The Colin McEnroe Show

On September 26, 2025, last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, One Battle After Another, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, hit wide release in theaters. And then 11 days later, on October 7, Pynchon published what might be his final novel, Shadow Ticket. Not a bad year for an 89-year-old writer. This hour, a look at the (maybe) reclusive Pynchon and the novels and stories he’s published, from Gravity’s Rainbow to Mason & Dixon and more. Plus: a look at the two Paul Thomas Anderson movies that Pynchon’s work has inspired, Inherent Vice and One Battle After Another. GUESTS: David Cowart: Distinguished professor emeritus of English language and literature at the University of South Carolina and the author of a number of books, including Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion and Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History Ana Gavrilovska: A writer; you can find her work in Current Affairs, Uncut Magazine, Maggot Brain, and her Substack, Sick Sad Motherslug Leonardo Goi: A journalist and film critic Brian Slattery: A writer and musician Music featured (in order): Don Giovanni, K. 527: Overture – W.A. Mozart as performed by Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe The most referenced piece of music in Pynchon’s catalogue. Gravity’s Angel – Laurie Anderson The Royal Scam – Steely Dan Mentioned in Bleeding Edge. Run Straight Down – Warren Zevon Zevon attributed this song to overdosing on Pynchon — the opening words are just carcinogenic chemicals. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Bonzo Dog Band Pynchon put out his own playlist for Inherent Vice. This was on it. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 15th, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Carolina. The clinic offered MMR vaccinations as the South Carolina Department of Health reported 876 cases of measles earlier in the week, most centered in Spartanburg County. This hour, we look at the spread of measles in the United States. We also talk to health and science communicators who are working to tell the story of that disease in new ways. GUESTS: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo: Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown School of Public Health, and a Professor of Epidemiology Brinda Adhikari: Award-winning executive producer, showrunner and journalist, who is Co-Host of the "Why Should I Trust You?" podcast Teri Mills: Retired nurse educator, grandmother, and Board member and Vice President of Media for Grandparents for Vaccines Music featured (in order): Sickness – runo plum Contagious – Ani DiFranco Cat’s Got the Measles – The New Lost City Ramblers Catch My Disease – Ben Lee Soul Vaccination – Tower of Power Grandma’s Hands – Bill Withers Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour we take a look at the state of immigration policy, after a week of ICE activity in Connecticut. We discuss what Americans actually want when it comes to immigration, the challenges of keeping track of immigration enforcement data, and a look at how the history of immigration policy in the United States is informing this present moment. GUESTS: Sister Mary Ellen Burns: Executive Director and Attorney at Apostle Immigrant Services in New Haven Sarah Pierce: Director of Social Policy at Third Way David Hausman: Assistant Professor at Berkeley Law who co-directs the Deportation Data Project Nancy Foner: Distinguished Emerita Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is author or editor of over 20 books, most recently Immigration: How the Past Shapes the Present Music featured (in order): One Body, One Blood – Tigran Hamasyan Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) – Dolly Parton Immigrants (We Get The Job Done) – K'Naan (The Hamilton Mixtape) Carwasheros / Lava Coches – Los Jornaleros Del Norte Immigration Man – Graham Nash, David Crosby City of Heroes – Billy Bragg Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the detestable Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park, Brandi Carlisle, Declan the Dog, the pronunciation of Pupienus, frustration with the Hartford region … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Music featured (in order): The Tom And Jerry Show – Hiromi To Love Somebody – Robin McKelle and the Flytones, Lee Fields Peg – Nerina Pallot Obvious Child – I’m With Her Just the Two of Us – Stacey Ryan Until You Come Back to Me – Aretha Franklin Ain’t Nobody – Jen Allen The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the you sit contemplating the end of long summer days, you might find yourself wondering: what was the song of the summer? And what should have been? To help fill that void in your life, Colin sits down with technical producer Dylan Reyes to form the public radio supergroup CG/WLM (cranky guys who like music) and talk about what they’re listening to and what song they think should have won the season. GUEST: Dylan Reyes: Technical producer, assistant director of radio operations at Connecticut Public Music featured (in order): Bet on U – CHUNG HA, Anderson .Paa King James – Anderson .Paak Silk Sonic Intro – Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak) Miss Mango – Laila! Red Shoes – Maggie Rose It’s A Beautiful Life – Francis of Delirium Illusion – Leon Bridges Waiting – Beth Orton If