We’re excited to announce the launch of our new, revitalized NPT Media Update blog, now housed on our WNPT server at http://www.wnpt.org/mediaupdate. From this point forward we’ll no longer be updating this one, so please correct your bookmarks and join us at the new address.

Thanks!

Not since the great female songwriters and performers of the late 60s, had there been such an influx of influential women in rock as we saw in the early to mid-90s. To this day, if you check the influences of aspiring women singer-songwriters and artists, odds are one of these artists’ names will pop up. In 1993, we saw the arrival of Sheryl Crow‘s first record, Tuesday Night Music Club. That same year, although she had been recording for a number years, Sarah McLachlan gave us her breakthrough, Fumbling Toward Ecstasy. In 1995, Alanis Morisette‘s Jagged Little Pill took us inside a theatre and shook the foundations of popular music, while Ani DiFranco, who had already released a number of independent records, found her most mainstream success with Not a Pretty Girl. No female artist of the first half of the decade, though, was as unique as Tori Amos. Sure, she borrowed a bit from Joni Mitchell and had touches of some of her ethereal contemporaries, but 1992′s Little Earthquakes was still chill-inducing in its honesty, and a feast for the senses in its arrangements. Standout tracks “Crucify” and “Silent All These Years” were stealth punches to the gut. If you made music in 1992, or were considering it, you could not ignore what Amos was doing, both on record and on stage.

Amos has only continued to grow as an artist, with close to a dozen albums and multiple Grammy Awards. Live From the Artists Den moves to Wednesday nights this month, and we’re proud to have Amos live from the The Veterans Room of New York City’s Park Avenue Armory on Wednesday, September 22 at 11:00 p.m. where she performs a career-spanning set featuring classics from her debut through her latest, Abnormally Attracted to Sin.

Dierks Bentley‘s also on Live from the Artists Den, On Wednesday, September 1; Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings are on Austin City Limits on Saturday, September 4; and we’ve got an encore broadcast of our own documentary, The Carter Family: An American Original, on Friday, September 24.

It’s another great month of music programming on NPT. For a complete list of programming in September, please visit the schedule link at wnpt.net.

Read the Rest of the NPT Music Monthly September 2010 in newsletter form. It’s the complete listing of all the music programming coming to NPT this month.  Subscribe for free, and view a complete list of programming for September at wnpt.net.

As I have previously noted in another post, as part of the Tennessee Crossroads team, I am often responsible for answering a variety of questions about our show. I can’t count the number of times I have received emails and phone calls asking when we are going to be re-airing a particular Tennessee Crossroads episode. Everyone has their favorite. This Thanksgiving, NPT will celebrate those favorites with a 15-hour Tennessee Crossroads Marathon across both our channels (NPT & NPT2). We here at Tennessee Crossroads could probably pick all the episodes ourselves (we have already had some rousing discussions on possible programs) but ultimately, we want to make sure we air episodes that YOU want to see again. If I had my say, we’d re-air all the places we’ve ever done about chocolate and cupcakes. I like to know where I can get those staples wherever I’m traveling. But I also understand that you may want to see something else. If we have done a story on your neighbor’s artistic abilities, or the local cupcake store down the street, your church’s Apple Butter Festival or even your own personal business, don’t feel shy about telling us that you want to see it again. My feelings won’t be hurt (too much) if you choose to go a different route then all things sugary.

If you have any stories or episodes you want us to re-air during the marathon, email them to me at crossroads@wnpt.net or send me a note on the Tennessee Crossroads Facebook page. Who knows, you might be sitting on the couch with family and friends after your Thanksgiving meal and get to point toward the TV and say, “that was my suggestion!”

In the meantime, you can check out some of my favorite segments in the videos below!

Happy Travels!

Erin

From the NPT Pressroom:

NPT original production traces history and significance of art collection that is home to works by Picasso, Renoir, O’Keeffe, Cezanne, Demuth, Stieglitz, Hartley and more

The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of modern art at Fisk University consists of more than 100 works by European and American artists, many of them masters, as well as a number of African artifacts. By all accounts, it’s one of the most significant collections in the nation. The tale of how it came to Fisk University in 1949 is an extraordinary one, complete with a love story, a passion for art and education, and a desire to honor a legacy that great art should be accessible to the masses.

Nashville Public Television (NPT) explores this history, and takes the viewer on a tour of the most significant works in the collection, in “The Gift: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection at Fisk University,” premiering on Wednesday, September 8 at 9:00 p.m. on NPT-Channel 8 (rebroadcast on Monday, September 20 at 9:30 p.m.)

“It’s an extraordinary collection, and in some ways, one of Nashville’s hidden treasures,” says NPT producer Linda Wei. “As we delved into the story, I became intrigued by the love affair of Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. They were a true powerhouse art couple whose impact on modern art was immense, and their relationship is as much a part of what makes this collection vital as the art itself. I think viewers unfamiliar with their story will be genuinely moved.”

Stieglitz was a pioneering figure in American photography, the nation’s “first art photographer,” Victor Simmons, director and curator of Fisk University Galleries, tells us. As a collector, he was “almost as phenomenal as he was an artist.”

It was through his 291 Gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York that Stieglitz met the young artist O’Keeffe. They became friends and mutual supporters of each other’s art and ambitions, and in 1924, married – a marriage that would last until Stieglitz’s death in 1946.

O’Keeffe’s landmark work, “Radiator Building – Night, New York,” as Simmons tells us in the documentary, is a tribute to not only O’Keeffe’s love for Stieglitz, but her admiration for his talents.

“The pièce de résistance in the painting is this beautiful lighted sign … that illuminates with the name Alfred Stieglitz in it,” says Simmons. “Right above his name, if you look up in the heavens, you see this lone star, and it tells you exactly what this painting is about. It’s about him. He is as glorious, he’s as grand, he is as majestic as that skyscraper.”

