Episode 390
with Pete Holmes, Franny Choi, and Pink Martini
In this special Live Wire episode, host Luke Burbank catches up with comedian Pete Holmes on his "Comedy Sex God" book tour, where he explains how TV success took him in a new spiritual direction; poet Franny Choi discusses how she incorporated Google Translate and the Turing Test into her latest collection "Soft Science;" and powerhouse vocalist Jimmie Herrod, with Pink Martini, performs a rendition of the classic ballad “The Exodus Song.”
Franny Choi
Poet
Franny Choi is all about asking loaded questions. A poet, performer, editor, and playwright, Choi is the author of the poetry collection Floating, Brilliant, Gone, the chapbook Death by Sex Machine, and the forthcoming Soft Science. Her writing examines issues of trauma, identity, memory, and perception while asking questions of the mind and body, making her work feel both cerebral and physical. Choi's poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, American Poetry Review, and the New England Review, and she is a Kundiman Fellow, cohost of the Poetry Foundation's podcast VS, and member of the Dark Noise Collective. Website • Twitter
Pink Martini
Musical Group
If you’re looking for an epic, international, continent-crossing good time, then you’ve found it with the music of Pink Martini. Founded by Portland native Thomas Lauderdale in 1994 to provide beautiful and inclusive music for political fundraisers, the “little orchestra” now features a dozen musicians who have performed the band’s multilingual repertoire with symphony orchestras throughout the world. Now far eclipsing Lauderdale’s original vision, the band has played sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall, been inducted into the Hollywood Bowl AND Oregon Music Halls of Fame, and their first song, “Sympathique” remains, to this day, a mantra for striking French workers. Our political affiliation? We always vote for the type of party Pink Martini has been throwing for twenty-five years now. Listen • Twitter
