"Songs of Survival"

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Walking into the station this morning, I was met with a very different sound. The song's lyrics were sung in a different language. Passionate and beautiful, it was tinged with an unmistakeable sense of sorrow.

Gonzaga alumna Julia Riegel sat in the studio with Verne, explaining that the song, composed during the Holocaust, was part of her thesis presentation "Songs of Survival." For the project, she demonstrated how music from the Holocaust can contribute to understanding what it meant to be a prisoner in a concentration camp and to an overall understanding of that period in history.



For her part, Julia is fascinated by both the music and the history. She analyzed songs with the confidence of extensive research, barely glancing at any notes. She smiled as Verne played a song with a title translating into "It Burns."

"This is one of my favorites," she said. "It's so powerful - kind of like a rock song from the Holocaust."

Julia and Verne have been known each other since she played the viola in his youth symphony. "She was about two years old and came forth fully-formed," Verne joked. The two have shared a love of books and music for many years, and Verne attended Julia's original thesis presentation this past May, where she first explained her work on "Songs of Survival."

"She's really great," Verne said of Julia after the broadcast. "She's so bright and can express things just wonderfully."

Me Making Noise!

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Last week Shelley decided that it would be a good idea for me to create a promo for this blog to be run on both KPBX and KSFC. As I had never written copy to be read before and had no experience in advertising, this was quite the daunting task. My first draft turned out to be far too long and not catchy enough for radio. So, with much editing from Shelley, I returned to my desk and eventually came up with a few usable versions of the promo. I timed each one, reading it out loud at a reasonable pace, to make sure that it would fit within the specified time limit for the slots between musical pieces.

When Patrick had some free time, we headed to the recording room. I was very nervous and kept wringing my hands as I ran through the copy, occasionally adjusting words or inflection with suggestions from Patrick and Shelley. I discovered that "KSFC" is surprisingly difficult to pronounce clearly. And never again will I write "s" alliteration into my copy. After a few good recordings, though, Patrick said that he had enough to work with and returned to edit the fresh promo. I was directed to find an instrumental song to layer behind each recording.

With that instruction, the next day I was set loose in the music library. I might as well have been given the keys to Candyland. Walls upons walls, shelves of CDs and vinyl records met my amazed eyes. There was even an entire shelf dedicated to one of my favorite artists, Tito Puente, "El Rey de los Timbales." I spent the morning browsing through the library and playing wonderful music on a dusty boom box to my heart's content. Finally I returned to Patrick with a stack of CDs, my favorite tracks marked on bright yellow sticky notes.

At the moment, Patrick is meshing my voice recording with a few different songs to create a couple promos to play in between daily programming. Soon, I'll get to hear my own voice on the radio. I can hardly wait!

Helping with Dinner

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Much like the elementary school teachers who don't actually sleep under their desks each night like their students suppose, the folks at SPR also have lives of their own. This often results in a lot of good for Spokane. For example, each Tuesday, Amy, Shelley, and Stephanie head over to the Women's and Children's Free Restaurant to help provide over 80 nutritious meals in two hours for the needy people of Spokane. Recently, Amy was named Volunteer of the Year.

"I was really surprised," she said, blushing slightly. "I do so little compared to everyone there." But of course, every Tuesday for over a year, plus special events like their summer barbecue where the Restaurant feeds over 1000, tends to add up.

"It's a wonderful, wonderful place," Amy said. The Restaurant, which is located in the basement of St. Paul's United Methodist Church, serves the poorest zip code in the entire state of Washington. Dinners are provided on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with a big lunch and fresh "take-out" produce on Fridays. The food is completely donation-based from local groceries, farmers, and home gardeners.

Amy had wanted to be more active volunteering in the community and "this is something I think does a lot of good for a lot of people," she said. "I'm in a fortunate position and everyone needs help from time to time."

For two hours each Friday women and children can come into the Restaurant and fill out "menus" detailing the food they would like for themselves and their families. Volunteers collect these menus, looks over them, and fill recyclable bags with the requested items. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, hot, healthy meals are served to all guests.

"It's really a great example of how a few people wanting to make a difference can become a lifechanging service," said Amy.

Party!

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Sprinkles.

Sprinkles and syrups.

Sprinkles and syrups and fresh cherries and decorations.



That's how the table in the lobby grew this morning. Each year about mid-July, the station has a hot dog roast and ice cream social during the lunch break to celebrate summer birthdays. Right now Verne is playing 52 minute stretches of music to snatch a few extra minutes to help with preparations. A line of ice cream machines churn away on the back porch. Stephanie is coordinating buns, beans, and barbecue. All in the midst of actual station work.



"We like to do this each year to zero in on our real love... food," said Verne. I've been told that his homemade (or rather station-made) ice cream is a big tradition. Added to Verne's vanilla, Patrick and Shelley have brought chocolate ice cream, Neesha is making, according to Verne "something Neesha-esque," and Nancy is whipping up a batch of sherbet for a non-milk-based alternative.

"We've also been eyeing the root beer in the fridge," Verne said. "Somebody might experiment with that."

Luckily for me the annual "ice cream orgy" as Verne put it, falls right on my birthday. So, as a special treat, I get to take a bit of a break from press releases and promos to blog about ice cream. The only concern is that we might wind up with more ice cream than the station can handle.

"It's like why I don't wear Spandex," Verne said.

Spandex? I gave him a look of complete puzzlement.

"You don't have to gear up and make a big fuss to ride your bike to work. Just like that, you don't have to go all crazy to enjoy some ice cream at work. It should be something normal," he added in explanation.

