This week’s show features Contemporary Indian Virtuoso Violinists. We’ll trace the resonant strings of the Indian violin through East-West fusions, rhythmic dialogues, and meditative fire. These are virtuosos who don’t just play — they translate tradition into new language.
Playlist for the week of August 4, 2025:
00:00:00 L. Shankar – “Song For Everyone”
00:09:05 L. Subramaniam – “Blue Lotus”
00:20:24 Shakti – “Joy”
00:41:36 Ganesh & Kumaresh – “Gambhira”
00:45:15 L. Shankar; Jan Garbarek; Palle Mikkelborg – “All For You”
It was a peaceful neighborhood until the signs started speaking— first they warned us, then they laughed.
Now a child runs forever— a small joke from the underworld.
But even the joke feels holy when the light hits right— when the mind forgets itself and floats like clouds through the blue dome of a sticker someone placed with quiet mischief.
The sign says SLOW. The sign says CHILDREN.
But it’s the skull that knows. Knows the world slows down only after. Knows how warning is a privilege disguised as concern.
Is it still running— that figure on the sign, some version of us, once wind-stung, barefoot, unafraid?
We wave, as if it matters.
I saw him once— third-grade me, maybe, invisible cape, skinned knees, halfway to Mars and all the way lost in joy.
He’s still out there, dodging traffic and dreaming about outer space, or cotton candy, or something better.
The sign still holds the shape of a child leaning into the forever no one meant to promise.
We keep walking. We obey. We forget.
But the child, skull full of clouds, keeps running into the deep, unspoken now.
This week’s show is a celebration of sonic invention, genre-defiance, and creative collaboration. We’re diving deep into the world of Bang on a Can, a musical collective that’s been reshaping the sound of contemporary classical and experimental music since the late 1980s. Bang on a Can was founded in 1987 by composers Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Frustrated by the boundaries of academic classical music and inspired by punk, minimalism, noise, world music, and jazz, they envisioned a space where new music could thrive—wild, visceral, and unbound by category. What started as a marathon concert in a SoHo art gallery became a movement: a group, a label, a festival, a touring ensemble—the Bang on a Can All-Stars—and an ecosystem supporting boundary-pushing music around the world. Today’s playlist features founding composers, All-Star performers, guest artists, and offshoot collaborations.
Playlist for the week of July 14, 2025:
00:00:00 Michael Gordon; Bang On A Can All-Stars – “Gene Takes a Drink”
00:09:55 Conlon Nancarrow (arr. Ziporyn) – “Studies for Player Piano No. 3c: Boogie-Woogie Suite” 00:13:16 Julia Wolfe; Choir of Trinity Wall Street – Anthracite Fields: IV. Flowers 00:19:53 van Ziporyn – Music from Shadowbang: No. 1 Angkat
00:22:53 Jeffrey Brooks – After the Treewatcher
00:30:43 Meredith Monk – The Games: Spaceship
00:35:02 Julia Wolfe – “Reeling”
00:43:02 Don Byron – “Fyodorovich”
00:45:25 Michael Gordon; Icebreaker – “Yo Shakespeare”
00:56:09 Terry Riley – “See Them Out There”
00:59:00 David Lang – “Cheating, Lying, Stealing”
01:09:30 Lao Luo & 龔琳娜 – “Tan Te”
01:12:54 Brian Eno; Robert Wyatt; Rhett Davies – “1/2”
This week Next to Silence presents some the best recordings of 1970’s Ghanaian guitar Highlife.
The early 1970s marked a golden chapter in Ghanaian highlife music—a moment when village wisdom, city innovation, and post-independence energy converged in song. This was music built for both the dance floor and the spirit, composed of storytelling lyrics, percussive drive, and glowing melodic lines that seemed to float above it all. What you’ll hear in this playlist is a living memory of Ghana’s musical heartbeat—highlife in its guitar-band prime.
These are songs to move to, but also to sit with. They come from the people, and they bring the people together. These songs are meditations in groove, built to move both body and spirit. Let’s step into the pulse of early 70s Ghanaian highlife.
This show is dedicated to my brothers and sisters of Peace Corps Ghana 1970, along with the former students and teachers at Kadjebi Secondary School.
Playlist week of July 7, 2025:
00:00:00 African Brothers International Band – Ɛna Ɛye A Mane Me
00:08:01 Francis Kenya; The Riches Big Band – Ensuah Nzema Kotoko – The Nezema Kotoko Family
00:14:16 Oyihwam Internationals – Anoma Franoas
00:22:08 Ashanti Afrika-Jah Int Band of Ghana – Ede Mabo
00:29:41 African Brothers International Band – Abusua Nnyɛ Asafo
This week NEXT TO SILENCE presents a heartfelt tribute to one of the towering figures in American music—Brian Wilson, who passed away last week at the age of 82.
