August 2008 Specials on Classic 89 and Nature Coast 90

1) "The Erickson Lecture Series featuring Manish Mishra on the Politics of Gender" will air on Wednesday, August 6th at 6:30pm. Click here for details.
   
2) "Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing Part 1" will air on Sunday, August 3rd at 5:00pm.  Click here for details.
   
3) "Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing Part 3" will air on Sunday, August 10th at 5:00pm.  Click here for details.
   
4) "Hearing Voices - Bugs & Birds" will air on Saturday, August 16th at 12:00noon. Click here for details.
   
5) "A League of Women Voters Forum Special will air on Sunday, Agust 17th at 12:00noon.
   
6) "Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing Part 3" will air on Sunday, August 17th at 5:00pm. Click here for details.
   
7) "A Women for Wise Growth Candidate Forum Special - Part 1" will air on Wednesday, August 20th at 6:30pm.
   
8) "Discoveries at Disney with John Adams" will air on Thursday, August 21st at 10:00pm. Click here for details.
   
9) "A Women for Wise Growth Candidates Forum Special - Part 2 will air on Saturday, August 23rd at 12:00noon.
   
10)

"Remembering Karajan - Part 1" will air on Tueday, August 26th at 8:00pm. Click here for details.
   
11) "America Abroad - Integrating Islam" will air on Wednesday, August 27th at 6:30pm. Click here for details.
   
12) "Remembering Karajan - Part 2" will air on Wednesday, August 27th at 8:00pm. Click here for details.
   
13) "Van Cliburn: Music and Diplomacy" will air on Thursday, August 28th at 8:00pm. Click here for details.
   
14) "Saving the Sierra" will air on Saturday August 30th at 12:00noon. Click here for details.
   
15) "Whole Lotta Shakin" will air on Saturday August 30th from 8:00pm - 2:00am.  Click here for details.
   
16) "Willie Nelson - My Own Peculiar Way" will air on Sunday, August 31st at 4:00pm. Click here for details.
   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 6th at 6:30pm
The Erickson Lecture Series featuring Manish Mishra on the Politics of Gender
     When the City Manager of Largo was fired for being transgendered, Rev. Manish Mishra became an advocate for him.  He shares that experience in this talk which he gave at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship in Gainesville on May 4, 2008. The topic is the "Politics of Gender."
       Reverend Manish Mishra has been the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, FL since 2006.  He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in International Relations and went to work for the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration.  He next embarked upon a career in the ministry, completing a Master of Divinity degree at Harvard. He came to St. Petersburg with over fourteen years of professional experience, encompassing the fields of ministry, diplomacy, and education.  He has served four previous congregations in varying forms of ministry, and before that was an active lay leader at one of our denomination’s most historic churches. 
     Having traveled extensively throughout the world, Rev. Mishra has lived in India, Oman, Finland, and for brief periods in Switzerland.  This international exposure gave him the opportunity to live in countries where Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity have helped define the cultures.  His brings this multi-religious appreciation to his ministry, and draws on a variety of faith traditions and narratives in his preaching and worship.  
     As a former educator, Rev. Mishra has a deep sense of love for children and youth, and an appreciation of how spiritual growth and development are lifelong processes for all of us.  As a former diplomat, he is an accomplished preacher and an effective public spokesperson.

Listen Again Here
 
 

