Take a trip through the history of tap dancing with my friend and dancer Alex MacDonald. Learn about its origins in the post-slavery 19th century, the trials that early African American dancers went through to perform, and how the art form is changing in the present with a bunch of amazing new performers. Plus at the end of the show, Alex puts on his shoes and give us a short demonstration of a lot of what we discussed. It's a do-not-miss episode.

Links:

• Jumpin Jive - Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers - YouTube

Andrea Bartz's first novel "The Lost Night" was released this week at a bookstore near you. Come along as we discuss the whole process from her first pages back in 2014, finding an agent, pitching publishers, all the way through the editing process and more! And don't worry, since it's a mystery we stay largely spoiler free...

Come tour the 20 places writer Louise Hung has lived, drop into the political reality of Hong Kong, find out what it's like to live in Japan, and discuss whether the LA theater scene exists as a feeder for Hollywood. And all of this before we get to where we really start in on a deep dive about the death positve movement. Perhaps not for the faint of heart, but I found the conversation fascinating and hope you will too.

Painter Gigi Chen didn't start out as an animator like most of her bios say. She started out with a set of colored pencils deep in the borough of Queens. We discuss her obsession with bowerbirds, how a 'No' response doesn't mean anything, and what it was like for her to switch from oils to acrylic paints. Come along for the ride.

Eli has been a lifelong illustrator who is now a happily tenured professor at CUNY's City Tech here in Brooklyn. We discuss how his art education as effected his professional career, what it was like to be a retoucher at Spin magazine, and even learn how to mount a transparency in a drum scanner!

Links:

• Eli Neugeboren (@enoogs) | Twitter

You've seen today's guest Simon Feil on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel", "Orange Is The New Black", "The Deuce", as well has a ton of the kind of procedural dramas my wife and I watch constantly. We discuss what it's like to be a working actor in NYC, his feelings on the rules of the Sabbath, and becoming a member of SAG. Basically anything related to acting I could think to ask.

Commercial Director and Stuffmaker Mac Premo is in the hotseat. This is a person who makes video the way he animates, and builds the way he draws. Come listen to us discuss his love of objects, baseball, and why he is going to die with a long todo list.

We're turning the tables today. Friend of the show and Episode 3 guest Mollie Goldstein is interviewing Bill Wadman himself on why he shoots portraits, how he deals with his subjects and their foibles while also juggling his own, and why he has the need to do these daily projects.

Here's an impromptu episode with opera singer Teresa Castillo. We talk about how she got into opera in the first place, the way things work in her industry, and how we get more kids to go to the opera without expecting a phantom. Enjoy!

Shaun Zetlin is a personal trainer and author of the book "Push-Up Progression". Not only is he knowledgable and in crazy good shape, he's also one of the sweetest people I know.