The Voice of the Arts

A fateful bus ride provides the backdrop for an exploration of early '60s race relations and the differing beliefs between a mother and her son in Flannery O'Connor's award-winning 1961 short story.

Spending time with Uncle Jasper and Aunt Dawn.

When faced with a million dollar question about the planets, it's important to be careful which answer you put your finger on.

Songs and tales from riding the rails.

Was the woman in the negligee being carried by King Kong as he climbed the Empire State Building actually one of the cleaning women?

How a youthful, dissolute lifestyle helped create the terrific lyrics to Leonard Cohen's “Closing Time."

A suggestion for how to handle the check at the end of a dinner with friends: hand it to the person next to you and say "This is outrageous! I wouldn't pay it if I were you!"

For some, bundling is nothing more than combining phone, internet and cable plans into one low monthly rate. But for others, it's a whole lot more fun than that.

Opera, music, movies, and poetry dealing with Italian culture across continents and generations.

A retrospective of the unique and varied career of director George Miller, along with the story of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher's battle against ISIS.

How far can one lower their own standards before they've gone too low? It seems there truly is no limit.

A brand-new interview with Old West expert Jim Dunham exploring the life of government scout and notorious hired gun Tom Horn, who used his fluency in the difficult Apache language to help capture Geronimo and was played by Steve McQueen in one of his last film roles.

Richard Yates' short story, which captures one third grade teacher's ability to make the classroom feel decidedly like a dungeon.  

A theory about the invention of work and the office, and a tale of two Henry's: Henry V and Henry Hill.

Thespian, O Thespian! Glenn Close and Jon Lovitz show us their undying devotion for their one true love -- acting! And the make-believe continues with young Olivia and her imaginary friend Charlie Ravioli, who is always too busy working to actually play with her.

Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family take us on a tour of some of country music's early pioneers. Plus, the Fanny Farmer Cookbook and a General Motors ad from the 2008 recession: Take this car...please.

Welcoming you to the new year with a dose of comedy: Jackie Mason talks relationship advice, Simon Rich explores the secret lives of animals, and Bob & Ray attend a spelling bee.

It's not Thanksgiving without some of the best music from Eastern Europe: Corky Bucek's “Bing Bong Bing Bong Did a Liddle Liddle." Plus, the perils of sexual overstimulation, and a story about God's girlfriend from Simon Rich.

Ian Frazier explores human fallacy and the pivotal question: Does doing something stupid make you an idiot? Or are you merely someone who suffers from idiocy?

A collection of early country classics from the lovesick and broken-hearted -- Webb Pierce, George Jones, Hank Williams and many others.

Letters of recommendation, job rejections and sales contests -- an exploration of the ups and downs of the modern workplace.

I guess the Grandmother was right -- they should have gone to East Tennessee instead. Flannery O'Connor's brilliant, gothic 1953 short story.

Getting a tattoo removed isn't always as straightforward as it seems. A new episode to accompany all your summer fun.

“Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." These were Stonewall Jackson's last words, and they provide a poignant and fitting framework around this week's episode, which explores love, loss, joy and death, and the ways in which they are all interconnected. From the personal to the poetic to the hilarious, we aim to show that laughter and tears often go hand in hand.

We all know the story of Paul Revere's legendary ride to warn of approaching British forces during the Revolutionary War, but few remember the real hero of the tale — his heroic horse Oatsy. This week, he finally gets his due. And we pay tribute to Sidney Bechet, a musician who embodied the New Orleans ragtime tradition at its best. As we read from his autobiography “Treat It Gentle” we'll hear of his public debut on the clarinet and how he tried to convince the father of a pregnant teenager that he was the responsible party even though he wasn't.

Kate Walbert's 2012 New Yorker short story is set on a buzzing early spring day in Times Square, evoking the unique sense of renewal and energy palpable in New York when the city finally begins to thaw out from a long winter. While dutifully fulfilling her youngest daughter's wish of visiting the hectic M&M World, Ginny's day turns tense as she struggles to keep track of her kids and revisits memories of her estranged husband.

We feature another great short story by Alice Munro titled “Axis,” first published in The New Yorker in 2011. As in many of Alice Munro's short stories, the characters aren't like anyone I know, but they never seem contrived or invented. I would say that she loves creating characters and then observing them as they go their own way.

This week we return to an early classic episode, an exploration of the impact of passionate and well-crafted speech. Effective rhetoric can rouse supporters and sway opponents, and aptly chosen words have the ability to pierce and persuade like little else. Featuring some of the greatest masters of the craft -- Churchill, Shakespeare, Sorkin, and of course, Jack Handey -- we will show how great writers have an exceptional ability to inspire, enrage, and enliven their audiences. We will hear Kenneth Branagh's rendition of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V, Winston Churchill delivering his own rousing speech discussing the drumbeat of war building in Germany in 1934, one of Jack Nicholson's most memorable film speeches of all time from "A Few Good Men," and Jack Handey's discovery of Attila the Hun's least known speech.

In 1954, Frank Sinatra won an Oscar for his performance as a scrappy soldier named Angelo Maggio in the film “From Here to Eternity."  In our Winter Doldrums podcast, we play an audio clip from Francis Ford Coppola's first Godfather film that details how that role went to Sinatra over the intense objection of Columbia Pictures head of production Harry Cohn.  We also have an audio clip from Francois Truffaut's film “Fahrenheit 451,” adapted from Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name.

A new year brings with it a new episode, with lots to keep you warm during this cold and rainy season. We feature two classic comedy segments, one of which is comedy duo Bob & Ray's “Two Faces West," a sketch which might have been based on film heavy Jack Palance's inability to get on a horse without looking funny. Indeed, the only way he could be convincingly shown mounting one for the famous Western "Shane" was through a bit of movie magic: he'd be assisted onto the horse first, then filmed getting off solo so that the editors could reverse the footage and make it look like he had effortless command of the move.

Is it humanly possible to have too much cowbell? I mean is it physically, psychologically, emotionally, and morally possible to have too much cowbell?

“What I mean is, this kind of music? Concerts and the like? They ever pay money to sit down for a couple of hours and wear their bottoms out listening to something they wouldn't recognize half a day later? Pay money simply to perpetrate a fraud? You ever know them to do that?"

When this episode was first released, we were only 2 months into the Covid pandemic, and many people were homesteading and finding new comforts in simple joys like crafting and baking. Host Joe Weber took this moment as an opportunity to impart some of his well-earned knowledge as a lifelong baker and bakery supplier by giving some highly useful baking tips, which still remain as relevant and useful as they were then. As an accompaniment to the bread course, the menu is packed -- two stand-up bits by Jackie Mason, a couple of Cole Porter tunes, a reading from Richard Yates and a visit from Jack Handey. And of course, a healthy serving of cowbell!

We return this week with another early episode which highlights the life and times of New Orleans musician Sidney Bechet, the legendary jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, and his relationship with Bessie Smith, who he describes as "...the damnedest singer...that would really have the public going." Featuring bits from his autobiography, we learn of his knack for finding trouble, his stint in prison, and of course his musical journeys with Bessie and others. Full of great songs and wonderful pieces of Bechet history, this is one of our classic episodes.

Among his many talents, Irish writer Frank O'Connor had a particular gift for showing the world through the eyes of young, precocious, often naive protagonists, like Larry Delaney of his 1957 story "The Genius." Larry wants to be the town's first proper genius and win the affections of Una Dwyer -- first, he just has to find out where babies come from. We revisit this timeless story, originally featured in an early episode of the podcast, along with musings from Jack Handey, poetry by Richard Wilbur, and lots of great music.

Continuing with the theme of our last episode, we present another one of Flannery O'Connor's great short stories, "A Late Encounter with the Enemy." In this 1953 story, elderly former Civil War veteran George Poker Sash attends his 62-year-old granddaughter's fateful college graduation, and the occasion leads to ruminations on memory, aging, and mortality. Host Joe Weber leads off the show with some of his own musings on the realities of aging, and as always, music guides the way.

Flannery O'Connor was one of the greatest Southern writers, and one who truly understood the people and nuances of the South. In our second ever episode, we featured one of her classic short stories, "Everything that Rises Must Converge." Published near the end of her life, it deals with a changing South as seen through the lens of recent college graduate Julian and his old-fashioned mother. This week, we feature the story once again in a return to that early episode.

This week we revisit another of our very first episodes, featuring a wonderful 1950 short story by Irish writer Frank O'Connor entitled “First Confession." The story explores a seven-year-old boy's anxieties over having to give his first ever confession at church. It is a show favorite which sharply exhibits O'Connor's wit and shows real sympathy for his young protagonist.

You might just want to listen to this re-release of Podcast #22 if you answer YES to the following questions: Are you so tired of superheroes that even a hero sandwich gives you pause? Are you a man who can readily observe unique qualities in your spouse such as the ability to save you from a school of man-eating rainbow trout? Are you a baby boomer who has experienced the heartache of being unable to find a human being anywhere on a customer hotline? These, and more, explored in this week's return to "Anti-Heroes"!

A toxic mix of Bob Newhart, Mel Brooks, Dr. Fllambeau, and the best Klezmer band that ever was.

"Paging Mr. Driftwood!" Humor abounds in this episode, brought to you by the likes of Groucho Marx, Bob Newhart, and Flight of the Conchords. A treasure trove of comedy gold all for the low low price of free -- there's no chance you'll see the bill and say "This is an outrage! If I were you, I wouldn't pay it..."

Returning to our very first episode, we feature the short story "The Babes in the Wood" from Irish writer Frank O'Connor, a show favorite whose work often appeared in The New Yorker during his life.

This week, we revisit a favorite episode from the past -- Episode #15: "The Sacred and the Profane", in which Simon Rich wonders whether making sure that Orel Hershiser won his game prevented God from relieving half a million flood victims in Southeast Asia.

Geronimo and the longest armed conflict in U.S. History, including the recently ended war in Afghanistan.

The Spirit of Giving, 3 gals crazy for Santa, and Clyde McPhatter's "White Christmas".

Stefan Fllambeau gets to the bottom of Atlanta's scandal at the DOT. And, the Venona Project, and what we knew but could not reveal about Soviet espionage during the critical years toward the end of World War II and after.

Acting at its finest, and a story about an imaginary playmate who can't play because he has to take a meeting.

Music from Eastern Europe: Corky Bucek's “Bing Bong Bing Bong Did a Liddle Liddle". Plus, the perils of sexual overstimulation, and Simon Rich with a story about God's girlfriend.

A grand mix of the St. Crispin's Day Speech from "Henry V" and some insight into another Henry: Henry Hill, who helped engineer the largest cash robbery in American history. Plus, the life and music of Jackie Wilson.

The varied films of George Miller from "Mad Max" to "Babe", and the story of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher and the battle against ISIS for the City of Mosul.

Free-Range Chicken Number 1: "Life is really great here. The food is fantastic and you really get room to run around and peck others." Free-Range Chicken Number 2: "Tell me about it. I'm never thirsty because there's always water nearby and I hear that when the farmer comes for you, they take you to a wonderful place where you're taught to fly."