Mike D on The Dinner Party

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/dinnerpartydownload/2012/04/episode-146.html

Welcome to The Dinner Party - an hour-long celebration of culture, food, and conversation designed to help you dazzle your friends at this weekend’s get-together. In every episode you’ll learn a joke…bone up on an odd bit of history and then wash it down with a themed cocktail…meet an artist of note (say, Spike Lee or Willie Nelson)…learn the answers to your burning etiquette questions…savor an emerging food trend…and hear your new favorite song. Plus, unconventional wisdom from hosts Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam.

Where to Find Us

The Dinner Party airs weekly in Southern California, Philadelphia, Seattle, and select cities in the Midwest. Its companion podcast - The Dinner Party Download - is consistently ranked as one of the top culture shows on iTunes and reaches a national audience. The show is produced by American Public Media, the company behind A Prairie Home Companion and On Being. Millions of other folks know Brendan and Rico from their work on the popular public radio shows Marketplace and The Madeleine Brand Show, where they dish out dinner party talking points. They also make occasional appearances on the The Splendid Table, public radio’s most popular food show, and on TV shows like Top Chef: Masters and Rocco’s Dinner Party. You’ll find some of the friendly magazine and blog reviews we’ve received after the jump.

 

 

Episode 146: Mike D, Taco USA, and Ballet Lessons

April 26, 2012

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This week: The Beastie Boys’ Mike D injects life (and caffeine) into museum-going… Lizz Winstead, comedienne and co-creator of the Daily Show, exposes herself… Gene Ween plays Rod McKuen… The descendants of Emily Post on cupcake etiquette… Ballet Lessons from a dancer-director… And a little piece of Heaven, courtesy of The Walkmen. Plus, genius delinquents, Eiffel Towers of booze, and a joke about burning ambition.

Icebreaker: Seth Greenland Seth Greenland’s new novel, The Angry Buddhist, has earned raves for its farcical take on a political campaign in California. Here’s a joke that’s native to that place.

Small Talk: Josh Wolk Josh Wolk, editorial director of New York Magazine’s culture site Vulture, tells us about genius delinquents’ latest scientific discovery.

A History Lesson with Booze: Gustave's Monument and "The Eiffel Tower" On May 6th, 1889, the Eiffel Tower opened to the public - it served as the entrance to the World’s Fair in Paris. The tallest structure on Earth at the time, it still failed to impress many of France’s most famous artistes, who considered it a dark stain on the City of Light. The Tower nevertheless endured long past its original 20-year expiration date… a fact we celebrate with this summery Francophile concoction.

“The Eiffel Tower,” as engineered by Alan Walter at Iris restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, LA:

Guest List: Gene Ween plays Rod McKuen Aaron Freeman aka “Gene Ween” co-fronts the cult pop band Ween. He’s also an unabashed disciple of Rod McKuen — the poet and musician whose work has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Madonna. As he readies to release the tribute album “Marvelous Clouds” (out in May), we asked him to list his favorite tunes by the venerable songsmith.

Guest of Honor: Mike D In 1981, Michael Diamond aka Mike D founded a punk band that became hip hop trio the Beastie Boys. They’re still together, and in December they were inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame. His latest role, though, is “curator”: he’s handpicked the entries in the massive art, music, and food exhibition “Transmission LA: AV Club.” It opened this week at MOCA — the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Mike tells Rico about shopping-mall-museums, a meaningful accolade, and his coffee-centric universe.

Eavesdropping: Lizz Winstead Lizz Winstead is a successful stand-up comedian and co-creator of The Daily Show. But before she made it in showbiz, she was a fledgling comic living in Minneapolis. Here’s the jaw-dropping story about the gig that first exposed her to a broader audience. You can find it - and other comic essays - in her new book, Lizz Free or Die (out May 10).