In Michael Zadoorian's book Beautiful Music, published by Akashic Books, fourteen-year-old Danny Yzemski has to navigate his freshman year in high school, while growing up in the turbulent 70s in Detroit, seven years after the riots have threatened the city.
He finds solace in the beautiful music he listens to with his father and a sense of identity with his friend John, as they listen to MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, "Rikky Don't Lose That Number," and Screamin' Jay Hawkins in the basement.
But Danny is caught in a two-world pitfall. He has to negotiate his freshman year in high school filled with an ever-brewing racial tension that threatens to explode and his family life with the ghost of his father and his tuned-out mother. Zadoorian's book suggests beautiful music can, indeed, save us from ourselves and help us become who we want to be.
Zadoorian writes:
"It's all pure possibility. The amplified click of the needle as it's lowered onto a record you're hearing for the first time. The little sizzle as the needle finds its way into the groove. Time stops just then."
Michael Zadoorian is the critically praised author of The Leisure Seeker—basis for the Sony Pictures Classics film starring Helen Mirren. His other books are Second Hand, Beautiful Music, The Narcissism of Small Differences, The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit: Stories and Beat Girl, a biographical novel about Edie Parker Kerouac to be published in 2027.
Zadoorian is a recipient of the Michigan Author Award from the Library of Michigan, a Kresge Artist Fellowship in the Literary Arts, the Columbia University Anahid Literary Award, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, the GLIBA Great Lakes Great Reads Award, and two Michigan Notable Book Awards.
His fiction and essays have appeared in The Literary Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, American Short Fiction, Witness, Great Lakes Review, North American Review, Literary Hub, The Millions, Rust Belt Magazine, Huffington Post and others. His work has been translated into over twenty-five languages worldwide.
Thank you to Monsterboy LIVES for sharing their music with this episode.
Monsterboy LIVES is a real-time love story set to indie rock - a husband-and-wife duo from Little Rock, AR. A 1923 5-ft-tall bass saxophone collides with world percussion, vintage guitars, soulful vocals, cinematic electronics, and whatever odd instruments they mix in. Their music blends familiar voices across genres, generations, and cultures into bold, fresh explorations.
Their music can be heard on Peacock's House of Villains, additional episodes of Arts & Letters including "A Whole Slew of Monsters," and PBS Nova's "Building Stuff: Change It!" They grace the stages of festivals and events like Flux Family Music Festival, Museum of Discovery Prom, and Launch! Music Conference.
A special thank you to Chris Long, who produced, edited, and mix/mastered this episode.
Chris Long is a Little Rock–based composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for blending modern production with heartfelt vocals, vintage guitars, and unconventional instruments. His work is defined by rich, distinctive textures and is often crafted from sounds sourced from the world around him.
Signed to APM’s Kinetik label, his music has been featured on stages, streaming platforms, podcasts, and television. He is currently working on his next full-length album with his wife, V, as part of the indie rock duo Monsterboy LIVES.
Generous funding for Arts & Letters Radio is provided by Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and from listeners like you.
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Executive Producer and Host: J. Bradley Minnick
Senior Producer: Mary Ellen Kubit
Episode Producer: Chris Long
Mix/Master: Chris Long
Music by: Monsterboy LIVES
