FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“LIVE FROM THE ISLANDS” FEATURES TESS GALLAGHER

AND POETS IN PERFORMANCE, SATURDAY APRIL 24

On KSER 90.7, EVERETT, NOON TO 2 PM,

“Live From The Islands” co-hosts David Ossman and Judith Walcutt will return to the air on April 24 from Whidbey Island’s Greenbank Farm for the Burning Word Festival, sponsored by the Washington Poets Association. Judith and David will co-host a two-hour program of poetry, music and interviews. Featured is Tess Gallagher, honored guest of the Festival and a short story writer and essayist as well as poet. From Whidbey, the Hero Trickster Orchestra and Susan Zwinger will appear, also performance poets Dustin Fox, Beverly Graham and Karyna McGlyn among others.

On May 1^st and 8^th, “Ossman’s Audiola” returns with “Black Magic,” a two-part program on the great, but rarely heard, all-African American cast Broadway reviews and musicals, on stage shortly after the turn of the 20^th century and continuing through the 1920s and ‘30s. Part Two features rare “Porgy and Bess” music and Broadway and off-Broadway reviews of the 1970s.

May 15^th, Ossman devotes the Audiola to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” including music from the original stage production of 1903, unusual performances and rarities from the MGM musical, scenes from Ossman’s own all-star audio adaptation of the novel, and songs from the current Broadway show, “Wicked.” On May 22^nd, the Audiola spins tunes by jazz cornetist Bix Biderbecke, including the very earliest recordings by Bing Crosby (with Bix in the band) and new versions of Bix’s music by Geoff Muldauer.

Ossman and Walcutt will be producing and co-hosting, along with other regional community radio hosts when “Live From The Islands” and KSER visit The Northwest Folklife Festival over the Memorial Day weekend, May 29-31, at Seattle Center. Live coverage of the three-day Folklife Festival will be heard on seven “I-5 Corridor” Community Radio stations from Bellingham to Astoria, all serving a mission to entertain and enlighten their local audiences independently of mass media and to continue the tradition of local focus, public access, and training that community radio established over 50 years ago. Coverage begins at 11 AM and continues throughout the day on most stations carrying which include KUGS-Bellingham, KSVR-Mount Vernon, KSER-Everett, KBCS-Bellevue, KAOS-Olympia, KBOO-Portland, and KMUN-Astoria.

Live coverage of the Choochokam Festival of the Arts on July 10^th and 11^th will celebrate a year of “Live From The Islands” programs on KSER. “Ossman’s Audiola” and “Live From the Islands” are Otherworld Media productions. Judith Walcutt is Executive Producer.