The Culture Show Podcast

In 1985 Marty McFly skateboarded onto the silver screen –and into cinematic history– with the blockbuster, “Back to The Future.” In this sci-fi classic, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown turns a DeLorean into a  plutonium - powered time machine. Then, in an experiment gone awry, Marty McFly finds himself taking a ride of his lifetime, going back to 1955 where he meets his parents when they were te...

What’s past doesn’t need to be prologue. That is the point of the exhibition “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away,” –  to learn about the atrocities of the Holocaust so that history is not repeated. From the concrete posts used to fence in the camp,  to a gas mask used by SS garrison members, to the suitcases and journals belonging to the prisoners– hundreds of  original artifacts tell  the horr...

Today we continue to celebrate national poetry month with Oliver de la Paz. He is the poet laureate of Worcester and an associate professor at The College of the Holy Cross. His latest collection of poetry “The Diaspora Sonnets,”  is winner of the New England Book Award for Poetry. These sonnets illuminate the immigrant experience with meditations on the meaning of home and family bonds. They refl...

Today on The Culture Show , it's our arts and culture week in review. First up,  the culture of Hollywood  shifted in the years following the  downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the launch of the #MeToo movement. So what will the reverberations throughout the industry be now that his New York rape conviction has been overturned? From there, Jerry Seinfeld says that Hollywood is a has been, declaring...

Boston POPS conductor Keith Lockhart is here with a preview of their star-studded Spring Season, from Harry Connick Jr, and Branford Marsalis,  to Pride night, Gospel night and a Jurassic Park concert along the way.  Performances that are sure to put a spring in your step. From there, it’s a message in a mural.  In East Boston, public art is making a splash by way of a series of  large-scale mural...

We’re putting a fine point on the pencil. Rendered ordinary by its utility and ubiquity, it does have a romantic origin story involving a lighting strike that unearthed graphite in the north of England.  Even so the pencil endures  as practical, and reliable. After all, when the tip breaks, just snap your Number 2 in  two, and…you  have two pencils. The fascinating story  of the pencil is the subj...

Marking the 25th anniversary of a cult classic. In 1999, the adult cartoon Mission Hill debuted. It focused on the misadventures of a group of disparate roommates.  It was created by Simpsons writers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and earned a GLAAD award for their realistic portrayal of a gay couple. Alas, the show was doomed from the start thanks to a decidedly unsupportive network and dismal r...

According to the laws of physics, a body in motion stays in motion.  And for John Lam, he’s been in motion for nearly his entire life. But soon the Boston Ballet principal dancer will be approximating something like rest with the announcement that he is exiting the stage. He joins us to talk about his career, the decision to retire after a 20-year tenure with Boston Ballet, and what’s next. From t...

Coming up: Our arts and culture week in review. First up, the Venice Biennale– Artist Jeffrey Gibson, with his riot of color, is the first ever Indigenous artist selected to represent the United States;  At the Israeli pavilion, artist Ruth Patir, won’t open her show until “a cease-fire and hostage release agreement is reached;  And the German Pavilion, which has been described as creepy and encha...

Leslie Odom, Jr. The award winning actor and singer’s portrayal of  Aaron Burr in the hit musical “Hamilton,” gave us a new way to think about America’s history and the fathers who founded it.  And if history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes . In his recent return to Broadway, Odom starred in a play that skewers racism in America in the Broadway revival of  “Purlie Victorious.” Music remains at hi...

The road frequently traveled. Emmy award-winning actor Gordon Clapp brings Robert Frost back to life in a one-man show. We talk to him about reprising the role of the acclaimed poet –one he’s performed over 100 times.  From there it’s the writer and cartoonist Alison Bechdel. More than 40 years ago she inadvertently created the “Bechdel Test,”  a way to gauge gender representation in Hollywood - -...

In Boston people of color are disproportionately affected by environmental disasters, climate change and pollution. With April being Earth month, Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins us to talk about what needs to be done to achieve racial justice through climate justice. From there, the Boston Public Quartet’s radical welcome. It’s their biggest event of the year, offe...

In 2019 costume designer Ruth E. Carter won her first Academy Award for her work in the 2018 film, “Black Panther,” where she created the Afrofuturist aesthetic of Wakanda. Super-heroism clearly runs in the family. Only four years later, Ruth E. Carter became a superhero in her own right, earning her second Oscar for her work in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”  She made history with this win, no...

