Show for Feb 19, 2012: The Post-Valentine’s Day Massacre
This episode originally aired on Feb. 15, 2009. Seeing as it was the morning after, I took a few swipes at love and romance with the help of some great guests and lots of music. This year, my broadcast slot fell on Feb 19, close enough to Valentine’s Day to revive the show. Segments include:
- Science writer Hannah Holmes on the biology of hooking up and dogging around
- Critic Laura Kipnis on monogamy and marriage as social engineering
- Writer Jonathan Ames on love and its disappointments*
- Writer and musician Glenn Kurtz on the death of dreams
- Edie and Simone on the real meaning of valentines
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
*At the time, Jonathan was developing his HBO comedy series, Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman as “Jonathan Ames.” The show debuted later that year and has become a hit, now going into its 4th season.
Show for Feb 5, 2012. Matthew Polly’s Big MMA Adventure
Matt Polly was 36 and overweight, his days as a student of Chinese kickboxing long past. On the precipice of middle age, he took one last shot at glory. He plunged into the bruising sport of mixed martial arts, trained with the pros and eventually tested his skills in an amateur bout, as detailed in his book Tapped Out: An Odyssey in Mixed Martial Arts. Matt and I had a very entertaining conversation about his experiences and about the world of MMA. Matt explains that contrary to its reputation for primal thuggery, MMA is a highly technical sport and even an art.
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
One subject Matt Polly and I discussed is how a good submission game can beat pure stand-up striking. Here’s my favorite illustration of that: the 400 lb Eric Esch (aka “Butterbean”) had respectable boxing and a string of knockouts against fellow heavyweights in professional four-round fights, but watch what happened when he took on the creative and fearless MMA fighter Genki Sudo, weighing in at a mere 150.
Show for Jan. 22, 2012. They Might Be Giants at 30
The last time I spoke to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, it was about the group’s science album for kids. This time we talked about the whole TMBG phenomenon: their beginnings and surprising success, aesthetic aims, being taken seriously while also having fun, and Sleestaks. TMBG turns 30 this year and is about to launch a national tour (1st stop, Santa Cruz) with some retrospective elements. Seemed like a good time to look back on their singular career.
TMBG’s two Johns: Linnell (L) and Flansburgh (R).
Click the Play arrow above to listen to the show, or you can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Dec. 18, 2011. Guy Deutscher: The Unfolding of Language (Rebroadcast)
Originally aired in Nov. 2010: Linguist Guy Deutscher on why language refuses to stand still, why the language “declinists” are wrong, and why resistance to linguistic change is futile. More info here.
Show for Sept. 18, 2011. Donny McCaslin: The Making of a Jazzman
Donny McCaslin grew up in Santa Cruz, where this program is based, and got his musical start here. Today he’s a widely-known, much-admired tenor sax player based in New York. Donny returned to our area recently to play at the 2011 Monterey Jazz Festival. We talked about his formative years (playing with his dad’s band on the streets of Santa Cruz) and rapid success (he joined Gary Burton’s quintet right out of college). Donny’s a very thoughtful and knowledgeable musician, and I took advantage of the occasion to ask some detailed questions about his work and development.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for August 21, 2011. High at Harvard (from Feb. 2010)
Summer rerun season continues. This time it’s my interview from 2010 with Don Lattin, author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club, as well as Harvard alum and club member Paul Lee. More here.
Show for August 14, 2011. Guitarist/Composer D.J. Sparr.
“Classically trained to rock your *#!@ socks off,” to quote Tenacious D. The very tenacious guitarist D.J. Sparr was in town to perform at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and he swung by our studio with instrument in hand. We talked about his many musical loves (country, rock, classical), his career from toddlerhood on, the folly of aesthetic snobbery and the moment he realized it’s OK to play a G major chord. We also listened to a selection of his wide-ranging performances and compositions, and he demonstrated some wicked picking and finger tapping.
D.J. Sparr as an up-and-coming country star back in the day, as orchestra front man now, and in our studio (with a sweet Taylor T5 hollowbody).
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for July 24, 2011. John Waters and Philip Glass.
I’m not sure what John Waters and Philip Glass have in common, other than their shared birthplace (Baltimore) and prolific output. Also the fact that they’re both appearing at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur in coming weeks, which gave me an opportunity to chat with them. I spoke with John about his life, career, role models and preoccupations, picking up on another interview I did with him a few years ago. Philip Glass discussed the new Days and Nights Festival he’s spearheading in Big Sur and Carmel Valley, featuring music, dance, theater and film.
