The Third Coast International Audio Festival will be at the SILVERDOCS film fest in Silver Spring for a listening event on Thursday, June 19, 2:15pm. A great excuse to escape the office during the work day, and how often to you get a chance to go to a movie theater and just listen? From the SILVERDOCS website:

“On radio, the pictures are better.” So goes the old broadcast cliché, and for the most talented contemporary audio producers, it’s no joke. For the second straight year, SILVERDOCS partners with the Third Coast International Audio Festival to present a program of remarkable feature and short documentary work in a dedicated listening session. With the best sound available, you can marvel at the textured sonic world inhabited by audio storytellers. More information available here.

AIR (The Association of Independents in Radio) is offering two upcoming intensive workshops on unconventional and creative approaches to sound and storytelling. You will need to apply, and the application deadline is this Friday, June 20. From the AIR website:

AIR, with Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center in New York City, offers two week-long intensives for mid to advance level producers. You do not have to be a member of AIR to participate. This opportunity may be especially appealing to those working in traditional radio formats eager to experiment with unconventional approaches to sound and telling story. Read more and apply here

While you’re on the AIR website, see the recent article by independent producer Neenah Ellis in the online publication Air Blast. She writes about homegrown audio and listening groups that have popped-up across the country. You’ll see that DC Listening Lounge gets a nice mention.

Missed Sound Scene II: Cartographies and Confessionals? Good news - you have another chance to check out our audio map of DC! We’re installing the map for one night only at Artomatic this Friday, May 30. Stop by the SpeakEasy Lounge on the 8th floor of Artomatic (located at 1200 First St., NE) between 7pm and midnight for another evening of sounds so rich, your other senses will be jealous.

Re-discover your city in a new dimension. Our audio map of Washington, DC features site-specific vignettes and postcards from around the area and beyond. Some of the audio pins on the map include:

Saturday Afternoon: Explore the DC Open Air Farmers Market - amidst the sounds of local farmers and the rumbling of the Metro train, one customer gets schooled on the types of local fish for sale.

Killing Is the Easy Part: A couple of city kids decide to cut the middle-man out of their food chain and kill their own dinner–five fresh Maryland chickens–themselves.

Anacostia Park: Bodies and Bald Eagles: A National Park Service employee shares some of his more extreme sightings in the park.
The audio map was a huge hit at Sound Scene, so don’t miss this chance to check it out again. While you’re at it, spend some time exploring the ten floors of art and music at Artomatic - more information about this awesome event can be found here.

Busboys and Poets Event to Launch Audio Documentary and New Book on Radical Education

*What*: An evening of readings, performance and discussion for action on
the state of education in DC and the Nation., featuring:

· Activists *Amina Althea* and *Amber Wood*, will stage a multimedia
performance piece based on their recently released Audio Documentary “I Want
To Do This All Day.” Dancers and visual artists weave excerpts from the
documentary with dance, song, and projections to bring to life the stories
of young people making their own paths in learning and life.

· Authors *Lee Glazer* and *Zein El-Amine* will discuss and sign
their recently released book “Keeping the Promise? The Debate Over Charter
Schools.” With a chapter on the DC experience.

Visit http://dothisallday.org/ for documentary project background, links
and tour itinerary.

Visit http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/promise/promise.shtml for
book information

* *

*When: *Thursday May 22, 2008 6:30 to 8:30

*Where:* Busboys and Poets Café

* Langston Hughes Room*

* 2021 14th Street NW ? (14th and V)*

* Washington DC*

202-387-7638

http://www.busboysandpoets.com/

*Contact:* Zein El-Amine - Phone: 301-523-4197 or zelamine@gmail.comat* *

* For questions, directions or assistance on the day of the event
call *

More about the Book

*Keeping the Promise?”* is a collection of papers written about the deferred
promise of Charter Schools in urban areas such as DC, New Orleans and
Dayton, Ohio. These schools that promised to be laboratories of innovation
have become laboratories of privatization funded by ideologically charged
foundations that are supported by the biggest corporations in the country.
Authors Lee Glazer and Zein El-Amine who wrote the DC chapter of this book
will be on hand to talk about the impact of charter schools on DC public
education.

More about the audio documentary and performance

Amina Althea and Amber Woods visited 23 radical learning spaces, including
free schools, charter and private schools, community centers, and after
school programs. They interviewed students, parents, teachers, and
administrators about creating and sustaining these non-compulsory,
non-coercive environments for learning and projects.

Based on these interviews and extensive research, Althea and Woods produced
an audio documentary, entitled “I Want To Do This All Day.” It illuminates a
grassroots movement of people and communities taking power over their own
education and creating learning environments based on freedom, cooperation
and social change.

In this audio piece by DC Listening Lounge member Ginger Moored, hear the “behind the scenes” story of Metro’s popular peeps YouTube video. Ginger writes, “In general I’m interested in all-things-Metro because I used to work for the District Dept. of Transportation’s Mass Transit branch. The peeps You-Tube video caught my attention in particular because: 1) I thought it was hilarious; and 2) I was surprised something so out-of-the-ordinary came out of an institution where simply changing the colors of the Metrorail seat cushions was a huge ordeal. I wanted to know who came up with the peeps video idea, how the idea evolved, and how the video will change the way Metro does outreach in the future. Plus, I figured any conversation centered on peeps would be entertaining.”

