Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen show

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen

Summary: The Peabody Award-winning Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, from PRI, is a smart and surprising guide to what's happening in pop culture and the arts. Each week, Kurt introduces the people who are creating and shaping our culture. Life is busy – so let Studio 360 steer you to the must-see movie this weekend, the next book for your nightstand, or the song that will change your life. Produced in association with Slate.

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Podcasts:

 Guest host Maeve Higgins! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:55

Writer and comedian Maeve Higgins fills in as guest host this week, interviewing playwright Michael R. Jackson about his new musical “A Strange Loop” and artist-journalist Molly Crabapple about her illustrations of ISIS-occupied Syria. Plus, the creators and cast of “Felix Starro,” a new musical from the Ma-Yi Theater Company, which is celebrating 30 years of bringing the work of Asian American theater artists to the stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: Day Jobs — Unannounced Standardized Patient | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:19

Most artists have to lead a sort of double life: holding down a steady job during the day that allows them to do what they love in their free time. Alex Kramer is an actor who lives in Brooklyn, but he moonlights as an “unannounced standardized patient”: someone who goes into hospital clinics undercover to evaluate residents on their performance. Alex says that at the end of the day, working undercover isn’t all that different from acting on screen. “Ultimately, when it boils down to it, all you’re doing is tricking someone.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ continued | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:54

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is getting a sequel, “The Testaments,” so it’s a good time to look at what originally influenced Margaret Atwood, and how the book continues to influence others. First, Atwood herself talks about her inspirations for the book — the rise of the Christian right in the 1980s and a woman in New England in the 17th century who was accused of being a witch. Then Ann Dowd, who portrays the character Aunt Lydia on the Hulu adaptation, talks with Kurt Andersen about how she has spent a career making scary characters so real and recognizable. Finally, Louise Erdrich and Megan Hunter talk about how their dystopian novels also explore the significance of pregnancy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Shades of noir | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:56

When noir haunts and inspires. Portishead’s seminal album “Dummy,” which came out 25 years ago this week, was inspired by the band members’ obsession with mid-century spy movies. Karen Russell was struggling writing her first novel when she saw the classic noir film “The Night of the Hunter.” It helped her pull off the critically acclaimed “Swamplandia” and has been an inspiration ever since. And Kurt Andersen talks with Carter Burwell, who has scored most of the Coen Brothers films, beginning with their first, the very noirish “Blood Simple.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: Touring Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore with Laura Lippman | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:27

Laura Lippman is an Edgar Award-winning author of detective fiction, most famously for the Tess Monaghan series. And this summer, she has a new book on the New York Times Best Seller list called “Lady in the Lake.” Kurt Andersen recently visited Baltimore to talk to her for another story we’re working on: an American Icons hour about the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is best known for his gothic tales and poems, but he also wrote what are considered by many to be the first detective stories. As a mystery writer and lifelong Baltimore resident, Laura gave us her take on Poe’s legacy and the genre he helped create. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Taking stock of Woodstock | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:19

Fifty summers after Woodstock. First, Kurt Andersen talks with Sha Na Na co-founders Robert Leonard and George Leonard about the utter incongruity of a ’50s throwback band taking the stage at the festival. The Jimi Hendrix version of the national anthem on the last day of the festival that embodies the chaos and distortion of the time. How the Sly and the Family Stone album "Stand!"  dropped at a moment of intense cultural and political change, and provided a soundtrack for that fight. And the surprising power of the other Woodstock — the “Peanuts” character named after the festival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Hallelujah | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:56

Nick Waterhouse, the Los Angeles-based musician who has cultivated a ’50s and ’60s inspired sound, joins Kurt Andersen to perform live and talk about his influences and his self-titled fourth album. For our latest installment of Guilty Pleasures, the writer and “This American Life” producer Bim Adewunmi explains how the “Sweet Valley High” series is kind of preposterous and over-the-top — and completely obsessed her. And producer Lauren Hansen explains how a reverence for Leonard Cohen was passed down in her family, and how a group of artists are honoring Cohen’s memory at a new exhibit at the Jewish Museum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: Remembering Toni Morrison | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 17:43

