THE HURTLING SPHERICAL MENAGERIE RADIO SHOW
You are invited to tune in to The Hurtling Spherical Menagerie Radio Show: a 3-part radio series with its first episode airing Thursday, November 30th at 6PM ET on WBMT 90.1 FM (The Wombat! Radio Station) https://soundcloud.com/daniel-stepp-384495128/hurtling-spherical-meagerie-radio-show-eniire-show
This show observes the anniversary and legacy of Ann Hodges and the fallout from the November 30, 1954 meteorite strike incident in Sylacauga, Alabama whereby Ann Hodges was struck by a meteorite. The radio show is written, produced, and hosted by artist and associate professor Sean Miller, (University of Florida) and artist, musician, and associate professor, Dan Stepp (Santa Fe College), Gainesville, Florida.
On November 30, 1954, 34-year-old Ann Elizabeth Fowler Hodges (Alabama, USA), was struck by a meteorite while sleeping. The meteorite crashed through the roof of her home in Sylacauga, Alabama, bounced off her Philco radio, and hit her on her hip. She survived with only a large bruise. It’s a fact that the Sylacauga meteorite strike was an out-of-this-world radio hit from day one. After Ann Hodges was struck with this cosmic radio ricochet, she became an overnight sensation and the focus of unwanted national and international attention as being the only recorded case of a human struck by a meteorite.
Dan Stepp and Sean Miller will be discussing the Ann Hodges incident and research into “the Hodges Effect”, a term coined by Sean Miller and Sean Taylor 2019 to describe symptoms and outcomes related to contact with extraterrestrial materials like space dust and meteorites. Dan and Sean will be spinning stories and space-related songs including music by Sun Ra, Man or Astro-man, boygenius, N.A.S.A., Parliament Funkadelic, and releasing the world premiere of The Ballad of Ann Hodges by the Hard Luck Society.
What is the Hodges Effect?
The Hodges Effect (Miller/Taylor 2019) is described as the physical changes and/or an existential crisis of being that may occur after a sudden collision between a Homo sapien subject and extra-terrestrial materials. The Hodges Effect is an emerging concept in the domain of Homo sapien encounters and responses to environmental change. - Sean Miller/Sean Taylor
The radio show is a part of The Hodges Effect: Forever Impacted! an exhibition opening in January 2023 at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama (a 3-hour drive south of Sylacauga, AL where Ann Hodges was struck). The radio program is also a part of a pop-up exhibition occurring at Signal Art Centre, Bray, Ireland 2023.
In addition, The Hurtling Spherical Menagerie Radio Show is part of a series of related projects, exhibitions, publications, lectures, art/sci panels, billboard campaigns, a letter-writing campaign, and petition to lobby the U.N. for an International Meteorite Awareness Day for Ann Hodges. The Hodges Effect was started in 2020 by collaborative team: designer Connie Hwang, and artists Sean Miller, and Sean Taylor. The 3-year project is supported by National Sculpture Factory of Ireland, Blackrock Castle Observatory, University of Alabama, University of Florida, Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Signal Art Center (Bray, Ireland), and the Wiregrass Museum of Art.
image credit: Connie Hwang and Sean Miller featuring actual Philco radio struck by the Sylacauga meteorite before it struck Ann Hodges. 2023.
