Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Radio Radio

I would be remiss if I didn't make some kind of post for Ms. Rebecca Flowers' latest segment on NPR's All Things Considered.

g-d, I write about her a lot, don't I? Her agent should be forking over some cash to me.

Becky: author, mother, wife, gamer, friend, commentator has been doing sporadic ATC spots for the last decade or so. Sometimes she is really really good about letting me know they are coming. Sometimes, not so much.

Take Web Site Story. Denton and I were going to meet my parents for dinner (Corky & Lenny's - dontcha know!) and it came on as soon as we got in the car. We howled. At the end, Robert Siegel or possibly Noah Adams read off the names of the NPR Players - one of them being Becky. We had no forewarning.

Oddly enough (or not so much) my parents heard it too. At least we had something to talk about over kosher pickles and deli sammiches.

Other spots, I got to see drafts of before she recorded them. And the piece for Father's Day a few five years back was just golden. It probably didn't hurt that I know her dad, but it is a good piece even if you've never met Jim. You'll feel like you have after you listen to it.

So anyhoo - yesterday, Becca had a new ATC piece for their Three Books series. I think I got 4-5 hours notice - which can be a considerable head-start with her, but I wasn't in a car to hear it. So I had to listen to it on-line. Here. Actually, I got a few weeks notice - kind of. She put out Twitter and FaceBook and email messages asking for book suggestions that were a bit more out of the norm than the ones most would think of.

She does a good job (as always). But the more surprising thing to me is that Tama Janowitz is still writing books - and that someone is still publishing them. Hasn't 1986 already come and gone? I'm sure Becky nails it when she states "it's not great literature".

Mr. Becky might want to take the advice of I Capture the Castle. He can lock Mrs. Becky up in the cellar until she turns out her next book. Or at least until she includes me in it as a character.

You can find all (or most) of Rebecca Flowers' NPR work right here. ....and of course, feel free to comment on her works and recommend it via the NPR site. Yes, it's a shamless plug. I'm not above it.



Song by: Elvis Costello & the Attractions

1 comment:

rebecca said...

Thank God you're not above it! You're my best shill!

I didn't know about the Web Site Story story, or I forgot. That's a classic!

YOU don't get much notice because neither do *I*. I was told they wanted 3 Books at noon - in the studio (an hour from my house) at 3pm - it was on the air at 5:30.

That's how NPR rolls.