Vindaloo

Memory Lane

A wander through some of downtown Manhattan, with Vanity Fair's Jim Wolcott, who avoided the worst (best?) excesses of 70s life in New York and therefore is still alive to write about them in his entertaining new memoir. This aired on the BBC's PM show: 

Download 70s downtown story

In God We Trust

My World Service documentary, about the fracturing of the Christian conservative vote. Lucky Romney, lucky Obama. 

Download Heartsoul_ In God We Trust 30 Dec 11

Birthing Art

Marni Kotak gave birth in front of an invited audience of Bushwick art-lovers, as the culmination of a month-long installation. It doesn't get much more authentic than that, but is worthwhile? You decide. I interviewed her and the family at the gallery, a few days ago, for the excellent BBC Outlook programme (catch their Nile Rogers interview - genius): 

Download Birth as art BBC feature

Banjo diplomacy

Abigail Washburn was set for life as a Beijing lawyer. Then she discovered the banjo, and now she's on a State Dept mission along the fabled Silk Road. Listen to her story, and some of her remarkable music. I did this for the Today programme, but it's been appearing across BBC outlets. 

Download Chinese banjo BBC story

The New Poor...could be you

New Yorkers like to think it won't happen to them, but increasingly, it does. Falling through the floor of this fragile economy from $100,000 a year to food stamps, is easier than it's been since the 30s. For BBC Outlook and Radio 4, I went to Tent City, New Jersey. 

Download Tent City story

On a lighter note, at least they took the piano with them from NYC, to while away the dark nights. 

Georgia Blues no more

Georgia's finally joined the rest of the "bible belt" in allowing local authorities to decide where booze can be bought on Sundays. It's proving relatively uncontroversial vs Culture War staples like marriage and abortion, but it signifies interesting shifts in the power of Christian conservatism. Listen to my Radio 4 piece: 

Download Georgia Sunday BBC story

Jesus is #OWS

The faith component of OWS in downtown Manhattan is surging. A political strategist would say it's the Religious Left's big moment. For the faithful, Zucotti Park is where you'd find Jesus, Mohammed, Elijah, Buddah - in short, it's a congregation under the watchful and approving eye of god. This piece of mine just ran on the Sunday programme, Radio 4. 

Download OWS religion story

Reality and art blur in post-Wire Baltimore

It's straight out of an imaginary Wire Season 6: A group of Iraq and Afghan vets move into the Oliver neighbourhood to drive out the drugs, one block at a time. The police, now obsessed with getting guns off the street, not mass-arrests, give their blessing. Local politicians duck for cover, waiting to see how it plays. Well this time it's real. I went to meet them, and this ran on the Radio 4 PM programme. 

Download Vets Baltimore remix WELLS

Fear and loathing in Alabama

They're needed but no longer wanted: Latino "illegals" fear the future under the hastily-devised immigration bill, where racial profiling by police is inevitable. Echoes of the pre-Civil Rights South, mingle with the certainty that the one thing Alabama's depressed economy needs, is a lot more immigration. This for BBC Radio 4, focussing on how the Catholic church has been standing up for its children (not simply protecting its own priests, as with the on-going outrage of clerical child-abuse).

Download Alabama immigration law story

  

The King of Country Returns

Hank Williams died at 29, in a tragic and wasteful fashion that leads all the way to Amy Winehouse. He left four tattered notebooks with fragments of verse and music. Twelve musicians led by Bob Dylan have brought them to life, including Hank Snr's own grand daughter, Holly. Another piece for the Today programme:

Download Hank Williams notebooks