Nine New Members Enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Inductees include Metallica, Jeff Beck, Run-D.M.C. and Wanda Jackson. Transcript of radio broadcast:
12 April 2009
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Today we tell about nine musicians who were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is part of the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. This museum opened in nineteen ninety-five and is extremely popular with visitors.
The idea for the museum came from leaders of the music industry. They formed a group called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in nineteen eighty-three. Since nineteen eighty-six, this group has been honoring performers who have been important in the development of rock and roll. The latest ceremony took place on April fourth at Public Auditorium in Cleveland.
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VOICE ONE:
The six hundred voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation chose this year’s Hall of Fame inductees. Artists can become part of the Hall of Fame twenty-five years after the release of their first recording. But not all inductees are performers.
Reporters, songwriters, radio show hosts and music industry leaders who helped influence rock and roll can also be honored. So can artists whose music came before rock and roll, but influenced its development.
VOICE TWO:
In two thousand, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation also began to honor a new group called sidemen.
This category honors performers who played as backup musicians for major stars. The inductees from this group include two musicians, D.J. Fontana and Bill Black, who played with Elvis Presley in the nineteen fifties. The keyboard player and soul songwriter Spooner Oldham was also honored. He recorded with artists including Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan. Now we tell about the five main performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.
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VOICE ONE:
Little Anthony and the Imperials are known for recording “doo-wop” songs that were popular in the nineteen fifties. The lead singer, Anthony Gourdine, got the nickname Little Anthony because his voice sounded very young. The group’s song “Tears on My Pillow” was one of the big hits of nineteen fifty-eight.
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The group from Brooklyn, New York remained popular in the nineteen sixties and seventies performing soul songs. Other artists have created their own versions of hits by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
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VOICE TWO:
The British guitarist Jeff Beck began his career playing in the British band the Yardbirds. In fact, Jeff Beck became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of his work with this band. But this year, he was honored for his work as a solo artist. During his career, he made several albums as the leader of the Jeff Beck Group. One of his most successful rock albums, “Blow by Blow,” is heavily influenced by jazz.
(MUSIC: “You Know What I Mean”)
One critic praised Jeff Beck’s playing for his “fierce attack and fat tone” and his ability to use the electric guitar to create textures as well as notes.
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VOICE ONE:
The American heavy metal rock band Metallica formed in nineteen eighty-one in Los Angeles, California. Their first full-length album, “Kill ‘Em All,” brought new energy to the heavy metal scene when it was released in nineteen eighty-three. The group’s other popular albums include “Ride the Lightning” and “Master of Puppets.” The nineteen ninety-one album “Metallica” brought the band success from mainstream audiences. This album became a number one hit.
(MUSIC: “Enter Sandman”)
Metallica has sold more than one hundred million albums over the years and remains one of the most influential heavy metal bands in history.
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VOICE TWO:
The rap group Run-D.M.C. has had a big influence on rap and hip-hop music. This group’s first albums, “Run-D.M.C.” and “King of Rock,” were some of the defining examples of rap music.
(MUSIC: “My Adidas”)
They were also the first rappers to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and the first to win a Grammy award nomination. Their albums “Raising Hell” and “Tougher than Leather” made them stars and changed the sound of rap music forever.
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VOICE ONE:
Bobby Womack began his career as the lead singer in his family’s gospel band, the Womack Brothers. The soul singer Sam Cooke later asked the brothers to record music with his record company. The brothers recorded songs under the name the Valentinos. Bobby Womack also played the guitar in Sam Cooke’s band. Womack later continued his musical career on his own. He wrote songs made famous by singers including George Benson, Janis Joplin and the Rolling Stones. In the nineteen seventies and eighties, he released several popular soul albums.
(MUSIC: “Harry Hippie”)
As a singer, songwriter and guitarist, Bobby Womack has had a big influence on soul and gospel music.
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VOICE TWO:
Wanda Jackson was honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence on rock and roll. Known as the “Queen of Rockabilly,” she began her career in the nineteen fifties singing country music. But she soon moved to rock and roll. Her strong voice and energetic performances made her very popular.
Although she returned to country music later in her career, Wanda Jackson left a special mark on the development of rock and roll. We leave you with her nineteen fifty-eight hit, “Let’s Have a Party”.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Barbie Not the Only Thing Turning 50
1959 brought the Barbie doll, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, ”the day the music died” and the birth of Special English. Transcript of radio broadcast:
06 April 2009
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we tell you about some fiftieth anniversaries that are being observed this year.
