Ken Bruen | Thriller Author

April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Ken Bruen: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we spoke with Thriller Novelist Ken Bruen from Ireland. The dialogue was fascinating… Tune in to hear the story about the fan with the baseball bat! More about Ken Bruen’s new novel Cross from his website:

Cross (kros/ noun, verb, & adjective) means an ancient instrument of torture, or, in a very bad humour, or, a punch thrown across an opponent’s punch. Jack Taylor brings death and pain to everyone he loves. His only hope of redemption - his surrogate son, Cody - is lying in hospital in a coma. At least he still has Ridge, his old friend from the Guards, though theirs is an unorthodox relationship. When she tells him that a boy has been crucified in Galway city, he agrees to help her search for the killer. Jack’s investigations take him to many of his old haunts where he encounters ghosts, dead and living. Everyone wants something from him, but Jack is not sure he has anything left to give. Maybe he should sell up, pocket his Euros and get the hell out of Galway like everyone else seems to be doing. Then the sister of the murdered boy is burned to death, and Jack decides he must hunt down the killer, if only to administer his own brand of rough justice.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Politics, History, Fiction, Entertainment, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Don Saliers | Music & the Church

April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Don Saliers: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Don Saliers, father of Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, spoke with us today about his book with his daughter, and about his long career in music and the church. Listen in to hear about a father and daughter’s relationship through music, politics and all the rest.More about Don from the Indigo Girls website:

“I found warmth, wisdom, and love to be present on every page of this book. Emily and her father, Don, have found a way to have a deeply meaningful conversation about their life experiences and share it with the reader. The result is this beautiful expression of music as many things–healer, gift, symbol of freedom and community, and agent of change.”—Mary Chapin Carpenter

“Don and Emily Saliers trace the songlines of two very different lives through this thought-provoking book. It is full of stories, quotations from songs old and new, and even their personal discussions as they explore the boundaries between their worlds. Their words plumb the depths of human and musical differences: the way song can divide as well, bring us together and its power to bring us ‘back to life’ from grief or pain or spiritual anguish. May we all be able to find songlines as rich as those uniting this intelligent, affectionate, and musical father and daughter.”—Alice Parker, author, Yes, We’ll Gather!, Creative Hymn Singing, and Melodious Accord

“In this sweetheart of a book, Don and Emily Saliers do far more than write convincingly about the healing power of music. They show us how it works by letting their own love of ‘deep song’ lead them across generational, aesthetic, and religious differences into a place of such holy listening to one another that even the angels lay down their tambourines.”—Barbara Brown Taylor, author, Bread of Angels, Home by Another Way, Gospel Medicine, The Preaching Life, God in Pain, and Speaking of Sin

“Emily and her dad have created a beautiful celebration of how music and spirit connect us all.”—Bonnie Raitt

Posted by admin | Filed Under Religion, Spirituality, History, Politics, Entertainment, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Inspiration, PODCAST

Emily McCay | Romance & Writing

April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Emily McCay: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we spoke with Harlequin romance novelist Emily McCay. This is a great revealing look into the world of romance novels, and about McCay’s first experiences with the genre.More about Emily McCay from her website:

Emily McKaskle, who writes as Emily McKay, has been reading romance novels since she was eleven years old. Her first Harlequin Romance came free in a box of Hefty garbage bags. She’s been reading — and loving! — romance novels ever since.In her spare time, she loves to garden and cook … well, bake. Mostly cookies. Naturally, she still loves to read a good romance. She’s been blissfully married for eleven years. When they can ditch their five pets for a couple of weeks, she and her husband like to travel to exotic and exciting locations like Greece, Costa Rica, and Ignorant Flats, Texas.She has a degree in English from Texas A&M University. After college, she taught middle school for four years. While teaching America’s disenfranchised youth to appreciate fine literature, she learned very little about writing romance but a lot about finding humor in any situation. Eager for a job where she wouldn’t have to dodge spitwads, she fled the teaching profession to write full-time. Though her characters sometimes misbehave, they almost never throw things at her.Emily has been writing seriously for ten years. In 2001, one of her dreams came true when her manuscript, Love Letters to Tabitha, was a finalist in the Golden Heart. Just over a year later, she got ‘THE CALL.’ In January of 2003, Love Letters to Tabitha was published as Baby, Be Mine by Harlequin Temptation. Baby, Be Mine is also a finalist for the 2004 RITA Award in Best First Book and Best Short Contemporary Romance categories. Emily has gone on to sell seven more books to Harlequin Silhouette. Her next book, Baby on the Billionaire’s Doorstep, will be released in April of 2008.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Dating, Fiction, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Butch Thompson | After the Monologue

