The Culture Show Podcast

“Stand by Me,”  the classic  coming-of-age film, is turning 40. To commemorate the film’s anniversary, “Stand By Me: The Film and its Stars 40 Years Later,” takes place at the Lynn Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, December 6th. There will be a screening followed by a conversation with three of the film’s stars - Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton, and Jerry O’Connell.  Ahead of this event actor and televi...

For nearly fifty years, Peter Drummey has been one of the quiet forces making history accessible. As the longtime Stephen T. Riley Librarian and, most recently, Chief Historian at the Massachusetts Historical Society — the nation’s oldest historical society — he helped generations of researchers navigate one of the country’s richest archives and advised storytellers ranging from filmmakers to the...

Award winning writer and poet Kwame Alexander joins The Culture Show to talk about the PBS Kids debut of “Acoustic Rooster.” Based on Alexander’s beloved children’s book “Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band,” the “Acoustic Rooster” universe is now on  PBS KIDS. To learn more, go here . From there the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout joins The Culture Show to talk about her lates...

Boston’s AAPI Holiday Market returns on December 3, 5–8 PM. Organized by The Boston Foundation’s Asian Business Empowerment Council, the event highlights the creativity and entrepreneurship of the region’s AAPI community.  Irene Li and Qingjian Shi join us for an overview.  Qingjian Shi is Senior Director of the Asian Business Empowerment Council at The Boston Foundation, and Irene Li, a celebrate...

Crossword constructor and writer Natan Last joins us to explore his new book, “Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.”  He traces the evolution of crosswords from early newspaper amusements to today’s culturally expansive grids. Last  is a writer and immigration policy advocate. He writes bimonthly crosswords for “ The New Yorker.”  You can catch him at Harvard...

Chef Pyet DeSpain brings her Indigenous and Mexican heritage to the forefront as she talks about her debut cookbook, “ Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking .” She shares how traditional ingredients and family stories shaped her cooking and her path from winning Next Level Chef to building a career rooted in culture and community. Then, for the first time in 22 years...

Edgar B. Herwick III, Callie Crossley and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.  Greater Boston has officially entered the world of fine-dining prestige. For the first time, the Michelin Guide included the region in its Northeast Cities edition — awarding a coveted star, several Bib Gourmands, and even a cocktails honor. It’s a m...

FRONTLINE and the Associated Press return to Ukraine with “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a gripping new documentary from the Oscar-winning team behind “20 Days in Mariupol.” The film embeds with Ukrainian soldiers fighting to reclaim a village outside Kyiv, offering an unfiltered view of life — and loss — in a grinding, three-year conflict. FRONTLINE’s Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aro...

Mary Grant, president of MassArt, joins us for her monthly episode, “AI Actual Intelligence.” This month she talks about the Department of Homeland Security’s use of Norman Rockwell’s paintings on their social media channels. Then we look at the Florida Highwaymen, the group of Black painters who turned Florida’s wild horizons into some of the most sought-after landscapes of the 20th century. Thei...

Playwright Ins Choi joins us to discuss Kim’s Convenience , his hit play now onstage at the Huntington Theatre Company (November 6–30, 2025). Drawing on his Korean-Canadian upbringing, the story follows a family running a corner store and the cultural and generational tensions that shape their lives. Choi originally played the son and now portrays the father, offering fresh insight into the world...

Serj Tankian, the electrifying voice of System of a Down and a defining figure in alternative metal, steps into a new creative realm with The Art of Disruption: The Art and Impact of Serj Tankian at the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown. The exhibition, which is on view through Feb 28 2026, blends sound, color, and political urgency—and you can check it out here . Then Nora Burnett Abrams jo...

Today Jared Bowen, Edgar B. Herwick III, and Callie Crossley go over the latest arts and culture headlines.  First up, Pope Leo XIV has revealed his four favorite movies: “It’s a Wonderful Life”  “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People”  and “Life Is Beautiful.” He’s sharing his watchlist ahead of the Vatican’s first-ever “Meeting with the World of Cinema,” a Hollywood summit inside the Apostolic P...

