Today on Soundcheck: Dr. Oliver Sacks discusses why we hallucinate sounds, from voices to cell phone ringers to music -- even when we're completely sane.
Plus, we hear a live performance in the studio from the band RNDM -- the trio made up of singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, bassist Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, and drummer Richard Stuverud.
And, just in time for those endless holiday shopping lines, Evolver.fm founder Eliot Van Buskirk delivers some boredom-slaying musical apps.
Hallucinations is the title of Dr. Oliver Sacks' latest book, and in it he presents hundreds of case studies and stories about those who see, hear, feel and even smell things that aren't really there. We talk with Dr. Sacks about the phenomenon of aural hallucinations of phantom voices, music, and sounds -- which, he says, is much more common than most would think, and often isn't related to mental illness.
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament joins forces with Soundcheck regular Joseph Arthur and drummer Richard Stuverud to play songs from their new project, RNDM (pronounced “R-N-D-M”.) We hear how the group came together -- and why RNDM’s onstage attire includes orange ski masks.