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Sunday, August 3rd,  10th,  & 17th at 5:00pm
Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing
Part 1 - Airs August 3rd at 5:00pm -   "Origins" — focuses on the Seeger family and their search for traditional music across the South. Features Pete Seeger and Arlo and Woody Guthrie on reviving America's treasury of folk music.
Part 2 - Airs August 10th at 5:00pm -  "Folk Songs and Ballads" — evokes the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, through interviews with Judy Collins, Si Kahn, Holly Near and other leading singers.
Part 3 - Airs August 17th at 5:00pm -  "Topical and Protest Song" — traces the history of songs made from the news of the day, and documents what is today's YouTube Folk Revival.
     Not only has Pete Seeger done more to popularize American folk music than any other musician, he's composed songs that have become folk standards: "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" to name just a few. His work has inspired countless musicians — from Joan Baez and Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks — and his political and environmental activism have galvanized generations of admirers.
     Peter Seeger was born on May 3, 1919, to Charles and Constance Seeger, and music was essential — his father was a professor of musicology and his mother, a classical violinist. By the time he was 20, Seeger played the ukulele, guitar and banjo. His first real job was assisting folklorist Alan Lomax with cataloging traditional music at the Library of Congress.
     
      Seeger's commitment to American folk music is rivaled only by his commitment to using music for social change. Throughout the 1940s, he was singing topical and union songs. He began with Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers, and then in the '50s joined the Weavers, a popular folk quartet, whose recording of "Goodnight Irene" became the number-one selling song of 1950. But at the height of their popularity, the group was blacklisted and put under FBI surveillance for their politics, forcing Seeger to spend much of the '50s battling HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) for his right to sing.
     In the 1960s, folksongs — Seeger's civil rights and anti-war protest songs — spoke to a new generation of fans. Then he turned his attention to environmental causes, such as cleaning up the Hudson River, with the Sloop Clearwater. He was green before "green" was cool.
     Today at age 89, Pete Seeger still performs on occasion, adding to his many accolades, which include a 1993 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a 1994 Presidential Medal of the Arts and in 1996, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As of April 2008, some 18,000 people had signed a petition to nominate Seeger for a Nobel Peace Prize.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, August 16th at 12:00noon
Hearing Voices - Bugs & Birds
 
Jeff Rice of the Western Soundscape Archive hosts an hour of sounds for the start of Summer: an extinct woodpecker revives an Arkansas town, car alarms made from bird calls, breeding moths for their music, a morning walk with poet Jim Harrison, dancing with gnats, the seismic underground sounds of spiders, and the perspective of a pest controller. Stories by Long Haul Productions, M’Iou Zahner Ollswang, host Jeff Rice, and Scott Carrier; and recordings by Nina Katchadourian, Lang Elliot, and Dr. Rex Cocroft.

Produced with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Thursday August 21st at 10:00pm
Discoveries at Disney with John Adams
     Minimalist master John Adams celebrates his 60th birthday by leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in two of his own compositions, Gnarly Buttons and Grand Pianola Music. A musician of enormous range and technical command, Adams' symphonic and operatic works have been acclaimed for their exceptional depth of expression, the brilliance of their sonic palette, and their profoundly humanist themes.
     John Adams is one of America’s most admired and respected composers. A musician of enormous range and technical command, he has produced works, both operatic and symphonic, that stand out among all contemporary classical music for the depth of their expression, the brilliance of their sound and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of musical aesthetics away from the theoretical principles of European modernism toward a more expansive and expressive language, so characteristic of his New World surroundings.
   < John Adams - photo courtesy of NPR
     Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing at the age of ten and heard his first orchestral pieces performed while still a teenager. The intellectual and artistic traditions of New England, especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Harvard University, helped shape him as an artist and thinker. After earning two degrees from Harvard University, he moved to Northern California in 1971 and has ever since lived in the San Francisco Bay area.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, August 26th at 8:00pm
Remembering Karajan - Part 1

     A centenary documentary on the career of Herbert von Karajan, with spoken contributions from distinguished musicians and authorities who knew and worked with him, and extracts from some of Karajan’s most acclaimed recordings

     To celebrate the centenary of the birth of the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan in April of this year, the WFMT Radio Network, in a pioneering joint collaboration with both EMI Classics and Universal Music Classical, presents a biographical portrait of the Maestro with specially recorded memories from international singers, instrumentalists and orchestra players who performed with him, and others in the music industry who knew and worked with him.  They help to reveal just what the qualities were that made Karajan the most powerfully influential conductor of his time, and one of the most remarkably successful and admired musicians in history, despite some personal and artistic controversy that continues today. 

