Cover art by Reynold Brown(roadsidepictures/flickr)
Our big, warm thanks to all the folks who turned out last night to the Angelika Film Center to hear the premiere of our new season.
We were STUNNED to see how many of you there were! And it broke our hearts to turn away so many folks, people who’d been waiting for hours, people who’d driven for hours (from as far away as Boston!). Having never done anything like that before, we weren’t sure what to expect. We learned a lot about what to do differently - distribute tickets ahead of time by mail! - and we learned that a lot of people love our scrappy, guerrilla public radio show that comes on the air every now and again like some flock of migrating birds, and they want to come together to hear it.
AND THEREFORE, to make it up to those people who showed up and found the seats had already been snapped up, may we propose an idea:
What if we picked a day, say the first day of spring, and picked a place in Central Park, and set a time, and what if you came to the park with an iPod, or a boom box, or a CD player with headphones? What if Robert and Jad stood up and gave the “HIT PLAY!” signal? What if we all sat there together for an hour and listened to an hour of RadioLab? And what if afterwards, we do a Q&A with Jad and Robert hosted by the charming and delightful Joe Randazzo from the Onion? Would you come?
Let us know. Would you want to hear the ‘Laughter’ episode? Or would ‘Emergence’ be more appropriate? Is a weekend day better? Or after work? We’ll do our best to try and figure out how to make it happen!
Inside the Angelika
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30 Comments
Come to Dallas! We will come in droves!
I’d consider taking a train up from DC for the weekend if you did that. I wasn’t there last night, but I would have loved to be.
Oh, and weekend, obviously.
Sounds really cool! I would definitely come, with friends! Keep us posted. Weekends are best. I’m a new listener, so any episode would be good.
I’m down for central park. any day, any episode. I’ll bring the sun chips.
I’d come down from Providence with a caravan, I’m sure. Weekends are best. Laughter is great… if anyone else is like me, they’ve been listening to the older podcasts over and over in the space between episodes…
Hate to be a realist, in the midst of all this well-deserved wonderment and celebration - but a Central Park event is weather dependent. Too cold? Rainy? Would that doubly discourage potential pilgrims?
Also, if we go the iPod route, then it becomes somewhat harder to introduce NEW listeners to your great work. We’d have to send them to your site and get them to download in advance, etc. In a real-time concert, I could simply bring several newbees who could take it all in without any advance prep.
In a real-time concert, you could also stop-and-start; add new things; play bits-and-pieces from several shows. In a theater, you’d also have the option of doing some minimal re-mixing to create surround sound. And you are SO much about sound!
So - those are some of the ups and downs I see. Meanwhile - let me say loud and clear that I think you have a tiger by the tail, here, and a show that is bigger than you think. So let’s do SOMETHING soon with your spectacular work! The world deserves to hear more of it, and you deserve lots more recognition, money, etc. Rock on, dudes.
I was one of the unlucky members of the conga line snake stuck in the lobby…I would definitely come to the central park event, although it seems to me that it would be much better live than taped. Here’s an idea…every summer the South Street Seaport has a series of wonderful free concerts on the pier…why not try to hook up with them and do a show there? To me it seems like a perfect fit…especially after seeing the audience in person last night and realizing that the same crowd could have been showing up to any one of the concerts I often attend.
Preference ordering of experiencing Radiolab:
#5 Narrowly missing out on experience #1
Why just do it in Central Park? Let’s make it a truly guerilla project and all listen together across the country! Maybe some of us fans can organize meetings in our own cities. We might miss out on the official Q&A, but I’m sure we could have our own discussions. Anyone interested in the San Francisco area?
Also, if people are concerned about having to download the podcast ahead of time, why not bring a boom box or even just a cd player? That would make it simple to listen in small groups and maybe even draw in a few people passing by.
Last night was fun! I’m re-listening now at work and it isn’t as fun.
More group listening!
Kudos to Jad for the beautiful sound design! It is a delight for the ears!
