The Colin McEnroe Show

Think about it. When’s the last time you saw a brand-new instrument in a marching band? New instruments don’t come around too often — but it’s not for lack of trying. Getting a new sound off the ground involves design, production, music expertise, composition, and fans. It’s no easy task to invent the next best thing, but this hour we talk to inventors, composers, teachers, and the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition to learn about the future of sound. GUESTS: Jason Freeman - Professor of Music at Georgia Tech and Chair of the School of Music who leads the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition Kyle Grimm - Composer who specializes in both acoustic and electronic mediums and a Professor of Music at the University of Hartford Keith Groover - The inventor of The Glide as well as a musician and music educator. Bosko Kante - Grammy-winning producer and inventor of The ElectroSpit Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Catie Talarski, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we think of unicorns, many of us picture idyllic white horses with a single horn, surrounded by rainbows. But that’s not how unicorns have always been depicted. This hour, a look at the history of unicorns and their enduring popularity. GUESTS: Martha Bayless - The Director of Folklore and Public Culture and a professor of English at the University of Oregon Adam Gidwitz - Author of The Unicorn Rescue Society series, among other books, and the creator of the podcast Grimm, Grimmer and Grimmest Sarah Laskow - Author of The Very Short, Entirely True History of Unicorns and senior editor for science at The Atlantic Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired July 15, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we discuss the latest on COVID-19, learn about how books can be used in therapy, and hear about a controversial football rule surrounding a coin toss. GUESTS: Vincent Racaniello - Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University, host of the podcast “This Week in Virology”  Katrya Bolger - A journalist who works for Future of Good, and author of the recent article “Textual Healing: The Novel World of Bibliotherapy” for The Walrus Josh Levin - Slate’s national editor, co-host of the sports podcast “Hang Up and Listen,” and host of the podcast “One Year: 1995” Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose is a five-letter word. Wordle is the newish online word game that, either, you’re already addicted to or you’re already sick of everybody else posting about. It’s browser-based, free and ad-free, deceptively simple, and exceedingly popular. And: The Tragedy of Macbeth is a new movie adaptation of the Shakespeare play written, directed, produced, and co-edited by Joel Coen. It’s the Coen brother’s (that’s a little apostrophe humor there) solo writing and directing debut after making 18 features and parts of two anthology films with Ethan Coen. It stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Meat Loaf, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ rock superstar, dies at 74 Louie Anderson, Emmy-winning comedian, dies at 68 Fred Parris, co-founder of the Five Satins, dies at 85 after brief illness, band announces Friday Andre Leon Talley Dead at 73 Howard Alexander Dumble, legendary designer of Dumble Amps, has died Dumble created some of the most iconic amps of all time, and personally built amps for John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Eric Johnson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd The Undoing of Joss Whedon The Buffy creator, once an icon of Hollywood feminism, is now an outcast accused of misogyny. How did he get here? The Dumbledore of Clowning The French master teacher Philippe Gaulier has worked with stars like Sacha Baron Cohen. But at 78, are his methods, which include insults, outdated? The Best Book Covers of 2021 Microsoft set to acquire the gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion A Creative Disagreement Saved A Major Star Wars Planet From Destruction ‘King of the Hill’ to Return in Series From Original Creators’ New Animation Company It’s time to go back to Arlen Kathy Griffin Is Trying to Get Back on the D-List Ever since her Trump joke went wrong in 2017, Griffin has been seeking a professional rebirth, and wondering who among the canceled gets a second chance. Now You Can Pay Money to Use Instagram Popular Instagrammers will be able to charge you to subscriptions to exclusive Stories. M&Ms characters to become more inclusive ‘The Batman’ Runtime Revealed: 2 Hours and 47 Minutes, Without Credits GUESTS: Tom Breen - Managing editor of The New Haven Independent Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Sam Hadelman - Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humans have been trying for, well, forever to predict the future. But how helpful is predicting the future, really? And what factors determine whether someone is successful at doing it, or not? This hour, we try to predict whether predicting the future is useful, and understand why we’re so interested in doing so. GUESTS: Amanda Rees - A historian of science based at the University of York who works on the history of the future, and author of the book “Human.” Warren Hatch - A superforecaster, and CEO of the Good Judgment Project.  Allan Lichtman - A distinguished professor of history at American University, his most recent book is “Thirteen Cracks: Repairing American Democracy After Trump.” He is known for accurately predicting the outcome of presidential elections since 1984.