Selected Shorts: A Passion for Central Park with Paul Auster
Wed, May 23 at 7 pm
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space

Central Park is much beloved by New Yorkers, tourists, and artists of all kinds, including hundreds of writers, whose characters have walked through, kissed, killed, birdwatched, played football, played tennis, run, fallen in love, fallen out of love and been inspired by this beautiful oasis in a busy, noisy city. In an evening of selections mostly drawn from the new collection Central Park, edited by Andrew Blauner, Paul Auster will open the evening by talking about how the park has been his muse. Leonard Nimoy and other Broadway and Hollywood actors read selections by Auster, Colson Whitehead, Susan Cheever and more.

Source: Symphony Space

Selected Shorts 2012: Objects of Desire

Date: Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4, 2012
Time: 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday; 3:00 p.m. on Sunday
Location: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
Admission: Tickets $20, students/seniors $15. Call (310) 440-7300 or use the "Get Tickets" buttons below.

The hit public-radio series returns for its annual weekend of live performance at the Getty. A great lineup of actors from stage and screen read funny, passionate, and mysterious classic and modern tales about objects of desire. Historical, religious, magical, humorous, beloved, or bewitched—every object tells a story.

Stuff Happens
Saturday, March 3 at 3:00 p.m.

"The Bureau" by J. Robert Lennon, performed by Kirsten Vangsness

"The Empty Room" by Jonathan Lethem, performed by Tate Donovan

"Why Don't You Dance?" by Raymond Carver, performed by Corey Stoll

"In the Reign of Harad IV" by Steven Millhauser, performed by Leonard Nimoy

More here.

Willful Women
Sunday, June 25, 2006

“A woman who thinks too much can become dangerous. She’ll invent things. She’ll plot.” --Jose Alcantara Almanzar, “My Singular Irene”

Willful women in the American South and South America.
Eudora Welty lived a long time, from 1909 to 2001, and lived most of that life in her house in Jackson, Mississippi. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her novel THE OPTIMIST’S DAUGHTER, and, in 1992, the Rea Award for the Short Story. This sassy tale of small town gossip, set—where else?—at a beauty salon—was the perfect showcase for comedienne Cynthia Nixon, one of the stars of the hit television series, SEX AND THE CITY.

The author “My Singular Irene,” José Alcántara Almánzar, has written five collections of short stories, many of which are gathered in the 1993 anthology, El sabor de lo prohibido. He lives and works in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This comic and magical story, which starts with a couple on a journey in their car, was part of a SHORTS evening at Symphony Space called “Transformations”. With that in mind, listen for some amazing changes undergone by at least one person in that automobile. Some may be reminded of a similar scene in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude. Reader Leonard Nimoy presents a masterful turn as a baffled male.

“Petrified Man,” by Eudora Welty, read by Cynthia Nixon
“My Singular Irene,” by Jose Alcantara Almanzar, read by Leonard Nimoy.

Source: WNYC

Personal Odyssey
Sunday, May 14, 2006

“Because they don’t want to be perfect, because only God is perfect, Indian people sew flaws into their pow wow regalia.” --Sherman Alexie, “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem”

A Native American undertakes a personal odyssey; and Raymond Carver anatomizes grief.
“What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” is about homeless Native Americans in the city of Seattle, Washington, and follows its narrator through a dark night of the soul, into the light of a recovered past.

Sherman Alexie is the author of the story collections TEN LITTLE INDIANS, THE TOUGHEST INDIAN IN THE WORLD, and THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN. The reader is the stage and film actor Keir Dullea, iconic star of A Space Odyssey 2001, David and Lisa, and Space Odyssey 2010.

Raymond Carver is considered one of the masters of the American short story; his spare prose renders emotion even more powerfully than does excess. Carver’s story collections include: Furious Seasons (1977), What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), Fires and Cathedral (both 1983), and If It Please You (1984). This poignant story of the death of a child, Lemonade, is given an equally powerful reading by Leonard Nimoy.

“What You Pawn, I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie, read by Keir Dullea
“Lemonade,” by Raymond Carver, read by Leonard Nimoy

Source: WNYC

Snow Poem
Sunday, July 03, 2005

"He stood still, and loved it. Its beauty was paralyzing beyond all words, all experience, all dream."
—Conrad Aiken, "Silent Snow, Secret Snow"

A dream poem written in the snow.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and short story writer Conrad Aiken was born in Savannah, Georgia and was a contemporary of T.S. Eliot’s at Harvard. His collections include Earth Triumphant and Selected Poems; his short story collections were Bring, Bring, and Among the Lost People, and he was also awarded the National Book Award for his surreal and penetrating fictions. He was a contributing editor and writer to The Dial and The New Yorker, and the father of children’s writer Joan Aiken. His mysterious and compelling fiction, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is compellingly read by Leonard Nimoy.

