19 Responses to “Passion Thursday”

1. jazzwoman Says:
   July 12th, 2005 at 7:56 pm

   I love jazz. maybe it’s Miles, maybe it’s Bill Evans, maybe it’s Shirley Horn….

2. Sofi Says:
   July 13th, 2005 at 8:26 pm

   I’ve got a passion for collecting mint tins. Some people have spoons, less original people collect stamps. But I have an endless fascination (and fondness) for mint tins. They more often than not have original designs, are cleverly packaged, and they are incredibly useful for storage, or as solar ovens. The mints are tasty too.

3. virgobee Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 10:25 am

   How about a show on outsider art, or art brut. Ordinary people who have no formal training, but get the calling and whose lives are then taken over by the passion/obsession of creating art. A really interesting example is James Hampton, who supposedly heeded a message from God to create a throne for Christ’s second coming. He rented out a garage and worked obsessively on this for years, creating the most intricate piece out of detritus. No one knew he was doing this until after he died when they came upon this hidden masterpiece.

   I just love the idea of people being so moved by this urge to create something — for whatever reason — with no intention of ever having it shown, making money, or gaining fame from it.

4. Erica Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 2:33 pm

   If you’re ever interested in doing a show on ethnic folk dancing & music scenes in the US, particularly Balkan/Romani among folks not necessarily Balkan in heritage, I have lots of very cool people to connect you to. It’s a passion of mine, too, but I wouldn’t be the best person to have as a show guest over other folks who are much more into it as musicians or as folks who really know the history (both local folks and non). One neat local guy is early-20′s-year-old Michael Winograd, who has a brass band, Klezmergasm. Also neat, the “Balkan Camp” weeklong dance & music camp put on by the EEFC, which lots of local folks including me attend. NYC has a pretty hot Romani-influenced funky jazzy club scene, with bands like Romaska, Zagnut Circus Orkestar, Slavic Soul Party, Zlatne Uste etc.

5. Lisa Williams Says:
   July 19th, 2005 at 1:37 pm

   Hi, Erica!

   To chime in on that subject, there’s also the Abaka School for the Performing Arts, a brand new Armenian performing arts school in a storefront on Bigelow Street in Watertown.

6. pmassari Says:
   July 21st, 2005 at 10:57 am

   COMICS are my passion! Long-underwear, superheroes! Been collecting for 25 years now!

   This is one of the best times for comic fans. Marvel and DC are attracting talented young writers Like Brian Michael Bendis, Keven Smith (the director of Clerks and Chasing Amy), J. Michael Straczynski (writer of the series Babylon Five), Reginald Hudlin (another movie director) and Jeph Loeb (who consults for the TV series Smallville). There’s been a real renaissance in mainstream comics. You should call the guys at MILLION YEAR PICNIC in Cambridge http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2827406-million_year_picnic_boston-i
   They’ve been a fixture for nearly three decades now. Very cool guys.

7. Frank_K Says:
   July 29th, 2005 at 1:20 am

   My passion is for cycling. Whether racing down a path in the woods on a full suspension mountain bike or speeding along pavement at 30+ MPH on an 17 pound road bike there is nothing that gives me more satisfaction. A great way to keep fit, get where you’re going, reduce stress and help the enviornment all at once. The feeling of accomplishment that comes with completing a hundred mile ride or finally getting through that technical bit of gnarly single track is beyond compare. Plus I get to have Lance Armstrong as one of my heros! How cool is that? Only I wonder if there might be something wrong with having a hero who’s younger than I am. Live well, ride hard, keep the rubber side down!

8. johnbaloney Says:
   August 2nd, 2005 at 7:38 am

   One of my other passions is Radio…. Not just Chris’ shows but Short Wave Radio listening and Amateur Radio. It would be interesting to get some Hams to talk about their passion. I got my license about ten years ago after twenty years of trying….only to discover it was a bunch of men expounding on the size of their rig… but that is my issue…. I think it would be interesting to see if people could discuss issues like, spectrum allocation– get Glenn Hauser Short Wave Guru–, Analog vs Digital ham radio, the consumer ham vs the guy who bulilds a qrp rig in an altoids box… the list could go on and on…

9. paulavdw Says:
   August 12th, 2005 at 9:41 pm

   I have a passion for parrot intelligence.

10. Francis Says:
    September 7th, 2005 at 10:29 pm

    I share Frank K’s passion for cycling and typcially spend 2 or more hours in the saddle every day. I’ve arranged my life (and my wife and two school-aged kid’s lives) around it and the stretching, weights, diet and rest. There are several similarly commited adults in my neighborhood who (similarly) have no hopes of turning pro or making the Olympics. I know my story, but I’ve often wondered what in the world makes other adult athletes tick. The movies Pro and The Hard Road explore the topic for professional cyclists – but what moves the non-pro cyclists, runners, etc. who turn their lives upside down in pursuit of sport?