April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Butch Thompson [10:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It was my pleasure to speak with Butch Thompson on the show today — about playing after Garrison Keillor’s monologue in the early days of Prairie Home Companion, and about his long career in the music industry!More about Butch Thompson from his website:

In a career spanning 40 years, pianist Butch Th ompson has earned a world-wide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride, and classic jazz piano. He spends much of his time on tour in the U.S. and internationally. Although he often travels as a soloist, he also appears with his well-known trio or his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals band. He performs with symphony orchestras, among them recently the Hartford Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cairo (Egypt) Symphony. Widely known for his 12-year stint (1974-1986) as house pianist and bandleader on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, he continues as a frequent guest on that show. Th ompson was born and raised in Marine on St. Croix, a small river town in Minnesota, where he was playing Christmas carols on his mother’s upright piano by age three, and began formal lessons at six. He studied clarinet in high school, and led his ﬁ rst professional jazz group as a senior. At 18, he made his pilgrimage to New Orleans, where he befriended and studied with the late clarinetist George Lewis, and was one of the few non-New Orleanians to appear at Preservation Hall during the 1960s and ‘70s. After two years in an Army band during the ‘60s, Th ompson returned to Minnesota. While studying Latin American music at the University of Minnesota, he spent some time in Ecuador, and wrote music based on that country’s folk tunes. Th e Minnesota Orchestra with Th ompson at the piano, premiered his Ecuadorean Suite, based on those early pieces in June 1998. In 1974, Th ompson began his well-remembered 12-year run as the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, beginning with the show’s ﬁ rst broadcasts in July of that year. Th e Butch Th ompson Trio, formed as the show went into national distribution in 1978, remained the oﬃ cial house band until 1986. During the 70s and 80s, he toured widely in Europe. In 1985, to commemorate the 100th birthday of jazz cornetist Joe “King” Oliver, he formed his eight-piece King Oliver Centennial Band for tours in Switzerland, Germany, and England. In 1987, Th ompson commissioned composer Gordon Wright to orchestrate the ﬁ ve-part Gordon Wright to orchestrate the ﬁ ve-part Gordon Wright Scott Joplin Suite for Piano and Orchestra. Since then, he has toured widely as a pops concert soloist, specializing in such American composers as Joplin, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and James P. Johnson. During the early 90s, Thompson began an association with the oﬀ -Broadway show Jelly Roll! Th e Music and the Man, Th e Music and the Man, Th e Music and the Man which won Obie, Lucille Lortell and Outer Critics Circle awards as best oﬀ -Broadway musical of 1995. Th ompson worked onstage with the show in New York and on several national tours through 1997. In addition to his career as a performer, Th ompson writes articles and reviews on jazz and produces his own weekly radio show, Jazz Originals, on KBEM radio in Minneapolis. His writing has appeared in Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music and other Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music and other Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music magazines, as well as in various CD booklets. One of Th ompson’s latest CDs, an album of holiday duets with cellist Laura Sewell, is titled Bethlehem After Dark. Th is release is the 10th in Th ompson’s acclaimed series for the Daring/ Rounder label of Boston. He also played on the Grammy-winning 1997 Verve release Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton. His 1968 solo recording debut, Butch Th ompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton, is currently available as a Biograph CD.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Haider Ala Hamoudi | Iraq & Politics

April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Haider Ala Hamoudi: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we spoke with Haider Ala Hamoudi about Iraq and the political situation there and here. Listen in for some interesting insights from an Iraqi-American law professor.More about Haider Ala Hamoudi from his website:

Professor Hamoudi received his B.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993, with a double major in Physics and Humanities with a Near Eastern Studies Concentration. He was both a member of the Physics Honor Society, Sigma Pi Sigma, and a Burchard Scholar for Excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 1996, Professor Hamoudi received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Constance Baker Motley in the Southern District of New York and then worked as an Associate at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton until 2003.Thereafter, Professor Hamoudi went to Iraq and acted as both a legal advisor to the Finance Committee of the Iraq Governing Council, as well as a Program Manager for a project managed by the International Human Rights Law Institute of DePaul University School of Law to improve legal education in Iraq. Professor Hamoudi continues to advise the Iraqi Government, primarily through the Iraq Mission at the United Nations. Professor Hamoudi’s scholarship focuses on commercial law, Islamic law, and the intersection of the two in the contemporary era. He has written for numerous law reviews, spoken at conferences sponsored by the MacMillan Center at Yale University, the American Association of Law Schools and the New York City Bar Association, and given interviews to various news organizations including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour Online and the New York Law Journal.Professor Hamoudi is also the author of a blog on Islamic Law entitled Islamic Law in Our Times.

Posted by admin | Filed Under History, Religion, Politics, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

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