Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Street Cries

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I just did one of the best Here on Earth programs ever, thanks to the wizardry of poet/performance artist Annie Lanzilotto and her sidekick, singer/songwriter DePree. Street Cries! Who would have thought that a program about something as commonplace, raw, vulgar, and oh so not midwestern could evoke such a soulful response! We had some wonderful sound lined up from Annie's collection of street cries from all over the world to use in the program, but what callers spontaneously supplied was even better - a garbanzo seller from India, peanut and hot dog vendors at a ballgame, a Vietnamese fish vendor, even an Egyptian hawking cotton candy in Arabic - and so many callers recreating these soul cries right on the air! It was what God intended a talk show should be. The poet in me, the street hawker, rose to the occasion, and Joe Hardtke, our engineer, was just as thrilled. Now, why can't we do that more often? Any ideas?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Jean, you have the greatest listeners here on earth. Thank you for your passionate skill at brining out our stories. DuPree and I had a great time, and l learned a lot about the culture of listening

Here On Earth said...

Annie, you can cry on my program any time!

nina said...

Annie, it's Nina, Audrey's friend from Bennington...I performed in your Opera Vindaloo show at Dixon Place a million years ago, and I just found a note you wrote me and I miss you and I would be so thrilled to get back in touch with you.
You can email me at nina.galin@gmail.com.