Herbert von Karajan

  

Berlin Philharmonic

     The program, which is in two parts with each part lasting approximately two hours, features extracts from mammoth size centenary releases that EMI and Universal are bringing out - a sure sign of the continuing demand for Karajan’s art and the continuation of his powerful effect on music-lovers nineteen years after his death.  They cover the vast majority of his career, from his young years when he was “Das Wunder Karajan” up to his final days when, as some of the contributing artists reveal, he still mesmerized musicians who performed with him.

     Among those remembering Karajan are tenor José Carreras, baritone José van Dam, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, soprano Mirella Freni, soprano Barbara Hendricks, flautist Sir James Galway, soprano Sumi Jo, pianist Yevgeni Kissin, tenor Luciano Pavarotti, tenor Jon Vickers, present and former members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, former President of EMI Classics Peter Alward, and former Head of Opera at Decca Records Christopher Raeburn.  There is also archive material of Herbert von Karajan himself in conversation.
     Karajan is heard conducting music by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Debussy, Dvorak, Mozart, Prokofiev, Ravel, Respighi, Schumann, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner, Waldteufel, and Weber.  There are orchestral works, concerti and operas.  There are also clips of Maestro von Karajan in rehearsal.

     Hosting and producing REMEMBERING KARAJAN is Jon Tolansky.  He is teaming up once again with Executive Producer Steve Robinson, the WFMT Radio Network’s Senior Vice-President and General Manager.  With Tolansky he has overseen the Network’s portrait profiles of Maria Callas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sir Edward Elgar, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lotte Lehmann, Luciano Pavarotti, Dmitri Shostakovich, Renata Tebaldi, and Arturo Toscanini.

     Please Note:  The first 2 hours of this program will trace the main historical landmarks of von Karajan’s career with recordings spanning a period from his very earliest discs in 1939 to his final recorded performances in 1989.  this section of the program concentrates mainly on his orchestral performances.  A more complete listing will be made available with the release of this program.

  Mozart:                         Overture from The Magic Flute
  Beethoven:                    Excerpt from Symphony No. 5
  Beethoven:                    Excerpt from Symphony No. 7
 

Beethoven:                   

Excerpt from Symphony No. 9 (including a rehearsal of the last movement)
  Schumann:                    Excerpt from Symphony No. 4
  Brahms:                        Excerpt from Symphony No. 1
  Brahms:                        Excerpt from Symphony No. 3
  Brahms:                        German Requiem
  Dvorak:                         Excerpt from Symphony No. 9, From the New World
  Johann Strauss:            Tales from the Vienna Woods
  Bruckner:                      Excerpt from Symphony No. 7
  Waldteufel:                   Skater’s Waltz
 

Wagner:                       

Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
  Puccini:                         Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
  Richard Strauss:             Don Juan
  R. Strauss:                    Ein Heldenleben
  R. Strauss:                    An Alpine Symphony
  Debussy:                        La Mer
 

Ravel:                          

Rhapsodie Espagnole
  Ravel:                           Bolero
  Respighi:                       The Pines of Rome
  Bartok:                         Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
  Prokofiev:                     Excerpt from Symphony No. 5
  Stravinsky:                    The Rite of Spring
 

Part 2 will air on Wednesday, August 27th at 8:00pm

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 27th at 6:30pm
America Abroad - "Integrating Islam"

     On this edition of America Abroad, we’ll look at multicultural and integration models of immigration in Europe and the US and what those approaches have meant for their respective Muslim communities. Subway bombings in Madrid and London, violent protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed and other homegrown terrorist attacks in Europe have prompted societal soul searching about how Muslim immigrants fit into European society.  Across the pond in America things seem to be going more smoothly. But the tensions in Europe have sparked fears that Islamic extremism could spread to the US.  In "Integrating Islam," anchors Ray Suarez and Elizabeth Arnold examine the U.S. model of immigration and integration along with the European model of multiculturalism to consider what these approaches have meant for their respective Islamic communities.

