hearts of space | news

PGM 919 'BAYOU MOON' : Week of July 30th...

Gather 'round all you swamp fans. This one's for you. Yes, the great Mississippi Delta, home of deep Southern blues, Cajun, Dixieland, jazz, funk (and let's-not-forget "sludge metal") is callin' you, on a program called BAYOU MOON.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we wade into a hot and humid zone with a unique culture and a sense of place you can feel on your skin. Like a thick mist drifting out of the marsh, wetlands and barrier islands, bayou country has its own ambience, a sound that blends blues, creole, Indian, Cajun and jazz — and seasons it with a heavy coat of swamp sauce. It's one of the most distinctive cultural blends you'll find anywhere.

Music is by TOM NEWMAN, MICHAEL BROOK, RY COODER, DANIEL LANOIS, PATRICK O'HEARN, HAMMOCK and TINO IZZO.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 918 'HEATWAVES' : Week of July 23rd...

With record temperatures all around the northern hemisphere this summer, there's no escaping the fact that our environment is getting warmer. As the mercury creeps toward 100 in almost half the US, whether you're in the desert sunbelt, the western plateau, the stormy plains or the simmering cities, hyperthermia is the new normal, and we all need to get good at living with the heat.

A nice cold drink with a touch of mint is the classic solution, and of course, there's a trip to the air conditioned mall or the local pool — but for comprehensive relief, we also need music  that soothes the mind and cools the blood. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we aim to provide that...with an hour of ambient electronica for midsummer, on a program called HEATWAVES.

Music is by PAUL ELLIS, NATURAL FREQUENCIES, DAN POUND, DAN BARRIO, AGITATION FREE, PALANCAR, STEVE ROACH, and STEVE BRAND.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

iPhone update

Dear iPhone friends:

Your patience will soon be rewarded with a really cool little app that plays Hearts of Space wherever you (and AT&T) are. Here's an update:

SHORT VERSION

We're done with the heavy lifting part of the construction project and are into the optimizing stage. We expect to seed copies of a pre-release version to our volunteer beta testers early in August and release Version 1 by the end of August — pending Apple's review and approval.

The app will cost 99 cents in the app store, which will partially underwrite the development costs. { Geek Joke: "99 cents is the new free." }

LONGER VERSION

It's been four months since our last post on the status of our iPhone app. During that time, we hired a new development team, refined the design of the app, solved our most pressing technical problem, and started the actual programming project. In addition, we developed numerous "APIs" — technical additions to our web server and our streaming media servers to support operation of the iPhone app.

At the same time, we've embarked on the project of re-encoding all the radio programs in an iPhone-friendly AACplus format: over 5,500 files!

Other than that, we been loafin' — it's summer, right? ;-)

To get the initial version of the app out as quickly as possible, we've dropped one previously announced feature, added a number of others, and laid out a "roadmap" for the future. Here's what it looks like:

Version 1 of the app will offer This Week's Show and the Radio Channel (with some interesting functional improvements on the iPhone). There will also be a selection of open-to-all Demo content similar to our online FREE page.

• All Archive Access and Radio Channel subscribers will have full access to all features.
• This Week Anytime subscribers will have access to everything except the Radio Channel.
• We will introduce an iPhone Special plan that gives full access to all features of the app at a reduced price.
• This Week's Show will remain free on Sundays on the iPhone for all registered HOS users.
• As a limited introductory special for the app, new and existing Registered Users (no current access plan) will have free access to the Demo content and This Week's Show on their iPhone.
• Sorry, we can't support Prepaid Minutes on the iPhone. Contact us for options at [email protected].

Version 2 of the app will add multiple full time "channels" similar to the existing Radio Channel. You'll be able to listen to continuous streams of several of the sub-genres on the site: Electronic Space, Classic HOS Mix, Celtic, etc. We haven't settled on the final number or genres of channels, but it will be a substantial upgrade and we expect to release it sometime in the fall.

Version 3 will probably be released early in 2011. We are going to try to squeeze the full feature set of the existing web service and the new multi-channel lineup onto the teeny-tiny iPhone screen, and its bigger brother, the iPad. Wish us luck with that...we think it's possible, but we've learned with programming that you never know for sure until you actually do it.

