Impromp2, The Community Blog

A CAPITOL FOURTH 2009

Saturday, July 4 at 8 p.m. Actor Jimmy Smits returns to host the biggest and brightest birthday party in the country, featuring Barry Manilow along with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Arts Society of Washington. A star-studded cast including Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield and the cast of Jersey Boys will light up the stage on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol. As a special treat for the entire family, the Sesame Street gang will be on hand to celebrate America’s 233rd birthday. The Muppets will perform a medley of patriotic favorites. A Capitol fourth will be broadcast live on National Public Radio and around the world to American troops on the American Forces Radio and Television Network. Test your knowledge of the 4th

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BBC adaptation heads to the US

25 June, 2009 | By Will Hurrell

The BBC’s adaptation of award-winning novel Small Island will air in the US following a move by PBS, a key investor in UK drama, to come on board as co-producer.

The 2 x 90-minute drama, which stars Pirates of the Caribbean’s Naomie Harris, is being produced by Ruby Television and is an adaptation of Andrea Levy’s bestselling novel, which won the 2005 Orange, Whitbread and Commonwealth writers’ prizes.

Small Island will air in the US on the Masterpiece strand, a regular slot on PBS that is produced by its Boston-based, non-commercial television and radio service WGBH. The deal was brokered by BBC Worldwide.

Read the full article here.

AMERICAN MASTERS: GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES

Wednesday, July 1 at 8 p.m.

Lake Wobegon has become America’s collective hometown, visited weekly for the past 40 years on a fictional radio program that creates bona fide nostalgia. With his “Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor became our national philosopher, filling the empty shoes of Will Rogers and Mark Twain, through his running commentary about the human condition and the social politic. With biting wit, a quirky perspective and an uncanny ability to home in on the pulse of America, Keillor’s themes and characters are somehow familiar to us all. For more than a year, American Masters followed this great raconteur--and his motley crew of actors, musicians and technical staff--as he criss-crossed the country, broadcasting, recording and revealing himself.

Check out other American Masters

CHANGING SEAS: FARMING THE SEAS

Tuesday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. 

An ever-growing demand for fresh seafood has pushed wild stocks around the world to the brink. Aquaculture is one alternative to meet the increasing need for fish and crustaceans.  Some aquaculture methods have been highly criticized for their negative environmental impacts, but other, more environmentally friendly techniques, are being perfected at various research institutions in Florida. Changing Seas meets former gill-net fishermen turned clam-farmers and visits re-circulating aquaculture systems which make it possible to grow seafood inland. These systems produce fish for food production and to replenish depleted wild populations coveted by Florida’s huge recreational fishing community.

Fun Facts about our oceans

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, June 29 at 9 p.m. 

A contributor is certain his father worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. His father refused to talk about his war assignment, except to say that he sold his patent to the U.S. government. Was this invention used to build the atomic bomb? A woman in Portland has a large chunk of what she believes is very old beeswax. For centuries, ships carried beeswax on trade routes. Could this beeswax have been cargo on a legendary ship that foundered more then 300 years ago? A Chicago man recently unearthed a French manuscript rolled in a cardboard tube. “Duplessis,” his great-grandmother’s mother-in-law’s surname, is jotted in a margin, and “Rouzan,” his grandmother’s maiden name, appears at the bottom of another page. What is it and why has his family kept it for 160 years?

See what the detective say about their cases

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! POIROT! MRS. MCGINTY’S DEAD

Sunday, June 28 at 10 p.m.

Mrs. McGinty was killed by a brutal blow to the head, and her lodger James Bentley (Joe Absolom, “EastEnders”) is sentenced to hang for the murder. As Poirot joins forces with famed crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker, Harry Potter ) to save Bentley from the gallows, he doesn’t realize his own life is in danger. The cast includes Amanda Root (“The Forsyte Saga,” “Persuasion”).

Learn more about Hercule Poirot

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PATRIOTIC REFLECTIONS

 Don't Miss the celebration on WPBT2, July 4 at  8:00 p.m.

A CAPITOL FOURTH is fortunate to have a host of talented and award-winning celebrities participate in each concert.  This year, we asked the entertainers on our show to share with us what July 4^th means to them. 

 

"My parents came here with the hopes that their family would grow up and live the American dream and those dreams have been realized to a large extent.  The whole 4th of July/Independence Day for us was an acknowledgement and a thanks - a feeling of gratefulness- that we were a part of this country.”_
- Jimmy Smits

“I have spent The Fourth of July in various places in my lifetime, but the one place that stands out is when I sang at a special performance in honor of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty.  I will never forget the fireworks that exploded on the last note of my song, "One Voice."  Magnificent.  I look forward to singing at this year's July 4th celebration.”
- Barry Manilow

“The Fourth is always a day of togetherness and gratitude for our blessed freedom as well as reflection.  It also recalls happy times when growing up in Ohio and having cook outs, sing-a-longs and fireworks.  For me there is a special feeling of contentment on the Fourth.”
- Michael Feinstein

THE MUSIC INSTINCT

Wednesday, June 24 at 9 p.m.

This documentary provides a groundbreaking exploration into how and why the human organism is moved by music. New work in neuroscience is giving us clues to the mysteries of how and why music penetrates the brain and the emotions. The program follows visionary researchers and accomplished musicians to the crossroads of science and culture in search of answers to music’s deep mysteries. The program includes compelling performances by world-famous performers, in genres from rock to classical, such as Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma, Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, and Evelyn Glennie.

Watch these Music Instincts videos

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CHANGING SEAS: CORALS OF THE DEEP

Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m.

In the deep waters off Florida’s coast grow magnificent natural features up to 500 feet tall.  These are the corals of the deep sea.  Rich in biodiversity, this mysterious underwater kingdom is threatened by destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling.  A proposed 23,000 square mile marine protected area could save these delicate features from destruction.  In 2008, Changing Seas joined scientists from three major ocean research institutions on an expedition to further pinpoint the locations of these reefs.   During the voyage, cutting-edge ocean research technology was deployed to create maps of the seafloor that will aid managers in protecting these sensitive coral reef resources.

Submerge and discover Changing Seas

HISTORY DETECTIVES

Monday, June 22 at 9 p.m.

A Cincinnati couple acquired a peculiar phonograph at an antiques auction. They think Thomas Edison invented the PsychoPhone to record messages from the afterlife. Did Edison make a machine to unlock the secrets of the dead? A World War II collector from Kansas City has a cryptic letter from a soldier to another military man about a man named Prestre--specifically about his character and qualifications as a dog trainer. The military put great effort into a new “War Dogs” program during WWII. What went wrong on Cat Island? Just before he died, a man gave his neighbors a most unusual gift: a watch fob commemorating Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s murderous raid on the border town of Columbus, New Mexico. Who made it? Did their friend witness this infamous raid?

Learn detective techniques