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.
music
Marisa Meltzer (BSS #328)
Marisa 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 […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 32:50 — 30.1MB)
MoreArthur Phillips (BSS #288)
Arthur Phillips is most recently the author of The Song is You. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reconsidering the playlists and those who play him. Author: Arthur Phillips Subjects Discussed: Characters who are enslaved to culture, partisan positions in relation to hoarding facts, being in denial about larger arguments within novels, Nabokov’s Lectures on Literature, aesthetic […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 49:46 — 45.6MB)
MoreEsther Rots and Dan Geesin (BSS #278)
Esther Rots is the writer, director, editor, and producer of is most recently the director of Can Go Through Skin. Dan Geesin is the sound designer and music composer of the film. The film is presently playing at the New Directors/New Films series, which is running between March 25 and April 5 at MOMA and […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 27:12 — 24.9MB)
MorePale Young Gentlemen (BSS #242)
Pale Young Gentlemen is a band from Madison, Wisconsin that is currently touring across the United States, and has just released its second album, Black Forest (tra la la). Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contending with unexpected discrimination during the economic crisis. Guest: Michael Reisenauer (of Pale Young Gentlemen) Subjects Discussed: The benefits of “Pale Young […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 27:06 — 24.8MB)
MoreBonnie Tyler (BSS #237)
Bonnie 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 […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 37:18 — 34.1MB)
MoreDaniel Levitin (BSS #235)
Daniel 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,” […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 28:28 — 26.1MB)
MoreMike Edison (BSS #226)
Mike Edison is the author of I Have Fun Everywhere I Go. Condition of the Show: Reinvestigating the purported death of Bat Segundo. (See also Show #199.) Author: Mike Edison Subjects Discussed: Writing a memoir predicated upon shit-talking, sticking with the details, the lack of composite characters, compressed chronology, Heeb editor Josh Neuman vs. Screw […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 52:42 — 48.2MB)
MoreGrandmaster Flash & Karen Abbott (BSS #221)
Grandmaster Flash is most recently the author of The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash (with David Ritz). Karen Abbott is most recently the author of Sin in the Second City. Condition of the Show: Marinating in urban culture. Authors: Grandmaster Flash and Karen Abbott SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Using “adventures” in a book title, cutting, rubbing and scratching, […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 48:23 — 44.3MB)
MoreRalph Bakshi (BSS #214)
Ralph Bakshi is the director of such films as Heavy Traffic, Coonskin, and American Pop. There is also a recent book, Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, now out that collects his work. Condition of the Show: Caught in a musical daydream. Guest: Ralph Bakshi Subjects Discussed: The role of music in Bakshi’s films, making good […]
Listen: Play in new window | Download (Running Time: 43:33 — 39.9MB)
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