Student Edythe Paulin, Georgia O''Keeffe and Carl Van Vechten (Photo Courtesy of Fisk University Franklin Library Special Collections)

It was Stieglitz and O’Keeffe’s relationship with philanthropist Carl Van Vechten that would eventually lead to a portion of Stieglitz’s collection – 850 paintings and thousands of photographs by the time of his death – to make their way to Fisk. Van Vechten was particularly supportive of emerging African-American artists and writers, among them Langston Hughes. He was also friends with then Fisk University president Charles Johnson, and had donated to the University what was at the time considered the premier music archives in the South.

After Stieglitz’s death, it became important to O’Keeffe that his collection be placed strategically in different regions of the country, so everyone, regardless of race, could have access to the art.  The places chosen were the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Library of Congress and – per Van Vechten’s suggestion – Fisk University. The building in which the collection is housed is named in his honor.

Through interviews with Simmons, Reavis Mitchell, professor and chairman of the Fisk University Department of History, Vivien Green Fryd, professor and chairman of the Vanderbilt University History of Art, and Carol Creswell-Betsch, whose mother was one of the first people to work at the new Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, viewers are introduced to several of the most notable pieces in the collection. In addition to “Radiator Building – Night, New York,” O’Keeffe’s “The Flying Backbone,” from her Southwestern period, is explored. Among other works discussed are Charles Demuth’s “Calla Lillies (Bert Savoy),” Florine Stettheimer’s “Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz,” Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s “Spring Synchromy,” and a number of works by Marsden Hartley and John Marin.

“This part of the Stieglitz collection goes to Fisk University with the hope that it may show that there are many ways of seeing and thinking,” said O’Keeffe when the collection was given to Fisk, “And possibly, through showing that there are many ways, give someone confidence in his own way, which may be different, whatever its direction.”

“The Gift: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection at Fisk University” was made possible with the generous support of the Metro Nashville Arts Commission.

Steve Gorman, Nashville resident and Hopkinsville, Kentucky native, has been the drummer for The Black Crowes since the band’s breakthrough success in 1990 with the multi-platinum selling Shake Your Money Maker. Celebrating its 20th-anniversary this year, the band released Croweology, a double-album, 20-song acoustic reworking of some of the finest songs in its catalog. It’s also in the midst of the “Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys” tour, which includes a stop at the Ryman Auditorium on September 12 and wraps with a six-night stand at the Filmore in San Francisco in December. The band will then go on what’s being called a “lengthy hiatus.”

In advance of NPT’s broadcast of The Black Crowes’ performance on Live From the Artists Den on Friday, August 27 at 11 p.m., we caught up with Gorman in Nashville before the start of the tour to discuss the Nashville floods, the Artist’s Den, the influence of Levon Helm, Croweology, the Tour, the Titans, the World Cup and more.

On how he and his family fared during the Nashville Floods of May 2010.

Professionally, it had no impact at all. All my gear was fine. Everything I was working on … every studio I had been in that week …. everything was safe. I totally lucked out. The house took about four feet of water in the basement. It’s not a finished basement and we lost maybe our Halloween decorations. So I was really pissed off until I saw a helicopter shot of what was going on in the city, and then I felt like the luckiest guy in town.

We were just knee deep in our own crisis, and then to realize all we had was a little bit of water. I don’t even have the words to describe what went on here … everybody here knows. But it is strange to be traveling all summer, and have the number of people that I’ve talked to who’ve said “Yeah, I heard something about Nashville. Did you guys get a big rain or something?” Still, it’s weird to leave town and no one knows about it.

On taping the Live From the Artists Den show at the Lyric Theatre in Oxford, Mississippi in September 2009. The show airs August 27 on NPT and on PBS stations nation that week (check local listings).

The thing I remember — and at the time is was so specific to me — was that it was the show right after we played the Ryman here. So we had an amazing show at the Ryman, the best crowd of the year, a really special night, and then went down to Oxford for the TV show. It’s really easy to forget you have a TV show to do when you show up at the Ryman, so (the next day) was one of those days. When we were on our way down there, everybody was thinking, “oh wait, we have to do this thing for PBS tonight, we oughta probably get our heads around it” and “why didn’t we put a couple of days in between the Ryman and this show.” But it turned out to be a really good night. It was such a different venue. It was a really cool old theatre, a great room, a lot of fun. I just remember thinking the whole time, “we may have just peaked for the whole year last night.”

Watch a clip of The Black Crowes from Live from the Artists Den.

On becoming a great live band, the influence of The Band, and recording Before the Frost … Until the Freeze at Levon Helm’s farm in upstate New York.

There’s not a good enough word to describe what Levon means, not only to me, but really to the whole band. When our first record came out, we toured for two years on it. We were the guys who would run off stage, have a beer, and go right to the bus to listen to another cool bootleg someone had found that day in whatever town we were in. So we listened to tons of live shows by the Band, Little Feat, Zeppelin, the Dead and other bands. But The Band themselves was a huge part of us becoming a good live band. We were breaking it down, the way musicians do, trying to figure out all this language. How do these guys play together so well? What are they doing? It’s a slow process. You can’t just overnight snap your fingers and suddenly understand how to play with each other. We spent the two years touring for Shake Your Money Maker — to us that was school — learning and pushing ourselves every night.

Levon is as musical a drummer as anyone has ever been in a rock ‘n’ roll format. The heart and soul of The Band was always Levon Helm. So not just to me as a drummer, but as all the musicians in the band would say, no one ranks higher. Everyone has got their Mt. Rushmore of those influences, and Levon’s absolutely one of those faces on mine.

To go up and work in his studio, in his home really, was great. Obviously we got a live record out of it, and playing shows where he does his Rambles … all of those things were so special. But nothing compares to the two or three times in that process when we would take a break and he would come in and we would all sit by the fire and shoot the sh*t. He would tell stories, and we would tell stories, everything from having babies to playing shows in bad clubs with no heat. And it wasn’t like he came down to give us any sage advice. It was just a bunch of musicians hanging out. But it’s always those kinds of moments where you sit there and you have a nice flowing conversation like you’ve known him your whole life, and then he gets up and leaves and five minutes later you’re like “Oh my God, I was just hanging with Levon Helm for two hours talking about everything and nothing.” He’s a special guy.

