The Bat Segundo Show was a long-running cultural radio program devoted to quirky and very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors, idiosyncratic thinkers, and other assorted artists. Guests included David Lynch, Octavia Butler, John Waters, John Updike, Stephen Fry, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Russell, Weird Al Yankovic, Robert A. Caro, and more than 500 others. There was also a program called Follow Your Ears, which was a thematic investigative counterpart, in which I pursued a specific subject through several angles. The entire archive of what I did from 2005 to 2014 is included here.
Ander Monson appeared is most recently the author of Vanishing Point, as well as a poetry collection called The Available World, which nobody had thought to send to Mr. Segundo’s motel room. Contrary to photographic evidence, Mr. Monson does not have a beard. Mr. Monson previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #21, just before […]
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MoreDue to a Seagate drive biting the dust, which took out the raw data for four years (as well as unmastered audio for three interviews we were sitting on), there won’t be a new show this week. Efforts are presently being made to recover the data, which stands some chance of being salvaged. But we […]
MoreDaniel Okrent is most recently the author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Bombarded by too much bathtub gin and too many over-the-top movie trailers. Author: Daniel Okrent Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I wanted to ask you about Walgreen’s. You point out that it […]
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MoreJoseph Wallace is most recently the author of Diamond Ruby. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Replacing his failed Atkins diet with three square squirrel meals each day. Author: Joseph Wallace Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: Radar guns were introduced in 1935 to measure a baseball’s speed. Before that, you had speed machines, which […]
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MoreBarry Gifford is most recently the author of Sailor & Lula: The Complete Novels. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wilder than his heartburn. Author: Barry Gifford Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Gifford: Well, the point is “Don’t be a victim.” I mean, I think I have another chapter somewhere that’s called “Victims.” But that’s […]
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MoreJulie Orringer is most recently the author of The Invisible Bridge. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Bridging the gap between Paris and Budapest. Author: Julie Orringer Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: You’re balancing a 200,000 word manuscript, I’m guessing. Orringer: Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. Correspondent: The thing I actually wanted to talk to […]
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MoreRobin Black is most recently the author of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This. Condition of Mr. Segundo: If he could tell you, he’d have to love you. Author: Robin Black Subjects Discussed: Writing ten stories over eight years, rumination time and writing, Black discarding 75% of what she writes, the importance […]
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MoreAdam Thirlwell is most recently the author of The Escape. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if a piña colada might serve as literary escape. Author: Adam Thirlwell Subjects Discussed: The narrator device in Politics and The Escape, not understanding an early attempt to write a Henry James novel, the S&M of a writer being both […]
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MoreJuan José Campanella is most recently the co-writer and director of The Secret in Their Eyes, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and opens in theaters on April 16, 2010. Allison Amend is most recently the author of Stations West and previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #256. Condition of Mr. […]
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MoreJulie Klausner is most recently the author of I Don’t Care About Your Band Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dodging dubious-minded vegans. Author: Julie Klausner Subjects Discussed: Terms for imposing snow, submitting a story to the New York Times‘s “Modern Love” section, the rejected “Modern Love” column, writing a book without any specific disciplinary pattern, crossing […]
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MoreNell Irvin Painter is most recently the author of The History of White People. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Drowning in David Coverdale’s noxious imperialism. Author: Nell Irvin Painter Subjects Discussed: Dred Scott, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Buck vs. Bell, Plessy vs. Ferguson, William Z. Ripley, racist intellectuals vs. racist legal decisions, Irish poverty and Emerson’s […]
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MoreMarisa Meltzer is most recently the author of Girl Power. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering why Liz Phair is running away. Author: Marisa Meltzer Subjects Discussed: Mapping out what it means to be a woman, leveling patriarchal playing fields, identity and feminist consciousness, siblinghood fantasies, Sassy Magazine, riot grrls, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Pavement, relying too […]
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