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VOICE ONE:
The Guggenheim Museum in New York
Guggenheim Museum in New York
In nineteen fifty-nine, an unusual art museum opened in New York City. What was unusual was not so much the art but the museum.
Most museums lead visitors through a series of rooms. But the Guggenheim Museum is round. Spaces flow smoothly from one area to another. In place of steps, a ramp goes round and round past the art on the different levels. The center of the museum is open, so people can look up toward the roof or down toward the ground floor.
VOICE TWO:
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He died six months before it opened. Not everyone liked the unusual design. But it produced one of the most recognizable museums in the world.
A fiftieth anniversary exhibition will honor the architect and his work. From May fifteenth till August twenty-third, the Guggenheim in New York will present “Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward.”
VOICE ONE:
The exhibition will show sixty-four projects that he designed, including homes, public buildings and religious spaces. More than two hundred of his original drawings will be shown. The Guggenheim says the aim is to celebrate the basic idea behind Wright’s architecture — the sense of freedom in interior space.
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VOICE TWO:
The Guggenheim opened in October of nineteen fifty-nine. That same month, the Voice of America began to broadcast special programs for English learners. Some language experts thought the idea would fail. But millions of listeners welcomed Special English.
Special English is read one-third slower than VOA’s other English programs. The slower speed is combined with an extra effort to make the writing easy to understand.
Most of the words come from a vocabulary list that gets updated about every ten years. It began with one thousand words. Today it has about five hundred more. But writers can use any other words they need to report a story if the meaning is clear.
VOA Special English is an example of a controlled language. Another example is called Simplified Technical English. This language was developed to make it easier to understand and translate documents used at aircraft repair centers around the world.
VOICE ONE:
Special English is popular because it helps people learn American English while they learn about world news, science, American life and other subjects. The first broadcast was ten minutes of news to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
There was no special announcement. Announcer Paul Parks just said, “Here is the news in Special English.” Feature programs were added later, starting with Special English versions of short stories by famous writers. That program, AMERICAN STORIES, can be heard each Saturday.
VOICE TWO:
Today, Special English writers do a lot more original reporting and the programs are more lively. But one thing has never changed. Special English has a loyal following — in homes, cars and classrooms throughout the world.
Some people are second-generation fans whose own children are now growing up with Special English. And not just on radio, but also TV and the Web: voaspecialenglish.com is one of VOA’s most heavily visited sites.
Visitors can read and listen to programs, write comments, find shows they missed and sign up to receive programs by weekly e-mail. They can download MP3s and podcasts and access the Word Book. And they can watch videos in Special English. There is also voaspecialenglish.com/mobile. And Special English is expanding into social media. The goal, as always, is to follow English learners wherever their interests take them.
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VOICE ONE:
This year is the fiftieth birthday of Barbie. The doll first appeared at the toy fair in New York on March ninth, nineteen fifty-nine.
Its creator was Ruth Handler, an American businesswoman. She and her husband Elliott along with Harold “Matt” Matson started the toy company Mattel. She named the new doll after their daughter Barbara. She based the design on a German doll named Bild Lilli.
The first Barbie wore a black and white swimsuit and had her hair in a ponytail. She looked and seemed very grown up. But any concerns that parents would not want to buy it for little girls were soon proved wrong.
Mattel sold three hundred thousand Barbie dolls in the first year at a price of three dollars. Today, a fifty-year-old Barbie in good condition might cost more than twenty-seven thousand dollars.
VOICE TWO:
Barbies have represented fifty different nationalities and are sold in one hundred fifty countries. Mattel says ninety percent of girls in the United States between the ages of three and ten own at least one Barbie doll. It says girls between the ages of three and six own an average of about twelve.
Barbie has faced recent competition from Bratz dolls. Barbie has also faced her share of critics.
A well-known example was when women’s education groups objected to a talking Barbie that declared, among other things, “Math class is tough!” Mattel agreed to change it. That was back in nineteen ninety-two, the same year as the first Barbie for President doll. The dolls, though designed in California, were produced in China. Because of that, some people joked that Barbie could not legally become president of the United States.
Saudi Arabia has banned Barbie dolls. And a lawmaker in the American state of West Virginia would like to do the same. Last month, he proposed banning sales of Barbie and other dolls that influence girls to put too much importance on physical beauty.
