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DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Music from Modest Mouse …
A question from a listener about television talk-show host JerrySpringer …
And a report about why the next place for travelers could be outof this world.
SpaceShipOne
How would you like to take a rocket ship into space? The flightthis week that won the ten million dollar Ansari X Prize couldlaunch new chances for space travel. Faith Lapidus explains — oh,and if you would like to buy a ticket, you might have to startsaving your money now.
FAITH LAPIDUS: On Monday, a rocketplane named SpaceShipOne entered the part of space just above theEarth’s atmosphere. It was released from an airplane over the MojaveDesert in California. Pilot Brian Binnie was at the controls. It wasthe second flight of SpaceShipOne in six days.
To win the ten million dollars, a spacecraft had to be builtwithout government help. It had to make two flights within twoweeks. And each time, it had to reach a height of one hundredkilometers. It also had to carry the pilot and enough weight toequal two passengers.
Burt Rutan designed SpaceShipOne. His company, Scaled Composites,built the rocket plane in an effort to win the X Prize.
Peter Diamandis is an official with the X Prize Foundation. Hesays the prize was an effort to do for space flight what earlyprizes did to build the airplane industry. The goal now is todevelop lower-cost space vehicles, like SpaceShipOne.
British businessman Richard Branson has an agreement with BurtRutan and Paul Allen, Mister Rutan’s business partner. MisterBranson will pay for the right to build rocket planes similar toSpaceShipOne. He will also start a new company to offer rides intospace. The company will be called Virgin Galactic.
Mister Branson wants Virgin Galactic to offer two-hour spacerides. The price of a ticket? It could be as much as one hundredninety thousand dollars.
Jerry Springer
DOUG JOHNSON: From New Zealand,our VOA listener question this week comes from a Chinese studentnamed Philip. He says he has seen “The Jerry Springer Show” ontelevision recently, thinks it is very funny and wants to know moreabout Jerry Springer.
On the show, people talk about their lives and their problems,but mostly their problems. Sometimes, the show surprises one of itsguests. For example, a person who has betrayed the guest may appear.Or a person whom the guest is keeping a secret from. The show isknown for times when people scream at each other or get intophysical fights.
Some critics have called “The Jerry Springer Show” the worst showon television. Even Jerry Springer says his show can be “reallysilly and stupid at times.” He also says he is sure some of theguests have made up their stories. But there is more to the story ofJerry Springer.
He was born in London in nineteen forty-four. His parents hadfled Germany just before World War Two. When he was five years old,his family moved to the United States. They settled in New YorkCity.
After college, he attended law school. He became politicallyactive for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.
He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and worked for a law firm. Innineteen seventy, he was a candidate for Congress. He lost thatelection. But later the people of Cincinnati elected him mayor ofthe city.
Jerry Springer also worked in Cincinnati as a news reporter andtelevision announcer. He won ten Emmy awards.
He started “The Jerry Springer Show” in nineteen ninety-one. As aresult of its success, he has hosted television shows in England andSouth Africa. An opera was produced in London about “The JerrySpringer Show.”
He has recorded country songs in Nashville and has appeared inmovies and on the Broadway stage. A few years ago, Jerry Springerwrote a book about his life. He compared his job as a talk show hostto that of the person who leads a circus. He named his book”Ringmaster!”
Modest Mouse
The band Modest Mouse is preparingfor a short series of concerts around the United States. The firststop is in Los Angeles on November sixth for the event called AllTomorrow’s Parties. Bob Doughty has our report.
BOB DOUGHTY: All Tomorrow’s Parties is a festival organized eachyear by a guest artist or band. It started in England in nineteenninety-nine and now has a second location, in Los Angeles.
So far, about twenty bands are set to perform at the two-dayevent in California. These include the hosts this year: ModestMouse. Here is their current hit, “Float On. “
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Singer and guitarist Isaac Brock, bassist Eric Judy and drummerJeremiah Green formed Modest Mouse in nineteen ninety-three. Thegroup started in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest.
The band recorded on independent labels. In nineteenninety-seven, Modest Mouse released “Lonesome Crowded West.” It gotmore radio play than earlier albums. One of the popular songs was”Convenient Parking.”
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In two thousand, Modest Mouse signed with Sony. We leave you nowwith the band performing “Ocean Breathes Salty.” It is from theirlatest album, “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.”
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DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICANMOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish. This program was written by Nancy Steinbach, Caty Weaverand Paul Thompson, who was also our producer. Our engineer was JimSleeman.