[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR]
FRESH AIR
Australian singer Nick Cave and and his band, the Bad Seeds, are best known for angry, twisted, ballad-like lyrics. Their 2008 album, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, was inspired, in part, by the Biblical story of Lazarus. It is Cave’s 14th studio album. In an article about Cave in Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty writes, “Over the years Cave’s songwriting has become more intricate and challenging, almost literary in its ambitions. He’s one of the few artists in rock & roll, or any medium, really, who’s managed to get better with age.”
RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
We look back at an eventful week for the presidential candidates which ends with a visit to the White House followed by the first presidential debate. Our guests are JASON JOHNSON, Instructor of Political Science and communication at Hiram College in Northeast Ohio and WAYNE SLATER, Senior Political Writer for the Dallas Morning News. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
Hour 2
Songwriter PHIL ROY brings his guitar into the studio for a career retrospective and to perform songs from his new CD, “The Great Longing.” Roy, a native Philadelphian, has written songs for Ray Charles, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples and Aaron Neville. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
THE WORLD CAFE
Disrupted by a serious bout of pneumonia, Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce had to wait almost two years to put to disc a 
collection of songs he’d written in just two weeks. Songs in A&E travels the subtle route, with a naked sound that lends intensity and emotion to songs of survival and near-death experiences. In a session with host David Dye, Pierce shares his harrowing tale and performs songs from the new album. Formed in 1990 after the dissolution of Pierce’s band Spacemen 3 — he was the group’s only consistent member — Spiritualized has made its name as a powerful force in space-rock, culminating in the 1997 classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Past albums were soaked in epic psychedelia, and Songs in A&E fleshes out that sound with a rich gospel chorus and string accompaniment.
SPIRITUALIZED: Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space