 

Elizabeth Arnold traces the history of Muslim immigration to Europe and the difficulties in integrating into their adopted homes. Featuring  Dr. Gilles Kepel, Professor at The Institute of Political Studies in Paris and author of Beyond Terror and Martyrdom and The War for Muslim Minds.
  Ray Suarez examines Holland’s model of multiculturalism and the challenge of reconciling Islam and a Dutch identity.
  Elizabeth Arnold looks at how Muslim immigrants in Chicago and the Boston area are fitting into American society.
  Ray Suarez moderates a roundtable discussion comparing the experience of Muslim immigrants in the US and Europe and assessing the risk of Europe’s radicalism spreading to the US. Panelists are Dr. Shireen Hunter, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University; Dr. Amaney Jamal, Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University; and Dr. Robert Leiken, Director of the Immigration and National Security Program at The Nixon Center and author of the forthcoming book, Europe’s Angry Muslims.
     
           
      Ray Suarez Elizabeth Arnold      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 27th at 8:00pm
Remembering Karajan - Part 2

     A centenary documentary on the career of Herbert von Karajan, with spoken contributions from distinguished musicians and authorities who knew and worked with him, and extracts from some of Karajan’s most acclaimed recordings

     To celebrate the centenary of the birth of the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan in April of this year, the WFMT Radio Network, in a pioneering joint collaboration with both EMI Classics and Universal Music Classical, presents a biographical portrait of the Maestro with specially recorded memories from international singers, instrumentalists and orchestra players who performed with him, and others in the music industry who knew and worked with him.  They help to reveal just what the qualities were that made Karajan the most powerfully influential conductor of his time, and one of the most remarkably successful and admired musicians in history, despite some personal and artistic controversy that continues today. 

Herbert von Karajan

  

Berlin Philharmonic

     The program, which is in two parts with each part lasting approximately two hours, features extracts from mammoth size centenary releases that EMI and Universal are bringing out - a sure sign of the continuing demand for Karajan’s art and the continuation of his powerful effect on music-lovers nineteen years after his death.  They cover the vast majority of his career, from his young years when he was “Das Wunder Karajan” up to his final days when, as some of the contributing artists reveal, he still mesmerized musicians who performed with him.

     Among those remembering Karajan are tenor José Carreras, baritone José van Dam, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, soprano Mirella Freni, soprano Barbara Hendricks, flautist Sir James Galway, soprano Sumi Jo, pianist Yevgeni Kissin, tenor Luciano Pavarotti, tenor Jon Vickers, present and former members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, former President of EMI Classics Peter Alward, and former Head of Opera at Decca Records Christopher Raeburn.  There is also archive material of Herbert von Karajan himself in conversation.
     Karajan is heard conducting music by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Debussy, Dvorak, Mozart, Prokofiev, Ravel, Respighi, Schumann, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner, Waldteufel, and Weber.  There are orchestral works, concerti and operas.  There are also clips of Maestro von Karajan in rehearsal.

     Hosting and producing REMEMBERING KARAJAN is Jon Tolansky.  He is teaming up once again with Executive Producer Steve Robinson, the WFMT Radio Network’s Senior Vice-President and General Manager.  With Tolansky he has overseen the Network’s portrait profiles of Maria Callas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sir Edward Elgar, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lotte Lehmann, Luciano Pavarotti, Dmitri Shostakovich, Renata Tebaldi, and Arturo Toscanini.

