Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen

Mark Oliver Everett (AKA "E") is best known as the singer, songwriter, and driving force behind the indie rock band Eels. A lesser-known biographical detail about Mark: his father, Hugh Everett III, proposed the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. Everett's work raised the possibility that multiple realities could exist simultaneously, with multiple versions of us in them. It was an out-there idea when Everett first proposed it in 1957, but over the years it has gained adherents, among physicists and Hollywood screenwriters alike.

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A show about how — and why — pets become our muses. Elias Weiss Friedman, the photographer behind the blog The Dogist, shows Kurt how to photograph a pooch and get that cocked-head, raised-ears look. Dog trainer Teresa Miller explains how she trained the canine stars of the Hungarian film “White God” to perform. Jazz legend Charles Mingus’s lesser known masterwork: a book about how he toilet trained his cat. Why Laurie Anderson decided to start performing concerts for dogs. Writer John Haskell’s tribute to the Soviet space dog Laika. And Sean Cole examines whether animals can ever really be creative.

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In the MeToo era, so many creative people are being outed as bullies, sexual predators, and worse. And for journalists who cover arts and entertainment, it’s been a bit of a tightrope: How can you write about House of Cards or The Cosby Show ever again without the work feeling hopelessly tainted? And are they still great shows, even if their stars or creators aren't?            How do you investigate claims of harassment if no one will talk, and a star's publicist won't let you near their client? What excellent works of art or storytelling were never made because bad men got in the way? A few weeks ago Kurt Andersen participated in a panel to talk about some of these questions with other journalists and critics. The panel was called “When Bad People Create Good Art: Writing About Culture in the #MeToo Era.” It was held at the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The panel was moderated by Janice C. Simpson, director of the Arts and Culture Reporting Program at CUNY, and also included: Nekesa Moody, Global Entertainment and Style Editor of the Associated Press; A.O. Scott, film critic of The New York Times. "I like to think about the people who didn't get a chance, people who were in their path who were harmed, how they're doing,” said Maureen Ryan, Chief TV Critic at Variety, who also was on the panel. “I think a lot about that.”

This podcast was produced by Studio 360's Jocelyn Gonzales.

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The art of motherhood. Gloria Calderón Kellett talks about making “One Day at a Time” and the classic TV moms who influenced how she writes about motherhood. Novelists Louise Erdrich and Megan Hunter, along with Parley Ann Boswell, talk about the artistic choice of featuring pregnant women in dystopian fiction. Isabella Rossellini talks to Kurt Andersen about her short film series, “Mammas,” that looks at different animals’ approaches to motherhood. And listener Beth Greenspan finds inspiration in a poem by Mary Karr about when sons go from being boys to men.

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Creating superheroes. Kurt Andersen talks with “Superman” writer Gene Luen Yang on “Boxers & Saints” and “American Born Chinese.” Plus, the complicated — and sometimes divisive — issue of cosplay characters dressing up as a character of a different race. And producers Brendan Baker and Chloe Prasinos talk about all the work and (and a 3-D recording gizmo) that went into making their new podcast, Marvel’s “Wolverine: The Long Night.”

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After touring the world for the last five years, the "David Bowie is" exhibit is making its final stand at the Brooklyn Museum. The show features over 400 pieces: diary entries, handwritten lyrics, artwork, and lots of unforgettable costumes.

But Bowie's music is on display as well. One of the show's highlights is a mashup of David Bowie songs, created by his longtime producer and collaborator, Tony Visconti.

It’s a 15 minute musical tour of Bowie’s career that showcases the incredible diversity of his music. Initially, Visconti had been asked to make a short audio piece featuring three David Bowie songs. 

"Something just came over me, and I realized that I couldn’t decide on three songs,” Visconti explained. “So the three songs evolved into 49 songs."

We stopped by Visconti's studio to learn how the mashup was made.

This podcast was produced by Studio 360’s Tommy Bazarian.

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Kurt Andersen speaks with Laurie Metcalf, the actor who is striking gold everywhere: she was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the mother in “Lady Bird,” stars in the Broadway play “Three Tall Women,” and, with most of the rest of the original cast, has returned to the reboot of “Roseanne” on ABC. Wes Montgomery is a legend of jazz guitar, and much of that notoriety first came from a 1960 album, “The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery.” Somewhere between theater and installation art, “Flight” tells a story of child migrants entirely through miniature models. Kurt talks with Jamie Harrison, co-creator of the piece. And Yesika Salgado breaks down her poem “What I Know,” a love letter to her home of Los Angeles.

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Three stories from the American Icons series. How “Amazing Grace,” a song written by a slave trader, came to be a civil rights anthem. Plus, a novel that featured “Amazing Grace” and helped popularize it, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book helped promote the abolitionist cause, yet the term “Uncle Tom” became a pejorative for people who betray their race. And far from glorifying small-town life, Edgar Lee Masters’ “Spoon River Anthology” shocked readers when it came out in 1915 and tackled subjects like suicide and sex. 

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Now that it’s conquered the cineplex and Netflix, Marvel is going after your earbuds — with its first scripted podcast,Wolverine: The Long Night. It tells the story of Special Agents Pierce and Marshall, who arrive in a small Alaskan fishing town to investigate a series of mysterious murders and a suspicious loner living in the woods.

Producers Brendan Baker and Chloe Prasinos reveal the high-tech and low-tech ways they made this sound-rich audio drama.

For now, Wolverine: The Long Night is only available on Stitcher Premium, so you’ll need to join to listen. Because even superhuman claws can’t tear through a paywall. Listen free for one month with code “MARVEL”

This podcast was produced by Studio 360’s Zoe Saunders.

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An oral history of The Noid. It was a lighthearted Domino’s campaign, with claymation by the same designers who made the California Raisins — but it drove one man over the edge. Plus, Kurt Andersen talks with TV and magazine writer Nell Scovell about her memoir, “Just the Funny Parts.” And Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie talks to Kurt about how, after his wife Geneviève Castrée died, he couldn’t write songs about anything else, and he performs a couple in our studio.

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