Today, January 20, is a day that many of us have been dreading since the election. As we hurtle into the unknown Trumpian future, we really don’t know what’s in store, just how much we should be afraid, or how to muster a movement that will stand up to everything we fear from the incoming administration. But since this is a day of dread, instead of delving into our worse fears, we are providing an entertaining and hopefully thought-provoking alternative: Radio Tales for the Road, a series of stories written and recorded twenty years ago by Locus Focus host Barbara Bernstein, that go as far back in time as 1967, and kindle an alternative vision for how we can live and thrive, despite another Trump presidency.
We'll hear:
Streets Beneath My Feet - protesting the Iraq War in 2003 and the Vietnam War in 1967
Festival Express - a journey across Canada in 1970, following the Festival Express, a series of rock festivals in Toronto, Winnepeg and Calgary. While the performers – which included some of the greatest musicians of the time: Janis Joplin, the Band, Buddy Guy, Ian and Sylvia and Delaney and Bonnie. While the performers traveled and partied in a special train that carried them from festival to festival, Barbara, her friends, and thousands of other young adventurers followed along the Trans Canadian Highway in an improvised caravan of Volkswagon buses, old school buses and panel trucks and other recycled vehicles.
Occult Water - On the day of her father's funeral Barbara meditates on the river that was culverted under her hometown
The Reunion - In 2001 Barbara attended the 40th reunion of her sixth grade class. Not sure what to imagine, she brought along a microphone and minidisc recorder. To her surprise, the event lived up to the expectations of the invitation, which offered two options: “Yes, I wouldn’t miss this reunion for anything, or “No, I’m going to miss out on the most important event of a lifetime.”
- KBOO