Life and Lunch
Sunday, March 27 at 3:00 p.m.

"Halibut" by Etgar Keret, performed by Josh Radnor

"Bayonne" by John Cheever, performed by Mary Kay Place

"Graven Image" by John O'Hara, performed by Denis O'Hare

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver, performed by Leonard Nimoy

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 SHORTS are available in print can be found at, www.selectedshorts.org.

Let’s start in the present, go back to the past, and then look to the future. So, first, you gave some people a scare a few months ago. What happened and how are you feeling?

Nimoy: Yeah, I had a surprise. (Laughs). That’s the best way to put it. I was in Massachusetts, North Adams, Massachusetts, to do a presentation at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. They had an exhibition of my photography that was up for several months and I was there to give a talk. I was at a hotel across the street from the museum. I was set to go over in an hour or two and I suddenly started having severe stomach pains. And instead of going to the museum I went to the hospital and I had some colon surgery. Fortunately, the hospital and the surgeon were excellent and did a very good job for me. The rest was just a story of recovery. I’m fine now. It took a few weeks because it was rather severe surgery, with a lengthy incision from down the middle of my chest into my stomach. But I’m fine and I’m fully recovered.

You’ve retired, but we keep hearing – including from you with your recent tweet – that more Fringe may be on the horizon. What’s happening with that?

Nimoy: I did it. One episode. I can't say if William Bell will ever be back or if this is the finale of the season. I thought the character was finished, but they came up with a wonderful idea.

Wait, wait. Did you mean to say finale of the season or finale of the series?

Nimoy: I don't have either answer, season or series. I have been through many resurrections in my time!

You still attend the occasional convention. Why? Is it kind of a thank you to the fans at this point?

Nimoy: That’s exactly what it is, a thank you. I still feel an obligation to be out there for them, to tell them the Star Trek stories and to bring them up to date on what I’m doing. There’s still a lot of interest. I don’t know when I will stop doing this. I think there is an end in sight. I will not going on doing it indefinitely, but I am scheduled for three or four events for this year.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture actually rose from the ashes of Star Trek: Phase II, the series that Paramount aborted when it became clear from Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind that sci-fi movies could be huge moneymakers. Phase II has been in the news again recently with stories about how involved you might or might not have been…

Nimoy: It's being reported that Mr. Roddenberry offered me a contract to appear as Spock in two out of every 11 episodes of Star Trek in the '70's when there was a new series contemplated. This is true and (it’s) also true that I turned down the offer. I didn't feel comfortable being hired on as a part-time player.

That's interesting. Was that Roddenberry's choice or was that Paramount trying either to keep costs down or hoping they'd entice you with a less exhausting schedule?

Nimoy: Since Mr. Roddenberry is gone, we'll never know. He was also hired to develop a series for me at Universal in 1971. It was called Questor (The Questor Tapes). When it was time to cast it, he chose Robert Foxworth instead.

(...)

Star Trek V was, for all intents and purposes, William Shatner’s movie, so let’s move on to Star Trek VI. Was it time to say goodbye? And were you satisfied with the justice the story did to the franchise and cast?

Nimoy: I had some other wishes for Star Trek VI. I had some other hopes that weren’t realized. I thought the film served its purpose, again. It didn’t create any problems for us, but it didn’t quite accomplish what I’d hoped.

Which was?

Nimoy: I had a very interesting conversation with Gene Roddenberry in which we’d been discussing the idea of this movie being about going into the Klingon territory, into the Klingon Empire. I came up with the idea that since Nixon, who was a known conservative, was the person who could go to China to make a deal, who were obviously not conservative – they were a very deeply red Communist country – that Captain Kirk would be the ideal choice to go to the Klingon Empire to deal with them to create a détente between the Kingon Empire and our side, the Federation. That idea intrigued Nick Meyer and he wrote a very workable screenplay, but what I was hoping for was that once inside the Klingon Empire we would find out something about the Klingons that would surprise us all. Why are they so angry? Why are they so hostile? Why are so warring? Why are they so bent on conflict and paranoia and suspicion? What’s going on in their minds? What’s inside that Empire that we don’t know that would surprise us? We never quite got to that. We never quite did. We did do an interesting story about the political faction within the Klingon’s structure, but we didn’t quite get to that amazing revelation about what the Klingons were really all about.

