Episodes
Dec. 17, 2024
Rock photographer Jay Blakesberg on capturing the souls of legends
From Nirvana to BB King, The Rolling Stones to Radiohead, legendary rock photographer Jay Blakesberg has been documenting music icons for nearly 40 years. His work has been published in thousands of magazines, documentaries …
Dec. 3, 2024
Sandra Bernhard’s ‘risky, beautiful, and heartbreaking’ life
From her groundbreaking role playing one of the first openly gay characters on television, to her iconic appearances on David Letterman — where she repeatedly made the host speechless — actor and comedian Sandra Bernhard has…
Nov. 19, 2024
Chesa Boudin, raised by radicals, on the songs that shaped him
Lawyer Chesa Boudin’s professional life has been nearly as tumultuous as his upbringing. He was raised by family friends because his parents—members of the Weather Underground—were incarcerated for crimes committed when he w…
Nov. 5, 2024
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas on breaking barriers behind bars
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas spent more than two decades incarcerated before being granted a commutation for his rehabilitation efforts behind bars. He shares how his life was shaped by growing up in Brownsville, “the murder ca…
Oct. 22, 2024
Why Kara Swisher loves country music and the military
Longtime journalist and media entrepreneur Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley and the Internet since the days of dial-up. She’s taken nearly all of technology's titans to task with a fearless, no-nonsense style. B…
Oct. 8, 2024
Turns out, Mark Cuban is an emotional guy
Billionaire businessman and investor Mark Cuban is known for making — or crushing — entrepreneurs' dreams on the TV show Shark Tank. But in reality, he's a big softie. Here, he talks about getting his start selling trash bag…
Oct. 1, 2024
Introducing American Masters: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Can Do That Genre Too!
Today we’re sharing an episode of a podcast from our friends at PBS that we think you’ll really like – American Masters: Creative Spark. It’s a show that interviews iconic artists across disciplines about their creative jour…
Sept. 24, 2024
OpenAI’s Sam Altman: the human behind the machine
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the groundbreaking company leading the development of AGI—artificial general intelligence. AGI aims to create machines that can think, learn, and understand the world like humans—or even bett…
Sept. 10, 2024
How Rhodessa Jones went from nude dancer to theater icon
Rhodessa Jones is a performance artist who turned her life as a nude dancer into a theatrical revolution. From her days in a San Francisco peep show, where she danced to Prince’s “Soft and Wet,” Jones crafted her provocative…
Aug. 27, 2024
How Robert Reich learned to fight bullies
A giant in the field of politics, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich—who stands just under 5 feet tall—has spent a lifetime fighting for, yes, the little guys. He shares how dealing with grade school bullies prepared him…
Aug. 13, 2024
What Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, says about terror
Daniel Handler, or Lemony Snicket as you may know him, is the author of more than two dozen books, including the 13-book best-selling saga for young adults called "A Series of Unfortunate Events.” In much of Daniel’s work, t…
July 30, 2024
What inspired the original starchitect, Lord Norman Foster
The 89-year-old behind some of the world’s most famous buildings, including Apple’s “Spaceship” headquarters in Cupertino, the Reichstag in Berlin, Wembley Stadium in London and Hearst Tower in New York, shares how growing u…
July 16, 2024
How comedy saved Margaret Cho’s life
Raunchy, risk-taking and always hilarious, Margaret Cho has had a legendary career as a stand-up comic, actress and musician. She says her success is because of all the trauma she’s survived, not despite it. These are her so…
July 9, 2024
‘Life in Seven Songs’ full theme song
We’ve received numerous requests from our listeners about our theme music, and we're excited to share the full track with you today! Composed exclusively for 'Life in Seven Songs' by the talented Kate Davis and Zubin Hensler…
July 2, 2024
He shaped the iPhone—so what shaped Jony Ive?
You may not know his name, but you certainly know his work. Sir Jony Ive is the former chief design officer for Apple, and the mastermind behind devices most cannot imagine living without—the Macbook, iPhone, iPad, Apple Wat…
June 18, 2024
D’Wayne Wiggins on Tony! Toni! Toné!, Beyoncé and beyond
Music producer and musician D’Wayne Wiggins has mentored superstars like Beyoncé, Kehlani and Zendaya, all while touring with his own Grammy award-winning band Tony! Toni! Toné!. In this episode, D’Wayne reveals how he found…
June 18, 2024
The truth hurts with SF Mayor London Breed
Host Sophie Bearman sits down with London Breed, the 45th mayor of San Francisco, and the first Black woman to hold the position. London opens up about how her life was shaped by the challenges that plague San Francisco, how…
May 29, 2024
Introducing ‘Life in Seven Songs’
Intimate biographies of some of the world’s most fascinating people, told through the songs that made them who they are.