Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Show notes for Saturday 25 February 2012

Guest details for Saturday Morning 25 February 2012

8:15 Susan Orlean: Rin Tin Tin

Susan Orlean is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the author of the 2000 best-seller, The Orchid Thief. Her new book is Rin Tin Tin: the Life and Legend of the World’s Most Famous Dog (Atlantic Books, ISBN: 978-0857896292). (The official Rin Tin site is here.)

9:05 Christopher Kennedy Lawford

Christopher Kennedy Lawford is a nephew of US President John F Kennedy, an actor, and the author of three best-selling books on drug addiction, including Symptoms of Withdrawal: a Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption (2005, William Morrow, ISBN. 978-0060732486). In March 2011 he was appointed the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador on Drug Dependence, Treatment and Care, and is visiting New Zealand in that role as a guest of the NZ Drug Foundation.

9:40 Mike Shepherd

Mike Shepherd started the theatre company Kneehigh in 1980, and it has become one of Britain’s most lauded touring companies. Kneehigh brings its production of The Wild Bride to the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival from 24-27 February.

10:05 Playing Favourites with Daniel Beban

Daniel Beban is a musician, sound artist, instrument maker and sound engineer. He is the founder of the Frederick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society, and curates the Sound Explorers record label and the Fredstock Festival. One of his musical groups, Orchestra of Spheres, recently toured Europe; they will play in Wellington this weekend at San Francisco Bath House (with Thought Creature and Badd Energy, 24 February), and at Alphabet Street, a “funk for the whole family” event at Capital E in Wellington on 26 February.

11:05 Chris Stringer

Professor Chris Stringer is Merit Researcher at the Department of Paleontology, Natural History Museum, London, and is acclaimed as Britain’s foremost expert on human origins, His new book is The Origin of Our Species (Allen Lane, ISBN: 978-1-846-14140-9). Professor Stringer is visiting New Zealand to give a lecture (Human Evolution: Neanderthals and ancient pathways from Africa to Britain), in Auckland (22 February), Christchurch (23 February), Dunedin (24 February) and Wellington (25 February, 5.30pm, Embassy Theatre), as a guest of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, with support from the Royal Society of New Zealand.

11:45 Richie Meyer

Dr Richard J Meyer teaches film studies at Seattle University, Washington, and is President Emeritus of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. He has published widely in film and journalism periodicals, and worked in all phases of film and educational television production, and is the author of two books about Chinese actors of the 1920s and 1930s: Ruan Ling-Yu: The Goddess of Shanghai (Hong Kong University Press, ISBN: 978-9622093959), and Jin Yan: The Rudolph Valentino of Shanghai (Hong Kong University Press, ISBN: 9789622095861). Richie is a visiting scholar at the New Zealand Film Archive, where he is researching First World War propaganda.

Music played during the programme

Ed Sheeran: Lego House
From the 2012 album: +
(Atlantic)
Played at around 11:40

Playing Favourites with Daniel Beban

Sun Ra Arkestra: Strange Celestial Road
From the 1979 album: Strange Celestial Road
(Rounder Records)
Played at around 10:15

Alexander Tucker: Hag Stones
From the 2003 album: Old Fog
(ATP Recordings)
Played at around 10:30

Troupe Majidi: Essiniya (Nass El Ghiwane)
From the 2005 album:  Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna
(Sublime Frequencies)
Played at around 10:55

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Lianne Smith