March 2003

Review: 'Brad Shepik Trio'
Tom Moon of the Philadelphia Inquirer reviews the latest effort by jazz guitarist Brad Shepik and his group the Brad Shepik Trio. The album is Drip. Shepik has played in every kind of band -- from an Eastern European group to big band; Moon says he uses all of those influences to create a distinctive sound.

Protest Music for a New Generation
Even before the Bush administration embarked on the current war in Iraq, many musicians were speaking out in opposition. Veterans of the antiwar movement from a generation ago say that society and the media have changed significantly since the end of the Vietnam War -- and that's changed musical protest. Now those Vietnam-era musicians are raising their voices again. Listen to some live tracks recorded at a recent New York City concert against the war in Iraq.
Expanded coverage

Tongan Love Song
More than 20 years ago, recording engineer David Fanshawe set out on an adventure -- to record the music of the South Pacific. He traveled the South Pacific islands with a rucksack, 200 rolls of tape, 35mm film and a stereo tape recorder. Read the lyrics to a Tongan love song featured on Fanshawe's new CD.
Expanded coverage

The Irish Pipes
NPR's Melissa Block speaks with Paddy Keenan, an Irish piper descended from a long line of traveling pipers. Keenan plays the uilleann pipes on the CD The Long Grazing Acre, his collaboration with guitarist Tommy O'Sullivan.

SXSW
The record industry's low-sales number hit this year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Music executives gave up magnums of champagne for long-neck beers. But, as NPR's Rick Karr reports, independent artists were a little more optimistic.

Nuala O'Faolain
Irish newspaper columnist Nuala O'Faolain became internationally known at the age of 55 for her first book, Are You Somebody, which she called an accidental memoir. She joins host Lynn Neary to talk about her new book Almost There -- The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman, which describes how literary fame changed her life. She also discusses how middle age can be as tumultuous and exciting as adolescence. (Almost There - The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman is published by Riverhead Books; ISBN: 1573222410.)

The Roots
Hip-hop artists often avoid live shows because their sound depends on studio wizardry. But as NPR's Julia Mitric reports, Philadelphia's premiere live hip hop band is trying to keep the genre true to its... roots.

Seattle Music: 'Minus Five'
Scott McCaughey is a fixture on Seattle's music scene. The co-founder of the Young Fresh Fellows has never quite achieved the success other Seattle musicians enjoyed, but he gets by as the unofficial fifth member of REM. For years, he's had his own unofficial band called The Minus Five. Unofficial band-mates on a new CD include REM's Peter Buck and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Marcie Sillman reports.

'SXSW': Austin Teems with Music
Austin, Texas, bills itself as the music capital of the world, and this is the week it earns that title. Austin hosts the 17th annual South by Southwest music festival. Every stage in the city is throbbing with live music, and artists are even playing on the street. Hear NPR's Rick Karr.

The Golden Ratio
Anyone who has taken a high school geometry class has at least a dim recollection of the number called pi. But in his new book The Golden Ratio, author Mario Livio examines the mysteries of pi's lesser-known cousin, phi -- a number that has both counfounded and amazed mathmeticians since antiquity.

One Bedroom: Open Space from The Sea and Cake
The Chicago quartet The Sea and Cake uses rock band elements to evoke open spaces in much the same way Aaron Copland did with orchestras. Tom Moon of the Philadelphia Inquirer reviews the group's latest release, One Bedroom.

Dub Side Covers Pink Floyd's Dark Side
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon remains an iconic album 30 some years after its release. It defined adolescence for at least one generation. It's been played to death and parodied. Now, it's been remade into the reggae album Dub Side of the Moon. Chris Nickson has a review.

'Country' Music Gains Fans in Cuba
A style of country music called Changui is gaining popularity in Cuba. Changui dates back to the late-1700s and has long been the voice of this region's poor black farmers. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports.

Cowboy Yodeler
NPR's Melissa Block talks to and listens to Colorado cowboy yodeler Gary McMahan. McMahan learned to yodel when he was in Nashville years ago trying to write a "western" song, and yodeling was called for. He toured for years with a yodeling dog, but now he's a solo act.

Lillian Faderman's Secret 'Mink Frost'
For more than three decades, Lillian Faderman has been a university professor and historian. But back in the late-'50s when she was in school she needed to support herself. She worked in the university library, but it wasn't enough money to pay the rent, so she took a job as a burlesque dancer. For 30 years her career as "Mink Frost" was a secret from her colleagues and friends. Now, after turning 60 she realizes that the same self-preservation that allowed her to earn a doctorate at 26 was the same sense of self-preservation that led her to pay for college by working in a strip club. Lillian Faderman's new memoir is Naked in the Promised Land.

Toure
Commentator and music writer Toure recently spent time with rapper 50 Cent, and reflects on why the former drug dealer-turned-hip hop artist appeals to him. 50 Cent's latest album, Get Rich or Die Tryin, has sold more than 2 million copies in less than a month.

Joseph Shabalala's Dream: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
The South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo achieved fame in the United States on Paul Simon's Grammy-winning album Graceland. But the group's founder, Joseph Shabalala, says he first heard their sound in a dream in 1964. He describes his music in his own words.

Elliott Erwitt's Handbook
Photographer Elliott Erwitt has been taking pictures for more than half a century. His latest book, Elliott Erwitt's Handbook, culls from his prodigious collection of photos featuring hands in a myriad of gestures and uses. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Erwitt about the philosophy of taking a picture -- what you see through the viewfinder when taking a photo, and what you see later, after the moment has passed and the photo is developed.

Massive Attack's 100th Window Skips a Beat
The British electronic group Massive Attack is down to one member, Three-D, for the group's latest release. The new album, 100th Window, is a departure from their beat-heavy records of the past, according to reviewer Charles de Ledesma.

La Promesa and Other Stories
Alan Cheuse reviews La Promesa and Other Stories, the first story collection by Leroy V. Quintana, published by Oklahoma University Press. Most of the stories take place in a fictional New Mexico town called San Miguel.

Remembering Prokofiev
Prokofiev died March 5, 1953, the same day as Josef Stalin. Colorado Symphony conductor Marin Alsop looks at how Prokofiev's music changed from his pre-revolutionary First Symphony to his Fifth Symphony, written in 1944 when he was an official composer under Stalin. NPR's Jeffrey Freyman-Weyr reports.

Liberace and The Trinidad Tripoli Steelband
Lost & Found Sound presents a story told by The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, about a steel band from Trinidad that performed at the 1967 Expo in Montreal and was "discovered" there by flamboyant piano virtuoso Liberace. Members of the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband recall the band's origins as a group of hooligans who stole oil drums and performed in the local Carnival. Steel bands gained favor as a cultural icon of Trinidad later, and oil companies supported them. Liberace used the band as an opening act on American television for several years.
Expanded coverage

Map of the Child
NPR's Michele Norris talks with pediatrician Darshak Sanghavi about his book, The Map of A Child. It's part guide to the major organs of the body, and part memoir about his experience treating children.

Latest Supergrass Trip: 'Other Planets'
The British rock band Supergrass arrived in 1995 with a mixture of '70s glam-rock, wall-of-sound production and sweet bubblegum refrains. Critic Tom Moon of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the group's fourth release, Life On Other Planets, is more in tune with current trends.