I Let You – The Womack Sisters side slider – Isaia Huron Sirius – Katherine Priddy Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are now looking at our own faces more than ever before, thanks to mirrors, selfies, Zoom, and social media. This hour, we explore how our relationship with our faces has changed. Plus, a look at the rise of facial recognition technology, from your phone to security cameras. And we talk with an artist about what it means to paint faces. GUESTS: Cal Revely-Calder: Writer and Literary Editor of The Telegraph Kashmir Hill: Journalist at The New York Times and author of Your Face Belongs to Us Jessica Helfand: Artist and writer. She is the author of Face: A Visual Odyssey Music featured (in order): Put On A Happy Face – Dick Van Dyke (Bye Bye Birdie OBC) Look at That Face – Sammy Davis Jr. My Smile Is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down) – Carolyn Crawford I’ve Just Seen A Face – The Beatles Smiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed Truth I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face – Andrew Bird, Alan Hampton Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know your neighbors? This hour, we take a look at the role of our neighbors in our lives. We explore the psychological and social benefits of neighbors, hear listener stories, and discuss the role of neighbors in times of crisis. Plus, a look at "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and how he thought about neighbors and community building. GUESTS: Julie Beck: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the creator of “The Friendship Files” Tricia Wachtendorf: Director of the Disaster Research Center and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware. She is also co-author of American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11 Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Sociologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota Maxwell King: Author of The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers. His new book is Fire in the Night Sky: The Steel Mill Paintings of Aaron Gorson The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 4, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to William Shatner's music career, scouting, Canadians, water snakes, technological materialism... Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Music featured (in order): Brixton Underground – Cory Wong, Joshua Redman Masks – William Shatner, Brad Paisley In the Still of the Night – Lauren Henderson Early One Mornin’ – Ekep Nkwelle As You Lie There – Paul McCartney THINK OF YOU – Tyreek McDole Stuff – Bella White Feel the Cold – Foy Vance Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lost Weekend is Phoebe Bridgers’ third solo studio album and fifth studio album overall. It dropped on August 14, and it’s expected to debut at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated August 29, which would make it Bridgers’ highest-charting album to date. And: My Brilliant Career is a Netflix limited series and the second screen adaptation of the 1901 novel by Miles Franklin. It is an Australian production with a largely Australian cast, and it’s set in Australia around the turn of the 20th century. Philippa Northeast stars as Sybylla, a young woman desperate to become a writer as her family tries to find her a husband. GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Xandra Ellin: Produces The Global Story for the BBC Music featured (in order): The Outside – Phoebe Bridgers Lost Boys – Phoebe Bridgers Haunted – Phoebe Bridgers Still Standing – Phoebe Bridgers The Outside – Phoebe Bridgers Lost Weekend (Reprise) – Phoebe Bridgers Don’t Fence Me In – Amy Hill (My Brilliant Career Original Soundtrack) Atomic – Beckah Amani (My Brilliant Career Original Soundtrack) See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Statue of Liberty gets the CMS treatment. First, Colin talks with Dennis Mulligan from the National Park Service. He’s been Lady Liberty’s caretaker for almost 30 years and walked to her crown approximately 5,000 times (he did the math). Colin also talks about the improbable logistics of her creation with the journalist Elizabeth Mitchell, author of Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build The Statue of Liberty. And, scholar and poet Esther Schor joins to shine a light on the Emma Lazarus poem that gave the statue meaning that has both endured and changed over time. You know the lines, “Give me your tired, your poor…” but what else do you know about the “Mother of Exiles?” GUESTS: Dennis Mulligan: Supervisory Park Ranger for the National Park Service, The Statue of Liberty's caretaker for almost 30 years Elizabeth "Biz" Mitchell: Jounalist and author of Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build The Statue of Liberty Esther Schor: Scholar, biographer, poet, essayist and Chair of the Humanities Council at Princeton University. Her 2006 biography Emma Lazarus won the National Jewish Book Award. She has also published Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language and three books of poems. Music featured (in order): Liberty Fanfare – John Williams, as performed by The Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Keith Lockhart Song of Liberty – The Wolfe Tones American Tune – Shawn Colvin Mother of Exiles – Glenn Kaiser Statue of