Hello there, I'm Peter Schickele, and this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good. Almost as good as the fact that our bills are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the National Endowment for the Arts, and by this fine radio station. And after each program has been perpetrated, it gets sent out to the world at large by PRI, Public Radio International.
And I'd also like to thank all the listeners out there who have put their money where their ears are, by becoming members, or even making contributions above and beyond the level of mere membership. Every dollar you send in helps keep Schickele Mix on the air. Unless you specifically check the box marked, Use this money for anything, anything at all, as long as it isn't Schickele Mix. If you want to check that box, go ahead, I won't be offended.
If you really want your money going to the new program they're developing here, which consists of the soundtracks of wildlife films shown over the last 20 years on public television, minus the narration, go ahead and check the box. Or, if you want to support the other show they're working on called Nova Avon, New Breakthroughs in Cosmetics, check the box. Check the box if you want your money to go for fresh flowers in the station manager's office every morning.
But whether you check the box or not, send in your money, because you are the largest single source, and also the largest married source of support for public radio. Now there is another source of support, smaller but much appreciated, and that's private foundations. And we're honored and delighted to have the heads of two foundations with us here today.
Today, each of these foundations has made a valuable and unique contribution to Schickele Mix, or is contemplating doing so, and I'll tell you more about that later. It's a pleasure to have you here, gentlemen. Glad to be here. I'm afraid this is pretty much a one-man studio. There's only one mic, but there are a couple of extra chairs, so make yourselves at home while I introduce you.
Walter Smith is the CEO of Vibrations Incorporated, which is a company that most members of the general public may never have heard of, but believe me, it's been around a long time. In fact, Mr. Smith is a direct descendant of the man who invented sound, which, as you can imagine, was a red-letter day for the recording industry. Mr. Smith, I know you live here, but did you grow up in this area?
No, I didn't. I didn't think so. You know, I'm going to take a guess and say that you come from Canada. That's right, I do. How'd you know that? Well, I'm from North Dakota, so I know a Canadian accent when I hear it. In fact, okay, now, I'm usually pretty good at this. I'm going to say you're from Winnipeg. You're right again. And I'll bet you're from Grand Forks. Nope, Fargo. Sorry about that. So am I.
Right down the road in Fargo. Close, but pas de cigare, as they say in Quebec. Mr. Smith is also the president of the Rockeford Foundation. And our other guest, Mr. Billiard Bryant, you're president of the Feller Foundation. That's right! Just me and a couple other fellers who like to give money to the arts. Where are you from, Mr. Bryant? I'm from Maine. Way up north in Maine. Little town called Washburn. Now, I never would have guessed that you're from Maine.
Well, I'm not surprised. Nobody ever does. Everybody thinks I'm from down south. I mean, I get New Hampshire, I get Vermont. Nobody ever guesses Maine. Well, we're glad to have you both here. And, you know, it's not every day we've got the head of a foundation in our studio, much less two of them. And I've always said two heads are better than one. So I've lined up a little live entertainment for you. Starting in just a few minutes with the New York Philharmonic.
They said they'd send over as many members as they could. I said, well, don't send the whole orchestra. I don't think we could get a hundred people in this room. At least with instruments. But we can do fifty, I'm sure. But first, I'd like to point out some of the features of our studio. We're pretty proud of it. Let's see. We've got the very old recording alert.
Yeah, that's one I activate myself if I'm going to play, like, something off my Music of Africa series, No. 11, a 10-inch LP that was brand new in 1953. And then there's the sloppy thinking alarm. I'm proud to say that it doesn't go off very often. Let's see. How can I set it off? Well, let's try: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
I'll be durned! There you go. Okay, then we have, well, I wouldn't demonstrate this one if I weren't so anxious to bestow upon you the complete tour. I'm talking about the pun punisher. Don't worry, it won't hurt you. But if I say, well, if I say something like, you can Telemann to go, but if he comes Bach, you can't Handel it.
[sound: the pun punisher]
Oh! Oh, man! Oh! Ouch! That smarts! Oh, man, it does! Fortunately, it's set pretty loose. It has to be pretty strong stuff to set the thing off. Ooh! Okay, now, that one up there on the wall, I'm afraid it does go off pretty often. That's the irrelevancy alarm. Sometimes it just sounds, and sometimes it also prints out an explanation.
Okay, let's see. Man, it's gone off so many times when I didn't want it to. It's strange to try to make it go off, you know what I mean? Let's see. The harmonic difference between Mozart's later works and his earlier ones is because he didn't get to marry the woman he loved, so he married her sister.
Huh, I would have thought, I guess the machine thinks that's relevant. Maybe I should look into that. Okay, let's try this. From what I've heard about the station manager's love life, That did it. I thought, oh, wait a minute, it's printing out. Man, I hope I'm not fired. Let's see.
Okay, it says, uh, you don't know the half of it. Ooh, how about that? Well, I'm sure I don't. Then, of course, we've got the echo chamber here. I love this. Let me turn this on.
[sung: "Indian Love Call", through the echo chamber, holding the last note]
Isn't that great? I love the echo chamber. Okay, what else is there? Oh, this is one of those little round things you need to play 45 RPM records. And I guess... Oh, how could I forget? This is the authentic instrument. It's not a reconstruction. It's an actual early 1990s Casio tone bank. And when I'm illustrating things, I usually select the Black & Decker Concert Grand Piano, which sounds like...
[sound: phone rings]
You know, that's one of the things that, one of the few things that isn't exactly state-of-the-art here. The rotary dial telephone, excuse me. Hello? Oh, okay, hold on, I'll be right out. Alright everybody, the New York Philharmonic is here. I told you, they were going to send over a slightly reduced orchestra, I'm going to put on a PSA here, oh, that's a public service announcement, while we move the furniture around a bit and get them in here. We'll be right back.
You don't have to travel to Japan to experience one of the oldest theatrical traditions in the world. The ancient art of the Japanese no-drama is coming to the Roxy Theatre for one performance only, this Saturday night at 8 p.m. Tickets available at the box office, or call Tix by Phone, 747-6333. That's R-I-P-O-F-F-F.
Remember, if someone asks you, what's your favorite kind of Japanese drama, just say no.
And we're back with the New York Philharmonic. Not the full orchestra, but as many of them as we could fit in the studio. And here they are, under the baton of Pierre Boulez, performing the music of George Philip Telemann.
[music: Telemann, Canonic Sonata No. 1 in G; Gary Schocker & Marco Granados, flutes]
Bravo! Bravo! The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Pierre Boulez, playing Telemann's Canonic Sonata No. 1. Now ladies and gentlemen, treats, and I think you'll agree that was a treat, treats like that don't come cheap. We desperately need the support of listeners like yourselves, so we can continue the tradition of high quality performances like the one you just heard.
Remember you are our biggest source of support. Please become a member now or if you already are a member consider increasing your contribution. Here's someone to tell you how to do that.