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MoreThe Bat Segundo Show & Follow Your Ears
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.
Aimee Bender (BSS #16)
Author: Aimee Bender Condition of Mr. Segundo: Still missing. A conspiracy theorist has been enlisted to account for his disappearance. Subjects Discussed: Attention to precision, Flann O’Brien, strange logic, Monty Python, first-person voice, Steve Erickson and The Black Clock, Jeffrey Eugenides, multiple personality disorder, grading papers, publishing short stories with dirty titles in literary journals, […]
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MoreOctavia Butler (BSS #15)
Author: Octavia Butler Condition of Mr. Segundo: Unknown. We can’t find him this week. Subjects Discussed: Anne Rice, the advantages of writing vampire novels, research, the ambiguities of “persistently repulsive” material, Fledgling as ripping vampire yarn and multilayered quest story, setting vampire rules, naming character names, the influence of the state of Washington upon atmosphere, […]
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MoreJennifer Weiner (BSS #14)
Author: Jennifer Weiner Condition of Mr. Segundo: Concerned with time and elusive apocalypses. Subjects Discussed: Mysteries, Susan Isaacs, Zoe Heller, the specific details of murder, inexplicable shame and guilt among the Marina crowd, diapers vs. cloth, whether Matt Lauer should be peed on, the inversion of tough-guy dialogue, first-person voice, observational novels, chicklit, dismissive husbands, […]
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MoreLizzie Skurnick & Wendy Lesser (BSS #13)
Authors: Lizzie Skurnick and Wendy Lesser Condition of Mr. Segundo: Slightly hoarse but nostalgic for trains. Subjects Discussed: The mania of poets, poetic meters, the prejudice against Spenserian stanza, the difficulties of getting a poetry collection published, writing while driving, husband poems, masturbation, clandestine encounters, educating a native Californian about Tyringham, Mass., Horace, the use […]
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MoreLydia Millet (BSS #12)
Author: Lydia Millet Condition of Mr. Segundo: Repentant, perpelxed and adjusting to a sudden change. Subjects Discussed: Beer at 11:30 AM, Richard Rhodes, Wold Newton, American Prometheus, getting biographical details wrong, the influence of fiction vs. nonfiction, the displacement of major historical figures, narrative juggling acts, freakishness in literature, Lynda Barry, obstacles in being a […]
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MoreLaila Lalami (BSS #11)
[PRODUCER’S NOTE: Jorge was unavailable this week. So we were forced to enlist a man who claimed to have performed voiceover work for the 1970s incarnation of Battlestar Galactica to precede Mr. Segundo. Efforts are being made to coax Jorge back to the program, but it’s a little complicated. Mr. Segundo explains the problem in […]
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MoreT.C. Boyle (BSS #10)
Author: T.C. Boyle Condition of Mr. Segundo: Terse, conserving energies for a drink. Subjects Discussed: Boyle as one of the original bloggaz, how Boyle arranges his short stories for his collections, John Cheever, how Boyle got into the New Yorker, the current state of the short story market, the future of literature, country music, historical […]
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MoreLaura Joplin (BSS #9)
Author: Laura Joplin Condition of Mr. Segundo: Fresh from an unexpected vacation, feeling unloved. Subjects Discussed: Remembering Janis Joplin years later, unexpected letters from Janis, Laura Joplin’s bio vs. Myra Friedman’s bio, growing up in the Joplin household, Janis’ literary interests, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Dick Cavett, clarifying the heroin overdose, the qualifications of […]
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MoreBret Easton Ellis (BSS #8)
Approximate Interview Date: Early September 2005 in a locked hotel conference room. Author: Bret Easton Ellis Condition of Mr. Segundo: Cold and impoverished. Subjects Discussed: The two Brets, finding the voice of Bret the narrator, “ten years on an outline,” metafiction, origins of Lunar Park, Stephen King, the use of brand name description in fiction, […]
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MorePeriel Aschenbrand (BSS #7)
Approximate Interview Date: An afternoon in San Francisco in late August, 2005 Author: Periel Aschenbrand Condition of Mr. Segundo: Strangely ambiguous about his identity. Subjects Discussed: Balance between the personal and the political, evolution of The Only Bush I Trust is My Own and Body as Billboard, getting clearance from friends and family, online dating, […]
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MoreNorman Solomon (BSS #6)
Approximate Date: An evening in the Mission in mid-August, 2005 Author: Norman Solomon Condition of Mr. Segundo: Lonely, wistful, about as romantic as Mr. Segundo is capable of. Subjects Discussed: The relationship between government policy and media, the U.S. government as advertising model, war as product, Charlotte Beers, the element of casualties, use of the […]
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