The Culture Show Podcast

Boston’s dining scene just scored a national spotlight: “The New York Times” has named La Padrona one of the best restaurants in America. The Back Bay restaurant is the vision of Eric Papachristos and chef Jody Adams. Eric Papachristos joins The Culture Show to talk about this recognition and the state of Boston’s restaurant scene; he’s a co-founder and CEO of A Street Hospitality Group. From ther...

Today Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III host our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, Late-night just got quieter. ABC has yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely after the host’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination sparked outrage from conservatives and the FCC. From there, after nearly 50 years, Jerry Greenfield is leaving Ben & Jerry’s, saying their parent co...

For more than a quarter century, Richard Smith embodied Henry David Thoreau—donning the waistcoat and straw hat, walking the paths of Concord, and giving voice to one of New England’s most enduring thinkers. Now, after 26 years of living deliberately in another man’s shoes , Smith is stepping away from the role. Closing a chapter that made Thoreau’s world vividly real for thousands who visited Wal...

We continue our Countdown to 2026 series with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Each month we  look at artworks that shed new light on the American Revolution and the people who shaped it. Today Layla Bermeo joins us to talk about Miguel de Herrera’s  Portrait of Doña Feliciana Belendes y Ramirez.  Layla Bermeo is the Kristin and Roger Servison Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas. Singer-song...

Award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier joins The Culture Show ahead of her concert at The First Church in Belmont with special guest Jaimee Harris. Rooted in folk and country traditions, Gauthier has built a career on transforming hard experiences into songs that connect and heal.  To learn more about this Friday’s concert go here . At  Emerson College comedy is no laughing matter. Decades...

First up, we recap the 2025 Emmy Awards with Callie Crossley , Culture Show co-host and host of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik, Emmy Award–winning arts and entertainment critic and President of the Boston Theater Critics Association. You can find her reviews at  Joyce’s Choices . At Boston’s historic King’s Chapel, a new Living Memorial is taking s...

Today Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on The Culture Show’s week-in-review. First up: Our local culinary scene. It’s having a moment; in its list of America’s 50 Best restaurants, The New York Times names five from New England.  The list includes the upscale Italian fare at  La Padrona in Boston’s Raffles Hotel and the modern twist on Irish pub fo...

Award-winning actor, director, singer-songwriter and bestselling author David Duchovny joins The Culture Show to discuss “ About Time: Poems ,” a collection that reflects on love, family, aging, and the shifting nature of time.  From there Robin Dawson, Executive Director of Boston Film Festival previews the 41st season, which kicks off on September 18th. To learn more go here . Finally Obie Award...

Joyce Kulhawik joins The Culture Show  for our recurring feature, Stage and Screen Time–a look at the latest movies and plays in theaters now. Joyce Kulhawik is an Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and president of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews on Joyce’s Choices . From there Maurice Emmanuel Parent joins us for a preview of Katori Hall’s Olivier...

Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to preview this Saturday’s Embrace Massó "¡Con Salsa!” International Music Festival. It’s a celebration of music, culture, and social justice. To learn more go here . From there Molly Schwartzburg joins The Culture Show for an overview of a  new exhibition “Edward Gorey: The Gloomy Gallery. It’s on view at Harvard’s...

Writer Ben Shattuck’s award-winning story “The History of Sound,” is now a feature length film.   Set in World War I,   it   follows two young men who set out into the woods of Maine to collect folk songs before they vanish. The film is a love story, a time capsule, and a meditation on who gets remembered and how.   He joins The Culture Show to talk about adapting his short story to the Silver Scr...

Today Jared Bowen, Edgar B. Herwick III and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons go over the latest arts and culture headlines on our week-in-review. First up, we look at the redesign of the Massachusetts state flag and seal.  More than 1,150 public submissions  have been narrowed down to just a few options for further review.  From there we move to Florida now where Governor Ron DeSantis is taki...

In 2015 renowned photographer Sally Mann published her memoir “Hold Still,” an inquiry into family history, the American South and the nature of creativity. Now, comes her book  “Art Work: On the Creative Life.”  It is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s irreverent. And it’s refreshingly practical as she guides the reader through her experience and process of being an artist. On September 8th Sally Mann ap...

