Improvised and vanguard music from the outside extremes of jazz and beyond, with field recordings and in-studio performances by Northwest creative musicians. Your hosts: Chris DeLaurenti and Jonathan Lawson.

your host: Jonathan Lawson Playlists archived programs (not current!) Scribbles writings of interest to fd listeners Segueways eardrum-tickling resources

flotation device. n. 1. life preserver. designed to keep one safe after taking an unexpected plunge. In an emergency, your seat cushion will assist with flotation; so will lengths of PVC pipe, garden hose, pizza boxes, squeaky doors, the wind, cheap toys, traffic signs, long strings, broken musical instruments, pieces of dried kelp, office supplies and the State of Washington. Instructions for use: Eyes closed, slide device down to cover both ears and hug tightly to chest. 2. (esp. high altitude ballooning) fragile payload suspended, by fine high-tenacity cords, from a gas-filled envelope of nearly impossible lightness. Rising, rising through thinner and subtler atmospheres. At high altitudes, rational cognition becomes difficult; impressionistic memories and imagination expand and subdue normal consciousness. Explorers generally require a long period of acclimatization in order to breathe normally at high altitude. One's blood generates additional red cells in order to capture the scarce molecules of oxygen. Athletes often train in mountainous areas for this increased capacity, though as one descends again, this high red cell count gradually returns to normal. 3. Bright Moment. "Beware of that which is breathtakingly beautiful, for at any moment the telephone may ring or the airplane come down in a vacant lot. A piece of string or a sunset, possessing neither, each acts and the continuity happens... Each moment is absolute, alive and significant. Blackbirds rise from a field making a sound delicious beyond compare." --John Cage