The Accutron Show

To celebrate the launch of the new Accutron Astronaut timepiece, The Accutron Show hosts Brooklyn-based artist Michael Kagan. Together with our hosts, Michael talks about his astronaut paintings that have garnered him mass attention from media, galleries, and collectors, all interested in his exploration of the physical and emotional journey that accompanies explorers. Michael's special projects also include two apparel collaborations with Pharrell Williams for his brand "Boys Billionaire Club," and album cover artwork for The White Lies album Big TV, which won an Art Vinyl Award for Best Art Vinyl in 2013. Jump on this episode of our podcast and travel with us into art and space.

Episode Highlights

8:00 What fascinates me about the figure of the astronaut is that when they are out there in space, they are alone. There is no audience, the audience is from photos or from people watching them on TV. They are on their own, in death-defining moments. I like to represent those moments in big snapshots.

16:36 After my first solo show, Pharrell Williams reached out to do a collaboration. He was intrigued by the image of the astronaut, so we ended up doing two collaborations for his brand 'Billionaire Boys Club.'

28:00 I have a special connection to Accutron. On the day I got married my dad gave me his Accutron watch, which he had received from his mother-in-law when he got married.

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This episode of The Accutron Show features DJ sensation Gia Fu, the first Asian woman to produce a salsa record. Gia and our hosts discuss the art of collecting vinyl records, how her love for salsa came to be as a kid living in Hong Kong and her mission to bring forgotten music from the 70s and 80s to the younger generations. During the pandemic Gia teamed up with producer, Angel Meléndez, to create one of the most talked about salsa albums of 2021. Get your favorite dancing shoes ready and tune in to this fun episode of The Accutron Show.

Episode Highlights

5:07 My fascination with salsa music started in Hong Kong when I was 15. I had been dancing since very little. One day I went to see a dance competition with my friends and some of the dance teams used salsa music. We were so mesmerized because even though we didn't know the lyrics, everyone was taken by the beat. In that moment I realized the power of music that can bring together people with many different backgrounds.

18:12 During the pandemic I was looking for a song, I had been looking for it for months. I sent it to my mentor who is based in Chicago and it turned out that he was friends with the artist, Angel Melendez. So I met him over Zoom and spoke about my passion for old salsa music. The conversation led to having him propose to do a record together.

26:00 We initially started with two songs only which were very well received from the community, we ended up recording an album. We first released it on CD, but today people are buying more and more records so we pressed on vinyl.

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This episode of The Accutron Show features the multi-talented Charles Renfro, a Partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. With a focus on cultural and civic projects, DS+R’s work includes the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and the transformation of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 16-acre campus in New York. Together with our hosts, Charles talks about some of the most incredible projects he has worked on, including the High Line in New York and Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Can good design save the world? What's the role of architecture in the metaverse? These are some of the topics discussed during this episode of The Accutron Show. Tune in!

Episode Highlights

14:38 We are asked to work on Brown University, which was the first university that allowed its students to pick their own major. So we wanted to make a building that suggested infinite spacial possibilities, that looked like infinite spatial possibilities, and that actually allowed infinite possibilities so that it could be an image as well as a facilitator, a tool. 

21:00 I think good design, actually good public design can make us better human beings, more empathetic, more respectful. more caring, more communicative, and maybe more demonstrative. The Highline in NYC is an example of that. 

25:00 I have been approached by several people, from several different angles, to build in the metaverse. I have spent my life working to defeat gravity. And doing so, architecture is magical. Because gravity is something we all understand, when you see something that defies it, you instinctively realize you are in front of something special. In the metaverse, the notion of gravity disappears, so for me, that throws the design challenge all up in the air.

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On this episode of The Accutron Show, our hosts are excited to interview Zara Rutherford who, at the age of 19, became the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world and the first person to complete a circumnavigation in a microlight aircraft after a five-month journey. Her adventure began in Kortrijk, Belgium, on August 18th, 2021 and ended on January 20th, 2022. Zara shares some of the most thrilling moments from her adventure and the behind-the-scenes preparation it took to turn her dream into reality. Buckle up and join us on a trip around the world with Accutron!

