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.
Mike Leigh is the filmmaker behind Naked, Life is Sweet, Vera Drake, and, most recently, Happy-Go-Lucky, which is currently playing the New York Film Festival (among many others) and opens in the United States on October 10. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Too unhappy and too unlucky. Guest: Mike Leigh Subjects Discussed: Vocational symmetries within Leigh’s […]
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MoreBonnie Tyler is the legendary singer behind such tracks as “Vernal Equinox of the Mind” and “Holding Out for a Supervillain.” Condition of Mr. Segundo: Nothing he can say, a total eclipse of the Bat. Guest: Bonnie Tyler Subjects Discussed: Tyler co-writing most of the tracks on the album, Wings, singing vs. songwriting, breaking up […]
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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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MoreBrent Spiner is most recently a producer and performer on the album, Dreamland. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Ducking his head and dodging paranoid crooners. Guest: Brent Spiner Subjects Discussed: Natural reverb, conversational limitations, co-owning a recording studio with Dave Way, being a control freak, the shaky profitability of the music industry, self-distributing a CD through […]
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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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MorePaul Auster is most recently the author of Man in the Dark. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Opening himself up to explanation. Author: Paul Auster Subjects Discussed: Starting a novel from a title, the advance titles contained within The Book of Illusions, the working title of The Music of Chance, Mr. Blank, the relationship between Travels […]
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MoreJenny Davidson is most recently the author of The Explosionist. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Investigating the veracity of explosions. Author: Jenny Davidson Subjects Discussed: Coincidental run-ins, the necessity of war, Edmund Burke, philosophical asides, a novelist’s use of argument, Agatha Christie novels, John Buchan, ending chapters on cliffhangers, early 20th century British adventure fiction, alternate […]
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MoreRoss Raisin is the author of God’s Own Country (UK title)/Out Backward. (Please note: This discussion deals at length with many of the Yorkshire terms that Mr. Raisin uses within his novel. Please consult this lexicon if you’d like to know more.) Condition of Mr. Segundo: Abdicating to a helium-impaired fill-in host. Author: Ross Raisin […]
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MoreEthan Canin is most recently the author of America America. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Examining his miserable relationship with America. Author: Ethan Canin Subjects Discussed: Neil Diamond’s “America,” the stuttering titular impulse, the Corvair, journalists as heroes, intentional vs. unintentional symbols, the reporter’s instinct, “the ingenuity of the working man,” ideology, the politics of generosity, […]
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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 […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 49:33 — 45.4MB)
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