Liberty – Jill Sobule Huddled Masses – Shaina Taub Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's a dew point? Why is my weather app wrong all the time? Should I be worried about a Super El Niño? This hour, we explore the mysteries of the weather while checking in on the state of modern meteorology. Plus: How does literature teach us about the changing weather? GUESTS: Kristine Harper: Meteorologist, oceanographer, and science educator turned historian of science at the University of Copenhagen Matthew Cappucci: Senior Meteorologist at MyRadar and Meteorologist at CapitalWeather.com Amy Brady: Author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks – A Cool History of a Hot Commodity. She is also the former executive director and publisher of Orion magazine, a contributing editor for Scientific American, and coeditor of the anthology The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Music featured (in order): Teen Town – Weather Report Storm Warning – Bonnie Raitt Pennies from Heaven – Emilie-Claire Barlow Isn’t This a Lovely Day? – Dana Lauren Heatwave – Martha Reeves and the Vandelas After the Rain Has Fallen – Sting Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the paranormal than the psychic. Able to predict the future, see into the past, and even communicate with the dead, the psychic’s (supposed) awesome gifts are matched only by his or her ability to withstand skepticism and ridicule. But are our misgivings towards these intuitives justified? Is it merely smoke and mirrors which they’ve learned to master, or are they, in fact, possessed of powers beyond our comprehension? This hour, we speak with believers, skeptics, and self-proclaimed psychics to find out. GUESTS: Daryl Bem: Emeritus professor of psychology at Cornell University and the author of Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect Allison Dubois: A psychic medium and profiler and the author of several books, including Into the Dark: How the Dead Help Us Heal Benjamin Radford: Deputy editor for Skeptical Inquirer and co-host of Squaring the Strange Emily Stroia: An ituitive medium, the founder of the Intuitive Soul Academy, and the author of several books, including Psychic Development for Beginners Jenniffer Weigel: An Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and the author of Psychics, Healers and Mediums: A Journalist, a Road Trip, and Voices from the Other Side The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 28, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Connecticut lobster rolls, curating everything, Canadian blue lettuce, the movie version of Jurassic Park, the correct pronunciation of “New Haven” and other things, the problem with open primaries … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One Night Only is an R-rated dystopian sci-fi sex comedy rom-com. But then, what movie isn’t an R-rated dystopian sci-fi sex comedy rom-com, really? It is directed by Will Gluck (who also directed Anyone but You and Easy A and other things). It has grossed $7.4 million over its first six days in theaters, and it’s in danger of becoming a box office bomb. And: “Two People Exchanging Saliva (Deux personnes échangeant de la salive)” is a black-and-white French-language absurdist comedy-drama short film written and directed by Alexandre Singh and Natalia Mistreata. It won this year’s Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. And finally: The Atlantic says there’s an “eroticism shortage.” And that feels right. Right? And so what’s that all about? GUESTS: RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist whose latest work includes the cover stories for the four most recent issues of Bat Conservation International’s Bats magazine Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you ask an AI chatbot what its favorite color is, chances are it’ll say blue. What’s going on? This hour, we look at why so many people love the color blue, and what blue means in art and culture and our lexicon. Plus: Why are Democrats blue and Republicans red? And, the universe is getting less blue? GUESTS: Kory Stamper: Lexicographer, and author of True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc Pink Kushin Mukherjee: Postdoctoral scholar in the Cognitive Tools Lab at Stanford University Einav Rabinovitch-Fox: Historian, Visiting Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University, and Managing Editor at the Cleveland Museum of Art Ivan Baldry: Professor of Astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University Music featured (in order): Blue (Da Ba Dee) – Eiffel 65 Am I Blue – Dinah Washington Blue – Joni Mitchell Blue Skies – Eva Cassidy Blue Money – Van Morrison I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues – Alessia Cara Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In April, 2010, we did a segment on the concept of the mesofact, a certain kind of data point that feels fixed even though it’s actually always slowly changing. And we’ve gone back to the idea every now and again ever since. This hour, a look at three things about the world that changed pretty dramatically while you were thinking about other stuff. Hey, did you know there’s a fifth ocean now? Hey, did you know that you can put hot food right into your fridge now? Hey, did you know that goldfish are actually pretty smart? Those kinds of things. GUESTS: Andrea