On choosing the songs to record for Croweology, a double album of acoustic versions of 20 songs from The Black Crowes catalog.

This is 20 years since our first record came out and we were kicking around ideas on what we would do to acknowledge that and sort of celebrate it. We’ve never looked backed intentionally before, so to do it, it’s been kind of fun. It’s exhilarating and incredibly humbling. I look back and all I see are all the people that have helped along the way. In anything that has any longevity, it’s the work of so many. People focus on the members of the band, but it’s so many other people too.

There was a lot of acoustic music on Before the Frost … Until the Freeze and also on Warpaint. We’ve also done some acoustic shows over the years, so we thought, “why don’t we go pick 20 tunes out and record them in that template, so it’s not just a greatest hits record.” We still wanted to do something that was interesting to us. So to rework the songs in a new format sounded like a real challenge going in. As it turned out, it flowed pretty quickly and we felt great about what we were doing. The songs came together in that setting really nicely and we didn’t even struggle over what songs to pick out.

Chris, Rich and I each wrote a list up of about 25 songs, and I was saying I bet we have five songs in common between the three lists. We looked at each other’s lists and I think we had a dozen songs right off the bat that we all had written down. Then we said, “what songs songs made two of the three lists?” Between those two Venn Diagrams we had enough songs to attempt, and then enough of them worked out and we got twenty to put on the record.

On the “Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys” Tour, and temporarily wrapping up a 20 year-career.

It’ll be a 90-minute acoustic set and then a 90-minute electric set, so it’s a long show. It’s a nice way to wrap up 20 years, put it in a pretty box and leave a big bow on top. Then at the end of the tour we’re going take a break for what I imagine will be several years. We feel great about what the band is doing. We really like the last three records and feel like we’ve really gotten it together. We put together a thing that seemed irretrievably broken six/seven years ago so that, in itself, took a lot of work. We’re very proud of it and now we feel like, let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past by driving it into the ground, where we sort of implode. Let’s pull the plug while we’re in a great place and let everyone go and refresh themselves, do something else and then we’ll see. Something about 20 years just seems like a really nice time to shut it down again. It’s a much cleaner, much happier ending than the first time we did this.

On the idea that in five years the band will be eligible for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

(Laughing) It’s interesting. I don’t think we’ve kissed enough babies along the way to make that happen, frankly, and I don’t know if there’s enough babies in the world we could kiss at this point. I don’t know if the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame wants anything to do with a rock n roll band anymore, but we’ll see. I don’t have any issues. I don’t mean to downplay it. I’ve never been there. If I’m in Cleveland I’m going to check it out. I’d love to see it. It just seems like you have to be a little more industry savvy for them to notice you, and we’ve just never put ourselves in that position.

On Steve Gorman Sports, his sports radio show formerly on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville and now available as a podcast.

A few years ago I went down to the station here in Nashville, 104.5, to just sit in on the afternoon show with some of the guys. They were doing a fundraiser so I was helping out with that and I just stayed on the air for an hour and a half. As I was leaving the station the P.D. said, “Man, you sound great on the air. You should come in and we should do a regular feature. It was really funny to hear you talk about the stuff.” I said (without thinking that there was anyway in the world that this guy would said OK), “instead of me doing a weekly appearance, why don’t I just do my own show,” because that’s just the kind of guy I am. I have to stink a little, and I was really just trying to tweak him, and he’s said “that’s great, when can you do it?” (Laughing). So right away, I was thinking, “I just stepped over a line I didn’t mean too.” But there was no backing out at that point of course.

For a couple of years I was on Sunday nights, doing Steve Gorman Sports on the air. The touring always gets in the way, of course, so now we’re just doing it in podcast form. Ultimately, it’s either me and my co-host, or a musician or an athlete just talking for an hour or so. If I have an athlete, we tend to talk about music. If I have a musician, we talk about sports. Sports and music have always been the two passions in my life, so it’s a pretty natural fit for me.

On the show’s logo.

We’ll know we’re a success when Major League Baseball sues us. That’s the goal.

On the Tennessee Titans this year.

I think they’re definitely a playoff team. I think this is a great chance for them to get it back together. They had a nice run at the end of last year, but there was just no way they were going to get in. Plus they didn’t really have it. They weren’t as solid as that eight-game winning streak might have suggested. But I think this year their schedule is just tailor-made for them to make a run on the playoffs again. There’s no telling if they can get past the Colts, but I think they’re easily a wild card.

On Italy’s quick exit for the World Cup — my heartbreak — and rooting for the Dutch teams.

Heartbreaking for you, nothing happier for me. I am no fan of the catenaccio style of play. Just by default, I always cheered for the Dutch teams as a kid. The total football of the 70s is what I grew up obsessing over, and for Italy to win those World Cups and the Dutch to be empty handed…. for some reason I reserve a special resentment for the Italian Team based on nothing but childhood lunacy. I’m always happy to see a powerhouse go down like that. I’m actually a fan of a lot of the French players, but I love seeing them implode. It just adds to the flair of the whole thing.

On the World Cup Final.

I was definitely going for the Dutch. I along with everyone else in the world, of course, predicted Spain would win the thing before the Tournament started, but I was actually more upset with how the Dutch played than the loss. It was weird to think that at that level you can still be psyched out by your opponent. They walked on to the pitch knowing full well “we can’t just play against these guys straight up, we have to try and break their legs.” So I was a little disappointed after the game that they didn’t trust their skills enough to stay with Spain. But then again, everyone else did the same thing. Spain, even though their scores may not have shown it, had a pretty impressive romp after that first round loss to Switzerland.

On where he likes to hang out when he’s home in Nashville.

I like to hang out in my house (laughing). That’s where the action is, man. This has been six straight years, really, that we’ve been on the road, so when I’m home I burrow in pretty much.

I go see bands wherever they’re playing. I don’t have a regular hang anymore. I’m just so involved with the kids and with their school and the sports they play. I don’t get out nearly as much as I did five and six years ago. It’s just go wherever the gig is. You and I used to see each other at the Family Wash a good bit, but I just haven’t gotten over there that much as of late. But that’s still a place I get out to when I’m out. The Mercy Lounge always has good shows. I go to the Bluebird every now and then just to sit in on writers-in-the-round. There’s no shortage of places to go.

