Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] If the word “ukulele” conjures visions of slow, sleepy Hawaiian music, that’s just where virtuoso JAKE SHIMABUKURO wants you at the start of a show: He thrives upending the low expectations people have of his instrument. Because there’s very little about what he does on the traditional Hawaiian instrument that sounds “sleepy” [...]

Filed under: arts, entertainment, music |

Hour 2 SUZZY ROCHE and her sisters, Maggie and Terre, have been touring together and recording for over 30 years. Suzzy, the youngest, has written her first novel, "Wayward Saints," about the music industry, family and small-town ghosts of the past. We’ll talk to Roche about performing, writing in a different medium for the first [...]

Filed under: arts, author, culture, entertainment, family issues, music |

Hour 2 How do you tell the story of the infamous trial of the Scottsboro Boys in fierce, minstrel form? The last collaboration of  John Kander and Fred Ebb, the legendary musical theater team behind Chicago and Cabaret, was the 2010 Broadway production of The Scottsboro Boys, which was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. The [...]

Filed under: arts, culture, entertainment, history, music, social issues |

Hour 2 Mayor Nutter recently turned a few heads after he used some choice words when responding to the senseless murder of three Philadelphia teenagers.  The award-winning ABC sitcom Modern Family also found itself in a little bit of hot water thanks to an F-bomb dropped by a toddler.  Meanwhile the Supreme Court has begun [...]

Filed under: author, business, culture, entertainment, family issues, history, media, parenting, politics, psychology, social issues |

Hour 2 With the squeeze on state budgets, many are betting on gambling to put cash in their coffers. States around the country are pushing to legalize in-state Internet gambling. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie has said that he wants to make the Garden State the “epicenter” for gambling online. A recent decision by [...]

Filed under: business, economy, entertainment, law enforcement, social issues, technology |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Interest in ballroom dancing is surging.  And if folks aren't learning it and doing it, they're watching it on television. Last fall, season 13 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars drew 19.5 million total viewers. In this hour of Radio Times, we'll go behind the scenes of competitive ballroom dancing.  We'll talk [...]

Filed under: arts, author, culture, entertainment |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Internationally acclaimed hip-hop artist and peace activist EMMANUEL JAL estimates he was born sometime in the early 1980s in the south of Sudan. At the age of seven, his family was forced repeatedly to flee their small village as Sudan’s civil war moved closer. At this time, Jal was separated from his [...]

Filed under: culture, entertainment, music, politics, school issues, social issues, world |

Hour 1 When we went to the movies this year we saw 3D animation, an assortment of child actors, some very good documentaries and lots of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbinder. It’s become a tradition here at Radio Times to spend the last day of the year talking about one of [...]

Filed under: culture, entertainment, music |

Hour 2 Star of Broadway, television and film, actress TOVAH FELDSHUH says she doesn’t want to impress audiences but move them. The role she’s currently playing is historically emotional, and this is Feldshuh’s first time embodying the character of Mama Rose, the demanding and perhaps misunderstood, stage mother in Jule Styne’s and Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy. [...]

Filed under: arts, culture, entertainment |

Hour 2 Writer SUSAN ORLEAN'S new book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, tells the fascinating story of the famous German Shepard and his enduring popularity. Rin Tin Tin was discovered as a puppy on a WWI battlefield by American soldier Lee Duncan who brought him back to the states and helped launch [...]

Filed under: animals, author, entertainment, history |