New Radio Habits

Typically, and for some time, I have the radio in my car tuned to an NPR station. I get most of my news there, as well as most of the "human interest" input I get from that source.

Since we're at the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I thought I'd make mention of one small thing that has stuck with me for the year.

Before a year ago, I would occasionally hear the show "American Routes" on Saturday afternoons. It was somewhat interesting to me, but not all that much. It's a music show, and is produced in New Orleans. It is centered around the music of the south, particularly the brand of music that emanates from New Orleans. It goes back in history, sometimes more than a century.

Since my awareness of the New Orleans area has been elevated this past year, as it has been for all of us, I have paid a little more attention to the program, even if only subconsciously at times.

However, over the past two or three months, I have really enjoyed the program. They have interviews with human interest value, and great music, better than before it seems. This is the program notes of this week's program:

From Sadie Green and Mr. Brown to Lil' Liza Jane and Jim Dandy, this American Routes deals with the nomenclature of music. We'll chat with the San Antonio native and leader of the barnstorming 1950's band Mando and the Chili Peppers who tells us about taking a turn from Tejano into rock and roll and ending up with a stage name that stuck. And the New Orleans brothers and horn players James and Troy Andrews talk about the origin of their nicknames, 12 and Shorty. Plus, we'll hear from a Tom Sawyer who runs, not rafts, on the Mississippi and a man many of you may know already, John Smith.

While this is probably not everybody's cup of tea, or jello shots, whichever, it has become much more interesting to me, and my musical horizon has expanded just a little bit in a direction that I had not really considered before.