To the Best of Our Knowledge: Musical Taste

Musical Taste
To the Best of Our Knowledge (Wisconsin Public Radio)

Music writer Carl Wilson describes Celine Dion's music as "bland monotony raised to a pitch of obnoxious bombast." So why would he write a book about Dion's 1999 hit album, "Let's Talk About Love"? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Wilson shares his story of trying to get in touch with his inner Celine Dion fan. And what the experience taught him about musical taste. Also, we'll explore the music of the Viking of 6th Avenue...Moondog.

SEGMENT 1:



Carl Wilson is a writer and editor at Canada's national newspaper "The Globe and Mail," and the author of "Let's Talk about Love: A Journey to the End of Taste." The book examines the phenomenon of Celine Dion, the best-selling female recording artist in the world. Wilson tells Anne Strainchamps why he thinks Celine Dion is so popular, what he admires about her, and why, in the end, he is not one of her fans. "Let's Talk about Love" is the Celine Dion 1997 album containing her hit from "Titanic." Also, Doug Gordon talks with Terre Roche about The Roches - Terre and her two sisters – and their new album. And we hear lots of music!



SEGMENT 2:

Jeff Price is the founder and CEO of TuneCore, a digital music distribution service. He explains to Steve Paulson that under his scheme, artists pay a one time flat fee to use his service and then all sales revenue belongs to them and they retain all rights to their music. Price says new technologies have made record labels obsolete.

SEGMENT 3:



Robert Scotto is the author of "Moondog: The Viking of Sixth Avenue." It's a biography of Thomas Louis Hardin, an internationally known and respected composer known for decades to New Yorkers as an eccentric street performer who dressed as a Viking and called himself "Moondog." Scotto tells Jim Fleming when Hardin became Moondog, and how well he was received abroad. And we hear some of Moondog's music.



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