Alta Magazine Podcast

What do the CIA, an outdoor clothing company, and a Yosemite campsite all have in common? Tom Frost. 

Famous in climbing circles for his remarkable humility, Frost is one of the lesser-known legends of the rock climbing world—as well as a photographer, conservationist, and inspiration to generations of outdoor enthusiasts. He was also a complicated and passionate man whose story hasn't really been told—until now. 

Today’s podcast guests are Tom Seawell and Craig Flax, two of the filmmakers behind a feature-length documentary film about Frost. Alta is a sponsor of this upcoming film, and we feature a look at Frost’s efforts to preserve a beloved Yosemite campgroud in our Fall 2019 issue.

Rachel Levin went where very few have gone before — she ate a chicken nugget made out of man-made meat. "Motherless meat" is different from plant-based alternative meats, like the "Impossible Burger" and others. Technically, it is created from cells that come from real animals. And while a man-made meat nugget might cost $100 to make today, the technology could help alleviate a growing global need for meat, and offer an alternative to an industry that some believe is cruel to animals.

Levin is a San Francisco-based journalist who has written for such publications as the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Sunset magazine, where she was a senior travel editor. Rachel was the first San Francisco restaurant critic Eater, and now pens a semi-regular column about restaurant regulars for the San Francisco Chronicle’s food section. She is the author of LOOK BIG: And Other Tips for Surviving Animal Encounters of All Kinds, which was published last year. Her next book, EAT SOMETHING, co-authored with Wise Sons Deli, will be out this spring. 

Read her article here. 

Joel Sartore is on a one-man mission to build a photographic library of every animal in human care. He's like Noah—with a really fancy camera. An award-winning photographer, speaker, author and conservationist, Sartore is founder of The Photo Ark, a 25-year project to document every species in zoos and sanctuaries around the globe. You can spot some of those animal images in the Fall 2019 issue of Alta.Sartore joined us to explain to concept and process of the Photo Ark, detail the difference between photographing humans vs. animals, and reveal which creatures garner the biggest viewer response. 

What special challenges do women musicians face that their male counterparts don't? Have those challenges changed, and in what ways? How do traditional music organizations work towards inclusion in the 21st century? In this podcast episode, recorded on May 20, 2019 at Books Inc’s Opera Plaza location, we partnered with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to host a panel discussion on women’s emerging roles in classical music, the issues and challenges female musicians face, and a look at the future of inclusivity in music. Moderated by SFCM faculty member, author, opera singer and neuroscientist Indre Viskontas, this event featured an honest and hopeful look at women’s work within classical music from our panel accomplished female musicians including Nicole Paiement of Opera Parallele, Cordula Merks of San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and Melissa Kleinbart of the San Francisco Symphony. This event was inspired by Catherine Womack’s article on the diversity and female composers working with L.A. Phil. Titled “Sanctuary City,” her story was published in the Summer 2019 issue of Alta.

CalFire's aerial firefighting fleet is the largest of its kind in the world. Today’s guest, award-winning and best-selling author Bonnie Tsui, reported for Alta on the men and women who battle California wildfires from the sky. These first responders, many who fight fires in their own communities, face unique and complex challenges—challenges that are only growing as California deals with our new reality of the mega fire.

Bonnie’s work has appeared in the New York Times, California Sunday, Outside, the Atlantic, and many more.  

Musso & Frank Grill is a Los Angeles institution. Writer David Kipen visited this storied dining spot (in character as The Anniversarist) and he's now on a mission to be a Musso regular. Kipen joins the Alta podcast to explain the staying power of this century-old legend, remember two longtime Musso employees who recently passed away, and detail the old-school recipes that remain on the Musso menu. Lobster Thermidor, anyone? 

Phil Witte, a humorist, journalist, cartoonist and lawyer living in Oakland, joins us for an Alta podcast to talk about his process and the quirky world of cartoonists. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Reader’s Digest, and museums and galleries around the globe. He was a cartoonist in residence at the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa and has written for Bizzaro cartoonist Dan Piraro. Phil’s cartoons have ALSO appeared in Altatudes, the collection of cartoons that we select for the back page of every issue of Alta.

What led to—and has arisen from—the infamous 1969 Manson Family murders is weirder, darker, and more hypocritical than you ever imagined. Writer Denise Hamilton, who's been on the Helter Skelter Manson Murder bus tour, joins the Alta podcast to detail the many ways money continues to be made from the Tate/LaBianca murders, and how the families of the victims feel about our Manson obsession. 

Wild mustang populations are out of control, competing with cattle and native wildlife for vital resources like land and water. If the federal government doesn’t rein them in, ranchers may take matters into their own hands. Journalist Jason Goldman joins the podcast to discuss his latest Alta cover story, focused on the controversy surrounding the thousands of feral horses in Northern California's Modoc National Forest—and beyond. 

Today’s guest is Po Bronson, a longtime science journalist who has been recognized with nine national honors, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award. He works as strategy director at IndieBio and serves as a futurist with Attention Span Media. In the Summer 2019 issue of Alta, Po wrote about Planet, a San Francisco-based company that uses shoeboxed sized satellites to take images of nearly everything on Earth – from space. He joins us to explain how and why Planet is the "Batman" of satellite imaging.