Third Coast International Audio Festival

This hour we buckle up and hit the road. Don't Drive Like My Brother by Jonathan Menjivar (This American Life [WBEZ], 2005) Charles Johnson was living in St. Louis, married with a young daughter, and he had no job. He looked around, and decided he'd try trucking. There was this company offering to train and hire drivers, so he signed up. The only problem was, he couldn't read. Stories and Driving by Sophie Townsend with Jesse Cox and Louis Mitchell (Radiotonic [ABC RN], 2014) Sophie Townsend and her husband used to go on long driving trips, taking the back roads and scenic routes, with a cup of hot coffee between them and a constant supply of Fellini soundtracks on the stereo. Sophie no longer drives those routes though, and she's slowly losing those memories because it’s another story, one that keeps forcing it's way up to the surface, that keeps eclipsing those earlier recollections. Drive Straight Ahead by Mira Burt-Wintonick (Wiretap [CBC], 2014) A driver enlists the help of her car's GPS system to help her navigate her own emotional loss. [NOT AVAILABLE ON PODCAST] Listen online — bit.ly/W6QSeD Route Talk by Chris Garcia and Nancy Updike (This American Life [WBEZ], 2013) Chris Garcia and his dad were driving home, listening to oldies, sharing a bag of chips. A totally familiar scene for them. They’d driven this route probably hundreds of time, but something odd was happening in the car, so Chris started recording their conversation on his phone. He tells producer Nancy Updike what happened. Bus To Mexico by Linda Lutton (WBEZ, 2014) Every week, hundreds of people board coach buses in Chicago and travel to Mexico. Linda Lutton used to live in Mexico, and has taken the 2,000-mile trip nearly a dozen times to and from Zamora, Michoacán. On her most recent trip, she brought a tape recorder along. Photo Rachel http://bit.ly/1mx1LOc

This week: the mother reigns supreme. Kingdom of Women by Erin O'Dwyer with Timothy Nicastri (360documentaries, ABC, 2013) In remote village in the Yunnan province of China exists one of the only matriarchal cultures in the world. In fact, there isn't even a word in the Mosuo language for 'husband' or 'father.' Children are raised by their mother's brother and all of the property stays in her name. Women entertain as many lovers as they wish, who visit under the cloak of darkness and leave before dawn. The Hidden World of Traveller Girls by The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva (Morning Edition, NPR, 2010) "Travellers" are sometimes thought of as the gypsies of Ireland. The girls marry young and have large families. By the time they’re well established, so is their authority in the community.

A live recording of Third Coast's recent listening event with WBEZ Education reporter Linda Lutton. Linda's reporting laid the foundation for This American Life's award-winning series on Chicago's Harper High School. She spoke with Re:sound host Gwen Macsai and shared some of her favourite stories and inspirations. Teens Share Their Secrets by Hearing Voices and Curie Youth Radio, 2008 Teenagers wish they could tell their parents a lot of things. These kids in Chicago and reveal their secrets in a rather public venue. Gone [Excerpt] by Linda Lutton (WBEZ, 2008) About 12,000 students drop out of Chicago Public Schools each year despite efforts by administrators and teachers to keep them on track. At Robeson High School on Chicago’s south side, even an ambitious program couldn’t stop students from slipping away. Reporter Linda Lutton tracked down a few absent Robeson students and discovered that they’d left school for very different reasons. To hear the full story: http://bit.ly/1muDqs4 A Season of Football at Harper High by Linda Lutton (WBEZ, 2013) WBEZ education reporter Linda Lutton spent much of her time at Harper High School as part of the This American Life's reporting on that school and its violence-plagued community. Now, she takes us to meet Harper's football team. Get a glimpse of how Friday Night Lights feels when you're living in the shadow of gun violence You Want Good Meat? You Better Have Clout by Linda Lutton (WBEZ, 2009) For anyone into barbecuing, these are days you just have to pull out the grill. In Chicago, what you put on that grill can depend on who you know. In this story, WBEZ stumbles onto the role clout can play in everyday Chicago life.

