This week: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan puzzles over the Indian film industry… An explosive burst of red-hot history… And Farai Chideya explains why teens just won’t listen.
Icebreaker: Jonathan Ryland
Jonathan Ryland — a.k.a. The Viking in those ever-popular Capital One TV ads — regales us with the tale of a blue-collar canine.
Small Talk: The Soundlessness Of Young America
Farai Chideya, Ebony magazine contributor and host of the forthcoming public radio show “Pop and Politics,” tells Brendan and Rico about a medical study that explains why teenagers just don’t seem to listen.
A History Lesson With Booze: Krakatoa and the “Blood & Ashes”
This week in 1883, the island of Krakatoa unleashed one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history — an explosion so loud it could be heard 2,000 miles away. After hearing about the chaos which followed, you’ll need a drink. Like for instance:
“BLOOD AND ASHES,” created by Jim Romdall, bar manager at Vessel in Seattle, WA (in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens).
In a mixing glass, add:
- 2 oz. Voyager gin
- 1/4 oz. Batavia Arak
- 1 oz. fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz. simple syrup
then, in a separate short glass:
- curl 1 sprig of rosemary in bottom of glass
- coat glass and rosemary with absinthe, and set on fire
Shake contents of mixing glass and pour over burning rosemary. Top with mountain of crushed ice. Pour 1/2 oz of shiraz “lava” over crushed ice.
Drink and explode with joy, thereby triggering a tsunami of reverie betwixt you and your dinner companions.
Guest of Honor: Aamir Khan
Actor/Producer Aamir Khan has been anointed the “most powerful man in Bollywood.” Not surprising — he starred in the two highest-grossing films in Indian history. His latest outing as a producer, the unusual satire Peepli Live, is setting the Indian box office afire and generating strong reviews stateside. Khan tells Rico why Indian films are so popular, why they’re becoming more challenging, and how he aced the Rubik’s Cube.
One For The Road: Fitz & the Tantrums – “MoneyGrabber”
Retro-soulsters Fitz & the Tantrums provide some old-school dance therapy to cure the late-summer blues: “MoneyGrabber,” the first single off their debut album Pickin’ up the Pieces. It drops August 24th, and if every vintage store in America doesn’t have it in constant rotation soon thereafter, we’ll eat our thin black ties.
Music On This Week’s Show:
Sea & Cake – “The Argument”
Aphex Twin – “Boy/Girl Song”
Tipsy – “Liquordelic”
Raymond Scott – “The Paperwork Explosion”
Yo La Tengo – “Return to Hot Chicken”
Beck – “Volcano”
Indian Ocean – “Des Mera”
Fitz & The Tantrums – “Moneygrabber”
