Slate Culture Feed

Elvis impersonator Brendan Paul marries as many as 75 people a day in the Las Vegas wedding chapel he owns. But while his portrayal of Elvis generally leans into kitsch, his view on The King's life goes deeper. "A lot people go, 'I bet you wish you were Elvis,'" he told me. "And I always go, 'Not really.'"This episode is a collaboration with Condé Nast Traveler and their new love and travel series. Read more about Brendan and find other essays about love and travel here.Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers might not be the most expected pairing, until you look at their willingness to embrace conspiracy nonsense. On the show today, Rachelle and Madison and joined by Vulture’s Rachel Handler to discuss her recent piece, “What Do Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley ‘Agree to Disagree’ About?” They talk about the history of weird beliefs these two celebrities have, how it’s no longer fun to believe in conspiracy theories, and why these two should just log off.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Culture Gabfest is coming to you live from The Strand Bookstore in NYC for a special event! In this live taping, Steve interviews Dana about her new book (Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century) and Isaac Butler about his new book (The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act).In Slate Plus, Dana and Isaac answer some questions from the audience.Email us at culturefest@slate.com.Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe. Thanks to Jason Stack for this great photo!Outro music is "Spinning the Wheels" by Dusty Decks.Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin are joined by the New York Times’ John Branch to discuss Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu. They also talk about Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and ponder the 76ers’ Ben Simmons problem and the Nets’ various conundrums. Eileen Gu (6:02): What to make of her decision to represent China at the Beijing Games. Flores (23:40): Can anything change the NFL’s hiring practices? NBA (43:15): Should we sympathize with Ben Simmons? Can the Nets turn it around? Afterball (1:04:42): Joel on Jim Brown, Syracuse basketball player. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last month, a Tennessee school board voted to ban Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, from their eighth grade curriculum. This caused Maus to experience the "Streisand effect." On the show today, Rachelle and Madison explain the origins of the Streisand effect as an online phenomenon, how it helped Maus’ recent sales skyrocket, and why this short-term publicity isn’t really the solution to bans like these.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rihanna is having a baby, and Romance Twitter is furious. On today’s show, High Speed Downloads are back! Madison and Rachelle will zoom through all the important news about Rihanna’s baby bump reveal and Romance Twitter’s toxic reaction to an innocuous tweet. Then, they explain exactly what’s going on with podcast host Joe Rogan over at Spotify, and why it’s so difficult for platforms to part ways with their big personalities.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the panel is first joined by author and co-host of Slate’s Working podcast, Isaac Butler, to discuss the new Joel Coen rendition of The Tragedy of Macbeth. (Buy Isaac’s new book!) Then, the panel is joined by author and Slate correspondent, Justin Peters, to explain the phenomena of Joe Rogan and the recent Spotify controversy. Finally, the panel discusses the decision to rebrand the famous advertising characters of the Mars candy M&M’s.In Slate Plus, the panel answers listener questions about culture’s relationship to climate change.Email us at culturefest@slate.com.EndorsementsDana: An episode of the public radio show On the Media from WNYC called “Humans, Being.”Julia: The endorsement: the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook from Alice Waters, owner of the famous California restaurant Chez Panisse. And a request for listeners to send in their favorite salad dressing recipes.Steve: The song “Sweet Baby” by Prince and The New Power Generation.Buy Dana’s book, Isaac’s book, and a ticket to Dana and Isaac’s book event at The Strand (hosted by our very own Stephen Metcalf)!Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.Outro music is "Blue Nights and Yellow Days" by Matt Large.Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and special guest Louisa Thomas of the New Yorker discuss the NFL’s conference championship games and Tom Brady’s (probable) retirement. Then, they talk about Rafael Nadal’s record-setting Australian Open victory. Finally, Grant Wahl joins Josh and Stefan to assess the U.S. men’s national soccer team’s frigid loss to Canada.NFL (2:32): How did the Chiefs blow it? Is Joe Burrow as charismatic as he thinks he is?  Tennis (26:32): How Nadal staged the best comeback of his career.U.S. men’s soccer (45:49): Why can’t the U.S. score? Could they miss the World Cup?Afterball (1:06:49): Josh and Stefan celebrate the winner of Hang Up’s goofy sports idea contest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the past few weeks, Britney Spears has been posting all sorts of Notes App screenshots about how hurt she is by what her sister is saying on her press tour while promoting her new book Things I Should Have Said, by Jamie Lynn Spears. On the show today, Madison and Rachelle read the tweets, and the whole book, so you don’t have to. They talk about the origins of this fight, what’s caused it to resurface, and why a lot of this really has to do with their childhoods.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part two of our deep dive into Daryl Hall & John Oates' genre-defying streak on the pop charts, Chris Molanphy argues they were also more cutting-edge than you may realize, essentially inventing their own form of cross-racial new wave after spending the ’70s trying everything: rock, R&B, folk, funk, even disco. At their Imperial peak in the early ’80s, Hall and Oates commanded the pop, soul and dance charts while still getting played on rock stations. And decades later, when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ignored them, it was Black artists—rappers and soul fans—who pushed them in.Join Chris Molanphy for a dissection of the Philly duo who invented “rock ’n soul” and made their dreams come true.Sign up for Slate Plus now to get episodes in one installment as soon as they're out. You'll also get The Bridge, our trivia show and bonus deep dive. Click here for more info.   Podcast production by Asha Saluja. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.