Pirate Radio Station by Rick Moody, John Lurie and Sherre Delys by Sarah Lawrence Radio published on 2013-10-16T13:43:22Z Genre Radio Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Luke H: God I loved this. Great writing but the form was amazing. By alternating the foreground and background the narrator became music and what I was listening to for information was the sounds going on. The essential purpose of the narrator then was to indicate the action, the bare minimum for delivery of effective plot. What is also fantastic about this is that it is essentially Moody's essay on transom as to what radio should do. It communicates his deep respect for what radio has done but then he twists it into the narrative of what he hopes will happen in real life with radio. It is clear that this piece for him was personal and that was what was the unexpected humanism in the piece. We care about radio. We care about Pirate. I now have a clear understanding with how Moody suggests we avoid the 'construction' of this humanism while still celebrating fiction. 2014-05-03T19:18:09Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Olivia W: Ricky Moody mashes a lot of different kinds of sounds into "Pirate Radio Station". From news programs to jazz to nature sounds. I liked that the narrator's voice carried us through it so it didn't become too confusing or disorienting (as it could have become). When the narrator asks "what could the pirate station do that hasn't been done before?" I wondered if that reflected on a larger perspective of radio, itself. That pirate radio is such an abundance of time periods, styles and genres of music that it's trying to BE everything and COVER everything in order to create something different. I was also amused by the concept of them 'tickling a person mercilessly' in order to test their ability. While the radio station is an anomaly, it's constant change and unusualness seems to reflect a 'freedom' that other mediums/forms may not have. 2014-04-09T23:00:18Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Nate L: I love the narration of the pirate station like it is/was an event taking place. "The pirate station branches out: it broadcasts over night a comparative study of whistles." --this is genius and I'm in love. By far one of the funniest and absurd pieces we've heard yet. I feel like this pirate station is maybe run by April Ludgate. What better subject for a radio piece than a piece about a radio station? whacky and experimental as usual. 2014-04-08T01:53:06Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Jeremy: The Pirate Radio was a little confusing at first, but now I think that it was a metaphor for a person's life, specifically an artist perhaps. Its writing goes through the youth of the person, the rebellious teenage years, the mid-life crisis, and eventually the near-death of the station. I found it to be interesting, but chaotic and unpredictable. The delivery was good enough, giving the listener some semblance of order admist the chaos. I really don't know what else to say about the piece other than that. 2014-04-06T16:54:25Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Hannah - I liked how the story of the radio station mimicked the life of an individual. The background sound added to this effect by mimicking the chaos of life. The simplicity of the narration falls nicely in line with Moody’s aim to abbreviate the narrator role as well as play with foreground and background. While the narrator was very present the background was what made the piece unique and entertaining. 2014-03-10T15:11:58Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Richard P: The wildness of Moody's Pirate Radio Station is wonderfully delightful and disharmonious. The radio statics and out-of-tune notes and twisted music creates this strangely surrealistic atmosphere that I have not experienced for some time. The element of "play" is executed well but still has a conventional narrative structuring. I find this a good balance but also suggests that Moody cannot forgo the conventions that he believes confines audio drama. We have the narrator grounding and explaining the story. 2014-03-10T03:34:25Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Fossey M: This piece, to me, seemed like what McKee describes as the "literary equivalent of a temper tantrum". I couldn't find anything necessary in it. No, it does not fall into the classic public radio cliché of pointed sound effects and manipulative music, but it is so full with esoteric jumble that I cannot find any further meaning (and those that I do hear are just a hint and only given a few seconds). Maybe I am just missing something... 2014-03-10T01:00:45Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio James Bisno: I feel like Moody’s frustration with emphasis has illustrated its omnipresence: “A recording of the staff meeting is then played backwards sped up slightly with the harmoniously conclusion first and the confusion at the end.” With knowledge of Moody’s relation with story, we know that his style for this story mimics closely that of the pirate station’s staff meeting. So a close listener may experience the bliss of this epiphany right in the middle of the piece. However, Moody has created a non-conventional story. The main character is the pirate radio station (possibly a metaphor for an unconventional idea). The pirate station is driven by a collection of people including dj’s, guests, interns, but the actions and thoughts are majorly preformed by or towards the pirate station. The structure of the story is circular. Just as the pirate station will die, the pirate station is reborn. 2014-03-09T20:41:13Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Hillary: I found aspects of this piece interesting, but I’m having a difficult time coming up with any possible larger meaning or driving concept behind it. I’m not sure if that speaks more to a fault of the piece to properly convey its ideas, or an inability to put the pieces together on my part. This piece reflected things that Moody mentioned; the part where the narrator mentions the cheerleader’s voice clearly being a pre-recorded sound has a negative connotation and echoes Moody’s concerns about the use of insincere sound. I still think it’s too experimental for public radio; or maybe it just needs to be cleaned or tightened up. I enjoyed the end, when the radio station becomes anthropomorphized and reaches old age with depression and other associated experiences. That part to me was the most interesting/valuable. It’s kind of interesting to think about this experimental piece about a fictitious experimental/avant-garde radio station. I feel like the ending (the station becoming a character with human characteristics) is somehow an extension of that concept but I can’t quite put it together. Still, after listening to this second piece, I can’t help but feel like the changes Moody was calling for in his manifesto are less applicable (or realistic) for public radio, and that he was really calling for the emergence of a new forum for which these types of themes and experiments could truly be appreciated and explored. 2014-03-09T07:32:58Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Sarah Dittmeier: I think this piece also demonstrated Moody's ideas in the readings. It exemplified his points about taking time with the sounds that aren't the narrator and to make the narrator more brief than anything else. He also used creative language as the story was told and it allowed for his idea of originality, instead of "just facts". But although he proves his points in this piece, I still found myself not very attached to it. The sounds often times felt too busy and I felt the peculiarity of the piece didn't draw me in the way I would have liked it to. 2014-03-08T06:43:14Z Comment by Sarah Lawrence Radio Alexandra- This piece was really funny and it was an interesting take on the avant gaurde. I deeply felt that this piece was a comment on some sort of preformance piece and what was art. Moody uses disconcerting sounds in his work that makes it impossible not to listen. 2014-03-06T16:24:00Z
