Tag: Anne McCue

WXNA at Southern Festival of Books!

WXNA FM

Editor’s Note: We asked WXNA DJ Leslie to report back from this year’s Southern Festival of Books, and DJ Laura Powers  provided some photos and videos below of our WXNA stage featuring some of our favorite local artists as well as a tribute to beloved late songwriter, David Berman. Check it out, and join us next year!

This year’s Southern Festival of Books did not disappoint, as it kept it’s visitors bound together downtown at the plaza and library for three cheery days with live music, good food, prolific authors, and a ton of books, eliciting many meaningful discussions. Highlights for me included author Ottessa Moshfegh (My Year of Rest and Relaxation) and, of course,  Friday afternoon when WXNA hosted the Music Stage on Legislative Plaza.

Karina Daza kicked things off at the Music Stage on Friday afternoon with a mesmerizing set of Latin-influenced soul. Kyle Hamlett Uno followed with a set of beautifully poetic acoustic tunes, and WXNA’s own Anne McCue had us spellbound with her set of songs that blended the personal and the political. The day ended with a tribute to the dearly missed musician and poet David Berman that reminded us of the power that words and art have to create community.

– Leslie Hermsdorfer

Daniel Pujol reading the poem titled “Interregnum Strange” that he wrote for the David Berman tribute.

DJ Juanny Cash spinning records

Anne McCue Performs

Karina Daza

Kyle Hamlett

Starman Ascending

Roger Blanton

WXNA DJ Anne McCue Remembers the Star Star

 

That night I woke up at about 3 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. Usually I try to meditate when that happens but for some reason unknown, I picked up my phone and checked in and saw the news. Unbelievable. There was someone I never realized would actually die. He hovered over our childhoods and our teen years in Australia, a superlative human, part alien (all too convincing), fantastic planeteer.

I saw The Man Who Fell To Earth when it came out with some of my teenage siblings at Huskisson Theatre which doubled as a church on Sunday mornings. Sitting in a little old rickety cinema with wooden seats in a tiny coastal town in Australia we were transported into the seemingly “Bowie Universe.” We were intrigued, mesmerized, captivated; and it was hard to doubt that Bowie was actually from another planet. Nearly impossible to separate the man who sang Starman from the character in the film, especially when you are a kid whose imagination is attempting to brim over and get loose.

Throughout the ’70s, Bowie shifted and transformed and could do no wrong. He was made to be a star and handled it better than just about anyone. He was fearlessly and brazenly unconventional. His inspiration was limitless, his imagination was unencumbered.

I’ve been revisiting Low and Hunky Dory. Low – that depressed, stoner album – can make me feel as weird as I used to feel when I listened to it all those years ago, like an ethereal flashback to a past nightmare dream of darker, more wintery times. Happier is Hunky Dory, the elvin Bowie hasn’t completely thrown off his hippie whimsy on this wonderful album. We have loved so much of him and will keep on at it. Wow, Mr. Jones. Happy Birthday! xo

 

Anne McCue
Songs on the Wire
Tuesday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

https://www.wxnafm.org/broadcasts/10123
annemccue.com
songsonthewire.com