Episode 14: Spring forward!

Guests this month are Author Susan Orlean about her latest book project with Artist Phillip Taaffe: The Floral Ghost, and visual artist Jennifer Burbank, to discuss Back To the Future, Artspace New Haven’s annual exhibition, Auction and Gala, which takes place later in the evening.

Susan Orlean is the bestselling author of eight books, including The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup; My Kind of Place; Saturday Night; and Lazy Little Loafers. In 1999, she published The Orchid Thief, a narrative about orchid poachers in Florida, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. Her 2011 book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, was a New York Times bestseller. Orlean has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992. She lives in Los Angeles and in upstate New York.

Martha will be in discussion with Susan about The Floral Ghost, a project which “unites the literary and the visual, the nostalgic and the optimistic”. Taking inspiration from the rapidly dwindling flower district of New York City, Orlean and Taaffe offer tandem musings on the ephemeral nature of all things floral. The book, Published by Planthouse Gallery, came out in March, 2016, after being an exhibition and boxed set of print, which has been streamlined into a book format. We’ll discuss the relationship between the visual and the written, and what it means to collaborate in such a fashion.

Both Orleans and Taaffe will be live in conversation at Wave Hill in the Bronx on Sunday, May 1st at 2:00 PM, followed by a book-signing. The event is free with admission to the grounds, but registration is strongly recommended as capacity is limited. Find out more about the event here and the book here

During the second half of the show Martha will be talking with artspace board member and one of the curators of the silnet auction exhibit, Jennifer Burbank, to discuss Artspace’s Back To the Future Gala and Benefit Auction. This year in celebration of their 30th anniversary, they invite us to turn back the clock to 1986. The night will feature the Live Auction of artworks, a silent auction of affordable works on paper– which have been on display to the public as an exhibit. Sarah and I will talk about the joys and challenges of putting together exhibits with donated works, the role local artists play in the organization, and how Artspace keeps it fresh each year.

It’s a behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of the most popular annual art events in New Haven. More information can be found at: https://artspacenewhaven.org/back-to-the-future/

• Review of Last Fund Drive:

• The Great Give

• 2nd Annual Carl J. Frano Birthday Bash & Party

• MUSIC ON FILM SERIES

• 5th Annual GOT BLUEGRASS WPKN Benefit

• Interview w/Jim Faith producer of the Great South Bay Festival- July 14 the 17

Host Kevin Gallagher speaks with Ira Haspel about a very old system of soil preparation, Biodiversity Farming.

• Steve di Costanzo, GM of WPKN 89.5-FM interview w/Jim Faith producer of the Great South Bay Festival- July 14 the 17

Celebrating its 10th. Anniversary, The Great South Bay Music Festival is the longest running, and largest four day, “American Themed” music, art & cultural family event on Long Island. Situated on the magnificent Great South Bay, it features approximately 60 performers on 4 stages, presenting legends, contemporary favorites, as well as local emerging artists in contemporary & classic rock, jazz, jam-band, country, folk, zydeco, funk and all types of American music.

WPKN GM Steve di Costanzo interviews Carl J. Frano who will be celebrated and will be spinning discs for the Party and Dance at the Milford Arts Council on Friday, May 13th.

More info at wpkn.org/

Steve di Costanzo, GM of WPKN interviews Jason Perkel from the band Switch Factory. The line-up of GOT BLUEGRASS is:

Hitch and the Giddyup

David Kaye - Mandolin, Dan Carlucci - Guitar Peter Kaufman - Banjo, Bob Csugie - Bass, Kenny Owens - Drums

Moving nimbly from traditional folk to progressive bluegrass and Americana, Hitch and the Giddyup trade in the musical wares of soulful singing, hot picking, and deft song craft. The group got their start in 2014 hosting a bluegrass night at their local bar, where they still hold court once a month. Spitfire banjo, punchy mandolin, and nimble guitar work combine with rich vocal harmonies to create a unique yet familiar sound. WPKN’ers will know banjo player Pete Kaufman as a former WPKN programmer and founding member of his other band Five in the Chamber.

YouTube: LIVE from Two Roads Brewing-Hopyard Music Series- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDoWdWFiqfg

Switch Factory

Litchfield, CT

Switch Factory, founded in 2011, is a string band based in the Litchfield Hills of CT featuring Jason Perkel on guitar and vocals, Todd Stoughton on mandolin and vocals, Jona Ziac on bass and vocals, and Nat Worden on guitar, harmonica and vocals. They play folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae and rock music.

YouTube: See them LIVE at Infinity Hall here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNfKAPKcrNc#t=17

The Meadows Brothers:

(Chester, CT)

The Meadows Brothers get along pretty well, considering they’ve around each other for 19 straight years.

Ian and Dustin Meadows have been playing music together for most of their lives. In 2011, they made the decision to leave the band they were playing in, and strike out on their own as a duo. Their distinct brand of roots music draws inspiration from a huge list of influences; combining Folk, Blues, Country, and Rock n’ roll genres into what The Boston Globe calls “An engagingly twangy sibling sound all their own.”

The brothers’ original songs; which they typically write together, have been praised for their emotive, relatable lyrics and memorable hooks. Several of their tunes have won awards, and been covered by international acts.

Record Label: Side Porch Records

YouTube: The Meadows Brothers "A Train Makes A Sad, Sad Sound" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3GqrGdf_vk

We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon contains poems written in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and poems rising from the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon.

The anthology, edited by Kathy Engel and Kamal Boulata, is read by poets Margaret Gibson, Kathryn Levy, Kathy Engel and Rev. Osagyefo Sekou.

In the first East End Ink program Kathy Engel reads from her poetry collection Ruth's Skirts Ikon, 2007) and Canios Books founder Canio Pavone tells how book store readings started.

Kathy Engel is a poet, teacher and activist. She is the founder of MADRE, an international women's human rights organization, the former President and co-founder of Riptide Communications and co-founder of East End Women in Black.

First broadcast on January 17, 2008

New Yorker writer Ian Frazier reads from "Gone To New York - Adventures in the City"

Recorded March 2008 at Canios Books, Sag Harbor, NY

Philip Schultz reads from "Failure" (Harcourt 2007)

Recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

Recorded Nov. 2007 at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor, NY