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The 25-hour Moby Dick Marathon sails on in New Bedford
Every winter, thousands of fans descend on the New Bedford Whaling Museum to hear the novel out loud.
Listen to previous shows
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March 18, 2026 - Wednesday Watch Party: Taxi Driver
This month’s Wednesday Watch Party revisits Martin Scorsese’s 1976 classic “Taxi Driver,” a film that remains one of the most unsettling portraits of loneliness, alienation, and urban disillusionment in American cinema. Jared Bowen is joined by Callie Crossley and Mark Anastasio, Artistic Director of The Coolidge Corner Theatre, to ask whether Travis Bickle’s post-Vietnam America still holds up today — and what the film reveals now about masculinity, violence, and isolation. We also take listeners calls and observations from the live audience at the Boston Public Library. -
March 17, 2026 - We Black Folk Showcase, Jill Medvedow on "The English Understand Wool," and Matthew Shifrin
Artist and musician Cliff Notez and singer-songwriter and composer Gabriella Simpkins join “The Culture Show” for a preview of the We Black Folk Showcase, coming to Arts at the Armory in Somerville on Friday, March 20. Created by Cliff Notez, We Black Folk is a Boston movement opening up the idea of folk through song, roots music, poetry, and story. To learn more about the upcoming showcase go here.We’re launching a new recurring series, “Read on Arrival,”devoted to short books and novellas that can be read in one sitting but linger long after. Leading the way is former ICA director Jill Medvedow, who joins Jared to discuss the inaugural selection: Helen DeWitt’s novella “The English Understand Wool.”Matthew Shifrin returns for AI: Actual Intelligence, our recurring feature spotlighting original, algorithm-free thinking from voices across the region. This month, the founder and CEO of Bricks for the Blind continues his conversation about traveling blind, from the unpredictability of ride-shares to the apps that can help navigate unfamiliar situations. -
March 16, 2026 - An Oscar Night recap, Lynette D'Amico on "Men I Hate," and Masako Miki
Culture Show co-host Callie Crossley and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Roxbury International Film Festival and program manager at Mass Cultural Council, join Jared Bowen for an Oscars recap.Writer Lynette D’Amico joins The Culture Show to discuss “Men I Hate: A Memoir in Essays,” a searching new book about marriage, gender, and identity. Drawing on the upheaval that followed her spouse’s transition, D’Amico writes about love, estrangement, and what happens when the life you built no longer fits the language you once used to define it. On May 28th she’ll be at Concord Art as part of the Independent Press Prose Reading Series. To learn more go here. And the West Coast premiere of P Carl's play “Becoming A Man” will be opening at Z Space in San Francisco on May 30. Artist Masako Miki joinsThe Culture Show to talk about “Midnight March,” her exhibition now on view at the MassArt Art Museum through May 31. Inspired by Japanese folklore, the show fills the gallery with soft felt creatures that are strange, playful, and faintly uncanny — reimagining figures once associated with fear as something more communal, tender, and inviting. To learn more go here. -
Boston Lyric Opera Reimagines Mahler's "Song of the Earth"
Boston Lyric Opera is reimagining Mahler’s "Song of the Earth as a fully theatrical experience, conceived and directed by Anne Bogart. Bogart joins The Culture Show with BLO General Manager and CEO Brad Vernatter to talk about this meditation on mortality, beauty, and farewell — and about the reopening of the company’s Opera + Community Studios in Fort Point, where the production runs March 20 through 29. To learn more about the production go here. -
March 13, 2026 - Week in Review: Andris Nelsons, an Oscars preview, and a Chalamet faux pas
On this edition of The Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Cristina Quinn go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines, which include:The Boston Symphony Orchestra says it will part ways with music director Andris Nelsons after the 2026–27 season, ending a 13-season run. His tenure brought Grammy-winning recordings, international recognition, and a major role in shaping the orchestra’s sound in Boston and beyond.Timothée Chalamet stirred debate during a filmed Variety and CNN town hall with Matthew McConaughey when the conversation turned to opera and ballet. His joking but dismissive remarks touched a nerve, raising familiar questions about cultural relevance, audience tastes, and what kinds of art get taken seriously.Concert ticket prices remain one of the biggest frustrations in live music, with fans facing surging costs, layered fees, and little transparency. Now regulators are targeting Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, in a case that could reshape the live-music business and potentially open the door to more competition.Those financial pressures are also changing the theater world. More producers are developing work in London’s West End and other overseas markets, where mounting a production can cost far less than it does on Broadway.
