xe sands

Occasionally, a piece of fiction or poetry or some snippet of something will catch my eye and pester me until I record it. Never know what you'll find here. For more odds and ends, check out Going Public.

The Answers, by Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn reaches me in a way most poets can't - his poems simply slide beneath my skin when I'm looking elsewhere. "The Answers," which appears in The Insistence of Beauty, (published by W. W. Norton) perfectly captures that moment when all is being discussed without being explained, the truths and lies we tell ourselves. In recording this bit of Dunn, I realized that the opposing lines were simply made to be read by the wonderful Robin Sachs, and that our voices would work well together to carry Dunn's intent. I asked, he agreed, and this is what we came up with. The Insistence of Beauty can be purchased directly from W. W. Norton.

Tales of an Arachnophobic Narrator

The Background: I am an arachnophobe. The Incident: While narrating DAMIEN, felt a tickle on arm, looked down...found a spider on me. ON ME. IN MY BOOTH. The Joke: In my haste to eject and search for said spider, didn't stop recording. The Result: Sound clip presented, as recorded.

Evolution of an accent...or three

Eastern European French Irish

Prep for the Nightwalkers series by Jacquelyn Frank and the Ice series by Anne

Stuart included extensive accent work with a dialect coach. Presented are clips of

the evolution of the Eastern European, French and Irish accents.