美国国家公共电台 NPR Remembering Robert Goldstein, NPR's Music Librarian And Our Friend

Remembering Robert Goldstein, NPR's Music Librarian And Our Friend

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:57repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

We're going to take some time now to remember one of our dearest colleagues. Robert Goldstein was NPR's music librarian for 20 years. He went on to become a manager in our research and archives division. He was also an accomplished² guitarist who shared his love of music with our audience in stories that he wrote for broadcast and online. We lost Robert late last night after a prolonged battle with cancer. He died at home in Washington, D.C.. He was 66 years of age. Two of his colleagues are here to remember him, Bob Boilen, the co-host of All Songs Considered, and arts editor Tom Cole.

TOM COLE, BYLINE³: If there was ever anyone who could be said to have the soul of a musician, it was Robert. He lived and breathed it and talked about it all the time. He was always emailing links preceded by the phrase check this out.

BOB BOILEN, BYLINE: Music got us both our jobs here at NPR. As director of All Things Considered, part of mine was to pick the music in between news stories, and Robert was my go-to guy. But he was more than that. He envisioned a new music database for NPR based on his deep knowledge of how music was used here. And without a roadmap, from scratch, he was instrumental in getting it built. It became an even more sophisticated archive database.

COLE: Robert's enthusiasm for music was such that he knew 2011 marked the 60th anniversary of the Fender Telecaster. And he wanted to share that knowledge with the world on the radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ROBERT GOLDSTEIN, BYLINE: The Telecaster has been in continuous production since February 1951. For those who worship in the church of guitar, it holds sacred status as the eldest⁴ of the electric guitars Holy Trinity - Stratocaster, Les Paul and Telecaster.

BOILEN: Robert was a huge Keith Richards fan. So when the Rolling Stones guitarist's 65th birthday rolled around, Robert was ready to celebrate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COLE: In today's music business, a field of endeavor where creativity can be measured in fruit fly lifespans and where a lengthy⁵ career compares unfavorably to that of the average NFL player, Keith Richards is a titan, the surprisingly still-living embodiment of everything we think of, everything that has come to mean to be a rock musician.

BOILEN: And Robert was one.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE ONLY ONE OF YOU")

URBAN VERBS: (Singing) The only one of you. I thank God for you.

BOILEN: That's one of D.C.'s premier⁶ bands of the late 1970s and early '80s, Urban Verbs, and that's Robert playing guitar. But he was more than the band's guitarist and composer. Just like at NPR, he was the unassuming behind-the-scenes guy who got things done. If it wasn't for Robert's efforts to organize the first rock show at a downtown restaurant, there would never have been what that space became, the famed 9:30 Club.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BOILEN: That's a demo that Brian Eno produced for Urban Verbs. He'd heard the band at CBGB and wrote the young musicians a long, enthusiastic letter offering to work with them. Urban Verbs made two albums but never quite caught on.

COLE: But Robert never gave up on his dream. After the band broke up, he composed and recorded more than 30 scores for films, TV and theater. In 1985, the Phillips Collection asked him to compose a soundscape to accompany the museum's collection of early 20th century art. It was before he started working here, but it was a big enough deal that NPR interviewed him about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

GOLDSTEIN: One of the things that I enjoy doing is trying to use the guitar in such a way that it doesn't really sound like a guitar. And this piece in particular, a lot of the sounds I've gotten from the guitar are more reminiscent of bowed strings⁷ of violas or violins and some other things are perhaps more flute-like.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BOILEN: Robert Goldstein never stopped playing music. He organized a concert that included a reunited Urban Verbs, even as he was battling cancer. And he never stopped envisioning ways to make NPR's archives a better resource for his colleagues. But perhaps his finest moment on the radio was his essay about being in the audience at Woodstock.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

GOLDSTEIN: My own most indelible Woodstock memory is what current parlance⁸ terms a teachable moment. I call it the parable⁹ of the hot dogs.

BOILEN: Robert was tasked with finding food for his starving circle of friends right in front of center stage. It took him three hours of trudging¹⁰ through the mud, standing¹¹ in line and trudging back without taking a single bite for himself, only to see all of the dogs disappear into a mass of grabbing hands.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

GOLDSTEIN: So my oft-recounted amusing if cautionary Woodstock fable¹² imparts this lesson, that familiar message we all know from air travel - always put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others. The official Woodstock message, the festival slogan, was three days of peace and music. That still sounds pretty cool, though to this day I try to avoid huge crowds and hot dogs.

(SOUNDBITE OF JIMI HENDRIX SONG, "VOODOO CHILD")

BOILEN: Rest in Peace Robert.

COLE: And save us a hamburger. I'm Tom Cole.

BOILEN: And I'm Bob Boilen.

(SOUNDBITE OF JIMI HENDRIX SONG, "VOODOO CHILD")

SIMON: Thanks, Robert. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

5 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

6 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

7 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

8 parlance   

n.说法；语调

参考例句：

• The term "meta directory" came into industry parlance two years ago.两年前，商业界开始用“元目录”这个术语。
• The phrase is common diplomatic parlance for spying.这种说法是指代间谍行为的常用外交辞令。

9 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

10 trudging   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• There was a stream of refugees trudging up the valley towards the border. 一队难民步履艰难地爬上山谷向着边境走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two mules well laden with packs were trudging along. 两头骡子驮着沉重的背包，吃力地往前走。 来自辞典例句

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。