Lives In Music from the Franklin Theater will be a dynamic, entertaining show about every conceivable aspect of music, culminating in an in-depth interview with a major musical figure. Each two-hour live event will be edited to a one-hour fast-paced radio show for national distribution. Host Craig Havighurst, a veteran music journalist and broadcaster, brings a spirit of inquisitive enthusiasm to the wonders and curiosities of music, many of which are well known to insiders and practitioners but largely invisible to the public.
Every show will be built and billed around a 50-minute interview with a featured guest, booked for their drawing power and their prospects for an insightful conversation. The classic questions about career and work will be addressed, but Craig brings a special emphasis on the inside game of the musical life, including craft, creativity, mentorship, emotional connections, collaboration, study, disappointment, success and working within the rules of a business. With careful use of context, the goal will be to delight the aficionado while fascinating the novice.
The first half of each show will feature an ever-changing range of guests, demonstrations and scripted bits that will illuminate themes, phenomena, history and theory in music. Items will include demonstrations with experts, interviews with authors, TED-style talks by guests, short performances, staged radio mini-dramas and so forth. Many will be tied thematically to the career of the featured guest.
Why Lives In Music? For decades, music interviews and music journalism have been skewed to the priorities of the popular music business: building star careers and selling more recordings. As interesting as those are, the myopic focus on hit songs and singers has crowded out music’s most important aspects.
Host Craig Havighurst aims to restore balance to our national musical dialogue through inspiring conversations, encounters and experiences with brilliant music makers and supporters from all genres, walks of life and degrees of fame. Craig’s philosophy is that music is a life force and a human pursuit. So no aspect of music and musical life will be off the table, including art, commerce, technology, science, health, community, invention, acoustics, recording, practicing and the elements of music theory. Special attention will be paid to amateur musicianship and the complexities of actually participating in music, beyond consuming it.
All this, mingled in with the uniquely intelligent interviews, will be what will earn Lives In Music attention and loyalty. There is no show remotely like this. There is a huge void to fill and there is demand for a show that elevates all aspects of music and breaks the mold of the music interview as we know it.