Blogs

Check out the latest in science news on the Endless Frontier at 6:00.

Then at 6:30, WXDU News will feature an episode of DW's Living Planet series called "Africa at Risk." This report examines ecological issues jeopardizing Africa's population and economy, including how climate change affects the continent despite its relatively low contribution of greenhouse gases, one engineer's response to power disruptions in South Africa, the impact of the water shortage in Kenya and threats to a species of tree that plays an integral role in medicine.

WXDU is excited to celebrate Record Store Day with our friends at Bull City Records, NYCTaper and Merge Records on April 18th. 

Merge acts Ex Hex, Mac McCaughan, and William Tyler will perform live outside Bull City Records in Durham (2600 Hillsborough Rd). Lagunitas Brewing Company will be on site, and we will be collecting donations to benefit Durham Public Schools via DonorsChoose.org. The whole event is free, open to the public. WXDU will be live-streaming the whole event with our good friend Jonas Blank of NYCTaper behind the mixing board. 

Saturday, April 18
3–6 p.m.
Chaz’s Bull City Records
2600 Hillsborough Road, Durham, NC
Rain or shine

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for Jukebox Graduates, the show produced by students in the Githens Middle School Bruce Springsteen fan club.

Then revisit the Golden Age of Radio at 7:00 with Goodnight Gracie. Tonight’s show highlights two 1950s programs that explore unknown frontiers, albeit in different times: Have Gun - Will Travel shares the exploits of Paladin, the gentleman gunslinger of the Wild West of 1875, and X Minus One, featuring tales of the future—in “a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds.”

The episodes we’ll play tonight have two common themes: deviance from behavioral expectations and the influence of war. “Comanche,” a July 5, 1959, episode of Have Gun - Will Travel tells the story of a man who, after deserting his cavalry unit, regains his sense of duty once he learns of his fellow soldiers’ fate. The story is interspersed with U.S. government propaganda PSAs that promote the importance of democracy and the goodwill efforts made by our servicemen overseas to “understand” foreign customs.

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for the Endless Frontier. Tonight's show explores new research that suggests that biological sex exists on a spectrum rather than as a set of binary options. Then we'll take a look at DNA's ability to store information and the structural similarities between the brain regions responsible for movement coordination in humans and lampreys.

At 6:30, WXDU News has an episode of Spectrum, Deutsche Welle's news magazine program, called "the Good and the Bad." DW's reporters examine the impacts of India's recent swine flu outbreak and how declining Ebola infection rates hamper vaccine development. This episode also delves into the effort to create a safer Internet, the move to get kids more involved with computer programming in Europe and music's growing medical application in Australia.

 WXDU proudly presents three of the South's best bands at Duke Coffeehouse on April 1st. Austin, TX gnarled postpunks SPRAY PAINT are stopping through Durham for the first time on a short run of dates around the Southeast. Their "Clean Blood, Regular Acid" LP on Monofonus Press was one of the best albums of 2014. Along for the ride are everyone's favorite Raleigh punk weirdos WHATEVER BRAINS, and leftfield hardcore manglers DAVIDIANS. This is a show you won't want to miss:

http://spraypaint.bandcamp.com/

http://whateverbrains.bandcamp.com/

http://sorrystaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/night-terrors

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for Hip Hop Historics, a show that tracks the careers of some of hip hop's biggest players as they responded to and impacted social and cultural movements. Tonight, DJ Goatt takes a look at how Run DMC took the leap into the mainstream.

Next at 7:00, I Liked You Better Before You Sold Out welcomes Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan to the studio to talk about their upcoming album, titled Half Finished Bobcat. The group will play a show with Pipe, Whatever Brains and Whorecough to celebrate the CD release on March 6 at Nightlight in Chapel Hill.

 Divaville Lounge is proud to host Jess Myhre of the Bumper Jacksons, this Sunday February 22 from 2-4 pm. Jess talks about their upcoming show in Durham, Thursday night at the RDU Rent Party, plays a sneak preview from their next album, explains mysteries like "The Suitcase" and "Amish Jazz," and throws down a fun challenge for the local swing dance community. Hope you can tune in! 

The Endless Frontier is first at 6:00 tonight. On tonight's show, learn more about a study from UNC that challenges long-held beliefs about how bubonic plague is transmitted. Plus, we'll discuss an African species of fish that offers a new model system for studying aging and experiements with mice that reveal new genetic interactions that help determine sex.

The news is next at 6:30. For tonight's show, we join Deutsche Welle for "Magic Moments," an episode of its Spectrum series. This program starts with a look at what scientists expect to learn from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which has finally reached Pluto. Later in the show, we'll hear more about the effort to establish a high-speed broadband network in rural India and a new filtration system that might save millions of people in Bangladesh from poisoning by high levels of arsenic in well water. Finally, the program shares one organization's goal to increase awareness of statues by making them talk and a New Zealand company's new product that brings science fiction to life--the personal jetpack.

Jukebox Graduates is up first at 6:00 tonight. Tune in as middle school students in this Bruce Springsteen fan club explore the music and career of the Boss.

Then at 7:00: It's the debut of Goodnight Gracie, where we revisit the Golden Age of Radio. On tonight’s show, we’ll pay tribute to Jack Benny—one of the greats of old-time radio—who would have celebrated his 39th birthday on February 14 (for the 83rd time). Up first: An episode of Maxwell House Coffee Time with George Burns and Gracie Allen called “How Jack Benny Became Cheap” that aired on March 31, 1949. The episode reveals that George and Gracie are responsible for their friend’s transformation from “Generous Jack” to the penny-pincher we know and love. We continue our tribute to Jack Benny with an episode of his own show on the Jell-O Program. “Jack’s Birthday” aired on the star’s 43rd birthday: February 14, 1937. This episode features Jack’s regular cast—Mary Livingstone, announcer Don Wilson, orchestra leader Phil Harris and singer Kenny Baker—plus a guest appearance of “the Old Maestro,” Ben Bernie, and a “tribute” to Jack’s nemesis, Fred Allen.

I don't know when Anthony Braxton might've thrown down in North Carolina before, but he's coming to Duke Performances on February 27, so I believe I'll do a couple of programs highlighting a sampling of his and his collaborators' musical contributions to the Earth.

The first will be Sunday, February 8th, noon to 2:00 pm. I'll focus on the earlier stuff, going up to maybe the mid-70's. Highlights will probably include his first solo saxophone record (the first solo sax LP by anyone ever), his collaborations with George Lewis, his creative orchestra music, the first album he ever appeared on (under the leadership of Muhal Richard Abrams), and suchlike things.

Then, two weeks later (Feb 22), same bat-time, I imagine I'll get more into his free improv collaborations of the 70's and 80's with such folks as Derek Bailey, Max Roach, Evan Parker, John Zorn, etc. Also, his large ensemble and smaller group recordings with some of his students and current collaborators like the Iridium box set. Maybe I'll sneak in something from his collection of Monk numbers. And then there's the Wolf Eyes imbroglio.