KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

The Epicenter of Unrest from The Signal Producer Aaron Henkin creates an audio-portrait of the neighborhood that became the epicenter of civil unrest in the wake of Freddie Gray 's death in police custody. These are the voices of Baltimore’s Penn North community just two days after the city was ravaged by arsons and looting last year. And this is just one chapter of WYPR's award-winning documentary series, Out of the Blocks . By sonically mapping one block at a time Mr. Henkin and musician Wendel Patrick are sharing the stories of their city in a way that's never been heard before.

Wordshakers from Hearing Voices Andrei Codrescu of The Exquisite Corpse takes us on an hour-long odyssey for National Poetry Month . Featuring stories by Scott Carrier, Barrett Golding , Larry Massett, Marjorie Van Halteren, among many more. We'll hear Thomas Edison's wax recordings of a speaker believed to be Walt Whitman, Lord Alfred Tennyson banging the podium, and Allen Ginsberg placing a personal ad. Then stick around as  Jan Kerouac responds to her father's poetry and parenting style in "Jan on Jack." Plus, Marianne Faithful recites Gregory Corso , DJ Spooky remixes Vladimir Maiakovski, and Carl Sandburg answers, "What is Poetry?" A special episode which is not to be missed.

Music While You Shop, Music While You Work  from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening What if  history  had a sound track? What would it tell us about ourselves? Professor David Hendy  of the University of Sussex demonstrates how it has been used to  soothe us , to  cheer us , and even make us  productive  over the past hundred years. We'll also hear extremely rare recordings from wartime episodes of the much-loved BBC series, ' Music While You Work .'  An Ever Noisier World  from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening The twentieth century brought attempts to distinguish between ' necessary ' and ' unnecessary’ noise .' In New York, the authorities tried to clean up  Coney Island  fairground, banning barkers from using megaphones and targeting street sellers, newspaper boys, and buskers. But the volume of  modern life  has risen inexorably. We will travel to Ghana’s capital,  Accra , a city...

It's pledge drive at our radio home!  To celebrate we're airing some of our favorite stories from the past year. Tonight's episode will include fantastic pieces by Abby Wendle , Paolo Pietropaolo , Karla Murthy , David Gerlach , and many more!  Tune in, enjoy the show, and please make a donation to great storytelling and public radio.  Thanks! http://kfai.org/support-us