upon stepping onto the campus I immediately felt as though this is where I belong. It is a feeling that is hard to explain but one that only grew with time. Being at Wellesley, in the presence of such intelligent, driven and confident women, I could not help but feel the same way, and I was just touring. What makes Wellesley so appealing to me is the knowledge and the belief that these feelings will only grow and develop with time.
While I do have reservations about attending an all-women's college, due to the fact that I have never been in a situation comparable to the environment Wellesley creates, the immense feeling and the presence of (for lack of a better phrase, 'girl power' and all that comes with it), overrides any feelings of hesitation or doubt that I have.----Kelley Crisp"
Alison Stewart
9:40 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: The Best Song In The World Today
On to something new for BPP listeners -- though long time blog readers may have already read this feature. Today was the first day we tried it on the radio.
When the Bryant Park Project was in its infancy we had an idea to present what we called, "The Best Song In The World Today." The premise: We play a song that we consider the best song in the world today, chosen simply because we had a radio show and we loved a song.
We still like the notion of "Best Song In The World," but it's one of the ideas that fell by the wayside as we were building the show. So, today, we return to that original idea and try to build upon it.
We're opening up "Best Song In The World Today" to everyone. You can use any reasoning you want to justify making your song the best song in the world, but you MUST justify it. The song could be 20, 30, or 40 years old, or it could have been released yesterday -- but you have to give us a reason other than "it's a really cool song." That said, if it's a really cool song, we might just play it any way.
I'll start: My best song in the world today? Roxy Music's "Love Is The Drug."
A little background on why I picked a 32-year-old song for the "Best Song." When I was a kid growing up in Arizona, I used to run a radio station out of the bedroom I shared with my sister. The station could be heard by me, my sister and, if I was lucky -- depending on how loud I turned up my cassette player -- in the hallway outside of my room. The format was eclectic -- a mix of my mother's Sister Sledge and Whisper's albums as well as K-Tel records my parents used to buy me -- lots of Kajagoogoo and Rufus & Chaka. Seventies art rock wasn't on my playlist -- and to a 10 year old's ear, most of Roxy Music's catalogue was pretty much unlistenable. But for some reason -- this song, "Love Is the Drug," crept in to heavy rotation.
So, I'm listening to a podcast from the BBC the other day and I hear a remake of this song. It's a BBC Radio One recording. The station is celebrating 40 years on the air and they got 40 artists to remake some of the most popular songs of the past 40 years. One of those 40? "Love Is The Drug." When I heard this, it totally transported me to my bedroom in 1985 and I immediately put it back into heavy rotation -- this time on my iPod. Here it is, remade by Kylie Minogue and Producer Calvin Harris, it's as delicious and campy as the original.
"Love Is the Drug." A hit in 1975. A hit on my zero watt radio station in 1985. And the best song in the world today....now, your turn. Post below, or email us bryantpark at npr dot org.
Matt Martinez
8:27 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Worth the click.
Laura Conaway
8:02 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: Music, Video
Music is in Petra Haden's blood. She's the daughter of jazz legend Charlie Haden and has been singing with her sisters (they're triplets) since childhood. Since then she's been a member of the Decemberists and the Rentals, and has collaborated as a singer and violinist with people like Beck, Green Day, Mike Watt and the Foo Fighters, to name a few.
Check out her a capella rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" performed in our studio with the East Coast Sell-Outs.
Win Rosenfeld
7:44 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Celebrated by millions of South Asian people around the globe, Diwali is perhaps best known as India's festival of lights. Check the clip below for a brief tutorial on the origins of the holiday. After the bump, another reason to go to India--when they have their festival of lights, it's warm enough to wear shirtsleeves.
Continue reading "Happy Diwali to You, Too!" »
Laura Conaway
6:24 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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Filed under: Media
This clip -- partly a call for being nice, partly a trailer for the movie Lions and Lambs -- is getting some interesting comments on YouTube.
"the kids are cute..
but they've all got american accents!!"
And
These "diversity" ads NEVER show East Asian guys; they always show the girls but never the guys. . . .It just reveals something very important about the American psyche, particularly it's attitude towards Oriental men.
And
Wow, kind of freaks me out a bit, when I hear "tolerance" used in such a way that simply sounds well like propaganda.
Don't get me wrong, I see the same thing used on the New Right / Neocons with "patriotism" and Security. Left picks Equality. Old right and libertarians pick Freedom. So I guess I understand, I just freak out at the other two.
Kind of like being free, even at the expense of Equality, the left value, or Security, the Neocon value.
Laura Conaway
6:18 AM ET
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11- 9-2007
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