A Toast to The Arts

Today we're rethinking everything we thought we knew about Mary Cassatt. On this episode of Big Blend Radio's "World of Art" Podcast, host Victoria Chick and Lisa D. Smith welcome Mary G. Morton, curator and head of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art, to talk about her new book, "Cassatt Reconsidered," out this November from Getty Publications.

2026 marks the centennial of Mary Cassatt's death (born May 22, 1844, died June 14, 1926), and Mary Morton makes the case for an artist who was bold, modern, and uncompromising. Cassatt's images of mothers and children are an extraordinary part of her work, but they're only part of the story. Mary explains how a narrow label took hold and what the fuller picture looks like.

In this conversation:

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Screenwriter-turned-mystery-novelist Jule Selbo joins hosts Matt Cost and BJ Magnani on this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Pets, Plots & Poisons" Podcast to talk about her award-winning Dee Rommel mystery series — a countdown series that just landed its fifth book, "Six Days."

Learn more:

Debut author Jane Brookwood joins Big Blend Radio's "Books & Authors" series with Books Forward to talk about her new tarot-themed cozy mystery, "The Hanged Man," out September 15, 2026.

Jane shares how she built the fictional town of Pineridge Hollow, the real cat named Rosie who inspired Fiona's feline familiar, and how her own tarot practice — including a recurring relationship with the Devil card — shaped the book's themes. 

The conversation covers tarot symbolism, synchronicity, the archetypes behind her characters, and what's next for the Raven-verse.

The Hanged Man is available for pre-order now. Learn more about Jane Brookwood: https://ravenversebooks.com/ 

Listen to more Big Blend Radio Books & Authors episodes: https://bigblendmediahouse.com/ 

Learn more about Books Forward: https://booksforward.com/ 

Celebrate Classical Music Month with this edition of Big Blend Radio's American Jukebox! Every first Sunday, award-winning singer-songwriter Johnny Schaefer joins Lisa D. Smith to explore the music, artists, and stories that celebrate America's rich musical heritage as part of the nationwide America 250 celebration.

This month's playlist turns to classical and orchestral music, tracing its deep and often invisible influence on American film, culture, and songwriting. Johnny and Lisa discuss composers including Florence Price, Michael Kamen, Morten Lauridsen, Bobby McFerrin, Philip Glass, Gustav Holst, and Mason Williams, weaving in personal connections to choral music, opera, and the marching bands that shaped their own musical lives.

🎵 Hear the music! The complete American Jukebox experience—including all seven featured pieces—is available on Mixcloud and you can hear it here: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/american-jukebox-classical-music 

🎧 Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2pXIFSYr13TaCkpXhEsyUg?si=219ff3b46cb44f03 

🎻 Related Episodes:

🎵 Johnny Schaefer: https://hearjohnny.com/ 

New episodes air every first Sunday as Johnny and Lisa continue celebrating the songs, artists, and stories that define America's musical legacy through the America 250 celebration leading up to July 4, 2027. Explore all episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/american-jukebox 

Award-winning journalist and author Michael J. Seidlinger joins Big Blend Radio's "Toast to The Arts" Podcast to talk about his satirical horror novella, "Brokeula." It's a story of James Sugre, a vampire who's been broke for centuries and finally cracks under the weight of it, launching a multi-level marketing scheme to turn humans into vampires for a fee. 

Michael talks about flipping the classic vampire trope of old money and aristocracy into a story about financial strain, greed, and late-stage capitalism, and how the idea came together during a joking conversation with his brother-in-law and nephew about immortality and being broke. 

The conversation also digs into AI hype and marketing, the psychology of MLMs and scams, Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," and why horror is such a good vehicle for social commentary.

"Brokeula" (CLASH Books) is out now. Learn more at https://michaeljseidlinger.com/ 

Read our Big Blend Radio Review o "Brokeula": https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/author-michael-j-seidlinger-brokeula

Sasha Waters, director and producer of the new American Masters documentary "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World," joins Big Blend Radio to talk about bringing the life of one of America's most beloved and most private poets to the screen.

Mary Oliver was a bestselling poet and Pulitzer Prize winner whose work — including "Wild Geese" and "The Journey" — has reached readers far beyond the usual poetry audience. Waters discusses how Oliver's decades in Provincetown, Massachusetts shaped her writing, the restorative power of nature and dogs in Oliver's life, and her four-decade love story with photographer Molly Malone Cook. 

The conversation also explores how the film balances intimacy with the privacy Oliver so fiercely protected, the process of bringing in voices like John Waters, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter, and Stephen Colbert to read her work, and why Oliver's message about paying attention to the natural world feels more urgent than ever.

This episode also lands right in the middle of American Artists Appreciation Month — a fitting time to celebrate a filmmaker telling the story of one of America's great literary artists.

The film premiered as the opening selection at True/False Film Festival this year, and has since screened at the Berkshire International Film Festival and Provincetown Film Festival. It's out now in theaters — including IFC Center in New York and Laemmle theaters in LA — and expanding nationwide, with a digital and home video release coming August 25th. "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World" also premieres nationwide on PBS Tuesday, August 25 as part of American Masters.