Here's a peek:

 

Attn. ANDROIDS: You're next.

:: SH

PGM 917 "SUMMER DRUMMER" : Week of July 16th...

Since time out of mind, drumming has been both a musical practice and a social magnet. In the warm zone cultures of the Caribbean, Africa, the Indo-Pacific, and Latin America, drumming music is king. When the temperature rises, the blood seems to thin and the body wants to move. For most, it's a time for dancing, but for others, it's an invitation to the hypnotic state of dynamic stillness: the use of rhythm to achieve deeper levels of concentration.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we follow the pulse of the season to its quiet heart, on program called SUMMER DRUMMER. Music is by GLEN VELEZ, JON IVERSON, RAVID, STEPHAN MICUS, LAURA INSERRA & DARREN GIBBS, and ED MANN & BRIAN HAND.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 773R 'CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS' : Week of July 9th...

What's fast on the surface, but slow and deep underneath? It's not a trick question, rather, an attribute of those short, balmy summer nights we're having. Underneath the superficial activity, there's a deeper rhythm, one scientists will tell you is tuned to the cycles of light and dark. On these long days and short nights, plants, animals, insects, and humans all adapt — right down to the genes in our cells.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE we adapt, and ride those rhythms with summer night sounds, on a program called CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS. Music is by PATRICK O'HEARN, PAUL ELLIS, JEFFREY KOEPPER, AMONGST MYSELVES, J.ARIF VERNER and DEUTER.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

2nd Annual Summer Drawing Winners!

First, Big Thanks to all those generous spacefans who purchased voluntary access to THIS WEEK SUNDAY so we could keep it free for everyone else.

This year Associate Producer Steve Davis drew the winners the old fashioned way — from a large glass bowl containing paper slips with the email address of each eligible subscriber.

The winners of our 2nd Annual Drawing are:

1 year ALL ARCHIVE ACCESS

• Scott D. of So.Boston, MA
• Helen D. of Springfield, IL
• Prentice H. of Chattanooga, TN
• Ken S. of Monroe, LA
• Courtney R. of Edina, MN

1 year RADIO CHANNEL

• Christopher K. of Mitchell, IN
• Dave K. of Ladera Ranch, CA
• Louis G. of Livingston, TX
• John B. of Sandusky, OH
• Jack R. of Birmingham, AL

1 year THIS WEEK ANYTIME

• Dan B. of Olathe, KS
• Warren T. of Kansas City, MO
• Jeffrey A. of Ona, WV
• Angelo V. of Riverside, CA
• Eric B. of Houston, TX

Congratulations to our winners!

We've emailed each of you individually to let you know about your new access plan and any choices you may have about how to receive it.

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who participated!

Safe journey, spacefans...

PGM 916 'AMERICAN REFLECTIONS' : Week of July 2nd...

This week we gather for our yearly July 4th celebration of American independence. It's a festive affair, with food, fun and fireworks. In the last few years, the celebration has often been tempered by continuing national, global and planetary  challenges, and this year is no exception. Somehow, it all seems  to make the day more precious — a haven from cares...and reconnection with friends and family on a fine summer day.

We take comfort in familiar food, games, and music. The summer concert season is in full swing: from neighborhood bars and county fairs to giant festivals, the panorama of celebratory American music is all around us, punctuated by dazzling visions in the night sky.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we look back at the quiet roots of American music — folk tunes, hymns and ballads — and the simple purity of traditional acoustic instruments, on a program called AMERICAN REFLECTIONS.

Music is by DAVID MODICA, THE BEYMAN BROTHERS, BRUCE KAPHAN, TINGSTAND & RUMBEL, SPIRIT JOURNEY, TREVOR STEWART & EARTHLINES, MARJORIE DE MUYNCK, WILL ACKERMAN, GEORGE WINSTON, CRAIG URUQUHART, JONATHAN ELIAS, and MARK O'CONNOR's APPALACHIA WALTZ TRIO.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]