Really, Bartender, Just ONE More Round

-- Steve Proffitt

Alex sent Madeleine and me an email the other night. It was some sort of script he'd written, probably late at night. We didn't quite know what to make of it.

Yesterday, he came to my desk and said, "Come on, let's go to the studio."

He sat down and recorded what he'd written, something that was...well, quite unusual. It's about an obsession - one that seems to have overtaken the press corps, and maybe the nation as a whole.

"Fix it up," he told me. "A little music, some effects."

And so I did. It's a little too odd to put on the radio, maybe. But it shows a creative side of Mr. Chadwick that he doesn't often reveal. So we're putting it up here. Take a listen. If you love it, hate it, or couldn't care less, click on that comments link and let us know.

Tags: Alex Chadwick | Sarah Palin | humor

9:31 AM ET | 09-11-2008 | permalink

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Don't Try To One-Up A Mercedes In Africa

--Alex Chadwick

This morning, we aired an interview with Dutch journalist Jeroen van Bergeijk, author of My Mercedes Is Not for Sale. The interview didn't go quite as I'd planned. I began trying to one-up my guest -- always an error.

I've driven a section of Africa more hazardous than the one he describes in his account of trying to sell his car. Five years ago, on assignment for Radio Expeditions, I followed the route of the old camel caravans from Timbuktu, 500 miles north to an ancient salt mine called Taudenni in the middle of the Sahara desert. I don't think Jeroen believed me, but the caravans still go because it actually makes more sense than trying to get there and back with a big commercial truck. If they get stuck or break down, there is no way to get them out. We drove in pick-ups and heavy, primitive SUV's. There are no roads -- you take a guide who sits beside the driver in the lead vehicle and signals where to go. It takes three days ... and you cover about a thousand years.

Jeroen listened patiently for a couple of minutes and then changed the subject. The interview wasn't about my salt-mine trip -- it was about the adventure of trying to sell an old Mercedes. It was his story, and that's what we talked about.

4:37 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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Interviews 50 Cents

-- Steve Proffitt

My friend and colleague Alex Chadwick is a talented guy. He might be the best writer at NPR. He's an excellent still photographer. And occasionally he has a really, really good idea.

Interviews 50 Cents is one of them. It's so simple. Set up a card table, with a cigar box on it, and put up a sign that says, "Interviews 50 Cents." Then see what happens.

Over the years, Alex has created a body of work around this concept. And he's stepped outside his normal comfort zone - radio - to present these as little video vignettes. Some were shown on ABC-TV, and most recently, they've been seen at Slate's video site, SlateV.

They're really good, and worth watching. People reveal the most amazing things. Plus, you get to actually SEE that guy you've been hearing on the radio for so long.

You can find more Interviews 50 Cents here.

9:20 AM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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