On Whether the “What Wrong? … With Steve” Advice column, accessible now at BlackCrowes.com, will continue during the hiatus.

In some format. We may just have to move the whole thing over to the sports page. We’ll have to see. But as of right now, of course, I’m still here to lend a comforting and sarcastic ear to many of the conflicted Black Crowes fans in the world. These are some troubled, people, let me tell you (laughing).

Interview conducted and edited by Joe Pagetta, NPT Media Relations Manager.

• THE BLACK CROWES’ Croweology Charts In The US, Canada (bravewords.com)
• Report: THE BLACK CROWES Hiatus Will Be “Positive”, Says Chris Robinson (bravewords.com)
• THE BLACK CROWES To Roll Out 20 Years Of Tall Tales Web Series (bravewords.com)
• The Black Crowes flying into the sunset (mysanantonio.com)
• THE BLACK CROWES – Croweology Streaming In Its Entirety (bravewords.com)
• Black Crowes: 20 Years of Tall Tales (jambase.com)
• JamBase Questionnaire: The Black Crowes (jambase.com)
• THE BLACK CROWES – Video Footage Of Tonight Show Performance Available (bravewords.com)
• THE BLACK CROWES: Entire ‘Croweology’ Album Available For Streaming (roadrunnerrecords.com)

Back in December, Tennessee public television stations launched the Tennessee Channel, a four-hour block of Tennessee-centered programs. Each station provides programming for the Tennessee Channel which is then compiled and broadcast statewide each weekend.

The programs air throughout Tennessee on Saturdays from 5:00-9:00 p.m. CT, and Sundays from 1:00-5:00 p.m. CT. Here in Nashville, you can find The Tennessee Channel on NPT2, available on Comcast Digital Cable channel 241, Charter Digital Cable channel 176 and over-the-air on channel 8.2.

The programming on the Tennessee Channel, previously unavailable state-wide, varies each week. What are some programs that you can see on the Tennessee Channel?

- Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s- A WLJT production now in its fifth season, this music series celebrates the work of Americana singers, songwriters and musicians. Artists who have performed at Hippie Jack’s include The John Cowan Band, The Pat McLaughlin Band, Peter Karp & Sue Foley, Tim O’Brien, Scott Miller & The Commonwealth and Darrell Scott & Kenny Malone.

- Southern Accents – A WCTI production now in its seventeenth season, this Emmy-nominated series is similar in concept to Tennessee Crossroads, inviting viewers to experience exciting journeys throughout the Southeast.

- Best of Memphis Memoirs – A WKNO production similar to our own Memories of Nashville series that explores memories of Memphis from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

- Live Green Tennessee – A WCTE production that explores how our agricultural heritage and local wisdom can help all of us lead greener, more prosperous and healthy lives.

- Treasures in Your Attic – A ETPBS production, Treasures in Your Attic offers intriguing possibilities to consider before backing the truck up to the door and pitching the past. The hosts tour an average home, room by room, identifying the various items found and discussing their rarity and value to collectors.

These few shows listed are only a sample of the extensive programming available. The Tennessee Channel also features NPT produced programming and locally produced documentaries such as Chattanooga Choo Choo: Tracing the Tracks and Beyond Babyland .

The Tennessee Channel is a great way to check out what other people in the state are watching on their local PBS station. It’s also a great way for you and your sister who lives in Johnson City to enjoy Lisa Lambert & the Pine Ridge Boys on Bluegrass By the River without having to leave the comfort of your homes. Commune with your fellow Tennesseans by checking out the Tennessee Channel this weekend (upcoming schedule can be found here). And then come back here and let us know what you think.

Participating Tennessee public television stations are: NPT, WCTE, WTCI, WKNO, WLJT and ETPBS

Anytime a Sesame Street cast member comes to town, we get a little excited. That’s why where thrilled that veteran actor Roscoe Orman, who has played “Gordon” on Sesame Street for 36 years, will be in Nashville in a couple of weeks. He’ll be here on Tuesday, August 31 for a “Toast to the Team” reception and fundraiser for Tennessee State University’s Forensic Speech Team. The event is 6-8 p.m. at Richland Country Club, One Club Drive in Nashville, and will be hosted by Dr. T.B. & Mrs. Yvette Boyd. It will include readings by Orman and other surprise guests and a silent auction. Organizers promise an elegant evening and “literature haven.” A limited number of tickets are available for $75 — $50 of which is tax deductible — and must be reserved by August 23. For more information, and to purchase tickets, please call 615-293-8422 or visit http://www.tnstate.edu/forensicstoast.

TSU’s State Champion Forensics Speech team had a banner 2010 year, winning 266 awards, among them third place in the nation in poetry interpretation and third place in the nation in dramatic interpretation. In February of this year, the team garnered rave media attention for its dramatic performances commemorating the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins of 1960.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Orman has long history of writing, theatre, television and film credits in addition to his work on Sesame Street. He made his professional theatre debut in 1962 with the Next Stage Theatre Company’s production of If We Grow Up. A founding member of Harlem’s New Lafayette Theatre, he appeared prominently in most of that company’s productions, including Whose Got His Own, We Righteous Bombers, The Duplex, The Devil Catchers and The Fabulous Miss Marie. Recent roles have included Troy Maxon in Fences at Madison Repertory Theatre and Hoke Colburn in the Delaware Theatre Company production of Driving Miss Daisy. He is a five time nominee of an Audelco Theatre Award. In 1997, his took home the award for his performance in Do Lord Remember Me at Manhattan’s Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse.

As a writer, Orman was a contributing editor of Black Theatre Magazine during the 1970s. Orman’s memoir, Sesame Street Dad: Evolution of an Actor was published in June 2006. His children’s book Ricky & Mobo, which he wrote and illustrated, was published in 2007.

