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.
David Hajdu is most recently the author of The Ten-Cent Plague. Condition of the Show: Dabbling into hidden threats. Author: David Hajdu Subjects Discussed: Hajdu’s approach to journalism, primary sources vs. secondary sources, categories of people to talk with when preparing a book, tracking down people who disappeared, grassroots methods of finding people, changing names, […]
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MoreErrol Morris is most recently the director of Standard Operating Procedure, which opens on April 25, 2008. (There is also an accompanying book written by Philip Gourevitch.) Guest: Errol Morris Subjects Discussed: Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Torture of Others,” the American cycle of photographing physical abuse, finding out what we’re looking at before drawing conclusions, […]
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MoreNew York ComicCon is a rather insane event featuring all manner of comic artists and other assorted individuals. Many thanks to Eric Rosenfield for interview assistance and his laconic pal Phil for moral support and a shoulder to cry on. 1. Mike Pellerito — In this somewhat naughty conversation, Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Managing Editor […]
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MoreNicholson Baker is most recently the author of Human Smoke. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Deceased. Author: Nicholson Baker Subjects Discussed: Baker’s antipathy for placing the date at the top of an entry, the blogginess of A Box of Matches and Human Smoke, the discrepancy between what Baker remembered and what Updike wrote in U & […]
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MoreMichio Kaku is most recently the author of Physics of the Impossible. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dreaming the impossible dream. Author: Michio Kaku Subjects Discussed: Maximum caps on bandying about theory in physics, relativity and string theory, the Theory of Everything, decoherence and the wave function of the universe, the Large Hadron Collider, detecting sparticles, […]
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MoreJennifer 8. Lee is the author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Indignant towards the ungrateful. Author: Jennifer 8. Lee Subjects Discussed: Comparisons between Chinese restaurants and open source software, General Tso’s chicken, fortune cookies and Analects, how frequently fortune cookie companies rotate fortunes, melon patches, making a living as a fortune […]
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MoreWill Leitch is most recently the author of God Save the Fan. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Running away from the spirit of Red Smith. Author: Will Leitch Subjects Discussed: The inspirational force of Van Halen, music in hockey arenas, speculation on why Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone” is continuously played at football games, special interests in […]
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MoreThis podcast features a roundtable discussion with contributors for The Best Sex Writing 2008 anthology. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Evading burlesque. Authors: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Rachel Shukert, Lux Nightmare, Miriam Datskovsky, and Liz Langley. Subjects Discussed: The meaning and definitions of sex, whether sex is a codeword, semantics, experimentation, George Michael, the erotic nature of […]
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MoreOliver Sacks is most recently the author of Musicophilia. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dwelling upon the rotten fruit that comes from musical relationships. Author: Oliver Sacks Subjects Discussed: Musicophilia, emotional responses in patients with dementia and Tourette’s, an amazing musical rendition from Alzheimer’s patient Woody Geist played by Dr. Sacks on his CD player, the […]
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MoreDavid Michaelis is most recently the author of Schulz and Peanuts. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Heckled for peanuts. Author: David Michaelis Subjects Discussed: The connection between Charles Schulz’s emotional reticence and his Minnesota childhood, Peanuts characters who aren’t explicitly reflected through Schulz’s life, the connection between Lucy and Schulz’s first wife, names borrowed for Peanuts […]
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MoreNaomi Wolf is most recently the author of The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating the end of The Bat Segundo Show. Author: Naomi Wolf Subjects Discussed: James Madison’s prescient statement about the American republic in 1829, the end of America, despotic blueprints, on the […]
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MoreSteven Pinker is most recently the author of The Stuff of Thought. Condition of Mr. Segundo: He knows his first name is not Steven. Author: Steven Pinker Subjects Discussed: The Starbucks coffee cup size hierarchy, L.A. Story, “divorce project” and unusual noun phrase connotations, perceptive illusions in language, connotation and denotation, polysemy, campus slang and […]
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