Black Bat Audio

Tonight, it's my former photography teacher and long-time fellow conversationalist, Bill Crandall! He's a fascinating artist and citizen, and a multi-talented fella who's released albums under this own name and as Mistochord, and continues to innovate and educate in various manners. We really have at it with the long-form discussion format this week, but somehow it all ended up a fairly coherent conversation nevertheless. 

We covered a sprawling but rich range of society-and-culture-related topics, including how an individual's favorites change over time, when re-evaluating certain old picks can show growth, what dancing at weddings can show us about our perplexing times, whether we’re seeing a “race to the bottom” in certain cultural arenas (we are), and the ethics within (or without) modern sport, education, plastically progressive marketing copy, escapism, and the intersection of art & climate change. 

It's a hefty one, but certainly a delight chatting again like the old dayz. It's Playing Favorites!

Extraordinary producer/person Grace Dickson (of Grace Dickson Productions!) plays favorites tonight! As we both agree too much of our time is spent somehow discussing theatre and the like, we decided to focus on different kinds of media for once in our lives. So, instead, we covered a litany of topics sprouting from Grace’s lifetime of knowledge. 

Recorded rather a few weeks ago but hardly out of context nevertheless, our chat included small-seaside-town politics, impressively-stocked gift shops, lamps, the ingenuity and parallels of She’s The Man and Some Like It Hot, and how to say “fly” in the past tense. Among other things. Listen in!

Actress, jetsetter and Cannes regular Marta Castellvi joins in tonight for a chat about fun times on the Croisette, Mexican locales and words, and the enduring appeal of Chet Baker - and mid-20th-century music in general! It's Playing Favorites!

To an almost uncanny level, tonight's guest and I share an awful lot of niche factoids, from our double-barreled surnames to our formative appreciation for Ezra Furman's Day of the Dog, to our tendencies to put on music in all modes of life at all times of the day. Listen in as actress and cineast Amelia Chinnock-Schumann and I cover all these topics and more, including her thoughts on LCD Soundsystem, and the hilarity of someone not going onstage at the right time. Enjoy!

Playing Favorites returns! With splendid new guest and new friend Rachel Oyawale! Our chat ranged from picturesque Italian hostels to Carné's resplendent Black Orpheus, to our shared Jewish backgrounds and (mostly shared) Jewish senses of humor, and beyond.

Tune your zithers and wind up your cuckoo clocks, it's our 33rd episode, so naturally time for a PF Series chat about Carol Reed's three-themed thriller The Third Man. Big fans and Playing Favorites regulars Michael Zwiauer, Jacob Baird, Steven Beller, and Robert Tomkin join me to discuss what some call the greatest British film of all time, Michael calls "almost clinically perfect,” and Robert has called, on-pod, his favorite film.

Splendid fashion photographer, writer, film journalist and new friend Peyton Robinson plays favorites tonight. We discuss her record-shattering status as the first Playing Favorites guest I have never met in person, plus how Banks, playlists, fashion, Argento, forensic psychology, and The Art of Self-Defense have factored into her journey thus far! Enjoy!

Find Peyton's photography, including her stunning new series From Money, For Blood, here: www.peytondrobinson.com/fashion

It's Episode 30, and with me tonight to celebrate is an extremely special guest: Laura Florence Hounsell herself! The director, designer, filmmaker, podcaster, literary sociologist, international fashion inspiration, and nice person comes on the show at long last, as we chat Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book, the sublime power, mystique, and romance of the sea, and one of Laura's favorite pastimes: SNL tributes featuring Mr. Bill Hader. It's Playing Favorites!

h a p p y  f o u r  y e a r s  S. B. L. x x