In 1973, Orman made his feature film debut in the title role of Universal Pictures’ Willie Dynamite. His other films include Follow That Bird, FX, Striking Distance, New Jersey Drive, Drive By, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, 30 Days, and Twilight’s Last Gleaming. His television credits include Sanford and Son, Kojak, All My Children, A Man Called Hawk, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Cosby, Sex and the City and The Wire.

Free daylong series Aug. 21 features four documentaries with strong female characters – A Girl’s Life, Off and Running, Troop 1500, and Lakshmi and Me – followed by discussions.

As NPT gets ready to partner with ITVS and the Nashville Public Library this October to launch our third season of ITVS Community Cinema in Nashville, the groundbreaking free community film series and engagement program is hosting a Women’s Empowerment Film Festival at Nashville Public Library’s main branch (615 Church St.) on Saturday, August 21, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Nashville festival is one of a dozen national ITVS events that highlight stories of women and girls in the U.S. and globally who are making real change on critical social issues in their communities.

Presented additionally by Hands On Nashville and Nashville Film Festival, the free daylong event will feature four documentary films, refreshments and an information fair for organizations that serve girls and women in Nashville, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee.

“While we want to celebrate and encourage girls and women, we also want to bring the local perspective to the stories we see on screen,” said Allison Inman, ITVS National Community Cinema Coordinator. “For example, when we show ‘Troop 1500,’ which tells the story of young girls in Texas whose mothers are incarcerated, we’ll hear from Nashville organizations that help girls coping with a parent in prison.”

Read an interview with Inman about last year’s Community Cinema Series.

The Women’s Empowerment Film Festival lineup includes:

A Girl’s Life (Trailer)
Rachel Simmons introduces four typical teenage American girls who tell deeply personal tales of dealing with issues like cyber-bullying, body image and violence. Simmons also interviews parents, psychologists, teachers, and social workers. As viewers trace the thorny new challenges girls face, the girls themselves reveal an inspiring supply of strength, energy, smarts and support for each other.
9:30-10:30 a.m., discussion immediately following

Off and Running (Trailer)
Avery is an African American teenager and the adopted daughter of two Jewish lesbian moms in Brooklyn. Off and Running follows Avery’s journey to uncover her roots and explore the bonds of family.
11 a.m.-12:15 p.m., discussion immediately following

Troop 1500 (Trailer)
At the Gatesville Prison in Texas, a unique Girl Scout troop unites daughters with mothers who have been convicted of serious crimes. Facing steep sentences from the courts and tough questions from their children, the mothers struggle to rebuild relationships with the daughters who endure a childhood without them.
1-2 p.m., discussion immediately following

Lakshmi and Me (Trailer)
Have you ever dreamed of being waited on hand and foot? For the past six years, Lakshmi has been doing just that for her employers–virtually unnoticed. That is, until one of Lakshmi’s employers begins to film her daily life on the job in Mumbai, India. In a deeply personal portrait, the film takes a hard look at the Indian caste system, gender and class relations.
3-4 p.m., discussion immediately following

The screening series is one of several taking place in a dozen cities across the country during the month of August, featuring more than 15 documentary films from ITVS’s award-winning catalogue. More information can be found at ITVS’s Women’s Empowerment Initiative site. Other cities participating in the series include Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Lexington, Rochester, New York, St. Louis, and Colorado Springs.

Building on the success of ITVS’ Community Cinema screening series – a groundbreaking free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens – Women’s Empowerment screening events will feature innovative activities to engage audience members in thoughtful discussion after the film has screened, in addition to the opportunity to meet representatives from leading organizations and identify ways to take action locally.

As part of the Tennessee Crossroads team, I am often responsible for answering a variety of questions about our show. For the most part these questions can be divided into two categories: questions relating to how one might go about watching, or rewatching, a particular Crossroads episode or segment, or requests for travel or entertainment suggestions. There is no way to count or re-air all the places we’ve been to over time — we have, after all, been on the air for 24 years — but there is an easy way to go back and revisit at least a few of them. In the past, several weekly Crossroads segments were chosen each month to be placed on our website.

Recently, we have begun placing many more of our segments on a dedicated Tennessee Crossroads YouTube channel for you to view all year round. You can go back and revisit, or see for the first time, various people and places shown here on Crossroads. You can also embed your favorite segments on your website, blog, Facebook page and in your email. Check it out at youtube.com/TNCrossroadsTV.

Navigating TNCrossroadsTV on YouTube is simple. If you have a specific episode you would like to watch, or rewatch, simply type in the title (e.g., “Sweet 16th Bakery” or “Family Wash”) or generic term (e.g. “museum”) in the channel’s search bar and hit enter. If you just want to see what’s available, you can scroll through all the uploads by using the scroll bar on the far right of your screen. Sharing your favorite Crossroads videos is simple as well. Once you’ve selected your video, click on the word “Share” located immediately underneath the play bar. To share on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Blogger, simply click on the corresponding social networking tool and those sites will take care of the rest. If you prefer to copy and past the video’s url, that can be found here as well.

While we’ve only been posting videos on YouTube for about a year, our website at tennesseecrossroads.org makes it possible for you to search all our segments since January 2004. You won’t be able to watch the segments, but you can search for all the attractions and restaurants and artists we’ve featured by town name, topic (e.g., pottery) and date. Simply go to tennesseecrossroads.org and enter your search term in the upper right hand corner “search” box. One day, we hope to have everything organized by area of the state so that you can plan road trip detours, but in the meantime, we hope this makes things a bit easier for you to find what you’re looking for.

Happy travels!

The fantastic 2009-10 Season of ITVS Community Cinema in Nashville has officially wrapped. We were holding on just a little while longer in hopes of finally screening The Horse Boy after two postponements, first due to severe weather, and second due to the Flood. But as you read on, you’ll see that all hope is not lost on our desire to screen this great documentary for the community. It will happen!

Presented by ITVS, Nashville Public Television and Nashville Public Library in partnership with Hands On Nashville and the Nashville Film Festival, we opened the season in September with Jim Granato’s D Tour, followed each month by a new film, Copyright Criminals, Between the Folds, Young @ Heart, Garbage Dreams, The Eyes of Me, DIRT! The Movie, Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story and A Village Called Versailles. The screenings were free and open to public at the Main Branch of the Nashville Public Library.

