Hog Butcher Radio Hour

"I grew up a queer son of a Southern Baptist minister in South Carolina, and that’s where a lot of this comes from." That's writer/director/actor Stephen Cone telling the New York Times where he drew inspiration for his latest film, a current festival favorite, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party. His other films include the provocative and enigmatic Black Box and his most widely seen film to date, The Wise Kids. All deal to some extent with issues of spirituality and sexual identity. And all are, to the filmmaker's great surprise, Coming Of Age stories, a genre Cone was never consciously drawn to. He talks to us about his own coming of age, about the challenges of being an independent filmmaker today, and about the potential downside of indie legitimacy. Also on the podcast, with the recent spate of celebrity deaths, mortality is in! So the Hog Butcher Radio Players perform Funeral. And we close with a song by the remarkable Robin Bienemann off of his record Songs About Work.

For over 20 years, the WGN Morning News has ruled morning television in Chicago. More than that, it’s stood as one of the last bastions of live local television. Our guest today is one of the stars of that show, Paul Konrad, who along with the rest of the WGN morning team brings intelligence, humor and an abundance of personality to the ungodly hours of morning TV. Paul discusses his poor absence record at post-show meetings, his past experience with lederhosen, and weather god Tom Skilling’s surprising talent for shagging fly balls. Also in this Episode, The Hog Butcher Radio Players present two Playboy Playmates sounding off on the recent decision by Playboy to eliminate nudity from the magazine. And a song by the delightful Jodi Walker, "Ironic Mustache" from her recent record "Broken Bubble."

In Episode Two of the Hog Butcher Radio Hour, Ron talks with filmmaker Steve James. From Hoop Dreams to last year’s documentary adaptation of Roger Ebert’s best-selling memoir Life Itself, Steve has established himself as one of the world’s top documentarians. Here, he talks with Ron about his amazing body of work, about why he sometimes finds himself at the heart of his own films, what effect being the subject of a film has on people, and how Hoop Dreams went from a short film to a nearly 3-hour film that spanned five years. The hour closes with Down To The Bottom, a little-heard cut off of the remarkable Chicago songwriter Brian Anderson’s record, Work We Do, Sounds We Hear.

For The Hog Butcher Radio Hour’s maiden voyage, Ron talks with his friend and sometime collaborator, the great David Pasquesi. One of the world’s most acclaimed improvisers, half of the legendary improv team Dave and TJ, a Second City mainstage alum, a veteran of films like Groundhog Day and Angels and Demons, stage producitons like Steppenwolf’s Glengarry Glen Ross and The Goodman Theater’s God’s of Carnage, TV shows like Veep, and the best little web series that no one’s ever seen, The Graveyard Show…. There’s nothing this guy can’t do. Including taking Ron to task for not appreciating the film Caddyshack enough. Also in this episode, an instant review of the show by acting, improvising and podcasting sensations Joey Lesiak and Ed Flynn. Plus an amazing rendition of Chicago songwriter Naomi Ashley’s song Slow Train, seasoned with the great Poetry Slam pioneer, Marc Smith’s take on Carl Sandburg’s poem, Mamie, recorded live at The Green Mill.