🎬 Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/B7bfYkgotBM  

Lance Laber, Executive Director of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, joins Big Blend Radio's "Tales of Southwest Artist Ted DeGrazia" Podcast to preview two new fall exhibits opening Friday, September 4th at 5pm: "The Midnight Sketches of Ted DeGrazia" and "Saint Francis of Assisi." Both exhibits run alongside the current "Ted DeGrazia's Painted Ponies" exhibit through January 27, 2027.

The Midnight Sketches, created between midnight and 5am on prepaid U.S. Mail postcards and envelopes from 1955 through the mid-1970s, offer a rare look into DeGrazia's late-night creative process. The Saint Francis of Assisi exhibit spans nearly three decades of DeGrazia's work in drawings, prints, sculptures, and paintings.

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is a 10-acre National Historic Landmark featuring over 15,000 original works of art, including paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and more. Learn more: http://www.degrazia.org  

🎙️ New episodes air every 4th Sunday. Follow the podcast: https://ted-degrazia.podbean.com  

It's National Park Week! Every fourth Sunday, Joey Stuckey joins Lisa Smith on Big Blend Radio's Music Talks — and this time they're diving into the music inspired by America's national parks and public lands. Recorded right at the start of National Park Week (August 22–30, 2026), the conversation marks the National Park Service's 110th birthday and the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Joey and Lisa dig into seven songs, starting with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and moving through Doreen Taylor, John Denver, longtime Big Blend guest Wally Lawder, Joey's own "Oceanside," Ed Tree's "Chaco," and closing with Yusuf/Cat Stevens. 

Along the way they talk studio gear, accessibility in the parks, bald eagles and the Endangered Species Act, the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and Hawaii memories — but they also get real about what's currently threatening these places: renewed oil, gas, and mineral leasing pressure around Chaco Canyon, a mining threat facing one of the largest bald eagle gatherings in the world near Haines, Alaska, and the border wall construction fight at Big Bend National Park.

📖 Read the full episode write-up with action links, songs, and more: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/music-for-our-parks-joey-stuckey 

🎵 Listen to the full "Music for our Parks" playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6td2w1P7IEUuyVSYsjEvyz 

🌐 Visit Joey Stuckey's website: https://joeystuckey.com/ 

🎙️ Joey Stuckey joins Big Blend Radio every fourth Sunday for Music Talks. Listen to more episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/joey-stuckey 

Forget the Christmas Carol postcard version of Charles Dickens. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "English Connection" Podcast, Glynn Burrows digs into the real story — a childhood shaped by his father's debtor's prison, a stint in a blacking warehouse, and a writing career so prolific it basically invented the serialized soap opera decades before television existed.

Along the way, he digs into what Victorian England was really like for the poor, why Dickens' novels mattered as social record as much as entertainment, and the genuine mystery still surrounding his personal life — including a young actress named Ellen Ternan and a sister-in-law who moved in three years after his separation. Glynn also makes the case for why doing your own research matters, whether you're tracing Dickens' story or your own family history.

It all wraps up with where you can actually go in England today to walk in Dickens' footsteps — from his Portsmouth birthplace to his grave in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner — and a reminder that gratitude looks a little different once you know what people were living through less than 200 years ago.

📖 Read Glynn's article, "A Dickens Tour of England: From Portsmouth to Poets' Corner": https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/dickens-tour-of-england 

🌐 Visit English Connection: https://EnglishConnection.uk 

📚 Explore Glynn's English Connection Digital Magazine: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/english-connection-magazine 

🎙️ Listen to more episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/english-connection-podcast 

It's the very first episode of "Pets, Plots & Poisons" Podcast! Mystery authors Matt Cost and BJ Magnani launch their new Big Blend Radio show with the story of how they met (a New England Crime Bake conference), what they're each writing now, and a secret collaboration between their characters.

BJ shares her latest Dr. Lily Robinson thriller, "We'll Always Have Poisons," sending her poison-toting protagonist to Cape Town, Sydney, and Brussels. Matt talks through "EveryThing vs. Max Creed,: book two in his Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed series — and reveals he and BJ already crossed universes once, co-writing a novella with Curt Wendelboe called "Death on Out to Sea Island," where Lily Robinson meets one of Matt's own characters: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/curt-wendelboe/death-on-out-to-sea-island.htm 

They dig into the craft side too: Matt's plotting formula (a major turn every 12.5% of the book) versus BJ's "pantser" approach of plotting in thirds. Both trace their mystery obsession back to childhood favorites like The Black Stallion, Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden, and talk about why pets make such rich material for crime writers — from cadaver dogs to serial killers' pets.

And BJ delivers the first-ever Poison of the Month: aconitine, a cardiac toxin from monkshood (wolfsbane) that can kill within minutes.

Next month: screenwriter-turned-mystery-author Jule Selbo joins the show.

Learn more about the hosts:

- Explore the Pets, Plots & Poisons show page (and subscribe): https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/pets-plots-poisons-podcast