As recently Amoeblogged about, the Upper East Side of New York City a has a new micro-powered radio station; one that originates from the Bay Area but is temporarily broadcasting for a three month engagement in NYC. The radio station (broadcast & streamed online) is the Bay Area's Neighborhood Public Radio (aka NPR), who feel that the real  NPR is failing at what they are supposed to be doing -- providing community radio for the American public.

 Click here to read the Amoeblog interview with Neighborhood Public Radio's Lee Montgomery (pic below) and Jon Brumit, which talks about the current temporary radio station set up in storefront studios at 941 Madison Ave -- a space (formerly an upscale women's shoe shop) owned by the Whitney Museum who (after curators visited one of their SF installations last year) commissioned the Bay Area traveling broadcast audio arts collective and their current piece, "American Life," to be a part of the ongoing Whitney Biennial 2008.

Since running that blog I did a broadcast on NPR and am doing another one -- with a bunch of other       folks -- again this Saturday (4/19) from 2-6PM, which is 11AM to 3PM PST. So if you are not attending the big Record Store Day at one of the Amoeba branches, tune in online or better still, if you happen to be in NYC, stop by. Everyone's welcome to get on the mic and on the air.  This collaboration with NPR will be about fourth or fifth one I will have done, since myself and my (Hip Hop Slam) crew have been down with NPR since they formed four years ago.  We've done installments back in SF at spots such as ATA on Valencia and Southern Exposure Gallery in the Mission.  At that latter one we had an art exhibit too, while in the radio part we had scratch DJs on a line of turntables, plus I was mixing in sound samples and also -- off a scanner -- live police-radio signal broadcasts from SFPD's nearby Mission District station.

 At this upcoming event (Sat 4/19), which is titled American Life: The Bay to NYC (below is flyer with all details), art that originates from either the Bay Area or NYC will be on display. NYC graffiti artist TOOFLY, pictured above in action, will have art on display as well as photo-journalists who took above photo -- Jim & Karla Murray (Burning New York). There will also be a video installation -- pieces that myself with the Hip Hop Slam crew have produced over the past several years. One of them captures all the graffiti South of Market and out to China Basin (circa 1999), just as construction of new condos was displacing a lot of this street art.  The radio show part, which is also streamed live (and later archived) on www.neighborhoodpublicradio.org, will include an open freestyle session with a drum-kit, electric guitar, keyboards, and turntables all ready to be used by trained and untrained folks alike.  In addition to visitors to the Whitney -- two doors up -- who give information on the radio station, there will also be neighborhood folks dropping in. Basically I will have people singing or playing music or telling stories once I can get them within distance of one of the mics. There will also be some pre-planned interviews and readings, such as photo-journalists Jim and Karla Murray and author Michael A Gonzales.  Also featured will be DJ ALF -- pictured left.  For full details see flyer below.  Should be a bit of fun.