Hello,
This week’s episode is a holiday special: The Two Marys, originally aired last December and also appearing on This American Life’s Holiday Spectular the year before. I also imagine that the first bit of this will appear in Goldstein’s forthcoming (exciting!) book: Ladies and Gentleman, the Bible!
You can also visit the oft-linked Wiretap Holiday Special feat. Howard and Desmond Chackowicz.
Also, the National Post article somewhat alludes to the end of last week’s episode, Meet the New Boss (finally have the summary up) and definitely discusses Cookie Crisp and clamping colons. Enjoy it: “Like the say in Plattsburg: Crapola in a box.”
Just posted a summary for Come on Get Happy! This episode features Josh’s dour voiced friend, Peter Gonda and the Guiness Book record holder Krazy Tyrone, master of Simon Sez and jumproping (”It sounded like a hurricane!”).
While trying to Google for the proper spelling of Peter Gonda’s name (Didn’t find it by the way. UPDATE: Thanks to commenter, now know correct spelling) I found this:
39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION, Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage
I didn’t read the whole text, but they mention Wiretap. This is what Ian Ferrirer, former president of the Quebec Writer’s Federation said:
In Montreal, CBC radio is the voice of Quebec English literature, because, with very few exceptions, the commercial stations just don’t carry literature. If my writing colleagues and I have any celebrity in this province, it is because of CBC radio. They invite us on the air, talk about our books, present our work to the English audience in Quebec and to the larger Canadian audience, who avidly listen to shows like WireTap and who find out from Canada Reads that Montreal’s Heather O’Neill has written one of the hottest books of the season. It is the station that shows that it pays to be literate, and by doing so it promotes literacy as no other broadcaster does. CBC sponsors contests for writers and presents prizes to writers. They were at the Blue Metropolis literary festival and the Festival Voix d’Amériques and Spoken Word Festival. I can say without exaggerating that without CBC radio, much of Quebec English-language culture would be unavailable, even to the community in which it is created. In Quebec, the core mandate of CBC radio has been to present the best of English-language culture to the minority English-language community, and to show that community all of the smaller communities of which it is composed. From this core, the mandate extends into giving English speakers more insight into the French majority who surround us and who are among us, and, as more and more regional programming goes national, into showing the range and excitement of Quebec English culture to the rest of the country. The fact that funding has not increased for CBC radio is an effective cut for each year that this policy remains in place. It means that each year there are fewer producers, fewer shows, more reruns, and less work being heard by Canadians for Canadians. For radio in particular, this is critical, as it is right on the verge of becoming instead of an ephemeral medium an archival medium. Each week the CBC receives calls asking “How do I find copies of WireTap or Ideas” or “ How can I hear that music special that was on Roots Montreal last week?” The CBC’s mandate–and the key to CBC’s future–is to be in a position to present content to its listeners when they want it, how they want it, and where they want it. In the future, the key portal for CBC to fulfil this mandate will probably shift to the Internet. This means that the show a producer worked on for months won’t disappear after a broadcast or two. In an ideal world, it will be available to any CBC listener who wants to hear it. In the process, an authoritative archive of our culture will be created, which people can download and listen to any time they like.
I’m pretty glad all of you up there are knocking down the doors for Wiretap. I would too, but being a U.S. citizen, I think my outcry would be a bit ineffectual. Anyway, that bit was from 2007 – ancient history, I know. But interesting to me, nonetheless.
Just posted episode summaries of “Human Nature” and “Who Wants to Live Forever?”
Here’s what’s inside:
And more, of course.
Hello, handful of readers.
I have been terribly remiss. Some stuff came up last week and I completely missed recording the episode*.
Luckily, though, I grabbed this week’s episode, “Human Nature,” with Heather O’Neill, Howard Chackowicz, Gregor Ehrlich and Dyna Goldstein. Summary from CBC:
“Human Nature?” This week on WireTap, flying cows that leak milk from the sky, and a hippopotamus that hangs upside down like a sloth: it’s Heather O’Neill’s retelling of the H.G. Wells classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau. Plus, Jonathan’s weekend alone in the woods turns out to be less like Weldon Pond [sic], and more like the Blair Witch Project.
“Human Nature?”
This week on WireTap, flying cows that leak milk from the sky, and a hippopotamus that hangs upside down like a sloth: it’s Heather O’Neill’s retelling of the H.G. Wells classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau. Plus, Jonathan’s weekend alone in the woods turns out to be less like Weldon Pond [sic], and more like the Blair Witch Project.
Also, last week’s National Post article was weird – published on Monday and not findable on the National Post Web site. So here it is: Rain Drops Keep Fallin’ on My Head. A good read, for anyone interested in hearing more about Jon Tucker’s bald spot.
*update: It appears that my hero SupernintendoChalmers got last week’s episode, “Who wants to live forever.”
So hooray for that. I haven’t even listened to it, so I’ll have a summary up when I do.
Also, you’ll notice on the CBC Web site, there is a clip of Jonathan talking to the devil. That comes from the Wiretap Halloween Special from 2004, which features at least one squirrel fight.
Today’s Wiretap episode is a re-run – good thing, because I probably would’ve missed it again.
But anyway, it’s “Mending the Past” and features Gregor Ehrlich and Jonathan at the park and Heather O’Neill’s story “Welcome to La La Land.”
Thanks to SupernintendoChalmers extra efforts, we have the newest episode: “Where Do Babies Come From and Where Do Babies Go?”
This two act show features Heather O’Neill reading her story “Where Babies Come From” and Howard house sitting for a rich couple on his paper route. Pretty straightforward.