I will totaly be there whatever guise you put it in. Having a good time with “Laugher” right now.
I was one of the people there last night and it was truly a unique experience. I think it is a wonderful idea for you guys to try something like it in the near future, but I’m going to do an “Obama” for my suggestion. I’m going to take the advice of two previous comments (Catfish and Rich) and am going to put a personal spin on them (not to be construed as plagiarism please).
I’m also a new listener and not too long ago I heard the podcast “This is your brain on love”, where Jad did a show on love at the Brooklyn Brewery. Well, not to go into too much detail, why can’t it be something like that? Where we take a venue (say the South Street Sea Port) and make an interactive show of it. This will have the advantage of both being a great event where many can attend and (since it will be planned and scheduled) there will be less room for crazy fractal weather situations (we would hope). But best of all we will have a new show out of it and every! (This is for you Robert)
Well (if you’re taking suggestions) I propose a show on the physical effects of meditation. (No! I’m not suggesting this because I’m a Buddhist Jenny.) But I’m just sayin…
I heard about this story of Himalayan monks that can meditate, in the snow! In the mountains! Over night! With out suffering hypothermia or other negative physical effects. But most interesting is what is discovered once the light of day comes upon them…all the snow around them melts. This has been scientifically documented and the effect recorded with a video camera.
Count me in! The weekend would probably be best. Maybe you could broadcast the Q&A live online, too, for the folks who can’t get to NYC?
it would be nice to hear an episode that won’t have been broadcast yet. More exciting that way. But I suppose that would mean using an indoor venue…
I would love to come to this but it’s a long way from Chicago. You guys should do something here. When Jesse Thorne did TSOYA here he played to a full theater. We love radio in Chicago!
I love the wit, intelligence and rhythm of your programs. Three cheers for Oberlin!!(A fellow graduate, obviously…)
Mon.-Wed. afternoon in Central Park would be great, but I’ve got to be in the minority.
Yes please!
Hi, my name is Cassandra.. and I’m a RadioLab-aholic. I live in Miami, but I would make the pilgrimage to NYC to see you guys put on a show.
Please keep doing what you’re doing. We are listening.
I would come.
I don’t go to ANYTHING, but I would go to this. Please do it! And promote it for a while on the podcast, because I am never able to listen to the live radio show.
You guys are great.
my wife and i are thrilled about the idea! let’s do this!!!
great!
i would much prefer a wknight, happy-hour kinda thing. but if it did turn out to be a weekend, if it could be a sunday so those of us who do the observant-jew thing could come, that would be so fantastic (and rare!)
I can’t believe you guys didn’t expect a huge turnout. I figured people would be camping out overnight in their Darth Vader costumes and missed it.
I would love to attend any kind of a live Radio Lab event if it didn’t mean camping out overnight. You guys are the talk of my office, and I’m pretty sure all my coworkers and friends would be there. The Seaport idea is nice, too. Anything, really. I’ll listen to your show, alone or with others, in a box, with a fox. You get the idea.
Count me in, with my son. Great idea.
Paul
A weekend day would be better for all those who work a grueling 9-6 day!
As for new listeners, I’m willing to share one of my ear buds.
I think emergence is a great episode for this event. Or perhaps whatever the newest aired episode.
I’m in! Weekends are better for me. Any episode would be great.
without pause, and I’d bring lots of people with me. A weekend time would be best to accomodate hard workers. But I’d try to be there no matter what.
Absolutely. “Emergence” is by far one of my favorite episodes. If your going to do the communal listen, I think it would be best to stick with an older favorite.
Also I must say, if The Simpson’s character Milhouse became a real boy, grew up, moved to New York City, relished his intelligence, became borderline cool and was graced with a bedroom voice via puberty, I think he’d have to call himself Jad Abumrad.
It would be sweet if you coordinated that central park event with local radio stations around the country. It would be sweet if you could somehow broadcast the Q&A on the web or something…. Would be cool to organize/participate in something like this at my college in MN.