Listen to Studio 360 on WRNI 1290 in Providence, RI

Evolution (Studio 360)

Thu, Nov 19 Listen

Studio 360 puts evolution to the test. 2009 is Darwin's bicentennial, and this week marks 150 years since "On the Origin of Species" was published. Darwin's descendent, Ruth Padel, writes poems about her famous relative. Spencer Wells gathers DNA around the world to determine where we came from. An amateur paleontologist finds a way to believe in both God and the fossil record. Plus the world premiere of a short science fiction story by Lydia Millet, imagining the downside of messing too...

Almodvar, In Verse, Precious (Studio 360)

Fri, Nov 13 Listen

Movies make it all better. Pedro Almodvar says his new film "Broken Embraces" is an ode to cinema itself. Gabourey Sidibe, the star of "Precious," reflects on her life-changing role as a troubled Harlem teenager. In her Broadway show, Carrie Fisher makes peace with her career-making role as Star Wars' Princess Leia. And in the second installment of Studio 360's "In Verse" series, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey writes about the lives of two of her relatives, coping with the...

Hockney, In Verse, Paper Airplanes (Studio 360)

Thu, Nov 5 Listen

Studio 360 waits for David Hockney. The artist returns to the English countryside where he grew up, to paint some of the most vivid landscapes of his career. In the documentary "Waiting for David Hockney" outsider artist Billy Pappas hopes his idol, Hockney, will come to see a single drawing Pappas has been working on for eight years. And we'll meet the struggling single moms of Troy, NY through the eyes of a poet and a photographer.

Zombies, Skulls, Gore Vidal (Studio 360)

Thu, Oct 29 Listen

Studio 360 is ready for Halloween with plenty of gore. That's Gore Vidal, novelist and political firebrand, who captures his memories and the images to go with them in his new book. Things get spooky for real when George Romero, one of the great horror filmmakers, debates the scariness of monsters with Ruben Fleischer, director of the hit "Zombieland." And Kurt talks with Del the Funky Homosapien, who has also carved out a niche as hip-hop's oddball.

Richard Powers, A Cappella, Squier (Studio 360)

Thu, Oct 22 Listen

An oil painter is the $250,000 winner of ArtPrize. A cappella gets its due: the Yale Whiffenpoofs celebrate their centennial and Sonos, the harmonizing indie group, performs live in the studio. And in the only radio interview he's doing for his new book, "Generosity: An Enhancement," the novelist Richard Powers finds his muse in genetic engineering.

Fela, Sounding Black, Leibovitz (Studio 360)

Thu, Oct 15 Listen

Hear how Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti inspired choreographer Bill T. Jones' new musical, "Fela!" Performer Sarah Jones explores what it means to sound black in the age of Obama. And Kurt visits America's leading portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz, in her studio.

Copeland, Disney, Chabon (Studio 360)

Thu, Oct 8 Listen

Studio 360 revisits childhood. Before he was the drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland was a boy in Beirut with a CIA spy for a dad. He dishes about Sting in a new memoir. Author Michael Chabon thinks modern parenting has gone overboard, not allowing children any unsupervised adventures - he reads from his new book Manhood for Amateurs. And on the North Slope of Alaska, Inuit filmmaker Andrew Okpeha MacLean explains how bad TV got him to rethink native culture.

Yoko Ono, Arctic, Hamlisch (Studio 360)

Thu, Oct 1 Listen

Studio 360 reaches the ends of the earth. Yoko Ono is one of the few artists who can stay experimental while hitting number one on the dance charts. Her musical polar opposite is Marvin Hamlisch the composer of "A Chorus Line" and "The Sting." He recalls creating some of Broadway's and Hollywood's best known scores. And then it's off to the North Pole. Really. Hear how artists prepare for a journey to the Arctic Circle where frostbite is the greatest barrier to creativity.

Cash, ArtPrize, Tim Page (Studio 360)

Fri, Sep 25 Listen

Studio 360, Cash and prizes. Rosanne Cash's late father Johnny made a list of his favorite country songs for her; now she's recorded her own versions of these American classics. This fall in Grand Rapids, MI $250,000 will be awarded to one lucky artist. We meet the founder of ArtPrize and some of its participants. And for music critic Tim Page, Asperger's Syndrome was the key to a brilliant career.

