Tapestry

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March 5, 2009...

• Meet Alabama native Paul Jones -- one of the top 100 art collectors in the country...
• The poetry of Natasha Tretheway...
• The virtuoso duo Prophet Birds perform a world premiere composition...

Paul Jones grew up the son of an Alabama steelworker. But a childhood trip to a New York City museum made a profound impression on him. Jones decided to collect art himself, starting with a few prints he displayed in frames from K-Mart. Today, Jones is recognized as one of the top 100 collectors in the country. His 1,700 piece collection of African American art is one of the most extensive in the world. Jones donated the five-million dollar collection to the University of Alabama last Fall and the public gets its first look at it this week. WBHM's Tanya Ott talked with Jones about his art.

Paul Jones interview...

Mississippi native Natasha Tretheway is considered one of America's best poets. Her first collection - called Domestic Work - won multiple awards, and her next two collections also racked up the kudos. Her work is intensely personal - dealing with race and class and southern culture. Here's a sample

Tretheway's 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Native Guard tells her story of growing up biracial in the South. Her black mother and white father who weren't allowed to marry in their own state.

Poet Natasha Tretheway will read some of her poetry and sign books next Wednesday night at the Shelby campus of Jefferson State Community College. It's part of the 2009 Red Mountain Reading Series

The New Yorker magazine calls Australian musician Lisa Moore "New York's queen of avant-garde piano". Birmingham's Karen Bentley Pollick "lights the house on fire" according to The Birmingham News. Put the two together and you're bound to have something worth talking about. The internationally-acclaimed musicians team up for a world premiere of a new work Monday night in Birmingham. They talked with WBHM's Tanya Ott.

Pollick and Moore interview...

Violinist Karen Bentley Pollick and pianist Lisa Moore -- their concert, Prophet Birds, is Monday night at the Birmingham Southern College Hill Recital Hall.

Tapestry is produced by Tanya Ott and Michael Krall. Next week, percussionist Colin Currie talks about his performance with the Alabama Symphony as well as hearing the world a bit differently that the rest of us. I'm Greg Bass, and we'll see you next week.