Palin's Perplexing Political Pull Out

It's not even safe to go to a July 4th weekend barbecue without a big news story breaking, in this case the surprising, some might even say bizarre news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has up and quit her job in Alaska with a year and a half left in her term.
From her rambling remarks, Palin seemed to be saying she decided she wouldn't stand for re-election and when she decided that, she figured she might as well quit now so she wouldn't be a lame duck.
She said, "Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that."
HUH?
NPR report w/CNN video HERE

Related:
Alaska's governor Sarah Palin to resign, dooming her presidential pipe dream
Palin: shades of Nixon's 'this is my last press conference' speech
Columnists name Palin 'Sitting Duck'

Under Your Skin

The human body contains 10 times as many bacterial cells as it does human cells. Biologists have now taken a census of the bacteria that live on our skin, and it turns out that the diversity of life there is quite remarkable. The bacteria between our eyebrows are different from those on the elbow or in some other nook or cranny.
NPR story & podcast HERE

Scanwiches...again

If you're not already hungry, you're about to be. NPR did a story about the art of sandwich-making -- or 'wichcraft, a surefire way to your Top Chef-loving heart.
the story is HERE
scanwich website HERE

Tom Kenny Squarepants

SpongeBob SquarePants makes no sense. Created by marine biologist turned animator Stephen Hillenburg, the character lives in an underwater pineapple in a place called Bikini Bottom. He keeps company with a lumpy starfish named Patrick, a cranky neighbor named Squidward, a greedy crab of a boss and an evil plankton.
But now, 10 years after SpongeBob made its on-air debut, the show is still wildly popular. One week last month, nine of the top 20 shows on cable were SpongeBob cartoons.
Tom Kenny, who provides the voice of SpongeBob, calls the character "pretty bipolar ... his highs are very high but he can also be dashed into the most abject sorrow."
Kenny says he'll gladly be the voice of SpongeBob for another 10 years.
"Even if the show doesn't go for 10 years, I'll be the guy pushing a grocery cart around with a tinfoil hat on his head going 'Hey you know who I used to be?' " he jokes.
NPR story, podcast & video HERE
Terry Gross interview w/Tom Kenny HERE

Piracy & The U.S. Constitution

Piracy has a rare position among crimes in the United States. It is actually enshrined in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 10 says Congress shall have power "to define and punish piracies committed on the high seas."
Piracy is one of the few crimes for which there has for centuries been an international consensus that states have extraterritorial jurisdiction.
In other words, any country can prosecute pirates, no matter where the bandits attack. That means the U.S. has the legal authority to bring the captive back here for trial. Prosecutors could charge him with piracy, or with a related crime, like hostage-taking. Either crime could bring a life sentence. But American courts have never tried a Somali pirate before, and experts say there are some unique challenges.
NPR story & podcast HERE
Somali piracy update HERE

Live Texas Decemberists

The Decemberists' newest project promises new heights of bombast: Its new record, The Hazards of Love, is a sprawling 17-part narrative song-cycle.
The band premiered the music of Hazards in its entirety, and played music from the rest of its repertory, as part of NPR Music's official South by Southwest showcase. The show was streamed and broadcast live from Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas, and archived online.
hear it HERE

Groovy Saxophone Sounds

There's no groove quite like the one on ''Ganesha,'' from the new record by the alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
Alone, he plays a jazz-funk melody in a seven-beat rhythm, and on its fourth cycle the entire band tumbles in.
The song pushes forward in its slushy, original walk...


New York Times review HERE
NPR interview & podcast HERE
official website HERE
CD available HERE

Case Study

On her sixth studio album, due out tomorrow (March 3), Neko Case offers up what she calls "a bunch of love songs," which are heartbreakingly beautiful and, at times, comical. NPR Music offers an exclusive sneak preview of the entire record, Middle Cyclone.
listen HERE

Rivers Cuomo Was Scared

Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the rock band Weezer, has released a solo set of at-home demos called Alone and Alone II. The CDs feature demo versions of songs from Weezer's albums, as well as a few original songs and outtakes not heard before.
In March 2008, Cuomo asked fans to submit song ideas via a collaborative project on YouTube called "Let's Write A Sawng." The project featured YouTube videos of Cuomo walking fans through his process of songwriting as he worked with submissions from fans.
NPR's Terry Gross interview's Cuomo...listen HERE

PETA Renames Fish 'Sea Kittens'

"Sea kittens" is the new term being used by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for the creatures they believe are in dire need of an image makeover: fish.
The PETA campaign boasts a colorful, interactive Web site aimed at children and their parents. It offers sea kitten bedtime stories and a design-your-own sea kitten in hopes it will build compassion in families.
NPR story & podcast HERE

...isn't it cruel to drown cats?