Coming up on The Culture Show, live from the GBH studio at the Boston Public Library, it’s our arts  and culture week in review.  First up, the cultural influence of  OJ SImpson. First, as  “The Juice,” a star football player who ran through  the field with almost unmatched success.  Then as the actor  who starred in Hertz commercials and hit movies. Finally,  as the man who was acquitted in the g...

Through her poetry, Tracy K. Smith probes the meaning of life, she meditates on what happens to our souls when we die, she communes with the dead. She uses poetry to explore her own role in the world as a mother, making the personal profound. Her poems also scrutinize historical racial oppression, the paradox that is the American dream, and the injustices that plague our nation.  All of these them...

The Korean wave makes a big splash in Boston. A new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts is a high amp historical remix of Korean culture and pop culture. It’s a celebration of everything South Korea has to offer, from K-Pop to K-dramas, from fine art to fashion. And the dynamism of this show originates from the juxtaposition of traditional customs with the fast-paced, innovative society that Sou...

Anthony Rapp, the actor and singer, went from being a Starbucks Barista to a Broadway star by way of the hit musical “Rent.” But, his meteoric rise was tempered by the death of Jonathan Larson, “Rent’s” 35-year-old composer and librettist who had an aortic aneurysm on the eve of the show’s debut. Then, a year later, he lost his mother to cancer. These seminal events are the making of Rapp’s one-ma...

In 1970, when Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Company” first opened on Broadway, his main character Bobby was a 35-year old unmarried man, whose paired-up friends were pressuring him to leave his bachelor days behind. A few years ago Tony-award winning director Marianne Elliott ran with a revelation: to reverse genders and have the main character, Bobbie…be a woman. It was a eureka moment that earned...

Live from the GBH studio at the Boston Public Library, it’s our arts  and culture week in review.  First up, A Tik Toker’s hot take lands her in hot water for saying that SNL has never hired a – you guessed it–hot woman.  From there, pop star Lizzo- gives new meaning to “quitting while you’re ahead,”   And when it comes to the NCAA, there’s no denying that these women  ARE hot–a hot ticket that is...

In creative circles, there are artists who  worry that Artificial Intelligence could replace them. Not roboticist and artist Alexander Reben– he’s entered the belly of the beast as the first artist-in-resident at Open AI. He joins us to talk about collaborating with AI–not being replaced by it.   From there it’s total windfall. New England towns in the path of totality are experiencing a tourism b...

The Emmy award-winning composer Jeff Beal. You might not know it, but you’ve heard his work. He gave us the theme song to “House of Cards,” which became an anthem for power and corruption. He added even more splashes of color to the Oscar-winning film Pollock. Now his work brings him to Boston, to lead the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in an upcoming concert. From there, when music saved Boston. We g...

Comedian and actor Chris Fleming. He has a comedy special streaming on Peacock, a YouTube Channel with a cult following and he’s selling out comedy venues – but he’s far from selling out. As someone who has built a following playing the oddball, his absurdist comedy can’t be corrupted by success—he’ll be the first to tell you that it lives outside of the standards that come with standup. Ahead of...

Padma Lakshmi. She’s been on a quest to learn how food is entwined with our history and culture. From inviting us into her kitchen, to entering the kitchens of others. The through-line in all she’s done in her career is making people feel known – and feel at home. To honor this work,Boston University is presenting her with its ICON award. She joins us ahead of her visit to BU. And, In her book Mup...

Live from the Boston Public Library, it’s our arts and culture week in review. Beyonce gives new meaning to “Midnight Cowboy,” dropping her much-anticipated country album “Cowboy Carter” today at 12:00 AM. From there music mogul Sean Combs has been accused of sexual assault by multiple people, prompting Federal agents to raid his homes. Is this even more of a signal that people with money, power,...

The street artist Shephard Fairey officially crossed the threshold into fine art with his first museum exhibition–right here at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Curated by Culture Show contributor Pedro Alonzo, that exhibition happened 15 years ago. What did it mean for Fairey’s street cred? What trails did he blaze? Pedro Alonzo joins us to talk about about Shepard Fairey’s legacy and w...