Two Boston institutions come together to celebrate the life and legacy of artist Allan Rohan Crite, the city’s great chronicler of everyday Black life. His work—paintings, prints, and illustrations—captured the spirit of the South End and Roxbury for decades. Allan Rohan Crite: Urban Glory is on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum through January 19, and Allan Rohan Crite: Griot of Boston...

The wizarding world returns to the stage as “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” casts its spell on Boston audiences. The Tony Award–winning play follows a grown-up Harry and his son Albus as they navigate family, friendship, and the legacy of magic. Actors Nick Dillenburg and Adam Grant Morrison join The Culture Show to talk about bringing these iconic characters to life at the Emerson Colonial Th...

Regie Gibson, inaugural poet laureate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,  and Nina Zannieri, Executive Director of the Paul Revere Memorial Association, join The Culture Show for a preview of “A Revolutionary Concert: Paul Revere, the Man, the Myth, and the Music.” Commemorating the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride; it takes place November 13 at 7 p.m. at Boston’s Converse Hall....

The Museum of Fine Arts,Boston has taken a historic step in confronting America’s past, returning two monumental stoneware vessels to the descendants of David Drake — an enslaved potter from South Carolina who inscribed his name and poetry into clay when literacy was forbidden. His fourth-generation granddaughter Pauline Baker and her son Yaba Baker join The Culture Show to reflect on Drake’s lega...

Today Jared Bowen, Edgar B. Herwick III, and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons,  artistic and executive director of the Roxbury International Film Festival and program manager at Mass Cultural Council, go over the latest arts and culture headlines.  First up, the Grammy nominations are out, and music’s biggest night is making history. For the first time in fifty years, the Recording Academy wi...

Few people know more about art theft than Anthony Amore. As Director of Security and Chief Investigator at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, he’s spent decades pursuing the truth behind its legendary 1990 heist. His new book, “The Rembrandt Heist: The Story of a Criminal Genius, a Stolen Masterpiece, and an Enigmatic Friendship,” revisits another one of Boston’s great art crimes — the 1975...

Today we’re revving up the DeLorean for a trip “Back to the Future.” Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Edgar B. Herwick III co-host this month’s Wednesday Watch Party and revisit the 1985 sci-fi comedy that made time travel cool — and Michael J. Fox a star. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg, the film became the top-grossing movie of the year and a pop-culture touchstone....

I mari Paris Jeffries — President and CEO of Embrace Boston and co-chair of Everyone 250 — returns for another edition of  “AI: Actual Intelligence,”  which spotlights original, algorithm-free thinkers from the region’s sharpest minds.  George Balanchine’s “Jewels” — the first full-length abstract ballet — returns to Boston Ballet for the first time in more than a decade. Artistic Director Mikko N...

Comedian and actor Chris Grace returns to The Culture Show to talk about Sardines (A Comedy About Death) , his autobiographical one-man show now at the Huntington Theatre through November 16.  To learn more go here . Then actor, author, and filmmaker Crispin Glover joins The Culture Show   to discuss his latest film, “No! You’re Wrong. or Spooky Action at a Distance.”  For nearly two decades, Glov...

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  has returned ownership of two monumental stoneware vessels to the descendants of David Drake — an enslaved potter.. It’s the first U.S. museum to resolve ownership for art made under slavery, linking creativity t...

A century ago, the Wang Theatre—now part of Boston’s Boch Center—opened as a lavish movie palace, a cathedral to the golden age of entertainment. Since then, it’s hosted everything from vaudeville to Broadway, rock legends to symphony orchestras. As the Boch Center celebrates its 100th anniversary, President and CEO Casey Soward joins The Culture Show to reflect on the theater’s storied past and t...

After her mother’s death, writer Alysia Abbott was raised by her father—poet Steve Abbott—in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury during the height of counterculture. Her memoir “Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father” captures that vivid, unconventional childhood and the complexities of growing up amid both liberation and loss. Now adapted into a feature film produced by Sofia Coppola, Abbott joins us to ref...

As part of our ongoing “Countdown to 2026” series, we explore how Massachusetts is commemorating 250 years of American history. Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago joins us to discuss the new Massachusetts Veterans Legacy Trail, a statewide digital map linking more than 1,200 monuments and memorials that honor generations of service. Created by the Healey–Driscoll administration for the MA250...