This hour: they built it and we see who came. Another Planet [Excerpt] by David Weinberg, Brendan Baker and Nick van der Kolk (Love + Radio, The Organist, KCRW, 2014) The story of Clyde Casey, a street performer who used surrealism and abstract art to fight crime on Los Angeles’ Skid Row in the 1980s, and the creator of a place called Another Planet. Listen to the entire story: http://loveandradio.org/2014/04/another-planet/ The Treehouse by Karen Duffin with Nick White (Unfictional, 2014) In rural Crossville, Tennessee, you will find a peculiar mansion. It's 15,500 square feet and eight stories high, and spans seven trees.It is the world's largest tree house. This is the story of Horace Burgess, the man who made the tree house, and the price he had to pay for it. Young Ruins by Avery Trufelman with Sam Greenspan, Katie Mingle and Roman Mars (99% Invisible, 2014) At the northwestern edge of San Francisco, right on the Pacific Ocean, is a curious jumble of concrete ruins. You wouldn’t know just looking at it, but this ruin is quite young. It’s what’s left of Sutro Baths, a palatial indoor swimming pool and amusement park built in 1898. Photo Samantha Carlson http://bit.ly/1rSTPdq

This hour: The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! The Cosmic Frequency by Jessie Borrelle (Paper Radio, 2011) An American ham radio operator in Austrialia makes contact with Russian cosmonauts from the space station, Mir. The Drinking Cure Gregory Warner (Marketplace, 2011) In America we have Alcoholics Anonymous... in Russia, there's an entirely different approach to dealing with the problem. Icons of Soviet Design by Julia Barton and Roman Mars (99% Invisible, 2011) Soviet-era goods attempted (with varying degrees of accuracy) to mimic stuff from the U.S. These campy, industrial designs have been documented in a new book by Michael Idov. Pro-Putin, Anti-Putin by Julia Barton (The World, 2012) Alexander Yellin writes songs that others sing. Ten years ago, he bet a friend $200 that he could create a hit song in Russia on the cheap. Yellin won the bet with his huge song 'A Man Like Putin'.

This hour: what happens when we open our ears to the surprising symphonies all around us. Biophony by Jill DuBoff (Studio 360, WNYC, 2012) Scientist Bernie Krauss believes that animals communicate with each other on their own frequencies, and together, those frequencies interact in a way not unlike a symphony orchestra. He calls the phenomenon "biophony." Supermarket Symphony by Nina Perry (Falling Tree Productions, BBC Radio 4, 2012) Composer and radio producer Nina Perry found beauty, musicality and personal stories in a place that may surprise you: a supermarket. In a place where most of us rush in and rush out, Nina stopped to listen. Symphony of Sirens by Charles Maynes (PRX, 2013) Standing on top of a building in Moscow in 1922, an avant-guard Russian musician was poised to conduct a symphony. Of sorts. This symphony included navy ship sirens, hydro-airplanes, cannons, and the entire Soviet flotilla in the Caspian Sea, to name a few of its instruments. Producer Charles Maynes set out to learn more about this unusual symphony and the man behind it. D Minor: The Ice Queen by Pietropaolo with Denise Ball (CBC, 2012) If the musical key of D minor were a person, what would she be like? Mournful? Dark? Sultry? According to Producer Paolo Pietropaolo, she's definitely a femme fatale. Photo Paul Robinson http://bit.ly/1rnlYwh

This hour, waiting. Waiting in line, waiting for an organ transplant and waiting for a bus that's never, ever going to come. In Line With Saturday Night Klein by Sean Cole (Weekend America, 2007) Outside of Rockefeller Center in New York, you'll find the standby queue for Saturday Night Live tickets. Hundreds wait, and few will get in, but one man keeps the whole thing in order. The Bus Stop by Lulu Miller (Radiolab, 2010) In this story, the bus stop is there, the people are there. The only thing missing is the bus. Four Failing Lungs by Catie Talarski (WNPR, 2011) For Beth and Brian, a lung transplant could extend their lives for years. Or, it could lead to rejection and continued suffering. Photo Anonymous http://bit.ly/1mprjjM

This hour: we explore two struggling Texas towns through the beautiful and mournful voices of those who remain. Poetry, Texas by Pejk Malinovski, music by Gerald Menke (Falling Tree Productions, BBC Radio 4, 2012) In the Northeastern corner of Texas there is a tiny town called Poetry. The unexpected name caught the attention of Danish radio producer Pejk Malinovski, who is himself a poet. Pejk traveled to Texas to meet the people of Poetry and to figure out how such a fragile speck of a town ekes out an existence. Wellington, Texas by Katherine Wells (Re:sound debut, 2013) Evidence of the boom and bust cycle in Wellington, Texas can be found in the story of the once-grand movie theater in the center of town. Producer Katherine Louise Wells was born in Wellington, and she returned with mic in hand to paint this sonic portrait of a scrappy town trying to stay in the saddle.

