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Playlist: KPTZ, Port Townsend, WA's Portfolio

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Hidden Kitchens: The Raw & The Cooked

From The Kitchen Sisters | Part of the Hidden Kitchens series | 54:56

An hour-long journey into the world of clandestine cooking, kitchen rituals and traditions. Tales of kitchens that suddenly pop up, kitchens that stay underground to survive, kitchens that are the keepers of a culture. Cooking traditions that spring from the most unlikely moments of history. Hosted by Academy Award-winning actress, Frances McDormand.

Hk-raw_cooked-weenieroyale_small We travel the country and we travel in time in search of hidden kitchens and little-known corners of American food culture. From the Crossroads in Mississippi to the Birth of Rice-a-Roni in San Francisco. From the Sheepherder's Ball in the Basque Country in Boise to the Breadbasket of California's Central Valley. We hear kitchen stories and music from Michael Pollan, Rosemary Clooney, Robert Johnson, Super Chikan and more.

Entertaining, surprising, and soulful, a Kitchen Sisters' portrait of American life through food.

Some of the stories that are heard in this richly-layered documentary hour include: 

Kibbe at the Crossroads: A Delta Kitchen Vision: A story from the crossroads, in Clarksdale, Mississippi where barbeque, the blues and a kind of Lebanese meatloaf, meet.

Weenie Royale: Many hidden kitchen traditions come out of dark times, when surviving means adapting. We peer into a corner of America's not-too-distant past—the internment camps of World War II, where more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent—most American citizens—were incarcerated without trial for the duration of the war. Their homes, livelihoods, traditions and food taken from them. The Kitchen Sisters explore the impact of the internment on Japanese cooking and culture in America.  

The Sheepherder's Ball: Basque people fleeing Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain flocked to America. Many took jobs herding sheep across the West. We explore the world of Basque sheepherders and their outdoor, below-the-ground, Dutch oven cooking traditions.

Hidden Kitchen Mama: Kitchens and mothers. The food they cooked, or didn't. The stories they told, or couldn't.   

Breadbasket Blues: Travel down Interstate 5, straight into the agricultural heart of the California Central Valley, the nation's breadbasket, where the rates of juvenile obesity, type 2 diabetes and malnutrition are some of the highest in the country. The Kitchen Sisters explore some of the hidden causes of this epidemic and the local kitchen visionaries grappling with it.      

The Birth of Rice-a-Roni: Sometimes we find the story. Sometimes the story finds us. Nikki sat down next to this one at an NPR event in the Napa Valley. We were onstage interviewing Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. The topic was corn, and we played a little excerpt from our Hidden Kitchen story on the 1930s kitchen visionary who invented the Frito. Over dinner, the 80-year-old woman seated by Nikki confided that she too had a hidden kitchen, and began to tell the complicated saga of the birth of Rice-a-Roni.

And we take a little detour to visit Mozart's Hidden Kitchen.

Hidden Kitchens: The Raw & The Cooked. Stories from across America about the transformative power of food. With host, Academy Award-winning actress, Frances McDormand.

First Draft - Jess Walter

From mitzi rapkin | Part of the First Draft series | 28:59

First Draft highlights the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft and the literary arts. This week's show features an interview with Jess Walter, author of The Beautiful Ruins and We Live in Water.

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First Draft highlights the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft and the literary arts.  This week's show features an interview with Jess Walter, author of The Beautiful Ruins and We Live in Water.

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including The Beautiful Ruins and The Zero , one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 30 languages, and his essays, short fiction, criticism and journalism have been widely published, in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Byliner, Playboy, ESPN the Magazine, Details and many others. www.jesswalter.com.

