Story By: World Cafe
Bassnectar’s new album is Vava Voom.
Since beginning his “open-source” musical project in the 1990s, Lorin Ashton and his Bassnectar alias have become nearly superhuman. Bassnectar is associated with a community of devoted Bass Heads, several non-profit and charity organizations and shows of such epic proportions, they’re called Bass Centers. Ashton describes his music as “the motion of [his] cells bouncing back at the world,” and tens of thousands of people connect with it as a deeply human pursuit, as well. Last year, he sold out a New Year’s Eve show attended by 10,000 fans.
This year, Bassnectar has a new album and a new tour â two pursuits sure to give Bass Heads plenty to celebrate. Vava Voom was released in April and features collaborations with Lupe Fiasco, ill.Gates and Tina Malia. While he often discusses how his influences are rarely apparent in what he creates, several sources have identified the chords of Orbital’s “Halcyon” in Vava Voom‘s “Empathy.” Hear Ashton discuss his influences and his music in today’s episode of World Cafe.
Erin Brockovich has long been a champion for clean water. Her efforts to sue Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting the water supply of a California town were adapted into a big-screen story, 2000′s Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the Oscar-winning title-role.
The real Brockovich is back on the big screen in the new documentary Last Call at the Oasis. The 51-year-old activist is among various environmental experts cited in the 100-minute film, which explores challenges related to the planet’s dwindling and increasingly polluted water supply.
Brockovich is still advocating for the little guy. The film shows her visiting a community in Midland, Texas, where water comes out of the tap bright green.
She took time out during her cross-country travels to talk about the future of the world’s water supply.
Article continues below
Story By: by David Browne
Former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart incorporates sampled sounds of the cosmos in “Who Stole the Show?”
Song: “Who Stole the Show?”
Artist: Mickey Hart Band
CD: Mysterium Tremendum
Genre: World
Plenty of Deadheads will argue that the Grateful Dead tapped into the unknowable mysteries of the cosmos with its music. And, at its most exploratory and improvisatory, the band came as close as musicians could to doing just that, even if you weren’t chemically altered while listening. On his latest solo album, former Dead drummer Mickey Hart takes that concept one extraterrestrial step further.
With the help of technicians at Penn State and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Hart captured light waves of celestial events like supernovas and turned them into sound waves. He then melded those recordings with the music of his own band, resulting in what could truly be called otherworldly pop.
“Who Stole the Show?” proves how effectively the music of our planet and others can have what Hart calls a conversation. The track starts hypnotically, with those crunchy, spacey sounds of the universe lurking behind the chant-like voice of Nigerian percussionist and longtime Hart collaborator Sikiru Adepoju. (The translation of the elliptical lyrics â “People ask me to accept a chieftainship / My response, personal peace overrides all things” or “Instrument used for divination is never false” â suggests a subtle political message.)
The song doesn’t stay spaced-out for long: In come some bluesy slide-guitar licks and good old-fashioned primal rock drums. You’ll hear a bit of the Dead here, along with hints of Peter Gabriel at his most world-music-infatuated. But you’ll also hear the sound of a veteran rocker who looks to carry on the traditions of his former band, even if it means literally leaving this world.
Jay-Z’s protege Rita Ora says she’s not dating Drake, they’re just good friends.
She did, however, fall in love with a track he wrote, R.I.P. It’s Ora’s debut single in the UK, where it’s No 1 on iTunes.
The Kosovo-born singer had a party in London on Tuesday to celebrate.
Ora says she loved the track the moment she heard it, but she’s only pals with Drake.
Article continues below
Story By: by Linda Holmes
Horses train on the track in preparation for the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Bridget Voss of Chicago, Illinois wears a Derby hat near the paddock at Churchill Downs on the afternoon of the 2011 Kentucky Derby.
Since I don’t know how to encourage all of you to submit your own hat designs, it seems that the next best thing is to encourage you to imagine that you own a thoroughbred horse â fortunately, for the sake of this exercise, you don’t have to like or approve of horse racing, as it is safe to say no horses will be harmed in the imagining of their existence. If you owned such a majestic animal, you would have the option of naming it.
Well, “option.”
While you can name your horse, there are a variety of requirements. The name can’t be more than 18 characters, including spaces and punctuation. It can’t include the name of a living or dead person, unless you jump through some hoops to make sure you’re not offending anyone. It can’t have “commercial, artistic or creative significance,” which I think means you can’t call your horse “Sherlock Holmes” or “Monster Energy” or probably even something sly like “David Hasselhoof.” (That is a freaking great name for a ripped, slightly erratic horse. You have to admit this much.)
The name also can’t be just initials, and it can’t be a number, except that numbers over 30 are okay if they’re spelled out. No names that are “suggestive or have a vulgar or obscene meaning; names considered in poor taste; or names that may be offensive to religious, political or ethnic groups.” You also can’t duplicate anybody else’s existing horse’s name, but I think we can let that go, since our horses are imaginary.
With those rules in mind, what would you name your horse? I have settled on the name of my imaginary, undoubtedly winning horse, based on the thing that means the most to me at the moment. And what’s that name?
