The Colin McEnroe Show

As we have every year for at least the last 10 years , to round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year. GUESTS: Jen Allen : A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her most recent album is Sifting Grace Noah Baerman : A pianist, composer, and educator; his most recent album, with Henry Lugo, is  Alter Ego Gene Seymour : A film, television, and music critic The Colin McEnroe Show...

This hour: invisibility. We learn about the science of invisibility and whether we’re getting close to having the technology to turn invisible. We also talk about invisibility in pop culture and science fiction and debate questions we all have about what would happen if someone could turn invisible. GUESTS:  Gregory Gbur:  Author of  Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not To Be Seen , an...

Romance novels have long had a reputation for being flimsy, sexist, trashy bodice-rippers. But there’s lots more to the genre than meets the eye. This hour, we look at what makes romance novels work – and why so many of us are devouring them. GUESTS:  Olivia Waite: The New York Times Book Review ’s romance fiction columnist who writes queer and historical romance, fantasy, and critical essays on t...

Every year since 2014, we’ve done some version of this show. We get “Big Al” Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine and Colin together, we sing some songs, tell some stories, have some surprise guests … and somehow we wind up with a holiday special. We couldn’t, strictly speaking, do the together part of that this year. But that’s no reason not to sing songs — eight of them, no less — and tell stories and h...

Maestro  is the  second film  produced, written, and directed by Bradley Cooper. Netflix calls it a “love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.” It stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia and Cooper as Leonard Bernstein.  Maestro  is nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Drama and Best Director, Motion Picture. Plu...

At the beginning of the year, the company behind the public effort to de-extinct the wooly mammoth announced it will also be de-extincting the dodo. The announcement stirred up a lot of excitement and questions about whether we can – or should – bring back species once they’re gone. So this hour we're talking about de-extinction! We’ll hear about what it takes to bring back extinct animals, effort...

As some stores announce they are getting rid of self-checkout machines, we take an hour to explore that technology and its impacts. We'll debate its pros and cons, look at the history of self-service at grocery stores, and talk about the future of technology in stores. Plus, we'll learn about the psychology of "weak ties," and the value of talking to strangers in places like the checkout aisle. GU...

This hour, we look at the idea of sacredness — in both religious and secular spaces — and ask how we can identify and make places for the sacred in our everyday lives, through reading, music, and even baseball. GUESTS: Mark Miller: Lecturer in sacred music at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School, composer in residence at Drew University, and the minister of music of Christ Church M...

We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to YouTube’s algorithm, The Misfits song “ Hybrid Moments ,” Costco,  John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial , the perpetual state of existential dread that millennials expe...

Cult documentaries and docuseries  sure seem to be having a moment right now . ( On the other hand. ) This isn’t the sort of material The Nose usually gets into. But, and partly inspired by Cat’s Corner in  the current edition of The Noseletter , we decided to give three popular new shows a look: Escaping Twin Flames  is a three-part Netflix docuseries that looks at the controversial online commun...

A listener told us we should do a call-in show dedicated to endorsements from listeners. What a great recommendation! So we’re doing just that. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter . The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter...

Amanda Mull writes  The Atlantic ’s “ Material World ” column about American consumerism. This hour, we talk with Mull about the state of online shopping and returns, the changing quality of what we buy, and the experience of shopping in person. GUEST:  Amanda Mull : Staff writer at  The Atlantic  who writes the column “Material World” about American consumerism  Join the conversation on  Facebook...

Have you heard the music of Connie Converse? She was a singer-songwriter in New York City in the middle of the 20th century, who, in her lifetime, never received widespread recognition. Then, at 50, she drove off, and was never heard from again. This hour, a look at the life, music, and legacy of Connie Converse and what her example teaches us about how we think about the role of art and artists i...

What’s in your kitchen? With a plethora of kitchen tools available to us today, the contents of our kitchen drawers varies. But a recent survey has shed light on some trends in kitchen tool ownership. This hour, a look at that data and the history and evolution of kitchen tools and gadgets. Plus, examples of creative kitchen tools throughout history. GUESTS: Megan Elias: Historian and direct...

May December  is the 10th film directed by Todd Haynes and his fifth collaboration with Julianne Moore. It stars Natalie Portman, Moore, and Charles Melton, and it’s loosely based on  Mary Kay Letourneau . And:  John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial  is a three-part docuseries. It is directed by Rob Coldstream and Nick Holt and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. John Lennon was murdered 43 years ago, on...

This show's all about guts! How are our guts and our brains connected? How much of our emotional lives come from our stomachs? And how, across history, did our digestive systems become such pivotal parts of our identity? GUESTS: Diego Bohórquez: Gut-brain neuroscientist Elsa Richardson: Historian of health and medicine and the author of the forthcoming book, “Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut”...

What is a diva? And how has the term evolved? This hour: divas. We look at how the term emerged in the opera and moved into the popular music landscape and take stock of the current moment for divas. GUESTS: Spencer Kornhaber: Staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the new book  On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power Myrna Reynolds: Retired singer who sang at the New York City Opera among many oth...

Hotlines: whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely used one before. From emergency services to customer service and crisis lines, they often fly under the radar in our daily lives. This hour, we’ll look at the history of hotlines and then meet some people who have created innovative ways to talk to strangers on the phone: from a hotline for advice from elementary schoolers to an app that calls...

We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to The Hold Steady, Leonard Bernstein and  Maestro , the (always) impending government shutdown, the late John Lennon’s voice, the late Shane MacGowan’s voice … Anything....

We come to the end of our week of special coverage with a show about how we imagine extraterrestrial life. What do you picture when you picture extraterrestrial life? Is it like E.T.? Or little green men? Or an alien from Star Trek ? This hour is all about how we imagine extraterrestrial life and how those visions are shaped by pop culture. GUESTS: Jaime Green: Freelance writer, editor, writing te...

If you follow the show, then you probably know that we’ve had a bogus ban on astronauts for quite some time now. In case you don’t follow the show, let me just explain at the top here that it’s been 2,220 days — more than six years — since an astronaut last appeared on The Colin McEnroe Show . But. The ban is over! We are astronautless no more! And so, this hour — and to celebrate Astronaughty Wee...

Today, we continue our week of special coverage with a show focused on belief, and how we react when we experience things that we think should be impossible. A few years ago, Diana Walsh Pasulka published  American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology , which looked at the mechanism of belief in extraterrestrial life, finding that this is becoming a new American religion. Now, she has a new book out...

Today, our week of discussions about life in the universe continues as we talk with two prominent astrophysicists about the possibility of life outside of earth. Astrophysicist Adam Frank is part of the team of scientists that is currently using the most advanced technology to search for life on other planets. This hour, we talk with Frank about that work, and what would happen if they find someth...

The United States has a long history of UFO sightings and reports, dating all the way back to the 1940s. This hour we talk about that history, and, specifically, how the U.S. government has related to these objects over time with Garrett Graff, author of the new book  UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There . GUEST:  Garrett Graff : Journalist and hi...

President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963. It would be hard to argue that the modern American era, the era that we’re still living in 60 years later, didn’t begin on that Friday afternoon in Dallas. It would be hard to overstate the effect and influence of that event, that act on the American psyche. This hour, a look at the shadow that the JFK assassination still casts ov...