Please Note:  The second half of this 4-hour program concentrates on von Karajan’s performances in concerto and opera repertoire.
  Beethoven:                   Violin Concerto
  Beethoven:                   Excerpt from Fidelio
  Tchaikovsky:                Piano Concerto No. 1
  Tchaikovsky:                Rococo Variations
  Wagner:                       Excerpt from Das Rheingold
  Wagner:                       Excerpt from Die Walküre
  Wagner:                       Excerpt from Tristan und Isolde
  Verdi:                           Excerpt from Don Carlo
  Verdi:                           Excerpt from Aida
  Verdi:                           Excerpt from Otello
  Puccini:             Excerpt from La Bohème
 

Puccini:            

Excerpt from Madam Butterfly
  Puccini:             Excerpt from Turandot
  R. Strauss:                    Excerpt from Don Quixote
  R. Strauss:                    Excerpt from Salome
  R. Strauss:    Excerpt from Der Rosenkavalier
  Debussy: Excerpt from Pelléas et Mélisande

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, May 15th at 8:00pm

 

Thursday, August 28th at 8:00pm

Van Cliburn: Music and Diplomacy

An unforgettable radio program commemorating the 50th anniversary of Van Cliburn’s triumph in Moscow.  In April 1958, this 6’7”, red head from Texas won the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition derailing the Soviet’s attempt to demonstrate cultural superiority during the Cold War, on the heels of their technological victory with the Sputnik launch in October 1957.  Van Cliburn's luminous virtuosity in his competition finale performances of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 earned him a standing ovation that lasted eight minutes.  The Soviet judges were compelled to ask Premier Nikita Khrushchev for permission to give the first prize to an American.  "Is he the best?" Khrushchev asked them. "Then give him the prize!"

Khruschev admires Van Cliburn who had just won the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. 1958. Photo: Sov Foto.

  

Van Cliburn, 25, giving his only performance at Baku's Philharmonia in June, 1960. The performance was sold out. Courtesy: Azerbaijan National Archives.
     
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday August 30th at 12:00noon
Saving the Sierra
Grassroots Solutions for Sustaining Rural Communities
     Urban development threatens rural communities across America. People who live and work in these beautiful landscapes face some tough decisions about the future. We traveled California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range to explore communities in the midst of struggle against the development pressures closing in on them. In each place, we met unlikely allies who came together to find grassroots solutions for sustaining both the environment and their ways of life. Most rural communities within driving distance of sprawling cities and suburbs face these issues. And most urban dwellers have been to a place just like the communities in these three stories:

High Sierra Ranch

Download the whole documentary

Attilio Genasci, conservation pioneer 1909-2008
 

                Sustaining Rural Places Toolkit
 
 
     In a remote mountain valley, both ranchers and environmentalists have begun to use conservation easements to save open space and preserve the largest wetlands in the mountain range.                Download the Sierra Valley story   (13 minutes)
     In a small town north of Lake Tahoe, resort development will blanket the mountain with million-dollar luxury homes. But after a long legal battle, a deal was struck that will provide permanent, on-going funding for affordable housing, public transit, and habitat restoration                         Download the Martis Valley story   (18 minutes)
     The city of Los Angeles was forced to become a leader in water conservation because of a landmark legal ruling that kept them from draining an entire watershed in pursuit of drinking water.                   Download the Mono Lake story     (20 minutes)
 

Paul Hardey

  

Mono Lake

View photo gallery of Mono Lake Canoe Tour

 
     Saving the Sierra is a sweet hour spent in the mountains of eastern California and among the people who inhabit them. Catherine Stifter and jesika maria ross' beautifully conversational narration allows the listener to feel at home in this region. The piece builds on this with more conversations with locals of various stripes, each of whom speak to their particular concerns for the future, most of which have to do with encroaching urbanization. I'd imagine this piece could be a good handbook for rural communities around the country, all of whom face similar futures. This is such a nice example of how radio can be used to express a community's divergent voices, and ideally build the community it comes from. This is a beautifully crafted piece of radio, with plenty of beautiful sound of the mountains, and moved along by original piano music.
 

