Studio 360 New York Icons

The great cultural radio show Studio 360 (hosted by Mr NYC interviewee Kurt Anderson) has a recurring segment called American Icons that reviews important works from our nation's culture. These include things like the classic novels The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick, special moments like Jimmy Hendrix's performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, the Harley Davidson motorcycle, even the old TV soap Dallas. The segments look at why these various creations, from different points in American history and in radically different art forms, made a lasting impact on not only American culture but also the American psyche. These American Icon segments are some of my favorite things to listen to.

But wait, 'dere's more!

Recently Studio 360 launched a new New York Icons series that does the same thing for distinctly NYC-centric works. So far: the classic salsa album Siembra, Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar", and the musical West Side Story. There are lots of classic movies and books and shows that could qualify as New York Icons, as well as moments like 1951 "Shot Heard 'Round the World", or Mayor LaGuardia reading the comics on WNYC radio, or Studio 54.

The possibilities are endless.

May I make one suggestion to the creators of the New York Icons series? Maybe you should include blogs. And, if you're including blogs, maybe you could include, oh, I don't know, Mr NYC!

Kurt Andersen on WTF and Mr NYC

More than a decade ago the writer and broadcaster Kurt Andersen did an interview for this blog. A native of Omaha, he came to NYC in the 1970s and became a real success story -- he worked as a journalist, co-founded the groundbreaking satirical Spy magazine with Graydon Carter, and wrote books. He has also hosted the very popular public radio show Studio 360 for a long time now.

Recently Kurt made a great appearance on Marc Maron's WTF podcast and it's worth a listen. Several of the things he talks about in the podcast he talked about in his interview with Mr NYC more than a decade go. It feels so good to be a forerunner. 

From the Bronx to Jupiter: Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"

"I'm sorry ... Dave" but I'm having a Stanley Kubrick moment.

Lately Dr. Strangelove has been on TCM. I hadn't seen it in a while but, as always, it's the funniest movie ever made about the end of the world and one of my favorites.  

Also, this past March was the 20th anniversary of the great Bronx-born director's death, just months before the release of his last movie, the bizarre (and NYC-based) Eyes Wide Shut. 

But Kubrick's masterpiece of masterpieces is 2001: A Space Odyssey which came out in 1968 and changed science-fiction and movies forever. It was, to put it mildly, daring -- little dialogue, little character development, almost pure visual storytelling, a plot that slowly, slowly reveals itself about a mission to Jupiter gone wrong, a story where the villain (HAL) is a computer and not a person, and an ending that can only be described as inscrutable. It's a movie that frustrating to watch the first time you see it but, like all great movies, it gets better and better with repeat viewings. 

So how did 2001 come to be? How did this poor kid from the Bronx wind up making an American classic that inspired the world?

You MUST listen to this episode of Studio 360 about the history of 2001 and Kubrick's back story that led him to make it. It's an amazing only-in-NYC story, of how a kid dreamed big -- universally big! -- and changed the world.

Also, please read my 2008 interview with Kurt Anderson, the host of Studio 360. He's fascinating too!

"Nighthawks" -- The Eternal NYC Noir Enigmatic Masterpiece

Some paintings are breathtaking for their beauty or dazzling in their imagery (think Vermeer or J.W. Turner or most Renaissance paintings).

Some paintings tickle our brain with their complexity (think Jackson Pollack or George Seurat).

Some paintings are iconic for what they represent (think the romance of the “Mona Lisa” or the fiery political passion of “Guernica”).

And some paintings are memorable for their mystery.

No painting is more memorably mysterious than Edward Hopper's 1942 masterpiece “Nighthawks.” 

It's the painting that defines New York City noir. It's haunting, beautiful, and simple. “Nighthawks” depicts the exterior of a coffee shop on an anonymous downtown street, most probably Greenwich Village. Light emanates out of the window onto a dark, empty sidewalk. Through the window we see two men in suits sitting at the enormous counter along with a woman in a red dress. A uniformed man behind the counter bends over.

What is the man doing? What is he getting under the counter? What are the man and woman sitting next to each other talking about? Why is the other man sitting at the counter alone? Where is the door that leads from the street into the coffee shop -- and why don't we see it? What time of the night is it? Why is no else around? What’s going on?

The picture is nothing but mystery -- unanswered, unanswerable questions, an eternal enigma. Its simplicity -- the chromatic uniformity of the people’s clothes, the street, the buildings, all of the images -- gives us little to go on. All we know is that the coffee shop is called "Phillies". And each cup of coffee costs five cents (the going rate in 1942).

That's it. That's all. 

That's genius.

When Edward Hopper painted “Nighthawks” in 1942, the world was at war. New York was still a city of factory workers, tenement dwellers, and average Joes. The city was recovering from the Depression along with the rest of the country. It was a time when the future seemed uncertain (much like now). The mystery of those times, the spirit of those times and the haunting the New York that captured it, is reflected in the painting, and that's what makes it masterpiece.

I've blogged a lot about my love of NYC at night -- the jazzy, sexy, mysterious, dangerous feel of it. There's a hint of crime, of secret transgression about it. “Nighthawks” not only captures that mood perfectly but defines it. Not for nothing this painting has become an American icon, parodied and lionized throughout American culture (for example, The Simpsons or TCM's Open All Night intro).

How did “Nighthawks”, this ultimate NYC painting, come to be? Why has it endured?