The National Post article today, oddly, was ran on Tuesday as well. There was a picture with the Tuesday one, as seen above. Not sure what’s going on here. Anyway, discussed in this post are Jim Carrey, Dairy Queen, The Jewish New Year (which the U.S. congress gets the day off for, by the way) and the vice presidential debates.
Anyway, I think I’m going to start trying to determine what songs appear in Wiretap. This American Life has a system for figuring that out that involves looking at a master list of songs used. I’m going to try something else. From now on, I’m going to identify recurring songs in episodes and track which episode they are used in. If someone can figure out the actual name of the piece, then I’ll go through and replace the fake name with the real name of the song.
For example, in this episode, during Heather’s piece, there is that song with a kind of I Heart Huckabees feel to it (not that actual I Heart Huckabees song, which is used in several episodes) and a synth-y sounding “ooooo” voice. I’ve dubbed this “Oo Ah.”
And then later in the same piece there is what I’m going to call “Creepy MusicBox.”
That’s where we’ll start. I’ll make a page for these songs later.
Good news, Heather O’Neill fans. This week’s episode features a short story from the long absent author of “Lullabies for Little Criminals.” Here’s the blurb from CBC.ca:
This Week’s Episode: “Where Do Babies Come From and Where Do Babies Go” Ever wondered if you were delivered by a stork as a baby, or dug up from a cabbage patch? On WireTap this week, a lesson in human reproduction as award-winning author Heather O’Neill reads her short story “Where Babies Come From”. Plus, Howard takes house sitting to a whole new level.
You can listen to the promo here.
Google is a haven for red herrings. For example:
In 2003, (back when they introduced Heather O’Neill as the author of Two Eyes Are You Sleeping, rather than Lullabies for Little Criminals) This American Life ran the show “The Other Man,” which in the last act featured a story by Heather O’Neill and Jonathan Goldstein about Arizona’s initial distaste for “Johnny.” Here’s the blurb:
Act Three. Mr. Fun. Jonathan Goldstein and Heather O’Neill tell the true story of what happens when a person tries to intrude on a idyllic family of two, one of whom loves him, one of whom does not. For the first few years Jonathan knew Heather, her daughter Arizona was not very fond of him. For a long time he was nineteenth on Arizona’s list of favorite people — behind the neighbor’s dog and the plumber. Jonathan Goldstein is the author of the book, Lenny Bruce is Dead. Heather O’Neill’s is the author of Two Eyes Are You Sleeping, a book of poetry. (15 minutes)
Act Three. Mr. Fun.
Jonathan Goldstein and Heather O’Neill tell the true story of what happens when a person tries to intrude on a idyllic family of two, one of whom loves him, one of whom does not. For the first few years Jonathan knew Heather, her daughter Arizona was not very fond of him. For a long time he was nineteenth on Arizona’s list of favorite people — behind the neighbor’s dog and the plumber. Jonathan Goldstein is the author of the book, Lenny Bruce is Dead. Heather O’Neill’s is the author of Two Eyes Are You Sleeping, a book of poetry. (15 minutes)
Some of my favorite highlights:
More JG and HO history. They were “introduced by friends” at a bar, where JG was impressed by how fast Hettie drank beer and she was impressed with how JG was wearing glasses with only one arm. “You look like a cartoon doctor from the side.”
Also, it notes that he had a job teaching magic to kids after school. Which means that the stuff in the Wiretap episode “Everyday Magic,” is founded in a bit of truth.
Jonathan described Zouzou as “a muppet baby Joe Pesci.”
Also, Heather notes Jonathan’s anal retentiveness in this episode, describing his housekeeping tips as “bourgeois” (i.e. not putting your clothes on the line at midnight, cleaning the crisper, and not allowing Zouzou to run through the hall naked in his boots).
Also there’s a part where Jonathan refuses to bring Zouzou’s burger up to the counter for the third time to ask for more pickles and she throws a tantrum. That sounds totally like Jonathan Goldstein’s character on Wiretap. JG (the real JG) is quite fond of the word “acquiesce” and I’m sure the first two times he was simply doing so at Hettie’s bidding. But JG the character is also extremely passive and non-confrontational and would be extremely distressed at the prospect of inconveniencing a Burger King employee for his own sake (see: “Far Away Places” where Gregor advises that JG adopt a Brooklyn accent in order to get more respect).
Anyway, of course they end up friends in the end, but this is a very entertaining and illuminating piece from 5 years ago. It’s always interesting to hear the Wiretap gang on TAL because they are always more candid and less outrageous. Not that I’d want them to be that way on Wiretap (in fact, that’s what makes Wiretap entertaining…the outrageous lies) but its always a treat to peek behind the curtain.
Hello!
I’m assuming that this week’s episode is akin to a re-enactment on Unsolved Mysteries. Although its billed as salvaged tape a la Blair Witch Project, I’m pretty sure this is all re-creation. It has the exact same audio “texture” as Wiretap and I think I doubt that JG had the chops he does now back when he was a neophyte. Plus, JG’s parents appear as the voices of random loonies and goonies at Dragon’s Throat.
Also, Gregor appears, playing himself – Jonathan Goldstein’s pre-med roommate. Not sure if that really happened or not.
Jonathan mentions the term “Hi-Bye Friends” in the episode which you may remember from “Allure of the Mean Friend” episode from This American Life.
Also, in the credits he mentions Heather O’Neill and “dog scratchings” which is absolutely baffling to me. I emailed CBC about it but we’ll see if they have any explanation. Zackary Clark appears as a voice as does some guy with a confounding last name which I won’t even attempt to spell (sounds like Bez-moe-gus).
Anyway, tune in – one big fat 20 minute act of gonzo journalism, Goldstein-style.
