I like Kessler’s politics and he makes a fine point. He’s a good political satirist, in the old school sense. I like his fast-talking, too-- it’s just that sometimes he’s just too fast to properly enjoy the full breadth of his thoughts. As always, these super short essays would make a nice drop in to a morning show. His speed would make such an interesting contrast to a lot of slower deadpan readers on the air.

Homeboy industries employs ex-gang members. It sounds like a very worthwhile project, and the virtues of the program are extolled, but It would have been great to hear some actual stories about what lead certain kids into the gangs in the first place. We know the gangs must hold some allure, even if it’s one born of self-destructiveness. There’s hardly any of that, in concrete terms, so things tend towards being a bit public servicy. The announcer sounds a lot like one of the reporters from The Daily Show—which made me think, why can’t a piece like this have an element of humor to it, too? “As one life tragically ends, another starts,” says the announcer, and it just sounds a little pat. Too much Easter Sunday, and not enough good Friday. Still, the message is a positive one, and the original score is lovely.

Jamie O’Shea’s Olfactograph turns objects into smells. The sense of smell is so intimately connected to memory, that it’s like he is creating a potion that acts as a nexus to the past. He has even distilled the scent of a bath toy down to a liquid. For the most part, the sound in the piece interacts nicely with O’Shea’s voice, creating a rather impressionistic, cinematic effect. What I would have enjoyed is more about how he became so obsessed with smell that he decided to create such an oddity. It would have given the whole thing a more personal dimension. Still, an audio piece about smell does show moxy. This could fit nicely in to a magazine show.

An interesting interview, and one with a message; it's not earth-shatteringly profound, but it's clever. It would suit a drive-home show.

Hans Anderson is a great candidate because he doesn't shy away from the issues! But he manages to do it with a light touch. He uses the story of a dream as tool to examine an old, central question. And the piece gave me a new appreciation for music I hadn't liked before.

At first I thought that perhaps the interviewer was directing Mailer too much, particularly with his first question, but it turns out that it was a really astute move in that Mailer took that question/observation and ran with it, as he did with all the questions. Setting him up with observations about his past work and tying it to the present is a great skill. I think I enjoyed the questions about as much as Mailer's answers. Mailer loves to talk and has never been shy about sharing his views. He's certainly true to form here. Excellent work. I'm sure this interview will be heard in a number of markets.

Great interviews! This could have been a dry subject if the human element in this wasn't played up so well. Nice editing job. I think the nat.sound related to the music could have been placed a little bit better throughout the piece, esp. during the interviews, rather than just dropped in the beginning and at the end. But I'm still liking this a bunch.

Smooth and entertaining, maybe rambling a bit too much, but it makes sense considering the subject and the perspective, these girls who try to fight themselves from becoming too enamored with the rock and roll lifestyle they aren't interested in living but somehow can't stop being hooked on. The funny thing is that these "rock" bands, as noted in the piece, are not bands that are going to hit it big, leaving their significant others wondering where the excitement in their relationship is coming from -- probably not from watching their boyfriends chug beer in the parking lot. This feels like a rainy day magazine-style piece.

This is a very sad acapella duet (though you can practically hear cello accompaniment) in memory of #538 on the list of American hearts stilled in our so-called preemptive war against Iraq. Nick was just eight months out of high school when he left these shores. The tears in his mother’s voice, the wrung-out calm in his father’s are powerful reminders of the torture so many family members undergo while waiting for their soldiers to come home. It is all the sadder to hear that both parents felt in their heart of hearts that Nick would not return. A fitting ME or ATC drop-in length.

Nicely produced piece on convention history that includes a sentence about looking through the rear end of a pig, (not literally, of course). This brings to mind many wry comments about conventions upcoming and past, all of which I will spare you. More to the point, this foray backwards is a pleasant balance for coverage on present day conventions, so expensively packaged for both viewer and attendee.