Barnes: A writer at Wirecutter covering large cleaning appliances and laundry Liam McCabe: A writer at Wirecutter covering home improvement Cait Newport: An associate professor at the University of Oxford, where she leads the Animal Perception and Cognition Group Alex Tait: The Geographer at the National Geographic Society Music featured (in order): Things Change – Venus It Ain’t Necessarily So – Jaimee Paul Rock the Boat – Hues Corporation Washing Dishes – G. Love and Special Sauce Money for Nothing – Dire Straits Goldfish – Fionn Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A study shows that AI chatbots often engage in sycophantic behavior. Just like some humans. This hour, we take a look at sycophants in literature and in politics. And we talk about sycophancy and artificial intelligence. GUESTS: Mark Parker: Professor Emeritus of English at James Madison University and co-author of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy Virginia Heffernan: Writes a regular column for The New Republic and the Substack “Magic + Loss.” She is co-host of the podcast “Omnishambles” Malihe Alikhani: Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and a resident Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution with a focus on AI policy Music featured (in order): Overture to Rigoletto – Giuseppi Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmoniker I Believe in You – Peggy Lee Don’t Cry – Seal You Fascinate Me So – Mabel Mercer What You Want To Hear – Sub-Radio Flattery – Rosemary Clooney, Jose Ferrer The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 8, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌ Music featured (in order): Light the Way – Leon Bridges 47th Street – Lalah Hathaway, J. Ivy Twiggy – Remi Wolf Sweet Surrender – Halie Loren Inspira – Lauren Henderson, Sullivan Fortner Back in Love – Suki Waterhouse Reminder – Margaret Glaspy Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Furious is a Hulu Original crime drama-thriller series created by Elizabeth Meriwether, who also created New Girl and The Dropout and other things. It is inspired by the 1987 thriller Black Widow, which is also about a female serial killer and the female cop (a DOJ data analyst in 1987 and a new FBI agent here) who’s trying to catch her. Furious stars Emmy Rossum, Lola Petticrew, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, and more. And then: Last weekend was the highest-grossing weekend in the history of the domestic box office. That weekend was led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which had the biggest domestic opening ever, and by The Odyssey, which is a three-hour adaptation of Homer that gets closer to $1 billion every day. Also this year, two small horror movies, Obsession and Backrooms, have made more than $390 million each. And the new Toy Story and the new Mario movie and the Michael Jackson biopic have all made $1 billion each. Which is to say: People are going back to the movies! Which is great! Mostly. Right? GUESTS: Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist whose latest work includes the cover stories for the four most recent issues of Bat Conservation International’s Bats magazine Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University Music featured (in order): Wonderful Illusions – Eartha Kitt Have You Seen Her – The Chi-Lites That's Why God Made the Movies – Paul Simon Dinner and a Movie – Phish See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What can you say about the sun? It sits at the center of our solar system and has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art, and countless other aspects of our culture. We’ve relied on its light, heat, and gravity for as long as we’ve been around, and we continue to find ways to harness its energy for our daily needs. This hour, we look at the place our sun holds kind of literally at the center of all of human history and ask what the future holds for our nearest star. GUESTS: Christina Agapakis: Creative director at Ginko Bioworks Sarbani Basu: William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Astronomy at Yale University John Grim: Senior lecturer and research scholar teaching in the joint MA program in religion and ecology at Yale University School of the Environment and Yale Divinity School John Perlin: Physicist at UCLA Santa Barbara and the author of Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean for a work to be incomplete? This hour, we look at a wide span of unfinished projects, from posthumous novels to highways to nowhere. Guests: Alex Belth is the editor of Esquire Classic and author of the substack “Dig This with Alex Belth” Jacob Proctor is the Gilbert and Ann Kinney New York Collector at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art and the curator of “Best Laid Plans: Unrealized Projects from the Archives of American Art” Ian Coss is the host of “The Big Dig” podcast from GBH News Music featured (in order): Our Prayer – The Beach Boys Unfinished House – Cautious Clay I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – The Beatles Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell The End Has No End – The Strokes Tea for Two – Tea for Two (1950) OST Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently invoked the Fifth Amendment in a Senate Hearing. This hour: we take a look at our Constitution's