Ben's Introduction
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Jim Gimzewski
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In a small basement lab at UCLA, scientists are developing "nano-technology," which is the science of the tiny, and Jim Gimzewski has used a tiny, tiny microscope to discover that our bodies are actually singing.
The Dark Side of the Cell
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Nanoscientist Andrew Pelling and media artist Anne Niemetz came together to create music from cellular sounds. Dark Side of the Cell
is a concert that includes the unadulterated tones of healthy cells,
the static-like noise of human cancer cells and almost meditative
sounds of yeast cells recovering from given birth.
Yvonne Sininger
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Just a few buildings away from UCLA's nano-technology labs, is scientist Yvonne Sininger who uses tones in a very different way. Dr. Sininger made a pretty radical discovery about how the human ear decodes sound.
Synesthesia
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There is a neurological condition called "synesthesia"
and "synesthetes," as people with synesthesia are called, have some
wires crossed in their brains that blurs boundaries between the five
sense. Synesthetes often see sounds, words have color. Imagine the
effects screen in iTunes, or the Windows Music Player. Or the movie
Fantasia - only well, better.
Laurie Buenafe will be performing at Koo's Art Center on March 2, 2005 at 8 p.m.
(Credit: Erika Kelly from KQED produced that documentary on Synesthesia and it first aired on KALX-Berkeley's B-Side Radio)
ear(th)
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Steve Roden is a painter,
a sculptor and a composer who lives in Pasadena and he's interested in
translating the senses - like the synesthetes we just heard from, only
Steve does it through art. At Pasadena's recent "Tender Lands"
festival, Steve had the opportunity to turn an earthquake into a really
intimate listening experience in an art project named ear(th).
Rip, Rift and Panic
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Susan Stone is a radio producer who spent a good amount of time in
1990s traveling the Pacific Rim interviewing earthquake survivors. She
calls her documentary "Rip Rift and Panic: life gets edgy on the fault
line."
(Credit: "Rip, Rift and Panic - Life gets edgy on the fault Line" first aired on KPFA in Berkeley)
El Pedorrero (in English: The Farter)
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Bill London, aka Bill Al Capone, is brazenly trying to turn his East LA
muffler shop into a serious museum. Mexican ex-patriot and artist Ruben Ortiz-Torres takes Queena on a tour.
Wanna Visit the Farter?
Ruben Ortiz Torres will take YOU on a tour during "A Walk to Remember," a series of tours sponsored by a non-profit Hollywood art gallery called the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
During the months of February, March and April a number of
well-known and up-and-coming artists will lead tours of different
Southern California neighborhoods and little known cultural
institutions.
Music Bridge - Manu Chao, "Bong Bong"
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Botanica Los Angeles: Latino Popular Religious Art in the City of Angels
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Ben visits Patrick Polk, a visiting professor at UCLA who's trying to turn the Fowler Museum of Cultural History
into a Botanica. Equal parts spiritual centers, religious object supply
houses and corner stores, Botanicas are fast becoming a part of Los
Angeles religious landscape. The exhibit runs until March 6th.
Here's a list of Botanicas that participated in the exhibit. Patrick
Polk told Ben that any of these places would be happy to have you stop
by.
Botánica El Congo Manuel is on 5712 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Phone: 323-463-5736.
ˇ Owner Charles Guelperin is an Argentina-born practitioner of Espiritismo, Santería and El Palo Mayombé.
Botánica Orula, Lynwood
ˇ Owner Sonia Gastelum is a santera and an espiritista who created an altar to her primary spirit guides.
Templo y Botánica San Simón de los Llanos is located near the corner of Pico and Arlington in Los Angeles.
ˇ Owner Carlos Arana Figueroa Martínez is a spiritualist and folk healer
Closing Music ("Forever Nightshade Mary" by Latin Playboys and Credits
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