story

[APWW #678] [Originally aired 2013]
The legendary Cuban pianist / bandleader / composer Ramón "Bebo" Valdés used to say, el día que me muera, no quiero lloradera. Que toquen una rumba, que tomen ron y coman chocolate, y que toquen mi música más bailable. The day I die, I don’t want weeping. Have a rumba, drink rum and eat chocolate, and play my most danceable music. 

Bebo passed on March 22, 2013 at the age of 94, and to honor his memory in high spirits, Afropop Worldwide producer Ned Sublette travels to the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival for an exclusive presentation: highlights from the historic Rumba Para Bebo – part concert, part memorial, part Cuban jazz jam, part rumba, and part Kongo ceremony. 

The show features Bebo's son and former pupil, the reigning grandmaster Cuban pianist / bandleader / composer Jesús "Chucho" Valdés and the Afro Cuban Messengers, and with special guests Jerry González, Omar Sosa and Malongo, Mayra Caridad Valdés, Lázara Cachao, Javier Massó “Caramelo,” Javier Colina, Mauricio Vallina, Paloma Manfugás, Eladio Reinón, David Pastor, and more! 

Rumba Para Bebo

Competing with all the lights and noise - it takes a brave person to busk on Freemont street, Las Vegas -  but armed with just an acoustic guitar and his lungs, Mark Drama is determined to be heard. In this piece Marc talks about his journey through life thus far, his passion for music and performing and a recent chance encounter with comedian Russell Brand.

Busking In Vegas: The Journey Of Marc Drama

Gail Thomas clashes with her oncologist while deciding how to fight her cancer.

Gail Thomas has several resumes: writer/actor/teacher/filmmaker/lawyer. She is a Moth StorySLAM winner and has performed with RISK!, Sideshow Goshko, the Liar Show. She teaches for the Story Studio. Voiceover credits include David Letterman, Beavis and Butthead and Angelo Rules. Her short comedy, My BFF, rated 95% funny on Funny or Die and audience favorite at New Filmmakers. As a speechwriter for the Tribeca Film Festival and the Gotham Awards, her words were uttered by Oscar winners and fancy people with great clothes. Gail is currently working on her fashion sense. Her website is www.gail-thomas.com.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on October 12, 2018, in an episode titled "Cancer Sucks: Stories from cancer survivors." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/8/24/cancer-sucks-stories-from-cancer-survivors

Gail Thomas: Not a Statistic, Just Me

Explorer George Kourounis finds himself growing increasingly anxious as he prepares to enter a fiery sinkhole known as the “Doorway to Hell.”

George Kourounis is a renowned global explorer and storm chaser who specializes in documenting extreme forces of nature including: tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, deserts, caves, avalanches and more. He is an Explorer In Residence for The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the Chairman of the Explorers Club Canadian Chapter, and has received several awards and medals for his efforts. He frequently finds himself driving into the eye of fierce storms, or descending ropes into actively erupting volcanic craters, often while hosting television programs including “Angry Planet” and others.  He has given four TEDx talks, and has addressed the United Nations Environmental Emergencies Forum. George’s expeditions have taken him to 65 countries on all seven continents to such far-flung places as: Madagascar, Turkmenistan, Vanuatu, Greenland, North Korea, Myanmar, and Antarctica.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on October 26, 2018, in an episode titled "Fear: Stories of daring adventures." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/8/24/fear-stories-of-daring-adventures

George Kourounis: The Doorway to Hell

A trip to the Kennedy Space Center reminds Wade Roush of what originally inspired him to pursue science journalism.  

Wade Roush is the host and producer of Soonish—a tech-and-culture podcast with the motto “The future is shaped by technology, but technology is shaped by us”—and co-founder of the Hub & Spoke audio collective. He’s a longtime science and technology journalist who trained in the history of science and technology at Harvard and MIT and has worked for Science, MIT Technology Review, Xconomy, and other publications. In 2014-15 he was acting director MIT’s Knight Science Journalism program. Wade’s puppy Gryphon thinks his master spends too much time speaking into microphones, but he mostly naps through it.

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on November 30, 2018, in an episode titled "Moments of Truth: Stories about pivotal moments." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/11/26/moments-of-truth-stories-about-pivotal-moments

Wade Roush: Facing the Challenger

A young man has the chance to work on a very secret, very powerful weapon that could put an end to world war II. The project involves no toxins, no chemicals, no shrapnel and no bullets. Instead, the project involves lots and lots of flying mammals. Lots.

Producer: John Fecile

Snap Judgment

The Other Secret Weapon

On January 13th 2018, at exactly 8:07 in the morning, one text message turned the state of Hawaii into a state of emergency.

From panic and fear to acceptance and joy, Snap Judgment explores the 38 minutes when the people of Hawaii faced an incoming ballistic missile threat.

Lead Producer: Jazmin Aguilera

Editor: Anna Sussman

Producers: Eliza Smith, Erika Lantz, John Fecile

Additional production assistance: Nancy Lopez

Original score and Sound design: Renzo Gorrio and Leon Morimoto

This Is Not A Drill

We talked with Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus about the group’s upcoming performance of DJ Spooky’s Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet, a multimedia hip hop concert experience about the history and exponential growth of the Internet. Commissioned by the Internet Archive. Catch the world premiere at YBCA Friday, January 25 in San Francisco. Get tickets: https://tickets.ybca.org/24699/24700

Valérie Sainte-Agathe, San Francisco Girls Chorus

Eyewitness

Sistah Boom is a women’s samba marching band that has been showing up in the streets at San Francisco Bay Area demonstrations for close to 40 years – bringing power, energy, and spirit.

Sistah Boom: Forty Years in the Streets

متسمعش  اغاني من عندي 🌝

The Kitchen Sisters, Peabody Award winning radio producers Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva, chronicle the hidden parts of history, the traditions and rituals people carry with them from one country to another, across one generation to the next. Stories of sonic pioneers, local kitchen visionaries, neighborhood heros, groundbreaking girls and path-finding women—people with a mission, a purpose, a story to tell. 

Our productions include the duPont-Columbia Award winning NPR series Hidden Kitchens, the Peabody Award winning NPR series Lost & Found Sound and The Sonic Memorial Project, The Hidden World of Girls, and The Making Of... {What people make in the Bay Area and why}, along with hundreds of other stories for public media.

Building Community through Story Telling


Valérie Sainte-Agathe, San Francisco Girls Chorus

The Kitchen Sisters

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