Rumble Strip

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176331320″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] When my son was four I joined a temporary rock band. It was humiliating and terrible and I was middle aged and didn’t know what to do with my arms. I wanted to quit. This is a commentary about why I didn’t quit, and why it’s important to risk failure as an example for our kids.

This is an unedited interview I did with a young man in Barre, Vermont in 2011. He gave me permission to use this tape, but I’ve chosen not to use his name in order to protect his privacy. I’ll call him ‘O’. I had interviewed O once before, when he was on furlough and living in Barre. About a year after that first interview I interviewed him again. I was curious about how he was doing after having maxed out his jail sentence. We met at the apartment he was living in with his girlfriend and daughter. According to O, many in his family–his dad, grandfather, uncle, cousins–have been in and out of jail for as long as he can remember. I wanted to know how this family history affected his thoughts about his own life prospects. I go back to this tape over and over. Pieces of it show up in other stories I’ve made, but there is more ‘content’ in this raw tape than any story I could write or edit. Warning: There are references to sex and violence in this interview.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/175689933″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] Welcome to the Mudroom, a joint commentary series of Rumble Strip Vermont and The Dooryard. Israel has been a substantial recipient of US foreign aid since the state’s inception. According to Mark Hage, Israel is also the recipient of some of Vermont’s finest ice cream, which is sold in Israeli settlements. Do we have a social responsibility to rally against Ben & Jerry’s presence in the Israeli occupied territories? Mark Hage is a Palestine solidarity activist with Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel. He lives in Montpelier, Vermont. You can learn more about VTJP and its Ben & Jerry’s campaign, click on the link below.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/173664668″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] Jamie Cope’s house is filled with pictures of people…pictures so beautiful you practically want to lick them. Or at least I do. They are all black and white, and all printed with exquisite attention to light and shadow. There is an amazing intimacy in her portraits, as though she’s looking INTO the people she’s photographing, and they’re letting her. I couldn’t help wondering how she did it. What were they talking about? How did she catch them being so much…themselves? We sat on her couch one long, sunny fall day in Montpelier and talked for the better part of an afternoon–about photography, marriage, and eating tacos on Olvera Street in Los Angeles. Come listen… The photographs we talk about in the interview are all featured below, in the order in which we speak about them. Thank you! A very special thanks to John Snell and Jamie Cope for allowing me to feature these photographs! Thank you also to Rob Spring. This program is brought to you in part by a grant from WGDR, Goddard College and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Also big thanks to David Schulman for allowing me to feature a track from his new album, Raise It Up, which you can find here. Maud Morgan, artist Harold Edgerton, Scientist, inventor of the strobe, MIT Giselle President of Raytheon Wisconsin Friends Jamie Cope

Town is a sound exhibit that I produced for the Kent Museum in Calais, Vermont. It weaves together personal stories and memories about growing up in Calais, and natural sounds recorded around town. There’s no start or finish to these stories. It’s meant to be a kind of sonic wallpaper. In this audio, you hear reference to the former owner of the Kent Museum building, Louise Andrews Kent, and you hear her granddaughters talk about concerts once held upstairs in the ballroom, and her creation of the small dioramas downstairs. You also hear stories about mill fires, walking barefoot in summer, marriage proposals and God… [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/171496420″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] THANKS: I’d like to thank the Calais area residents who shared their time and stories with me. They are: Geraldine Gilman, Don Singleton, Erlene Leonard, Janet Ancel, Olivia Gay, Stanley Fitch, Elaine Fitch and Elliott Morse. The photos of the Kent you see here are provided by Nel Emlen. Thank you Nel! And finally, all praise to the People of Kent! Over the past seven years, a team of hugely dedicated folks have brought art to this old, historical tavern and general store in the heart of our town. There’s a magic about that building. Ghosts and brilliant late afternoon light. Exposed lath and old plaster, weird pink closets and teal floors and bowls of plastic grapes in tucked away places, notes to self written on the wall from 1921, ancient wallpaper and lots and lots of clip lamps to light the art. (I’m a special fan of the clip lamps…) The love these folks at the Kent feel for the building comes through in the way they present the artwork, and it’s palpable…which just makes the whole experience more fun than most art exhibits. So thank you People of Kent. We’ll see you next year.

This is a raw recording of my son teaching me how to play a card game called Magic. Does anyone know what he’s talking about? Please advise. And featuring a picture of a cruel pinata in Hancock, Vermont, crafted by my friend Stacey at The Dooryard. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/167881968″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /]

Rodney and Theresa Elmer are a taxidermy power duo in Northfield, Vermont. In this interview, they talk about the art and psychology of mounting animals, and why they hunt. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/167267083″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] Credits: Photos by Josh Larkin. Music for this show from Katie Trautz and Julia Wayne of the Vermont duo Mayfly. Links to more of their work below. Link to Mountain Deer Taxidermy website below…. And please write a comment on this show if you have one!! Comments and STORIES are always welcome. Just go to the bottom of this page, and write in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box. Thank you!

