YARN

Dad to dad: a preparation

Featuring the voices of:   P.J. Escobio, Tom Foley, Jeff Golick, Jason Kravits, Jeremy J. Lee, and David Markus
Recorded: September 2009, New York, NY
Music:  Luiz Bonfá
Music Coordination: Jeff Golick

In Fall 2009 as my wife entered the late stage of pregnancy I asked several friends who are recent or long-time dads for advice on becoming a father myself.  I interviewed all six over the phone, requesting two pieces of advice, one for first time dads in general and one for me specifically.  I'd worked out a precise timeline for transcription, editing, and publication of the piece.  But things didn't happen according to schedule.  Photo by Leda Ward.

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(15:03)  

P.J. Escobio is an actor and producer who lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughter.  Tom Foley is a filmmaker who lives in Marblehead, MA with his wife and son.  Jeff Golick is pro-Brooklyn, pro-jazz, pro-friends, and anti-oxidant.  Jeremy J. Lee lives with his wife Maggie and son Lucas in Sunnyside, NY; Lucas made his Broadway debut about a month before he took his first breath.  Jason Kravits is an actor/writer/director, and especially father, living in NYC.  In addition to David Markus’ work as a model for Conde Naste Traveler and the New York Times, he is a hedge fund manager, husband and father of two pretty wonderful kids, Nicholas and Nora. 

Cassavetes' blessing

Story by:  Alexis Iacono
Recorded: August 2009, New York, NY
Music: Exploding Star Orchestra
Music Coordination: Jeff Golick

After that initial spark of inspiration, how do performers know that the profession they've chosen is the right one?  For one young girl, growing up on Long Island in the early eighties, that confirmation comes in the form of a chance encounter with an unlikely source of confidence and self-esteem.

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Alexis Iacono is a professional film and theater actress (film credits here), cellist and tap dancer whose fancy footwork can be heard underneath her voice in this piece.

The Bakers of Butter Lane

Featuring the voices of:  Maria Baugh, Linda Lea, and Pamela Nelson
Recorded: February 2009, New York, NY
Music: Django Reinhardt; Pink Martini

Is there such thing as a recession-proof product in a downward-sliding economy?  Three vets of the corporate world are banking on the cupcake as today's luxury item of choice, and that the secret to building a better confection lies somewhere between traditional Southern baking and the stylish sophistication all New Yorkers secretly crave.

Featured by PRX as a News Station Pick for April 2009.  Broadcast April 4, 2009 on WILL-AM's "Sidetrack" (Urbana, IL) and March 19, 2009 on WAMC-FM's "Midday Magazine" (Great Barrington, MA).

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(8:20)

Butter Lane is located at 123 East 7th Street in New York City.  You can read more about the bakery here.  Photo by Lisa Zullig.

Brotherly Bond: Anticipating "Quantum of Solace"

Featuring:  Eric Winick and T.J. Winick
Recorded: October 2008, Brooklyn, NY
Music: Jack White & Alicia Keys, with selections by John Barry

With "Quantum of Solace," Daniel Craig's second entry in the long-standing James Bond film franchise, two brothers take the opportunity to discuss a lifelong fixation that has become, in a sense, their most meaningful area of common ground.

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(6:47)

Based in Washington, DC, T.J. Winick is currently a correspondent with ABC NewsOne, the network's affiliate news service.  The material in this piece is an excerpt from a much longer conversation I had with T.J., but is representative of many such conversations from over the years.  The piece was my first attempt to create a timely "soft feature."

How are you who you are?

Produced by Eric Winick and Jay Allison for Transom.org
Recorded:  April 2005, Marblehead, MA (interview); May 2008, Woods Hole, MA (voiceover)
Music:  Ludwig van Beethoven

The Nadeaus were, to most eyes, an ideal family – enlightened, brilliant, prosperous. But then things turned upside down. In a remarkable series of events, Doug and Lynn Nadeau were forced to re-define their identities and affirm the foundation of their love.

Featured by PRX as a "Rainbow Radio" LGBT Pride Pick for June 2009.

Broadcast February 1, 2010 on KUT's "O'Dark 30" (Austin, TX).

A 12-minute version, "The Crossdressing Family Man From Down the Block," was broadcast November 28, 2008 on NPR's "All Things Considered."  Additional production by Larry Massett of Hearing Voices.  To stream the show, click here.

Broadcast June 9, 2009 on KUOW's "KUOW Presents" (Seattle).  Broadcast September 8, 2008 on KFAI's "Listening Lounge" (Minneapolis-St. Paul).  

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(21:13)

Additional support for this work was provided by the Open Studio Project, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Crass reunion

Featuring the voices of: Kimberly Bradley, Amy Leith, Chris Robinson, Tamara Taylor, Eric Winick and Elizabeth Zale
Recorded: June 2005, Middlebury, VT (interviews); July 2005, Waterford, CT (voiceover)
Music: Yann Tiersen

What if they threw a reunion and no one showed up? Five friends share perspectives on change in the midst of a 15-year college class reunion that, through a series of bizarre events, hews far closer to their college experience than they ever imagined.

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(16:58)