‘This jar of marbles just beckoned to me.’ The center image, photos by Ben Michael, shows four views of a “Hybrid Caged-Cat’s Eye.” Find more of these close-up, back-lit beauties on Instagram at @bent-o-gram. The right-hand image is a contemporary model with dichroic glass. “There’s a lot going onl LIke if you were looking at a globe from outer space, with rainbow storms.”
Today, the marble – that little, swirly, colored round glass child’s toy you associate with, like, the ‘50s — as art. Ben Michael, who happens to be WESU’s general manager, and wears other hats, too, as you’ll hear, has lately become a marble aficionado – and more, a marble artist! And he’s far from alone but is part of a helpful, generous, mostly online, but also locally in person, community of marble-minded people. They always want to know: ‘What’s in your pocket?‘
Marbles. Who knew? My conversation with Ben — my first time in a long time in the actual studio! — overflowed the allotted hour. You can find the remainder at the “overflow audio” link above.
Also, check out Ben’s eclectic music show on WESU, “Keep It Movin'” He says, “Enough chatter! Put on another platter!” His choices often respond to events of the day. Find it on every 2nd and 4th Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 pm EST on WESU, 88.1 FM, and wesufm.org
One last thing before we get rolling, as it were: WESU is a community supported radio station that relies on the generosity of people like you, who won’t find programming like this anywhere else. It’s free form, folks! And it’s a labor of love by volunteers like me but it also costs money: money to keep the equipment going and the tiny staff paid. C’mon. You know it’s important. It’s not enough to love college radio. You’ve got to do what you can to keep it going. Please go to wesufm.org and do what you can. Thanks!
Open Studio 