Brian wasn’t just the creative force behind The Beach Boys—he was a visionary who changed the shape of modern music. He taught us that pop could hold deep sorrow, spiritual yearning, and sheer beauty—all in the same breath.
With his passing, we’ve lost a singular voice, but the harmonies he created still echo in our lives. Tonight, we honor his journey: from the early days of surf and sunshine, through the introspection of Pet Sounds, into the kaleidoscopic ambition of Smile, and finally his brave return in later years.
Playlist for the week of June 30, 2025:
00:04:01 Surfin’ U.S.A. – The Beach Boys
04:06:27 The Warmth of the Sun – The Beach Boys
00:09:19 Help Me, Rhonda – The Beach Boys
00:12:24 California Girls – The Beach Boys
00:15:09 Please Let Me Wonder – The Beach Boys
00:17:58 In My Room – The Beach Boys
00:20:10 When I Grow Up (To Be a Man) – The Beach Boys
00:22:12 Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
00:25:00 And Your Dream Comes True – The Beach Boys
00:30:19 Wouldn’t It Be Nice – The Beach Boys
00:32:40 You Still Believe in Me – The Beach Boys
00:35:10 That’s Not Me – The Beach Boys
00:37:35 Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) – The Beach Boys
00:40:30 God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
00:43:19 I Know There’s an Answer – The Beach Boys
00:46:35 Here Today – The Beach Boys
00:49:37 Caroline, No – The Beach Boys
00:56:09 Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
00:59:45 Heroes and Villains – The Beach Boys
01:03:25 Vegetables – The Beach Boys
01:05:31 Darlin’ – The Beach Boys
01:07:42 ’Til I Die – The Beach Boys
01:10:10 Child Is Father of the Man – Brian Wilson
01:12:28 In Blue Hawaii – Brian Wilson
01:15:27 Surf’s Up – Brian Wilson
01:19:31 Love and Mercy – Brian Wilson
01:22:25 Summer’s Gone – The Beach Boys
01:28:40 I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times – The Beach Boys
A Reminder:
Next To Silence streams live at:
1700AM and on the web at PeaksIslandRadio.com
On:
Mondays Fridays @7:00PM
Tuesdays @Noon
You can find the archives of past shows at PeaksIslandRadio.com. Click on SCHEDULE – scroll down to NEXT TO SILENCE
The bed sagged like a cracked raft, smelling of rust, salt, and lost time. The other side was hollowed out, a dent where someone used to dream.
The air bent yellow at the edges. A radio somewhere cracked and whined — low country and western misery, a voice leaking out about someone who never came home.
The floor leaned west, always west, because that's where things go when they’re too tired to fight.
The clock on the wall had stopped sometime last night, but no one noticed, not even the dark.
The sea dragged the dead nets, and the chain inside the walls, hummed low against the bones of the room.
It ran through my empty wallet, through my cracked teeth, through the long thin cigarettes burning themselves out.
It rattled whenever I breathed too hard.
The motel bible sat open on the nightstand, a page torn loose, a note scrawled in blue ink: "don’t wait for me."
I tasted rust, saw the green of rotting rope, felt the floorboards creak with a tired red sadness.
White gulls circled low, no purpose left; their shadows vanish into the sea’s forgetting.
I thought about standing up, walking toward the window, singing along with the sad broken radio.
I didn’t move. The tide had already taken everything.
This week, we find ourselves holding a shared, quiet grief. Two titans of American music—Sly Stone and Brian Wilson—have left us. Each, in his own way, redefined what pop music could be: Sly, with his electrifying fusion of funk, soul, and social revolution; Brian, with his fragile genius for harmony, melody, and emotional truth.
They were architects of joy and beauty, of rhythm and reflection, and their music will echo long past this moment.
This week we commemorate the music of Sly Stone and the Family Stone, and next week’s show is a tribute to Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.
Sylvester Stone was the preacher, the prophet, the mad scientist of funk—mixing black and white, male and female, gospel and psychedelia into a sound that wasn’t just music, but movement. At his best, he gave us the soundtrack to liberation and joy. At his worst, he was the echo of a dream cracked under the weight of its own idealism.
Playlist for the week of June 23, 2025:
00:00 Sly & The Family Stone – Dance to the Music
06:31 Sly & The Family Stone – Everyday People
08:51 Sly & The Family Stone – Sing a Simple Song
12:44 Sly & The Family Stone – I Want ToTake You Higher
19:11 Sly & The Family Stone – Stand!
22:18 Sly & The Family Stone – Hot Fun in the Summertime
25:46 Sly & The Family Stone – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice ElfAgin)
30:34 Sly & The Family Stone – You Can Make It If You Try
34:10 Sly & The Family Stone – Family Affair
37:13 Sly & The Family Stone – Runnin’ Away
40:06 Sly & The Family Stone – Time
44:23 Sly & The Family Stone – Just Like a Baby
49:30 Sly & The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay
52:28 Sly & The Family Stone – Babies Makin’ Babies
Boho Dreams of Space and Time 