In which Stefan reads his favourite book again, John Hamm is funny more than once, modern football is fascinatingly unpacked and Carey Grant scores (he was good at that).

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Christa Wells - Velveteen, John Leventhal - Rumble Strip

BOOKS: Zonal Marking by Michael Cox, Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

TV: Archie, Maggie Moore(s), Fargo Season Five

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

It's a new year, so we focused on all that supports that theme most strongly: 81-year-old Harrison kicking Nazi ass, Ryan Adams making an album called 1985 and Timothy Leary taking drugs in the Sixties. For the sake of science. Get an early start in 2024, people. There is much to read, listen to and watch. IT MUST GET DONE.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Ryan Adams - Sword & Stone/Star Sign/Prisoners (Live)/Heat Wave/1985, Twin Atlantic - Asleep, The Heavy Hours - Don't Walk Away

BOOKS: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Lessons by Ian McEwan, Outside Looking In by TC Boyle

TV: Jon Batiste - American Symphony, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Last episode for the year, a return visit for our first three-time guest, Bronwyn Williams, who has a new book out: Rescuing Our Republic, co-written with Ludwig Raal, in which she asks the heavy, world-shifting questions so we can keep talking about the equally important stuff, like books, music, film and theatre.

Thank you for all your support this year. Keep suggestions for topics and chats coming, along with offers of sponsorship, payable in cash, coffee, whiskey or guitars. You're all lovely. Happy Christmas and a merry New Year.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: No Chocolate Cake - Gin Blossoms, Little Bit Of Sun - Semisonic, Before And After - Neil Young

BOOKS: Rescuing Or Republic by Bronwyn Williams and Ludwig Raal

TV: Avoidance, 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony, Licorice Pizza, Leave The World Behind, The American Buffalo, Foundational

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Recorded on the day Shane MacGowan died, while we happened to be drinking and chatting about whiskey named after his band, there is talk of the horrors of hubris and the war it often results in, as well as the effectiveness of ego when it comes to getting something done. Also, we speculate on what can we do about casualties of creativity, the injuries caused by innovation, and other alliterative AI themes.

Reviewed this week:

FILM: Napoleon

MUSIC: Drakensberg Boys' Choir - Noel Tour, The Chicago Sessions - Rodney Crowell, Spotify Wrapped

BOOKS: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono

TV: The Creator, Band Of Brothers

WHISKEY: The Pogues Irish Whiskey

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

While sipping more excellent whiskey and coffee, we muse on unintended themes like living forever (Peter Pan; The Beatles) and how to best make use of those years (be enduringly brilliant; spend Rupert Murdoch's money in a healthier way; get a robot to do the hard work), before sipping more whiskey and coffee.

Reviewed this week:

THEATRE: Janice Honeyman's Peter Pan

MUSIC: Now & Then - The Beatles, Robin Auld, For All These Years - Billy Raffoul

BOOKS: I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan

TV: Justified: City Primeval, The Murdochs: Empire Of Influence (Showmax)

WHISKEY: Peaky Blinder Irish Whiskey

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

After a break due to being involved in arts projects beginning with "A" - Actress (theatre show for which Bruce was writer and composer) and Aardklop (large arts festival at which Stefan was managing events), we reflect on the joy and value in such work. While drinking whiskey and coffee, because those are a few of our favourite things. We also remember that Roger Waters is an old man and that Peter Grant was a scary man. And we visit New York (via music) and, er, Wrexham (via television).

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Modern Girl - Bleachers, Columbus & 89th - Sarah Jarosz, The Lord's Prayer - Matt Maher, The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux - Roger Waters

BOOKS: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, Bring It On Home by Mark Blake

TV: Welcome To Wrexham (Disney+), Good Omens (Prime Video)

WHISKEY: Samuel Gelston's Irish Whiskey

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

We chat about the approach of dystopia, and then it begins to sound like it's arrived. But we press on unto Gilead and beyond, where a Stoner makes Stefan emotional, and Bruce is almost certainly not being unreasonable.

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: Jonathan Wilson - Eat The Worm, Brothers Osborne - Brothers Osborne, Andrew Synowiec - Fun, The National - Laugh Track, BoB Playlist:

BOOKS: Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Stoner by John Williams, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

TV: Ed Sheeran - The Sum Of It All (Disney+), Am I Being Unreasonable (Britbox), Spencer (Showmax), One Piece (Netflix), What We Do In The Shadows (Apple TV)

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

This week's discussion includes artists of all stripes who don't mind using a bit of brain power and thoughtfulness in the execution of their craft and the underpinnings of their concepts. Which is a pleasing thing a world where The Bachelor and Jersey Shore exist...

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: The Lighthouse - Caroline Spence ft Sarah Jarosz, More Than A Country Mile - Robin Auld, Femme Sole by Tess Wiley

THEATRE: Saturday Night At The Palace

BOOKS: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi, The Disordered Mind by Eric R Kandel, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

TV: John Mulaney - Baby J (Netflix), FUBAR (Netflix)

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

There are a number of ways to reflect life in art. We see theatre doing it in ways that hurt and opera doing it in ways that excite. We see chefs doing it under a load of stress. And we see Wes Anderson doing it wonderfully. Plus, we sip whisky that tastes of thorn trees - and it's good!

Reviewed this week:

MUSIC: The National - First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, Matt Nathanson - Boston Accent

THEATRE: Isidlamlilo, Tosca

BOOKS: Submission by Michel Houellebecq, The South African Musical by Norman Smuts

TV: The Bear (Showmax), The French Dispatch (Disney+)

WHISKY: Toor Whisky Aperitif

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).

Our guest is Albert Maritz, director of a new production of Paul Slabolepszy's Saturday Night At The Palace at the Joburg Theatre (28 July to 20 August, Webtickets). There is talk of racism, masculinity and insecurity, and some of that even has to do with the play. Albert also reveals a portion of the richness of Afrikaans theatre and literary culture, largely because rooinekke Stefan and Bruce are woefully underexposed to its delights and need to get off their boude and make a plan...

Reviewed this week:

BOOKS: The Echo Of A Noise by Pieter-Dirk Uys, What Does This Button Do by Bruce Dickinson

Stay in touch at https://www.facebook.com/TheChorusPodcast. And try out the superb coffee we drink on the show: Cito 1974 (www.cito1974.com).