My guest today is the actor Tatiana Maslany. One of the things I find so compelling about Tatiana and her career is that the roles that she plays often contain multitudes—literally. She played over 10 different characters-clones, but with distinct personalities-in the TV show Orphan Black. And in the Marvel Universe, she played She-Hulk, who also had the very different alter ego of Jennifer Walters, a lawyer. And right now, she’s starring in the show Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on AppleTV. When Tatiana prepares for her roles—and the roles within the roles—she often uses music to inspire and motivate her. Today, I got to talk to Tatiana about a song that’s been really important to her and her process. And that song is “Faceshopping” by Sophie.

If you’re not aware of Sophie’s music, she was an incredible, groundbreaking electronic artist from the UK. She was trans, and she passed away far too young, in 2021. But even in a short time, she made a big impact. In addition to her own music, she also produced tracks for Charli XCX, and Madonna, and more. In 2018, she released her breakthrough Grammy-nominated album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, which dealt a lot with her trans identity. And that’s the album that has the song “Faceshopping.”

You can buy or stream “Faceshopping” by Sophie here.

footnotes:

BIPP by Sophie
Beastie Boys, “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, and “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, and Prodigy
System of a Down

Twitter

Facebook

Email

My guest today is the bestselling author Emma Straub. Her books include This Time Tomorrow, Modern Lovers, The Vacationers, and more. And with her husband, Michael Fusco, she co-owns the beautiful Brooklyn bookstore Books Are Magic.

I’m so thrilled to have her on because, not only is she a wonderful writer, but Key Change is a series about music fandom and identity. And Emma’s newest novel American Fantasy is also about music fandom and identity. That story is set on a cruise ship centered around a nineties boy band and their fans.

But today, Emma’s going to tell me her story about her own relationship with the music of the Magnetic Fields. Stephin Merritt from the Magnetic Fields was just named one of the greatest living American songwriters by the New York Times, and Emma’s introduction to their music was their 1999 triple album, 69 Love Songs.

You can buy or stream 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields here.

footnotes:
Claudia Gonson
LD Beghtol
Future Bible Heroes, The Gothic Archies
“Epitaph For My Heart,” “Long-Forgotten Fairytale,” “Grand Canyon,” “The Book of Love,” “It’s Only Time,” and “Walking My Gargoyle”
Emma Straub’s Magnetic Fields tour blog

Twitter

Facebook

Email

My guest today is Baz Luhrmann, the award-winning director whose films include Moulin Rouge!, Strictly Ballroom, The Great Gatsby, Elvis, and Romeo + Juliet. His newest film is EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, a critically acclaimed documentary about Elvis that’s playing right now in theaters and in IMAX. Before becoming a massively successful film director, Baz began his showbiz career as an actor, and as a ballroom dancer, in Australia. His first film was Strictly Ballroom, which came out in 1992, and became one of the highest-grossing Australian films of all time. It was originally a play, and there’s a song in the film that was part of the story all the way back when it was first performed on stage. And that’s what Baz and I talked about for this episode.

You can buy or stream “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper here.

footnotes:
“One” by John Farnham
National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Cate Blanchett, and Mel Gibson
Ted Albert
Tara Morice and Craig Pearce

Twitter

Facebook

Email