Weekend America for Saturday, January 15, 2005


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How did your life collide with the headlines in 2007?
Iraq, the subprime crisis, Facebook, immigration, oil prices - 2007 had no shortage of hefty headlines. We'd like to hear about how these and other major news events of the past year affected you. Where did your life collide with the news in 2007?

What's your holiday performance story?
The office talent show, the neighborhood caroling posse, the school pageant ... At holiday time we often sing, dance, and dress as shepherds. Did you bloom in the warmth of your audience's adulation, or freeze up like the snowman you'd rather be building? Did your holiday performance change your life or that of someone close to you?

Broadcast Information for January 15, 2005

Opening Music: Start From Scratch
Artist: Galactic - CD: Crazyhorse Mongoose (Capricorn)

3 Years, 2 People, 1 Sticker
This week, a judge ordered the removal of a sticker that declares evolution a theory, not a fact, on Georgia textbooks. We spoke with two people on different sides of the issue -- Jeffrey Selman and Marjorie Rogers -- who have been debating for the past three years.

Online Resources:
"Judge orders removal of evolution stickers from textbooks" (Ledger-Enquirer)
More about the textbook sticker controversy: "What Would Darwin Say"

Music Bridge: West Side Highway
Artist: Lanterna - CD: Sands (Badman)

Chain of Influence
In the first of our Chain of Influence series, Barbara Bogaev talked to Poet Laureate Ted Kooser about a person who influenced his life, Dr. Bill Lydiatt. In this second segment, Barbara talks with Dr. Lydiatt about the people who have made an impression on his life and work.

Online resources:
More about Dr. Bill Lydiatt
Conversation with Poet Laureate Ted Kooser

Music Bridge: It's All Around You
Artist: Tortoise - CD: It's All Around You (Thrill Jockey)

Weekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at weather patterns and Saturday happenings all across the country.

Weather reports:
hour 1 | hour 2

Music Bridge: Beat Connection (Disco Dub Version)
Artist: LCD Soundsystem - CD: DFA compilation #2 (DFA)

Cleatus Rattan

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Lone Star Bard
There won't be a poet present when President Bush is sworn in to his second term next week, unlike many of the Democratic Inaugurations. Weekend America talked with Texas Poet Laureate Cleatus Rattan about the poem that he would share at the Inauguration if asked.

Online resources:
More poetry from Cleatus Rattan
"The Border" is available on Texas A&M University Press.

Music Bridge: A Hawk From a Handsaw
Artist: Gary Lucas and Josef Van Vissem - CD: The Universe of Absence (Bvhaast)

World Music Picks
Tom Pryor of Global Rhythm Magazine talks with Barbara Bogaev about new music from Enzo Aritabile, Rachid Taha, Fela and Charanga Cakewalk.

Steve's set list:
Remember Fela - Gangbe Brass Band from the album, Whendo (Contre Jour)
Mexicanos - Charanga Cakewalk from the album, Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge (Triloka)
Dance With Me - Enzo Avitabile & Bottari from the album, Salvamm'o Munno (Wrasse Records)
Rock el Casbah - Rachid Taha from the album, Tekitoi (Wrasse Records)

Amsterdam Blues
For a long time, whenever reporter Rico Gagliano was down, he would think of his favorite city, Amsterdam. He says that, regardless of the weather, he thought of it as the "the warm, dry room of the world." But during a visit last year, Rico was faced with the question of what to do when his favorite corner of the world turned out to be less welcoming than he thought.

Music Bridge: Billy Liar
Artist: The Decemberists - CD: Her Majesty (Kill Rock Stars)

Postcards from Home
Over the past six years, Isaac Cates has sent five postcards a day to friends and family. He says that he does it because he wants to live his everyday life with the same intensity and richness he feels when he's on vacation. Barbara and Bill talk with Isaac about what he's learned about himself after 11,000 postcards later.

Send us a story idea and you could win a $25 gift certificate to the Public Radio MusicSource:
Contest rules...

Music Bridge: All That J
Artist: D'Arcangelo - CD: Broken Toys Corner (Rephlex)

Featured in Hour Two

Sgt. Kevin Benderman

Gallery

Conscientious Objector
Barbara Bogaev has an update on Sgt. Kevin Benderman, who recently refused to go back to Iraq with his unit. We had a huge response to the story that aired last weekend, including an email from Gulf War veteran John Hein. He disagrees with Benderman's stance and explained his thoughts to Barbara Bogaev.

Online resource:
Listen to our first conversation with Sgt. Kevin Benderman
Read some of the 100 listener emails.
How do you feel about Sgt. Berderman's decision to become a conscientious objector? Tell us...

Music Bridge: Holographic Moon Owls
Artist: Secret Frequency Crew - CD: Forest of the Echo Drums (Schematic)

Telemarkathon
Correspondent Chris Godsey lets us to drop in on a grueling 24-hour skiing race in Minnesota.

Online resources:
The 24 Hours of Telemark
WHITE:RIVER:SPORTS:TIMING
Telemark Resort
"Calling all Solo Freaks and Six Packs, It's time for 24 Hours of Telemark" (SilentSports.net)

Music Bridge: To Have and to Hold
Artist: Githead - CD: Headgit (swim)

Martin Luther King

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MLK Anti-War Sermon
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, we play clips from one of Dr. King's sermons at Ebeneezer Baptist Church that have surprising relevance today.

Music Bridge: Feel Like A Ghost
Artist: El-P - CD: Collecting the Kid (Definitive Jux)

Improv Everywhere

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The Best Gig Ever
What would happen if an improv comedy group picked an unknown band playing in New York City and tried to give them the best gig ever? Bill Radke asked Milo Finch, lead singer of the Ghosts of Pasha, and Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere about the results.

Online resources:
Improv Everywhere: Ghosts of Pasha performance in NYC
Ghosts of Pasha website

Do We Really Need an Encore?
At most concerts, an encore after the program is the status quo. Bill Radke asked frequent concert-goers Renee Graham and Joan Anderman if the encore has lost its way.

Music Bridge: Stairway to Heaven
Artist: Frank Zappa - CD: The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Rykodisc)

Music Bridge: Clear Day
Artist: Ulrich Schnauss - CD: A Strangely Isolated Place (Domino)

Bird Watching in OK
For the next several months, birdwatchers across the country will be out in full force, braving the cold with their binoculars and field guides, searching for bald eagles. The Oklahoma Wildlife Dept organizes bird watching trips, and contributor Scott Gurian has this report from Lake Thunderbird State Park.

For the January 15, 2005 broadcast:

... on our December 15 broadcast:

» Weekend America
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» The Huckabee Mystique: See video of Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris.

» Another Great Moment in Small Talk: Read how Charlie Schroeder became an unpopular "tool" because of Borat.

» Listener Letters: Renewable Christmas Trees: Read listeners' alternate endings to "Puff the Magic Dragon."

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Weekend Weather

From the July 5 broadcast

Awful Car Night

Auburn, N.Y.
National Brewery Museum Opening Ceremony

Potosi, Wis.
Sand Sculpture Contest

Bruce, S.D.
Oregon Coast Geezer Games

Newport, Ore.
Annual Coolest Fourth of July Celebration

Fort Davis, Texas
Maui Invitational Band Festival and Blues Fest

Wailuku, Hawaii

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This week: Have you exper-
ienced any strange seasonal changes: springtime plants sprouting; squirrels sunbathing?
Let us know...

Weekend Weather

Awful Car Night

National Brewery Museum Opening Ceremony

Sand Sculpture Contest

Oregon Coast Geezer Games

Annual Coolest Fourth of July Celebration

Maui Invitational Band Festival and Blues Fest