American Idol. Err... American Icon.

December 10, 2007 3:48 PM

American Icons from Public Radio International's Studio 360 is host/author Kurt Andersen's "...survey into the books, movies, art, and architecture that have come to represent American culture and character."^* For example, in the episode on 'Moby-Dick,' listen to Ray Bradbury, Tony Kushner and Frank Stella talk about Melville and his literary masterpiece. Listen to Laurie Anderson compare 'Moby Dick' to 'Star Trek.' In a segment on 'The Great Gatsby,' listen to the only known recording of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Then witness Salman Rushdie as he credits 'The Wizard of Oz' as his first literary influence while Bobby McFerrin performs snippets from his eight-minute medley condensing the entire movie.^*
posted by ericb (10 comments total)

This looks great. Another favorite for the raindy day archive.

post would make a good circus freak show:

Listen to Laurie Anderson compare 'Moby Dick' to 'Star Trek' .. be Amazed as you witness Salman Rushdie credit 'The Wizard of Oz' as his first literary influence
posted by stbalbach at 4:03 PM on December 10, 2007

Am I the only person who thinks Kurt Anderson is a hack?
posted by oldleada at 5:00 PM on December 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

This show had a strange syncronicity with my book club for a while. Specifically, he talked about Moby Dick when we read that, and had Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi on when we read that, and Rushdie too.

Not a show I regularly listen to, though.

So on On The Media this week, they mentioned their editor was leaving to work on a new 'daily morning news show' that WNYC is producing in the spring. Anyone know what's up with that?
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:08 PM on December 10, 2007

I looked around and found this to answer my question.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:14 PM on December 10, 2007

Am I the only person who thinks Kurt Anderson is a hack?

I do, too.

This just seems like another can-miss project from one of Manhattan's premier intellectual celebutards.
posted by jayder at 7:02 PM on December 10, 2007

I don't think he's a hack at all (as I understand the term), but I do think he can be annoying, and come off as hack-ish, and overly pleased with himself.

And I would be overly pleased with myself, too, if I had been one of the founders of Spy Magazine.
posted by Auden at 7:11 PM on December 10, 2007

I'm not a big fan of Anderson's radio style, but every once in a while when I'm searching something I stumble onto one of these Studio 360 shows, and the guests are really interesting. This post confirms that nicely. Thanks, ericb.
posted by mediareport at 11:08 PM on December 10, 2007

Good post. There's too much good spoken word stuff on the internet to keep up with! Must triage. "This American Life"--OK, I've had enough. Do without. Leonard Lopate--there's some good stuff there, must stay tuned. Quirks and Quarks: yes. WFMU--who could possibly find and listen to all the gold that's there? Same for BBC radio 4. Milton J. Rosenberg--a great show on an AM! radio station. I need a job where I can listen to this stuff at the same time. argh.

THIS is the golden era of "radio."
posted by cogneuro at 12:26 AM on December 11, 2007

a teacher of mine from college was on this show this past weekend talking about science and butterflies. that was neat!
posted by rollerball at 6:31 AM on December 11, 2007

loved the moby dick and great gatsby mp3's. thank you.
posted by krautland at 4:47 PM on December 11, 2007