Pop Literacy

Francesca T. Royster's Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions is a vital read that helps us to understand how country music got whitewashed, stripping it of its distinctly African American origins in slavery and its aftermath, and shows us how embracing that history will only enrich the form. Royster weaves Black, queer, and feminist scholarship into her analysis, but even more compellingly, she brings her own experiences as a Black, queer country fan to bear on her exploration of Black artists in country's past and present. Through engaging essays, she explores Tina Turner's country album, Darius Rucker's Black bro image, Our Native Daughters' history-steeped banjo music, and Lil' Nas X's fight to be considered country. The DePaul University English professor talks to Pop Literacy about what inspired her  book, shares some of her favorite country music memories (like a set visit to Hee Haw!), and recommends some of her favorite country artists to add to your playlists. Read more: Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions by Francesca T. Royster Little Golden Books pop biographies on celebrities like Carol Burnett, Betty White, Beyonce, Dwayne Johnson, William Shatner, Taylor Swift, Lucille Ball, Simone Biles, Dolly Parton, Bob Ross, Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Rita Moreno, Willie Nelson, and Bruce Springsteen Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius by Nick Hornby Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone. 

TV journalist Michael Ausiello wrote a 2017 memoir called Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies that detailed his 13-year relationship with his husband Kit Cowan, who, in a devastating turn, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and, as the title tells us, died. Not to sound jaded, but there are a lot of memoirs about cancer and death. This book, however, is special because it's so specific and true and willing to get into the gory details—the goriest being the details of their living, breathing, changing relationship. The heartbreaking ending aside, it's one of the best memoirs you'll read about real adults trying to make a long-term relationship work. This book is so vulnerable, so raw, so specific, it just knocks you out. In this episode, we talk with Mike about this book and the movie adaptation that just came out starring Jim Parsons as Ausiello and Ben Aldridge as Kit. The movie lives up to the book, hitting just the right tone between dark humor and heartbreaking pathos. It's wonderfully realized by director Michael Showalter and rendered for the screen judiciously by writers Marshall Grant and Dan Savage. We discuss how Ausiello came to share such a vulnerable story with the world, what it was like to see Parsons play a version of himself (in a word: weird), and how much we need more authentic stories about queer couples, and about adult people with relatable problems.  Read more: Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies by Michael Ausiello Michael Ausiello on Instagram Writer's Bone: The Best Books of 2022 Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone. 

Consider this a Pop Literacy year-end gift: the recommendation of a deeply engrossing read for the average book fan, an extra fantastic read for writers of all mediums and genres, and a round-up of some of the finest dramas to ever unfold on the small screen. All those things come courtesy of Life's Work: A Memoir, the personal and professional autobiography – and unofficial writing how-to – from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Deadwood creator and writer David Milch. Milch, also a former Yale professor and writer and producer of some of the most iconic episodes of seminal cop dramas like Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blues, shares delicious details behind the scenes of all his TV adventures … but is just as candid about life behind the camera, including a traumatic childhood that sparked many of his TV stories, a decades-long gambling addiction that cost him literally millions of dollars, and, finally, his current struggles with Alzheimer's, prompting fellow legendary writer Susan Orlean to share of the book, "This is David Milch's farewell, and it will rock you." And, as always, we share what else has been topping our to-be-read piles. Read more: Life's Work: A Memoir by David Milch Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boys, and the New Realities of Girl World by Rosalind Wiseman "NYPD Blue" on Hulu "Hill Street Blues" on Hulu "Deadwood" on HBO Max Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

The Big Bang Theory ran for 12 seasons, 279 episodes, on CBS, and continues to be a pop culture presence with its frequent re-airings on cable, permanent home on HBO Max, and its spin-off life with the CBS hit Young Sheldon. With its spot in television history firmly secured, the series was due for a comprehensive chronicle of its success, and journalist and author Jessica Radloff's New York Times bestseller The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series is just what the Big Bang fan ordered.  Radloff's coverage of The Big Bang Theory as a Senior West Coast Editor at Glamour earned her the trust of the series cast and creators, which led to this fantastic, exhaustive account. From their memories of the multiple pilots and recastings that eventually brought together the stellar ensemble cast of iconic characters to their sometimes fond, sometimes controversial and divisive decisions as friends and co-workers, stars Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch, as well as series creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and showrunner Steve Molaro are among the dozens of interviewees (and hundreds of hours of interviews) Radloff crafted into this tale of on-set romance, million-dollar contract negotiations, Emmy-winning performances, and the classic moments of TV comedy that still have viewers laughing. Read more: The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff My Trip Down the Pink Carpet by Leslie Jordan How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived by Leslie Jordan The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary an Ordinary Man by Paul Newman The Writing Retreat: A Novel Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