11. Brooks Says:
    October 14th, 2005 at 5:56 pm

    I have to agree johnbaloney up above. Shortwave radio is absolutely fascinating. Not only the therory of it and how it works, but the programming. It is a technical hobby even for someone who just listens like myself. But not too technical, and the rewards are tremendous. It is like the internet for those who don’t have it. There are free format stations like WBCQ which is based up in Monticello Maine, the owner of that station Allen H. Weiner, would be a great guest. He is very knowledgable about the mechanics of radio and is very passionate about keeping his staion as a free speech station.

12. Dora Says:
    March 10th, 2006 at 1:59 pm

    I really wish there were more “Passion” shows. Loved the ones on cookbooks and knitting.

    Why has no one suggested “a passion for movies”? Some years back Susan Sontag wrote a eulogy for the golden age of cinephilia for the New York Times Magazine. But that was before blogs. A quick survey of all the movie blogs out there leaves the impression that cinephilia is alive and well on the web.

    The effect of the web on movie criticism is interesting because papers are drastically reducing coverage, while all the armchair critics are coming out of the woodwork and writing some pretty entertaining blogs.

    Dana Stevens turned her blogging into a mainstream critic’s gig at Slate, but her style carries the distinct stamp of the blogosphere.

    Philip Lopate wrote a wonderful essay (“Anticipation of La Notte”) about his college movie going back in the 60s–a beautiful meditation on effect of movies and movie criticism on smart, impressionable youngsters.

    Vanity Fair just ran an excerpt of a book that provides a peek into the minds of armchair film critics (“The Film Snob’s Dictionary” by David Kamp and Lawrence Levi)

    And if there’s a bit of tension nowadays between the breezy style of a Dana Stevens and the more essayistic, ruminative prose of a Lopate, it might be good to remember that there were similar conflicts back in Sontag (and Lopate’s) golden age of movie going. To wit: the unselfconscious braininess of a Sontag versus the wisecracking style of Pauline Kael (whose erudition was much more lightly worn). Anyway, I’ve long meant to read Craig Seligman’s “Opposites Attract Me” because there’s so much to admire in both Sontag and Kael, and it’s odd to think–in a time where mainstream writing about movies focuses mostly on celebrity gossip–that two such intelligent movie critics could be seen as polar opposites (or intellectual enemies).

13. h wally Says:
    April 13th, 2006 at 9:10 pm

    I have a passion for gardening. I live in a very tropical part of Mexico, way back up in the jungle, it’s heaven to me. I know a lot of other people who moved here for the same reason. I carry a set of snippers with me everywhere I go so I can take cuttings. It’s so easy to grow things here. All of the fenceposts I planted turned into trees. I have hundreds of fruit trees, over 40 varieties. I love walking out into the jungle and collecting wildflowers. I’ve had this land for over 14 years and it is covered with plants. Everyday I cut a coconut, from trees I planted, and drink the water. Mango season is early this year and I had my first mango the other day. Mangos are another passison I have. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the beauty and wonder that nature inspires in me. I understand the world better when I spend a day wandering in nature. My house is also part of nature. I desighed it in a way that nature flows into the house and isn’t stopped at the door or limited to a few house plants. My 3 story house is nearly covered with 5 colors of Bouganvilla mixed with 4 colors of climbing vines. I also grow my own coffee, Coffee flowers are delicate and ever so wonderfully perfumed. Whew, that’s my passion.

14. spacebo Says:
    May 11th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

    My passion is for BEAUTY….EVERYDAY BEAUTY….beauty in the smallest, simplest, most ordinary of things and gesture. The light passing through leftover red wine in a glass in the morning sunlight before the last night’s dinner table is cleared…or the beauty of an aberant garden flower who year after year pops up and pleases i the gravel path alongside… or the beauty of a smile of the supermarket check-out lady who has never seen you before or …the fragile greens of the meadow grasses…shades of green that are almost painful… as they make their way into Spring….the shadows of twilight, the raindrops that capture the whole light of day, the radiated joy of a child skipping,—-No way could I say it all—This passion of mines means makes it a priority in all aspects of living….our children grew up learning–feeling, ecxperiencing beauty—finding their own beauty–being woken at wee hours of thenight sky to experience the full moon from the top of a grassy hill—or the pleasures of running warm beach sand through their ingers, or putting on a handmade wool sweater rich in texture of stitches and local sheep’s wool— —We have to create beauty in our world as well as be filled up with an intrinsic and visceral grasping of beauty—For instance, if we thought about beauty we would not have ugly strip malls —Is it a responsibility to make our communities as beautiful as possible?—This comment is too long as it is so I will end here…

