Sound Effect is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by KPLU's Gabriel Spitzer. Each week's show explores a different theme and this week we are Unplugged… kind of.
When Stuart Dempster learned about the empty two-million gallon water tank on the Olympic Peninsula, he had one thought: he had to make music there. Dempster is a well-known composer and trombonist, an emeritus professor at the University of Washington with a longstanding interest in recording music out in unusual spaces. Gabriel Spitzer sat down with Dempster to discuss this most ambitious unplugged recording project.
Genjo Marinello is an actual Zen priest, the abbot at Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Temple in Seattle. You might expect him to be one of those finger-waggers who advocate throwing away your cell phone and just being in the moment. But Genjo Marinello has an iPhone of his own, along with an iPad, a Macbook, a Facebook account and, of course, free Wi-Fi at the temple. Gabriel Spitzer spoke with Osho Genjo Marinello about the virtues of not unplugging.
For many, even the mention of the word unplugged conjures up memories of the the MTV series that began in 1989 and so when the Sound Effect team decided to explore the theme of 'Unplugged' we knew we had to reach out to music journalist and writer,Charles R. Crossto discuss the Grammy award winning 'Unplugged' performance of Nirvana. Cross lays out the unseen drama happening within the band and highlights some of his favorite moments of what he calls the best performance of Kurt Cobain's career.