Some fans loved the alternate universe concept, as it will free the writers and actors to go in any direction, while others disliked the breaking of Star Trek canon that resulted, particularly the destruction of Vulcan. What are your thoughts on the debate?

Nimoy: I think the alternate universe was necessary. I think it was a very solid idea and necessary because, although it broke canon in a certain kind of way, if they didn’t do the alternate universe, they would have broken canon in other ways. It was constricting. There was so much history to be dealt with that if they did not do the alternate universe it would have been so constricting and it would have been very, very difficult to tell an exciting story without stepping on some toes somewhere. So, by doing it this way, I think they gave themselves a new canvass to work with. I think it was a very wise idea.

(...)

You’re about to turn 80. Does that excite you? Frighten you? Both at once?

Nimoy: You know, the alternative isn’t very attractive. (Laughs) Not turning 80 is not a very nice event in your life. So… But I’m very comfortable with who I am and what I am and how I am. I feel strong. I feel good. I feel happy and healthy. I have a wonderful personal life. I will get out this year and see people and tell the stories. I love telling the stories that audiences want to hear. I’m really excited about this year. I’m doing a few conventions and appearances. I’m going to be in Dallas and Vegas and Atlanta. I’m giving a speech in Long Beach, at the Carpenter Center, at the end of April. I’m doing a reading in L.A. I’ve got some really exciting and fun things to do this year, and I’m looking forward to it.

Let’s assume you’ll live to 100. What do you hope to do with the next 20 years of your life?

Nimoy: I hope to stay creative, but to keep my personal life at the forefront. I have three kids and six grandchildren and a great-grandson. I’m thrilled with the way their lives are developing and it’s great fun to see them grow into themselves. I’m looking forward to enjoying that, and I want to keep some of my life available for creative possibilities. You’re talking to a very, very happy, thankful, grateful guy.

Elizabeth LeCompte with REDCAT Circle members Leonard Nimoy and Susan Bay Nimoy at a brunch celebrating REDCAT's four-year partnership with The Wooster Group

REDCAT Circle

The REDCAT Circle is the patron group at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT). It brings together people who share a passion for contemporary performing and visual arts, and who are committed to ensuring the financial health of this artistic endeavor. Annual gifts made through the REDCAT Circle support the dynamic artists we present and help maintain our state-of-the-art facility in downtown Los Angeles.

All REDCAT Circle members are invited to attend REDCAT Salons throughout the year. REDCAT Salons are often held at private residences, providing members the opportunity to meet and mingle with performing and visual artists, and to engage in lively discussions with fellow patrons, the REDCAT Council, CalArts trustees and community leaders.

We've heard rumours that William Bell will be back - can you say anything about that?
"I've heard the same rumours! In fact, I think Leonard [Nimoy] announced it on his Twitter or something. All I can say is that there will be a return of Leonard's character in a way. In a way. It's not going to be, 'Hey, here's Leonard again'. It will be something different but really quite bizarre. Very bizarre, in fact."

Anna Torv creates Bellivia by channeling Leonard Nimoy. I was very iffy on the prospect from what little I saw last week. I came into this week expecting to dislike Bellivia. The rasp of her voice seemed almost goofy, but I hardly noticed since “Fringe” did everything else right. The cadence of her words was dead on, and his/her interactions with everyone else in Fringe Division were pitch perfect. Peter is understandably angry that Bell jumped into Olivia’s head; while Walter enjoys the situation a little too much. I don't think he showed any concern for Olivia. He was too busy playfully solving word problems on opposite sides of a transparent dry erase board with Bill Bell. Anna Torv creates Bellivia by channeling Leonard Nimoy. I was very iffy on the prospect from what little I saw last week. I came into this week expecting to dislike Bellivia. The rasp of her voice seemed almost goofy, but I hardly noticed since “Fringe” did everything else right. The cadence of her words was dead on, and his/her interactions with everyone else in Fringe Division were pitch perfect. Peter is understandably angry that Bell jumped into Olivia’s head; while Walter enjoys the situation a little too much. I don't think he showed any concern for Olivia. He was too busy playfully solving word problems on opposite sides of a transparent dry erase board with Bill Bell.

