July 13, 2026 - Jane Eaglen, Caroline Bicks on "Monsters in the Archives," and Rhett Price

July 13, 2026 - Jane Eaglen, Caroline Bicks on "Monsters in the Archives," and Rhett Price

Grammy-winning soprano Jane Eaglen, president of the Boston Wagner Society, previews the American Wagner Festival [https://www.bostonwagnersociety.org/events/american-wagner-festival-2026], running July 27 through August 8 with masterclasses, performances and the popular Wagner and Vino. Shakespeare scholar Caroline Bicks, the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, discusses Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771482/monsters-in-the-archives-by-caroline-bicks/], her investigation into the drafts, revisions and creative process behind King’s early fiction. Boston-based violinist, songwriter and producer Rhett Price talks about his debut album, Renaissance Man [https://www.rhettypants.com/], and his journey from subway busking and viral cover songs to placing his own original music at center stage.

July 10, 2026 - Week in Review: Emmy nominations, XBox and Playstation controversy, and John Oliver on General Hospital

This week on The Culture Show, Jared Bowen is joined by Culture Show Culture Show contributors Joyce Kulhawik and  James Sullivan for a look at the week’s top arts and culture headlines. James Sullivan is  a journalist and author specializing in popular culture and Americana who is also on the faculty of Emerson College. Joyce Kulhawik is an Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews on Joyce’s Choices. [http://www.joyceschoices.com/]  * The Emmy nominations are out, with The Pitt leading the field and Hacks making comedy history. We’ll look at the surprises, snubs and first-year series breaking into the top categories. * The White House is taking aim at the Smithsonian, accusing the National Museum of American History of turning away from patriotic storytelling in a new Fourth of July report. * The Boston Hunters are stepping up to the plate as one of the first four franchises in the Women’s Pro Baseball League, with play beginning August 1. * Microsoft is cutting thousands of Xbox jobs and closing studios, marking a major reversal after years of gaming-industry expansion. * Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose unmistakable raspy voice turned heartbreak into high drama, has died at 75.

July 9, 2026 - Judy Collins, Betrayal at Gloucester Stage Company, and First Peoples, First Stories

Judy Collins [https://www.judycollins.com/] joins us ahead of her “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: Farewell Tour” [https://www.bso.org/events/collins-carpenter-cash] stop at Tanglewood [https://www.bso.org/tanglewood] on August 30, co-starring Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash, with special guest Amanda Shires. Collins discusses “Both Sides Now,” interpreting other writers’ songs and writing her own material. Rebecca Bradshaw [https://gloucesterstage.com/about/] of Gloucester Stage Company [https://gloucesterstage.com/] joins us to discuss Harold Pinter’s Betrayal [https://gloucesterstage.com/betrayal/], onstage through August 1. The play traces a love triangle in reverse, moving backward through an affair, a marriage and the betrayals between friends. Francene Blythe-Lewis [https://visionmakermedia.org/about/], president and CEO of Vision Maker Media [https://visionmakermedia.org/], joins us to discuss the new PBS limited series First Peoples, First Stories [https://www.pbs.org/show/first-peoples-first-stories/], featuring short films by emerging Native filmmakers about their own communities. Episodes are available through PBS Passport [https://video.wgbh.org/explore/passport/].

July 8, 2026 - Danielle Allen on "Radical Duke," Fenti Fried Chicken, and Pedro Alonzo on Mexico City art

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen joins us to discuss her new book, Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat — and the American Revolution — Transformed Britain [https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631497551], which traces the mystery of a rare parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence found in England to Charles Lennox, the third Duke of Richmond — a British aristocrat who became one of the American Revolution’s most important allies.  Danielle Allen will be at Harvard Book Store on Monday, July 20 at 7:00. To learn more go here. [https://www.harvard.com/event/danielle-allen26] Boston comedian and writer Joe Fenti [https://linktr.ee/FentiFriedChicken], known online as Fenti Fried Chicken, joins us to talk about turning the MBTA, awkward dates, Boston bars and corporate absurdity into comedy. His new stand-up special, Partner [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEH7VvOZ3Kg], is streaming now on YouTube. Culture Show contributor Pedro Alonzo [https://riyadhart.rcrc.gov.sa/en/curators/pedro-alonzo/] returns with dispatches from Mexico City — from World Cup fever and artisan markets to current museum exhibitions.

July 7, 2026 - Imari Paris Jeffries, Cameron McCloud from Cure for Paranoia, and Jeffrey Seller

Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston [https://www.embraceboston.org/about/our-team/] and a co-chair of Everyone250 [https://everyone250.org/about/], returns for “AI: Actual Intelligence,” The Culture Show’s monthly, algorithm-free conversation with some of the region’s sharpest thinkers.  Cameron McCloud, frontman, rapper and songwriter for the Dallas hip-hop collective Cure for Paranoia [https://cureforparanoia.com/en-usd/pages/shows], joins The Culture Show after the band won NPR’s 2026 Tiny Desk Contest [https://www.wbur.org/npr/nx-s1-5810210/winner-2026-tiny-desk-contest] with “No Brainer.” The band brings the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour to The Sinclair [https://www.sinclaircambridge.com/events/detail/1396934] in Cambridge on Tuesday, July 7, at 8 p.m. Tony-winning Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller joins The Culture Show to discuss Theater Kid [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Theater-Kid/Jeffrey-Seller/9781668064191], his memoir about the life that led him from a childhood outside Detroit to the producer’s chair on Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights and Hamilton. He also looks ahead to Warriors [https://playbill.com/article/lin-manuel-miranda-and-eisa-davis-warriors-musical-will-open-on-broadway-in-2027], his latest collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, headed to Broadway in 2027.