Carell Augustus's brilliant and beautiful photography book Black Hollywood reimagines, and restages, iconic Hollywood moments from the likes of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Singin' in the Rain, and Mission Impossible with Black entertainers at their center. The work allows Black people to see themselves as part of the fabric of Hollywood history and also inherently questions American entertainment's shameful history of erasing and sidelining people of color. The photos include Vanessa L. Williams, Dulé Hill, Karamo Brown, and many others. The work is probably best summed up by this quote from Carell: "Black Hollywood is not just a book for Black people―it's a book for all people about Black people. About the dreams we were never told we could achieve. About the places we were never told we could go. And now, finally, about how we can get there." As for Carell himself: He is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose career has taken him around the world to shoot some of the biggest stars on the planet. His celebrity clients have included Viola Davis, Beverly Johnson, Mariah Carey, Elizabeth Banks, Pierce Bronson, Meghan Markle, Serena Williams, Snoop Dogg, and more. In this episode, we talk with Carell about the significance of writing Black stars into the narrative of Hollywood history. Read more: Black Hollywood by Carell Augustus  Carell Augustus online  Like a Rolling Stone by Jann Wenner  I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy  Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan  Anna by Amy Odell  Sho-Time by Jeff Fletcher  High Noon by Glenn Frankel  Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

James Gavin's stunning biography of pop star George Michael—simply entitled George Michael: A Life—dives deep into an enigmatic, charismatic figure who dominated pop music in the 1980s and '90s, but never seemed to find peace and happiness. James's thorough and riveting account of Michael's life traces how his battles with his own sexuality, his larger-than-life image, tabloid taunting, and his massive insecurities kept him from fully embracing his extraordinary talent and accomplishments.  We talk with James about Michael's struggle to be taken seriously, his heartbreaking battle with substance abuse, his formative friendship with Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, and his legacy—and we share some of our own personal connection to the singer. Read (and listen and watch!) more: George Michael: A Life by James Gavin James Gavin online "Heal the Pain" by George Michael "Freedom '90" video "Heaven Help Me" by Deon Estus feat. George Michael "One More Try" video "Kissing a Fool" by George Michael "Jesus to a Child" video George Michael: Freedom Uncut documentary Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm.

The episode originally aired July 23, 2019. Jennifer Lopez turns 50 this month and is at the top of her game: dancing her way through an international tour, engaged to baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez, and managing to be one of the few massive pop stars with lots of loyal fans and relatively few haters. But it wasn't always thus. Her career hit a precarious point in 2002—when, yes, she was churning out hits, but the tabloids were constantly on her tail and media coverage spewed vitriolic hatred at her very public relationship with actor Ben Affleck (and even blamed her for his career nosedive). This is all perfectly encapsulated in the historical artifact of the "Jenny from the Block" video, a very 2002 combination of tabloid culture, Bennifer at their most Bennifer, J Lo putting God first and staying real in a tiny fur coat, and an excellent use of a newsboy cap. In this episode, we pick through the wreckage of a pop star at the height of her powers, on the precipice of a precipitous fall; and we celebrate the graceful recovery she's made over the past 17 years. Discussion points include: The "Jenny from the Block" video Ben Affleck's reflections on the Bennifer era This very mean take on the "Jenny from the Block" video from the International Business Times Paper's analysis of the video The "I Luh Ya Papi" video Pop Star Goddesses

This episode originally aired March 4, 2019. It was the decade of "The Macarena," the O.J. Simpson trial, the teen pop boom, VHS tapes, and Nintendo. It was also before 9/11 and Columbine, a time when the nation hung on every lurid detail of the president's sex life and the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan feud. Though 2000s nostalgia is on the way—as we discussed previously—it's hard to let go of our nostalgia for what looks like our last relatively innocent decade from here. Is there something extra special about the '90s? We discuss with guest host Sam Slaughter, author of the forthcoming Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum?: And Other Cocktails for '90s Kids.

This episode originally aired April 8, 2019 Boy bands as we know them have been around since New Edition got together in 1978—and now, they're bigger than ever, thanks to online fandom. New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, O-Town, 98 Degrees, and Boyz II Men are among the groups who have recently been on tour or recorded new music. And the boy band legacy is evident in two recent developments: An excellent new YouTube Originals documentary, "The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story," tells the cautionary tale of the impresario behind Backstreet Boys and NSYNC; and, on the lighter side, a New Kids on the Block song, "Boys in the Band," pays tribute to the form. This week, we dissect the documentary and song, fangirl over our faves, and wonder what exactly is going on with K-Pop phenomenon BTS, the new frontier in boy bandom (more on them next week!).