Independent Curator and Artistic Director of the Boston Public Art Triennial Pedro Alonzo joins The Culture Show with Adela Goldbard. She is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar and educator from Mexico and an Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. They’re previewing Goldbard’s Triennial pyrotechnic performance , which will happen at Boston City Hall Plaza, September 12, at 7:00....

Marianne Leone is an actress, author, and screenwriter. She joins The Culture Show to talk about her novel “Christina The Astonishing," a  coming-of-age story about Christina Falcone and her desire to break free from Catholic school nuns, Italian mothers, and small-town Massachusetts. On September 10th she’ll be at Porter Square Books, in conversation with Chris Cooper. To learn more go here .  Fr...

Wendy Benchley joins The Culture Show.   She is the wife of the late author Peter Benchley, who wrote the bestselling novel “Jaws.”  Since the success of the book and subsequent film, Wendy Benchley has dedicated much of her life to conservation. She is an award-winning ocean advocate and scuba diver. She is cofounder of the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards . Along with Laura Bowling, Wendy Benchley is...

Director Carson Lund joins The Culture Show to talk about his debut feature film “Eephus,” a quintessentially New England baseball film. Find out more, here . From there Andy Husbands, chef and owner of The Smoke Shop BBQ , has co-authored the “Quick and Easy Burger Cookbook,” which will bump your burger game with creative recipes. He joins The Culture Show to talk about how we can turn our nothin...

Music legend Peter Wolf has had a long solo career and rose to recognition as former lead singer of the J. Geils Band–famous for its high-octane shows and top 40 hits.  Wolf joins The Culture Show to talk about his new memoir “ Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters and Goddesses .”.  Regie Gibson , an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music and an instructor at Clark Univ...

Ben Shattuck’s latest book, “The History of Sound: Stories”  is a collection of interconnected stories that examine the lives and landscapes of New England where Shattuck spans centuries in these haunting and often humorous stories.  From there it’s teacher by day, Cakeswagg by night. The Boston-based Lyricist and rapper joins us to talk about her sophomore album “Michelin Star.” Finally writer An...

Best-selling author J. Courtney Sullivan joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest novel, “The Cliffs.”  It is an intricately layered novel of family, spirits, and secrets set on the seaside cliffs of Maine. Then author Colm Tóibín joins us. He doesn’t like sequels. He thinks of them as kind of a literary copout.  But 15 years after he published his critically acclaimed novel “Brooklyn,” he...

 Interdisciplinary artist Dread Scott joins The Culture Show. In 1989, the US Senate outlawed his artwork and President Bush declared it "disgraceful" because of its transgressive use of the American flag. Dread became part of a landmark Supreme Court case when he and others burned flags on the steps of the Capitol. He is a revolutionary artist  who gives us a new way to see some ugly truths about...

Today Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on The Culture Show’s week-in-review. First up, fashion backward. We look at a new trend, people wearing vintage clothing with styles inspired by period dramas such as “The Gilded Age” and “Downton Abbey.”   From there we analyze  the “Sex in the City,” sequel, “And Just Like That.” The series finale  was this...

From Greenwich Village nightclubs to “The Tonight Show” to Hollywood’s red carpets, Joan Rivers made and remade her career through triumph and tragedy. Now the highs and lows of her life and career come together in the play “JOAN.” The executive producer is Melissa Rivers, an actress, writer and TV host. Melissa Rivers joins The Culture Show to talk about bringing the essence of her mother to the...

Bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest thriller, ”All This Could Be Yours,”  The book centers on debut sensation Tessa Calloway. She’s on a whirlwind book tour for her instant bestseller, But there's a chilling problem—she soon discovers she is being stalked by someone who's obsessed not only with sabotaging her career, but also with destroying her p...

Twice-a-Day Ray is an original cover band that’s too busy saving lives to write their own songs. That’s because the band is made up of three emergency doctors and an emergency medicine PA. Ahead of their August 22nd show at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square, guitarist Colin Devonshire and lead vocalist Kayla Ninteau join The Culture Show . To learn more about Twice-a-Day Ray check them out here...