Episode Highlights

12:30 Mentally, there was a lot of stress involved especially when the weather was not so great, or when flying over water - which meant if anything went wrong or the engine quit, I had no option than ditch in the water or even pull the parachute..

18:05 Growing up I was striving to find female role models in aviation. People mention Amelia Earhart which has done something incredible. I had satellite communication, accurate weather forecast, a GPS, reliable technology. She had none of this, she went out with only a map and a compass.

22:00 The biggest thing for me mentally was Siberia. If I had to do a forced landing, I would have been so far away from civilization, it would have taken days to reach me.

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To celebrate Accutron's 62nd birthday, a true music icon joins the conversation, the one, and only Nile Rodgers. As the co-founder of CHIC and the Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rodgers pioneered a musical language that generated chart-topping hits like "Le Freak," (the biggest-selling single in the history of Atlantic Records) and sparked the advent of hip-hop with "Good Times." Nile's work in the CHIC Organization and his productions for artists like David Bowie, Diana Ross, and Madonna have sold over 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide while his trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Keith Urban, Disclosure, Sam Smith and Lady Gaga reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. Join us for a journey into the life of a living legend that has changed the face of music.

Episode Highlights

6:36 I grew up in an era where the album was the film and the singles were the trailer. You had to make a hit single so people would be interested in listening and purchasing the album. In today's world the consumption of music is the reflection of society, a headline oriented society.

14:35 My parents were heroin addicts and I was constantly on the move, I don't remember going to the same school for more than a few weeks. But all schools had standardized music education, they all had school orchestras and each school assigned to me a different instrument I had to learn to play. By the time I grew up I became a self-contained band, doing all my orchestration, writing every part of every instrument myself.

26:44 I remember being in Central Park in NYC, watching a moon landing and remember seeing the Bulova logo here. When a few years ago we created a watch together for the We Are Family Foundation, it felt truly magical to me.

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What do Hudson Whiskey, La Palina Cigars and website Single Malt Daily have in common? A special connection colored in Accutron green. To celebrate Accutron's birthday month, our hosts chat with Brendan O' Rourke, Site Leader at Tuthilltown Spirits producers of Hudson Whiskey, Sam Phillips, President and Co-owner of La Palina Cigars and Nate Gana, Founder of Bevridge and Owner of Whisky Live USA and Canada. Together they discuss the links between the whiskey and cigar worlds as well as the special Accutron items about to come out. So fill up your glass with your best whiskey, light up a cigar and tune in this new episode of the Accutron Show!

Episode Highlights

9:38 The first project we worked on with Accutron for its 60th anniversary was a single barrel release. We wanted to showcase what rye can do. For this next project, we wanted to create something completely unique, so we created a blend specifically for Accutron which is something that Hudson does not do on the market. 

20:30 At the moment scotch/whiskey is in a very tough position versus bourbon or rye. For scotch/whiskey a lot of brands have relied on their name and taken down the quality of what they produced by adding water. With bourbon and rye, it would be hard to find a company that would want to cut down the ABV.

27:00 I have been working with tobacco for so long, and tobacco or cigars are the opposite of what they are trying to accomplish with whisky. The cigar has to change, it has to keep you interested. There's got to be a level of complexity and that's what we strive for year after year.

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The third season of The Accutron Show opens its curtains on one of the most legendary theaters in the world, The Apollo. More than just a mere venue, The Apollo Theater is the "soul of American culture," the symbol of the transformative power of the arts through time, a major player in the emergence of jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, and soul since the beginning. In this episode, our hosts have the pleasure to talk to Kamilah Forbes, Executive Producer of the Apollo and award-winning Director and Producer for film and television. Together they discuss the legacy and future of The Apollo and why "the Renaissance is NOW." Tune into the conversation with Accutron.

