Flavian/Jazz

WNUR's annual Phoneathon fundraiser runs February 18-25 this year. Your support helps the all volunteer staff of WNUR bring you the kind of music you won't hear elswhere. Pledge by calling (847) 491-WNUR. There are plenty of fine premiums as thank you gifts for your support.

Over the last twenty or so years I have had shows on all five weekdays, but the overwhelming majority of my shows have been on Fridays. There hasn't been any real master plan behind it, it has just fit in well with my life and the difficulties of scheduling fifteen weekly jazz slots... This quarter Mondays turn out to be the best fit, so I have switched days for a while; looking back it seems that the last time I did Mondays was in the fall of 2002 (can it really be that long ago?). I hope that the change isn't too much of a wrench for those of you who are used to listening on Friday mornings!

I'm glad to say that I haven't neglected James P. Johnson on my show, over the years I've done my very small part in keeping his music and his memory alive. His music is his real memorial -- he really was one of the giants who helped form and develop jazz -- but there are are other, more physical memorials that show that we remember those who came before, and it turns out that James P. Johnson lies in an unmarked grave in Queens. Scott Brown discovered the location of the grave last February, and last week Smalls in New York held a benefit to raise money for a headstone. Billed as "James P. Johnson's Last Rent Party" it ended with 5 hours of solo piano by 12 pianists -- you can read Ben Ratliff's New York Times review of the concert online: Raising Roof and Headstone for Pioneering Pianist. There is also a NYT blog piece by Corey Kilgannon about Johnson's and other early jazz greats' modest graves Giants of Jazz Rest Modestly in Peace.

WNUR's annual Phoneathon fundraiser runs February 19-26 this year. Your support helps the all volunteer staff of WNUR bring you the kind of music you won't hear elswhere. Pledge online or by calling (847) 491-WNUR. There are plenty of fine premiums as thank you gifts for your support.

You know what, you know why; just do it!

Update, 2/27 — Thank you! Many of you called over the last week and donated; your support is greatly appreciated. You can now sit back and enjoy the next fifty-one weeks of WNUR programming knowing that you have done your part to keep us on the air.

Jennifer Waits (who, according to her profile, has been doing the college radio thing almost exactly as long as I have) has a blog, Spinning Indie, which covers college radio and independent music. She has an ongoing series of posts detailing her visits to college radio stations. I'm a little late to the party, but a few months ago she apparently visited WNUR, so those of you who want more views of the station and more details about the whole enterprise and where it fits in the pantheon of college radio can take a look.

I get a brief mention, and there's a reference to my musings on the station's old and new homes that I wrote a couple of years ago when we moved into our current studio.