In Memory of Richard Gladwell

Public Radio lost a gentle voice last week when Richard Gladwell, host of With Heart and Voice, died after a mercifully brief struggle with brain cancer. He passed away peacefully at home, with his wife, his granddaughter and his hospice nurse at his side.

Richard was born in London in 1920, and came to the United States in 1955. He helped to found public radio station WXXI in Rochester NY, which signed on the air on December 23, 1974. With Heart and Voice began a few weeks later, and is heard on more than 100 public radio stations across the United States. The weekly program of sacred choral music is a mainstay for music loves around the world, with regular Internet listeners from as far away as South Africa and China.

Throughout his life, Richard loved the Anglican choral tradition, and as an adult, he felt called to share God's music with the world. He will be missed, and remembered with love and respect.

Praise God with heart and voice for the life of Richard Gladwell!

Garden Update

We probably had the rainiest July in many, many years here in Rochester. As a result my little backyard garden patch is exploding at the beginning of August! I just picked the first ripe tomatoes this afternoon. (Actually, there were three on a vine close to the ground that were ripe a couple of days ago, but the chipmunks living under the deck got to them.)

The first batch of tomatoes will probably go to the food cupboard at Third Presbyterian next week.

The poblano and jalapeno peppers will begin to ripen in a few more days. I think the onions will be a few more weeks - this is my first try at these. The rosemary, basil and cilantro has been going gangbusters for a while, and has already made appearances in several dishes.

I can't wait to begin making salsa, pasta sauce, pesto and - my favorite - cream of poblano soup!

More from the Music Horizons Program at Eastman

My goddaughter Linnea is here in Rochester this month for the Music Horizons Program at the Eastman School of Music. Music Horizons is for high school students currently who are seriously considering a career in music, emphasizes chamber music and solo performance. Thursday night Linnea played in the Chamber Ensemble Concert; Friday afternoon was the Solo Recital. Here she is performing the Rondo Pastorale from Ralph Vaughan Williams's Oboe Concerto in A Minor.

StoryCorps has Left the Building

After spending three weeks at the Rundel Library in Downtown Rochester, the StoryCorps MobileBooth crew has moved on to their next recording site, Erie PA. Over 200 people in Rochester shared their stories, some of which will be heard on WXXI starting in September. Here is a sampling of some of the stories that will be broadcast:

• A one-hundred year old nun talks about what Rochester was like in the early 20th century. She remembers when Mr. Wegman used to push a vegetable cart through the streets of the city; now Wegmans is a huge chain of grocery stores.
• The director of the Center for Holocaust Awareness talks about growing up as a child of Holocaust survivors. She is also a singer/songwriter, and she shares a song she wrote to her grandparents, who died in Auschwitz.
• A young mother tells the tragic story of losing both her daughter and her husband. Her nine year old daughter died after developing flu-like symptoms, and her husband’s health declined in the wake of this untimely death.
• A Laotian-American artist created the sculpture “Let’s Have Tea” at the Susan B. Anthony House. He’s proud to be an American, and to create art inspired by the men and women of American history.
• A young man tells his mother about the time he stuck his tongue to the flagpole after seeing Ralphie do it in the movie “A Christmas Story.”

StoryCorps Rochester will be broadcast Thursdays at 6:35am, 8:35am and 5:45pm on WXXI-AM 1370, WRUR-FM 88.5, WJSL-FM 90.3 and WXXI-FM 91.5 HD2, and will be streamed on the web at wxxi.org/listen. The stories will also be available as pod casts on wxxi.org/podcasts.

I’m proud to produce these stories in partnership with StoryCorps!

Happy Fourth of July!

Just in time for the holiday weekend, the Queen Elizabeth roses have finally started to bloom. It's been a wierd year for the rose bushes in my yard; they're all blooming later than the rest of the roses around the area.

This holiday weekend, take time to enjoy the sunshine and the flowers, family and friends, and all the the great things in your life.

Happy Fourth of July!

StoryCorps is Here!

The StoryCorps MobileBooth opened in Rochester this morning at the Rundel Library. It rained all last night and early this morning, but the showers held off during the opening festivities and the sun even made a few brief appearances.

Norm Silverstein, President of WXXI, welcomed the assembled onlookers and told them about the station's celebration of the 25th anniversary of the NPR News Station, which broadcasts StoryCorps every Friday morning during Morning Edition.

Jean Howard, Chief of Staff for Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy, offered a proclamation, declaring July 2, 2009 as StoryCorps Day in Rochester.

Members of the press corps from RNews Cable 9, the Democrat and Chronicle and the local broadcast television affiliates were also on hand to mark the events. And the Po Boys Brass Band made it a real party!

The StoryCorps MobileBooth will be at the Rundel Library through July 25, collecting stories and helping the city celebrate its 175th anniversary.

StoryCorps Opens in Rochester, NY

StoryCorps, the national initiative to document the everyday history and unique stories of Americans, opens in Rochester this Thursday, July 2nd. WXXI invited StoryCorps to the Flower City to capture the stories of Rochesterians as part of the celebration of the City’s 175th Anniversary.

The StoryCorps MobileBooth -- an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio -- will be parked outside the Rundel Library at the corner of Broad Street and South Avenue from July 2nd until July 25th. The Rochester Public Library has graciously donated this space for StoryCorps to utilize as it collects interviews during its stay in Rochester. The first round of reservations opened June 18 and was filled in about 10 minutes. A second round is scheduled for Friday, July 3rd at 10:00 am, and can be made by calling toll free 800-850-4406 or going online to http://www.storycorps.org/record-your-story/locations/rochester-ny

WXXI will host an Opening Day Event on July 2nd at Rundel Library to introduce the project to the community and allow press and the public to tour the booth, speak to the StoryCorps staff, and hear from the first set of participants. The event begins at 10:15 am with live music by the Po Boys Brass Band. Please stop by and check out this exciting oral history project, and a great Rochester band!

Garden Update Week 8

We've had quite a bit of rain in Rochester over the past couple of weeks. While it's made for a few days of gloomy weather, it's also been good for the flowers and vegetables growing in my yard. The daisies are happy and blooming.

The lavender bed has blossomed with lovely fowers, and everytime the wind blows, the yard is filled with beautiful frangrance.

The vegetable garden has taken off, and the tomato plants have multilple little green fruits. The basil, cilentro and rosemary has also made several appearances in my cooking. The poblanos and jalenos should start making an appearance in the next few weeks. Then it will be time to make salsa, pasta sauce and crema de poblano.

Cat Nap on a Summer Evening

It's been pouring rain for two days straight, with a few rumbles of thunder every now and then. The windows stayed closed to keep the sheets of rain our of the house, and many of the bushes and flowers were bent almost to the ground under the weight of all the water. The temperatures dropped back to early spring highs of low 60s, and it felt like we might get cheated out of our first day of summer.

Then early this afternoon the clouds began to part and the sun has eventually broken through. It's 75 degrees and Chico and Maya are ecstatic to have the windows open again. Here, Chico is napping in his favorite window seat while Maya takes a break from bird watching. We're all enjoying the first evening of summer here in Rochester.