Some people say Barbie is an unhealthy role model for young girls. Robin Gerber disagrees. She wrote a book about Barbie. She points out dolls like scientist Barbie and race car driver Barbie. She says people who criticize Barbie should tell girls the story of the businesswoman who created her. She says Ruth Handler wanted the dolls to help girls think about what they wanted to do with their lives.
(MUSIC: “That’ll Be The Day”)
VOICE ONE:
Singer Buddy Holly died in February of nineteen fifty-nine. He was just twenty-two, but he was already being called a musical genius.
Buddy Holly was killed in the crash of a small plane while on a singing tour in the Midwest. The crash also took the lives of the pilot and two other singers — J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. He had a hit with this song, “La Bamba.”
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VOICE TWO:
The
The “Big Bopper,” J.P. Richardson
The plane went down after the singers had performed at the Surf Ballroom in the small town of Clear Lake, Iowa.
This year, some of those who performed with them that night gathered at the Surf to remember. The gathering, held over several days, was called “Fifty Winters Later.” It included educational programs, dance lessons, speeches and theatrical performances. It also included a ceremony to declare the Surf Ballroom a rock and roll landmark. The events were organized by the Surf Ballroom and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Guests included Buddy Holly’s wife, Ritchie Valens’ brothers and sisters and the Big Bopper’s son.
VOICE ONE:
The day of the plane crash — February third — is known in rock and roll history as “the day the music died.” We end with a song inspired by that sad day. Here is Don McLean with his number one hit from nineteen seventy-two, “American Pie.”
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VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
VOA Special English was first broadcast October 19, 1959.
Follow the Santa Fe Trail to Oldest US Capital City
Santa Fe, New Mexico, is preparing to celebrate its 400th anniversary. Transcript of radio broadcast:
28 March 2009
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. This week on our program, we take you to a city in the American Southwest: Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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VOICE ONE:
We begin at the Santa Fe Trail, or what remains of it. The ground still shows the path cut deep into the earth by the wheels of thousands of wagons. The Santa Fe Trail began in the state of Missouri, the nineteenth century gateway to the wild and largely unexplored West. The trail ended about one thousand two hundred kilometers away, in Santa Fe.
Wagons traveled the Santa Fe Trail from eighteen twenty-two until a railroad replaced it in eighteen seventy-nine. No one kept a total. But records from eighteen fifty-eight show that as many as one thousand eight hundred wagons made the trip that year.
VOICE TWO:
An area of the Santa Fe trail where cuts in the earth show the path of wagon wheels
Wagon wheels left their mark on the Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was an important international trade route. It carried goods south into Mexico and north into the United States. But traders were not the only ones who traveled it.
Settlers, government officials, hunters, gold seekers, soldiers and American Indians all used the trail. So did storekeepers, hotel workers, lawyers, blacksmiths — all the people needed to expand the young nation. They found places to live and work along the trail.
The National Park Service says that in eighteen twenty-two, trade along the Santa Fe Trail totaled fifteen thousand dollars. By eighteen sixty, it was more than three million. Today that would be worth fifty-three million dollars.
VOICE ONE:
The Santa Fe Trail dates back to eighteen twenty-one. A businessman named William Becknell believed he could earn a lot of money by moving trade goods from Missouri to Santa Fe. He was right.
He began his first trip in September of eighteen twenty-one. He carried his goods on the backs on mules. He reached the center of Santa Fe in November. The next year he used wagons so he could carry more goods to sell.
Eighteen twenty-one was also an important year in the history of Mexico. That was the year Mexicans got their independence after years of revolt against Spanish rule. Spain had protected Mexico’s borders with laws barring trade with the United States. With the coming of Mexican independence, the Santa Fe Trail became the major trade link between the two countries.
VOICE TWO:
American Indians have lived in the Southwest for thousands of years. The area surrounding the Santa Fe Trail included the hunting grounds of the Cheyenne, the Kiowa, the Comanche, the Arapaho and the Apache. It was also the homeland of the Osage, the Kaw, the Ute and the Pueblo Indians.
Early relations between the Indians and the settlers moving West were mostly peaceful. But misunderstandings and conflicting values led to violence as more people came. Mexican and American troops rode with the wagons to provide protection.
VOICE ONE:
Wagon trains — groups of wagons — rode in four lines across the land when they passed through dangerous country. If attacked, the wagons could quickly form a circle for defense.
