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Vintage recording details an eyewitness account of Lexington, Concord battles
In the 1950 recording, preserved by GBH Archives, a Waltham doctor recalled his great-grandmother’s childhood account of the chaos on the first day of the Revolutionary War.
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February 21, 2025 - Week in Review: The National Endowment for the Arts, the JFK Library, and the WNBA in Boston
Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over this latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, hundreds of artists protest new National Endowment for the Arts restrictions, asking the NEA to reverse policy changes made in response to executive orders issued by President Trump.From there, it’s the JFK Library and Museum, which was forced to temporarily close after a handful of federal employees were fired. Finally, Singer and actor Donnie Wahlberg doubles down on Boston. Not only is he working to bring a WNBA expansion team to his hometown, he’ll be joining the local police force by way of “Boston Blue,” a spinoff of “Blue Bloods.” -
February 20, 2025 - Chelsea Handler, Cory Doctorow, and the Red Bull Heavy Metal contest at Boston City Hall
Comedian, television host, advocate and New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler joins The Culture Show to talk about her forthcoming book “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” It’s a collection of hilarious and heartfelt essays that detail what it took for her to become the woman she always wanted to be. It’s in bookstores on February 25th and is available for preorder on her website. On February 26th you can catch Chelsea Handler at Brookline Booksmith for a book signing event. From there New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about “Radicalized,” a collection of four science fiction novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of what America could be in the near future. Published in 2019, one of those novellas, “Radicalized,” anticipated how frustrations with the profit-driven health insurance industry could lead to the kind of violence that happened in real life when Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated. Cory Doctorow’s latest book is “Picks and Shovels.” Finally, snowboarding phenom Maggie Leon joins The Culture Show for an overview of this Saturday’s Red Bull Heavy Metal street snowboarding competition. Located at Boston’s City Hall Plaza, 2:00-5:30, it’s free to the public. -
February 19, 2025 - The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius, Bryan Stevenson, and the Phoenix of Gaza VR experience
Recently a rare violin crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period” fetched $11.3M at Sotheby’s New York with the proceeds benefiting New England Conservatory. The funds will be used to establish the largest named endowed scholarship in support of future generations of musicians. The result places the violin among the most valuable musical instruments ever sold at auction. Andrea Kalyn, President of New England Conservatory, joins The Culture Show to talk about this remarkable story,From there it’s Bryan Stevenson.Ten years ago the civil rights lawyer wrote the bestselling memoir “Just Mercy,” documenting his career fighting for disadvantaged clients and people on death row. It awakened Americans to the injustices within our criminal justice system. The tenth anniversary edition of “Just Mercy” was recently published. Bryan Stevenson joins The Culture Show to reflect on what has changed since it was published.Finally, "Phoenix of Gaza." Culture Show producer Kate Dellis brings us the story of how Virtual Reality is being used to memorialize Gaza. -
February 18, 2025 - Imari Paris Jeffries, Swan Lake at Boston Ballet, and Julia Swanson
Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to honor Black History Month amid President Trump’s DEI rollbacks.From there Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, joins The Culture Show for a preview of their upcoming production of “Swan Lake,” which is onstage at the Citizens Opera House February 27th through March 16th.Finally, Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes on a virtual tour of the three works of public art that will fill anyone with hope and joy. 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. -
February 17, 2025 - Joseph Finder, CatalystCollaborative at MIT, and Danielle Legros Georges
“New York Times” bestselling author Joseph Finder joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book, “The Oligarch’s Daughter,” which tells the story of Paul BLightman, a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. The suspenseful thriller takes us into the worlds of global intelligence, Wall Street and Russian Oligarchs.From there we mark the 20th anniversary of the CatalystCollaborative@MIT. The partnership between MIT and Central Square Theatre is the longest-running collaboration between a research institution and a professional theatre. Two of the co-founders, Alan Lightman and Debra Wise, join The Culture Show to talk about its trajectory and their current play “SPACE,” which is presented by Central Square Theater as part of the Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science and Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production. Finally we remember poet Danielle Legros Georges who died last week. She was born in Haiti and moved to the United States with her family when she was six. She grew up in Boston and left an indelible mark here as only the city’s second Poet Laureate, serving from from 2015 to 2019. She taught Creative Arts at Lesley University, and was a translator and published poet. She joined The Culture Show recently to talk about her latest book, “Three Leaves,Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story.”
