Episodes
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January 16, 2025 - Michael Cassidy, a college course on food design, and the Boston Children's Chorus' MLK Jr. tribute concert
In 1991 New England Law Professor Mary Joe Frug was murdered in Harvard Square. More than 30 years on, the case remains unsolved. Michael Cassidy was a prosecutor in Massachusetts when the crime was committed. He’s been haunted by the slaying ever since. One way to grapple with it, write a legal thriller based on the case. His inaugural novel is titled “‘When the Past is All Deception.” He joins The Culture Show to talk about writing the legal thriller. Michael Cassidy is a nationally recognized expert in criminal law and legal ethics and a professor of law at Boston College Law School.From there it’s cooking up a new way to teach, literally. Erica Pernice, an adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island School of Design, is teaching her industrial design students product development in the kitchen. It’s a place where they can learn how to Iterate, critique, and control one variable at a time and iterate again, and again.Finally Andrés Holder, Executive Director of Boston Children’s Chorus joins The Culture Show to preview their 22nd annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute concert, “Road to Freedom,” which explores the legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The performance is on January 20th at 4:00 at Symphony Hall. To learn more, go here. -
January 15, 2025 - Barron Ryan, Tara Sellios, and Winteractive in Downtown Boston
Pianist and composer Barron Ryan joins “The Culture Show” ahead of his January 17th concert at the First Congregational Church in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His latest album is “There Arises Light in the Darkness.” To learn more about Barron Ryan’s concert go here.Tara Sellios is a Boston based artist whose photographs highlight the beauty of the grotesque. Sellios creates still life vignettes from organic materials including animal bones, insect specimens, and dried flowers which she photographs using a large format 8 X 10 camera. Her new exhibition, "Tara Sellios: Ask Now the Beasts" is on view at the Fitchburg Art Museum January 18, 2025 - January 18, 2026. To learn more, go here.WINTERACTIVE is back. The free, walkable art experience features more than 15 artworks and interactive play elements. Michael Nichols and Mike Geiger join The Culture Show for an overview. Michael Nicols is the President of the Downtown Boston Alliance, which is hosting and producing WINTERACTIVE in partnership with Quebec-based curatorial partners and independent artists working in Boston, Canada, and beyond. Mike Geiger is an artist whose light installation, “Nature’s Glow,” is featured among the WINTERACTIVE works of public art. -
January 14, 2025 - Imari Paris Jeffries, Le Prestige, and David Malan
Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to preview Embrace Boston’s Imari Paris Jeffries of Embrace honors MLK gala, which celebrates the legacies of outstanding civic, business, and community leaders in Boston and across the country. The gala is Sunday, January 19th, To learn more, go here.From there we get a preview of Le Prestige’s upcoming show at Lizard Lounge. Chris Forkey, the band's leader, composer and bassist along with John Glenshaw, the band’s drummer, join The Culture Show to talk about their music. Le Prestige will be performing on January 22nd. To learn more, go here. Finally David Malan joins The Culture Show to talk about his vision for Arlington’s Regent Theatre. He is professor of computer science at Harvard university and he recently joined the historic Regent Theatre in Arlington as its operator. -
January 13, 2025 - Mark Morris, Kay WalkingStick, and Mary Grant
Choreographer Mark Morris joins The Culture Show to talk about “The Look of Love,” which is an homage to the music of Burt Bacharach. The show features music newly arranged by jazz pianist, composer, and Mark Morris Dance Group’s musical collaborator Ethan Iverson. The show is a fusion of dance and music with an ensemble of vocals, piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, led by singer, actress, and Broadway star Marcy Harriell. The Look of Love is presented by Global arts live. It is onstage at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre January 23rd through January 26th. To learn more, go here.From there we’re joined by contemporary artist Kay WalkingStick. A member of the Cherokee Nation who is also of European descent, her paintings of the American landscape explore relationships between people and the earth. She discusses an exhibition now on view at the Addison Gallery of American Art through February 2nd, “Kay WalkingStick/Hudson River School”Finally Mary Grant, president of MassArt, joins The Culture Show to remember president Jimmy Carter as a president for the arts. She also discusses the Berkshires arts scene, plus her top art experiences of 2024. -
January 10, 2025 - Week in Review: the SoCal fires, Facebook's fact-checking fiasco, and Boston Calling
The Culture Show's co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III talk through the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up - Southern California is ablaze, and unprecedented wildfires have spared no one. Hollywood celebrities - from Billy Crystal to Paris Hilton – are posting images of how the flames have destroyed their homes. Could their platform help to amplify both the environmental emergency and the heroism of the firefighters in a race to save people’s lives?From there, Amazon is set to release a new documentary about Melania Trump, which promises to be an “unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at the incoming first lady’s life” Skeptics call it a “vanity project” since the former future first lady is the film’s executive producer. Plus, as Silicon Valley prepares for another Trump Presidency, Mark Zuckerberg is unfriending fact-checks, saying they curb censorship. . Fact-checkers say he’s got his facts on how fact-checking actually works all wrong, From there - Jennifer Coolidge fans are in disbelief as they claim the White Lotus actress dropped her act and used her "real voice" in a recent interview. -
January 9, 2025 - Jane Eaglen, Julia Swanson, and James Parker