An average wagon train included twenty-five to thirty-five wagons pulled by oxen. They traveled about twenty-four kilometers a day. The trip in each direction could take fifty days or more.
Mules were faster. For example, in eighteen fifty-seven a stagecoach pulled by six mules took twenty to twenty-five days to travel from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe. The distance was one thousand two hundred kilometers. Later, a stagecoach could make the trip in thirteen to fourteen days by moving day and night and changing animals often.
Whichever kind of animal pulled the wagons, moving along the Santa Fe Trail was generally unexciting. Travelers mostly had to deal with mud, dust, insects and heat. But there was the danger not just of attacks but also floods, fires, winds and storms.
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VOICE TWO:
One result of the continued expansion of United States territory was the Mexican-American war. It began in eighteen forty-six. A force known as the Army of the West used the Santa Fe Trail to protect American traders. It also used the trail to take control of an area that is now New Mexico and part of California.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American war in eighteen forty-eight. It gave the United States nearly all of what is today the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
The government built a series of bases in the New Mexico territory to protect the settlers and goods moving along the Santa Fe Trail. The largest was Fort Union, about one hundred twenty kilometers from Santa Fe.
VOICE ONE:
The area of the Santa Fe Trail around Fort Union was also involved in the American Civil War. By eighteen-sixty-two, the trail was the main supply line for Union forces in the Southwest.
Confederate forces moved into New Mexico from Texas. They wanted to seize the territory and Fort Union in an effort to find paths to the Pacific Ocean and to the gold fields of Colorado. But they never reached the fort.
Union forces defeated them on the Santa Fe Trail at Glorietta Pass in New Mexico. The battle secured control of the supply line for Union forces. It also ended Civil War activity in the Southwest.
VOICE TWO:
Today, Fort Union is preserved by the National Park Service as an outdoor museum on the Santa Fe Trail. Visitors can explore the ruins of the buildings and the ruts made by wagons. And they can follow the path of the trail over a modern highway. A stone marker shows the spot where the Santa Fe Trail ended in the city’s historic central plaza.
New Mexico became the forty-seventh state in January of nineteen twelve. But Santa Fe has a longer history of serving as a capital city than any of the other capitals of the fifty states.
VOICE ONE:
Santa Fe was the capital of the Spanish kingdom of New Mexico beginning in sixteen ten. It was the capital of the province of Nuevo Mexico when Mexico became independent. And it was the capital of the New Mexico territory before the territory became a state.
The seat of government in Santa Fe for the Spanish, the Mexicans and the American territory was a building called the Palace of the Governors.
The Palace of the Governors on the central plaza is the oldest continually occupied public building in the country. Today it houses the state history museum. Local Indians sell jewelry and other handmade goods along the front of the building.
Most of the buildings in Santa Fe are low and earth colored, a mixture of Spanish and native styles. These buildings are made of adobe brick. Adobe is sun-dried earth and straw.
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VOICE TWO:
Santa Fe means “Holy Faith” in Spanish. All around is mountains and desert. The city is more than two thousand meters above sea level, near the southern Rocky Mountains in northern New Mexico. Magazines in recent years have listed Santa Fe among the best places to live in the United States.
Santa Fe is known especially for art. More than two hundred fifty galleries and dealers make it one of the largest art markets in the country. In two thousand five Santa Fe was named a UNESCO Creative City — the first American city to get that honor.
City officials estimate the population at seventy thousand. The United States Census Bureau says two percent are American Indian and about half are Hispanic or Latino.
The two biggest employers in the area are government and the hotel and food service industry.
VOICE ONE:
Each year more than one million people visit Santa Fe. But, like many places affected by the recession, the numbers were down in two thousand eight. A city report says economic activity last year totaled almost three billion dollars, a four percent decrease from two thousand seven.
The report says spending remains flat or in decline in the local economy. A spokesman for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Steve Lewis, says economic activity last month was down five percent from February of last year. He says hotels have been reporting cancellations, which is rare for Santa Fe.
VOICE TWO:
Santa Fe is preparing to celebrate its four hundredth anniversary. Sixteen ten was when it became the capital of Spanish New Mexico. Activities will start this September over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Three nights of concerts are planned. Leaders from Spain, Mexico and the United States have been invited, along with American Indian leaders.
The celebration will continue through two thousand ten. Organizers say they need all that time to include all that needs to be remembered about the history of Santa Fe.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