The Life and Times of B.B. King

From Dred-Scott Keyes | 10:08

Obituary for Legendary blues musician, B.B. King

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B. B. King was born  September 16th , 1925, on a cotton plantation as the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King, but was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael, Mississippi. As with many African-American musicians, King began his musical career by singing in the church choir and by the age of 12, he had received his first guitar-either buying it or receiving it as a gift from his cousin, Bukka White- a great steel guitarist in his own right. After a stint in the Army and driving tractors for a living, B.B. King moved to Memphis, Tennessee   and West Memphis, Arkansas in 1946, where he began to hone his craft with the likes of   of blues harpist and disk jockey, Sonny Boy Williamson. He played on local radio stations, including WDIA in Memphis where he hosted the popular program “The Sepia Swing Show” which earned him the nick name “The Beale Street Blues Boy”- which was shortened to “Blues Boy” and finally to B.B.

If Lucille Were a Person...

From Zak Rosen | 05:39

Blues scholar on the importance of B.B. King

Bb_small University of Michigan professor Bruce Conforth lovingly dissects the importance, influence, and scope of B.B. King. The American Studies professor describes what Lucille (King's guitar) would look and act like if it were a person. He discusses why and how King's "Live at the Regal" is absolutely the best blues album ever, and lastly, why every bluesman (person) who came after King has felt his influence.

Blues File: B. B. King "One Kind Favor"

From WXPN | Part of the Blues File series | 05:00

review of B. B. King's new album "One Kind Favor"

Kingonekindfavor_small On his new album "One Kind Favor," B. B. King, with help from producer T-Bone Burnett, recaptures the sounds of the late 40s and early 50s with a set of songs from artists who influenced him. The King of the Blues maintains a regal bearing throughout the album "One Kind Favor," with soulful singing and his classic guitar style, applied with the subtlety of performance that only the greatest masters of an artform can offer.

2016 Re:sound Specials, from the Third Coast Audio Festival (Series)

Produced by Third Coast International Audio Festival

Most recent piece in this series:

Re:sound - The Imposter Show

From Third Coast International Audio Festival | Part of the 2016 Re:sound Specials, from the Third Coast Audio Festival series | 59:00

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What do we really know about other people’s lives? Double lives, double binds, double trouble.  This hour on Re:sound, imposters.

Chook In Memorium
by Mike Ladd (360 Documentaries, ABC Radio National, 2014) 
The Australian lyrebird is a remarkable creature, able to mimic almost every man made and natural sound; sirens, car engines, other birds. Chook was very popular with visitors at the Adealaide Zoo until he died in 2011 at the age of 32. In this audio tribute to Chook we hear him mimic innumberable sounds. 
 
The Two Lives of Asa Carter
by Joe Richman & Samara Freemark (Radio Diaries, 2012) 
Asa Carter was a speechwriter for Alabama Governor George Wallace. He penned one of the most infamous speeches of the era… Wallace’s 'Segregation Now, Segregation Forever' address. Forrest Carter was a Cherokee writer who lived in Texas. His autobiography, The Education of Little Tree, is a beloved classic that has sold millions of copies around the world. But these two men shared a secret. 
 
45s at 33
by Steve Urquhart (Radiotonic, ABC Radio National, 2015)
It started with Dolly Parton's song ‘Jolene'. Someone uploaded a slowed-down version to YouTube – and the reaction was extraordinary. But ‘Jolene’ was just the beginning. Search for 'slowed down to 33', and you’ll find hundreds of examples of old 7-inch singles playing at 33rpm, rather than 45rpm. As he turns 40 — and perhaps a bit preoccupied with the idea of “slowing down time” — radio producer Steve Urquhart discovers some unexpected gems. 
 
The Mysterious James Tiptree
by Eric Molinsky (Unfictional, KCRW, 2015)
James Tiptree Jr. was a science fiction writer in the late 60's and early 70's. His books and stories had a loyal following, and were notable for the way he handled gender issues and male/female relationships in an era when science fiction featured almost only male heroes. Tiptree was a mysterious figure and only communicated to a few friends and fans. That's because his career hinged on a very big secret.