Without Name by Lina Misitzis (Here Be Monsters, 2013) Eugene up and left for California one morning without packing a thing from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Producer Lina Misitzis and her roommate Adrian got the apartment at a discount. The condition, though, was that they took the place as Eugene left it—full of his left-behind life. For two years they enjoyed Eugene's magazine subscriptions, ate out of his bowls, slept on his old couch and used his designer spices. Photo Lina Misitzis

This week one woman's story unfolds through many threads. Songs My Mother Taught Me by Chris Brookes (CBC, 1998) When soldiers from Newfoundland came to London to fight in WWII, many met and married local women and brought their British war brides back home after the war ended. This story is mostly about one such bride, Producer Chris Brookes' mother, a woman of mystery, charm, and above all, secrets. After her death she unwittingly left behind a few key items — including a diary — and from these Chris begins to unravel her story. He discovers her thirst for life on the one hand, a deep sense of longing on the other, and lots more than he expected about himself.

This hour: Dads, in all their glory. Flanking on the Far Day by Kent Hoffman and Kelly McCarthy (Outfront, CBC, 2006) Kelly McCarthy’s dad always loomed larger than life. He did things, fixed things and saved people. He seemed completely immune to trouble... until the day trouble found him. The Ground We Lived On by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and Sarah Kramer (All Things Considered, NPR, 2006) Reporter and writer Adrian Nicole LeBlanc was named after her father, Adrian Leon Leblanc, and their name is only one of the many deeply loving bonds they share. When Adrian Leon was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer, Adrian Nicole dealt with the impending loss of her father by documenting the last months of his life. The Small Person Aquisition Project by Kristin Nelson, edited by Dick Miller (The Current, CBC, 2010) Becoming a parent is a decision that can be complicated enough for any couple. But for Bear Bergman and J Wallace it was an especially complicated decision and process, as both are transgendered men who began their lives as females. Their journey through conception, pregnancy and childbirth is both exceptional and mundane, unique and universal. Vanity Hair by Gwen Macsai (Morning Edition, NPR, 1994) They say you can’t choose your parents. But if Re:sound host Gwen Macsai could, she would definitely choose a dad who was a little less... hairy.

This hour: stories of people in love, who just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. The Forty Year Courtship of Peter and Jaqueline Headan by Michael Garofalo and Jasymn Belcher (StoryCorps, Morning Edition, 2012) We've all waited for something or someone, but few of us have the patience or persistence to wait for 40 years. Dina and Zak: A Love Story by Dea Lalovic and Kirsti Melville (360 Documentaries, ABC, 2012) On April 6, 1992, Serb militants opened fire on thousands of peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, beginning a siege that killed thousands, separated families and left 400,000 residents trapped in a war torn city. Around the same time, Sarajevo became the backdrop to a love story that persevered through incredible obstacles. Falling by Jonathan Mitchell, written by Chet Siegel (The Truth, 2013) From the entirely fictitious podcast The Truth, comes a story that has more twists and turns than a luge run and centers on a persistence that borders on obsession.

This hour we step inside the mind and listen to our thoughts. I Am Good At [NOTE: This piece is not available due to limited rights] by Cristal Duhaime with Mira Burt-Wintonick (WireTap, CBC 2012) The thoughts running through the heads of a couple as they meet for the first time on a blind date. Everything, Nothing, Harvey Keitel by Pejk Malinovski (Between The Ears, Falling Tree Productions, BBC Radio 3, 2013) A man struggles to meditate as he realises he is sitting next to actor Harvey Keitel. Feet by Gwen Macsai and Taki Telonidis (Morning Edition, NPR, 1994) Re:sound host Gwen Macsai meditates on the two things she inherited from her mother: her feet. Guided By Voices [extract] by Benjamin Walker (Too Much Information with Benjamin Walker, WFMU 2011) After reconnecting with an old girlfriend who finds him on Facebook, host Benjamin Walker tries to make some money doing experimental medical testing.

This hour: the American Icons series from WNYC's Studio 360. I Love Lucy by Jenny Lawton, edited by David Krasnow (Studio 360, 2010) In real life Lucille Ball was the first female head of a production studio, but on I Love Lucy, she played a woman who could never quite make it in the working world. In this excerpt from an hour-long documentary, Studio 360 explores why so many people still love (and sometimes hate) Lucy. Kind of Blue by Ave Corillo (Studio 360, 2007) When it was released in 1959, the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue was well received, but it was just one of many popular jazz albums that year. Over time, however, Kind of Blue has come to be regarded not just as Davis’s best work, but as one of the most influential jazz albums of all time. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Derek John and Lu Olkowski (Studio 360, 2011) When The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, the New York Times called it a “brilliant, painful, important book.” The Autobiography... is a milestone in America’s struggle with race and as Studio 360 explores in this excerpt from an hour-long documentary, everyone who reads the book has a different relationship to it.

Easy Love by Jaye Kranz (Long Story Short [ABC Radio National], 2014) Twenty six years ago, Warren Kirk was at home in his Melbourne east-suburban rental. He was freshly showered, he was in his kitchen, and he was about to do something he'd never done before. Photo Emma Danielsson