Passing Notes

11/20/12

PN Unscripted - 'The Onion Book of Known Knowledge'

From 'The Onion,' Editor Will Tracy and Head Writer Seth Reiss talk about the Onion media empire's new comprehensive guide to everything, 'The Onion Book of Known Knowledge.' Oh, and onion.

Listen to PN Unscripted on Stitcher
Listen to PN Unscripted on iTunes
Permalink for PN Unscripted - The Onion Book

The Onion

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

11/19/12

PN Unscripted - Senator Bob Graham

Florida's Bob Graham -- Governor and Senator -- talks about his novel 'The Keys to the Kingdom,' his love of books and of writing, with a little bit of politics thrown in.

Permalink to PN Unscripted podcast

Bob Graham Center for Public Service
The Keys to the Kingdom
America, the Owner's Manual

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

11/16/12

PN 221 - Campbell McGrath and Edwidge Danticat - Miami Book Fair

Two South Florida writers and MacArthur Fellows talk about their work in advance of this year's Miami Book Fair.

Campbell McGrath
Edwidge Danticat
Miami Book Fair

Listen to PN 221 on Stitcher
Listen to PN 221 on iTunes

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

11/9/12

PN 220 - Building Better Elections

Listen to PN 220 on Stitcher

Listen to PN 220 on iTunes

Pro Publica's Free the Files Project

Fix The Primaries

The Century Foundation - Improving Elections

[transcript of broadcast]

I want everyone to know that my suggestions for building better elections come from a non-partisan place – or at least as non-partisan as I can manage. I really don’t care to discuss the particular policy points of any political party – I just want to consider how we might get a better result from the general process of electing people to office. I’m going to assume that an electoral system that encourages citizens to be informed, that strives to represent the perspectives of many different types of people, and that facilitates voter participation – that a system working from those principles would be worth having. If you can’t come with me this far, then I can’t help you.

First of all, I think we need to know more about the money that campaigns spend on paid political advertising – particularly in television. In the 2012 presidential campaign alone, a billion dollars (give or take) was spent on TV ads. I have to wonder– given the profits that must come from political ads – how much television journalists and their bosses are willing to examine the truthfulness and reasonableness of what all candidates have to say. It seems to me that there’s a conflict of interest at work here. How tough can a reporter be on a candidate when his or her own station relies on that candidate’s campaign for revenue?

Now, the non-profit news organization Pro Publica has recently collected, in a very raw form, all the information that television stations were required to turn over about political ad buys. But this information has not been sorted through in any way, so not much can be gleaned from it. Not yet, at least. Pro Publica is asking citizens to help them process the information through their ‘Free the Files’ project, which you can learn about and take part in by visiting their website – propublica.org. Remember, we’re talking about billions of dollars directed toward national, state, and local elections. It might be useful for us all to know the effect that all that money has on how we’re informed – or misinformed – about candidates and issues.

Pro Publica's Free the Files Project

Secondly, I suggest that the presidential primaries be redesigned. The current primary system is a reaction to the messy 1968 Democratic convention, and is designed to smooth out the process of choosing a presidential nominee. These days, and perhaps even back in 1972 when it all started, New Hampshire and Iowa are not the places to begin the primary season. Iowa and New Hampshire? Both these states are far too rural and far too homogeneous to produce candidates that reflect the more general and diverse concerns of the rest of the country.

Let me break it down for you. In 2012, over 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas, whereas both Iowa and New Hampshire still have over a third percent of their people living in rural areas. And both Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white, about 95 percent. In the United States, nearly 13 percent of the population identifies as African American, almost 17 percent identifies as Hispanic, and another five percent identifies as Asian. Iowa and New Hampshire, on a fundamental level, do not look like much of the rest of the United States.

I propose – wait for it – a balanced presidential primary system – where groups of five or six states, both small and large, are divided into two week primary periods. We could get through the primaries with a nice distribution of states over a five month period. The first round primary, in February, might include Iowa (why not?), along with Maryland, Wyoming, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Florida. You can drop California by itself in the middle of the sequence. The final round (at the end of June) could have, let’s say, Mississippi, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas. Granted, travel costs would be higher, but candidates would have to address a more representative range of issues in having to run for a much more diverse set of voters.

Fix The Primaries

Finally, and most painfully (Florida, I'm looking at you) we need to improve the voting system itself. The guiding principle here should be to help more eligible people vote and increase the efficiency of the voting process. We need to improve the ease of registration while taking reasonable steps to prevent voter fraud. We need to create guidelines and accountability for how ballots are designed, as well as making sure that ballot initiatives are written so that each item is clear and concise. Forget tradition, we need to move election dates to weekends – Saturdays and Sundays. We need to stop treating early voting like a political football and set a standard early voting period and procedure. We need to ensure that all voting sites have enough well-trained staff and enough materials and equipment for people to vote without confusion and excessive hardship. There’s no reason why anyone in Florida, the next time we have an election, should be standing in line for five or six hours just to exercise one of the most basic rights we have. I understand all the concerns about the process, but to deny or impede any eligible voter the right to cast a ballot is to do a great wrong.

