It's that time of year when a peacock known as the Greene County Wanderer makes his way around the Catskills looking for a friend and mate. We recently saw him in Cairo and called the authorities to see if someone was missing a peacock — turns out there's a decade-long story here. Sherry from Dog Control filled us in. Plus, songs for all the lonely birds and people out there.
Playlist:
Little Jimmy Scott “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” Album: The Best of Little Jimmy Scott 2012
Dionne Warwick “Walk On By” Album: Make Way for Dionne Warwick 1964
Gilbert O'Sullivan “Alone Again (Naturally)” Album: Alone Again (Naturally) 1972
Depeche Mode “Enjoy the Silence” Album: Violator 1990
Roy Orbison “Crying” Album: The Essential Roy Orbison 2006
Prince “Still Waiting” Album: Prince 1979
PJ Harvey & Ben Waters “Lonely Avenue” 2011
Nina Simone “I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good” Album: Nina Simone Sings Ellington 2015
Nick Drake “Fly” Album: Bryter Layter 1971
Alice Coltrane “Om Shanti” Album: The Ecstatic Music Of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda 2017
Leslie T. Sharpe is a naturalist, writer, and good friend. She joined the show live from the Great Western Catskills to tell us all about the critters in her meadow and program on “Animal Adaptations” at John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge in July. Her 2017 book, The Quarry Fox and Other Critters of the Wild Catskills, became an instant classic.
Playlist:
Still House Plants “no sleep deep risk” Album: If I don't make it, I love u 2024
André 3000 “Ninety Three 'Til Infinity And Beyoncé” Album: New Blue Sun 2023
Low with tomandandy “Half Light” Album: Music from the Motion Picture The Mothman Prophecies 2002
Keith Jarrett “C.P.E. Bach: Württemberg Sonatas feat. Sonata 4 in B-Flat Major” Album: C.P.E. Bach: Württemberg Sonatas 2023
Keith Jarrett “Landscape For Future Earth” Album: Facing You 1972
Master forager Tama Matsuoka Wong has just published Into the Weeds: How to Garden Like a Forager. The book is definitely a field guide for how to forage and identify local plants, but it's also a meditation and manual for a life well-lived. Our conversation focuses on plants, food, the "middle ground", wandering, and pawpaws.
Playlist:
The Children's Hour “Dance With Me” Album: Going Home 2024
Makaya McCraven “Sunset” Album: Deciphering The Message 2021
Sam Gendel/Sam Wilkes "Sweet Fire" Album: The Doober 2024
Jeff & Laura "After the Gold Rush" Album: Still Young 2019
Neil Young "Love Earth" Album: World Record 2022
John Prine "Sour Grapes" Album: Diamonds in the Rough 1972
John Prine "Summer's End" Album: The Tree Of Forgiveness 2018
Alice Coltrane "Er Ra" Album: The Ecstatic Music Of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda 2017
Lou Reed "Hudson River Wind" Album: Hudson River Wind Meditations 2007
Being Dead "Last Living Buffalo" Album: When Horses Would Run 2023
Jessica Pratt "Life Is" Album: Here in the Pitch 2024
Helado Negro “Fantasma Vaga” Album: This Is How You Smile 2019
Musician and artist Michael Hurley is a legend. He calls the songs he plays "jazz-hyped blues and country and western music." And that music — his singing and playing — are truly singular. We have a conversation about music-making, songwriting, Bo Diddley, and more.
The Children's Hour “Rainbow” Album: Going Home 2024
Sea Lions “Beautiful Day” Album: Lets Groove 2009
Four Tet “So Blue” Album: Three 2024
Being Dead “Daydream” Album: When Horses Would Run 2023
Low "Sunshine" Album: I Could Live In Hope 1994
Interlude:
John Coltrane "Equinox" Album: Coltrane's Sound 1964
Playlist (Night):
Bob Dylan “On A Night Like This” Album: Planet Waves 1974
Michael Hurley "Se Fue en la Noche" Album: The Time of the Foxgloves 2021
PJ Harvey "Lwonesome Tonight" Album: I Inside the Old Year Dying 2023
The Replacements with Tom Waits “We Know The Night” Album: Dead Man's Pop 2019
Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven “Where Did the Night Go” Album: We're New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven 2020
André 3000 “That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild” Album: New Blue Sun 2023
A recent Supreme Court ruling has huge implications for wetlands across the country. So I talked about water and beavers with writer Leila Philip. She wrote the definitive book about the beaver and its role in shaping the Hudson Valley and North America — Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America.