Over a dozen community partners joined us in promoting the films and populating the panels, among them the Belmont University Copyright Club, Community Food Advocates, Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville, Earth Matters Tennessee, HealthSpring Silver Stars, Lions Clubs of District 12-L, Metro Beautification and Environment Commission, Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission, National Kidney Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Nashville Association of Musicians, Nashville Public Library Foundation, Sustain VU, Tennessee School for the Blind, Urban Organix, Whole Foods and Zeitgeist Gallery. We’re extremely grateful to the organizations for joining us this year, and to the Nashville Public Library — and especially Deanna Larson — for hosting. Thanks also to the Nashville Scene for consistently making the films Critic’s Picks each month and helping us reach a wider audience, and WSMV anchor Jonathan Martin for being our frequent moderator. The series wouldn’t be possible without community partners and media support.

Thanks also to all of you who came out to the screenings. Whether you asked questions during the panels discussions, signed up for our mailing lists or told your friends about the series, your participation and engagement is essential to Community Cinema’s success.

One person we definitely couldn’t have put the series on without is ITVS Community Cinema Coordinator Allison Inman, who puts the whole show together. The series is a passion for her, and like we did when we wrapped up last year’s season, we thought we check in with Allison and get some parting thoughts.

NPT Media Update: This is the second year we’ve done ITVS Community Cinema in Nashville. We were back at the beautiful downtown Library, this time on weekends, which worked out great. Overall, do you think interest and awareness for the series is growing in the community?

Allison Inman: Definitely. The crowds keep growing and we have many regulars now.

At this year’s Nashville Film Festival, there was a screening of “Freedom Riders” attended by some original Freedom Riders. The crowd clapped for five minutes after the screening and gave the attendees a standing ovation. It was the moment for me that embodied what I love about the Festival. This year at Community Cinema, the A Village Called Versailles screening was powerful, coming just weeks after the Nashville flood. Was there a screening from this past year, including both a film and panel, that really stands out as having been more impactful than others, or best representing the spirit of Community Cinema?

It’s hard to top Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story, our special screening at the Nashville Film Festival. We had Cyntoia’s family members, former legal team and psychologists, and the filmmaker on the panel. This is a film about a young woman who, at age 16, murdered a man she says she thought was about to hurt her. She was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. The film explores the social issues surrounding her life up until that moment, including a legacy of sex abuse in her family. Our event was incredibly emotional. The true spirit of Community Cinema was revealed later, when I got a call from an attorney who wanted to plan a juvenile justice symposium for the legal community — based on what he saw in that film.

Sometimes the films that draw the biggest crowds are the ones you least expect. I knew there would be interest in Between the Folds, but was pleasantly shocked at just how well it was received. Have you gauged the Nashville audience just yet?

Not exactly, although I can tell you that Nashvillians seem to like environmental films. We had fantastic, lively crowds for Garbage Dreams and Dirt! The Movie. And we like fun events before screenings, like making origami. Funny, we had two great music documentaries this year — D Tour and Young @ Heart — but those were smaller crowds.

A favorite film from the 2009-10 series?

A Village Called Versailles moves me to tears every time I see it, and it gives me hope. D Tour is also high on my list. You couldn’t ask for a more engaging story than Pat Spurgeon on the road with his rock band, doing dialysis in hotel rooms, waiting for a new kidney.

Was there a moment, or a film, that impacted you personally more than others, or something where you, yourself, had your eyes opened or your opinion changed?

That would be The Eyes of Me, about teens at the Texas School for the Blind, because I learned so much from our partner (Tennessee School for the Blind) and from our audience discussion. It made me think more deeply about audience members with disabilities, and how we can make our events more accessible and desirable to them. It’s a community that is often shut out of fun, free public events like ours because of accessibility issues. I want to do better to be inclusive.

What do we have to look forward to next year?

Greatness! Titles aren’t confirmed yet but I’ll leave you with some topics: mountaintop removal, Appalachian culture, religious callings, Native American issues, stereotypes in cinema, juvenile justice, transgender issues, refugees, genocide, forgiveness/reconciliation, women in political power, and Middle East politics. Some of those overlap.

Also, before the next season kicks off in October, we have a Women’s Empowerment Film Festival at the library on August 21. It’s a free daylong party where we’ll screen four films about girls and women — Lakshmi and Me, Troop 1500, A Girl’s Life, and Off and Running – and have free food and representation from local nonprofits working with girls and women. Then in September, we’ll finally screen The Horse Boy! We had to cancel it twice this spring because of tornado warnings and flood cleanup. We’re planning a fantastic screening and will probably do this one at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema in partnership with their International Lens series.

To be notified of the next season of ITVS Community Cinema in Nashville, be sure to sign up for our mailing list at wnpt.org.

Thanks to Frank Keesee for the photos!

We’re proud to announce the launch of ShopNPT, where you can now purchase DVDs of some of our most requested programs.

In partnership with ShopPBS, you can now order titles including Designed for Worship, Living on: Tennesseans Remembering the Holocaust and Memories of Nashville: High School. Fans of Tennessee Crossroads can pick up our “Meet Me In Memphis” and “Smoky Mountain Getaway” DVDS, while Volunteer Gardener devotees can order the “Water Gardening,” “Perennials,” and “Herbs” specials.

All four of our Next Door Neighbors specials, “Little Kurdistan, USA,” “Somali,” “Hablamos Espanol” and “Bhutanese” are also available.

More titles will be added in the future, so be sure to let us know what you’d like to see up there.

To access the store, visit the ShopNPT logo on the bottom right of our home page at wnpt.org, or visit us directly at shopnpt.org.

Happy Shopping!

It’s one thing for country artists to sing about being a rebel, raising cain, ramblin’ and gamblin’ and lovin’ and leavin,’ but few actually live it (at least not anymore). Merle Haggard, on the other hand, actually did. He hopped his first freight train at the age of 10, became a chronic truant and drinker and was locked up 17 times as a youngster. He was one of the inmates in the audience in 1959, when Johnny Cash gave his New Year’s Day concert in San Quentin – an experience he said changed his life “forever.”