Los Angeles Times

How much you enjoyed this week’s Fringe depended on how much you’re enjoying watching Anna Torv do her Leonard Nimoy impersonation. Me, I think her act is aces, very wry and amusing. But you may feel as Peter did when the William Bell inside Olivia said he might be using her body as a host for weeks. “Weeks!” yelped Peter. “Not a chance!”

Entertainment Weekly

Nimoy has shared numerous tales with us by this point, but it’s his recollection of how he came to title his memoir, “I Am Not Spock,” that gets us all going. After an experience in San Francisco, when a woman introduces him to her son as Mr. Spock, Nimoy got to thinking about how he and the character are distinct. “I called the chapter, ‘I Am Not Spock,’” he says, and when his publisher asked him for the title of his book, he suggested, “Let's go with I Am Not Spock; people will find that interesting. They found it interesting, all right, in the wrong way.”

He was unsurprised when Trek was resurrected for films, after the success of Star Wars in 1977. But after the first Trek movie, Nimoy says there was no sense that the movies were ongoing, so when he was asked if he want to do a death scene in The Wrath of Khan, Nimoy agreed, thinking the death scene would be among Trek’s last. “Came the day to film Spock’s death scene, though and I was thinking, ‘this is a terrible mistake,’” Nimoy deadpans, raising laughter from the crowd. When the studio asked if he’d like to be involved in Star Trek III, “I said ‘I’d like to direct it.’” And thus, simply, Nimoy’s directing career was born.

After sharing some of his photography— the focus of his career for the past decade-plus— and reading some poetry to the spellbound crowd, Nimoy addresses the question everyone is wondering. “I'm totally satisfied,” he says of his career. “Do I have an identity issue? Of course I do. When somebody yells Spock, I'm the one who looks around.” After Nimoy exits the stage, the void is felt by all.

Marking the launch of social networking on Optic TV, Telus has enlisted Spock of Star Trek fame. Actor Leonard Nimoy's appearance in a Telus Optik TV ad starting to air next week marks the first time the company has used a celebrity in its advertising. More here.

Dallas Morning News via Chicago Tribune
December 13, 1987
By Philip Wuntch

Doctor Spock
Director Leonard Nimoy Saves An Ailing `Baby`

In 1975, when Leonard Nimoy wrote his autobiography, the aura of Mr. Spock may have felt like an albatross. In any event, he named his volume ``I Am Not Spock.``

An interview with him tends to disprove the book`s title.

In person, Nimoy is crisp, decisive and even curt. Does that sound like any Vulcans you may know from the ``Star Trek`` series? He seems like the least likely man to direct a charming if slight comedy about the joys of unexpected parenthood. But that`s just what he has done with ``Three Men and a Baby,`` an early holiday box-office winner in which Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg play three Manhattan bachelors whose carefree lifestyle is altered when they find a baby on their doorstep.

(...)

Was working with the three stars really as easy as everyone insists?

``Hey, they`re just three pushy guys. I`ve been in this business long enough to be used to pushy people. Tom works hard and makes it look easy. I`ve known Tom and Ted a reasonably long time. Ted`s going to get some flack for his performance because he`s the cause of all the trouble. He carries the movie`s negative load. I never knew Steve before we started filming. He was the last one I got to know and like.``

But not, apparently, before some rounds were fought.

Guttenberg, speaking on the telephone from Ireland, confirmed that he and Nimoy had not always seen things eye to eye.

``In some ways, I felt that my role was the least well-drawn,``

Guttenberg said. ``I kept on making suggestions about how my character should be treated. At first I had some trouble with Leonard. He felt I was acting like a stubborn kid, and maybe he was right to a degree. I kept on making suggestions. It became like a game. I would say, `Leonard, I have a suggestion.` He would say, `Steve, I thought that you might.` And when he would say it, he would somehow sound like John Huston.``

(...)

He has seen ``only a few minutes`` of the new ``Star Trek`` series and indicates with a wave of his hand what he thought of it. He has interests away from the movie and television cameras. He sings. He has written nine books of free verse.