Porn Stimulus

The Adult Video Network will hand out long-awaited awards at its Adult Entertainment Expo Thursday in Las Vegas. But even a popular trade show can't hide the fact that adult entertainment is slumping. Profits are down for porn, prompting industry mogul Larry Flynt and Joe Francis, creator of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos, are asking Congress for a $5-billion bailout for the porn industry.
more HERE

Related:
NPR's Alex Cohen talks with Monty McMahon, publisher of AVN's online magazine.

Homeland Security : Unreal

The Department of Homeland Security may bring to mind bright interrogation lights rather than the lights of Hollywood. But Tuesday night, ABC debuts a new reality show that takes viewers behind the scenes as border guards, Secret Service agents and patrol officers protect the nation.
The show, called Homeland Security USA has the look of a documentary, but its producers stay clear of politics and deliver a fast-paced show that's more COPS than Frontline.
NPR report & podcast HERE

...join the customs team, border patrol or TSA and you too can be a television celebrity...

Reporter Reports Her Own Layoff

Last week during the final segment of her series on how the economy is affecting Americans, entitled "American Moxie: How We Get By" NPR reporter Ketzel Levine finished off by announcing to listeners that she herself had lost her job as part of the sweeping layoffs that hit NPR earlier this month.
My name is Ketzel Levine. I'm a senior correspondent for National Public Radio — and as a direct result of the current economic crisis, I have been been laid off from my job. I was told almost two weeks ago, but it's only today that I'm sane enough to tell you. I've been spending most of my time careening around the five stages of grief — doing each of them a disservice, I might add. But I figure there'll be time enough later to revisit each one at least a few more times.
NPR morning programming director said, "...it was kind of eerie...The whole concept that one person in the story would lead to another, and then it would all end with her, was not something any of us anticipated."
You can listen to the entire piece HERE

Sugar Mountain

A spectacular live recording of Neil Young performing in 1968, made just before the release of his very first solo album, is about to be made available for the first time ever. Sugar Mountain won't be out until December, but NPR has the title track for you HERE as a sneak preview.
pre-order CD HERE

Streaming Dylan

National Public Radio's website will be the first place fans can hear the next Bob Dylan album, the eighth installment of his "bootleg series" of rare or previously unreleased recordings from the past two decades.
The entire double-CD Tell Tale Signs (Columbia Records) will be available to listeners on NPR's website as a stream starting just after midnight tonight. You can hear it there any time from September 30 to at least October 7 when the album officially goes on sale.

pre-Depression Economics

The bankruptcy of financial services giant Lehman Brothers and the 500-point drop in the stock market on September 15, 2008 have sent shock waves through the financial community. Law professor Michael Greenberger tells Terry Gross that government's decision to bail AIG out is a sign that the economy is "teetering on the brink."
NPR story and podcast HERE

R.I.P.: Del Martin

Del Martin, left, with Phyllis Lyon in 1972

Del Martin, co-founder of the first national lesbian-rights organization in the United States, died Aug. 27, 2008 at age 87.
Martin and her partner Phyllis Lyon founded the Daughters of Bilitis in the conformist '50s, long before the Stonewall riots of 1969 brought the gay civil rights movement into the spotlight.
Martin and Lyon, whose relationship spanned six decades, were married June 16, 2008 at San Francisco's city hall — the first same-sex couple to be united in that city under California's new marriage law.
obit HERE
NPR podcast HERE

Randy Newman Live

Hear An Intimate Performance, Recorded Live At Largo In Los Angeles on NPR...
it's HERE

Interview Nerd

Listen to the Rainn Wilson interview with NPR's Terry Gross HERE

Tom Waits In Concert

Tom Waits has dubbed his summer 2008 tour "Glitter and Doom" with stops in Phoenix, El Paso, Houston, Dallas, Tulsa, St. Louis, Columbus, Knoxville, Jacksonville, Mobile, Birmingham and Atlanta.
For his Atlanta stop, recorded at the city's historic Fox Theater on July 5, Waits delivered a stunning and epic two-and-a-half-hour performance, including songs he says he's never attempted outside of the studio before.
Listen to the NPR podcast of the show HERE