Weekend America for NOVEMBER 11, 2006
Hour 1
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Protest in a Military Town
Along with memorial services, this Veterans Day will feature war protests. Sentiment against the war in Iraq has increased and Tuesday's election spurred defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. But one place you won't see any open opposition to the war is the town of 29 Palms, California. It's right outside the biggest marine base in the world and home to hundreds of retired military officers.
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The Loyal Opposition
This weekend Charlie Anderson is on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where people are planting flags to honor those who have fallen in Iraq. Anderson is an Iraq War veteran and he spent nine years of his life in the Navy. We talk with him about opposing the war while being a veteran.
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- Music Bridge:
- Carpet Sweeper
- Artist: Swimmingpool
- CD: Good Old Music (Combination Records)
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Listen in the Fields:
Pam and Maurice Johnson just finished bringing in the corn harvest for the year, and are now preparing the land for next year's planting. As part of our Listening In series, independent producer Gideon D'Arcangelo ventured to Floyd, Iowa, to see what Pam and Maurice were listening to as they brought in this year's crop.
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- Music Bridge:
- Storms Are On The Ocean
- Artist: Ollabelle
- CD: Ollabelle (Columbia)
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- Music Bridge:
- Barbie Girl
- Artist: Aqua
- CD: Bubble Mix (MCA)
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Knitting Vet
Adam Visher is an Iraq war veteran who picked up an unusual hobby while in the army: knitting. He hid his pastime from his fellow soldiers because, as he says, they would rather he be drinking and wooing women than making a sweater. Adam was lonely and also drinking a lot, until he found a local yarn store and a community of women who took him in. Independent producer Lygia Navarro shares his story.
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- Music Bridge:
- Gamera
- Artist: Tortoise
- CD: A Lazarus Taxon (Thrill Jockey)
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Fly Like An Eagle
This weekend, locals and tourists are braving freezing temperatures and falling snow to watch eagles in action at the Bald Eagle Festival in Haines, Alaska. The majestic birds are gathering by the thousands along the mostly frozen Chilkat River to feast on spawning salmon. It's a great show. The eagles, who mate for life, show their affection by locking talons with their lovers and dramatically free falling through the sky. We hear eagle tales from Al Batt, the emcee of the festival and a self-described bird freak.
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- Music Bridge:
- Junghans - Azure No. 3
- Artist: Steffen Basho
- CD: Late Summer Morning (Strange Attractors Audio House)
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At Sea
A few weeks ago on the show, we met Tim Troy. He was the only American entered in a race, called the Velux 5, in which he would sail solo around the globe. We talked with him from his yacht in Bilbao, Spain, where the race was about to start, and he told us about the challenges he was about to face trying to sail the world alone. Bill Radke catches up with Tim Troy, on dry land, and finds out that things didn't go according to plan.
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- Music Bridge:
- Olhossss...
- Artist: Sao Paulo Underground
- CD: Sauna: Um, Dois, Tres (Aesthetics)
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Boston Bhangra
Dance teams from all over the country are in Boston, this weekend, to compete in the annual "Boston Bhangra" competition. Bhangra is a style of dance from the Indian state of Punjab. Most of the dancers competing are not from India, but are young Indian-Americans. WBUR's Meghna Chakrabarti went to a rehearsal to try and get in touch with her roots.
Hour 2
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The Moving Wall
Barbara Smith's fiance was killed in Vietnam in 1969. And when Smith first visited the Vietnam War Memorial, back in 1999, she was so moved that she quit her job to drive a half-sized replica of the Vietnam War Memorial around the country. The replica is a 250-foot wall, and Smith takes it to a different community each week. Barbara Bogaev talks with Barbara Smith, who brought the wall to Norwood, Ohio, for Veterans Day weekend.
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Switching Sides
This weekend Nancy French is having trouble getting out of her pajamas by noon. She's a devoted Republican, and the Republicans took quite a beating at the election polls last week. On the other hand, John Nichols, a correspondent for The Nation magazine is trying to celebrate, but he's not sure if he remembers how. He's a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat from Wisconsin and hasn't been on the winning end of a national election in some time. We talk to the two of them about their varying moods and get them to give one another some advice on the art of winning and the art of losing.
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- Music Bridge:
- Beautiful Day
- Artist: U2
- CD: All That You Can't Leave Behind (Interscope)
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Lions in the Field
Beaver Stadium has the capacity to hold 107,000 fans making it the nation's second largest arena. But it's only used about seven times a year for the Penn State Nittany Lions' home football games. Independent producer Barrett Golding recently attended a game--when Penn State took on Illinois--and he brought us an audio tour from the parking lot to the field.
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- Music Bridge:
- Big 'Uns Get The Ball Rolling
- Artist: Stanton Moore
- CD: III (Telarc)
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Indie Picks: Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom: She of the fairy-inspired songs, childlike voice, and sweetly plucked harp has a new album out. It's called "Ys" (rhymes with niece), and Mark Wheat of the Minneapolis-St. Paul station, "The Current," shares his review.
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A Play a Day
On November 12, 2002, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks started writing a play a day. She continued this for a full 365 days, scribbling the plays on napkins, on notebooks and while she was waiting for planes. By the end of the project she had 365 short plays, ranging from 1 to 5 pages. Starting this Monday, the plays will begin to make their stage debuts in 52 theater companies around the country. Barbara Bogaev talks with Suzan-Lori Parks about her body of work.
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- Music Bridge:
- Ride of the Valkyries
- Artist: Gary Lucas
- CD: Street of Lost Brothers (Tzadik)
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Lice! Letters!
Last week on the show, Barbara Bogaev told us about her battle against head lice at home. Her daughter picked them up at school, and their lives were consumed by an endless cycle of nit-picking, combing, laundry and vacuuming. This week, Barbara is proud to say that her kids are lice free. She shares some letters that our listeners wrote to us, about her ordeal.
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- Music Bridge:
- Pediculosis Stomp
- Artist: Mike Nobel
- CD: Here Comes Yesterday (Klarity)
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Please Make Our New Year's Show!
Weekend America is turning the New Year's show over to you the listener. We want our New Year's show to be about you. (And we want a vacation!) Over the coming weeks we'll be telling you about various ways you can get involved. This week we want to hear about your most memorable New Year's Eve ever. Maybe it was a turning point in your life, maybe it spawned a rollicking story that you still share with your friends. Whatever it is, if you have a memorable New Year's story, please do share!