The farther you go from home, the stranger things get. Here is a story by Larry Massett about the life and work of Paul Bowles. This program originally aired on Hearing Voices, home to some of the best radio anywhere….

Jessamyn West studies and writes about the digital divide and she solves technology problems for a living. This summer she found herself unemployed, and forced to use some of the same state agency websites she’d been helping others to use–namely, Vermont Health Connect, and the Department of Labor. The results were not pretty. Here’s a commentary about it. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/168089366″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] The Mudroom is a joint commentary series of Rumble Strip Vermont and The Dooryard. Photo of Jessamyn by Liz West. A Wiki link to Jessamyn…

For generations of Vermonters, Thursday nights in the summer have meant one thing….Thunder Road. This quarter mile short track opened in 1960 and it’s home to some of the most passionate drivers and fans you’re likely to find anywhere. In these shows and outtakes, you’ll hear from some of the drivers and from Thunder Road co-owners and ring leaders, Ken Squier and Tom Curley. There are thrills and heartbreaks and heated coils and a lot of history. There’s even some opera. Welcome. Shows (in the box above) Thunder Road: Features Donny Yates, Tommy Thunder, Dave Campbell, Dave Pembroke, Ken Squier, and Tom Curley Milk Bowl: Tom Curley talks about the culminating race of the season, the Milk Bowl. An Interview with Tom Curley: I thought he’d give me five minutes. Turns out he let me stay longer and he said some remarkable things…about his work, his co-conspirator Ken Squier, and lots more. Plus there’s sound recorded from the booth during the Milk Bowl, 2013. This is the conversation from which I pulled tape for the other stories, so you’ll hear some familiar riffs, but I figured folks might like to hear Tom’s full interview. Outtakes (in the box below) Great segments from the interviews, and sounds recorded at Thunder Road. Enjoy! Thanks: A big thanks to Larry Massett. He was the editor for both Thunder Road and Milk Bowl and he is the greatest. Also big thanks to Colin McCaffrey, who mixed these shows so expertly. And to Tread Hunter for best tires. And patiently….. Thanks to you both.

Welcome to The Mud Room, a joint commentary series from Rumble Strip Vermont and The Dooryard. A late night shopping cart reminds Marc Estrin of a song from Schubert’s song cycle, Winterreise (Winter Journey). Marc Estrin is a writer, cellist and political activist who lives in Burlington, Vermont. Marc Estrin’s Novels The Prison Notebooks of Alan Krieger (Terrorist) When the Gods Come Home to Roost Tsim-tsum The Good Doctor Guillotin The Annotated Nose Skulk The Lamentations of Julius Marantz Golem Song The Education of Arnold Hitler Insect Dreams, the Half Life of Gregor Samsa Marc Estrin’s Memoir Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/158099219″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] Welcome to The Mud Room, a joint commentary series from Rumble Strip Vermont and The Dooryard. This is A Man of Wealth and Taste, a commentary in response to Dick Cheney’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal on June 17, 2014. It is written by Robby Porter. Robby is a woodworker and hydro plant operator and lives in Adamant, Vermont. Please post and sling your comments at the bottom of this page. We love to hear from you.

Welcome to The Mud Room, a joint commentary project of Rumble Strip Vermont and The Dooryard. In this first commentary we bring you Walt Amses, a writer and former educator in North Calais, Vermont. The essay is called The 17 Dollar Tomato, and it welcomes us to the special tyranny of gardening season in Vermont. Send us your tired and poor We want to hear your stories of gardens past and present. Your failed attempts, your bolted greens. Tell us about your woodchuck problems, your canning burns, your rotten tomatoes, your garden rock collections. Or maybe some trick of equanimity you know, that might help us all. Comment below. We love to hear from you.

For generations of Vermonters, Thursday nights in the summer have meant one thing….Thunder Road. This quarter mile short track opened in 1960 and it’s home to some of the most passionate drivers and fans you’re likely to find anywhere. In this show, owner Tom Curley talks about the culminating race of the season, the Milk Bowl.

Everyone’s heard about Burning Man, the counter-cultural festival held every summer in Black Rock City Nevada. Sex, drugs, monumental installations….you know all about it. But you may not know about Boring Man, the counter-counter-cultural festival that’s sort of a mirror image of Burning Man. Here’s Larry Massett with a report from last year’s Boring Man.

I went to a friend’s house the other night and she led me into her den where her best wood stove was and she sighed and said, ‘And this is where I live.’ It’s been a long winter and a lot of us have spent the better part of four months huddled around our stoves. I walked around Calais and asked people to talk about their firebuilding methods, their stoves, and their moods.

A dry wall is built with no mortar. The stones are carefully selected and they interlock and gravity holds them in place. The Great Wall of China was built this way. Scott Carrier’s wall was built this way too. Here is his story.

For the last year I’ve been conducting interviews about death and dying for The Wake Up to Dying Project–a project that encourages people to think, and talk about death and dying. The goal is to help people be a little more prepared, both practically and emotionally, for our own deaths, and the deaths of loved ones. Today’s show features segments from an interview with Tim Kasten of Middlesex, VT. Tim has experienced more death in his family than many of us and he has significant medical conditions of his own. Death has become a pressing consideration for him, and as both a Buddhist and scientist, he approaches the subject with intense curiosity. Here are segments from our conversation.