This episode originally aired February 19, 2019. AOL Instant Messenger, the first iPods, Paris Hilton, emo, Mean Girls, The O.C., low-rise jeans… Now that it's 2019, it's time to prepare for a wave of 2000s nostalgia. Pop Literacy host Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is joined by guest co-host Andrea Bartz, author of the forthcoming 2009 nostalgia novel The Lost Night, to discuss what we miss most about the 2000s, from MySpace to the very first memes, The Osbournes to the rise of the Brooklyn hipster. We also discuss the innocence of a time before 24/7 social media saturation and news alerts, even as the terror of 9/11 and the stock market crash changed our lives. And finally, we put together our ideal pop culture time capsule to show our alien overlords of the future what life was like in the 2000s. Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson are involved.

This episode originally aired April 16, 2019. After years of massive popularity around the world, Korean boy band BTS is breaking through to the top of mainstream American culture. They just dropped a new album (Map of the Soul: Persona), which includes the single "Boy with Luv," featuring Halsey; and they played Saturday Night Live, a first for a Korean act. They also recently surpassed 5 billion streams on Spotify. All of this has many Americans wondering what, exactly, is going on with these seven boys with pastel-colored hair, Korean lyrics, impeccable stage production, and supernaturally synched dance moves. We walk through the BTS basics with Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly's critic-at-large, who wrote the magazine's cover story on the group.

Thomas Edison and the French Lumiere brothers have widely been credited with inventing motion pictures, but there's another strong contender for the distinction: Louis LePrince, a driven inventor who dedicated every moment of his life and most of his money to making moving pictures not only possible but accessible enough to be widely available—and, in the process, to change the world. But he's never been given proper credit for the feat because, like a character in a movie, he disappeared without a trace just before he announced his completed invention in 1890. Film producer and author Paul Fischer tells the riveting tale in his new book The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures, and in this episode, he talks to us about the worldwide race to invent and perfect motion picture technology, LePrince's utopian vision of what film would do for the world, what might have happened to LePrince—and how Edison may or may not have been involved in his disappearance. Read more: The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures by Paul Fischer  Paul Fischer The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman Mean Baby by Selma Blair  Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm,  A Mighty Blaze Podcast, and Daniel Paisner's upcoming novel Balloon Dog.

Asking yourself how you ended up paying for half a dozen streaming entertainment subscriptions every month? There's a book for that: Binge Times: Inside Hollywood's Furious Billion-Dollar Battle to Take Down Netflix, entertainment journalists Dade Hayes and Dawn Chmielewski's insider history on how Netflix started the game with those little red envelopes of DVDs, and just a few short years had us all Netflixing and chilling – and bingeing entire TV series on the regular. As Hayes details, that was the alert to other entertainment brands to get their stream on ASAP, and here we are a decade and a half later, not only watching our favorite retro TV shows, but now most of all our original programming (not to mention a lot of reboots of those retro TV faves!) on several streaming networks. And Binge Times not only tells us how we got here, but clues us in on where the streaming business may be headed, including its impact on the rapidly changing movie industry. Read more: Binge Times: Inside Hollywood's Furious Billion-Dollar Battle to Take Down Netflix Dade Hayes Dawn Chmielewski Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm,  A Mighty Blaze Podcast, and Daniel Paisner's upcoming novel Balloon Dog.

In Truly, Madly, author Stephen Galloway explores the tumultuous relationship between two giants of Hollywood's Golden Age, movie stars Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier, which he calls "the romance of the century." The dual biography explores the lives of both of these huge personalities, which collided in 1934 when a Leigh's friend brought her to see Theatre Royal, featuring Olivier—that night, Leigh swore she would marry him. But she was married at the time to someone else, and so was he. As their relationship developed anyway, their mystique as a couple was fueled by a growing media obsession with celebrity lives and the rise of television. Under this spotlight, the couple dealt with her undiagnosed mental illness through two world wars and the social unrest of the 1960s. In this episode, we talk to Galloway about the rise of the celebrity news complex, how our modern understanding of mental health issues helps us better understand Leigh and other "difficult" Hollywood women of the past, and how Leigh fueled the work of Olivier. Read more: Truly, Madly by Stephen Galloway The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein The Hag: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard Mark Eliot Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born by Evan Ross Katz  Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and A Mighty Blaze Podcast.

Many of the pop culture devoted among us sadly missed the chance to experience the New York City populated by pop artist and pop culture genius Andy Warhol, filled with brilliant work (solo and collaborations), and exploring the city surrounded by the world's most famous and infamous and everyone in between. A read of Warhol's classic posthumously-published book The Andy Warhol Diaries has been an oft-revisited taste of the Warholian experience, and now fans of the artist and his world have the opportunity to get to know him in an even deeper way via Netflix's wonderful, engrossing six-part docuseries. This week, we get our Warhol obsession on with Josh Braun, executive producer on the documentary (with Ryan Murphy and writer Andrew Rossi), which takes us through the sweet and also heartbreaking romances and friendships that formed Warhol's personal and professional lives, and moments of pure joy like Andy's collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat and the night another genius – Steve Jobs – taught him how to draw on a computer at Sean Lennon's ninth birthday party. Lifelong New Yorker Braun, a filmmaker and musician among his many creative pursuits, also shares with us the times his path crossed with Warhol's … and how one of them involved his friend – and father's tenant – Madonna.   Read more: The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett Josh Braun at Submarine Entertainment Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.

The writer-producer Jenji Kohan has given us some of the best depictions of women on television. Nancy Botwin of Weeds followed a Breaking Bad-like path from suburban widow to druglord. The diverse cast of Orange Is the New Black revolutionized TV with not one, but dozens, of empathetic, flawed, fascinating characters. And GLOW, which followed a scrappy women's wrestling operation, gave us a women's sports show unlike any other. The essay collection The Women of Jenji Kohan, edited by Scarlett Harris, captures all of the complexity of Kohan's work, with both admiration and warranted criticism. In this episode, we speak to two of the collection's contributors: Dani Bethea, who wrote about Orange Is the New Black's depictions of violence against Black women; and Sydney Urbanek, who wrote about Nancy Botwin's inability to be "cured" of her demons on Weeds. Read more: The Women of Jenji Kohan, edited by Scarlett Harris Pop Literacy recommends: Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion by Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock  Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.

So, yeah, whatever did happen to Richard Gere's career? The Golden Globe-winning actor was once everywhere on the big screen, but has been largely MIA for the last few years. Could it have something to do with his ongoing vocal support of Tibetan independence, a stance that has gotten him banned from China? Given China's importance in Hollywood's big picture, Wall Street Journal journalist Erich Schwartzel writes in his fascinating new book Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Supremacy, Gere had become a liability for studio heads to hire. As China now boasts the world's largest moviegoing audience – coinciding with the decline of moviegoing in the United States – and getting American movies into Chinese theaters requires approval from strict Chinese government censors, every single frame of a movie is examined before the censors sign off. Mission: Impossible III editors had to excise a scene depicting dirty laundry drying in Shanghai, because Chinese censors felt it didn't portray the city as modern. In 2012's Skyfall, a scene with James Bond killing a Chinese security guard was axed, because Chinese censors felt it suggested Chinese men were weak. With such scrutinizing the norm, it's clear why casting Gere would be a non-starter for any major Hollywood release, Schwartzel writes in his exhaustively reported, entertaining, and informative read on a complicated subject that is only going to continue to expand its impact on American pop culture. Read more:  RED CARPET: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Supremacy Pop Literacy Recommends: "The Untold Story of the World's Most Infamous Sex Tape" by Amanda Chicago Lewis:   "Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It" by Jessica Pressler Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.

Novelist Jami Attenberg's new memoir I Came All This Way to Meet You takes readers behind the scenes of her creative life, from scraping by in Brooklyn before it became a cultural phenomenon and going on book tour in a station wagon to becoming a bestselling author and finding peace in New Orleans. In this episode, we talk to Jami about the rise of Brooklyn, the freedom of the early internet, the changing book business, and the best dysfunctional families in pop culture. Read more: I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg "Anna Marie Tendler Turns the Lens on Herself" by Emily Gould, Harper's Bazaar Putting the Rabbit in the Hat by Brian Cox Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.

When Betty White died on New Year's Eve, it was a shocker—even though she was 99 years, 11 months, and two weeks old. It seemed impossible to conceive of living in this world without White, who brought us so much joy via a television career that has spanned the entire length of the medium's history. We talk about the heartrending outpouring of celebrity grief that accompanied the news—including an amazing story involving Steve Martin and Linda Ronstadt—and walk through the highlights of her career, from her pioneering days in early television, to her sitcom queen era on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, to her meme-friendly 2010s revival. Take a moment to stop and celebrate the extraordinary life of a true icon with us. Read more: When Women Invented Television by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong How to Be Golden by Paula Bernstein Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life by Ray Richmond My Little Golden Book About Betty White by Deborah Hopkinson Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.

The new novel Dava Shastri's Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti tells the story of an aging music mogul who plans her own assisted death after a devastating cancer diagnosis—but decides to let news of her passing leak a little early so she can read what she assumes will be her glowing obituaries. Instead, she witnesses the public revelation of some of her darkest secrets. In this episode, we talk to Kirthana about the celebrity death news cycle as well as the deep love of music that informs her book. Read more: Dava Shastri's Last Day Kirthana Ramisetti online