Fifth Amendment to learn why it exists and what it means for all of us. GUESTS: Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. His latest book is: Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920, which was a winner of the annual Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Prize James Duane: Teaches at Regent Law School. He is the author of You Have the Right to Remain Innocent: What Police Officers Tell Their Children about the Fifth Amendment. His YouTube video “Don't Talk to the Police” has over 21 million views Clay Risen: Reporter and editor at The New York Times, and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America Music featured (in order): A Fifth of Beethoven – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band Take the Fifth – Spoon When You Say Nothing At All – Alison Krauss Take the Fifth Amendment – Joe Tex Lawyers, Guns and Money – Warren Zevon Exhuming McCarthy – R.E.M. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Todd Blanche, Open AI’s Hugging Face hack, the Iran war, hopium, Connecticut’s highways at night, POSSLQs … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Music featured (in order): ÉPiPHANiE – DOMi & JD BECK Do You Want This – Cosmo’s Midnight, Vancouver Sleep Clinic Anything Could Happen – Laila! I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) – Meshell Ngegeocello, Cynthia Erivo Fire on the Water – Bonobo, Arooj Aftab I’m Just An Old Chunk of Coal – Paul Carrack The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the 38th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the 15th movie in the Multiverse Saga and the second movie in the MCU’s Phase Six. I didn’t really follow most of that, but this next bit will be a little clearer, I think: Brand New Day is the 11th theatrically-released feature-length Spider-Man movie, and it’s the eighth movie to feature Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. In any case, between this and The Odyssey, people are going back to the movies. So that’s good. And: A new study has found that people were speaking about 28% fewer words per day in 2019 than they were in 2005. And that was before COVID! So what are we losing if we aren’t using our speaking voices as much anymore? GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University Music featured (in order): oh yeah? – Steve Lacy Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio Your Most Valuable Possession / Regrets – Ben Folds Five Talk It Over – Grayson Hugh See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Typos and misprints are as old as writing and printing. This hour, we take a look at them from the "Wicked Bible" to National Park signs and your email inbox. And: the changing status of human typos in the age of AI. GUESTS: Rachel Churner: Art critic, editor, and professor. She is a co-curator with Geoff Kaplan of the exhibit “Beauties of My Style: Errata and the Printed Mistake” at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. She is the co-founder of no place press and currently serves as the director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation Jeff Deck: Writer, writing coach and co-author with Benjamin D. Herson of The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time Katie Notopoulos: Senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture Music featured (in order): The Typewriter – Leroy Anderson and “His” Orchestra Typos – The Incredible Casuals Oops!... I Did It Again – Britney Spears Apostrophe – The Doubleclicks S-E-X-X-Y – They Might Be Giants To Make a Mistake Is Human – Ella Fitzgerald Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Homer’s Odyssey, a 12,000-line, nearly 3,000-year-old epic poem, is one of the foundational texts of Western literature. (It’s also one of the oldest surviving sequels!) It has inspired a list of movies as varied as Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. But there haven’t been very many straight screen adaptations of its full story. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is just the second full-length feature film adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey ever made. It is 173 minutes long. It reportedly cost $250 million to make. And it is currently the No. 1 movie in the world, having grossed $666.7 million in just 12 days in theaters. This hour, rock star classicist and translator Emily Wilson joins us to talk Homer, Nolan, and everything in between. Plus: We impanel a full Nose to parse and dissect the movie as only the Nose can. GUESTS: James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College Emily Wilson: A classicist who has published verse translations of Homer, Seneca, Sophocles, and Euripides; her new book, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature, is out in September, 2026, in the United States Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University Music featured (in order): Disco Ulysses – Vulfpeck Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp Zeus’s Law – Ludwig Göransson Ithaca – Ludwig Göransson When I’m Home – James Blake, Travis Scott, Ludwig Göransson Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you make a 100-meter telescope that folds down to three meters so you can tuck it inside a space vehicle? How do you make a heart stent that folds out inside the human body? In each case, researchers have turned to masters of origami, the thousand-year-old art of paper folding. This hour, a look at how paper folding went from a quaint, simple hobby to an extensive form of art that can achieve hundreds of intricate folds. Plus: the ways origami is used beyond the art world, in mathematics, science, and technology. GUESTS: Erik Demaine: Professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robert J. Lang: The author of co-author of more than 20 books on origami art and design The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired March 13, 2014.