New World Notes - The Firesign Theatre

This week on New World Notes: radio program #244, November 6, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., host Kenneth Dowst belatedly marks the death (on March 9) of Peter Bergman--a founding member of The Firesign Theatre--by playing a large portion of the group's 1970 classic LP, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

Masters of irony, parody, travesty, and sound effects, Firesign created surrealistic radio dramas. The first performance of the Los Angeles-based quartet was in 1966. In our show's selection--and everywhere else--they satirized a nation unable to tell reality from the nonsense on TV--nonsense concocted by corporate greedheads and prostitute politicians.

The perfect program for Election Day 2012!

There's even a politician, and an election, in the portion we broadcast. In a show-within-a-show, George Leroy Tirebiter is running for either Dogkiller or People's Commissioner. Or are they the same office? And does it matter?

Here's the plot (such as it is): Flipping TV channels late at night, retired actor George Leroy Tirebiter finds dreck galore plus two old movies starring him, playing simultaneously on two different channels. These are Parallel Hell (a war movie set in Korea) and HighSchool Madness (featuring all-American teenagers Porgy and Mudhead)...

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Freedom of Information Act") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both A-Infos Radio Project and (from #90 onwards) the Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chronological listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page; each page has links to the recorded audio; and a handy table of contents will quickly find the installment you want.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut dates shown)

November 13 -- Noam Chomsky: Three Short Talks

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT)

Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WAPJ FM 89.9 and 105.1 (Torrington, CT)

Saturdays, 1:00-1:30 PM, KRFP FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) 

Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/

Any time: Listen to or download any installment. Just go to New World Notes and click a link to the audio at the top of the page. (Every installment has a page on the Web site, and every page has links to the audio.)