Cody, Ellroy, Sparky (Studio 360)

Thu, Sep 24 Listen

Studio 360 visits the underworld. In the new horror movie, "Jennifer's Body," a high school alpha female is possessed by a man-eating demon; screenwriter Diablo Cody explains why she wrote the story. The novelist James Ellroy imagines political conspiracies and covert crimes in his new novel about the 1960s, Blood’s a Rover. And one of our listeners gets a sad lesson in life from REM’s Automatic for the People.

Rudnick, Lehman, BLK JKS (Studio 360)

Thu, Sep 10 Listen

Studio 360 takes stock one year after Wall Street’s meltdown; the real-life drama of the fall of Lehman Brothers inspires a BBC radio play. And the playwright Paul Rudnick reveals the absurd demands Hollywood studios make on their screenwriters.

Vogue, Don Draper, Theremin (Studio 360)

Thu, Sep 3 Listen

Studio 360 is ready to wear. Filmmaker R.J. Cutler gets the story behind Vogue's legendary September issue. Lorrie Moore tells Kurt why there's a little bit of Jane Eyre in her new novel, A Gate at the Stairs. We'll hear from some schlumpy 21st century men who wish they could be a little more like "Mad Men"'s Don Draper. And don't touch that instrument: Kurt gets a lesson on the theremin and picks up some good vibrations.

The Wizard of Oz (Studio 360: American Icons)

Thu, Aug 27 Listen

Kurt Andersen follows the yellow brick road through America’s favorite story and discovers places in the land of Oz more wonderful, and weirder, than you ever imagined.

Green, Kudrow, Stew (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 21 Listen

This week in Studio 360, pop go the pundits. "Auto-Tune the News" transforms wonky political speech and news anchor chatter into infectious pop music; the secret's in the software. Novelist George Dawes Green returns after a 14-year silence with his thriller "Ravens." "Friends" alum Lisa Kudrow discovers life after Phoebe. And Stew, the creator of the musical "Passing Strange," tells Kurt about his teenaged escape from L.A. for bohemian Berlin.

Chali 2na, Del Close, Art Stars (Studio 360)

Thu, Aug 13 Listen

Studio 360 brings the revolution to the radio. Underground hip-hop star Chali 2na explains why lately, oil painting is as important to him as rapping. The Black Panther poster artist Emory Douglas gets a museum retrospective. Stars pay tribute to the late improv comedy guru Del Close. And we join the line at the casting call for a new reality show looking for America's next top artist.

Warhol, Cale, Wilco (Studio 360)

Thu, Aug 6 Listen

Studio 360 goes Pop. Andy Warhol would have turned 81 this week. He revolutionized the art world by making paintings out of Hollywood faces and stuff he found at the supermarket. Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale describes Warhol's influence on art, album covers, and a celebrity-obsessed culture he helped create. And later, Kurt talks with Wilco, the alt-country indie rock band unafraid to label their music "art."

Giamatti, Sassoon, Alaska (Studio 360)

Fri, Jul 31 Listen

If you don't look good, we don't look good. Hairdressing superstar Vidal Sassoon reveals the source of his inspiration: great architecture. Paul Giamatti tells Kurt Andersen what it's like to take on the soul of another person. And we follow a poet to an Alaskan Gold Rush town to survey the damage from the Yukon River's flooding. And Texas indie rockers Girl in a Coma get in touch with their inner Latinas on their new album Trio B.C.

Bigelow, Taqwacore, Historic Picnic (Studio 360)

Thu, Jul 23 Listen

Kathryn Bigelow, director of the intense new Iraq war movie "The Hurt Locker" tells Kurt how Andy Warhol inspired her to make action movies. Samantha Peale depicts the unglamorous lives behind the art world in her novel The American Painter Emma Dial, which draws on her own experience as an assistant to Jeff Koons. And we hear from the late Frank McCourt, recorded in Studio 360 in 2002.

Live in Aspen 2009 (Studio 360)

Tue, Jul 21 Listen

This week, Studio 360 comes to us from the Aspen Ideas Festival, where Kurt and his guests are looking for ways to use the economic crisis to our advantage: think of it as the Great American Reset. Writer Susan Orlean remembers the optimism of her late father, who came of age during the Depression. The band They Might Be Giants has a warning about dangerous fads. And inventor Saul Griffith explains how to get kids excited about the future again.

