NPR was playing the show This American Life, and my friends and I were driving around the tri-state area aimlessly and just needed some background noise. We were kind of half-listening to David Sedaris reading one of his own stories, and when it ended, another story came on. This time, it was called, "The Man In the Well", I believe, and I didn't quite get the author's name, but it was intense.

It was told from first person POV, about some kids who come upon a man trapped in a well and have this huge thing where they feel all powerful because the grown-up is trapped and they had power over him. Ultimately, the story concluded with him saying they'd never gone back to the well, implying that they'd let the man die down there.

After David Sedaris, we all thought it was a true story and were completely sickened. Finally, we were reassured that it was a work of fiction. But we listened to that whole thing all the way through in complete silence. It was pretty intense.

We definitely make a habit of listening to NPR when we're in my buddy's car, as his CD player doesn't work. I definitely dig at least a handful of the music I hear on there. The shows, too, are pretty great.

Tom Ashbrook came and spoke at our environmental event about 2 summers ago. Nice guy, just got the call from this kitchen-table operation we were doing, came and spoke to about 75 people. Real candid. Decent guy.

This ones a little sad. Working with the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's "America", a local artist paints lines all over town in front of abandoned buildings and broken down factories. Its always a great time to rediscover what a badass Paul Simon is.

The NPR Music website is a treasure trove of strange and marvelous music from diverse musical genres. I lose track of the time whenever I visit NPR music because there so much new music there. http://www.npr.org/music/


My local NPR station carries World Cafe (eclectic), American Routes (roots music), & Echoes (electronic music) and Fresh Air (arts, music and cultural interviews). There's a brand new local NPR station plays indie pop & rock around the clock on a digital frequency. Unfortunately you can't get the station unless you have a digital radio, which costs about $100,

NPR has become a real player on the indie music scene. I think they've broken more rising indie bands into the mainstream than just about any other music resource. Nearly every indie band appears either on Fresh Air, World Cafe, Morning Becomes Electric or one of the other half dozen or so syndicated NPR shows.

If your local NPR station doesn't carry any contemporary music shows, write the station manager and demand they do so. Some of the more rural NPR outposts balk at carrying any music shows besides classical but the local NPR station managers are supposed to listen to their audiences.

It took us a long time to get our local NPR station to carry any contemporary music shows. I got so frustrated that I started giving big donations during fundraising drives, which got me elected to the local board of directors of the station. Since I was appointed to the board, I've worked with a group of fellow subversives to get the station to carry more contemporary music shows. We've been pretty successful. Getting the local NPR affiliate to devote their first digital frequency to an all indie pop and rock format was our biggest accomplishment.


An afterthought: I used the word "genre" in the first sentence of my post and I'm beginning to discover that I hate that word "genre" :banghead: Genre splitting is nothing more than a marketing strategy used by music industry and retailers to profile their customers into neat little categories, so they can harangue endlessly them with lame suggestions of what music they should (or should not) purchase. This proliferation of musical genres is just another marketing research scam and it keeps people from having an open mind about listening to new and different music. It's hard to discover new music when Amazon or iTunes is telling you that a certain genre of music doesn't fit your own unique customer profile. I'm sick of being pandered to by a bunch of tone deaf marketing research experts who probably listen to Huey Lewis and the News when they get home at night.

I love every aspect of NPR.

NPR is great, just never thought I'd end up hearing Explosions in the Sky on there though.

Do you like that band? I picked up an album on hype (for the band, not the album) and I don't think I was ever more bored.

Explosions? It's definitely music I can write or window-gaze to. Regardless, I still enjoy the band but I understand why some people wouldn't.

I like EITS. **** the haters!