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The Infinite Mind: Music of The Infinite Mind - 2003 In this hour, a special presentation: The Music of the Infinite Mind - 2003. Over the past year, we've been joined by some talented musicians with smart things to say both musically and otherwise about many intriguing aspects of the human mind. Now, you'll hear some of the best who have stopped by the visit host Dr. Fred Goodwin and The Infinite Mind studios. Guests include: Janis Ian, Aimee Mann, Cowboy Junkies, Maggie and Suzzy Roche, Dar Williams, and Suzanne Vega. Commentary by John Hockenberry. To begin, The Infinite Mind's Emily Fisher interviews singer-songwriter Janis Ian. Ms. Ian's most recent CD is God and the FBI. To date, she's won nine Grammys. In 1988 she came down with a sore throat that didn't go away. She thought she had a weird flu. Months later she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. At first, she was bedridden. Her short-term memory was severely impaired, she says. When she could leave the house, she would forget to put her jacket on - in the middle of December. She says a low point was collapsing outside of a supermarket, unable to remember if she had driven there or walked there or was waiting to be picked up by someone. Today she's in remission. She urges people with chronic fatigue syndrome to hold onto a sense of hope. In the first months of her illness she wrote a song, "Days Like These," which she performs, and which speaks to the need for hope. It concludes, "When the one thing left/ is the blessing of my dreams/ I can make my peace/ with days like these." To find out more about Janis Ian, you can visit her webiste: http://www.janisian.com/. Our next musical performance is from Aimee Mann, an Academy Award nominee and three-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, whose work often addressed themes of addiction, social misconnections, and psychology. She joined us for "State of Mind: America 2003," our live taping at The Carter Center. From her most recent CD "Lost in Space" Aimee Mann performs the song "Humpty Dumpty." You can find out more about Aimee Mann by visiting her website: http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html. Then, The Infinite Mind's Emily Fisher speaks with the brother and sister who lead the musical group Cowboy Junkies. The group is currently on tour for Open, their 11th CD. Michael Timmins, the guitarist and song writer, and his sister, Margo Timmins, the group's singer joined us from a tour-stop in Des Moines, Iowa. Also in the band are their brother Peter on drums, and Mike's childhood friend, Alan Anton, on bass. To find out more about Aimee Mann, visit her website at http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html. You may have heard people say - only semi-facetiously - that "no good deed goes unpunished." Next, we hear Maggie and Suzzy Roche perform a song that gives one answer to the question: well, then, why do the good deed? The song is called "Anyway," and it's on their new CD, "Zero Church," released by Red House Records. It's all about doing the right thing, "anyway," even when you can reasonably expect it to backfire. Why do the right thing then? The Infinite Mind's Emily Fisher asks Suzzy Roche."So at the end of the day," says Suzzy Roche, "you can live with yourself and have some kind of peace." Next up the Infinite Mind's Emily Fisher speaks with singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega about the song that's become an anthem of sorts for its role in raising awareness of domestic violence, "Luka." Ms. Vega wrote the song in 1984. It appeared on her 1987 album "Solitude Standing" and quickly became a huge success. The album earned three Grammy nominations, including "Song of the Year," for "Luka." Ms. Vega says "As a writer I was trying to engage the listener and in a way to indict the listener, to say 'My name is Luka, I live upstairs from YOU.'" For more information about Suzanne Vega, please visit her website at vega.net. - Devorah Klahr
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Week of June 11, 2003
Aimee Mann
Performing at The Infinite Mind's
"State of Mind: Amerca 2003" at The Carter Center
The brother and sister describe growing up in Canada as the middle two of six children. Like most siblings, they had a love-hate relationship. Margo recalls the times when her brothers put her in hockey nets and shot pucks at her head. Now, however, they all get along well.
Mike and Margo, with a little help from Jeff Bird on harmonica, then perform the title track from their 1992 album Black Eyed Man.
To contact Cowboy Junkies, please visit http://www.cowboyjunkies.com/. Or write to info@cowboyjunkies.com.
After a short break, we hear again from Aimee Mann, an Academy Award nominee and three-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter. From her hit soundtrack to the movie "Magnolia," she performs the song "Save Me."
Then The Infinite Mind's Marit Haahr speaks with singer-songwriter Dar Williams, who credits therapy with pulling her out of depression and saving her life. Dar Williams' latest CD is The Beauty of the Rain, released on the label Razor and Tie. Ms. Williams suffered from depression in college. She says she felt as if she were frozen, while everyone else was alive and living in color. She performs a song from her CD The Green World, "After All," which she wrote about that time in her life. The lyrics include the verse, "And it felt like a winter machine/ That you go through and then/ You catch your breath and winter starts again/ And everyone else is spring bound."
To order CDs or contact Dar Williams, please visit http://www.darwilliams.com/.
Suzanne Vega performs the song, which begins "My name is Luka, I live on the second floor. I live upstairs from you. Yes I think you've seen me before. If you hear something late at night, Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight, Just don't ask me what it was.""Luka" leads off a CD on the double CD compilation "Respond II," proceeds of which will go to help families affected by domestic violence. It will also lead off a "Retrospective: the Best of Suzanne Vega."
Concluding the show - commentator John Hockenberry talks about the conjunction between music and celebrity. "Check it out... Franz Liszt was every bit the groupie swooner as Kurt Cobain or that cute blond guy from N'Sync... what's his name?" When Hockenberry was growing up, he learned to play the piano. He wanted to be another van Kliburn. Then he learned to play guitar and dreamed of being another Jimi Hendrix. In college he learned to play the flute. "The problem is," says Hockenberry, "I kind of sucked at all of them." He wasn't terrible - he just wasn't cut out to be another Hendrix or Franz Liszt. Eventually, he put away his instruments. Then one day, he decided to buy a piano and his life changed. He started to play again. He got engaged, married, had kids. And today, he says, when he plays "Wheels on the Bus" to his four children on his flute -- "that is one rapt audience." They all join in - "Mommy on drums; Olivia and Zoe on spoons... Zachary and Regan vocals." They may not sound great, he says, but they have a great time. And that's part of what music is really about - the courage to perform, to play, even badly.