Episodes
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June 21, 2024 - Week in Review: Willie Mays, Donald Sutherland, and the Tonys
Today on The Culture Show, co-hosts Callie Crossley, Edgar B. Herwick III and James Bennett II go over the latest arts and culture headlines on our week-in-review,First up, start spreading the news. Literally. France has opened its first museum of cheese, honoring dairy excellence from their famous cheeses to their traditional cheese makers. From there we reflect on the legacy of Willie Mays - the 'Say Hey Kid' who was considered baseball's best all-around player, and speaking of MVP’s, we consider Jaylen Brown’s role as the athlete activist.From there it’s Donald Sutherland, the towering actor whose off-kilter screen presence spanned decades of movies, from “M.A.S.H.” to “The Hunger Games.”Then we recap the Tony awards, from the snubs, surprises and usual suspects.And we top it all off with a cherry–that is centuries-old boozy cherries discovered at Mount Vernon.That and more is next on The Culture Show’s week-in-review. Stay with us. -
June 20, 2024 - Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr.
Summertime, and the living is easy. Or, if you’re Audra McDonald, you make it look and sound easy. The award winning singer and actor earned her fifth – of a record-breaking six– Tony awards for her portrayal of Bess in the Broadway hit “The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess,” which was mounted right here at The American Repertory Theater. The Culture Show caught up with McDonald when she was in Boston for a one-night only performance.Then it’s another star of the stage Leslie Odom, Jr. His portrayal of Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” gave us a new way to think about America’s historyAnd if history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes. In his latest return to Broadway, Odom starred in a play that skewers racism in America. He joined The Culture Show ahead of a one-man show in Boston to talk about how music remains at his core. -
June 19, 2024 - Tracy K. Smith and Phyllis Wheatley
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 themes come together in her new book, “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul.” She joins The Culture Show to talk about it. In 1761 a young girl crossed the Atlantic on a slave ship. Captured in West Africa, she arrived in Boston where she was purchased by John and Susanna Wheatley. They named her Phillis, after the name of the slave ship that brought her to America. They taught Phillis to read and write. Able to express herself on the page, she went on to become the first African American to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley traveled to England to promote the volume and on her voyage back to America she wrote the poem, “Ocean.”The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recently acquired this rare, handwritten manuscript along with a trove of other texts that shed light on the life –and the life of the mind—of Phillis Wheatley. Joining The Culture Show to talk about what is the largest collection of Wheatley material in public hands is Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. -
June 18, 2024 - Juneteenth and the Mars Symphony
Juneteenth is the annual commemoration marking the end of slavery in the United States. The name is derived from the date June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger informed a Texas audience that all enslaved persons were now free…that was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s an important fact to underscore because justice delayed is justice denied. In this context, Kerri Greenidge, Associate Professor in history in the Department of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University, joins us to talk about how we consider Black history in 2024.From there, we get a preview of the Mars symphony premiere, created in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Museum of Science. Boston composer David Ibbett, whose score reveals the music of Mars, joins The Culture Show, along with James Monroe, creative director of programming for the Centers for Public Science Learning at the Museum of Science. -
June 17, 2024 - More Than Our Skin and Alan Cumming
In the documentary film “More Than Our Skin,” five women share their stories about what it’s like to live with vitiligo, an autoimmune disease in which the skin loses its pigment cells, resulting in discolored patches throughout the body. As the film details, while the disease can’t kill you, it can kill your spirit as people with vitiligo are more prone to depression, social stigmatization and isolation. Tonia Magras, the producer and director of the film, and Valarie Molyneaux, one of the women featured in this documentary, join The Culture Show to talk about their work.From there it’s Alan Cumming. He’s an actor, singer, and advocate who has starred on Broadway, on network television and now he’s hosting and producing the reality TV series streaming on Peacock, “The Traitors.” However, he is no traitor to his demographic. At age 59 Alan Cumming is a font of wisdom when it comes to America’s obsession with the fountain of youth—breaking down how abstract and absurd ageism is in his cabaret show, “Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age”. He joins The Culture Show to talk about this and a tote bag epidemic, which he says is perpetuated by NPR pledge drives. -
