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.
Sally Potter is the writer and director of the 1992 film Orlando, adapted from the Virginia Woolf novel, which opens in re-release on July 23, 2010. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hoping to live forever or die trying. Guest: Sally Potter Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: One interesting aspect about Orlando, from my […]
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MoreJennifer Weiner is most recently the author of Fly Away Home. Ms. Weiner previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #198 and The Bat Segundo Show #14. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hoping to be frightened by The Motherland sometime soon. Author: Jennifer Weiner Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: It seems to me […]
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MoreDan Chaon is most recently the author of Await Your Reply. [PROGRAM NOTES: This conversation, conducted in May, was almost lost when a Seagate drive bit the dust. Considerable gratitude to data recovery specialist Wayman Ng, who managed to resuscitate this conversation from the grave. My apologies also to the very kind and patient Dan […]
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MoreMarcy Dermansky is most recently the author of Bad Marie. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Misidentifying French landmarks and attempting to make peace with copy editors in sketchy motel rooms. Author: Marcy Dermansky Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I want to touch upon coincidence. Because it does create possibly a problem for a […]
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MoreGary Rivlin is most recently the author of Broke USA: From Pawnshop to Poverty, Inc. — How the Working Poor Became Big Business. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Considering the advances of a seductive loan shark. Author: Gary Rivlin Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Rivlin: One in every five customers is taking twenty or […]
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MoreKathryn Schulz is most recently the author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Feeling wrong about whether or not he’s right. Author: Kathryn Schulz Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I wanted to first of all start off with Thomas Kuhn, who you bring up a […]
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MoreAnder 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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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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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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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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MoreChang-Rae Lee is most recently the author of The Surrendered Condition of Mr. Segundo: Searching for the middle-ground between “beat” and “sweet.” Author: Chang-Rae Lee Subjects Discussed: The similarities and differences between writing in first-person vs. third-person, the advantages of sitting in the god’s seat, infinite choices within sentences, the difficulties in pursuing the “inner […]
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MoreDavid Shields is most recently the author of Reality Hunger. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Settling for a quesadilla or some reality for lunch. Author: David Shields Subjects Discussed: The origins of the novel and the pretense of actuality, Shields’s dismissal of Myla Goldberg’s forthcoming novel based solely on a catalog description, the creative possibilities that […]
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