John Waters is bringing his live one-man show to the Henry Miller Library on Aug. 13. Philip Glass will be there later this summer. On Aug. 31, he and HML’s Magnus Toren will be curating an evening of poetry and live music. On Sept. 1, the Philip Glass ensemble will play Philip’s original score for Todd Browning’s film Dracula (the one with Bela Lugosi), as the movie screens. More on the Henry Miller Library events here. More on the Days and Nights Festival here.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the show, or download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for July 10, 2011. All About Fado (Rebroadcast)
For today’s show, we re-aired our Nov. 2009 program about Portuguese Fado music. The original post is here. Please note: references in the show to Mariza’s “upcoming” performances are from 2009.
Show for May 22, 2011. Tamazight Music of North Africa
Fattah Abbou and Mohamed Aoualou grew up in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, eventually settling in California, where they formed the band Aza. They’re both versatile musicians conversant in a range of North African styles: notably their own Tamazight* (Berber) traditions, but also Gnawa and Arabic music. Fattah and Mohamed dropped by our studio to play some lovely tunes and talk about their music, Amazigh culture and their lives in Morocco and the U.S.
* Imazighen is the preferred term for what outsiders call “Berbers”; Timazight and Amazigh are adjectival forms (at least I think that’s right).
Mohamed Aoualou Fattah Abbou
Heads up: Mohamed, Fattah and Aza are performing at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA, Saturday, May 28. More info at the Aza website.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for May 8, 2011. Nora Bateson on the Philosopher Gregory Bateson; Actresses Rivera Sun Cook and Robin Aronson on Getting into Character
Part 1: The late philosopher, anthropologist and environmentalist Gregory Bateson wanted to change the way we think, attending less to things in themselves and more to the connections between them. I talked to his daughter Nora Bateson, whose new documentary An Ecology of Mind offers her perspective on her father’s work. The film screens Saturday, May 14 at the Santa Cruz Film Festival. More on Gregory Bateson at edge.org.
Part 2: I’ve long been curious how stories and characters enter the heads of authors and actors. A new trio of plays from Rivera Sun Cook gave me a chance to inquire further. Rivera plays all 30 roles—characters young, old, black, white, Asian and Latino. I spoke to her and Robin Aronson, the plays’ director and an actress herself. More on the performance and showtimes.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for May 1, 2011. Happy Trails: Filmmaker Roko Belic
Thirty years ago, human happiness seemed like a pretty unserious subject for scientific study. These days positive psychology, as happiness research is known, is de rigeur. Filmmaker Roko Belic (Genghis Blues) explores the science of contentment in his latest doc, Happy. Belic traveled to five continents, talking to researchers, comparing the state of satisfaction in various countries and finding some very jolly people. Does happiness depend on our material conditions? Just how much control do we have over our own sense of well-being? And whence the intellectual prejudice—which I confess I shared before this interview—that happiness as a topic lacks gravitas?
Catch a sneak preview of Happy at the Santa Cruz Film Festival on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7. Showtimes and more info here.
Visit the Santa Cruz Film Festival website.
Roko Belic in southern Africa, one of many locations he visited for the new film Happy.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Show for March 20, 2011. No Regrets: Biographer Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf
Carolyn Burke’s previous two biographies—of the poet Mina Loy and photographer Lee Miller—documented the lives of trailblazing and under-recognized women artists. Her third effort, just released, takes on a much better-known subject. No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf sheds new light on the singer and her songs, looking past the Piaf legend to sketch a fuller portrait of France’s indispensable chanteuse. It may be impossible to really say what makes a great artist great, but Carolyn and I do our best in this interview, while listening to some examples from the Piaf canon. Subjects include Piaf’s guttersnipe beginnings, the French penchant for misérabilisme, her wartime exploits, her physical decline and final, improbable comeback.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Here’s a video of Piaf singing La Foule (The Crowd), one of Carolyn’s favorites, and mine, too:
Show for Feb. 20, 2011. The Past Isn’t Even Past: Kinan and Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez, playwright and founder of El Teatro Campesino, and his son Kinan, also a writer, actor and theater director, discuss Luis’s play Mummified Deer. The play is currently being directed by Kinan for the Theater Arts Department at U.C. Santa Cruz. It’s a story of family secrets, the return of the repressed—including a bloody and little-known chapter of Mexican history—and the complexities of identity. Luis and Kinan also talk about their own family history, their lives in the theater and Luis’s aesthetic of rascuachismo (listen to the interview for the translation).
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
More on Mummified Deer performances at UC Santa Cruz.
Visit El Teatro Campesino’s website.
Bonus info: during the interview, Kinan Valdez mentioned the influence of the carpa tradition. Read about it here.
