Arts

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Host Madeleine Brand looks at news, culture and emerging trends through the lens of Los Angeles.

Latest Episodes:

State of immigration 100 days into Trump 2.0, appeal of big wave surfing Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

A hundred days into his second White House term, Donald Trump has reshaped the conversation around immigration in the U.S., once seen as a proud melting pot of immigrants and cultures.

Trump is trying to deport an unprecedented number of people. The Silicon Valley company Palantir is compiling a database of sensitive information to help him do it.

Waves in NorCal, Maui, and Nazaré can be 100 feet tall, posing serious injury or death to professionals. Still, athletes are undeterred. They are the subject of “100 Foot Wave,” now in season three.

UC Berkeley scientists have discovered a new color, “olo,” visible only with special lasers, offering a glimpse into the untapped potential of human vision.

Trump v. ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Dream Requiem’ Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

President Trump’s attempts to freeze federal dollars for “sanctuary” jurisdictions were thwarted in court last week. Where is the battle headed?

The Supreme Court is considering two cases about public education this week. One involves the bar to prove discrimination related to disability, and the other involves state funding for a religious charter school.

“Sinners” takes the box office for a second week, sparking debate about originality, biased media coverage, and what its success means for Hollywood’s future.

Rufus Wainwright’s new album, “Dream Requiem,” is interwoven with Lord Byron’s poem “Darkness.” It’s partly inspired by Giuseppe Verdi, and is dedicated to Wainwright’s dog named Puccini.

What Musk has done at DOGE, LA chefs on Trump’s tariffs Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Elon Musk says he's scaling back his work in Washington D.C. and returning to Tesla. He and DOGE had promised to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.

After reporting Tesla’s tanked first quarter profits, Elon Musk blames protests and vows to spend more time with the company. Will it be enough to turn things around?

Goods coming into the U.S. face a baseline 10% tariff, and those from China face 14.5%. Chefs and owners of Firstborn and Bé Ù share how that’s affected profits and menu items.

Critics review the latest film releases: “The Accountant 2,” “Havoc,” “On Swift Horses,” and “Until Dawn.”

Knafeh (shredded filo) is the star ingredient in Dubai chocolate bars, which are also stuffed with pistachio cream. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for this treat.

America’s rising Christian nationalism, declining birth rate Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Journalist Katherine Stewart charts the rise of the Christian right and its influence in the Trump administration in her new book “Money, Lies, and God.”

“The Empire Strikes Back,” now 45 years old, changed Hollywood with its bold twists, deeper characters, and the introduction of Yoda. It's the franchise that shaped sequels.

Women are less likely to have kids than ever, says a new CDC report. The fertility rate in the U.S. has dropped for years — now the White House wants to reverse that trend.

LA’s budget deficit, JANM v. Trump, YouTube’s 20th anniversary Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

LA Mayor Karen Bass has released her next budget. To help close a massive deficit, the city may have to lay off around 5% of the city workforce.

LA’s Japanese American National Museum is refusing to follow the Trump administration’s orders to end DEI efforts. Now it's at risk of losing $2 million of federal funding.

The documentary “One to One” follows John Lennon and Yoko Ono through a tumultuous period in their lives and American politics, reassessing Ono’s artistry and her influence on Lennon.

YouTube turns 20 this year. The popular video site democratized content on the web, but also inflamed culture wars, radicalized users, and further polarized an already divided society.

Impact of Pope Francis, Marie Davidson’s “City of Clowns” Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Pope Francis, who died overnight, is remembered for having a more progressive approach to immigration, climate change, and the LGBTQ commmunity than his predecessors.

Early Saturday morning, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from deporting another group of Venezuelan migrants it claims are gang members.

Marie Davidson’s album “City of Clowns” is inspired by the book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” which focuses on a new form of capitalism based on data mining.

Apple is rolling out AI technology that will train itself on your messages, pictures, and more — while keeping the source material private. Is it secure?

Big tech v. government, film reviews, comeback of metal braces Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

Google and Meta are under fire in court. Officials claim they crushed rivals to stay on top. The outcome could upend how Big Tech works.

The University of South Florida surveyed more than 1,500 kids, and found that 11 to 13-year-olds who had their own smartphones fared better psychologically than their peers who didn’t have phones.

Critics review the latest film releases: “Sinners, “The Wedding Banquet,” “The Shrouds,” and “The President's Wife.”

“Metal mouths” are back. Old-school metal braces are becoming the teeth-straightener of choice among kids and adults.

Bay Area politics, DTLA jewelry heist, ‘Rebel Queen’ memoir Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

The Oakland mayoral race is a close call between progressive Barbara Lee and moderate challenger Loren Taylor. In SF, Mayor Daniel Lurie rounds out his first 100 days.

A cinematic heist in Downtown Los Angeles: Thieves recently tunneled from a historic theater through “castle-like” walls into a store packed with bling.

Hungarian Susan Polgar earned chess’ highest honor at age 15. She and her family faced antisemitism and harassment from the ruling Communist Party, and sexism from opponents and officials in chess. Her new memoir is “Rebel Queen.”

What’s the relationship between art and democracy? After his firing from the Kennedy Center, poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph has some thoughts.

Harvard v. Trump, Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

Harvard will not comply with sweeping demands from the Trump administration targeting pro-Palestinian organizing. Can other universities afford to join them?

Mohsen Mahdawi’s detention exposes the rising risks faced by pro-Palestinian students during the Trump administration’s crackdown on campuses.

Netflix’s “Adolescence” explores the issue of growing up online and what social media pressures can do to lonely, angry young men. It also looks at generational male violence.

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank more than 100 years ago, but the disaster has captured the imagination of Generation Alpha.

LAUSD’s noncooperation with ICE, music by Jeff Bridges Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. The White House is asserting its power to say “no.”

Immigration agents visited two South LA schools recently, looking for five students they said were undocumented. School officials turned them away in a test of LAUSD’s policy of noncooperation with ICE.

An autocracy journalist discusses the rise of authoritarianism in Hungary and sees parallels in some recent actions by the Trump administration.

In the 1970s and 80s, Jeff Bridges recorded songs with his childhood buddies in his West LA neighborhood. Now those songs are in the new album “Slow Magic, 1977-1978.”

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