Here is one final deer story, recorded this year after youth hunting weekend. Jack Fannon, 12, went out hunting on his parents’ land in Calais, with friend, mentor, and hunter safety instructor Bob Raskevitz. Here’s what happened….

Alan LePage has been an organic vegetable gardener in central Vermont for over thirty years–long before anyone cared much about organic farming–long, long before words like ‘sustainable’, ‘local’, ‘artisinal’ started being used, ad nauseam. His family has farmed the same piece of land since the civil war. Alan is also an expert mushroom forager, mentor, activist and philosopher. He has a voracious mind and he’s impossible to categorize, except perhaps as an event. I had to interview him twice. I hope you enjoy this interview. I sure did. You can hear Alan LePage every Sunday morning on WGDR, 91.1, from 6:00 – 9:00 AM. The show is called The Curse of the Golden Turnip. You’ll hear music, and endlessly great advice and stories about agriculture, foraging, and agricultural policy. [Amazing] photos are by Josh Larkin. Link to more of his work below.

An interview with poet, teacher, and reigning Vermont poetry slam champion, Geof Hewitt. In this interview, Geof talks about a lifetime of writing and what it means, to him, to be successful. He talks about his early years as a Vermont homesteader from New Jersery, and slowly becoming a Vermonter. And of course we hear lots of poetry. Geof has published three books for teachers and four collections of poetry. His books are available at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, in libraries, and online.

This is a show about songs, and stories about songs. You’ll hear about sack races, summer camp, love lost and found–and the songs that marked these events. There is some Meat Loaf this hour. There is brave singing and humming. There is blood and there are guitar solos. It’s an hour of music you’re sure to love and hate, and I encourage you to dance. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/196839664″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /] My mom singing a song using her hands: jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $('#wp_mep_16').mediaelementplayer({ m:1 ,features: ['playpause','current','progress','duration','volume','tracks','fullscreen'] }); });

This week features radio producer and writer Scott Carrier, reading from his book, Prisoner of Zion. This program was produced by Larry Massett for Hearing Voices, and ran nationally in 2011. The great folks there have given me permission to air it on Rumble Strip Vermont. Shortly after the World Trade Center fell in autumn 2001, it became clear the United States would invade Afghanistan. Producer Scott Carrier decided he ought to go there too. Why? To see for himself: that’s what writers do. Who are these fanatics, these fundamentalists, the Taliban and the like? And what do they want? In this program, Carrier narrates his trip to Afghanistan. With his young guide and translator, Najibulla, they tour the horrors of war. Years later Naji tells Scott he must leave his homeland — the dangers for a translator have become extreme. Scott gets Najibulla accepted at Utah Valley University. Naji, it turns out, handles the Mormons quite well, while Scott, teaching at the same school, has a hard time with them. At the end Naji is graduating, about to get married, and start a new job; while Scott wonders whether he can stand teaching another year — or if he’ll wind up on the street like Naji. Thanks: Big thanks to Barrett Golding, Scott Carrier, and Larry Massett for giving me permission to air this show. Thank you to Larry for sending me tracks….over and over….

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/140254783″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /]This hour features four Vermont soldiers captured at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The program weaves together their stories of capture, internment, and the challenges of returning to civilian life. Credits: This program features Vermont veterans Cliff Austin, Harrison Burney, Bill Busier, and Robert Norton. It has aired on public radio affiliates across the country and on NPR’s Hearing Voices and on SoundPrint Produced in collaboration with Greg Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife Center.

This week’s episode of Rumble Strip is about the high art of Vermont road maintenance, and the diplomacy required to (almost) please everyone. It features interviews with East Montpelier road foreman Mike Garand and retired state highway dispatcher Ray Burke. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE ONE! Also, if you subscribe to the site, you’ll receive automatic announcements on upcoming shows. Thanks! My thanks to Andy Kolovos of the Vermont Folklife Center for his help with archival material for this program. Thanks also to Calais Selectboard member Scott Bassage for supplying audio from Calais Town Meeting.

Singer Miriam Bernardo talks about what can go right, and wrong—onstage. She talks about how she puts a life together as a musician in central Vermont, and what it feels like to sing, and live—wide open. And? We get to hear her sing. The show also features radio documentary producer Larry Massett, reading from the Barre police log. Photographs of Miriam by Josh Larkin Show music credits: Ribbon Bow: Writer unknown. Performed by Foley Artist Secret Words: Paul Bowles. Performed by Foley Artist Is Anything Wrong: Lhasa De Sela. Performed by Foley Artist They’ll Come Back: Sun Ra. Performed by Magic City/led by Michael Chorney

In the maiden voyage of Rumble Strip Vermont, musician and producer Colin McCaffrey discusses the expectation of inspiration in a cup of tea, music as a career, and mushroom foraging… Photo by Will Forest