Listen to this extensive segment from Studio 360 about the painting's creation and amazing legacy. In many ways, it asks more questions than it answers -- much like the painting itself. Sadly you can't see Nighthawks in NYC -- it belong to the Art Institute of Chicago. So if you're ever in the Windy City, perhaps drop in and see this ultimate piece of New York lore.

Studio 360

Last year Kurt Andersen, host of the radio show Studio 360, did a great short interview for this blog. As always, he was and is one of the smartest and most articulate social critics around.

You really must listen to Studio 360 as often as you can, it's one of the best long-form interview shows on the radio -- or anywhere -- today. You can find it broadcast several times during the weekends on WNYC.

Recently Kurt rebroadcast some interviews his did about Andy Warhol as well as one with John Cale, the front-man for The Velvet Underground -- one of the greatest rock bands (and a New York band) ever. If you have the time, take a listen. You won't regret it.

Interview: Kurt Andersen, New York Writer, Broadcaster, and Entrepreneur

In the world of multi-media competition, few have thrived so successfully at it as Kurt Andersen. Host of the weekly radio show Studio 360 (where he interviews anyone and everyone in the arts), writer of the regular Imperial City column in New York Magazine (where he dissects American politics with surgical skill) Kurt has also worked in theater, television, the movies, and on the web. In addition, he's written the novels Turn of the Century and Heyday which examine American society past and present.

Oh, and if that's not enough, he's one of the founders of the vastly influential Spy magazine that was a full decade or two ahead of its time (what Jon Stewart and The Onion are doing today, Spy invented in the 1980s).

Kurt's resume goes on and on, and you should check out his website to see the full extent his accomplishments. He is one of those only in America, only in New York success stories: a Nebraska boy turned New York legend, a sophisticated urbanite who feels the pulse of the heartland. Kurt was generous enough to share Mr NYC readers his thoughts on his work as well as on writing, politics, and, of course, New York City.

You've written books and for magazines, television, theater and the movies, you host a a radio show on NPR, launched websites, curated exhibits, and hosted documentaries and TV shows (please let me know if I'm missing something!). How do you juggle your time working across so many different media? Are you the true King of All Media?

I've done a lot of things because I've been lucky, and I'm eager to try to do things I'm not absolutely sure I know how to do. And I'm able to do a lot of things because I'm pretty disciplined with my time. When I'm working on a novel (or screenplay or theater piece), my writing time of 8:30 to 1:30 is pretty inviolate, and my journalistic work -- Studio 360, my monthly New York magazine column, the very occasional other magazine or newspaper piece -- happens after lunch. Also, I don't watch sports, never have, so that gives me an extra 6 or 10 hours a week right there. (For the record, Studio 360 is not technically an "NPR" show; it's a public radio show, but not produced or distributed by NPR.)

What are the special challenges of jumping back and forth between writing for print and broadcast, fiction and non-fiction?

I don't see it so much as a matter of "special challenges" as I do a good opportunity to give each of the different sets of writing and imagination muscles a good workout. Novel-writing is its own, splendidly solo, long-term adventure; the non-fiction I do is short, generally engaged very much in the present moment; and radio is entirely collaborative. The different parts of my writing life feel complementary.

You were one of the co-founders of the great Spy magazine in the 1980s. Tell us about Spy and if you think The Onion, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report owe it a debt.

Spy was insanely fun to do, and remains a proud, um, er, legacy. And yes, I'm happy that we were pioneers of a certain kind of satirical journalism and journalistic satire, and happy too that bits of the Spy DNA seem to be thriving in the cultural gene pool.

The 2008 Presidential election is shaping up to be the most expensive, divisive, and historic one in American history. In a nutshell, tell us your thoughts about it and what it says about America in the 21st century.

I'm not sure it's so divisive. As of 1:03 pm on January 14th, at least, the favorites to win the major-party nominations are centrists, relatively speaking, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Either of whom would probably make a fine president. Although I'm an Obama man. And might perhaps be persuaded to vote for Bloomberg. I've been saying for years that 2008 would be the most interesting presidential election of my lifetime, and so far I'm more right than I could've imagined.

You grew up in Nebraska, went to Harvard, and now live in Brooklyn with your family. What brought you to NYC and how has it changed or stayed the same over the years?

Growing up, my mental gyroscope was somehow pointed northeast by the time I was 10 or 11; my Nebraska-born parents raised their four children to live on the coasts -- not consciously or deliberately, but that was the de facto result of a house full of books, music, and smart conversation. Sometime during college, I came to know, lemming-like, that New York was my destination. I remember the first time I visited the city, when I was 16 going on 17, and it (the subways, the Village Voice, the signage ) seemed so thrillingly smudged and gritty and dense and strange. And it's still all those things in comparison to most of the rest of America. The big changes -- the remarkable drop in crime, the gentrification -- have more or less tracked with my own embourgeoisment, so I can't say I'm one of those people full of regret about the spiffing-up of places like Times Square and the Lower East Side.

What do you love most about New York City?

The vastness and density in all senses. That it makes boredom and complacency difficult and inexcusable.

Tell us about any upcoming projects and something about Kurt Andersen we might not know.

I'm working on a new novel, and (with some cultural heroes of mine) on the book for a musical theater piece. And I have become a huge fan of a certain species of electronic music -- Harold Budd, Kieran Hebden, Boards of Canada, etc.

Thanks Kurt!