Well I, for one, am all for the normalization of ice cream at the station. Yum!

Work Song

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Right now Nancy and Verne are at work on a new project. Early in September, KPBX's program The Bookshelf will feature the popular regional writer Ivan Doig's latest book, Work Song. Just A Theory host Tony Flinn has already begun recording readings from the sequel to The Whistling Season, a story about the miners of Butte, Montana. What makes this particular selection from The Bookshelf special though, is that the station has commissioned a local composer to create an actual work song to be played with the reading of the novel.

Composer, musician, screenwriter, and novelist Don Caron will bring to life what Nancy says should be "an infectious marching tune" like the song meant to organize the miners in Work Song. The lyrics to the song will most likely be accompanied by a concertina. Between the work of bestselling author Doig and that of award-winning composer Caron, this chapter of The Bookshelf should be page-turning.

Un "Promo" Muy Caliente

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Early Tuesday afternoon, as I was doing a little design work, Shelley called my name.

"Could you come here for a minute? We need your Spanish expertise."

Because this year's An Evening Under the Stars fundraiser is Latin-fiesta themed, they've needed my limited Spanish much more often than one might expect from a public radio station in Spokane. As I entered Shelley's office, our Production Director Patrick looked up with a grin and said "Hola!" with an unmistakeable American-trying-to-be-Spanish accent. One quick glance at the computer monitor that he and Shelley were facing revealed the words: An Evening Under the Stars 2010 Promo - Antonio Banderas style.

"Errrre, errrre..." went Patrick, attempting to roll his "r's." "How would you say 'the beautiful grounds of Arbor Crest Wine Cellars' in Spanish?" Shelley asked me with a critical look at the screen. And so, I became one of the voice coaches to a Spokane radio announcer trying to be Antonio Banderas.


On Wednesday, after we had hammered out the perfect mixture of Spanish and English words so that an everyday listener might understand the promo, the three of us headed to the recording studio. Patrick's voice is naturally pleasantly mid-range but to transform into the sultry latino, he kept deepening it as he practiced the script.

"Buenos días," he said normally. "Buenos días," a little deeper. "Buenos días." With that, he went too deep, reaching instead the voice of a latino you would hope not to run into in a dark alley. Patrick readjusted and ran through the entire script several different times, pausing to ask the correct pronunciation of "señores," to perfect a Spanish-accented version of the word "radio," and several times just to laugh with Shelley and me at the silliness of the whole situation. When Patrick decided that he had enough usable takes, he took the sound recording back to his office to piece together the best versions of each section of the script.

Behind the promo recording he layered (what else?) music from the soundtrack to The Mask of Zorro.

National Impact

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When the sun is beaming cheerfully as it is today, after a gorgeous 4th of July weekend, it's easy for the average person to forget (if only temporarily) that America is at war. Here at the station though, Amanda is knee-deep in the daily effects of war on our country. Part of NPR's Impact of War, the story Amanda is working on will be part of a series called “Living With War At Home.” She is writing about the difficulties for members of the armed forces who plan for a return to civilian life after service in the military.

"Some come back with PTSD; some come back with injuries or, at the very least, trauma," Amanda said. "My story is basically, how do you go back to the grocery store after something like that? How do you return to focus on school when you have trouble even leaving the house?"

The hardest part of this story, she said, has been finding veterans willing to share their day-to-day experiences after the military.

"I can find policy advisors all day," Amanda said, "but I want to know what it's like for the people actually readjusting to regular life."

Her conversation was filled with terms like PTSD, transition, and therapy.

"This is the white noise in my head right now," she said. "It's the hum that's always in my mind."

The story, which will be broadcast in the coming weeks, is one that is not often remembered.

According to Amanda, "This story is so important because it's something you just don't hear about. These people blend in, but they're at a loose end in their lives and there's not a lot of help."

Musical Kids

This morning at quarter 'til 11, Verne had the nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something. As he pondered over what it could be, a line of excited 8-to-15-year-olds filtered into the lobby. It suddenly hit Verne that today was the live broadcast for the Holy Names Music Center piano camp and he shot into action.

"Us trapeze artists were about to splatter on the pavement," he said of the accidental lapse of memory and the unprepared live-recording studio. Together he, Jerry, Brian, and Patrick cleared out the room and set up sound equipment with record speed just in time for the 11 am broadcast.

It was at this point that I entered the office, only to be asked by a station volunteer, "Are you one of the pianists? They already went to the back room."

"Pianists?" I replied confusedly and sure enough, the strains of a lovely classical piece reached my ears. Shelley handed me a camera and I tracked down the tinkling notes to discover this scene:




35 kids of varying ages and attention-levels coated the carpet of the little room. A small strawberry-blond head bent over the piano.



Verne perched upon a stool, narrating between each of the 14 child-performers' turns on the piano and the camp instructor shuffled her students into place. Parents and friends spilled out into the hallway, listening to each piece and snapping rapid-fire photos of their children. Some kids waited patiently for their turn.



Others waited less patiently.

But when they sat down at the piano, the music was beautiful.



And everybody remembered to applaud.




The applause actually proved to be a bit of a problem. In an adjacent room, John was trying to record a news story in between the clapping and sounds of the piano. Because the building is not sound-tight, a few bars of a piano solo leaked onto the end of his recording.

"I had to redo it a couple times to make sure there wasn't any extra sound on it," he reported.








Overall, though, the broadcast of the young pianists' performances was a complete success.

"It was a wonderful rush of energy," Verne said with a grin.