David Garland grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and graduated with honors from Rhode Island School of Design in 1976. From there he came straight to New York City, working as an illustrator and graphic designer to support his activities as a composer, pianist, singer, guitarist, flutist, and drummer.
In 1983 Garland began presenting unusual music on the radio, first as a volunteer at WKCR, Columbia University's station, and from 1987 professionally at WNYC. For Garland, radio has always been a medium for musical adventure and discovery. His early experience listening to the pop hits of the mid-1960s led him to the psychedelia of the late-60s and then to experimental jazz and classical music. Most of all, Garland believes in radio's unique power to bring listeners and music together in ways that illuminate, communicate, and entertain.
Now in its 22nd year, Garland's Spinning On Air on WNYC (Sundays, 8 pm to 9 pm) is a great place to hear insightful interviews and studio performances by cutting-edge innovators of song. He comes to WQXR after hosting Evening Music on WNYC from 1990 to 2009. Over the years Garland's on-air guests have spanned the gamut from John Cage and John Zorn to Loren Maazel and Vladimir Ashkenazy to Devendra Banhart and Sufjan Stevens. Garland specializes in making unusual musical connections among diverse pieces, entertaining the listener with his insight and wry humor. At WNYC he has hosted many live concert broadcasts and served as interim Music Director as well as programming, producing, and editing his shows.
On Saturday nights on WQXR, Garland presents new and old film scores, sharing his delights in movie music and his encyclopedic knowledge of the field. His occasional writings about music include extensive liner notes for Rhino Records' Brain in a Box: The Science Fiction Collection.
Garland is active as a composer and performer, and was called "a superb, crazily imaginative songwriter" by critic Kyle Gann in The Village Voice. And according to critic David Greenberger of Harp Magazine, Garland's eighth album, Noise In You (2007), "strikes a perfect balance between folkish timelessness, Tin Pan Alley pop smarts and fearless invention." To learn more about Garland's music and his WQXR and WNYC radio shows, visit his website at www.davidgarland.com.
Shows:
David Garland appears in the following:
Friday, August 06, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
Although I work in the non-visual medium of radio, by training I'm a visual artist. I graduated from art school, and worked for ten years as a graphic designer and illustrator before moving to radio via my lifelong love of music. I think that radio actually is a visual medium, it's just that the associated images are conjured in the imagination of the listener, rather than on paper or on canvas.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
Last week's Movies on the Radio featured music from the TV show "Star Trek," and was illustrated with a photo of actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as their iconic Star Trek characters Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. It's been corrected since, but at first our caption for the photo identified them as "Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock."
Friday, June 11, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
This week at a dinner party I met Pam, who left the get-together early. I'm a night owl myself (on the air weekend evenings, after all), but Pam told us that she regularly gets up at 4 am each day. She feels that rising early lets her "own the day," and gives her invaluable time to think and get things done.
Friday, June 04, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
Computers both isolate and connect us. Here's a strange, spooky, but pretty-sounding example of this contemporary condition.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
David Garland welcomes baroque orchestra Juilliard415 to the WQXR Studio and speaks with Music Director Monica Huggett about Juilliard's new Historical Performance program, from which Juilliard415 draws its musicians.
Friday, May 21, 2010
By
David Garland: Host
This Sunday at 4:05 pm, you'll hear the baroque orchestra Juilliard415 join me in the WQXR Studio to perform and chat. Juilliard415 features graduate-level students from The Juilliard School's new Historical Performance program. So these are young people performing on very old-style instruments.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Music connects us to composers' ideas and musicians' talent; to emotions and shared experiences; to the secular and the sacred; to other cultures, and to each other. Monday through Friday, May 3-7, from 12-4, a.m. and p.m., I’ll connect you to music that might enlarge your world.
Friday, May 07, 2010
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David Garland: Host
Mother’s Day is Sunday, and WQXR listeners have already eloquently told us about their mothers' musical influence.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Like a journey, music happens in time. Music takes us places. It describes places. Music is a place. Monday through Friday, May 3-7, from 12-4, a.m. and p.m., I’ll be your tour guide on Q2, offering you some musical journeys.
Friday, April 23, 2010
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David Garland: Host
I'm going to the theater more often than I used to.
Friday, April 16, 2010
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David Garland: Host
This Saturday, April 17, Hungarian-born singer Marta Eggerth will celebrate her 98th birthday. Knowing Marta, as I’m fortunate to, she will surely have a lively celebration with humor and music.
Friday, December 11, 2009
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David Garland: Host
I love the way radio brings music directly to the listener. Gigantic symphonies can become an intimate experience; a full opera is staged in the imagination of each listener; great performers play for you as you sit comfortably at home or in your car. It's a beautiful way to experience music, but it's not a substitute for attending a live performance. The experience of the living, breathing moment music is made, in the presence of the musicians and other listeners, adds another dimension altogether.
Friday, November 13, 2009
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David Garland: Host
In the comments on last week's blog, listener Michael wrote of the "brilliantly talented artists" who worked in advertising in the mid-20th Century. He's right, they certainly were brilliant.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
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David Garland: Host
The television series Mad Men concludes its current season this Sunday night at 10 pm. I've been following it closely for its intricate, provocative story, intriguing characters, great acting, and period detail. I feel that Mad Men, set in the New York advertising world of the early 1960s, is the TV equivalent of those "meeting points of Art and Pop" I like to present on Spinning On Air.
Friday, October 23, 2009
By
David Garland: Host
I was moved when reading the many passionate comments on my previous blog post. I'm keen to know what you have to say, so please express yourself, and keep the comments coming.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
By
David Garland: Host
Who needs radio? Online, you can pursue your enthusiasms to their deepest nooks and crannies, but with radio, you have no control over content. In this age of digital dissemination, when everything is available all the time, when you can use your computer to seek and find practically any recording you can think of, why would you listen to the radio?