Playlist:
Michael Hurley “Little Blue River” Album: The Time of the Foxgloves 2021
Florist “Duet for Guitar and Rain” Album: Florist 2022
Helado Negro “Colores Del Mar” Album: PHASOR 2024
Mariah Carey “Thirsty” Album: Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse 2014
Benjamin Clementine “Riverman (Live on BBC2)” Album: At Least For Now 2016
Bob Dylan "Watching the River Flow" Album: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II 1971
Leon Russell "Watching the River Flow" Album: Tangled Up in Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan 1994
Jackie Rae Daniels “Watching the River Flow” Album: Dreams Don't Decay: Jackie Rae Daniels Plays Bob Dylan 2022
Duke Robillard “Watching the River Flow” Album: Six Strings Of Steel 2023
Musician and artist Lonnie Holley turned 74 in February — he's been making art and music for 5 decades now. Here's part two of my conversation with him about music, teaching and tools, space, and art. Plus, a world premiere remix collab with musician, journalist, writer, and podcaster Manny Fidel.
Lonnie Holley Pt. 2 Playlist:
“I Am A Part Of The Wonder” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
“There Was Always Water” Album: MITH 2018
“Earth Will Be There” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
“How Far Is Spaced-Out?” Album: MITH 2018
"Manny x Lonnie" Music and production by Manny Fidel 2024
“Kindness Will Follow Your Tears” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
Musician and artist Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to improvisational creativity. And his newest album, "Oh Me Oh My," is testament to that vision. Our conversation focused on his art, music, teaching, and Mother Universe.
Lonnie Holley Playlist:
“Oh Me Oh My” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
“Sometimes I Wanna Dance” Album: MITH 2018
“Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants” Album: Keeping A Record Of It 2013
"Here I Stand Knocking at Your Door” Album: Just Before Music 2012
“I Can't Hush” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
“None Of Us Have But A Little While” Album: Oh Me Oh My 2023
Nick and Lysa host Radiant Point on WGXC 90.7 FM — it's a monthly show featuring two hours of new music across all genres. They're musicians, partners, friends and a lot of fun. We hung out in the studio together as they ran through their top songs from this year.
[A thank you note sent to the Beacon Prison Books Project.]
Show Notes December 5, 2023
Listen to archived episode.
Theme: Books.
The Beacon Prison Books Project gets free books to incarcerated people across New York. The project was founded and bloomed at Binnacle Books in Beacon in 2019 and has since mailed out 3,000+ books. Cofounder Mark Trecka and Michal Mart, one of the lead organizers of the project, talk about the program and how anyone can donate and help. Hudson Valley partners include Blackbird Infoshop, Half Moon Books, Oblong Books, Rough Draft Bar & Books, and World's End Comics.
Nkoula Badila works with the earth and the community in and around Hudson, NY. She founded Grow Black Hudson a few years ago and still works at it day-to-day, with a focus on food and people. Badila and I talk about growing your own food, the Hudson Valley, making community, and her art and music.
Playlist:
Obongjayar “Still Sun” Album: Which Way is Forward? 2020
Lady Moon & the Eclipse “Le Petit Prince, Pt. 1” Album: Journey to the Cosmic Soul 2020
Lady Moon & the Eclipse “Shine” Album: Journey to the Cosmic Soul 2020
Lady Moon & the Eclipse “Spiritual” Album: Journey to the Cosmic Soul 2020
Miriam Körner is an illustrator and author of the new book Fox and Bear. It's a modern fable about progress, production, the natural world, and quiet reflection. Körner talks about the dynamic and intricate dioramas she created to build out the world of Fox and Bear as well as the essential existential questions her book raises. Plus, broadcaster, producer, and voiceover actor Philip Grant reads an excerpt from the book.
Playlist:
Björk “Overture” Album: Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture "Dancer in the Dark" 2009
Björk "New World" Album: Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture "Dancer in the Dark" 2009
Artist duo eteam (Franzy Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger) have a new video installation Our Non-Understanding of Everything at CREATE gallery in Catskill. The exhibit "invites us to consider the emotional and rational relationships we have with our personal tech devices." Franzy and Hajoe chat with me and media theorist Natasha Chuk about art-making, collaboration, and working with animals and insects in the wild.
Playlist:
Sufjan Stevens “Everything That Rises” Album: Javelin 2023
Blonde Redhead “Via Savona” Album: Sit Down for Dinner 2023
Hiroshi Yoshimura “Time after time” Album: Surround 1986