Episode Highlights

6:06 We cannot think of The Apollo Theater as a museum. That is the kiss of death of any living and breathing institution. We did an exercise with our ourselves and asked "What is the type of breeding ground that an artist like Stevie Wonder would have needed back in 1971, before he came out with 'Songs In the Keys Of Life'?" What was the kind of place he needed to support his work? That's where we take a stance. Who are those artists to whom we are going to be talking to 30, 40, 50 years from now.

35:20 There are several generations that now reside inside hip-hop culture. It started as a culture for youth, young people of color, to find a voice all of their own that was not controlled by any other system, to be seen, to be heard. And now we see many different generations that are still able to find their place, their voice inside this culture. 

40:00 Chad and I went to college together, wrote plays together, we collaborated, but most of all we were friends. For the release of "Black Panther" we hosted a panel at The Apollo Theater. I remember there was a young boy dressed like Black Panther and as soon as he entered the theater, Chad brought him to the stage, signed his little costume and gave him a hug. I think about how significant that moment was.

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The special and last episode of this second season of The Accutron Show is dedicated to design and its multilayered expressions. To speak about it, a real master of transformation and Renaissance man, Isaac Mizrahi. From his career beginning to his business choices, Mizrahi has constantly changed and redefined the meaning and role of a "designer," blending various forms of art within his creations, such as comedy, music, and theater. Tune into this fun, colorful, and entertaining season finale and enjoy the summer break. We will be back soon!

Episode Highlights

4:09 Design for me is something inborn, I never had to think too much about it, it's always been this kind of obsession. I started in show business, doing female impersonations when I was 8 years old.

19:00 When I started my company in 1987 it was meteoric; I had been in business a year and then I had my first show, everybody came and it was all over the magazines. I remember at the same time there I was offered a role in a small play, by a small experimental theater group downtown. I was so torn, I wanted to throw everything away and do the play. 

27:55 I have a different take on what integrity means. When I closed the doors in 1998, I thought my products were reaching the wrong end-user. I made the decision that integrity meant something different for me, so I decided to do this collection with Target and create things that could reach everyone with smaller things that everyone could like.

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• David Graver: Instagram  / Twitter

Technology advancement can often make our life better, but what role does it play in art and film? In this episode of The Accutron Show, our hosts talk to Shari Frilot, artist, filmmaker, and chief curator of the New Frontier program at the Sundance Film Festival. Shari plays a key role in discovering new art forms that use technology as a tool to tell stories. Together they discuss the importance of values in a time where everything is controlled by technology, the meaning of the word "bio-digital" and much more. They also talk about the "spaceship" at Sundace, the physical and virtual space where everyone can hang out, socialize and experience art. Tune in and project yourself into cyber space.

Episode Highlights

25:03 What gets us into trouble is not technology, what gets us into trouble are our values, what we feel is important to do with our lives.

36:04 What artists are doing with these technologies is really incredible. What may be a prototype today, may well become a whole industry a year later. And we have seen this happen already.

39:37 This technology is powerful and very compelling. It makes you feel, it's revelatory, it's connected to a very powerful, very lucrative network technology called, cell phone. So it's very compelling to put money into this. It's healthy to see this enthusiasm and investment, we just have to be very careful of where our values go, so that this technology is working for humanity and not against it.

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For this episode of The Accutron Show, our hosts go back into space to discuss the future of exploration. They do it with award-winning science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin who has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for more than three decades. Writer-director and explorer James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens of the Deep) called him “our best historian of the space age.” Chaikin is best known as the author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, widely regarded as the definitive account of the moon missions. Come fly with us.

Episode Highlights

12:20 I spoke at great length with everyone that has been on the moon and I thought "What must it be like looking at the moon and knowing that you've been there?" But what I didn't take into consideration was that these men went to the moon as professionals, they were there to do a job with the prestige of their country at stake. 

22:40 Nobody's been back to the moon since Apollo. When you think of going to Mars, that is Mount Everest for the human species. We have got to solve so many problems in order to be able to send people to Mars without killing them. 

30:00 What's different in today's astronauts is the diversity of intellects. They get better and better, smarter and smarter as time goes on.

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