Most pioneers are dead. So when we have one on the show, it’s humbling. Especially one we grew up listening to Monday-Friday for five-and-a-half hours a day; once for 24hours straight. As Mike Francesa has left his weekly radio show and “power chair” after 30 years, we (and he) finally get our lives back. So, let’s talk about it with the man, himself -- A teacher without students. An artist without a brush. The icon who now seeks a new audience.
Murmur 68 : Jock "A Fistful of Mondo"
SUBJECT : MONDO There is a word that signifies a perpetual state of fandom. A state that artists never surrender to, no matter how accomplished or revered their work. The word... Mondo. Edison, Welles, Kubrick were Mondo; so was Picasso. Jock is a modern master of this über-genre; an artist whose singular DNA can be seen in his best-selling posters for Carpenter’s “The Thing”, Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” & Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust”; as well as in Ava/"Ex Machina" and an Aurebesh Easter Egg he left for his son in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (a small, indie film in which Jock served as Costume Concept Artist.)
Murmur 67 : Jeff Bridges "The Actor From Scratch"
SUBJECT : THE ART OF THE ACTOR There is an internal, human art to acting, independent of the technical execution of craft. Which human elements feed that mechanism? Or, as Brando once said, are we all “merely actors, everyday”? For Jeff Bridges it begins and ends with two gifts; one from his mom (his “first acting teacher”) and one from his dad -- we’ll give you a hint... Time and Love. Five years in the making, Jeff joins us to cover the Art of the Actor, up to and including the art of retirement. Rage on.
Murmur 66 : Anthony Bourdain "Artist For A Day"
SUBJECT : THE ART OF LIFE Is there an Art to life? An approach to how we live that could be considered Art? Anthony Bourdain - inveterate Storyteller, unreliable Narrator, and Professor Emeritus of The Modern School of Film - joins us to untie & regift the notion of Existence-as-Art; and, how fairness, freedom, luck, timing, nepotism, narcissism, location, faith, kindness, risk, Yakuza tattoos, feigned smiles, and French & Italian Cinema, all factor in.
Murmur Meta : Dan Ariely "Just Say 'Maybe'"
Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics, NY Times bestselling-author, and founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, Dan Ariely sits with us for a MurmurMeta. Spoiler alert: by chat's end we've bared our soul at the altar of Dan's singular brilliance, which leads to some homework; namely, one of Professor Ariely's celebrated experiments. Have a listen, then watch this space for the results...
Murmur 65 : Torquil Campbell "What Difference Doth It Make?"
SUBJECT : CHARACTER The notion and definition of Character feels up for grabs right now - politically, professionally, geographically, nationally, sexually, artistically - so let’s take a look at it. Rather, let’s ask an artist of multiple personae - writer/actor/co-lead singer of STARS - Torquil Campbell to help us understand what underpins Character and what needs and choices have shaped his. Also, in the true spirit of American Thanksgiving, we’ll clear-up some Canadian myths, once-and-for-all. All in our own diplomatic manner, of course.
Murmur 64 : Lynsey Addario "[Blank] Thy Neighbor"
Do you have to love a subject in order to photograph it? Do you have to love a story so much you’d risk your life to tell it? Do you have to love something you’ve created enough to kill it? Genius photographer/journalist/artist Lynsey Addario joins us to lay it on the line, as she always does. Ain't love grand?
Murmur 63 : Bonnie 'Prince' Billy "Home School You"
Have you ever considered the "where" creation happens? A room, a studio, a factory, a field, a street? For musician/singer Bonnie “Prince” Billy, creation and art began/begins at a home built into a the side of hill. Here Bonnie “Prince” takes a brave detailed look with us at the rooms that nurtured him, the family that fed him, and the personae that have helped him complete the circle.
Murmur 62 : Zola Jesus "This Mess Is A House"
Let’s explore limitations; they serve as the DNA of art, creation, and life. Singer/Songwriter Zola Jesus views personal, geographic, and formal boundaries as open doors. Her disclosures are as full as her heart; and she prefers her Russian Cinema as she prefers her craft — painterly, slow, brutal, rewarding, gorgeous, inaccessible, and with realism to its furthest reaches.
Murmur 61 : Streeter Seidell "Funny Sans Frontières"
Writer/Creator/Comedian Streeter Seidell (staff writer for Saturday Night Live) has some of the wisest insights we’ve heard for emerging funny people, including: what confidence has to do with comedy, the volume and value of the web-series for young comics, and how many "after parties" SNL actually has. We'll get there someday and report our findings.