The Century Foundation - Improving Elections

So – improve the voting system, rework the primaries, and follow the TV money. Let’s get started on that work as soon as we can. We all deserve better.

11/4/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 11/4/12

Like Sunday Time Warp - Follow Sunday Time Warp

Song, Artist, Album

Happy-Go-Lucky Local, Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery, Jimmy & Wes - The Dynamic Duo
Roxanne, Jordan Young, Cymbal Melodies
Away (Anuradha & the Maiti Nepal), Christian Scott, Christian aTunde Adjuah
Old Folks, Joey DeFrancesco, Wonderful! Wonderful!
Joey D, Joey DeFrancesco, Wonderful! Wonderful!
Wagon Wheels, Joey DeFrancesco, Wonderful! Wonderful!
Senor Blues, Shirley Scott, Queen of the Organ
Butter (For Yo' Popcorn), Jack McDuff, Down Home Style

No Hype Blues, Deep Blue Organ Trio, Goin' To Town - Live at the Green Mill
Blues on the Corner, McCoy Tyner Quartet, McCoy Tyner Quartet
The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder
Times Are Hard on the Boulevard, Jared Gold, Supersonic
My Little Humidor, Galactic, Organi-ized
Freedom Jazz Dance, Eddie Jefferson, Things Are Getting Better

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

Segment3 - Joey DeFrancesco

Joey DeFrancesco talks about Larry Coryell, Jimmy Cobb, his new album 'Wonderful! Wonderful!' and learning to play trumpet by watching Miles Davis. (31 minutes)

Listen to Segment3 on Stitcher
Listen to Segment 3 on iTunes
Permalink for Segment3 - Joey DeFrancesco

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

11/2/12

PN 219 - Joey DeFrancesco - 'Wonderful! Wonderful!'

The organ legend "Joey D" talks about working with Larry Coryell and Jimmy Cobb, as well as the influence of Miles Davis on his trumpet playing.

Listen to PN 219 on Stitcher
Listen to PN 219 on iTunes
Permalink for PN 219 - Joey DeFrancesco - 'Wonderful! Wonderful'

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/31/12

Video Jukebox - Joey DeFrancesco

This week's video jukebox offers a full two hours of one of the world's greatest organists, Joey DeFrancesco. From Joey on the "keytar" with Miles Davis in the late 80s, to some of his most recent performances, enjoy the great sound of the Hammond B3 played by Joey D!

Joey DeFrancesco will be the featured artist on this Friday's Passing Notes and Sunday's Segment3. We'll talk about his new album, Wonderful! Wonderful! with Larry Coryell and Jimmy Cobb, his time with Miles, and much more.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/30/12

PN Unscripted - Alyn Shipton on Cab Calloway

10/29/12

Reader's Notes - On Ware's 'Building Stories'

Jacob Brogan, writing for The Comics Journal website, provides an interesting take on Chris Ware's remarkable new Building Stories. Brogan's piece, "From Comics History to Personal Memory," examines the development of Ware's storytelling interests from his earlier masterwork, Jimmy Corrigan - The Smartest Kid on Earth. I've got my own copy of Building Stories, and it comes in its own box -- almost like a classic board game -- as if the reader should assemble its combinations of posters and booklets in whatever arrangement pleases them. It's hours of fun for the whole family, sort of. Here's Brogan's article.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/28/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 10/28/12

Like STW on Facebook | Follow STW on Twitter

Song, Artist, Album
Seven Minute Mind, The Bad Plus, Made Possible
Backin' Up, Jeff Coffin and the Mut'et, Into The Air
Dig On It, The Skinny, Dig On It
End of the World Party, Medeski Martin and Wood, live performance
Texas Twister, Greyboy, Freestylin'
Mother Tongue, John McLaughlin - Joey DeFrancesco - Dennis Chambers, live performance
I'm Gonna Tell You This Story One More Time, Bela Fleck with the Marcus Roberts Trio, Across the Imaginary Divide
Summertime, Jacqui Sutton, Notes From The Frontier

Somebody Done Stole My Blues, Clark Terry - Chris Woods, Lucerne 1978
Midnight in Harlem, Tedeschi Trucks, live performance
Inside Outside Woman Blues #3, Gov't Mule, By A Thread
Blues Power, Albert King, Live at the Filmore
Mr. Pastorius, Miles Davis, Amandla
Para Oriente, Trio of Doom, Trio of Doom
Dark Prince, Trio of Doom, Trio of Doom
Freedom Jazz Dance, Tony Grey Trio, live performance

10/27/12

Reader's Notes - Penguin-Random House Merger

In the past decade, much has been written about the demise of books, of reading, and of literacy -- a cultural erosion fueled by the growth of digital media and a variety of personal electronic devices. From my point of view as an educator going back to the days just before The Great Digitization, matters are not so alarming. I have always been bemused about the hand-wringing over the decline of writing and reading. My purely subjective experience tells me that, on the whole, young people write more and read more than they ever did, albeit in different ways than in the old exclusively print culture.

