Bohemian Biology

Episode 6: Jim Avignon on Art Sci Fridays (Neighborhood Public Radio 2008)

itunes pic [https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/bc/d9/af/florenceblanchard/3000x3000_2477044.jpg] On this episode of Bohemian Biology, you'll hear Jim Avignon aka Neoangin talking on ArtSci Fridays, a show I hosted on the Neighborhood Public Radio back in 2008 as part of the Whitney Biennial. Jim is a German painter and performer based in Brooklyn, who at the time, just had a new album out titled 'The Happy Hobo & The Return of The Freaks'. As I just attended his even more recent album release party a couple of days ago I thought I would revive this piece for the occasion. To give you a taste here is how his bio starts: '1994 marks the beginning of the whole story: Berlin painter and „pop-art“ activist Jim Avignon spots a one-man-entertainer-keyboard in the sales bin at the hardware store, right next to the cash register. He wastes no time and purchases the instrument. In the ensuing months he will dedicate quite some time to his new keyboard. The instrument has funky accompanying rhythms and a snazzy sound but unfortunately there is no feature to save the songs. Not knowing how to read music Mr. Avignon develops his very own method to memorize the numerous melodies and chordal sketches which he had composed in no time.' Jim's next performance will be at Monkeytown, 58 N 3rd St. Brooklyn, Sunday, January 3, 2010 8pm with Jon Burgerman. His new album is 'Say High To Your Neighborhood' and is available on http://neoangin.info/ Happy holidays! Run Time: 21:33

Episode 5: BioTalk: Emerging technologies in stem cell biology

itunes pic [https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/bc/d9/af/florenceblanchard/3000x3000_2365298.jpg] For this 5th episode of Bohemian Biology I uploaded one of the podcasts I produced for BioTechniques. It was originally published on Biotechniques.com June 25 2009 Run Time: 32:48 Although the ban on funding embryonic stem cells was recently lifted by President Barack Obama, the controversy over this research still remains. New types of pluripotent stem cells have recently emerged as alternatives to embryonic stem cells. These include induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells) and parthenogenic stem cells. In this episode of BioTalk, Kent Vrana (1:25) , Ph.D., chair of the department of Pharmacology at Penn State University College of Medicine, and Ken Aldrich (21:55), CEO of International Stem Cell Corporation, discuss the current state of stem cell research.

Episode 4: NYC Cricket Crawl

itunes pic [https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/bc/d9/af/florenceblanchard/3000x3000_2205352.png] On Saturday September 12, 2009, New Yorkers were invited to 'stop and listen' to the nocturnal chirping of crickets. The goal was to survey the presence of several species of crickets and katydids across the five boroughs and beyond. The collaboration between several hundreds of volunteers and scientists based at the American Museum of Natural History and U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center allowed the construction of a preliminary map showing the distribution of 7 species of Crickets and Katytids spanning over 300 localities. This type of event is termed 'Bioblitz' and provides instant snapshots of the natural world, which can later serve as baseline in ecological studies. ‘Cricket Crawl’ is a 32:19 long audio documentary about this event, which aired for the first time on free103point9 internet radio as part of the Giant Ear))) ‘back to school sounds’ show on Sunday, September 27 at 7pm. Back to School sounds was curated by sound artist Mikhail Iliatov, a member of New York Society for Acoustic Ecology. Find Mikhail's website here: http://mikhaililiatov.com Giant Ear))) show: http://www.free103point9.org/events/2193/ Official NYC Cricket crawl event's webpage: http://www.discoverlife.org/cricket/

Episode 3: Jeremy Slater at Governor Island Art Fair 2009

itunes pic [https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/bc/d9/af/florenceblanchard/3000x3000_2145674.jpg] As the second annual Governor’s Island art fair is kicking in this month, a couple of friends and I hopped on the ferry at the DUMBO station on Sunday early afternoon to check it out. The sun was hitting really hard that day. This made waiting for the ferry quite hard to endure, but made the boat trip and short distance get away even more enjoyable. Once on the island I came across an interesting sound installation by Jeremy Slater. In this third episode of Bohemian Biology you’ll hear Jeremy Slater talk about his installation located in the attic of one of the art fair’s buildings. http://www.4heads.org/ jeremyslater.net Thanks Jeremy!

Episode 2: Bushwick is Beautiful

itunes pic [https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/bc/d9/af/florenceblanchard/3000x3000_2110122.jpg] A couple of weeks ago I followed my friend Jenevieve to work. Jenevieve works for Big City Walls, an institution, that coordinates murals with youth organizations in schools across New York City. She recently completed a mural at the corner of Knickerbocker and Myrtle avenues with teenagers and young adults aged 13-21 from the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. The mural took four weeks to complete, from conceptualization to realization, and was funded by several organizations including Make the Road New York, CopWatch and Big City Walls itself. The role of such community outreach associations is to bring awareness and help to kids and their families on topics such as educational, immigration and housing justice, youth programs, and police brutality, which are relevant to the Bushwick population. In this podcast episode you will hear Jenevieve, her coworker Emilia and their students discussing the themes pictured on the mural and how they apply to the students personal lives.