Saving The Sierra Web Site
                  Other Stories From The Saving The Sierra Series
  Boosting Agritourism • Meet advocates of a growing industry that brings city folks to foothill farms, turning tourists into allies for farmers.
  A Mountain Lion Changed His Life • Richard Perrelli tells Weekend America how seeing a mountain lion in the Sequoia National Park changed his life.
  Attilio Genasci Holds His Ground • Through every season, 97-year-old rancher Attilio Genasci tends to his cattle and his alpine valley.
  Change on the Range • A cattle rancher, a forest ranger, and a fish advocate find common ground as they save a creek together.
  Saving The Ranching Way of Life • Stakeholders keep the Sierra Valley rural by saving working landscapes and making smart growth choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaturdayAugust 30th from 8:00pm - 2:00am
Whole Lotta Shakin
     "Whole Lotta Shakin'" is an exciting documentary series of Six hour-long programs that explores rockabilly, the brash, fast-paced 1950s mix of blues, gospel, jazz, country and popular music that is a foundation of rock and roll. Hosted by Rosie Flores, the series visits the cradle of rockabilly, Memphis, presents the music's female stars, and profiles the influential radio program, "The Louisiana Hayride."
     In an era when America was tuning into Patti Page and Mitch Miller, rockabilly was a bold, young upstart, like Marlon Brando in the movie "The Wild One." "Whole Lotta Shakin'" profiles the stars of the genre, including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly, and shares the stories of the period's best-loved songs, from "Rave On" to "I Walk the Line."
 < Rosie Flores, HostRosie Flores, Host                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The King, Elvis Presley >
     
 1. Good Rockin' Tonight - 8:00pm   ---   The first stop is Memphis in the segregated 1950s, where blues, gospel and country music came together to create the upbeat sounds of rockabilly. The program profiles two of the first rockabilly artists on the Sun Records label, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Founded by an Alabama farmer's son, Sun boasted a rebellious cast of rockabilly stars. Sam Phillips opened his tiny brick-front recording company with a promise: "We'll record anyone, anywhere, anytime." First releasing blues records from African American singers who migrated north from the Mississippi cotton fields, Phillips then switched to recording primarily rockabilly, which appealed to a growing audience of teenagers with its emotional lyrics, searing guitar solos and a big beat for dancing.
 2. Fujiyama Mamas - 9:00pm   ---   In an era when women were singing about the price of doggies in the window or imaging a breakfast at Tiffany's, other women were rocking out just like their male counterparts. "Fujiyama Mamas" showcases the women rockabilly artists who rebelled against the traditional female roles of housewives and mothers during the '50s. World War II brought great changes to American society; women emerged emboldened by their experiences during the war, working in defense plants. This show profiles Cordell Jackson, who toiled as a Rosie the Riveter during the war in an aircraft factory before launching her own record label in 1956. It also features Little Miss Dynamite Brenda Lee; Janis Martin, aka The Female Elvis; and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson.

Carl Perkins

  

