Lennon and the terrible music.

Funny story: I was at work tonight, talking for a few minutes on the phone with my wife.  She asked me if I'd listened to Selected Shorts tonight.  No, says I, why?  She told me that she put it on to listen to while settling the littlest child into bed, thinking the description of the show sounded nice, with music provided by "some quartet" - but apparently, the music "made (her) ears bleed," was horrible, awful, no-good "sort of Chinese orchestral jazz noise, or something" - and the radio was louder than she'd anticipated, the baby wasn't going to sleep, she couldn't reach the radio to turn it off, and - the worst - "the music made me actually want to listen to the theme music for Maine Things Considered instead."  Which, let me tell you, is pret-ty godawful.  We had a good laugh. 

I just got home a few minutes ago and figured I'd take a quick (ha!) look at Google Reader, and hey, there's tonight's episode of Selected Shorts, all lined up.  I open it to see if it says anything about the Earbleed Quartet - and the featured story is by Condalmo friend J. Robert Lennon, he of Ward Six and also Books That Have Been Published On Paper And Read!  I'll have to ask her in the morning if she listened to the story.  I gleefully anticipate a string of venomous invective toward the Quartet, followed by a no, after which I reveal my tenuous yet genuine connection to the author, to be met with likely-deserved skepticism/disinterest!

Comments

[REllis]

Hey, we missed it! Though maybe we saved ourselves some bloody ears. The Selected Shorts people don't tell you ahead of time when the story's going to air, and even though it was recorded a couple of years ago we still haven't heard it on the radio.

I'm trying to remember that music -- can't. I'll see if I can track it down myself. That and the Maine Things Considered music. (Gawd, don't you get tired of the "Maine" puns?)

[JRLennon]

Ha! I actually liked the music--it was a set of short pieces by Ned Rorem, which the quartet--the Yang Quartet, from Rochester--interspersed between songs. Rorem actually showed up at the taping, and I got to meet him. Composer, diarist, gay icon; the guy's multifariousness is an inspiration to me. What the hell's the matter with your baby, dude?!? ;-)

[JRLennon]

I meant interspersed between stories, of course!

[Matt]

I haven't had a chance to listen yet.

R: Yes. And "Maine Things Considered" - hell, the entire MPBN - is pretty bad. Their main anchors/newsreaders rarely make it through a segment without getting tripped up on their own words. It's embarrassing and grating.

J: It was actually the dark roast coffee I gave her keeping her awake.