Somehow, Haggard survived, saved by music, and now at 73, he’s at the top his game. It’s what makes the American Masters presentation of “Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself” such a fantastic documentary. Directed by part-time Nashvillian Gandulf Hennig (Fallen Angel: Gram Parsons), the documentary captures an “American master” still very much vital, full of creative juices and hitting new artistic and commercial highs. He remains full of contradictions and self-awareness, determined to keep his music honest in a changing industry and in a changing world. Tune in on Wednesday, July 21 at 8:00 to catch to catch this revelatory film.

Haggard’s not the only one not slowing down. Ringo Starr turns 70 on July 7th! To celebrate, we’ve got him, along with Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, on a new season of the great music series, Live from the Artists Den. Tune in on Friday, July 9 at 11:00 p.m. for the premiere, then come back on subsequent Fridays for Tori Amos (July 16) and David Gray (July 23). Starr’s bandmate in the Beatles, a fellow named Paul McCartney, also makes an appearance on NPT this month, on Wednesday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m., to accept The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at the White House. The special airs just two days after McCartney makes his first appearance in Nashville, at the Bridgestone Arena, on July 26. Welcome to Nashville, Paul!

Read the Rest of the NPT Music Monthly July 2010 on the wnpt.net news page. It’s the complete listing of all the music programming coming to NPT this month. Subscribe for free, and view a complete list of programming for July at wnpt.net.

Infant mortality rates say more about us than simply how many babies will live to see their first birthday. They are an early indicator of what the future holds for the health of our communities.

Tennessee ranks 47th nationally in infant mortality rates, with more than 700 babies dying each year. Only 61% of babies born in Tennessee have received adequate prenatal care and nearly one in ten babies born in Davidson County are of low-birth weight. Single mothers, black mothers and urban residents suffer an even higher infant mortality rates.

In NPT Reports: Children’s Health Crisis: Infant Mortality, the second in our seven-part series, we focus on issues surrounding Tennessee’s infant mortality rates and birth outcomes, talking with policymakers, health professionals and parents. Hosted by actress, mother of two and Tennessee resident Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Father of the Bride, According to Jim, Amish Grace) and produced by Will Pedigo (Next Door Neighbors, Living On: Tennesseans Remembering the Holocaust), the documentary explores what Tennessee’s infant mortality rates mean for its communities, and what we can do to improve birth outcomes for all Tennesseans. It premieres Thursday, June 24 at 8:00 p.m. on NPT-Channel 8 and will be made available at wnpt.org/childrenshealth the following day.

For more info, visit the NPT Pressoom at wnpt.org/news and the Children’s Health Crisis website at wnpt.org/childrenshealth.

Be sure also to join us for a Tweet Chat on the program with producer Will Pedigo during the broadcast and for about a half hour after on Thursday, June 24 beginning at 8:00 p.m. Central. Join us on Twitter.com or Tweetchat.com with hashtag #childrenshealth.

He’s at the Frist Center. He’s at Cheekwood. He was at TPAC with the Nashville Symphony. And now he’s on NPT.

This Thursday, June 17, beginning at 8:00 p.m., NPT is proud to join its fellow arts organizations in Nashville in celebrating the work of world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. We’ve got two documentaries on tap, an original production exploring his current installation exhibition at Cheekwood, Chihuly at Cheekwood, at 8:00 p.m., followed by Chihuly in the Hotshop at 8:30 p.m., an HD foray into the artist’s process from initial design to completed piece.

In Chihuly at Cheekwood, NPT co-producers Linda Wei and Hugh Brian O’Neill, together with videographer Matt Emigh, take viewers on a colorful tour of the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, where a number of Chihuly classic sculptures and pieces crafted just for the exhibit live within the landscape and dance around the grounds. From the Chihuly classic Macchias, which date to the 1970s, to Fiori and Saffron, Tom Lind, manager of exhibitions for the Chihuly Studio, reminds us that Chihuly “never met a color he didn’t like.”

Viewers will delight in the detailed look at the Yellow Herons and Blue Marlins bathing in the water gardens, and be moved when the doc transitions to “Chihuly at Night” and the sculptures, including Saffron and the centerpiece Sun, take on a new sensation when the sun goes down.

Chihuly in the Hotshop, directed by Peter West, starts in the summer of 2006 at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Chihuly was invited to work there in the Museum’s state-of-the-art hotshop, an amphitheater specifically designed to allow the audience to watch the action close at hand. Chihuly soon set forth on an ambitious program to capture the sum total of his work in glass over the last thirty years. His best-known series are revisited in the doc, along with more than forty artists and gaffers who had worked with Chihuly at the time of the inception of each series.

Copyright © 2010 The Jewish Museum (http://thejewishmuseum.org)

About a year ago, I was cycling in southern Williamson County, through the Bethesda and College Grove communities, when I came across a yard sale. Among the old clothes and tattered books and records was a stuffed Curious George doll, in near-perfect condition. He was about two feet tall, and priced just a few dollars. I was on my way back to see my nephew, then only two-years old, and thought George would make the perfect gift. I stuffed him best I could into my backpack — about half of him, head and arms at least, sticking out — and cycled back. I imagine I made a silly sight there, cycling through that rural community of cows and horses, with a two-foot Curious George on my back.

It wasn’t the first time Curious George rode a bike, of course. He loves riding his bike in his books and cartoons. His most important bike ride, though, came 70 years ago this week.

It was then, on June 12, 1940, that George’s creators Margret and H.A. Rey fled Paris on bicycles, in advance of the Nazis entering the city two days later. With them was their manuscript for Curious George, and little else.

Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. From http://www.thejewishmuseum.org

The Jewish Museum in New York has a wonderful exhibit, “Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey, with almost eighty original drawings and documentation about their escape, first from Paris and ultimately from Nazi-occupied Europe, that as the Museum states, “examine the parallels between the obstacles the Reys faced and the drawings that may have saved their lives.”