At the moment, though, he seems most interested in continuing his career as a director.

``I first started directing 30 years ago. I then got sidetracked. Right now I`m at a point in my career where I`m doing what I`ve wanted to do for the last three decades. I couldn`t be happier.``

He didn`t smile when he said it, but you sensed that he meant every word.

Hava Nagila: What Is It? is a documentary romp through the history, mystery, and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Funny, deep and unexpected, the film will celebrate 100 years of Jewish history and culture and reveal the power of music to bridge cultural divides and bring us together as human beings.

We began making Hava Nagila: What Is It? in 2009. In April 2010, we completed a ten-minute fundraising clip. This sample clip touched a chord. Nearly 500,000 people have seen it online. What’s more, over 300 people have donated to the film!

With foundations drastically reducing their funding of the arts, we’re counting on hundreds of donations large and small to finish the film…And it’s working! With online donor support, we’ve been able to continue shooting with scholars and celebrities (...)

 

The Story

"When you find a song that says 'Let us rejoice,' there's no better song to leave an evening with than that statement. - Harry Belafonte, December 2009

Songs can take on a life on their own and carry with them an entire constellation of history, values and hopes for the future. We believe this is true for Hava Nagila.

The song originated in the Ukraine as a wordless Hasidic melody. It traveled with Hasidic immigrants to Jerusalem at the turn of the 20th century and acquired Hebrew lyrics and a circle dance based on the Romanian hora. From there, Hava Nagila journeyed to America, where it sped up, lost its connotations as a song of Palestine and exploded in popularity. Today, it is, arguably, the most recognizable Jewish thing around the world – adored by some, reviled by others and understood as musical shorthand for "Jewishness" by all.
Hava Nagila, What Is It? will follow the song from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the cul-de-sacs of America. It will be a weave of interviews, original footage, archival footage and photographs. Scholars will trace the song through the decades and reflect on the power of music in every culture to transmit lessons, stories and messages across the generations. We will supplement their insights with celebrity interviews. Each celebrity will provide his or her own take on Hava Nagila – and entertain us with their renditions.

The resulting film will not only entertain us and make us laugh; but through its examination of our complex, ever-evolving, at times tongue-in-cheek, relationship with this fascinating song, Hava Nagila, What Is It? will remind us of the power of music to go deep, to bring a celebration to life and to connect us on specific cultural and broader universal levels.

On Friday morning (at 4:23a ET), the astronauts on Shuttle Discovery in orbit were woken up to the classic Gerald Fried fight music (“The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah") from the classic Star Trek episode Amok Time. The music was selected for the crew by their Earthbound training team.

Blue Sky by Big Head Todd and the Monsters
722,662 votes. Listen live on March 8 at 2:23 a.m.

Star Trek Theme Song by Alexander Courage
671,134 votes. Listen live on March 7 at 2:23 a.m.

Two days before the phone call from Joe, I had made a fashion-show appearance at Higbee's department store with Leonard Nimoy of "Star Trek" fame. The night before the fashion show, Jerry Hall, the local promotion man for Nimoy's label and an old friend from Texas, had arranged for the three of us to have dinner together, even though I had nothing to do with picking music for the station.

Nimoy and I hit it off, talking politics for hours after dinner in his hotel room. At the fashion show, I told Nimoy of the Time magazine article. Leonard said he had heard of Hendrix, and decided to stay in Cleveland another day, joining me at the Hendrix "impromptu" guest shot with the local band. So we met Jimi at the club that night and the three of us began talking politics. We were all on the same wavelength, wanting to see the end of the war in Vietnam.

The First Lieutenant

The captain's right-hand man, the working level commander of all the ship's functions from manning the bridge to supervising the lowliest scrub detail. His name is "Mr. Spock." And the first view of him can be almost frightening – a face so heavy-lidded and satanic you might almost expect him to have a forked tail. Probably half Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears. But strangely – Mr- Spock's quiet temperament is in dramatic contrast to his satanic look. Of all the crew aboard, he is the nearest to Captain April's equal, physically and emotionally, as a commander of men. His primary weakness is an almost cat-like curiosity over anything the slightes "alien".