All Of It with Alison Stewart

Ani DiFranco released her album Little Plastic Castle in February 1998. The album became her highest-charting, and NPR has ranked it among the 25 greatest albums made by women. Last month, DiFranco released a 25th anniversary remastered edition. She joins us to discuss the legacy of the album as part of our series Silver Liner Notes.

The singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams made her major breakthrough in her mid-40s, with the rocking country album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, released June 30, 1998. 25 years later, she's published a memoir, Don't Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You, and her 16th album, Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart. Williams joins us for a Silver Liner Notes conversation on her seminal album's anniversary and to discuss her latest releases.

Ten years ago, Netflix released one of their first-ever streaming shows, "Orange Is the New Black," a frank look at life in a women's prison. The show put Netflix, and streaming, on the map, and introduced audiences to new themes of queerness and gender, as well as stars like Laverne Cox, Danielle Brooks, and Natasha Lyonne. Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture's TV critic, joins us to discuss the show's legacy. Then, we speak with Piper Kerman, whose life story and memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison inspired the television series.

This Bastille Day, the spirit of unrest that underlies the holiday is particularly resonant, as many French people have taken to the streets over the past few weeks after the police killing of a 17-year old citizen of North African descent. Catherine Porter, international correspondent for the New York Times based in Paris, explains the inciting incident as well as the protests, and the domestic politics at play in France today.

A photography exhibition showcases beachgoers along a fifteen block stretch of Rockaway Beach, Queens. Photographer Susannah Ray joins us to talk about her solo show, Down For the Day (2016-present), which is on display at Baxter St at Camera Club of NY through August 26.

Today is release day for the new Blake Mills album Jelly Road. The LA-based singer-songwriter and guitarist joined us yesterday to perform songs from the album live in our studio, accompanied by his co-writer and co-producer, Chris Weisman. They stuck around after the interview to record this song for us, titled "Wendy Melvoin" after the guitarist of Wendy & Lisa and The Revolution. Listen to the exclusive performance, then check out the full session with more songs here.

Swedish electro-pop quartet Little Dragon is back with their seventh studio album, Slugs of Love. The childhood best friends from Gothenburg join us to discuss their latest project and perform a live set at our studio. They're currently on their world tour, with a stop tonight at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn.

To mark France's "Fete Nationale," also known as Bastille Day, we speak with Tatyana Franck, president of the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), along with FIAF's director of development Catherine Bauman, about the group's annual Bastille Day Celebration on Madison Avenue this Sunday.

As the temperature rises and the sun continues to shine, a lot of people are carving out time for the beach. T. Espinoza, the Style Medic, joins us to discuss beach hacks and etiquette to make your trip a success. We also take your calls.

As our Get Lit book club takes the summer off, we are excited to launch our 2023 summer series, Summer School, in which we invite you to join us in dusting off the book shelf, checking out at the Library, and revisiting a classic novel for some fun summer reading. This summer, we are reading two New York-centric books, starting with James Baldwin's 1962 novel, Another Country. The book is set in the heat of summer in 1950s Manhattan, particularly in Harlem and the West Village, and explores ideas of race, class, and art. Rich Blint, professor of Literary Studies and Director of the Program in Race and Ethnicity at The New School, and a Baldwin biographer, joins us for our first installment of Summer School.