The merger between mega-publishers Penguin and Random House is an interesting development in that it should create a $4 billion-a-year company able to compete with Amazon -- at least in the reading business. We should stop calling it the "book business," perhaps. What the new Penguin-Random super-publisher will have that Amazon does not is the cultural capital of its people -- the editors, designers, and publishers who bring out thousands of titles each year. If Amazon is open to the raw forces of the market as far as popularity is concerned, then Penguin-Random House might counterbalance the popularity-engine of Amazon with its own thoughtful, culturally informed perspective.

The global scale of both enterprises is unsettling, but consider that, for writers outside the super-publishers and super-retailers, The Great Digitization has opened up many venues for self-publication and self-promotion. If anything, the alarm over "declining literacy" and "the death of books" is more likely driven by the fact that there's so much more information available through so many more channels than every before. Similar things have been said about film and music. If anything, what's needed more than ever are experts who surf the waves of information for the good stuff -- and the search and selection tools to find it for ourselves.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/26/12

PN 218 - Tim Dorsey - 'Pineapple Grenade'

Tim Dorsey finds another crime caper for Serge Storms and Coleman in his latest novel, Pineapple Grenade, set in Miami, of all places.

Listen to PN 218 on Stitcher
Listen to PN 218 on iTunes

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/25/12

Video Jukebox - Medeski Martin and Wood

10/24/12

Reader's Notes: Novel of the Century

Here's a sure conversation-starter among readers: the six books on the shortlist for the "Novel of the Century." The University of Edinburgh, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the study of English Literature at that institution, will award the James Tait Black Prize for the "best of the best" English language books of the past 100 years. A fair article about the award can be found at The Independent's website, but if you want to see the list, it's as follows:

Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter
The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene
A Disaffection by James Kelman
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Crossing The River by Caryl Phillips
The Mandlebaum Gate by Muriel Spark

Have read them all -- and, in my civilian job, having taught two of them --it would be unfair to say which is the definitive best, but I know I have my favorite. I don't suppose my personal choice would be too obvious?

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/23/12

PN Unscripted - Seth

Seth, the Canadian comics artist, writer, designer and 'archaeologist of ephemera' talks about The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, as well as editing the work of Charles Schultz and Doug Wright.

Permalink for PN Unscripted podcast

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/21/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 10/21/12

Like STW on Facebook | Follow STW on Twitter

Song, Artist, Album

Freedom Jazz Dance, Miroslav Vitous, Infinite Search
Bird of Fire, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bird of Fire
Sophisticated Honky, Orgone, The Killion Floor
Boom Boom (Out Goes The Lights), Little Walter
I Love You More Than Ever, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Collection
Song For Bobby Smith, Gil Scott-Heron, Winter in America
Never No Mo' Blues, Jimmie Rodgers, Never No Mo' Blues
Dirty Muther Fer Ya, Honeydripper's Duke's Mixture, Roosevelt Sykes
Mule Skinner Blues, (Blue Yodel No. 7), Jimmie Rodgers, The Very Best Of
Me And My Chauffer Blues, Memphis Minnie, Blues Classics
New Blues Old Bruise, Chick Corea & John McLaughlin, Five Peace Band: Live
Who They Want Me To Be, Christian Scott, Christian aTunde Adjuah
Of Fire (Les Filles de la Nouvelle Orleans), Christian Scott, Christian aTunde Adjuah
The Last Broken Heart (Prop 8), Christian Scott, Yesterday You Said Today
New New Orleans (Kind Adjuah Stomp), Christian Scott, Christian aTunde Adjuah
Teddy Ruxpin, Kneebody, You Can Have Your Moment
Mob Job, Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman, Song X (20th Anniversary Edition)
Old School Cylons, Greyboy All Stars, Whatever Happened To Television?
Summertime Killer, Calibro 35, Calibro 35
Locomotive, Mop Mop, Kiss of Kali
54-46 Was My Number, Toots and the Maytalls, In The Dark
Drive My Car, Soulive, Rubber Soulive
Tilt, Cadillac Jones, Junk in the Trunk

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

Segment3 - Christian Scott

Talk and tunes with the prodigious trumpeter, composer, and bandleader -- mostly about his latest release, Christian aTunde Adjuah.

Listen to Segment3 on Stitcher
Listen to Segment3 on iTunes

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/20/12

Reader's Notes - Your Pre-Programmed Musical Taste

From the madmen at Cracked comes a fine and funny article that lays out the scientific basis behind your taste in music. That is to say, your brain, as well as psychological and social conditioning, have much to do with what you like and dislike. So much for aesthetics, if you take these matters to heart. You can find the article here. Don't say you weren't warned, and don't take it too seriously.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads | PN Stitcher

10/19/12

PN 217 - Christian Scott - 'Christian aTunde Adjuah'