> Listen to Peep Peep by Ginger Moored (4:28)

Image from Metro’s peeps video

Here is another piece from the audio map, this one by DC Listening Lounge member DJ Bent. It was one of the few recordings on the map from DC’s SW quadrant. DJ Bent writes, “This audio comes from January and February 2006, in and around the clubs at Half and O streets SW shortly before they were closed to make way for the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) businesses had been concentrated in that area for over thirty years and were displaced, largely without anywhere else to go, when the city used eminent domain to seize the land for the publicly funded stadium. Many community members who frequented the area – which included dance clubs, drag performances, numerous exotic dance venues (male and female) and more – bemoaned the loss of the area and the unique culture developed there. RIP – Ziegfield’s, Secrets, Glorious Health and Amusements, La Cage, Follies, HEAT, Edge/Wet, Club 55/Waaay Off Broadway, Nation, and the Half & O scene.”

>Listen to Half and O by DJ Bent (3:42)

DJ Bent is a reporter, audio gatherer, activist and co-host of “radio hybrid presents: gender apocalypse” with DJ Mothersheister on Radio CPR 97.5fm. She believes that exotic dance clubs, drag shows, prostitution strolls, cruising areas and public sex venues are all important parts of society and that meateaters should slaughter, clean and render their own animals for eating.

Hey all, if you’ve spent much time listening to NPR, you’ve probably caught episodes of Radio Lab, the quirky and sound-rich show that focuses on science and technology. Here’s your chance to meet hosts Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad in the flesh, and hear about their innovative approach to radio. So come see if they look as quirky as they sound. The event is sponsored by the Koshland Science Museum and WAMU.

Radio Lab - An Evening with the Hosts

Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Location: The Keck Center of the National Academies, 500 Fifth Street, NW
Time: 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Cost: $15/$7 students
Age Range: 13 +
Science enthusiasts and radio junkies everywhere have quickly turned NPR’s Radio Lab into a cult phenomenon. Following an introduction by WAMU 88.5, hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, and producer Ellen Horne, will demonstrate and discuss their approach to melding complex scientific ideas into a show that is high tech, surreal and ultimately philosophical—a unique style that’s been dubbed “magical realism for radio.” The event is cohosted with WAMU 88.5. For more information and how to obtain tickets see the Koshland Science Museum website

Here is another piece from the audio map, this one is recorded in Annandale, Virginia by DC Listening Lounge member Kat Shiffer. It is one of the pieces that made up the DC suburbs portion of the map. Says Kat, “This is a very ‘radio-y’ piece I created to play the role of the reporter. The story, the ambient sound, the car-like waves, and the blunt words (sometimes best left un-translated) made this a story I could’ve left as a more abstract piece - but I wanted to make this accessible to public radio ears. I don’t think reporting on the subject would’ve been possible - walking up to strangers standing along the highway - without a connection to the organizers at the Virginia Justice Center, who’ve forged some deep relationships with the workers and their families.”

>Listen to ESL Popular by Kat Shiffer (4:47)

Kat is a freelance journalist living in DC. Originally from the Midwestern hinterlands, she is interested in storytelling, growing food, and maybe even the confluence of both (!) check out ‘Garden Cycles’ on the inter-web for more. She’s done some other storytelling about workers in the past; documenting unions of unemployed workers in Argentina, and producing a documentary film about the changing identity of the worker in Bolivia.

We aim to start using this blog to showcase new audio pieces by DC Listening Lounge members — in the coming weeks will be posting audio pieces that were part of our audio map, featured at our Sound Scene II: Cartographies and Confessionals event in March 2008, in Mt. Pleasant.

“Hunger” by Jocelyn Frank was recorded along the main neighborhood arteries of Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, Washington D.C. It was made possible through the help of the D.C Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The piece was featured on the audio map, as part of the group of pieces representing the city’s Northwest quadrant.

> Listen to Hunger by Jocelyn Frank (3:14)

Jocelyn Frank is an audio artist originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan. Her ears grew up strong on a on a steady diet of music; from singing in the car with mom to studying Oboe Performance at the University of Michigan School of Music, to travel around the world from Australia to Uganda. Such soundscapes combined with her professional work as a producer with National Public Radio inform and inspire her audio art.

Hi all,

Our friends over at Hear Now are presenting this event — its a unique opportunity to hear from a leader in the field. Mr. Elmes is coming all the way from across the pond, so stop by and be inspired!

SIMON ELMES, creative director of BBC Radio’s Documentaries Unit
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 @ 630 pm
at The Goethe-Institute
812 7th St. NW
Washington, DC (near Chinatown/Gallery Place Metro)

Mr. Elmes is making a special trip from London to meet with us - and will present 2 hours worth of the very best of BBC radio documentaries and features. At the BBC, he’s in charge of the developing major feature ideas and series for BBC’s national radio networks Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 and BBC World Service. He is also the producer of 26 part history of spoken English called “The Routes of English” and a 12 part series about ordinary people histories called “Voices of the Powerless.” As Creative Director, he lectures widely and within the BBC and overseas about documentary techniques and creativity.

Come to meet Simon Elmes and local radio producers and enjoy an evening of stellar radio features in an excellent listening environment. More info: www.hearnowradio.org