Opb's State Of Wonder

Segment B–Marco Benevento–George Saunders

Segment C– Classical Up Close– Spring for Music

Final segment of this week's show! A preview of the Recycled Rain project show. Also John Rosman fills us in on the career of comics colorist Dave Stewart, a master in his field. Head over to our website - John's got some great multi-media that shows off Stewart's skills.

Our second segment features the revivial of one of our favorite theatrical works of 2014, Alicia Jo Rabins' "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff". We also check out a new Dutch tech thriller that asks you to turn your phone >ON< when entering the theater. Director Bobby Boermans tells us about using second screen technology to support his film's story.

Oh the Wonder! Here's the first part of this week's show, featuring some quality time with the Abioto sisters, and a recap of the wild weekend in New York for the Red Door Project's August Wilson Monologue Competition.

State of Wonder talks with musician Todd Snider about his new book "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like" and Beth Harrington's new documentary about the Carter and Cash family's impact on country music "The Winding Stream".00:00 – Musician Todd Snider08:41 – Beth Harrington Carter Family documentary

State of Wonder talks to comedian Matt Braunger about his work wiith the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and Laura Gibson responds to the Cover Oregon parody by Lisa Loeb01:33 – Bridgetown Comedy Festival and Matt Braunger08:02 – Laura Gibson Cover Oregon Lisa Loeb parody

State of Wonder's second segment this week talks with Oregon Shakespeare Festival's artistic director Bill Rauch about the Tony nominated play "All the Way" staring Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad" fame. Bill Rauch is also directing a revival of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirate's of Penzance" with the Portland Opera. We profile video installation artist Laura Fritz as she creates sculpture with light and video.00:00 – Bill Rauch Directs All The Way on Broadway 05:30 – Bill Rauch collaborates on Pirates of Penzance at Portland Opera08:25 – Laura Fritz video installation

This week we were joined by guest curator Jeff Jahn to talk about his take on art in Portland. We also talked to Oregon's newly announced Poet Laureate Peter Sears.01:00 — Guest Curator Jeff Jahn04:25 — Portland Artists Sean Healy, Avantika Bawa and Chris Johanson15:56 — Portland's Japanese Garden Polly Lauser, Diane Durston23:55 — Blackfish Gallery Panel, Eva Lake, Paul Sutinen on difficult art35:20 — RACC Arts Tax update45:00 — Poet Laureate announced Peter Sears51:20 — Black Prairie album release; Close music

We look back at 15 years of Oregon artists on television with Oregon Art Beat. Curator Namita Wiggers helps us look back. Plus, Rene Denfeld's novel Enchanted, the spaghetti western twang of Federale, and poet Primus St. John.

We explore compelling installation work with Wafaa Bilal, breakout thinking with Makoto Fujimura, and Alison Roper's longtime love affair with her OBT audience. 1:00 — Kenji Bunch 8:18 — Oregon Rep Singers 10:44 — Alison Roper, the departing principal dancer of Oregon Ballet Theatre, checks in21:05 — Wafaa Bilal’s installation at Linfield, bringing elegant form to the losses of the Iraq War31:11 — What artist Makoto Fujimura has been working on during a residency with Southwest Washington’s Murdock Trust.36:47 — We talk with Portland hip hop promoters and artists on relations with local police.49:28 — Ural Thomas

Agonies. Ecstacies. We ran into a number of works this week exploring our relationship to the unseen, from Keith Achepohl's lovely, poignant ex-voto prints to Cappella Romana's haunting Russian choral melodies. If your taste runs more toward elephants in the room, check out our two-fer on Portland's arts tax. Here's where to find what you're looking for in today's show. 01:15Portland Arts Tax15:10Cascadia Composers23:18 Cappella Romana to premier Steinberg's Passion Week32:00 Keith Achepohl's If It Please You, Lord39:37 Comics for Change51:00 Kneebody

Lindsay Hill's debut novel is a dazzling collection of over a thousand micro-chapters, weaving together the story of 12-year-old Christopher Westall's coming of age in San Francisco. “Christopher’s trying to find his way in a world that’s been shattered to pieces,” Hill told us.”The reader is asked to find her or his way in a series of seemingly unrelated shards.” This is the long version of the interview you heard on this week's show.

Frank Janzen spends days with artists, teaching them the art of printmaking. He's the master printmaker at Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts. But he doesn't often talk about his own work. We caught up with Frank to hear abotu what's happening at Crow's Shadow this year, and to find out what he's been working on.

We seem to be running into a lot of long thinkers, lately - artists who don't shirk from taking their time to do the work they want. Jump in! Here's a rough guide to this week's episode. 01:35 - 00:00 Young Artists Debut05:25 - 07:12 Classical Up Close at Ethos07:15 - 13:26 St. Vincent14:39 - 26:33 Lindsay Hill's Sea of Hooks26:45 - 28:37 Phosphorescent @OPBMusic28:40 - 36:54 Complete Works Project38:07 - 43:10 Crow's Shadow's Frank Janzen43:20 - 46:20 Steve LaRiccia46:21 - 52:05 Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music

We met a lot of great people on our trip to Pendleton, but Verne Marr was one of our favorites. A tall, soft-spoken retired wildlife biologist, he now makes a limited number of custom banjos every year. We loved his nature-inspired designs, and his endlessly patient approach to his work. Take a listen.

Dakota Brown's got a lot on his plate right now: school, gigs, a new record in the works. We caught him before a recent gig at Hamley's to find out where the songwriting is taking him these days.

The one & only James Kindle is preparing for a week-long residency at Al's Den in Portland. We caught up to talk about his band's recent record, and other happenings.

Who better to be snowed in with than the cats & kittens of Pendleton? We spent six wintery days smack in the middle of Umatilla County's amazing creative community. Here are some of the people we met.00:22Oregon East Symphony08:44Your Questions re: classical09:22JD Kindle & the Eastern Oregon Playboys17:28Banjo maker Verne Marr24:57Jenny Morgan's paper cuts30:37Rivoli Theater Restoration39:00Hamley's Art42:25Dakota Brown48:00painter Arlen Clark51:30Crow's Shadow preview

Commissioners meet to get an update on the executive hiring process, and other matters.