The Culture Show Podcast

Today on The Culture Show we continue our series, “Countdown to 2026,”  with historian Catherine Allgor leading the way. This month she focuses on slavery in Boston and Massachusetts and how much a part of life it was and how central it was to the business of trade and Boston's economic structure. Catherine Allgor is an author,  President Emerita of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and visiti...

Artist Hugh Hayden’s solo exhibition, “ Hugh Hayden: Home Work ,” is on view at the Rose Art Museum .  It surveys Hayden’s extensive body of work over the last decade, including a site-responsive installation newly conceived for the Rose Art Museum. “Home Work” focuses on the artist’s exploration of the “American Dream,” its pathways, and architecture. Hayden states, “All of my work is about the A...

Today 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 National Women’s Soccer League Franchise. It  made a dangerous play this week when it debuted in Boston.  For starters  its name, BOS Nation was universally panned, then they added injury to insult with their slogan “Too Many Balls,” ...

Nicholas Ma joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest  documentary, “ Leap of Faith .”  It follows 12 Christian pastors who are working to find hope and fellowship even though they hold deeply different beliefs .As they grapple with rifts within the Christian  community  they’re trying to reconcile that friction with their calling to promote tolerance and connection at the pulpit. “Leap of F...

Casey Soward has been a force in the performing arts sector. Recently he was named President and CEO of the Boch Center , home to the iconic Wang and Shubert Theatres. He joins us to talk about his vision and what it takes to have one of the most high-profile jobs in Boston’s art scene. From there Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, reflects on Martin Luther King Jr.’s  lega...

“Nassim,”  is Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's audacious new theatrical experiment. Each night a different VIP performs, while the script waits unseen in a sealed box.  Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, “Nassim” is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us. Presented by The Huntington Theatre Company , it’s  onstage through October...

  Billy Bragg , one of the most outspoken singer-songwriters of his generation, he’s known for his labor activism and for his lyrics that range from romantic to radically political, with a constant throughline of hope for a better tomorrow. He’s released music and toured extensively with Wilco, putting unreleased lyrics by legendary American protest singer and activist Woody Guthrie to music. His...

Today Jared Bowen, James Bennett II and Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, more than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, are suing Tik Tok, alleging that its algorithm was deliberately designed to get people hooked – violating consumer protection laws and causing a teenage mental health crisis along the way. W...

Writer Michael Patrick MacDonald ’s bestselling memoir, “All Souls” is about growing up in South Boston during the 1970’s.  It was a place that was ravaged by extreme poverty, Whitey Bulger’s crime ring, drugs an  racial strife amid the Boston busing crisis. Published in 1999, Michael Patrick Macdonald is marking the 25th anniversary of “All Souls” with a new edition and a series of events . He jo...

The bass-baritone Davóne Tines has earned a reputation for  challenging traditions in classical music and using art to confront social problems. Now he’s collaborating with the Boston-based chamber orchestra, A Far Cry , on the program  entitled CODED, which explores the legacy of Black spirituals. It will be performed in Boston on October 11th at NEC’s Jordan Hall and In New London, CT at Connect...

Artist Steve Locke’s   exhibition at Mass MoCA, “ The Fire Next Time ,”  is a nod to James Baldwin’s 1963 book by the same name. Like Baldwin, in this exhibition Steve Locke contemplates American history, racism and violence directed at Black and queer people. Formerly a fixture in Boston where he was on the faculty of  MassArt, Locke is now based in New York  where he’s  a professor of  fine art...

Music Worcester’s THE COMPLETE BACH is an audacious 11 year project, which Music Worcester has launched to present all of the known works of J. S. Bach.  Every season, beginning with 2024-2025, will feature a dozen concerts with music from each genre of Bach’s massive compositional output. it will wrap up  on March 21, 2035—the 350th anniversary of the Baroque master’s birth. And it all begins  wi...