Toni Morrison, the author of books including “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon,” died on August 5 at the age of 88. Her novels won the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize, and in 2012, Barack Obama awarded her a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Morrison’s work inspired countless readers … and writers, like “New Yorker” critic Hilton Als.When Als guest hosted Studio 360 in 2014, Toni Morrison was his first choice of interviewee. They spoke at Morrison’s home about her writerly habits and why, at age 39, she decided to become a novelist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: American Icons: ‘Mad Magazine’ | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 20:58

After a 67-year run, the “usual gang of idiots” will no longer be serving up the snark. After the August 2019 issue of “Mad Magazine,” old material will be reprinted with new covers, but you won’t find any new parodies or cartoons in those pages, aside from the occasional one-off or special feature. To mark this end of an era, we’re revisiting our story on why “Mad” is an American Icon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 American Icons: ‘Moby-Dick’ | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:19

August 1 marks the 200th anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. To celebrate, we’re revisiting our Peabody Award-winning American Icons hour on his masterpiece, “Moby-Dick.” Melville's white whale survived his battle with Captain Ahab only to surface in the works of contemporary filmmakers, painters, playwrights and musicians. Kurt Andersen explores the influence of this American Icon with the help of Ray Bradbury, Tony Kushner, Laurie Anderson and Frank Stella. Actor Edward Herrmann is our voice of Ishmael and Mark Price narrates David Ives' short play “Moby-Dude.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 John Leguizamo, Nipsey Hussle’s legacy and re-choreographing ‘Oklahoma!’ | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:04

Kurt Andersen talks with John Leguizamo about his latest one-man play, “Latin History for Morons,” and his career toggling between film and theater. The revival of “Oklahoma!” took a bold approach to updating the well-known musical, including the play’s famous “Dream Ballet.” The show’s choreographer, John Heginbotham, and dancer, Gabrielle Hamilton, discuss how they took it on, while dance journalist Gia Kourlas explains how the new dance impressed her, but perplexed some theatergoers. And “What Next” host Mary Harris talks with Cindy Chang, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, about how the death of rapper Nipsy Hussle led to a cease-fire among some Los Angeles gangs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: This Woman’s Work: ‘The B-52’s’ | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:56

Here’s another edition of This Woman’s Work, a series of stories from Classic Album Sundays and Studio 360 where we highlight classic albums by female musicians, women who continue to influence the world of pop culture and inspire others. This time, we’re looking at the debut album from a band who seems to have landed here from outer space. Four decades ago, the B-52’s arrived on the Athens, Georgia party scene with killer guitar riffs, their silly, but eerie lyrics, and their sky-high beehive wigs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 On a high note | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 49:47

An episode about singers, alone and in harmony. The latest installment of This Woman’s Work, a series from Classic Album Sundays and Studio 360 highlighting classic albums by female artists, focuses on “Lady Sings the Blues” by Billie Holiday, whose role as an innovator we are still coming to grasp. Kurt Andersen talks with composer Eric Whitacre about how his virtual choir is changing the game of choral music. And Aimee Mann explains how she wrote “Easy to Die,” about a friend’s overdose, for The Silver Lake Chorus, which commissions indie rock artists to write songs for them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Lynn Shelton, Ursula von Rydingsvard and worshipping Cruella de Vil | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 49:49

Kurt Andersen talks with the director Lynn Shelton about how conspiracy theories and improvisation figure into her new film, “Sword of Trust,” which stars Marc Maron. Michael Bowen felt isolated growing up, but then he saw the animated feature film “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” and oddly enough, its villain, Cruella de Vil, gave him hope that he would fit in. And it can be hard to know what to make of Ursula von Rydingsvard’s spectacular sculptures, but the mystery of how they’re made is solved with a visit to her Brooklyn studio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Extra: The Craft of John Leguizamo’s Theatrical Schizophrenia | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:00

John Leguizamo has a long and successful film and TV career. Early on he had recurring roles on Miami Vice and ER and worked with directors like Brian DePalma, Spike Lee, and Baz Lurhman. And he also provided a voice in the endless animated franchise Ice Age, playing Sid the sloth. But alongside this life on screen, Leguizamo has also built a singularly successful theater career based on a form he helped pioneer — the funny autobiographical one-man play.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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