Please check out the new blog Barry Yeoman started about our Louisiana blues project:

http://stillsingingtheblues.blogspot.com/

We are currently in the middle of producing two one-hour documentaries on Southern blues artists. This blog documents some of our adventures on the way to researching the one based in Louisiana.

I apologize for not posting more frequently. This has become more of an archive than a blog. I hope that is OK.

The Civil War podcast for the NC Arts Council is finished but they have not posted it yet. I will post an update here when that happens.

Currently Barry Y and I are collaborating on two different one-hour documentaries on the blues. One is a commission from a national magazine; the other is funded, in part, by a generous grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. These will both be done by the first and second quarters of 2010. Again, when they air I will post an update! We will be spending a lot of time in New Orleans for our first round of interviews in October. When we get back I will create a blog for the Louisiana project so you can keep up with our progress and by early next year we should have a full-blown website for the New Orleans blues doc.

Thanks for checking in...

New Pieces on Oprah.com

Here are a few more collaborations with Barry Yeoman. At the links below you will find four slideshows we did together. They complement an article Barry wrote for O, The Oprah Magazine. He also did the reporting and photography for the slideshows. I produced/edited the audio and mixed the sound track. Barry created the slideshows with Soundslides.

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200906-omag-abused-dogs-saved

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200906-omag-abused-dogs-saved/2

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200906-omag-abused-dogs-saved/3

The music for the third piece is from the band Sequoya.

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200906-omag-abused-dogs-saved/4

Life as a freelancer

Here is something I have done recently in collaboration with Barry Yeoman:

Captain Luke

When you access the link above you will see a slide show. The slide show audio is not the broadcast piece, although I edited it also. To hear the broadcast, please scroll to the bottom where you will see a link that says "Download MP3."

Dec

Since Nov 5 I have been working as a full-time freelance producer at WUNC for The Story ...so I have not had as much time as I would like to update this blog.

Here are links to a few pieces I have produced at WUNC:

Proof of Citizenship

The Forest Hill Fiasco

Eloisa's New Wall

Proof and Forest Hill are C segments, meaning they start half way through their respective shows.

Pesach with Manfred

Gabcast! Radio Free Richard #4 - Pesach with Manfred

I was trying to find someone to interview for a piece on Passover for WXDU and I found this most amazing person, Manfred Katz, who changed the direction I was heading in. Manfred speaks about living in eastern Europe during the Holocaust. He is a survivor of the Riga Ghetto. This piece is long but stick around; the ending might surprise you.

Shirlette

Gabcast! Radio Free Richard #3 - Shirlette

This piece is about Shirlette, a poet. Besides being a poet she is also a talented musician and lyricist who fronts her own band, called Mosadi. As she talks about what being a poet means to her, you will hear some mellow tunes in the background. Those songs were written by her and are performed by her friends from Tres Chicas, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and other great bands from the area.