Q: where can you hear balloons popping for an hour on the radio, landscape paintings being meticulously described for an hour on the radio or the feeding of experimental musicians from stockholm (six different varieties of fake meat, no less) for an hour on the radio?A: perhaps _nowhere_ but on blind spot, a notably brave program inspired by the radio theater of the 1930's and 40's that broadcasts live every sunday night on WLUW in Chicago. blind spot employs a diverse (and i do mean diverse) range of styles, themes and strategies to accomplish their one clearly defined goal -- to explore the potential for radio as a place for artistic and experimental efforts, and to do this through live radio, i.e. the presence of bodies in a space: creating noise, reading scripts, releasing cats (yes there was a cat party show) or shoveling dirt...to name just a few scenarios.
bravo, i say!
sometimes the concept matters as much as the content...or more. sometimes it's fine to be bored by an idea. sometimes your radio need not be information-packed and delivered in a cadence you can imitate in your sleep. (poor all of us.) sometimes we allow art for art's sake...
it's not that every episode of blind spot holds my attention for the full sixty minutes. (nor theirs, they've confessed.) but i _have_ been astounded by so many of the ideas this SMALL crew of people has brought to the microphone, week after week. people...do you know how difficult it is to fill an hour of live radio every week?
well into their second season, these folks deserve your attention, and if you live in chicago and want to get involved, they would love your help. Give 'em a listen, or a holler...
(broadcasting sundays from 10 to 11 pm on WLUW 88.7 fm chicago, and via webcast too.)
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