Every so often, I am reminded of just how limited in scope a sound bitten NPR interview –even a live one— can actually be.

When my friend Jason “Sage” Sagebiel, a classical guitar instructor and scholar who I met in Grad School, was interviewed by John Schaefer on NPR’s Soundcheck as a “Former Marine Sniper.”

Okay, so to Schaefer’s credit, those more current and topically relevant titles were provided later on in the interview. At the same time, it sucks that Schaefer was as eager to parse Sage into soundbytes as he was. Was like Sage had been targeted to serve this pre-fab, binary, paradigm that Schae. was pushing for, sans Sage, all along.

Granted, I still consider NPR my primary broadcast news source these days. Perhaps one day when I decide to, once again, own a television set, that will change. However, until that day comes, NPR is it for me and I want to continue to trust them.

Each and every one of the conversations I’ve had with Sage (and we’re talking conversations run an average of at least three hours in length) have provided compassionate, circumspect and provocative insights into complexities that very few people will ever experience as directly as Sage has experienced them.

To hear for yourself what I’m complaining about, you can check out the podcast. You can also check out Jason’s website. http://www.sagebiel-music.com

Here is the link to the podcast “Soldier’s Songs.”

In addition to composing and holding a faculty teaching position at Queens College, C.U.N.Y., Sage is writing a book about his experiences in Iraq.