Wanda Jackson
3. The Cradle of the Stars - 10:00pm   ---   A radio revolution was launched in Shreveport, La., with the Saturday night broadcasts of "The Louisiana Hayride." That show broke the rules and took programmatic risks by putting on young rockabilly artists, introducing Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins to a large audience. Its colorful emcee, Horace Logan, appeared on stage decked out in a black cowboy outfit complete with a pair of six shooters.  Its hook-up on the CBS Radio Network enabled it to reach listeners coast to coast, and its first star was the hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams. This part of "Whole Lotta Shakin'" tells the story of the rise and fall of that influential radio program, one that made so many artists famous, it was dubbed, "the cradle of the stars."
 4. Real Wild Child - 11:00pm   ---   Jerry Lee Lewis grew up praising the Lord and playing piano in the Pentecostal Church in Ferriday, La. His church is known for its ecstatic services, where worshipers who feel the Holy Ghost "speak in tongues." Much of the emotional abandon in Lewis' songs comes straight from that experience. Yet his fame in the secular music world created all kinds of spiritual conflicts. "Real Wild Child" tells the story of one of Lewis' most celebrated songs, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," which launched his career in 1957. He had the Sun Records rhythm section backing him up, who were also members of one of the wildest rockabilly acts ever, Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men.
 5. Shake This Shack - 12:00 Mid   ---   Texas is home to a style its creators dubbed "Cat Music," for the "cool cats and kittens" who played it with their hip dress and on-stage demeanor. Texas rockabilly artists mixed Western swing, the blues and jazz, and included Sid King & the Five Strings and Lew Williams. "Shake This Shack" also profiles Roy Orbison, one of the most enigmatic of the rockabilly cats, who came from the tiny, wind-swept oil town of Wink, Texas. He formed a teenage band, The Teen Kings, who played at high school dances and rowdy honky-tonk bars before recording their first hit, "Ooby Dooby." Yet it took several years of experimenting with new sounds before Orbison developed his own operatic-rock style of singing that was a departure from his raw rockabilly, with such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Only the Lonely."
 6. Rave On - 1:00am   ---   "Rave On" profiles a true American original, Buddy Holly, who crossed musical barriers in forging his unique musical style with country, R & B, pop, gospel and jazz. Like rockabilly itself, his national career was brief, but in the 18 months between his first hit "That'll Be the Day" and his death in a plane crash, he left his mark on popular music. The Beatles named themselves as a tribute to his group, The Crickets. "Rave On" explores Holly's musical roots and meteoric rise with interviews from family members, band mates and fellow musicians. And it tells the stories behind his most famous songs, from "Rave On" to "Peggy Sue."
                                                                          Buddy Holly and His Band

                                                  Jerry Lee Lewis
The program producer recommends the following Web sites as good resources for you to learn more about the music, artists and topics in this program.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, August 31st at 4:00pm
Willie Nelson - My Own Peculiar Way
     Brand-new exclusive interviews with Willie Nelson and his extended musical family (Paul English, Mickey Raphael, Jody Payne, Bobbie Nelson, & Poodie Locke) tell rich, colorful stories that take you deep inside Willie's heart, soul and mind. My Own Peculiar Way focuses mostly on Willie's life story, his best known songs, and how the two are often intertwined.
     Willie Nelson (born William Hugh Nelson, April 30, 1933) was raised in Abbott, Texas. He reached his greatest fame during the so-called "outlaw country" movement of the 1970s. Growing up, music had been a central part of Willie's life. He was fascinated by by big band, country (Texas-Style), and especially by the music of Frank Sinatra. At age twenty three Willie singehandedly recorded, financed, and sold his first song, entitled "No Place For Me".
      At that time he was working as a full time disk-jockey and wrote songs in his spare time. The next year Nelson finally made a decent amount of money from selling songs, particulary "Night Life," which he sold for and undisclosed amount to three Texas businessmen. Willie bought a buick convertible and set off, bound for Nashville. After only two years he was well established as a writer and had already sold two number one hits to Faron Young and Patsy Cline. This began a real change of Nelson's attitude toward things.
     Willie continued writing and selling music until December of 1970 when his house burnt down. Nelson packed up his things and headed back to Texas. After living in Nashville for ten years, Nelson had forgot about the lack of musicians in Texas. With very few candidates in the market for buying Willie's music he soon became hard-pressed to sell anything. Since he couldn't write and sell music, Nelson did the next best thing; he began performing his own work. Within the first year back in Texas, Willie had recorded two albums, "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases And Stages". By 1973, as his popularity grew, he started an Independence Day picnic that has grown and is still around today. Then came 1975. One of his almost nameless albums, "Red Headed Stranger", was introduced to the charts. It was a smash success, placing the name Willie Nelson in the spotlight. This prompted a collection of older Nelson music, released on one album, "Wanted: The Outlaws". This Nelson album, with over 1,000,000 copies, became the top selling country music album in history.