Vacation Next Week.
But I’m pretty sure that’s a me thing.
From Miracle Mum to Octomum and now, perhaps soon, Homeless Mum, the bizarre life of Nadya Sulaiman and her 14 children has been a subject that rarely fails to hit a nerve among those who have followed her personal soap opera.
With Sulaiman on the verge of losing her home and declaring bankruptcy this week with total debts as high as $1 million (Dh3.67 million) to everyone from her parents to her baby sitters to the water company, the Octomum Odyssey seems headed for darker days.
Beyond the fascination with her public foibles, such as posing topless in an obscure British magazine and talk of a solo porn film, is the very real concern about the welfare of her octuplets and six older children — all borne from her zeal for in vitro fertilisation.
Three of her six older children have disabilities for which she receives government financial support, Sulaiman has said. One is autistic, another has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the third a speech impediment. The older children range in age from 5 to 10.
Article continues below
The lead singer of heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, has announced plans to open an aviation centre in South Wales that will bring up to 1,000 new jobs to the area on Tuesday.
Dickinson, who has sold more than 85 million records worldwide, is also a commercial airline pilot and aviation entrepreneur.
The singer said that his new company Cardiff Aviation will aim to provide specialist aviation support services which includes training and aircraft maintenance to clients such as Boeing.
"We’d expect to create up to a thousand jobs within 18 months, based on the level of interest and commitment from aircraft manufacturers and operators," Dickinson said in a press statement.
Article continues below
Story By: by Patrick Jarenwattananon
A new profile of Blue Note Records head Don Was, pictured here at the 2009 BMI Country Awards, reveals some interesting signings.
More from this week:
Elsewhere at NPR Music:
Story By: Morning Edition
Marcel Khalife is a Middle Eastern musical and political icon.
The Lebanese classical musician and composer Marcel Khalife is often compared to Bob Dylan â not for his music, but for his politics. The Middle Eastern musical and political icon sings about freedom and nationalism.
Khalife is famous for translating poetry into music. For years, he collaborated with the nationalist Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
“It began when I graduated from the music conservatory in Beirut. The civil war started in Lebanon â I wanted to change the world with music,” says Khalife.
The beginning of the Lebanese civil war left Khalife besieged in his hometown. He found solace in Darwish’s words.
“I had nothing in my loneliness except for Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry collections,” says Khalife. “I said to myself: I need to make music of them. Since then, my musical career has been connected to Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry.”
Khalife’s new album, Fall of the Moon, is an homage to his late friend Darwish.
Khalife was famously indicted on blasphemy charges for singing the Quran in his song “Ana Yousef Ya Abi.” These days, Khalife’s music is the language of the revolution, chanted on Arab streets.
“What is happening in the Arab world today should have happened a long time ago. These uprisings, these revolutions were necessary because we needed to move beyond the stagnation that we used to live in,” says Khalife. “But let us be clear â these revolutions need time. No revolution in the world resulted in positive outcomes that quickly.”
The final line-up for the London 2012 Festival has been announced, with Stephen Fry and comedian Tim Minchin the latest names to join the Olympic arts celebrations.
But not all of the announced works have gone to plan.
Scandinavian Olafur Eliasson's proposed art project Take a Deep Breath was turned down for a £1m grant after the Olympic Lottery Distributor said the piece no longer met its criteria.
The installation would have invited people to inhale and exhale on behalf of "a person, a movement or a cause" and record it on a website in a personal "breath bubble".
Eliasson still appears on the London 2012 Festival programme, with an as-yet-untitled "major new commission" at Tate Modern.
Meanwhile, a question mark hangs over artist Anthony McCall's planned vertical tower of cloud which is set to rise over Merseyside "as far as the eye can see".
The £500,000 publicly-funded artwork – simply called Column – has faced delays due to aircraft safety concerns.
But Ruth Mackenzie said she was "absolutely confident" that the column of mist would get off the ground after liaison between the Civil Aviation Authority and the local authorities.
Mackenzie also said that a potential boycott by campanologists of a nationwide bell-ringing event to launch the first day of the Olympics had been averted.
Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed wants the whole nation to ring whatever bell they have to hand for three minutes at 0800 on 27 July as part of his Work No. 1197 All the Bells.
In November, the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers described the plans as "misconceived" and suggested they might not take part.
But Mackenzie said bellringers were now "all signed up", along with the Royal Navy which would be ringing ships' bells on the day.
The Cultural Olympiad began in 2008, but faced early criticisms that it lacked focus and public recognition.
In 2009-10, Royal Opera House executive Tony Hall and Ruth Mackenzie came on board tasked with turning the Cultural Olympiad around.
Mackenzie said she had been encouraged by a BBC London poll last year that around half of Londoners had heard of the festival. "I think we've already turned the corner on awareness," she said.
The festival, she said, would leave a legacy of art works, and had offered young unemployed people the chance to have their first job in the arts.
"We are hoping that cultural tourism will rise as a result of us showing the world what a brilliant place the UK is to visit," she added.
With additional reporting by Chi Chi Izundu