DINNER PARTNERS with Christopher & Eric

Christopher and Eric leave behind dark anniversaries and embrace Anne Rice’s signature “light in the darkness”, with a special kick off episode for their multi-city tour celebrating the special new 50th anniversary edition of the novel INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. They’re joined for candid and inspiring interviews by the luminous #1 New York Times bestselling authors of fantasy and horror who are set to appear with them at various events around the country celebrating Anne’s lasting legacy and her glorious dark gift to us all. First up is Leigh Bardugo, who wrote the foreword to the new edition. She’s followed by the incredible J.R. Ward, who brought vampires into the realm of steamy romance. And then there’s Jennifer L. Armentrout, one of the inventors the blockbuster romantasy genre and longtime friend of the show. Eric talks about how his first read of the iconic novel felt like a “wink from God”. Also, we’re told there’s some story about Christopher’s childhood encounter with aliens and an owl he attempted to recue from possibly intergalactic forces. You’ll have to listen to find out all the murky details of this dark rumor.

The final installment in Dark Anniversaries Month opens up the history books to a chapter your hosts have never read before, the 1920 bombing of Wall Street. Christopher and Eric were stunned to discover they knew next to nothing about this searing tragedy and the cauldron of political unrest that ignited it. In post-World War I America, growing discontent over financial inequity turned anarchists into a potent political force and set loose one of the most toxic figures in American politics, J. Edgar Hoover. THE BOMBING OF WALL STREET, an expert documentary from the folks at American Experience, guides us towards the moment bloodthirsty killers parked a horse drawn carriage full of shrapnel and explosives outside the doors of our most powerful financial institutions. And as your hosts look back over the three brutal attacks and dark anniversaries they covered this month, they can’t help but pause to reflect on those who truly suffered as a result of these dark choices, and how pointless and ineffective those choices proved to be when it came to achieving their supposed ends.

Dark Anniversaries Month continues as Christopher and Eric travel back in time to a day that will live in infamy, and a horrifying moment that has shocking parallels to a more recent attack on the homeland. They’re serving up PEARL HARBOR: SURVIVORS REMEMBER a moving and amazingly firsthand documentary about the Japanese attack on American naval forces that launched our nation’s involvement in World War II. Left struggling with the question of whether or not attacks of this kind weaken or strengthen their targets over time, we began to see refrains from other such infamous moments of history. And, of course, Eric finds a way to mention Bette Midler.

Christopher and Eric begin a month of anniversaries, starting with the dark and moving towards the “light in the darkness”, the publication of a special 50th anniversary edition of Premiere Party Person Anne Rice’s iconic novel INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, an event your hosts lived through and remember all too well, a truly dark anniversary they’ve visited only once before in the course of this podcast’s 300 plus episodes. (Check out Episode 91 for a truly unexpected look at the worst terrorist attack on American soil.) To honor the humanity this day brought forth, they serve up an episode of their old favorite, HOMICIDE NEW YORK, entitled “9/11/2001”, the final installment of the show’s second New York season. This riveting episode chronicles the harrowing personal recollections of members of the NYPD during the attacks on the Twin Towers. Inspired by these intimate accounts of this epic event, we discuss how this historical turning point changed the world as we knew it — and not for the better. Dark Anniversaries Month begins.

Christopher and Eric conclude Back to School Murder Month with a brief visit to the high school and college years of beloved Premiere Party Person Anne Rice, a time when she shrugged off academic constraints to pursue her own artistic passions while simultaneously falling in love with the man we all know today as Christopher’s dad. Then it’s time to serve up the conclusion of the new Netflix series THE IDAHO MURDERS: COLLEGE NIGHTMARE. After hard science draws a suspect out of the shadows, the prosecutor decides to act without the input of the grieving families, leaving them to decide what justice means when the only answer being given for a senseless crime is “Guilty”.

At long last, Christopher and Eric tackle one of the most horrifying and talked about true crime stories in recent memory, the vicious slaying of four Idaho college students as they slept. The new Netflix series THE IDAHO MURDERS: COLLEGE NIGHTMARE is the basis for the first in this two-part True Crime Special Edition. Your hosts tackle the devastating nature of the crime, the enduring mystery around why it took so long for the survivors to call for help and the disgraceful level of online speculation that threatened to throw the investigation off course.

Christopher and Eric are left surprised and more than a little moved by this unconventional series about a group of rural high schoolers in Appalachia who take it upon themselves to find justice for the forgotten victims of a possible serial killer. MURDER 101 isn’t your typical true crime series, and the inspiring educator at its center isn’t your typical teacher. If more took his lead down the road not usually taken, students would all be the better for it. From the Tennessee backwoods to the freeways and truck stops of the American South, your hosts follow this tale into the hearts and minds of an often maligned part of the country to discover new and refreshing territory even as the dark map that led them there unfolds.

Christopher and Eric commence Back To School Murder Month with this scandalous installment of True Crime TV Club from – where else? – Florida! Also, is it Punta Gorda? Or Puta Gorda? Eric has thoughts! Meet George Kenney. Principal, father figure and hypnotist. (Yes, you read that right.). In season 2 and episode 5 of THE CURIOUS CASE OF, entitled “The Principal Who hypnotized His School”, speculation moves to the front of the class and medicine to the back when several of Kenney’s students take their own lives shortly after their sessions with him. Is the boundary crossing educator to blame? Or is too much being left unsaid about his troubled, hypno-subjects?

The Mayfair mansion might not have been at the beach, but it sure offered up its fair share of horrors. That’s why the final installment in Dinner Partners’ Beach House Horrors Month opens with a celebration of a recent illustrated edition of one of Anne Rice’s most iconic works, “The Witching Hour”, and a brief look back at what today stands as our beloved Premiere Party Person’s most autobiographical novel. After a stroll through the Garden District, the Irish Channel and memory lane, the path returns to the sandy beaches and tragedy of “The Last Party: Death on Tresco”. This true crime series out of the United Kingdom is long on languid cinematography, title cards and inferences. But will it actually shed any light on the tragic death of a handsome young gay man who seemed to have his entire brilliant life ahead of him?

Dinner Partners’ Beach House Horrors Month serves up a true crime series out of the United Kingdom about which Christopher and Eric knew absolutely nothing before they watched. They weren’t even sure where on the global map this posh vacation island actually was by the time they sat down to record this episode. (Actually, it was Eric who was confused. But he owns up to it — very big of him — once Christopher points out the sizeable geographic difference between Sicily and Scilly.) As they serve up the first two episodes of the series “The Last Party: Death on Tresco”, your hosts embark on a long, dark walk with a young gay staff member at a secluded getaway for the superrich and end up surrounded by…title cards. Lots and lots of title cards. Also, cinematography. But will this moody and scenic tribute to the Celtic Sea actually shed any light on this mysterious and tragic death?