Source: WNYC

Unfortunately, copyright restrictions prevent us from streaming or archiving these programs, but they are available for a limited time as podcasts on iTunes, audible.com; and at npr.org. And some individual stories have been made available on cassettes or CD anthologies; please see our website, www.selectedshorts.org. for information about these.
However, all the details about the authors and readers can be found on the individual program pages, and more information on where the stories featured on SELECTED

Podcast Description

Leonard Nimoy hosts a 13-part series that celebrates the American Jewish tradition by exploring the extraordinary range of its music. Each program illuminates a major theme reflected in American Jewish music: biblical epics set to music by Kurt Weill and other 20th century masters; Jewish legends in tone poems, film scores and operas; sacred masterpieces and the great cantorial tradition; the joy of klezmer; symphonies and concertos based on Jewish themes; the mysteries of Sephardic music; Holocaust reflections; songs from the Golden Age of Yiddish Theater; and world premieres of recently discovered Jewish compositions by Leonard Bernstein.

Source: iTunes

LEONARD NIMOY HOSTS 13-PART RADIO SERIES

A new 13-part radio series - “American Jewish Music from the Milken Archives with Leonard Nimoy” - will begin web-casting on Naxos Web Radio (www.NaxosRadio.com) channels 46 to 48 beginning in October 2005. The series, hosted by Leonard Nimoy, who has a deep and abiding love for his Jewish heritage, will feature music from the Naxos series the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, exploring a different theme in each two-hour program, for a total of twenty-six hours of unique and fascinating radio programming. The series can also be downloaded and streamed as podcasts in the ‘Podcasts’ section of www.Naxos.com (www.naxos.com/podcasts/podcastslist.asp).

The first program in the series gives an overview of American-Jewish music--its depth, breadth, and influence on all musical genres. Subsequent programs devote entire episodes to specific musical genres: Biblical epics set to music by Kurt Weill and other 20th-century masters; Jewish legends in tone poems; film scores and operas; sacred masterpieces and the great cantorial tradition; the joy of klezmer; symphonies and concertos based on Jewish themes; the mysteries of Sephardic music; Holocaust reflections; songs from the Golden Age of Yiddish theater; and world premieres of recently discovered Jewish compositions by Leonard Bernstein. Each program will include commentary and discussion about each of the weekly topics by Neil W. Levin, a recognized expert on Jewish music who is the artistic director of the Milken Archive, together with conductor and music director of the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, who is featured on many of the Naxos - Milken Archive recordings. The series closes with a program of highlights from the entire series, with comments from Milken Archive founder Lowell Milken.

All of the music featured on “American Jewish Music from the Milken Archives with Leonard Nimoy” is from recordings released by the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music on the Naxos American Classics label, the most comprehensive survey of music related to the American Jewish experience ever assembled on disc, which explores the rich body of Jewish music, both sacred and secular, that has developed over the course of American history. In its breadth and diversity, this abundant repertoire encompasses classical music, sacred works, and theatrical, popular, and folk idioms, reflecting not only the evolution and variety of Jewish life in America, but also the universality of the Jewish experience and its relevance to people of all faiths and backgrounds.

The Milken Archive was created in 1990 by Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, who translated his enthusiasm for Jewish music and his family’s commitment to education into this extensive, multi-year project. The entire undertaking has been carried out according to exacting standards of scholarship by Artistic Director Neil W. Levin working with a distinguished panel of musicologists, performing artists, Judaic scholars and cantors, who chose the works to be recorded for their intrinsic musical value and appeal as well as for their Jewish character and inspiration. Introduced in September 2003, the Milken Archive has released 38 of more than 50 recordings to date of some 700 newly recorded works. The balance will be issued throughout 2006.

Source: Naxos

Nimoy to host Jewish music shows on XM Satellite Radio
Associated Press
Sept. 30, 2004, 9:10AM

NEW YORK -- Former "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy is beaming onto the radio.

"American Jewish Music From the Milken Archive With Leonard Nimoy" will explore scared and secular Jewish music from the Milken Archive of Jewish American Music during 13 two-hour episodes on WFMT Radio Network stations and XM Satellite Radio.

The series will air beginning Sept. 30.

"I grew up speaking Yiddish at home in Boston and hearing this music during services at synagogue and at social events where my uncle and four cousins played klezmer music," Nimoy said in a statement Friday. "This program and this music makes me feel very much at home."

The series' musical selections will range from biblical epics set to music by Kurt Weill, Jewish legends in tone poems, film scores and operas, symphonies and concertos based on Jewish themes, Yiddish theater songs and world premieres of recently discovered Jewish compositions by Leonard Bernstein.

