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The Day My Mother's Head Exploded

From Hannah Palin | 00:19:59
Producers: Hannah Palin

Tone-humorous-00
It is the story of the brain aneurysm that almost killed my mother in 1987 and how she became a completely different person from the mother of my childhood.

On August 20, 1987 my mother had a brain aneurysm when she was only forty-six years old. She survived. Most people don't. I've come to refer to this life-changing event as "The Day My Mother's Head Exploded."
The proper, socially conscious mother I grew up with died that day, and was replaced by an entirely different person. It turns out that my new mother adores Wendy's hamburgers, likes to wear Groucho Marx glasses in public places and will perform a spirited rendition of "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby" at the drop of a hat. When my mother's head exploded, she had a chance to start all over again and she took it. I didn't really get my wacky new mom and spent years grieving for the mother of my childhood. But when I was finally able to realize that my mother's eccentricities are really heart-felt affirmations of survival I was able to move on and to appreciate the person who exists in the here and now.

I've wanted to tell her story, and my own, too, for years now, but have struggled with form and structure. I'm a writer and producer with a background in theatre and documentary filmmaking. Despite all of the tools at my disposal, I just couldn't get it right. Then, on a whim, I borrowed a mini-disc recorder and did an extended interview with my mother when she was on a visit to Seattle. A year later, Jack Straw Productions awarded me some studio time and the services of Scott Bartlett, an extraordinarily gifted and patient engineer, who helped me navigate a host of technical landmines so that I could find the true path to this particular story.

"The Day My Mother's Head Exploded" was first presented to the public as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program in April 2003. When the piece was over, my mother joined me on stage where we performed her signature song, "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby."

And yes, we wore Groucho Marx Glasses.

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On August 20, 1987 my mother had a brain aneurysm when she was only forty-six years old. She survived. Most people don't. I've come to refer to this life-changing event as "The Day My Mother's Head Exploded." The proper, socially conscious mother I grew up with died that day, and was replaced by an entirely different person. It turns out that my new mother adores Wendy's hamburgers, likes to wear Groucho Marx glasses in public places and will perform a spirited rendition of "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby" at the drop of a hat. When my mother's head exploded, she had a chance to start all over again and she took it. I didn't real...
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7 Comments Atom Feed

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Ellen Boscov

Posted on May 10, 2007 at 09:27 AM | Permalink

Review of The Day My Mother's Head Exploded

Issues of loss, transformation and personal growth are brilliantly explored in this piece. I was moved by the shared memories of mother and daughter. The voices were beautiful and real.
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Jule Gardner

Posted on April 14, 2006 at 08:03 AM | Permalink

Review of The Day My Mother's Head Exploded

Review deleted.

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Emily Hanford

Posted on December 19, 2005 at 04:46 PM | Permalink

Review of The Day My Mother's Head Exploded

I listened to this piece for the first time over the holidays last year (2004). And now that it's holiday time again, I have been thinking of it. And so I listened again, and it's even better the second time around. This is a really, really beautiful piece of radio. The writing and the production are so graceful and thoughtful. And the story is just extraordinary. I noticed the suggestion on PRX is that this piece would be good on Mother's Day... but I would argue equally good at holiday time (or any time. This piece does not "need" a hook). I say good at holiday time because it's a time when I find myself thinking about family, and change, and the constraints and possibilities of life. The mother in this story has a brain aneurysm, and the event rearranges her chemistry somehow and she kind of morphs into another person (used to be kind of tight and constrained, now sings aloud in public. Used to hate sex, now loves it, etc, etc). And the beauty of the story is the way the daughter observes this transformation, and reports on it, nakes meaning of it, for us and for herself. A really, really terrific piece!!!

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Broadcast History

"The Day My Mother's Head Exploded" aired on KUOW, 94.9fm in Seattle, Washington on "Radio Intersections" in July 2003.

Transcript

The Day My Mother's Head Exploded
Produced by Hannah Palin as part of the 2002 Jack Straw Artist Support Program

SOT [Fade Up] Hannah and Nikki singing ?Goodbye My Coney Island Baby?
Nikki There?s something about that experience that was very freeing. Because it was just a typical Friday morning for me, you know, and all of the sudden by the end of the day, I was almost dead.
SOT [Fade Out] Hannah and Nikki singing ?Goodbye My Coney Island Baby?
Hannah Narration Fifteen years ago my mother had a brain aneurysm when she was only forty-six years old. I?ve come to refer to it as the day my mother?s head exploded.
For those who don?t know, and I didn?t either, a brain aneurysm is a bulging spot on the wall of a brain artery, kind of like a thin balloon that can pop at the slightest provocation. When that happens fifty-percent of people die within minutes.
The mother I gr...
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Timing and Cues

Title: The Day My Mother's Head Exploded
Timing: 19:57
Intro: 0:00:05
Tag: 0:19:47

Content Advisory

There is nothing objectionable in this piece.

Musical Works

Goodbye My Coney Island Baby Unknown Unknown Nikki and Hannah Palin ~16 seconds Seems to be in the Public Domain
Hey Good Lookin?

BMI 561909 Acuff Rose Music, inc. PolyGram
Mercury Records
825 8th Avenue
New York 10019 Hank Williams

Nikki Palin
7
Play Rave New World (?)
V2 Records
14 East 4th Street
NY 10012 BMG Distribution
1540 Broadway
NY 10036
Moby 26 seconds Not listed in ASCAP, BMI or SESAC
Good Stuff

Good Stuff Reprise Records A Time Warner Company
3300 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505-4694 BMG Distribution
1540 Broadway
NY 10036 B-52?s 41 seconds Not listed in ASCAP, BMI or SESAC
My Three Sons
BMI # 32263319 Don-Michael, Inc. (BMI)
6135 E. McDonald Drive
Paradise Valley, Arizona 85253-5222 Frank DeVol (ASCAP)
(Composer) 9 seconds
Donna Reed Theme
BMI# 2996931 Don Great
800-321-6967
dgreatmxx@aol.com
tinseltownmusic.net William Loose and John Seely
(Composer) 36 seconds
Theme From Alamo Bay
BMI# 17306

Music by Ry Cooder EMI Intertrax Music
Rod Kotler, Synchronization
C/0 EMI
810 7th Avenue
NY 10019 Warner Brothers Records
3300 Warner Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505-4695
and BMG Ry Cooder 57 seconds
Houston in Two Seconds
BMI # 589498

Music by Ry Cooder Wixen Music Publishing
24025 Park Sorrento
Suite 130
Calabasas, CA 91032-4003
818-591-7355
OR
Tonopah & Tidewater Music Co.
C/O Bloom, Hergott, Cook, Diemer & Klein
150 S Rodeo Dr.
3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212 Warner Brothers Records
3300 Warner Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505-4695
and BMG Ry Cooder 2:02 (whole song)
East St. Louis
BMI # 839094

Music by Ry Cooder Songs of Universal, Inc.
ATTN: Copyright Manager
2440 Sepolveda Blvd
Suite 100
Los Angeles 90064-1712 Warner Brothers Records
3300 Warner Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505-4695
and BMG Ry Cooder 50 seconds
Sexe
?Bachelor Pad Royale? Capitol Records
1750 Vine Street
Hollywood, CA 90028 Line Rinaud
16 seconds

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