June 14, 2024 - Week in Review: Jay-Z, Jerry West, and the Kendrick craze
Today on The Culture Show co-hosts Callie Crossley, James Bennett II and Edgar B. Herwick III cover the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, greatness recognizes greatness. Who surprised Tom Brady at his Patriots Hall of Fame Ceremony with a pop up performance? JAY-Z.And onto another sports Hall of Famer: Jerry West. We remember the LA Lakers legend whose silhouette inspired the NBA’s iconic logoFrom there, it’s an accidental all-star. Kendrick Lamar, whose track “Not Like Us,” which doubles as a Drake diss, is sweeping sports stadiums across the country.Plus it’s “quiet on the set!” Late Night with Seth Meyers is dropping its live house band amid budget cuts.Finally, it’s follow up Friday, which includes a Battle Royale with protestors vandalizing King Charles’ portrait in the name of animal welfare. -
June 13, 2024 - Salvatore Del Deo and Rebecca Bradshaw
Salvatore Del Deo is a contemporary painter whose 75-year career has been inspired by the light of Provincetown, the landscape, particularly the dunes, and the people who cycle in and out of town.If you don’t know his paintings you likely know his plight.Since the early 1940’s, his part-time home has been a dune shack . But he nearly lost it when the National Parks Service served the Del Deo family an eviction notice. After a lengthy and public fight to stay in the shack –Salvatore and the Del Deo family received a five-year reprieve. He joins The Culture Show to talk about this and his new show at the LaMontagne Gallery.And Rebecca Bradshaw knows the local theater scene. From SpeakEasy Stage to the Huntington and beyond, she’s been a triple threat: producing, directing and developing new work.Now she is bringing her talent and expertise to Gloucester Stage Company. Last year, after a nationwide search, the seaside theater named her its new Artistic Director. She joins The Culture Show to talk about her vision for the company. And its 2024 season which recently kicked off with the comedy Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike playing through June 23rd. -
June 12, 2024 - Jo Clifford and Django in June
Playwright Jo Clifford performed the first production of her one-woman show, “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven,” in 2009. The play reimagines the parables of the New Testament as told by a modern day Jesus who has come back to earth as a transgender woman.Fifteen years on, “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven,” has been translated into seven languages and performed in nine countries. This tour has landed in the United states for the first time, with performances in Northampton, Provincetown and Boston.Jo Clifford is an English-born, Scotland-based award-winning playwright, translator, poet and performer. She joins The Culture Show us ahead of her performances at Provincetown’s St Mary’s of the Harbor and Boston’s Cathedral Church of St. Paul.From there, it’s “Django in June.” Jazz Django Reinhardt was a Gypsy jazz genius. Born in Belgium in 1910, into a French family of Romani descent. After surviving a horrible fire, doctors said he would never play guitar again because his fingers were so severely burned. He didn’t listen. Instead, he created a whole new technique for playing the guitar that made up for the limited use he had of his 4th and 5th fingers.He became a star, and then a legend. And for years he’s been celebrated by way of “Django in June ” in Northampton.Guitarist and composer Jack Soref has been a mainstay of Django in June, where he has been teaching since 2009 . He joins The Culture Show for an overview. -
June 11, 2024 - Ken Field and the Roxbury Int'l Film Festival
Ken Field is a composer, flautist, saxophonist and the leader of the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble–a New Orleans inspired brass band, which is marking its 35th anniversary this Friday at Regattabar. The celebration doubles as a live recording session of new material. Ken Field joins The Culture Show for a preview, to talk about leading a band for 35 years and the origin of his group’s name.From there Lisa Simmons, artistic and executive director of The Roxbury International Film fest gives us a preview of the largest New England film festival that highlights films by, for and about people of color. It takes place June 20th through June 28th and online June 27th through July 2nd. -
June 10, 2024 - Movies in Massachusetts
What do you call three lost souls left on a prep school campus during the holidays? The holdovers. That’s also the title of Alexander Payne’s film. Set in the 1970’s, Paul Giamatti plays a scrooge-like New England teacher–stingy with good grades and generosity. But over the winter holiday break, his heart thaws –slightly –and he forges an unlikely fellowship with a student and the school cook. The Oscar-winning filmmaker joins The Culture Show to talk about making a quintessential New England film.From there it’s local artist Robert Freeman. He went to see the movie “American Fiction” and to his surprise his paintings played a supporting role, hanging on the walls in several scenes. We talk to him about this 20-feet from stardom moment and what it means to have one of his paintings selected to hang in Governor Healey’s office.Then Edgar B. Herwick III and producer Kate Dellis take us into the room where the movie magic happens: the projectionist’s booth at Somerville Theatre.