15. hug Says:
    August 8th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

    I don’t think I would call this a “passion” on my part, but rather a tangential interest or “wonder”. (Maybe it fits on a different thread than “passion”, but I think it could make for a fun and meaningful show.) Whatever happened to some of the ideals of the 60s? What if you could find four or five diverse people who were really into 60s ideals, present at Newport Folk Festival or Woodstock or Summer-of-Love-San Francisco — not the rock stars, but regular people — and find out what they thought then (ideals), what paths their lives have taken, what they are doing today, where the generation’s ideals went (did they change? were they unrealistic? etc.), and what they think as they reflect back? As I say, this is not a passion of mine, but it is sometimes a point I wonder about. I was slightly younger — about 10 years old at the time of Woodstock — so I didn’t directly participate until a bit later. But, I think my idealized perception of what people were trying to do at the time (formed perhaps a few years later based on whatever input I was getting) was oriented towards things like love, peace, understanding, environmental responsibility, and so forth, not oriented towards commercialism. When very young, I grew up listening to Peter Paul & Mary play Puff The Magic Dragon, This Land Is Your Land, and so forth; watching the Beatles in the very funny movie Help!; watching movies like The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Camelot, etc.; and you get the idea. I THOUGHT the college-age generation of the 60s said they were going to improve the world, and I felt sure that I would be following in their path ten years later to help them out. But something changed. So, what do those idealistic people of the 60s (those who were in their late teens and twenties in the 60s) think now? What happened? Why? What can we learn from it? Just a suggestion.

16. rc21 Says:
    September 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 pm

    Hi Francis;We dont turn our lves upside down. We make our sport part of our life.
    Because we both know that a strong fit body helps enhance the other things in life that we enjoy. Athletics and training should never be considered work in the sense of drudgery or a daily grind. While others sit on the couch we are outside enjoying nature. There is also the fact that we are all just a bit crazy.Have a good workout.

17. Tapping into the power of the masses « A Like Affair With Words Says:
    March 23rd, 2007 at 12:07 am

    [...] d show on the literature of 9/11, what I’m excited to listen to in the future is the Passion Thursday series, where Lydon interviews average folks about their passions. One week it& [...]

18. Jim Sobestanovich (Soby) Says:
    March 26th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

    Hi folks: Before I share my comments about one of my “passions”, I’d like to comment in general abput OpenSource. This is my first comment on OpenSource and I am very glad to finally officially connect with the show which I just recently discovered on WGBH radio on my way home at night on the Pike! It has quickly become one of my favorite radio programs, even though I’m not always interested in the topic, but I LOVE the format and I really enjoy listening to Christopher’s unique voice and interviewing style. I hope that the show continues to grow and expand onto more public radio stations in the CT area where I live. Godspeed!

    Now, I’d just like to share a little bit about my “passion for the printed word!” As I type this I realize how incongruous this may come across on the blog of a radio show, but may I offer an “olive branch” of sorts by saying that I will someday share about my passion for listening to radio programs (a.k.a. “theater of the mind!”). Back to the printed word…and how much of an obsession it has become for me…if my wife and I were the long-time married version of The Newlywed Game and the question was to name one of your spouse’s passions that positively “irks” you, she would have no trouble saying “his collection of unread books and magazines!” I just LOVE the printed word in books, magazines and newspapers (any other form?). I have often tried to think of a job I could find that allows me to indulge in my passion for the word while also being able to make a decent enough living, but I usually dismiss it. However, as I quickly approach the end of another “contracting assignment,” I’m entertaining that thought again and considering applying for a job at a magazine or in publishing somewhere (any leads or ideas are very welcome!

    Since I’m pressed for time, I’ll have to close by saying that if you want to know just how passionate I am about the printed word I would say that – I love the FEEL of a well made hardcover book with a great font, printed on oaktag colored medium bond paper with frayed edgesof alternating widths so that the open paper side shows raised edges. God, I hope that doesn’t sound too corny, snooty or queer! Fellow bookworms will relate, I’m sure! Next time, I’ll talk about my love for possessing another favorite form of the printed word – magazines and the dozen or so subscriptions which I currently maintain, but rarely enjoy reading (they just collect in various sites around the house and at work for that “spare reading time” I hope to find someday!) Thanks for “listening!” Sobywankenobee

19. » Mary’s Notes, May 9, 2007 Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 5:56 pm

    [...] o Jim Cramer of CNBC. Any other ideas? Chelsea is researching a show she’s calling a Passion for Ikea. A post will be up soon. Start gathering your Ikea stories. Original post by [...]

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