Taking Your Ears on a Little Trip Around the World

photo credit Ieva Weaver

Whoops, I did it again, well in this case, it was no accident but another happy opportunity to play a radio DJ once more. This was my second turn at the web-powered microphone for the Latvian online radio station tirkultura. My first time was back in February of this year, which I related on my other, comix-related blog, The Reluctant Sadist and Other Wanderings in the Comix Underground. Yes, I have two neglected blogs. Always the overachieving underachiever. 

Michael Holland (check out his show on OnoTesla - NTS) once more was my producer and studio engineer as he was for kuš! radio. This was a good thing as I needed his technical expertise and moral support to try and pull off my ambitious upgrade to my first outing. I wanted to go beyond just working through a playlist with a bit of yammer in between the tunes. I wanted to take my listeners for a trip around the world with me on a show that I called, "Wherever You Go, Well That's Where You Are". With that plan in mind, I set to harvesting golden moments I had captured on my various travels and intended to weave those found sounds together with appropriately themed songs. With Micheal in my corner, I knew all I had to do was show up with the bits and pieces and he would put the cables into the right sockets and we'd be off. Now, I did not map out each and every clip as I wanted to build the story on the fly and let our conversation lead us where it may. This loose approach did result in a few technical hiccups, which felt jarring to the point of disaster in the live moment, but on later listens actually adds to the charm and authenticity of the show I think. You be the judge, here's the show:

Tīrkultūra · 030 _ Hal Weaver _ at the Summer Gallery

It was an exhilarating process stitching this crazy, patchwork sonic quilt together in the moment. I was playing mp4 video of travel clips so Micheal and I could watch them together and comment. We agreed ahead of time to let the clips, music and talking overlap to build unexpected sounds and make room for happy accidents and I think that works as much as it doesn't. All that overlapping though meant that the source materials were consumed much more quickly than I expected, so we had to do a little scrambling at the end to fill time. Here's the playlist -

01 - India_Varansai_Religious_Procession (Travel clip)

02 - On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)

03 - Morroco_Desert_Dancing (Travel clip)

04 -  Spread Your Wings (QUEEN)

05 - Bali_Ubud_Furneal_Procession_01 (Travel clip)

06 - I'm a Ramblin' Man (Waylon Jennings)

07 - Japan_Tokyo_Folk_Dancing (Travel clip)

08 - Japan_Yokohoma_Dragon_Dance (Travel clip)

09 - Niamey Jam (Nomad- Bombino)

10 - Vietnam_Ho_Chi_Mihn_Broom_Machine (Travel clip)

11 - Vietnam_Hanoi_Street_Karaoke (Travel clip)

12 - High Plains Drifter (Beastie Boys)

13 - Thailand_Bangkok_Thai_Boxing (Travel clip)

14 - Thailand_Chiangmai_Pop_Singing (Travel clip)

15 - Singapore (Tom Waits)

16 - Hong_Kong_Slyvester - (Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas) (Travel clip)

17 - Bali_Ubud_Shadow_Puppets_02 (Travel clip)

18 - The Crystal Ship (The Doors)

19 - Nepal_Gandaki_Mule_Train_on_the mountain (Travel clip)

20 - Myanmar_Bagan_Ice_Cream_Man_Rap (Travel clip)

21 - Road Trippin' (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

22 - Morroco_Marrakech_Night_Music (Travel clip)

23 - Cambodia_Siem_Reap_BATS (Travel clip)

24 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)
25 - India_Varansai_Ganga_River_Night_Ceremony

26 - Lawrence of Arabia (Movie Soundtrack)

27 - Bali_Gainyar_Ceremony (Travel clip)

28 - King of the Road (Roger Miller)
29 - Here At The End of The World (Alex McMurray)

30 - City of New Orleans (Johnny "Doc" Criner)

What do you think? Should I do some more radio shows? 

Keep smiling,

OK HW