StudioTulsa on 89.5-1

An ode to Spring and other things.

On today's show, we speak with Thomas Skinner, a US Army veteran who's been battling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) for more than two decades. Over the years, ever since he was honourably discharged from Fort Eustis in Virginia, Skinner has worked as a truck driver, a wildlife photographer, and at a few other jobs.

Today, we welcome back to our program Marcello Angelini, who's been the artistic director at Tulsa Ballet since 1995. As a critic writing for Dance Insider once noted: "To look at what Marcello Angelini has accomplished [since he arrived at] Tulsa Ballet is to see what a community-based arts revolution looks like." The glorious revolution continues with a new production --- the final show of the 2011-2012 season --- called "Off the Floor: Creations in Studio K," which will soon be staged at Tulsa Ballet's Studio K facility in Brookside (at 1212 East 45th Place South).

Last week, the nonprofit John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation released a survey of Tulsa residents' views on race relations. This survey was called for, and completed, before the recent (and perhaps racially motivated) shootings in North Tulsa in the pre-dawn hours of Good Friday --- but it's hardly surprising that, given the shocking tragedy of those violent acts and the coincidental appearance of this new survey, people throughout our community are speaking about issues of race with a candor that seems, in many cases, as rare as it is welcome.

On today's show, we present a chat with the charming, delightful, and highly accomplished young concert pianist, Petronel Malan, whose debut CD, "Transfigured Bach: The Complete Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti, and Friedman," was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2004. (She's made three additional CDs of "transfigured" music since then.) Malan will perform as a guest artist with Tulsa Camerata on Thursday night (the 26th) at 7pm in Emerson Hall at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.

I am fascinated with the human story, yours and mine, and where and how that story began.

The Oklahoma Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored Public Radio Tulsa at its annual convention in Oklahoma City last night.

The SPJ presented its first place award to StudioTulsa for talk or interview program in the state. The award cites the work of StudioTulsa host Rich Fisher as well as that of the program's producer, Scott Gregory. StudioTulsa is heard twice each weekday on 89.5/KWGS at 11:30 AM and 7:30 PM.

She's in Paris, the night before coming home. What could be a better time?

"It's all about me. It's already to established that I'm simple. I'm one of the 27 million simple folk who tune in to National Public Radio." Connie is a beloved StudioTulsa commentator and here's her thoughts about why funding for public broadcasting should be continued. 

Significant and far-ranging budgetary cutbacks are planned, over the next several years, for the United States Armed Forces --- how, if at all, will these reductions affect our country's military stature on the world stage? And how, if at all, will they influence our own feelings (or perceptions) of security here at home? On today's show, we welcome Col. Thomas X. Hammes (USMC, Retired), who recently gave an address to the Tulsa Committee on Foreign Relations entitled “Defense in Times of Austerity.” In his three-decade stint in the Marine Corps, Col.