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows a lot of weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. We don’t even, anymore, start with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. We’ve had fun with these shows, and you seem to like them too. So we did that again. From my post screening the calls, it’s kind of hard to know what’s going on on the actual show a lot of the time, but here’s some stuff that I’m fairly confident comes up during this hour: a new flavor of Girl Scout Cookies the end of French dressing regulation the (subliminal) arrow in the FedEx logo the (not-at-all-subliminal-as-far-as-I-can-tell) eagle in the U.S. Postal Service logo not just rebranding our show, but renaming it too Colin interviewing Terry Gross (not a thing that’s happening, as far as we know) a future show on the Knights of Columbus (not a thing we’re working on, as far as we know) veterinarians as first responders UFOs and UAPs converting our system to a direct democracy the correct pronunciation of “Tonga” We also got a call complaining about “a grown man calling them the ‘damn Girl Scouts.’” I’m assuming the grown man in question is Colin, though I didn’t hear him say that, and that caller wouldn’t go on the air.But be forewarned about all the potential profanity, I guess? Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drinking alcohol has a number of negative impacts. But humans have been doing it for thousands of years and show no signs of stopping. This hour, a look at why we drink, why more people are moving towards sobriety through the “sober curious” movement, and the rise of nonalcoholic cocktails. GUESTS: Elva Ramirez - A journalist and media consultant and the author of Zero Proof Cocktails: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking Hilary Sheinbaum - A journalist and the author of The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Other Alcohol-Free Month Edward Slingerland - Author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilizationand a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 18, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose is a crushing responsibility. The Lost Daughter is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s debut as a writer and director, and it’s made her a Golden Globe-nominated director and a Golden Osella-winning screenwriter so far. It’s an adaptation of the Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel, and it’s available to stream on Netflix. The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman (in a Globe-nominated performance), Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, and Peter Sarsgaard. And: Station Eleven is an HBO Max limited series adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel. It tells the story of a world during and after a devastating, flu-like pandemic (sound familiar?). Station Eleven stars Mackenzie Davi, Himesh Patel, Lori Petty, Gael García Bernal, Caitlin FitzGerald, David Cross, and others. Its 10th and final episode hit HBOMax yesterday. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Ronnie Spector, ’60s icon who sang ‘Be My Baby,’ dies at 78 Bob Saget Dead at 65 Marilyn Bergman, Oscar-winning composer, dies at age 93 Ultima Online: The Assassination of Lord British Remains Gaming’s MOST Infamous Event The events of Ultima Online have become legendary in the gaming community, in ways no one could have ever imagined. Time for a history lesson. Box Office Report: No Flops in This Multiverse How the Potato Chip Took Over America A fussy magnate, a miffed chef and the curious roots of the comfort food we hate to love SAG Nominations: ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘Power of the Dog’ Score Big; ‘Succession’ and ‘Ted Lasso’ Lead TV WNBA Star Sue Bird at Center of New Doc From Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions Into the Belly of the Whale With Sjón The Icelandic novelist, poet and Bjork collaborator is a surrealist for our time. FX Reviving ‘Justified’ Starring Timothy Olyphant for New Limited Series The actor is set to return as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in ‘Justified: City Primeval’ miniseries. GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the pandemic marches on, the “Great Resignation” is a sign that a lot of us are feeling overworked. More than 745,000 people died in 2016 alone from overwork that resulted in stroke and heart disease, a problem so common in Japan they have a word for it: Karoshi. This hour, our guests unpack the looming threat of overwork. We look at how we got here, why we idolize overwork, why the game development industry has such a troubled relationship with creative individuals, and what we can do to ensure better workplace conditions. GUESTS: Anat Lechner - Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organisations at Stern School of Business NYU, and a specialist in change management Keith Fuller - Consultant for game development companies on leadership and culture, and the founder of All About EX Alex Soojung-Kim Pang - Author of the books “Shorter”, “Rest”, and “The Distraction Addiction”, and the founder of Strategy & Rest Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we discuss COVID-19: from the latest science, to communication about the virus, and its depiction on television. GUESTS: Brianne Barker - Associate Professor of Biology at Drew University and a co-host on the podcast “This Week in Virology.” Aaron Blake - Senior political reporter writing for The Fix at The Washington Post.  James Poniewozik - Chief television critic for The New York Times, and author of “Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America.” Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.