The rising tide of digital communication has not lifted all boats equally, and threatens to leave others stranded altogether.

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This presentation is an academic look at entertainment, by Dolf Zillman, professor and senior associate dean at the University of Alabama.

“Given that the Age of Entertainment is upon us, it is astounding how little attention contemporary scholars have given to understanding what it is that draws us to entertainments and what, in cognitive and emotional terms, we get out of succumbing to the lure of these entertainments.”

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Watch the Arctic Monkeys, the popular post-punk spitfire band from across the ocean, live at Coventry Coliseum in the UK :

(i bet that) you look good on the dancefloor (Real Player Required)
fake tales of San Francisco (Real Player Required)
still take you home (Real Player Required)

. . . Or watch their live in studio performance at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic (Real Player Required)
Click here for audio only of the live performance (Real Player Required)

Mardi Gras festivities are in full swing in New Orleans. But six months after Hurricane Katrina, some musicians there are questioning whether the holiday should be celebrated at all. A series of reports from around the Big Easy from WNYC ‘Souncheck’ . Keith Spera, music critic of the Times-Picayne, joins us from the parade with an overview. Dr. Michael White, a jazz clarinetist and longtime resident of the Crescent City, weighs in on challenges facing this year’s carnival. Then, Jesse McBride, a 26-year-old jazz pianist, talks about the twists and turns in his career since the hurricane. And finally, Nick Spitzer, host of the public radio program American Routes, gives a musical history of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras.

Listen to the post-Katrina Mardi Gras show (Real Player recommended)