Sandy Asirvatham joins the program to share music from her new album, Memoir. (Photo courtesy of www.sandysmemoir.com)

***THE SIGNAL AIRS FRIDAYS AT NOON & SEVEN P.M. 88.1 WYPR***

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• We talk with Davy and Peter Rothbart about the latest issue of Found, the magazine that collects lost and discarded letters, notes, photographs and drawings submitted by fans. The latest issue, Found #5, is all abut crime.
• We meet Sandy Asirvatham - she was a frustrated novelist who often avoided her writing assignments by tinkering around on her piano. It turns out Sandy’s diversion became a passion in its own right, and she joins us to share music from her new album Memoir.
• And this week, in front of a live audience, amateur-boxer-turned-pro Mike ‘The Persecutor’ Paschal told the tale of his first time in the ring. We hear Paschall’s story about fear, triumph… and how to take a lump! (Mike told his tale as part of the ongoing Baltimore storytelling series, The Stoop)

The event of the weekend is of course the Baltimore Book festival, that annual occasion when several downtown blocks of Charles Street are closed to traffic and turned into a giant outdoor book bazaar. There’ll be dozens of local, national, and international authors reading from their works, stacks of new and used books for sale, and plenty of live music and refreshments, too. The Baltimore Book Festival Runs this evening (09.28.07) through Sunday (09.30.07) at Mount Vernon Place, and you can find a complete listing of all the weekend’s activities online at www.baltimorebookfestival.com

It’s also the time of year for neighborhood festivals and block parties, and tomorrow (Saturday, 09.29.07) if you’re traveling up Harford Road, you’ll find yourself in the midst of the annual Greater Lauraville Fair. There’s a parade at 11:30 a.m., to be followed by music and activities in Herring Run Park until 6 o’clock in the evening, including performances by The Bobwhites, Shamrock Rooster, and the Black Cherry Puppet Theater.

And if your taste in entertainment is a little more rough-and-tumble, you might want to make your way out to the Pikesville Armory tomorrow night (Saturday, 09.29.07) for a local amateur boxing card. The evening’s bouts feature Steve Wheeler and Brad Scott, Jeremy Miller and Seth Mitchell, and Joe Delawder of Baltimore versus Leroy Poole of Ocean City. The Pikesville Armory is at 610 Reisterstown Road, and the doors open at 7 p.m.