Jay Allison has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators. The most-rated is This I Believe.
Animals and Other Stories
Summary
This radio series is a collection of short pieces reflecting on life, love, and death among the species. It contains monologues, montages, portraits, and dreams. Some are funny, some are strange, some enlightening, some sobering: "Hide and Seek": Animal trainer and behaviorist Ken Decroo tells the story of the first time he talked to a chimpanzee and the chimp talked back. An aural metaphor ends this piece. "Noah's Ark": A strange blend of Beethoven and speculation about the thoughts of cattle at the moment of death. (Caveat: contains some graphic description of the slaughtering process) "Snakes": A montage meditating on the worth, or worthlessness, of the legless reptile. Civilized and primitive man collide...In discussing the snake, the human is revealed. "Treeline": Vietnam veteran Jim McMullen tells of the time he shot a blackbird outside his hometown, and was compelled to destroy his weapons for good. "Michi Belle White and the Birds": A portrait of a California woman who takes in sick wild birds and fills her house with them. "Killer Whales": A brief sound essay on the derivation of this whale's name, its seductive behavior toward the producer's wife, and its penchant for making repulsive noises. "Subtext: Communicating with Horses": An animal psychologist searches for the source of one horse's ennui. The horse responds with a story of dislocation and lost youth. "Reflections of Fathers": a.k.a. "Bugs and Dads," this piece is about John May's insect museum, his love for his father, and the reflections of all fathers in all children. "Dog's Dreams": A meditation on the longtime relationship between man and dog. What are our dreams about each other...and our nightmares? "Cross my Path": Leo Grillo can't stand to see an animal suffer. So he's got about 300 stray dogs and cats, and if he can't find homes for them, he keeps them until they die of natural causes.
©2000 Jay Allison
The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski
Summary
In 1966, a young Marine took a reel-to-reel tape recorder with him into the Vietnam War. For two months, until he was killed in action, Michael Baronowski made tapes of his friends, of life in foxholes, of combat. And he sent those audio letters home to his family in Norristown, Pennsylvania. 34 years later, his comrade Tim Duffie brought those tapes to radio producer Jay Allison, as part of the Lost & Found Sound series. This radio story originally aired on NPR's All Things Considered. It was produced by Christina Egloff with Jay Allison.
©2001 Jay Allison, Atlantic Public Media
Lost and Found Sound and Beyond
Summary
The second volume of the Lost & Found Sound collection explores how recorded sound has shaped and captured the history of the last 100 years. Drawing from the archives and attics of the nation, this historic and intimate collection of radio documentaries presents a compelling array of sonic pioneers and legends, eccentric collectors, and original American voices. Highlights include, haunting audio letters from a soldier in the foxholes of Vietnam, the surprising tale of Liberace and the Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band, the voices and stories of Mohawk iron workers at the World Trade Center, and a 1977 home recording made by Francis Ford Coppola and his five-year old daughter Sofia. Funny, historic and deeply moving, this audio time capsule of American life begs to be listened to again and again.
©1999 NPR materials: © 1999-2004 National Public Radio, NPR and All Things Considered are registered service marks of National Public Radio Inc. Independent Producers materials: © 1999-2004 The Kitchen Sisters and Jay Allison. (P)2004 2004 The Kitchen Sisters and Jay Allison, and HighBridge Company.
The Life Stories Collection
Summary
These are public radio stories made in recent months and over many years by acclaimed producer Jay Allison - working together with friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers and whoever would take the loan of one of his tape recorders. They are stories about life as we find it, and record it. Including... Family: Women and Children First Concerning Breakfast My Daughter the Trapeze Artist Alone Like a Stone in the New World Family: Sons and Brothers Dad's Moving Out My Brother, Tom Jones Dad and Sam Descended from the Holocaust Jobs: Women at Work A Pastor's Journal After Labor Day Retiring the Robe Jobs: Teaching Educating Esme Friendship Baseball, Church, Kids Carolyn: A Portrait of Race in Boston Fire and Ice Cream The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Cpl. Michael Baronowski Memory Beginnings Jack Murdurian Sings Jungles of Memory Cypress Knees Ghosts
©2001 Jay Allison, Atlantic Public Media
This I Believe
Summary
Based on the NPR series of the same name, This I Believe features 80 Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the thought that begins with the audiobook's title. The pieces that make up the program will compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others. Featuring a star-studded list of contributors that includes John McCain, Isabel Allende, and Colin Powell (as well as pieces from the original 1950s series that included Helen Keller and Jackie Robinson), the collection also contains essays by a Brooklyn lawyer; a woman who sells yellow-pages advertising in Fort Worth, Texas; and a man who serves on Rhode Island's parole board. The result is a stirring, funny, and always provocative trip inside the minds and hearts of a diverse group of Americans whose beliefs, and the incredibly varied ways in which they choose to express them, reveal the American spirit at its best.
©2006 This I Believe Inc. (P)2006 This I Believe Inc., Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC