the memory palace

Episode 9 of the 2015 Summer Season.                     Music * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * There're too pieces from Per Storby Jutbring's album, Dance of the Diaper Fairy. Snowbound, up top, and the title track at the end.    Notes * Hoo boy, have I read a ton of books about the space program, thanks to my stint on the writing staff of ABC's Astronauts' Wives Club last year.  So, most of this piece is just "stuff I now know."  However: read numerous contemporary newspaper accounts, readily available on  * Also key was the lovely prologue to First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong, James R. Hanson's solid (if a little hagiographic) bio.   Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Episode 8 of the 2015 Summer Season               Music * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * First up (and returning at the end) is Sandra's Theme, from Heather McIntosh's fantastic score to Compliance, a very good, very disturbing movie.  * We hit Frank Glazer leading Charles Ives' Largo for Clarinet, Violin and Piano a couple of times, framing... * Runaway from Olafur Arnalds.    Notes: *The key to researching this episode turned out to be an article in The Journal of Southern History from 2001 by Court Carnay called, "The Contested Image of Nathan Bedford Forrest.".  * Also particularly useful was Nathan Bedford Forrest: a Biography, by Jack Hurst.  * As was Lynching in America: A History in Documents, compiled by Christopher Waldrep. * Much of my information about the contents of the ceremony and speeches was gathered from this, the digitized journal and scrapbook of Charles Henry Niehaus, the sculptor of the monument. It's an extraordinary resource.    * And let us all read Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases, by Ida B. Wells. And let's put her on the $10 while we're at it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Episode 7 of the 2015 Summer Season.                     Music * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * First up (and returning a bit later) is Mr. Reincarnation from Alexander Desplat's dope-as-hell score to the fairly dope movie, Birth.  * There's Lost Fur, Reprise from Carter Burwell's Where the Wild Things Are score.  * Then there's a Charles Ives piece called Remembrance, played by Yesaroun' Duo, Eric Hewitt and Samuel Z. Soloman.  * Then we hit Another Lifetime, dipping back in the Birth Score well. * Finish up with Kierling/Doubt from Max Richters 24 Postcards in Full Color.   Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Episode 6 of the 2015 Summer Season.               Music * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * First up, A Nice Day from a truly wonderful album, The Original Chico Hamilton Quintet Complete Studio Recordings. * Then there's Ohnono/Kiwembo, Andrew Bird's contribution to Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers - Alternative Takes on Congotronics, Vol. 1 (which is a great rabbit hole to go down). * Anita gets introduced to Hay Tantos Muertos, by Marissa Nadler.   * Then falls in love to Hymn of Silence by Silencio * Then there're two pieces from Nathan Johnson's score to The Day I Saw Your Heart.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Dive into the evolution of American menswear from 1840 to 1860, where fashion reveals cultural shifts and personal identity. Experience a lively mountain gathering of trappers, filled with whiskey and wild tales, celebrating adventure and camaraderie. Discover the intriguing relationship between trappers and beavers, as chic fur pelts lead to overtrapping, ultimately changing fashion and trapping practices. Throughout, music enhances the storytelling, adding layers to this fascinating historical tapestry.

Episode 4 of the 2015 Summer Season.          Music   * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * Charlie on the ladder is scored with the Prologue to the fantastic score to the film Birth, by Alexandre Desplat * It ends with Opus 30, by Dustin O'Hallaran.   * The upbeat, fair music is a piece called Love on Matthew Herbert's contribution to the Life in a Day soundtrack.  * Don Stewart surveys the damage to 01 Ghosts I by NIN Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Episode 3 of the Summer Season.    Music   * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * The opening loop is from Mr. Knight from Coltrane Plays the Blues, which you should own.  * The violin piece is Occam II for Violin, a piece by Silvia Tarozzi, played by Pauline Oliveros. * Next up is Mikuro's Blues from the mighty David S. Ware' mighty Go See the World. * The amazing orchestral pieces is Triumph by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Nino from Fill the Heart- Shaped Cup  * Finally, there's 13 Ghosts II by Nine Inch Nails from Ghosts I-IV Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Music   * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * Then, we have the most obvious crickets/summer night song ever: the fantastic, perpetually delightful Green Arrow from Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, which has soundtracked many crickety summer nights for me over the years.  * The cops roll in to a loop of the very beginning of the epic Ptah, the El Daoud, the title track to Alice Coltrane's album from 1970. * Then we have a mix of two improvisations from Charles Cohen's Brother I Prove You Wrong: Cloud Hands and The Boy and the Snake Dance. * There's a brief dip into Dorian, by Fang Island. * The jaunty accordion, typewriter thing is Biking is Better on Wintergatan's eponymous album.   Notes I researched this one primarily through old newspapers. The easiest place to find a number of them is to read the excellent site, The Museum of Hoaxes' page on this event. Also: if you're in the Atlanta area and ever want to have yourself a day, you can see the actual monkey. It's preserved in a jar at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations museum in Decatur Georgia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The music:   *Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's great, ridiculous Modesty Blaise score. *The recurring piano theme is Les Marionettes by Zbigniew Preisner from his score to La Double Vie de Veronique (And, have you seen The Double Life of Veronique? Man, that's good) *Eugenia's dreamy little theme is Just Saying by Jamie XX off of In Colour *That organ track is called Organ Track by Nicolai Dunger from The Cloud is Learning *Al Davis' dance theme is Watusi Bounce from Bo Diddly's Ride On/The Chess Masters  *Helen watches Eugenia on the lawn at the Grand Hotel to the tune of To a Wild Rose by Patricia Rossborough from the collection Dainty Debutantes: Female Novelty Pianists of the 1930's (And, ugh. Dismissive much?) *The Judge drones over one of Scott Watson's Six Solos for the Beginning Tuba Player from his 2008 album, Stepping Stones for Tuba, vol. 1 (like I need to tell you that) *The ending piece is Mike Andrews lovely Library Chant from his score to Miranda July's lovely Me and You and Everyone we Know   Notes: I first stumbled across this story in my torn up copy of New York: Confidential! Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer's truly mucky, muck-raking guide to the city's underbelly from 1951. I read a ton of old news paper articles about the case (the New York Times covered it extensively, if you want to go back and read those).   The two most useful books I came across in the process were Joshua Zeitz' Flapper and Lewis Erenberg's Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890-1930 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Something to listen to while you wait for the new season of The Memory Palace, launching June 21st with weekly episodes through the whole summer.     Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices