'The World's Worst Assistant,' Teen Punks of 1970s NYC, Jazz Photography at the Newark Museum of Art, One-Term Presidents, The Tumultuous Terrain of Ticketing
Sona Movsesian, Conan O’Brien’s longtime assistant and cohost of his podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, pens a how-to guide for becoming a horrible assistant while keeping a job. She shares her secrets with us and discusses her new book, The World's Worst Assistant.
In the late 1970s, punk music was particularly popular amongst teenagers. In New York City, they filled clubs like CBGB, Max's Kansas City, Hurrah, and TR3. They also formed bands. Tim Sommer, journalist and former record executive, recently wrote about this era of New York City music history for the New York Times in the article "In the Late ’70s, Teen Punks Ruled New York. These Are Their Stories." He joins us to discuss the piece alongside Kate Schellenbach, founding member of the Beastie Boys and drummer for Luscious Jackson who was a teenage punk in the 70s herself. Plus, we take your calls of your memories of the 70s New York punk scene.
This summer at the Newark Museum of Art, two exhibitions have highlighted intimate photographs of jazz musicians of the 20th century. The first, Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic, displays the photographs Dantzic took of Holiday during her week-long residency at the Sugar Hill nightclub in Newark in 1957. The second exhibition is titled, Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection, which highlights photographs of jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and others sitting in on jam sessions, recording in the studio, and living in their private life. Millicent Matthews, manager of travelling exhibitions, and Catherine Evans, deputy director of collections and curatorial strategies at the Newark Museum of Art, join to discuss the importance of these photographs and what else you can expect to see. Both exhibitions are on display until August 21.
This week marks the 48th anniversary of Gerald Ford taking office, becoming one in a growing list of one-term Presidents. Donald Trump might be angling to remove himself from that list by running again in 2024, and there has been much speculation about whether President Biden will only serve one term. To take a look at the legacy of one-term Presidents, we are joined by historian, Princeton history professor, and author Julian Zelizer.
In the last year, many of us have celebrated getting to go to concerts again... but that also means having to brave the experience of ticketing again. Exorbitantly-priced tickets to Bruce Springsteen's latest tour were recently in the headlines, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, with further issues like bots and resellers making the ticket-buying process all the more stressful. A new New York state law attempting to address issues with the ticket industry, which, among other changes, requires ticket vendors to show prices including fees upfront and resellers to display a ticket's original price, goes into effect at the end of the month. But will that make ticketing any less dreaded for lovers of live music? Ethan Millman, a staff writer covering the music industry for Rolling Stone, joins us to discuss.