Achebe, Ghazal, Christenberry (Studio 360)

Thu, Jul 9 Listen

"Things Fall Apart." Kurt Andersen asks Chinua Achebe, whose novel is a cornerstone of modern African literature, to reflect on his legacy. We’ll hear from one of Achebe’s successors, the acclaimed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her new book of stories "The Thing Around Your Neck" is just out. And we take a look at how the late Andy Kaufman set the stage for today’s cutting-edge comedians -- like Sacha Baron Cohen, the performer of Borat and the new Bruno.

Gay flag, Hip-hop, Spektor (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 26 Listen

Forty years after Stonewall, where is gay culture today? The design firm Worldstudio rethinks the rainbow flag. Gay rappers struggle for acceptance in the LGBT and hip-hop worlds. A decade after "Will and Grace," where are the non-sidekick gay characters on TV? And later, singer-songwriter Regina Spektor performs songs from her new album, Far.

Toro, Afghan Star, Next to Normal (Studio 360)

Thu, Jun 25 Listen

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro can't shake his love for vampires, monsters, and witches. Warlords find a way to influence Afghanistan's televised pop-music competition, "Afghan Star." And Tony-winner Alice Ripley, of Broadway's "Next to Normal," the musical about bipolar disorder, performs.

Shovel Ready, Strout, Fiona (Studio 360)

Thu, Jun 11 Listen

David Bowie's son, filmmaker Duncan Jones, has a new sci-fi movie out, "Moon," that would make Ziggy Stardust proud. Elizabeth Strout, winner of the Pulitzer for her book of short stories "Olive Kitteridge," stops by. And we’ll follow the stimulus money to a shovel-ready public project in Rochester, NY called ARTWalk.

Wilson, Rush, Raimi (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 5 Listen

With Tony awards upon us, we check in on some of Broadway's best. A revival of August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" is up for six Tonys, but has caused controversy with the choice of a white director. Wilson’s widow says that critics have misunderstood Wilson’s position. Kurt Andersen talks with Geoffrey Rush, nominated for his role in "Exit the King." And later, "Spiderman" director Sam Raimi talks about his new horror movie, "Drag Me to Hell."

Ellison, Thao, Fallingwater (Studio 360)

Thu, May 28 Listen

People with something to prove. Author Harlan Ellison makes the case that he's heir to Poe, Kafka, and Borges. We visit indie rocker Thao Nguyen in her mother's laundromat. Miranda July reads her short story, "This Person." And hear why a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece failed to start a revolution.

Klingon, Sobule, LeWitt (Studio 360)

Thu, May 21 Listen

Superfans unite. Kurt Andersen speaks with a linguist who makes the case for non-Trekkies to learn Klingon. Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule gets her fans to finance the making of her record. Plus, a sneak preview of 3-D movies Hollywood won't let you see.

Ruined, Critics, Winfield (Studio 360)

Thu, May 14 Listen

Kurt Andersen talks with Lynn Nottage, the playwright behind the Pulitzer prize-winning play, "Ruined." Arts critics are forced to get resourceful when their old funding sources dry up. And out in the Mojave Desert, 82-year-old Gene Winfield designs the cars of the future.

Swamp, Botswana, Bell Orchestre (Studio 360)

Thu, May 7 Listen

Writer Ben Greenman and soul legend Swamp Dogg tell Kurt Andersen about their unlikely collaboration. The music of tiny Botswana makes it out into the world, thanks to the TV series "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." And Canadian band Bell Orchestre leaves its indie-rock roots behind and perform live in the studio.

Nortec, Deller, Diabate (Studio 360)

Thu, Apr 30 Listen

Folk music gets a makeover in Mexico and Mali. Meet Bostich and Fussible of Tijuana's Nortec Collective. The kora master from Mali, Toumani Diabate, performs live in the studio. And an artist takes fragments of the Iraq war on a road trip across the U.S.

Hot Rods, Low Riders, Angels (Studio 360)

Thu, Apr 23 Listen

Jump-starting the American car. Kurt takes a tour through L.A.'s car culture, talking to hot rodders and low riders and emerging designers who just might be able to rescue the U.S. auto industry. A new play in Charlotte, NC looks back at a nasty culture war from 1996. And two cult favorites from Cleveland: horror movie host Ghoulardi and the rock band Pere Ubu.

Studio 360 (Art)