The Colin McEnroe Show
Connecticut Public Radio
The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 12, 2016 • 49min
Illeana Douglas Blames Dennis Hopper
Life changed dramatically for Illeana Douglas in 1969 when her parents fell in love with the two Harley-riding hippies in the Dennis Hopper - Peter Fonda classic, "Easy Rider." They decided to trade in their middle-class life for a wild ride filled with free spirits, free love and Hollywood.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 11, 2016 • 50min
Remembering David Bowie
In "A Knight's Tale," Heath Ledger is invited to a dance among the nobles. He is a peasant, impersonating a noble and is anxious because he doesn't really know how to dance. His rival sneeringly asks him to show everybody a dance from Heath's homeland. What happens next is a breath-taking dance sequence in which pre-Renaissance music morphs into Golden Years by David Bowie .Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 8, 2016 • 50min
An X-Chromosome Nose Takes on "Making a Murderer" and Gender
People can't get enough of the new Netflix story "Making a Murderer," a depressing story about Steven Avery, the son of troublesome auto-salvage dealers in the heart of an eastern Wisconsin farming community. He was erroneously sent to prison for 18 years for a crime he didn't commit. Upon his release after a long legal battle, he was put back in jail for a murder -- you guessed it -- he may not have commit. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 7, 2016 • 50min
You Want Me To Eat What?!
Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.We're going to talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish. This is a conversation about disgust, and specifically, how our reflexive response of disgust may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 6, 2016 • 49min
That's Shocking!!
When the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe were exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford in 1989, there were protesters on the street and lines around the block as thousands queued up to pay an extra fee to look at these pictures, which lay at the heart of a heated debate about public funding for the arts.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 4, 2016 • 50min
The Scramble: Natalie Cole, George R.R. Martin, Oregon
Natalie Cole struggled to step out of the shadows of R&B icon Aretha Franklin and the longer shadow of her father, singer Nat King Cole. But she did it with her stellar voice and lasting, if under-appreciated, contributions to R&B, soul, and jazz. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 4, 2016 • 50min
The Truth About Ugliness (It Ain't Pretty)
What does it mean to say that someone, or something is ugly? For a label that gets tossed around so often, its meaning is hard to pin down. Perhaps that's because, throughout history and around the world, our notions of ugliness have shifted considerably.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 31, 2015 • 49min
The Nose Reminisces on 2015
I assembled seven Nose panelists and asked them to pick a topic we used during 2015 from my list of twelve. Of the five left over, four of them were connected to the modern cycle of internet shame: Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP official who was pretending to be black, the drunk profane kid demanding jalapeno bacon mac and cheese at UConn, the aunt who sued her nephew for jumping on her, and the dentist who sued Cecil the lion.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 30, 2015 • 50min
Historical Fiction Is Not All Made Up
Many of our ideas about history are drawn from historical fiction. Who, for example, is Thomas More? Is he the tragic hero of the play and movie, "A Man For All Seasons"?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 28, 2015 • 50min
The Scramble: Steve Collins on Resigning from Bristol Press and the Mysterious "Edward Clarkin"
On the surface of things, there would seem to be little connection among the following: two small daily newspapers in central Connecticut, the wealthy owner of a multinational casino and resort chain, the Chinese crime gangs known as triads, and the sale of the largest newspaper in Nevada to an undisclosed owner. But they do all fit together somehow. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
