Home
ShowsBefore You GoBulletin BoardContactAboutSearch
Show and Features |
Culture Watch | Question of the Week | Letters of the Week |
Traveler's Aid | Library | Host's View
 

Rundown for the Week of June 20, 2003

Listen to the Whole Show


  Slideshow
Fishy Bass Tourney? by Steve Featherstone

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Not all of us are lucky enough to enjoy the best Mother Nature has to offer right in our own backyards. This, apparently, is the case in upstate New York, a place known for its beautiful waterways and its industrial wastelands. Steve Featherstone takes us to a place that combines the two: Lake Onondaga, which sponsors an annual bass tournament. On Interstate 690 in Syracuse, you can get a beautiful view of Onondaga Lake glittering like a diamond in the hot summer sun -- but roll up your windows fast because it just happens to be the most polluted body of water in North America. Yet, it's an area where locals just try to make the best of it.

Online resources
www.upstatefreshwater.org: Upstate Freshwater Institute
http://www.co.onondaga.ny.us: Ultimate Fishing Challenge:
http://www.destinyusa.com: DestiNY USA:

Also by Steve Featherstone
"Unlikely Messenger, Unlikely Message": December 2001
"Whistle Stop Alaska": April 2003
"Sausage Hand in Oz": August 2002


  Slideshow
A Look Back at Horatio's Big Drive, interview with Ken Burns

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Ford Motor Company is celebrating its 100th anniversary now. But this week also marks another centennial celebration of the automobile: the 100th anniversary of the first road trip across America. In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made a $50 bet that he could drive from San Francisco to New York in less than 3 months -- unheard of at this time. Four days later, he hopped in a 1903 Winton Touring Car and headed out with a young bike mechanic named Sewall K. Crocker. Filmmaker Ken Burns has made a documentary for PBS about this historic trip called "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip." He talks with Savvy Traveler host Diana Nyad about the epic journey.

Online resources
"Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip": Program Webpage on PBS.org
www.southbendtribune.com: article - "LaPorte car buff relives historic ride across U.S."
www.dailydemocrat.com: article - "Still Cruisin': Historic drive wrought with several setbacks"


  Enlarge
The Jonesboro Story festival by Jill Jordan Sieder

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Over the last few decades, America has seen a resurgence of live storytelling. And, a national storytelling revival that began about 30 years ago has really come into its own. There are now nearly 100 storytelling events held across the country each year, put on by storytelling guilds in almost every state. The most prestigious of them is the National Storytelling Festival, held each year in Jonesborough, Tenn. As Jill Jordan Sieder reports, this is where the power of the story not only saved one town, but continues to spark a national movement.

Online resources
If you'd like to learn more about the National Storytelling Festival, and the storytelling center in Jonesborough, go to www.storytellingcenter.com. To find a storytelling event near you, go to www.storynet.org.

Interview with Global Grover

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Sesame Street is now in its 34th season on PBS, and one its stars is earning a heap of frequent flier miles this year: the loveable blue, furry Muppet Grover is now "Global Grover." He's traveling now, showing preschoolers how people live all over the world. He joins Savvy Traveler host Diana Nyad for chat about where he has been, his favorite souvenirs, the one thing he absolutely can't leave home without, and where he will be going on his summer vacation.

Online resources
u.whittierdailynews.com: article: "Sesame Street enters 34th Season: WHO are the people in your neighborhood?"
www.ctw.org/sesamestreet/: Sesame Street Web site


Music with Bob Duskis, Natacha Atlas and Bembeya Jazz

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Bob Duskis, co-founder of Six Degrees Records in San Francisco, is our world music guide. This week, he joins us with sounds from Natacha Atlas, one of the greatest living interpreters of modern Arabic music, and Bembeya Jazz, a Guinean group that melds traditional music with Cuban styles and Congolese rumba.

Click here for more info. about the artists

Music in this segment is available at the Public Music Radio Source:
Natacha Atlas , Something Dangerous; Bembeya Jazz National, Bembeya.

Additional artists information
www.beggars.com: Label Web site for Atlas with bio., links and discography
www.ritmoartists.com/Bembeya/: Official Web site for Bembeya with tour dates, photo gallery and audio samples


  Enlarge
Sound Travels, Indian Wedding

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
Sound travels, the part of our show when we travel with just our ears as our guide, takes us to India, where a traditional wedding is in process. In India, there are only about 100 auspicious days for performing Hindu weddings. On this day, a Hindu priest is blessing the union of a couple in a city about 250 miles north of Bombay. The bride is dressed in a white, embroidered dress with a crimson shawl; the groom wears a white suit and a necklace of red and white flowers. Well-wishers don't follow the details of the ceremony -- instead, they bless the couple with songs, dances and chants.

Recent Sound Travels
The Call Of The Wild Orcas; One Man Banda, Paris Metro; Lava Flow, Hawaii's Big Island; Cicadas, dogs and frogs, Southeast Asia; Camel Races in Mali, West Africa;

Fix My Trip e-Tickets Aren't That e-asy

By now, most of us are used to traveling with e-tickets. Usually, there are no problems. But listener Steve from LA found out the hard way that e-tickets are not without pitfalls. What happened?

Steve, a longtime elite-level frequent flyer on United, was taking a flight to Seattle with a ticket paid for by his employer on a corporate credit card. But when he tried to check in, the gate agent told him he had to present the credit card used to purchase the ticket -- otherwise he wouldn't be allowed on the plane. But he didn't have the card because the travel agent had it. The gate agent wouldn't budge. It wasn't until after he called the travel agent and spoke with a supervisor that he was allowed to board. Was Steve wronged? Why?
Real Audio Listen in RealAudio (Hear about Steve's experience)

So, will Steve get the detailed explanation he really wants from United? Good thing it's time for Fix My Trip, where we help people fix travel snafus. We asked our Travel Troubleshooter, Chris Elliott, to see if he could get Steve back some peace of mind
Real Audio Listen in RealAudio (Let's hear about the solution)

Online resources:
www.elliott.org: Christopher Elliott's Web site

Got a trip that needs fixing? Have you exhausted every possible remedy and don't know where to turn? Send us an e-mail at fixmytrip@savvytraveler.org and tell us what happened to you. Be sure to include your daytime phone number.

Deal of the Week Fall in Love Again (with France!)

Real Audio Listen in RealAudio
OK, it's time to stop bickering with the French -- their cheeses, wines and champagne are too good to keep them in the "doghouse" any longer. Even President Bush has made an effort to make up -- and, now, the French are too. Our Travel-Expert-in-Residence, Rudy Maxa, says the French Government Tourist Office is offering up a laundry list of travel incentives that make getting to France even sweeter. Click here for details and link information

Deal of the Week sponsor
Orbitz.com - The travel Web site where your travel missions are accomplished.

American Public Media
American Public Media Home | Search | How to Listen
©2004 American Public Media |
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy