Arts, Theater & Film

In the late 80s, neighbors in a San Francisco apartment building recorded the drunken squabbles between Peter and Raymond. Their relationship, and the pop culture phenomenon it spawned, is the subject of the documentary film “Shut Up Little Man.”

Antonio Stradivari created instruments that have given the world their unique and rich sounds for hundreds of years. Author Tony Faber joined us to talk about Stradivari’s enduring work. This episode was picked by KUER’s newsroom managing editor Elaine Clark. 

Few people were watching in August 1981 when MTV debuted on cable television. Filmmakers Patrick Waldrop and Tyler Measom have made a film about the birth and evolution of the television network that revolutionized the culture.

With the show on summer break, we're sharing some memorable gems from our archives. Back in 2005, filmmaker Greg Whiteley joined us to talk about his debut documentary, a profile of Arthur "Killer" Kane, the bass player for the rock band New York Dolls who converted to Mormonism. This episode picked by Doug.

Did you really think we'd go on hiatus without giving you a summer book show?

In 1909, a young woman with schizophrenia wrote a letter to her husband repeating the plea, Sweetheart, Come. Utah playwright Melissa Leilani Larson has written a play to imagine the woman's journey.

We’re marking the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad by showing Cecil B. DeMille’s epic Western Union Pacific. Film historian James D’Arc joins us to talk about the film and how the railroads united a divided country.

Thursday, we're talking about Napoleon Dynamite. It became an instant cult classic when it premiered at Sundance fifteen years ago. The creative team behind “the little indie film that could” joins us talk about whatever we wanna talk about. Gosh!

Edward Abbey’s love letter to redrock country, Desert Solitaire, is 50 years old now. But a lot has changed in that time. The writer Amy Irvine joins us to offer a different take on Abbey’s season in the wilderness.

Tuesday, our guests are Utah poets Paisley Rekdal and Jacqueline Osherow. They both have new collections and will join us to talk about and read from their work.