May 27, 2002 The Kitchen Sisters share their audio magic at UCSC By Jennifer McNulty Public radio fans were treated to an intimate gathering with two of the best radio producers working today when the Kitchen Sisters, also known as Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, returned to UC Santa Cruz on May 22. Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson's appearance was the first event in a new social documentation speaker series sponsored by the Community Studies Department. Photo: Jennifer McNulty About 75 people were held spellbound by Nelson and Silva, both UCSC alumnae, who told stories and played snippets from their Peabody Award-winning Lost & Found Sound, which has captured the sounds of life in this country during the last century. The session, "Talking Stories with the Kitchen Sisters," was the inaugural event in a new social documentation speaker series sponsored by the Community Studies Department. Best known for Lost & Found Sound, which aired regularly on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program, Nelson and Silva are currently engrossed in an audio tribute to the World Trade Center and the surrounding neighborhood called The Sonic Memorial Project. With microphones and audio recorders in hand, Nelson and Silva are gathering interviews, preserving voicemail messages, and capturing the goosebump-raising "audio artifacts" that tell the story of the World Trade Center. Segments are airing monthly on NPR through the one-year anniversary of the September 11 tragedy. The project, like Lost & Found Sound, relies on ideas and contributions from hundreds of contributors, like the woman who phoned in to describe the sound of the revolving doors of the World Trade Center's twin towers. "It always struck me the way they beat, like a heartbeat--thump thump, thump thump," she said. And the sounds of voices, clinking plates, and silverware that a jogger recalled rising up from the center's outdoor restaurants. And one anonymous caller who asked that they please include the sounds of Spanish-language radio stations that echoed through the buildings each night as largely immigrant crews of janitors cleaned the buildings before the next day's business. Nelson and Silva have a recording of the voice that accompanied visitors as they rode the elevator to the top of the tower's observation deck. They have the sounds of a 1988 New Year's Eve party in a tower ballroom, and they have the pianist playing in the Windows on the World restaurant. And they have the story of a man who saw the sun set twice in one day. First, he watched the sun set from a lower floor of one of the towers, then zoomed up the elevator to a top floor, where he watched it set again. With tears in her eyes, Nelson described the personal challenge of coping with her own thoughts and feelings as she tries to capture the humanity, the scope of loss, and the evocative minutia of people's lives. "It comes down to the question of how to tell all these stories we all try to tell," said Nelson, wiping away tears. Although each project requires the help of many, many people, it is Nelson and Silva who have transformed the art of social documentation by sharing their passion for audio history with their audience. Their 20-year collaboration dates back to their post-UCSC days in Santa Cruz in the 1970s when the two cohosted a show on KUSP Radio (they took their name from 1940s Santa Cruz masons Kenneth and Robert Kitchen, builders of the eccentric mansions on Fair Avenue). "I feel like our work is as oral historians--just with better tape and microphones than they would've had," said Nelson. "We're like sonic detectives." The Kitchen Sisters have developed a trademark style that rarely uses narration, relying instead on sound to move the story along. It is a uniquely artistic style that resonates with listeners--"and besides, neither of us really likes to listen to ourselves on tape," quipped Silva. The process of preparing a program involves editing hours and hours of tape down to a few compelling minutes. "We edit so much, it's unbelievable," said Silva. "It's like making espresso. We try to distill the essence of someone and give you the experience we had that took four hours in 40 seconds." They find their work satisfying on many levels, one of which is the way it allows them to see the connections and differences among people. "With Lost & Found Sound, we've tapped labor history, illegitimacy, families, women's history, and it all gets to fall under the tent," said Nelson. "We're always looking for what people have in common and what's so radically different." Responding to a question, the Kitchen Sisters revealed a surprise about their own working style. "We disagree constantly," said Nelson. "We fight all the time. In order to create, you have to be so vulnerable. And we have this covenant that nothing is going to go out if we don't both love it and approve it. Yet it's hard to get there." "In the final hour, though, I'll invariably fight to keep in the piece Davia loves, and Davia will fight to keep in the piece I love," said Silva. And in the end, the listeners are the real winners. Return to Front Page