John Powers says HBO's David Byrne's American Utopia, is a joyous blend of song, dance and revival meeting. The film, which captures a live performance of Byrne's acclaimed Broadway show, was directed by Spike Lee.
Serial reporter Chana Joffe-Walt says progressive white parents may say they want their kids to go to diverse schools — but the reality tells a different story. Her new podcast is Nice White Parents.
Once known as a loud bar band, Low Cut Connie bends classic rock to meet ever-more complex emotionalism. The resulting album is filled with songs about lovers, losers and beautiful dreamers.
The St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, who died Oct. 2, holds the record for most strikeouts — 17 — in a World Series game. He spoke to Fresh Air in 1994 and again, with slugger Reggie Jackson, in 2009.
Justin Chang reviews two new documentaries, one about President Trump's handling of the covid pandemic; and the other about the impact of incarceration on a family.
"Republicans have been trying to drive a stake into the heart of Obamacare pretty much since it was passed — both through legislation and litigation," New York Times reporter Sarah Kliff says.
Reed players Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg join formidable drummer Dana Hall on a new album that features humor, sobriety and a piece that's funky one minute and chamber music the next.
Prince's creativity is more impressive than ever on a new version of his highly praised 1987 album — now with three discs of previously unreleased material.
Rumaan Alam's latest novel, Leave the World Behind, centers on a white family and an older Black couple who find themselves together in a beautiful vacation house on Long Island while a power outage — and possibly something much worse — grips much of the East Coast. The novel, which is up for the National Book Award, explores class and race relations — and how we respond to crisis and fear
Tana French's crime novel is a slow burn of a suspense story. It lulls readers into basking in the rough beauty of Western Ireland — before unspooling enough secrets and sins to fill an entire bog.
The five-part Showtime documentary, called The Comedy Store, serves as our tour guide through what is, essentially, the history of comedy since the 1970s.
"The big picture of survival is sometimes so hard to see," says cave diver and photographer Jill Heinerth. Her memoir is called Into the Planet. Originally broadcast Aug. 19. 2019.
Ethan Hawke has been acting since he was a kid. His latest project the Good Lord Bird is about abolitionist John Brown, and is based on the book by James McBride.
Barton Gellman writes about the 2020 presidential election — and how he thinks it could trigger a constitutional crisis — in his latest article for The Atlantic. He notes that typically elections are ended when one candidate concedes to the other. It's a system, he says, that "presumes good behavior and presumes that a rational and well-meaning candidate will accept reality when it comes." But Gellman does not trust a scenario that relies upon good faith from the president.
Kirsten Johnson's new Netflix documentary, Dick Johnson Is Dead, tells the story of moving her dad out of his home in Seattle and into her apartment in New York. It also enacts her father's death from imagined accidents, like getting hit in the head by a falling air conditioner or tripping on a crack in the sidewalk.
Johnson has worked as a cinematographer for over 50 documentaries, and has directed seven movies, including Cameraperson and the short film The Above. She says her father laughed when she pitched the idea to him.
This year, Radha Blank became the second Black woman to earn that prize for her first feature, The Forty-Year-Old Version. It was a worthy winner, not just because it's a terrific movie, but also because it's specifically about the challenges of making meaningful, personal art from an underrepresented perspective.
Since the release of the Mueller report in April 2019, it's been analyzed, praised and criticized — and cited by President Trump as proof that there was no collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
Andrew Weissmann was one of the lead prosecutors on special counsel Robert Mueller's team. In his new book, Where Law Ends, Weissmann looks back on where the Mueller investigation succeeded — and where it fell short.
Leave the World Behind is atmospheric and prescient: Its rhythms of comedy alternating with shock and despair mimic so much of the rhythms of life right now. That's more than enough to make it a signature novel for this blasted year.
A few years ago, pianist Renee Rosnes organized a jazz band featuring six female musicians sometimes joined by a singer. These jazz all-stars are in alignment on Artemis' self-titled new album.