Today The Culture Show’s  co-hosts Edgar B Herwick III, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review, First up, Merriam-Webster Dictionary adds 200 new words to the lexicon, which includes Gen Z slang such as “touching grass,” and “ FYP,”  And  after guiding the Celtics to victory, Jaylen Brown lands on  the cover of TIME Magazine’s 100 l...

Pianist and composer Barron Ryan joins The Culture Show ahead of his performance tonight at Mechanics Hall. As part of their “ Beyond the Frames: A Series in Jazz ,” he will debut an original work inspired by William and Martha Brown, business owners and abolitionists who lived in Worcester in the 1800s. From there Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark Art Institute, joins The Culture Sho...

Reynaliz Herrera is a classically trained percussionist who found her voice when she realized that a bicycle is a wildly versatile percussive instrument.  She is a musician, an educator and founder of Ideas, Not Theories, a theatrical percussion company for unconventional percussion instruments. She joins us to talk about her debut album,  “BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra”, ...

The HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands   is back with its 19th annual multi-day music extravaganza. It is outrageous and inclusive, brass and brash, percussive and persuasive. It kicks off October 4th and honks its way through the streets of Somerville and Cambridge through October 6th. HONK! Committee representatives, Reebee Garafalo and John Bell – who are also members of  The Good Trouble...

Sarah Ganz Blythe is the newly appointed Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums. She joins The Culture Show to talk about starting this new post and what her vision is for The Harvard Art Museums. To see all of their events and exhibitions you can visit their website here .  From there, Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel joins The Culture Show to talk about the makin...

Today Edgar B. Herwick III, Jared Bowen and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up: we remember actor Dame Maggie Smith, who has died at age 89. A legend of the British stage, she also won Oscars, Tonys and Golden Globes. She enchanted new generations by way of Harry Potter. And, then of course, she was the Dowager Counte...

Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She has become an astute observer of the ever widening cultural divide in American politics. Now in her memoir, “Oath and Honor,” she paints a scathing portrait of the Republican party, condemning her former colleagues and party leaders who after the 2020 election were willing to violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loya...

Uzo Aduba,  the award-winning actress spans television, film, and theater.  Her road to success is explained in her debut memoir “The Road is Good: How a Mother’s Strength Became a Daughter's Purpose.” In the book, Aduba tells her own coming-of-age story, growing up in Medfield, Massachusetts and studying the Arts at Boston University,  by simultaneously telling the story of her late Mother.  She...

“Mamma Mia!” The musical’s 25th anniversary tour has arrived at the Citizen’s Opera House  by way of Broadway in Boston.  “Mamma Mia!” is full of surprise appearances, comic situations and misunderstandings that culminate in an unexpected wedding. It has all the makings of a Shakespearean comedy, only it’s told through ABBA’s greatest hits.  Phyllida Lloyd, a theater powerhouse, known for putting...

Writer Amor Towles is the  bestselling author of “Rules of Civility,”  “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “The Lincoln Highway.” Now he has another bestseller, “Table for Two.”  His latest book is  a collection of short stories that land us in New York. The second part of the book moves us to Los Angeles in a novella set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.   Towles joins The Culture Show ahead of his ap...

Today  Culture Show co-hosts  Callie Crossley, Edgar B. Herwick III and Jared Bowen go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week in review. First up, we remember two music legends: Tito Jackson and JD Souther. From there we look at the lawsuit filed against Miley Cyrus alleging that her hit track “Flowers,” includes lifted passages from Bruno Mars’ “When I was Your Man.” Then we look...

Culture Show co-host Edgar B. Herwick III sits down for a chat with Dave Barry, the acclaimed humor columnist who popularized Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Coinneach MacLeod is  better known as The Hebridean Baker. His simple living, Scottish accent, and photographs of  Soctland’s rugged landscape have made him an international bestseller. And then there are his bakes.  He joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book “The Hebridean Baker: At Home: Flavors & Folklore from the Scottish Islands.” From there Edgar B. Herwick III, Culture Show...