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.
Reed Cowan appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #341. Mr. Cowan is most recently the director of 8: The Mormon Proposition, which opens in numerous theaters on June 18, 2010. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Conducting investigations on Dick Van Pattern’s possible Mormon connections. Guest: Reed Cowan Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I […]
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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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MoreDaniel Okrent is most recently the author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Bombarded by too much bathtub gin and too many over-the-top movie trailers. Author: Daniel Okrent Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I wanted to ask you about Walgreen’s. You point out that it […]
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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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MoreMarisa Meltzer is most recently the author of Girl Power. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering why Liz Phair is running away. Author: Marisa Meltzer Subjects Discussed: Mapping out what it means to be a woman, leveling patriarchal playing fields, identity and feminist consciousness, siblinghood fantasies, Sassy Magazine, riot grrls, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Pavement, relying too […]
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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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MoreMarilyn Johnson is most recently the author of This Book is Overdue! Condition of Mr. Segundo: Hoping to avoid being arrested by Rusty the Bailiff. Author: Marlyn Johnson Subjects Discussed: Why libraries are little regarded by the American public, the preservation of blogs and websites, Josh Greenberg’s efforts at digital preservation, the Firefox extension Zotero, […]
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MorePeniel Joseph is most recently the author of Dark Days, Bright Nights. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if he lands on Plymouth Rock, or Plymouth Rock lands on him. Author: Peniel Joseph Subjects Discussed: Whether or not the bold declarations within Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech has been entirely heeded, the progress […]
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MoreKen Auletta is most recently the author of Googled and writes the “Annals of Communication” column for The New Yorker. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if his Chinese food takeout history can be Googled. Author: Ken Auletta Subjects Discussed: Clarifying Auletta’s theory of Sergey Brin and Larry Page as “cold engineers,” responding to Nicholson Baker’s […]
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MoreTerry Teachout is most recently the author of Pops. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Playing for handy water closets. Author: Terry Teachout Subjects Discussed: Managing professional duties, the exigencies of sifting through 650 reels of Louis Armstrong’s tapes, Armstrong’s encounters with the mob, Armstrong’s relationship with manager Joe Glaser, the aborted Duke Ellington collaborative album, Pierre […]
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