Conversational film focus on great pictures from 1954 that invert our expectations: Godzilla, An Inspector Calls, Johnny Guitar, Them!, Drive a Crooked Road

Discussing the debut records by the Stone Roses and Joy Division, the nutso sequel to Robinson Crusoe in which Friday is murdered and our boy ends up in Russia, and the brilliant conceit that is the 1944 film noir, D.O.A.

On the recently unearthed live recording of Stan Getz at NYC's Village Gate in 1961.

Talking about Herman Melville, pioneering 1940s movie producer Joan Harrison, and Wild Honey, the Beach Boys' rhythm and blues infused, nature pop, lo-fi masterpiece.

Digging into the middle two stories--"Anaerobic Mud" and "Smoked Mackerel Productions"--of Buried on the Beaches: Cape Stories for Hooked Hearts and Driftwood Souls.

How the home run is negatively impacting baseball and what to do about it.

On Downtown discussing Chris Sale, Mookie Betts, WAR, Mike Trout, funny quirks about the game gleaned from baseball-reference.

An author's relationship with painting.

King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and the perfect Fourth of July album.

Great works to read for the Fourth of July.

Musings with Franklin--an entirely new kind of novel, told entirely in conversation--and some chatter about Fourth of July-related literature.

What Orson Welles and the Beatles and all truly great artists have in common.

Discussing the first three stories in the book: "The Cape Path," "Potlatch," "Chix and Quarters."

The dance of the movies and jazz.

On Howard Hawks's The Thing and its pertinence in the echo chamber age.

Who has real friends in 2019? Anyone? Do you? Also, an examination of the only two kinds of non-evil people: trench people and convalescent people.

Discussion of Russian hockey, the new film The Russian Five, and breaking down the Stanley Cup Finals.

Solo guitar gig in Rockport, MA.

Talking about Fleming's first book, the weird, the human, the funny, the tragic, Dark March: Stories for When the Rest of the World is Asleep, on its anniversary.

The portentous nature of 1950s sci-fi films.

On hockey this time, and how the NHL playoffs are the best thing going in all of sports because the NHL is the league least oriented around classism.

The Wizard of Oz as a horror film, The Rules of the Game as the best film ever made, Bonita Granville as pluck personified, and more.

Which became the basis for the classic 1945 film noir of the same name, with Goldsmith writing the screenplay, despite director Edgar G. Ulmer saying the novel was awful. It was not!

Looking at DD's finest moment as a jazz singer.

Book number four is out today. It's a story collection set on Cape Cod that functions as something larger. Each story is set in a different Cape Cod town. It's a plotty, moving, beach-y read to tuck into while the kids slop mud into their sand buckets and wade at the shore, or you're waiting for your spouse to get back from the clam shack, and also something you can mark up too and think, "gee, that's a new literary device," if you're that kind of person.