This edition of the Nothing Is Real Radio Hour, hosted by Sam Sebren, features the groundbreaking composition “Crazy Nigger” by experimental composer Julius Eastman, as it was performed in it’s entirety at Northwestern University, January 16, 1980. The piece was written for 4 pianos, played by Julius Eastman, Frank Ferko, Janet Kattas, and Patricia Martin. Eastman (1940-1990), who was black and gay, gave his compositions controversial titles as a way of directly confronting issues of racism, homophobia, wealth inequality, and social justice within the classical music world itself, as well as in the world at large. Of his use of the n-word, in an excerpt from his introduction to the Northwestern concert, Eastman said, “What I mean by niggers(n-word) is, that thing which is fundamental, that person or thing that attains to a basicness or fundamentalness, and eschews that which is superficial, or could we say, elegant...There are many kinds of niggers (n-word).”

The Nothing Is Real Radio Hour, created by Sam Sebren broadcasts on WGXC 90.7-FM from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the fifth Friday (of months with 5 Fridays) and from 11am - 12pm on the fifth Saturday (of months with 5 Saturdays) as part of Wave Farm's Transmission Arts and Experimental Sound programming. The Nothing Is Real Radio Hour includes sound and transmission arts works by Sebren, and occasionally works by other artists, both pre-recorded and performed live in the studio.