Source: Chron

The Jewish Daily Forward
By David Mermelstein
December 31, 2004

Listening to Classical on the ‘Cool’ Medium
On the Radio

The Milken programs, each running two hours, derive their contents from a series of Milken Archive CDs on the Naxos label. (Currently, 30 titles are available of 52 projected.) Added to the music is Nimoy’s relatively dry commentary and excerpts from interviews in which conductor Gerard Schwarz questions Neil Levin, the archive’s artistic director.

Unusually, the series often presents works in their entirety, a gesture serious music lovers will welcome. Those interested in just sampling Jewish music might find listening to more than 40 minutes of Kurt Weill’s “The Eternal Road” a chore, but no one will discount this series’ value in making available music rarely heard and little known.

The Bible Stories program, for instance, features that bizarre collaboration known as “The Genesis Suite,” with music by several 20th-century composers, including Schoenberg and Stravinsky. Conducted by Schwarz, the Berlin Radio Symphony performs the piece, joined by the Ernst Senff Chorus. Barbara Feldon, Fritz Weaver and Tovah Feldshuh are among the narrators.

A program of concertos offers unfairly neglected works by Joseph Achron, Joel Hoffman, Paul Schoenfield, Sholom Secunda and Jacob Weinberg. And the incidental music that Yehudi Wyner wrote for “The Mirror,” a play by Isaac Bashevis Singer, enlivens the klezmer program. There are even two hours devoted to Bernstein’s music, nearly all of it unfamiliar, though none of it conducted by the composer.

Unfortunately, the series is not flawless. Nimoy’s narration, while authoritative, is muddily delivered. And the interpolated comments from Schwarz and Levin need drastic cutting. Not only do the “interviews” ramble, but they are also self-serving, undermining the very real value of this series.

Mutual Radio Theater

First show: Mar 3, 1980 Original shows: 103 Last show: Dec 10, 1980
Number of programs aired including new and repeats: 210
Hosts: Lorne Greene, Andy Griffith, Vincent Price, Cicely Tyson, Leonard Nimoy

In December 1979 the Mutual Broadcasting System acquired the Sears Radio Theater renaming it, the MUTUAL Radio Theater. It retained the same format as before with the same theme for different nights of the week. Lorne Greene remained host for Monday's Western night, Andy Griffith handled Tuesday's Comedy, Vincent Price still was host for Mystery on Wednesdays, Cicely Tyson did Love on Thursday, while Leonard Nimoy was now the Friday night Adventure host. As before the series aired week nights, Monday through Friday.

The Mutual Radio Theater debuted Mar 3, 1980 and was to run for 13 weeks on almost 300 stations. The shows were then to be repeated over the summer and fall. It proved to be fairly successful and another 8 weeks of original programs were added; this was followed by another 8 weeks of repeats. The series was broadcast in stereo, making it the only commercial radio network drama program in the nation to use this technology at the time.

Great writers were employed for this series including Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin. Good choices were made when it came to cast members. Old familiar voices and names included Janet Waldo, John Dehner, Vic Perrin, Mary Jane Croft, Hans Conried, Marvin Miller, Parley Baer, Elliot Lewis, Jeff Corey, Virginia Gregg, Lesley Woods, Robert Rockwell and Lurene Tuttle. Then from movies and TV - Eve Arden, Keith Andes, Harriet Nelson, Aan Young, Tom Bosley and Marian Ross, Lloyd Bochner, Rick Jason, Frank Campanella, Toni Tennille, Arthur Hill, Dan O'Herlihy, Jesse White and Frank Nelson.

A curious note: Many collectors and vendors list a total of 104 broadcasts. Apparently what was done by them was to count a repeat of "The Ship", first broadcast on March 7, 1980 as another show when it was aired again during the first 13 week cycle (May 23, 1980).

Source: Times Past Old Time Radio Archive

Like most of the latter-day attempts, MRT was an anthology series but this five day a week series offered a different genre and a different celebrity host for every night of the week.

Monday was Western night hosted by BONANZA’s Lorne Greene (himself a veteran of Canadian radio). Tuesday was Comedy night presented by Andy Griffith. On Wednesday, Vincent Price—a radio man from way back—offered Mystery. Thursday featured Cicely Tyson with Romance and Friday perhaps incongruously offered Leonard (I AM NOT SPOCK) Nimoy with Adventure night.

An immediate inherent fault in this format was the fact that if you liked mysteries and adventures, you would only listen on Wednesdays and Fridays. If you only wanted a few laughs, you’d only tune in on Tuesday. Since listening to radio in the evenings was hardly a regular habit for most folks by 1980, more than likely you wouldn’t even remember from week to week.

It might have helped if the series had gotten listings, reviews or other publicity in newspapers but quite frankly if the MUTUAL RADIO THEATER even played in the Cincinnati market I was never aware of it.

Source: Booksteve's Library