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Playlist: Music Station Picks for November

Compiled By: PRX Curators

 Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42417274@N00/166634659/">Sophie</a>
Image by: Sophie 
Curated Playlist

November picks for music stations curated by PRX Music Format Curator David Srebnik of Virtuoso Voices.

Find out what David listens for in music programming.

Suggestions from David:

"Are you on Twitter? PRX is on Twitter — I've found it to be an invaluable programming resource, providing information and updates on new program that are available on PRX. It's like getting an instant update from PRX without having to go to the PRX site.

"One PRX Twitter feed contains a link to each new PRX piece.

"The second PRX feed tells you which programs have been bought in real time."

The Piano Psychologist

From John Tynan | 06:14

Fantastic, mesmerizing and surprising tale of the Piano Tuner — part piano fixer and fixer of
piano players' lives.

This piano tuner listens to pianos and to the people who have one in their house. Everyone
has a piano story -- frequently it's a piano story of regret.

Highly recommended for your (arts) magazine program, and it can work with or without a link to your local music scene.

"The Piano Psychologist" reminds us that music making, regardless of our ability, is a joy we should all enjoy.

Piano_small You can pick up clues about people in many different ways. Just as Sherlock Holmes could read into a person’s background by the way they dressed, John Tynan talked with a man who learns about people through an unlikely source.

I am all day and night: The Music of Frank Zappa Part 1 of 3.

From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Part of the I Am All Day And Night: The Music Of Frank Zappa series | 53:57

Answers the "who he was" and "what was the big deal" questions. I have always trusted the true Zappa fans and devotees in their acclaim for their hero, but was never able myself to answer either of these questions myself. So, I was greatly encouraged, and maybe had a breakthrough, after hearing two of the host lines at the beginning.

Zappa and his music could be a "poke in the eye at the same time you're being charmed."

And, "If you get lost occasionally, don't worry we'll be somewhere else in a minute."

With those guideposts in place we're all equipped to let the story begin...and care. This show about musical irreverence and independence -- poking and pointing at absurdities in contemporary society -- is a pleasant poke in the eye for Zappa devotees and those who have always heard the name and wondered.

Aside from a few off-mike voice moments, and an intro with odd filtering, this is Well Done Radio, nicely assembled, produced and delivered from the CBC. It's clearly in the foreground listening category...and Zappa's music is, in fact, a big musical deal.

If you like part 1, parts 2 and 3 are available for your consideration.

The show's producer has granted permission to fade out the CBC forward promo in the show's last 5-6 seconds.

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Frank Zappa was an iconoclast, an incredible musician who embraced many kind of music, including rhythm and blues, do-wop, jazz, classical -- turning them into some of the most unusual compositions you could hope to hear, Zappa made music that definitely fell into the popular music arena, but was both very challenging and very listenable.

This series explores Zappa as a composer, and is told through the memories of some of those who knew him best -- family, his friends, and some of the musicians who worked with him. You'll hear from Zappa's wife, Gail Zappa, Ruth Underwood, the percussionist who first heard him at a famous concert at New Yorks Garrick theatre in 1967; Elliot Ingber, a guitarist in the early Mothers of Invention, and Joe Travers, drummer and vaultmeister of the Zappa archives.

 

NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland on Jazz & Marriage

From National Endowment for the Arts | Part of the Jazz Masters Moments series | 01:29

Here are five new segments/drop-ins from the NEA Jazz Master Series with Phil Woods and Marian
McPartland. (Check the series' page for other recent additions.)

There are more than 40 additional pieces in this series artfully produced by Molly Murphy. They range from :60 - 1:30, and are suitable for local jazz show drop-ins, imaging and other creative interstitial uses.

Best used as part of a series appearing at regular times on your station. Consider giving these spots a daily or weekly peg on your station. They're fun and a fresh breath for all day parts, and not just on jazz formats.

NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods on the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band: Dizzy teaches Phil Woods not to be so dizzy.

NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods on his Teacher's Influence: Another in the 500,001 stories of a music teacher making a difference and changing a life.

NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland tells of her beginnings with jazz: Fantastic intro or re-intro to Marian McPartland and a classic utterance of those famous last words: "trashy music."

NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland tells of her marriage to a jazz player: "Proper British girl" meets Jazz guy, gets married and moves into the attic.

NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland and Challenges of Performing for a Live Audience: When the headliner plays in the background.

Incorporating these drop-ins as an ongoing series during a regular day and time slot is one way to make the most of these performer vignettes.

Newjazzlogo_small NEA Jazz Masters Moments highlight the jazz greats honored through the NEA Jazz Masters, a comprehensive program of jazz support that includes the NEA Jazz Masters Award, an NEA Jazz Masters tour with performances and educational activities, radio programming, a compilation CD, educational resources, and publications and reports. Nearly 100 radio segments feature eighteen NEA Jazz Masters, providing musical samples, historical information, and first-person anecdotes designed to give listeners added insight into the artists and their art.

"Weird Al" Yankovic: Everything You Know Is Wrong

From Joyride Media | 58:58

Fun times, strong script, and the hosting duo of Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911) neatly unveil and realign the apparent wackiness surrounding the life and times of Weird Al Yankovic.

There is a method to the madness to this genuine musician, entertainment world innovator and "King" of the music parody.

When you take a comedian and parodist seriously, you often find a serious creative
gift at the heart of his/her craft. And that's what this show -- where everything we know is, in fact, wrong -- does well with the help of the hosts' own shtick, writing and comedic timing.

There's also nice work behind the scenes, where the producers' understanding of radio best practices make this show funny, interesting and seriously good listening.

Scheduling this for evenings and weekend afternoons should be a kick and a programming surprise for your listeners.

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In this new one-hour radio special , acclaimed funnymen Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911) get serious with America to present the real truth about "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC that the mainstream media doesn't want you to hear.

Where was he really born? What's behind his secret plot to parody every pop song ever written?  How can Yankovic stooges like his longtime bandmates and Dr Demento continue to support his pro-Polka agenda that indoctrinates our children to learn the accordion or worse...the tuba?
 
Prepare yourself for the truth from the man himself, as well as the people who know him best - Dr. Demento, bandmates Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Jim West and Ruben Valtierra.