The movie “Maria,” the biopic about the famed soprano Maria Callas, has received mixed reviews from movie critics. We want to know what someone familiar with opera thinks about the film. Enter Jane Eaglen, a Grammy-winning dramatic soprano who’s performed on the world’s greatest stages. She joined The Culture Show for her take on “Maria.” Jane Eaglen is on the faculty at New England Conservatory and is the President of the Boston Wagner Society. From there, we look at an underground art movement, literally. Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes us on a tour of the MBTA’s subway art scene. Julia Swanson is a multidisciplinary artist and award winning photographer who is the creator of The Art Walk Project – a series of self-guided micro tours of art across Greater Boston.Finally, James Parker joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book “Get Me Through the Next Five Minutes: Odes to Being Alive.” He’s a staff writer at “The Atlantic.” Since 2011 he has been running the Black Seed Writers Group—a weekly writing workshop for homeless, transitional, and recently housed writers–and editing “The Pilgrim,” a literary magazine from the homeless community of downtown Boston. -
January 8, 2025 - Lynn's search for a poet laureate, Beau McCall, and Mahesh Daas on The Brutalist
The City of Lynn, Massachusetts, has opened an application process to select its inaugural Poet Laureate. LaCrecia Thomson, Arts and Culture Planner for the City of Lynn. joins The Culture Show, to talk about how this endeavor will help to deepen Lynn’s cultural legacy. The application process is open through January 31st. To learn more, go here.From there it’s artist and designer Beau McCall. He creates wearable and visual art by hand-sewing clothing buttons onto mostly upcycled fabrics, materials, and objects. Beau McCall’s first-ever retrospective “Buttons On!” is on view at the Fuller Craft Museum through February 2nd. The retrospective showcases pieces from McCall’s nearly forty-year career, the debut of several new works, and select archival material. Organized into several themes, the exhibition explores McCall’s mastery of the button and commentary on topics such as pop culture and social justice. To learn more about the exhibition, go here.Finally Mahesh Daas, President of Boston Architectural College, joins The Culture Show for his analysis of “The Brutalist.” The critically acclaimed film centers on a Jewish architect who arrives in America after WWII hoping to build a new life. Mahesh Daas is a Culture Show contributor who joins us monthly. He is co-author of the graphic novella about artificial intelligence, titled “I, Nobot.” -
January 7, 2025 - Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, Michael Berthaud, and Erica Wall
Tomasina Ray, Director of Collections at RMS Titanic Inc., joins The Culture Show with an overview of “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.” The exhibition brings us face to face with the dramatic maritime disaster. Visitors encounter artifacts from all manner of life aboard the Titanic, all recovered from the ocean floor. “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” is on view at The Castle at Park Plaza through Memorial Day.Michael Berthaud is a 23 year old video game designer and multimedia artist born and raised in Boston. He joins the Culture Show to talk about his interactive public art installation “Sweet Spot.” It’s on view outside the Nubian Square Library in Roxbury through Jan. 31, as part of the Boston Public Art Triennial Accelerator program.Finally Erica Wall, Director of the Lunder Institute for American Art, an initiative of the Colby College Museum of Art, joins the Culture Show to talk about how she has been convening a conversation among numerous art institutions about the state of American art and what needs to be done to make it more accessible. -
January 6, 2025 - Arctic Voices, The New Garden Society, and upcoming screenings at The Brattle Theatre
The New Bedford Art Museum in partnership with the New Bedford Free Public Library and Look North Gallery presents: “Arctic Voices,” an exhibition representing artistic responses to the arctic region across time and cultures. One of the featured artists, Betsey Biggs, joins The Culture Show along with Suzanne de Vegh, executive director of the New Bedford Art Museum. The exhibition features Betsey Biggs’ piece “MELT,” a remix of her immersive music film, titled “MELT: The Memory of Ice.” "Arctic Voices" is on view through February 23rd. To learn more, go here.From there we talk to Erika Rumbley, co-founder and director of The New Garden Society, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The non-profit is run by horticulturists, landscapers and farmers who are working to expand green industry opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Greater-Boston. Erika Rumbley is also the director of horticulture at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.Finally it’s screen time with Ned Hinkle, the creative director of The Brattle Theatre. He joins The Culture Show to preview their upcoming series “(Some of) The Best of 2024.” The series runs January 15th through January 30th. To learn more go here. -
January 3, 2025 - Week in Review: Art in the public domain, Jimmy Carter, and the Walmart Birkin Bag
The Culture Show's co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III talk through the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, Popeye the Sailor is famous for his catchphrase “I yam what I yam.” Now he’s whoever you want him to be. Popeye –along with Heminginway’s “Farewell to Arms,” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” are among the thousands of creations whose copyrights expired this week. From there it’s President Jimmy Carter, the prolific writer. He wrote over 30 books, ranging from poetry, novels and memoirs. We’ll look at his literary legacy. Plus in 2024 moviegoers were truly repeat offenders. Nine of the top 10 box office hits this year were sequels. And number 10 was the prequel, “Wicked.”Speaking of spinoffs, has Walmart bested the Birkin Bag with its budget-friendly “Wirkin Bag"?Finally, the photography of Robert Frank. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has acquired his work capturing life in Paris in the 1940’s.