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What would it mean if nothing matters? This hour, a look at the philosophy of nihilism, and how it shows up online and in children's books. GUESTS: Nolen Gertz: Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He is author of books including Nihilism and Nihilism and Technology Charlie Warzel: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of its technology podcast, "Galaxy Brain" Jon Klassen: Author and illustrator of books including I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, The Rock From The Sky, and The Skull Music featured (in order): Caring is Creepy – The Shins I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ – Shirley Horn Nothing from Nothing – Billy Preston Battle of Who Could Care Less – Ben Folds Five Hurt – Johnny Cash Nothing – A Chorus Line Broadway cast The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 26, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Backrooms is the feature directing debut of Kane Parsons. It is written by Will Soodik and based on Parsons’ YouTube series of the same name, which was inspired by the The Backrooms creepypasta. Backrooms is A24’s highest-grossing movie to date. It is the fifth-highest-grossing independent movie ever made and the second-highest-grossing horror movie of 2026 so far. And: Obsession is the second feature film written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker. It was made for a reported $750,000, and it has grossed $443 million at the worldwide box office. It is Focus Features’ highest-grossing movie to date. It is the highest-grossing movie with a budget under $1 million ever made and the highest-grossing horror movie of 2026 so far. GUESTS: RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Dylan turned 85 years old in May. His first album, 1962’s Bob Dylan, is in its 65th year on record store shelves. We’re at a point where, for most of us, there has simply never been a popular culture in which Dylan wasn’t a towering figure whose influence seems to touch, well, everything. This hour, a look at Bob Dylan at 85. GUESTS: Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator Fred Bals: Hosted the Dreamtime podcast, covering Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host, Bob Dylan Sean Latham: Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, editor of The World of Bob Dylan, and the writer and narrator of It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 Gayle Wald: Professor of American studies at George Washington University; her most recent book is It’s Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 20, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we explore the history and economy of fruits, from the strange to the inedible. Plus, we interrogate what it means for fruits to be seasonal, and why the berries in the supermarket your supermarket aisle might be tasteless! Additionally: why do we think of the Forbidden Fruit as an apple? GUESTS: Lee Reich: Author of several gardening books, including “Fruit: From the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection” and “Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden” Evan Lentz: Commercial Fruit Production Specialist and Educator at the University of Connecticut Extension. Azzan Yadin-Israel: Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and the author of “Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple”. Music featured (in order): No Frills Cumbia (Sensory Fruit) – Kevin MacLeod Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie – Jay at the Techniques Strawberry Fields – The Beatles Coconut – Harry Nilsson Underneath the Apple Tree – Carmen McRae Adam Lay Ybounden – The Cambridge Singers as conducted by John Ritter Garden of Eden – Celtic Woman Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the war with Iran, President Trump’s July 16 primetime speech, President Trump and FIFA and the World Cup Final, Hampshire College, Lucky on Apple TV, usage of words like “proxy,” the Thucydides Trap … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Music featured (in order): Soarin’ – Ginger Root The Game of Love – Michelle Branch, New Radicals let’s go out and play – ganavya (this is very cool) Horns of a Bill – Fiona Apple I Belong to the Sky (Bright Side Mix) – Peter Gabriel Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) – Margo Price, Joan Baez, Memphis Mariachi Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cmd + Z! What kinds of things can we undo and when should we? This hour, we discuss stories of undoing: domestic and global politics in the Trump-era, a project that transformed a river’s ecology, and whether Pluto really deserved that demotion. GUESTS: Bill Curry: Lawyer and politician who has been a two-time Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut and a White House advisor in the administration of Bill Clinton John Magee: The Programs Supervisor for New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department and former Fish Habitat Biologist of 19 years Alan Stern: Planetary scientist and commercial astronaut, best known as the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. His career in exploration spans the solar system Music featured (in order): Mistakes – Lake Street Dive I Wanna Be Around – Sammy Davis Jr. Erase/Rewind – The Cardigans Mercy Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye Into the River – Starling Arrow, Chloe Smith, Rising Appalachian Corner of the Sky – Ben Platt Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Invite is the third movie directed by Olivia Wilde, her followup to Don’t Worry Darling. It’s a relationship comedy set almost entirely in a single apartment, and it stars Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Seth Rogen, and Wilde. It is the fifth international remake of the 2020 Spanish movie The People Upstairs (Sentimental) (and a sixth remake is expected in 2027). For the two weekends of The Invite’s limited release, it was the highest-grossing movie in the U.S. on a per-screen basis. And: The Featherweight is a 2024 movie that tells the story of boxer Willie Pep in the period before his 1964 comeback. It is set mostly in Hartford, and it was shot in Hartford in 2021. (Disclosure: The production used Connecticut Public’s Hartford building as its headquarters, and The Featherweight is presented in association with Connecticut Public Television.) GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he writes the That Gene Seymour Substack Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist whose latest work includes the cover stories for the four most recent issues of Bat Conservation International’s Batsmagazine The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Irving Berlin. Cole Porter. Rodgers and Hart. Rodgers and Hammerstein. George and Ira Gershwin. We love all those songs. There’s a reason they’ve become standards. And a fresh, exciting, new version of, for instance, “Blue Skies” can be fresh and exciting. But what about fresh, exciting, new standards from fresh, exciting, new songwriters? This hour, the great jazz singer-songwriter Nicole Zuraitis joins us in studio to talk a little about her brand new album, The Devil I Knew, and a lot about the idea of a modern songbook — a new, contemporary canon of standards to supplement the Great American Songbook we all know and love. GUESTS: Kat Reinhert: A singer, songwriter, and professor of songwriting at Berklee College of Music Nicole Zuraitis: A Grammy-winning jazz singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and arranger; she is the founder, director, and curator of the Modern Songbook Society The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all love an underdog story. But why? This hour, we take a look at underdogs from David and Goliath to Rocky to The World Cup. GUESTS: A.J. Jacobs: Author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning. His previous books include Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically. He is also host of the “Hello, Puzzlers!” podcast. His Substack is “Experimental Living” Louisa Thomas: Staff writer for The New Yorker. She is the author of Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, among other books Maria Tatar: Professor Emerita of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. She is author of books including The Heroine with 1001 Faces and Arachnomania: Spiders and the Cultural Work They Do for Us Iceman John Scully: Former World Ranked Light Heavyweight Contender and a Current Boxing Trainer Music featured (in order): Gonna Fly Now – Maynard Ferguson Underdog – Spoon Born Under A Bad Sign – Albert King Pick Yourself Up – Ella Fitzgerald David and Goliath – Take 6 Gonna Fly Now – Rocky Orchestra Punching Above My Weight – Snakecharmer Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Biblical scholar James Tabor says that Mary–the mother of Jesus–is “the best known, least known woman in history.” This hour, we’ll get to know Mary a little better and talk about why some people are obsessed with preserving her purity at the expense of her humanity. And, we talk with (The Reverend) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones from Emory University about Mary mythology, The Black Madonna, and the myriad ways Mary is depicted in art and culture. GUESTS: James D. Tabor is a biblical scholar, and a retired professor of religious studies at the University Of North Carolina at Charlotte. He’s the author of The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus. (The Rev.) