Authoritative, Engaging, Intriguing
Fabulous hour. Full of concrete stuff and the philosophy behind it. And a lovely curve to the conversation too-- following the paths of manipulated truths.
(Incidentally, this review is a re-posting from a note I left on the Open Source blog page: http://www.radioopensource.org/tony-schwartz-for-the-next-generation/ ...but it will serve as a PRX review too. Note that the Hearing Voices Schwartz tribute is now on PRX too.)
Maybe it's the sign of a good teacher, but over the years I think I've actually absorbed some of Tony's ideas to the point that I now believe they were mine to begin with.
I wish I had good Tony stories but I never met him. My cohorts The Kitchen Sisters spent time with him and made this piece for our Lost & Found Sound series:
http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/990226.stories.html
In a way, that entire series was an homage to Tony's work. He was the bona fide "sound hound," the man possessed by recorded sound. I think his example--one guy sitting in the middle of a ton of gear, totally absorbed with his mission--helped me feel less odd in my own enthusiasms. We are led by people at the extremes.
One thing you didn't cover was his careful examination of his own zipcode (NY 19), a function of his agoraphobia. In the early 80s, we had a group of producers in New York, informed by Tony's work, and we did a kind of homage in a piece called "New York City: 24 Hours in Public Places." You can hear it here:
http://www.transom.org/shows/2001/200109.shows.before.html
and our friends at Hearing Voices http://www.hearingvoices.com/ will be including it an upcoming hour they're dedicating to Tony.
Anyway, thanks again for this affectionate, informative tribute.
Jay Allison
, Atlantic Public Media
July 22, 2008
Chris Lydon interviews filmmaker David Hoffman about Tony Schwartz