At one point in their journey, the Museum’s site explains, they were stopped for “a tense inspection of their belongings by a border official, children’s illustrations were found and they were allowed to continue on their way, eventually reaching the United States.”

If you can’t get up to New York for the exhibit, which closes on August 1, be sure to check out The Jewish Museum’s excellent interactive timeline of the Reys’ journey, “Life in Paris & Narrow Escape.” It includes photos, videos and excerpts from H.A. Rey’s journal. On June 12 he wrote, “Departed from Paris at 5:30, by bicycle to Etampes. Slept at farmhouse in a room with a servant and a woman refugee.” On the 13th, “At 3 p.m. left by bike for Acquebouille. Kind farmer gave us milk. Spent night in barn with cows in Acquebouille.”

The Reys made it to New York on October 14, 1940. It didn’t take long for them to land a book contract. Houghton Mifflin published Curious George in 1941.

Curious George endures almost 70 years later, in books, on merchandise and on TV. His PBS show, which airs on NPT at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. during the week and 6 a.m. on the weekends, is one of the most popular children’s shows in the nation.

Sometimes, there’s so much going on here on NPT, especially off-the-air, that it’s hard to keep track of everything. You may not be aware of the many events and outreach activities that NPT is involved with going on in the community, so I thought a quick roundup was in order. Below are links to some of the latest news about NPT events, activities and programming.

After its success at the Edmondson Pike Branch of the Nashville Public Library, we’re proud to announce the launch of five new NPT PBS Kids Raising Readers Library Corners in area libraries.

We’re conducting 15 of our popular and successful Super Why! Camps June 14-18 at several schools and satellite summer sites — Paragon Mills Elementary, The McNeilly Center for Children, Fannie Battle Day Home and the Nashville Child Care Center.

The second in our NPT REPORTS: CHILDREN’S HEALTH CRISIS documentary series will premiere on Thursday, June 24 at 8:00. Hosted by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, this episode focuses on issues surrounding Tennessee’s infant mortality rates and birth outcomes, talking with policymakers, health professionals and parents.

We’ll kick off the premiere the morning of the broadcast by screening the documentary and taking part in FAMILY REUNION: 2010: Families and Healthy Beginnings, and day-long and discussion about infant mortality and prematurity.

Building on the success and popularity of a similar event last year, we’re partnering with Catholic Charities of Tennessee and the Scarritt-Bennett Center to bring you a free screening of our “Next Door Neighbors” documentary, “Bhutanese” and a follow-up panel discussion – on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Scarritt-Bennett Center (Fondren Building).

We’re close to wrapping up our June Membership Drive, where we brought you the new documentary NASHVILLE: 20TH CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHS (Volume 2) as well as new specials with James Taylor and Carole King, Dianne Warren and Straight No Chaser. Thanks to everyone who has pledged your support. We can’t do it without you!

In February, the new PBS initiative Blueprint America brought NPT and public television viewers Beyond the Motor City, a documentary examining how Detroit, a symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in America. The filmmakers are now taking the documentary on the road.

On June 17, in celebration of “Dump The Pump Day,” director Aaron Wolf will be on hand for a free screening of Beyond the Motor City at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. The screening, presented by the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and Transit Now Nashville, starts at 6:15, but get there early for a 5:30 reception. To attend, register online or contact Mary Beth Ikard at (615) 880-2452.

Of course, getting there via public transit would be appropriate, so map your ride at the Nashville MTA’s website.

Blueprint America, a unique, multi-platform initiative is harnessing the power and reach of public broadcasting like never before — on-air and on-line — aims to separate the facts from the hyperbole on what’s fast becoming one of the most important stories of our time: the fragile state of America’s infrastructure — its highways, public transit, water, power, airports, seaports — and how we neglect their importance to our lives and our economy at our own peril.

About Beyond the Motor City:

Detroit is the crucible in which the nation’s ability to move toward a modern 21st century transportation infrastructure is put to the test. The documentary shows how investments in the past — beginning with the construction of canals in the 18th century — profoundly shaped Detroit’s physical layout, population growth and economic development. Before being dubbed the Motor City, Detroit was once home to the nation’s most extensive streetcar system. In fact, it was that vast network of streetcars that carried workers to the area’s many car factories. And it was the cars made in those factories that would soon displace the streetcars in Detroit — and in every major American city.

Detroit’s engineers went on to design the nation’s first urban freeways and inspired much of America’s 20th century transportation infrastructure system — from traffic signals to gas stations — that became the envy of the word.

But over the last 30 years, much of the world has moved on, choosing faster, cleaner, more modern transportation and leaving America — and Detroit — behind. Viewers are taken on a journey beyond Detroit’s blighted urban landscape to Spain, home to one of the world’s most modern and extensive transit systems; to California, where voters recently said yes to America’s first high speed rail system; and to Washington, where Congress will soon decide whether to finally push America’s transportation into the 21st century.

The Tennessee Public Television Council (TPTC) and the League of Women Voters Memphis and Shelby County will tonight, Tuesday, May 25, offer voters a chance to hear from each of the four Republican candidates for Tennessee Governor. TN Gubernatorial Forum: Republican Edition will air live on NPT and across the state on public television stations from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. CT (8:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET) The public can send questions in now for the candidates at TNdecides@wkno.org. Some of the questions may be chosen to be used during the televised forum.

The forum will feature four panelists posing questions to all four Republican candidates: Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Joe Kirkpatrick, Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, and U.S. Representative Zach Wamp. It will be moderated by Memphis Daily News publisher Eric Barnes. Mike WcWherter, Democrat, unopposed in the May primary, won by default. Therefore no Democratic forum is planned.

TN Gubernatorial Forum: Republican Edition will re-air Saturday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 30 at 2:30 p.m. on “The Tennessee Channel”. For those in Middle Tennessee, “The Tennessee Channel” airs on NPT2, available on Comcast Digital Cable channel 241, Charter Digital Cable channel 176 and over-the-air on channel 8.

The Tennessee Public Television Council is a coalition made up of the six public television stations in Tennessee. It was created to combine the efforts of the stations and strengthen the mission of public television throughout the state.