Art's Birthday 2013 (EXCERPT)

Voyage To The Forbidden Planet

Landfall on the Forbidden Planet
 
After a harrowing encounter with the Nebulaic Alliance, at which point they may or may not have been cloned, our intrepid NRRF cosmonauts leave the solar system to land upon a mysterious distant planet, enshrouded in fog and murk.

Landfall On The Forbidden Planet (EXCERPT)

Pirate Picnic in the Bermuda Triangle
 
Five jolly NRRF pirates set out to sea in their sloop to ride the radio waves. They quickly encounter a massive storm which diverts them into the Bermuda Triangle, where the ship is scuttled and underwater adventures abound, complete with creatures massive and minute, friendly and menacing. Finally they wash up on a remote island, and have to fend for themselves. This backyard radio event includes a cooking demonstration.
 
“It's just the innocent devil's triangle / It dares you to come down, that's it's angle / That's the way of Bermuda.” -Roky Erickson

Pirate Picnic In The Bermuda Triangle (EXCERPT)

The Occult: I Think Up Demons
 
Radio has often been implicated in spiritualist encounters. We put the waves to the test in search of otherworldly communicants, with all the safety precautions of exorcism at the ready. One brave (or foolhardy?) pirate voyages into the interior space of the radio itself, but will he survive?

The Occult: I Think Up Demons (EXCERPT)

The Brood II: Insect Invasion
 
Year 17 has arrived, the genus Magicicada are crawling out of the ground, and playing the largest noise show of all time. But there may be more than one genus of insect emerging from its pupa.... Join the swarm as insects invade the radio.

The Brood II: Insect Invasion (EXCERPT)

Wint'ry Mix: Escape Pod to Snowland

It is thought that space is a cold and lonely place, and if there was water, and things for it to drip from, there would be icicles. And yet, as humankind, we, for some reason, are curious as to whether or not there is someone out there, maybe even a frosty someone; perhaps an angry frozen hoarde of burritos, or maybe just a whole lot of icy gnome-creme bars. In this episode of NRRF B Radio, called 'Wint'ry Mix,' the intrepid explorers on the good ship NRRF have had to abandon ship in their escape pods. Chased by Nebulor the Snowflakian, our heroes will be forced again to cross Nebulaeic Alliance territory to face the frozen clones in a cold battle of wits. The action begins to snowball as the escape pods blast free from the good ship NRRF. Will our heroes be forever separated from the NRRF, or will they defeat the frozen clones and re-join their mission to explore the outer limits of the Nebulaeic Allliance's space space? Or, will the entire episode devolve into an ice cream social?

Wint'ry Mix: Escape Pod To Snowland (EXCERPT)

The Electric Earth

The Frosty and Frothy NRRF Pirates have found themselves and their trusty schooner locked on a course DUE SOUTH owing to a badly malfunctioning compass. As they approach what appears to be the frozen, southern polar landmass, they suddenly discover that their ship is no longer moving. This episode begins with the crew celebrating 'nothing to do' as they are immobilized by the pack ice, so they decide to sing songs while quickly finishing off the rum. In their stupor, the crew encounters one very smelly and dreadfully lost Ijiraq which causes them to vacate the boat and wander off on to the ice where they experience many strange sensations and illusions: an unsettling shift in gravity, rings around the sun, a very convincing fata morgana, and several frightening aural hallucinations, all of which confuse them further. As they press forward to nowhere, the ice and permafrost begins to give way under their feet. Is this an earthquake? Is the land melting away? Eventually the crew finds magnificent caverns filled with magic energy crystals that seem to be connected to a giant electric ray transmitter. What is this strange world? A mirage? Madness? A secret military installation? Or the solution to the world's fossil fuel addiction? TUNE IN TO FIND OUT THE ANSWERS TO THESE AND MANY OTHER PRESSING QUESTIONS like, how can one Ijiraq be so smelly? What is a fata morgana? Is it really ever a good idea to drink that much rum?

The Electric Earth (EXCERPT)

The Forbidden Planet Awakens: The Refrain
This episode of NRRF B Radio finds our fearless space pirates in a real pickle. The Snow Pod used to Escape to Snowland has melted upon launch due to a bad calculation involving a floating point decimal number. As the pirates fall back to the surface of the Forbidden Planet, they notice what appear to be creatures resembling marshmallows playing musical instruments. While falling, they speculate on what this strange music might sound like and use their space radios to see if there are any readable frequencies. Will the pirates be able to tune in? Will they land softly? 

This 36 minute excerpt features Anna Friz, Jeff Kolar, Peter Speer, Stephen Germana, and Jonny Farrow. It was broadcast live from 5 nodes on the  internet (Chicago, New York (Wave Farm), North Carolina, Florida, and Abu Dhabi)to FM radio in Glasgow. And for those of you familiar with the sound, you may notice Quintron's Weather Warlock, which was conscripted for the broadcast from the Wave Farm in upstate NY.

The Forbidden Planet Awakens: The Refrain

NRRF is a collaborative effort to make unlicensed neighborhood radio art. For this Chicago iteration, the core group of noisemakers consists of Jonny Farrow, Anna Friz, Steve Germana, Jeff Kolar, Peter Speer, with Sarah Knudtson (documentation and props wrangling). Earlier projects include street radio in Montreal (2001), the NRRF Radio Roadshow (2004), and Radio Free Parkdale in Toronto (2005-2007).

B Radio: a series of radio shows mashing b-list genres with radio art. Each B Radio episode features a theme to structure the improvisational nature of the shows, though tangents are frequent and encouraged. It’s live radio, streamed, with special guests and live audience. The core group of performers play live instruments and electronics, sample wildly, speculate broadly, and have been known to sing.

NRRF B Radio

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