Mariachi 101 - Airdate - 2/2 - 3 p.m. (CT)

Update - 2/2/09: This show has aired. You can download the MP3 from our archive. Let us know what you think!

Joe Hardtke

We're kicking off February with Veronica Rueckert filling in for Jean and a party on the radio in the form of mariachi music.



We have two guests lined up for you with two unique angles on the genre.

Gil Sperry is the author of Mariachi for Gringos. Sperry originally played classical piano and jazz, but was turned on to mariachi after traveling Mexico in the mid 70s. Gil describes his book as "Mariachi 101," covering the foundation of the music and providing a nice list of the top 50 mariachi songs you must hear.

Ramino Burr is a music journalist based in San Antonio and he's followed the Latino music scene for years. His writing has been featured in Billboard, Cashbox and a host of other publications. He has an excellent blog, www.raminoburr.com, that covers everything from boleros to Tex-Mex and he's working on an exhaustive history of mariachi as I write this.

It's my hope that these two gentlemen will represent and delight both new listeners to the music and long-time collectors. What's more, we'll discuss the essential mariachi artists recordings that everyone should hear before they die.

Do you listen to mariachi? Who are your favorite artists? What first turned you on to the music? Share your stories through our Here on Earth Hotline - 1-877-GLOBE-07 - and we'll play them back on the show.

Ideas Worth Spreading - Airdate - 1/8 - 4 p.m. (ET)

Update - 1/8/09: This show has aired. You can download the MP3 from our archive. Let us know what you think!
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Joe Hardtke

Fans of deep thinking, Stephen Hawking and YouTube might be familiar with the TED Conference. Short for Technology, Entertainment, Design, the annual conference brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers (Richard Branson, Jane Goodall, Al Gore, Bono, E.O. Wilson and the aforementioned Mr. Hawking) and challenges them to give the talk of their lives... ...in under 18 minutes.



This mandate has resulted in a flurry of ideas since TED's inception in 1984. World-changing ideas that come from inspired, entertaining speakers who reach for your brain-stem and give it a good shake, if not a tickle. Where else would geeky rock wordsmiths They Might Be Giants bump shoulders with microbiology prodigy Eva Vertes?

So this Thursday, we're inviting TED Curator Chris Anderson on to the show to preview the next TED Conference taking place next month in Long Beach, California. We want to know what world-changing ideas TED is currently exploring and, even more importantly, how can we make those good ideas viral. Everyone has passed along a goofy YouTube video to a friend, but what does a good idea need to have to capture that same area of our collective imagination. Chris may have more than a few thoughts about this.

Please respond with your questions for Chris right here or at the Here on Earth Hotline - 1-877-GLOBE-07. We'll read or play them back on the show. And in the meantime, check out global health professor and TED speaker Hans Rosling, using his statistics to systematically rock our outdated views on "The Third World."

Life in a Jar - Airdate - 10/27 - 4 p.m. (ET)

Update - 10/27/08: This show has aired. You can download the MP3 from our archive. Let us know what you think!
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Maria Putzer

If it had not been for three high school girls in Kansas, we might never have known about the work of Irena Sendler, an unsung heroine of the Holocaust. A Polish Catholic social worker, she saved about 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. Today on Here on Earth, we'll talk with Sendler's translator Kinga Krzeminska and Megan Felt, a member of the 1999 class that started the Life in a Jar Project. Please call in (1-800-642-1234) from 3 to 4 pm CST to give us your thoughts or leave us a comment here!

Reception in the Sahara? Amazing.

Maria Putzer

I'm sitting in the call booth right now listening to the show and waiting for your calls. This guest is awesome and his trip sounds completely crazy - getting stuck in a mine field, being able to get cell phone reception in the Sahara, deflating tires in order to get through sand? Wow. Also, any story that begins with "So I'm going through the Sahara..." is automatically very cool.

It makes me want to go buy a beat up old car and go driving in the desert. I think that feeling will wear off by the time I get home.

Give us a call at 1-800-642-1234 - we want to hear your crazy road trip stories too!