The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early 1980s. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has written and recorded numerous songs that have become part of the contemporary music vernacular, including “Luka,” “Marlene on the Wall” and “Tom’s Diner,” an a cappella piece that was remixed by U.K. electronic dance duo DNA and became a major club hit. It remains an oft-sampled and covered standard by artists across the musical spectrum. Her albums, including her self-titled debut, follow-up Solitude Standing and 99.9F have sold millions of copies worldwide. Her most recent album, 2025’s Flying With Angels, is out now on Cooking Vinyl to critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Forbes and more.

Suzanne and I talk about her life, music, and her recently released LOVER, BELOVED, the critically acclaimed film adaptation of her acclaimed one-woman stage show about the life of the great 20th-century American writer Carson McCullers. And she shares the heartbreaking backstory of her iconic and haunting 1987 hit "Luka", sung through the voice of an abused little boy, but which she revealed in 2021 was actually about her own childhood trauma.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Rina Shah is a Washington, DC-based geopolitical risk adviser, political strategist, and frequent on-air commentator. She is the Founder of Vental Strategic Advisory Group. With experience as a Capitol Hill senior aide to two members of Congress, chief spokesperson for two presidential campaigns, and trusted counselor to CEOs, elected officials, and diplomats worldwide, she’s been a leading voice on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and center-right principles grounded in the rule of law. She is a Senior Fellow at the Rainey Center for Inclusive Governance and a Senior Advisor to Our Republican Legacy. She serves on multiple boards including the Renew Democracy Initiative, and is Co-Founder of Women’s Public Leadership Network which she started with Melinda Gates’ backing. She was named one of Business Insider’s ‘20 political strategists to watch’ for the last election cycle. And she bravely became the first #NeverTrump RNC delegate in 2016. She appears regularly on CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNOW, NewsNation, and other major news outlets.

So is the Republican Party dead or just badly broken? Rina shares her personal story of becoming a "RINO" and how we can one day have a functioning two-party political system again.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Before the internet and the ubiquity of social media influencers, there was Robin Byrd – the spirited, anything-goes New York City public access host, clad only in her signature black crochet bikini. From 1977 to 1998, Robin created, produced, and hosted the late-night call-in show that incorporated performances and interviews with adult entertainers and experimental artists. Each show ended with a bawdy song and dance, turning her unapologetic, eponymous show into a national platform for sex-positivity, safe-sex/AIDS awareness, and free speech.

BANG MY BOX: THE ROBIN BYRD STORY is a new documentary which just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and debuted this week on HBO and HBO Max. And I’m thrilled to chat with the filmmakers Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam about Robin's life and career and their terrific doc, which they co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced,

Some background on the filmmakers: Stephanie’s expertise in non-fiction storytelling runs the gamut from meaty, one-off, news-based docs, to emotional cinema verite, to straight up formatted reality TV. Her shows have been nominated for multiple GLAAD, Critic's Choice, and Emmy awards. Jyllian is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker working across film, television, and audio. Her work explores love, loss, and memory, with a keen interest in stories of young people building their futures and older people making sense of their past. She is known for drawing comedic, heartfelt characters with distinct voices.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Robert Stone is a critically acclaimed, multi-award winning documentary filmmaker. He is an Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary and a three-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking. Four of his films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Closing Night Film. His recent 6-hour epic history of the effort to land a man on the Moon, Chasing the Moon, won the prestigious DuPont Columbia Award and was seen by 8 million viewers in the United States alone and was broadcast in 13 foreign countries. Over the span of his 40 year career, his work has been broadcast worldwide and screened and honored at countless film festivals. Film critic Owen Gleiberman has called Stone “one of our most important documentarians” having directed “two of the most explosively insightful documentaries of the last decade.”

Robert joins me to discuss his terrific 2004 documentary GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST, which has a special screening and Q&A at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, NY on Wednesday July 1 at 7pm.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is a legal scholar, advocate, and award-winning author specializing in the intersection of civil rights, free speech, and technology. She is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington Law School, where she teaches and writes about First and Second Amendment law, family law, and criminal law and procedure. She also serves as the President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting privacy, expression, and autonomy in the digital age. She is the author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment and The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech.

Mary Anne and I discuss Trump's autocratic overreach and the complicit Supreme Court and tech broligarchy; the assault on civil rights, free speech and the Constitution, online harassment; the abuse of power; and what we need to learn from history if our democracy is to survive.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Justin J. Pearson represents Tennessee House District 86, and is now running for Congress in the state’s Ninth Congressional District. He rose to national prominence as part of the Tennessee Three, standing up for gun reform and being reelected after expulsion. A lifelong organizer, he helped lead the victorious Byhalia Pipeline fight, shut down a cancer-causing sterilization plant, and now challenges Elon Musk’s xAI data center. The second-youngest state legislator, he is a national voice for justice, honored with the Truman Center’s 2024 Moral Courage Award.

Rep. Pearson and I discuss his state's devastating redistricting map, racism in America in the age of Trump, the affordability crisis, the midterms, energizing young voters, his Congressional campaign, and more.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Marisa Renee Lee is the award-winning and bestselling author of Grief is Love. For her work on grief and healing, she has been featured on Good Morning America and NPR, in Vogue and The Atlantic, among other outlets. Her new book Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty reflects on her experiences with chronic illness and grief, offering solace to folks living with all kinds of uncertainty. A longtime rabble-rouser of social healing and equity, Lee previously served as a deputy director in the Obama White House and is now CEO of Beacon Advisors, a social-impact consulting firm.

Illness and death is all around us. Grief is universal. How can we best navigate it all? And can we ever truly find 'closure'? Marisa and I discuss life, love, loss, grief, hope, and healing...the subjects of her two terrific books.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Jeffrey Toobin is a legal journalist who last year joined the New York Times as a contributing opinion writer. He also writes for The New York Times Magazine and continues to offer commentary on CNN. In 2024, NBC Universal released “Homegrown: OKC,” a podcast based on his book, “Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.” He’s a noted lecturer and an instructor at Harvard Law School. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn.

His work has been the basis for major television events including the acclaimed ten-part limited series, “American Crime Story”, based on his book, The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. His other bestselling books include The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, Too Close to Call: The 36-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst,”, True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump, and 2025’s The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.

How effective is Donald Trump's assault on democracy? How successful have the courts been in serving as a guardrail? What can we expect from the Supreme Court in further expanding Trump's power? Who will he pardon next? Jeffrey addresses these questions and so much more.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches criminal law and national security law. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNOW and co-host of the #SistersInLaw podcast From 2010 to 2017 she served as the U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sports writer and copy editor, a judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant US attorney. She is the author of the national best seller Attack From Within, and is here today to discuss her new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.

Join us for this insightful and compelling conversation about her new book; the 'corruption, cruelty and chaos' of Trump 2.0; and what we the people can do to 'take back power and save America'.

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Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches criminal law and national security law. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNOW and co-host of the #SistersInLaw podcast From 2010 to 2017 she served as the U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sports writer and copy editor, a judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant US attorney. She is the author of the national best seller Attack From Within, and is here today to discuss her new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.

Join us for this insightful and compelling conversation about her new book; the 'corruption, cruelty and chaos' of Trump 2.0; and what we the people can do to 'take back power and save America'.

Got somethin' to say?!

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud