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.
Alec Foege is most recently the author of Right of the Dial. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Defying the maker of rules and dealing with fools. Author: Alec Foege Subjects Discussed: WINZ switching to Air America because of Fahrenheit 9/11‘s success, Jesse Jackson and Keep Hope Alive, profitability vs. integrity, Clear Channel’s Republican viewpoint, conservative talk […]
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MoreMegan Hustad is most recently the author of How to Be Useful Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating the usefulness of political candidates. Author: Megan Hustad Subjects Discussed: Establishing the terminology of usefulness, the prisoner’s dilemma, usefulness and cooperation, restaurant managers, the publishing industry as a starting point, “suc lit,” coming from a cash-poor middle-class background, […]
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MoreMarkos Moulitsas is most recently the author of Taking on the System. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Refusing to cut and run from Kenny Loggins and company. Author: Markos Moulitsas Subjects Discussed: Speculation on the effectiveness of protests, influencing the gatekeepers, Amy Goodman and other journalists arrested in St. Paul, small-time bloggers, Cindy Sheehan, “Free Mumia” […]
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MoreDaniel Levitin is most recently the author of The World in Six Songs. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Recalling a traumatic musical episode from his marriage. Author: Daniel Levitin Subjects Discussed: Songs that straddle multiple categories within Levitin’s taxonomy, neurological response vs. societal perception of a song, the original eight categories, oxytocin, “I Walk the Line,” […]
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MoreCourtney Humphries is the author of Superdove Condition of Mr. Segundo: Severely underestimating the carnivorous impulses of pigeons. Author: Courtney Humphries Subjects Discussed: Eating squab, pigeon dining options in restaurants, Robert Dunn’s pigeon paradox, urban forms of nature, pigeons as an ineluctable aspect of the city, people’s attitudes towards wildlife, the pigeon’s place in the […]
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MoreSarah Manguso is most recently the author of The Two Kinds of Decay. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating fifty-five additional states of decay. Author: Sarah Manguso Subjects Discussed: David Markson, sentences that originate in other formats, fan mail, whether a paragraph is truly a paragraph, problems with typesetting nomenclature, remembering personal moments at 1,000 words […]
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MoreKathryn Harrison is most recently the author of While They Slept. Condition of Mr. Segundo:: Grappling with death and emergencies. Author: Kathryn Harrison Subjects Discussed: Opening the novel with a stark transcript of a 9/11 call, exchange incongruities, differences between text and spoken word, lack of annotation, true crime as a writing choice, the Keddie […]
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MoreSenator Mike Gravel and Joe Lauria are the co-authors of A Political Odyssey. Gravel was a candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential race. Lauria is an investigative journalist who writes for The Sunday Times. Condition of the Show: Delving into the complexities of the military industrial complex. Authors: Senator Mike Gravel and Joe Lauria. Subjects […]
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MoreFaye Flam is most recently the author of The Score. Condition of the Show: Attempting to contend with gender generalizations. Author: Faye Flam Subjects Discussed: Boot Seduction Camp as the prism with which to approach evolutionary science, the Mystery Method, crude philosophical rules vs. scientific rules, the SRY gene, masculinity’s backup gene, genetics and the […]
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MoreGrandmaster Flash is most recently the author of The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash (with David Ritz). Karen Abbott is most recently the author of Sin in the Second City. Condition of the Show: Marinating in urban culture. Authors: Grandmaster Flash and Karen Abbott SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Using “adventures” in a book title, cutting, rubbing and scratching, […]
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MoreMark Kurlansky is most recently the author of The Last Fish Tale. Condition of the Show: Moving forward after unexpected losses. Author: Mark Kurlansky Subjects Discussed: Mark Kurlansky’s wonderful dog, coming into Gloucester from an outsider’s perspective, possible solutions to global fishing problems, the close parallels between bottom dragging and the decline in fish stocks, […]
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MoreSteven Greenhouse is the New York Times labor reporter and the author of The Big Squeeze. Condition of the Show: Reporting upon the darker truths of America. Author: Steven Greenhouse Subjects Discussed: Whether economic factors of the 1970s or Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous maxim caused the current strife between corporations and workers, the social contract that […]
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