Murmur Digital Radio

Is there an art to life? An approach to how we live that could be considered Art? 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.

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 of course leads to some homework; namely, one of Professor Ariely's celebrated experiments. Have a listen, then watch this space for the results...

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.

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?

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. Listen as 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.

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.

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.

Please...no more irony.  No more post-modernism.  No more hidden messages.  Our head is about to explode!  The work of musician/composer/creator Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) engages our sense of love as much as he does our IQ.  He is a multi-generational human resource for all-things sonic and visual; private and cinematic; high and low.  Just the way we like our art.

The new world requires new maps. We. In turn, need new cartographers to help us redraw the journey of the "Entrepreneur", the "Innovator", the "Risk-taker". Soledad O'Brien has reinvented these titles as swiftly as she's earned them; and, friends, she's just getting started.

Hampton Fancher, screenwriter/architect for BLADE RUNNER both then & now, joins us to discuss all of the impossibly random steps that led us back to 2049, including: bumping into Ray Bradbury on the street, chasing Charles Bukowski down in New York, and what a Nazi officer's diary taught Philip K. Dick about empathy. When the legend becomes fact, (still) print the fact.

With the passing of legendary Steely Dan co-father, Walter Becker, we're humbled to be joined by actor/writer/bassist Harry Shearer as he reflects on Mr. Becker and Mr. Donald Fagen's legendary musical progeny. From the beautiful imperfection of Donald's voice; to Walter's insight into Derek Small's kidneys; to the value of collaborative tension -- Harry reels it all in.

The lines between art, sport and journalism are thinner than ever.  Perhaps nonexistent.  To wit, no one paints within these faint boxes better than ESPN's Dan Le Batard. Here he discusses his strategy (or lack thereof) on all media-and-microphone-based matters...and egos.

Two generations of The Blind Boys of Alabama - Mr. Jimmy Carter (co-founder) and Mr. Joey Williams - check-in to discuss: the difference between sight and vision, whether or not they'd accept an invitation to sing for the current President, and if art has the power to heal troubled times.

Artist James Jean (pictured here w/Mr. Sun) explores the artist's fear of and need for Exposure. James is a singular creator who counts amongst his collaborators - Darren Aronofsky, Gerard Way, and the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. James likes to disappear; but we found him, and now so can you.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient - David Frankel - checks-in to discuss how his time imbedded in Afghanistan changed his view of "war art". Why was "Restrepo" a greater struggle for him than "The Hurt Locker"? Which fantasies do war movies get correct, and what realities can they never possibly portray?