Live Wire with Luke Burbank

Say goodbye to 2017 with the Live Wire Time Capsule Throw Down! Recorded at Seattle’s Neptune Theatre, host Luke Burbank plays a game with guests John Roderick and Ken Jennings in which they attempt to encapsulate this past year in all its strangeness.

Omnibus podcast hosts Ken Jennings and John Roderick give a glimpse of what stories are inside their audio time capsule for future generations (and/or alien invaders), BuzzFeed grammar wiz Emmy Favilla breaks down the problem with punctuation, Seattle’s Civic Poet Anastacia-Reneé shares what it’s like to have an identity that encapsulates everything the president hates, and singer-songwriter Laura Gibson utilizes her newly acquired MFA to improvise musical CliffsNotes about literary classics.

Luke Burbank kicks off the “Cautionary Tales” episode with a harrowing anecdote about his dog’s actual tail, Welcome to Night Vale creators Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor provide some techniques for concentrating on art during trying political times, poet Danez Smith deconstructs wokeness, author Edan Lepucki shares her methods for conjuring a ‘female snarl’ writing state, and musician and animator Chad VanGaalen performs the track “Static Shape.”

In this special “Leftovers” edition of Live Wire, host Luke Burbank offers up a smorgasbord of cutting room floor delights. Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington crafts cocktail-related stories, a hypnotist helps Elna Baker discover she has 11 fingers, futurist comedian Baratunde Thurston stands his intellectual ground, Ariel Levy evaluates the credibility of some celebrity factoids using only her journalistic instinct, and folk troubadour John Craigie performs the tune, “I Am California.”

Luke Burbank reflects on the lessons he learned from a day without his iPhone, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik shares his 40-year nostalgia theory and how sex with a long-term partner can reach civil war reenactment status, essayist Elena Passarello coins the term “animalsonified” while examining humans’ complicated relationships with famed mammals, and RnB singer Blossom performs the brand new track, “Possibilities.”

Luke Burbank peels back the curtain on a show recording gone wrong that later became the foundation of Live Wire Miracle Day, author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed offers up some Thanksgiving table survival techniques, futurist comedian Baratunde Thurston reveals the dangers of “anti-social people developing all of our social tools,” and musical guest Meklit brings us along on her journey to find beauty and music in everyday sounds.

Luke Burbank remembers a childhood basketball wager that put the fate of Christianity on the line, Cards Against Humanity co-founder Max Temkin depicts his “particular subspecies of nerd,” poet Kevin Coval explains why hip-hop deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Adam Burke asks Chicago to drop the “no ketchup rule,” and rapper Malcolm London performs songs from his latest release, OPIA.

Filmmaker Lynn Shelton details how working on a fishing boat helped her appreciate life on a film set, Second Wave podcast host Thanh Tan details her life as a child of Vietnamese immigrants long after the war, comedian Kevin Avery describes how his podcast “Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period” made his run-in with the star especially awkward, and Makana schools us on slack-key guitar.

Host Luke Burbank makes yet another mid-life crisis purchase, iconic B-movie actor Bruce Campbell explains why you’ll never meet Tom Cruise, folk legend Loudon Wainwright III muses about his own propensity to share intensely personal experiences and his children’s (occasionally hurtful) ability to do the same, and comedian Karinda Dobbins spins personal anecdotes about systemic racism into comedy gold.

In this special edition of Live Wire, Luke goes backstage during soundcheck for "Lampedusa: Concert for Refugees" to talk to some of the most iconic musicians of our time. Emmylou Harris reveals how she got waylaid on her way to Woodstock, Dave Matthews talks about managing a wide spectrum of his feelings during live performances, Steve Earle discusses how his real-life struggle with addiction intersected with his role on the HBO series The Wire, Patty Griffin recounts how she overcame her shyness through music and how her parents have helped her stay humble and Brandi Carlile reflects on her musical start as a teenager winning karaoke championships.