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones is Assistant Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Emory University. She’s a constructive theologian and scholar of Black religion specializing in Mariology, Black feminist and womanist thought, and theological anthropology. She’s the author of Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Mary On A Cross – Ghost Along Comes Mary – The Association The Wind Cries Mary – Jimi Hendrix Mary Rock the Baby – Jarell Smalls Like a Prayer – Madonna Lady Madonna (Theme from Grace Under Fire) – Aretha Franklin Mary, Did You Know? – The Braxtons The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Isaac Moss contributed to this episode, which originally aired on February 18, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to ticks, the electoral college, nursing, bird doulas, and ambidextrous presidencies … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Music featured (in order): Tomorrow, Again – FATHERS (Nate Smith, Kiefer, CARRTOONS, & Kenny Beats) Yes – Lucy Woodward Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – Bria Skonberg Candle Box – The Mountain Goats Past the Veil – Shannon Lay Just for a Moment – Sophia Galate, Dende Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2025, Stevie Wonder turned 75, and our friend the jazz pianist Noah Baerman put out an album of covers of Wonder’s “message music.” This hour, a look at Stevie Wonder as musical icon, as important civil rights figure, as utterly timeless songsmith. Plus: some in-studio performances of Stevie Wonder classics. GUESTS: Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his newest album is Right Now Volume 4: Visions of Steveland Kevin Gaines: The Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia Erica Tracy: A vocalist, songwriter, and arts curator MUSIC FEATURED (in order): You Haven’t Done Nothing – Stevie Wonder Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonder Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) – Stevie Wonder Higher Ground – Noah Baerman Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder Big Brother – Stevie Wonder Black Man – Stevie Wonder Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart – Stevie Wonder The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired December 12, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How often are you bored nowadays? This hour we take a look at the psychology of boredom to learn what's happening in our minds when we're bored, and if there's any benefit to it. Plus, a look at boredom through history and literature. And, what makes a movie boring? GUESTS: James Danckert: A Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. He is co-author of Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom Peter Toohey: A Professor of Classics at the University of Calgary, and author of books including Boredom: A Lively History Mary Mann: The College Archivist at The Cooper Union, and the author of Yawn: Adventures in Boredom David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Music featured (in order): No Rain – Blind Melon Bored – Billie Eilish One More Day – Todd Rundgren Still I Dream Of It – The Beach Boys Grand Ennui – Mike Nesmith I’m Bored – Iggy Pop Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it possible to live forever? And if so, should we even want to? This hour, we discuss the search for immortality, from ancient philosophers to the elixir of life. Plus, a look at immortalizing public figures through obituaries. Guests: Tushar Irani is a Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University studying Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. Philip Ball is a freelance science writer and the author of “Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science” William McDonald recently retired as the obituaries editor for the New York Times, a position that he held for the past 20 years. Music featured (in order): Galahad – Aoife O’Donovan You Only Live Twice – Nancy Sinatra If We Were Vampires – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Alchemy – Cam Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants to Die) – Ellen McIlwaine CUT FOR TIME I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital) – Connor Oberst Fame – Irene Cara The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The term "classical music" includes a wide variety of music and artists. This hour we take a look at what that category really means. We celebrate the form and help you figure out how to start listening to the genre. Plus, how video game music is bringing new listeners to classical music and live orchestras. GUESTS: Matthew Aucoin: American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. He is author of “The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera” and is co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company. His opera “Euridyce” was produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, making him the youngest composer in nearly a century to have an opera produced by The Met Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch: Author of “Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music”. She is also a violinist who has performed in venues around the world Carolyn Kuan: Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she led the acclaimed world premiere of Huang Ruo’s "The Monkey King" at San Francisco Opera. Her recording of Huang Ruo’s "An American Soldier" with the American Composers Orchestra received a 2026 Grammy nomination J. Aaron Hardwick: An internationally active professional conductor, professor of music at Wake Forest University, and Director of the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra, recognized for his work in classical and contemporary repertoire and innovative orchestral programming, including video game music Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired February 5, 2026.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.