Press Play with Madeleine Brand cover art

All Episodes

Press Play with Madeleine Brand — 170 episodes

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Title
1

Former DOJ official: USPS ballot rejection unlikely to work

2

Why some LA renters are revolting against shared utilities

3

The science behind the perfect pop song

4

Yayoi Kusama’s polka dots and infinity rooms conquered the art world

5

LA’s 2000s nightlife and a more innocent pre-social media era

6

Remembering larger-than-life country music icon Dolly Parton

7

Paul Simon’s magnum opus ‘Graceland’ turns 40

8

Bass, Raman trade barbs throughout a testy mayoral debate

9

Why Pico-Robertson’s Orthodox Jews are scootering on Shabbat

10

Buss vs. Buss: Spicy sibling dispute over Lakers sale

11

Meta faces $1.4 trillion reckoning in ‘tobacco moment’ lawsuit

12

Air Force One switcheroo a ‘Russian nesting doll of scandal’

13

What Iceland’s melting glaciers teach us about time, memory

14

Jackie the eagle, P-22, and the allure of celebrity wildlife

15

Great outfits, street parties, swagger: Tana Yonas’ essential summer tracks

16

Eaton Fire victims’ lawyer thinks new report will encourage Edison to settle

17

Jane Schoenbrun’s campy and surrealistic take on teen slasher movies

18

New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki’s characters mirror his own life

19

Is big Hollywood back? ‘Spider-Man’ smashes box office records

20

Remembering LA icon Betye Saar, and how she saw race in America

21

Dan Tana’s daughters reflect on their dad’s singular restaurant

22

Europe is on fire. A coming heat wave could make it even worse

23

Homelessness is up in LA. What it means for the mayor’s race

24

No phonies here: Why ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ still resonates

25

Ross McElwee’s new film ‘Remake’ explores his son’s overdose

26

Jackie got jumped! Beloved Big Bear eagle recovering after attack

27

Summer spins with DJ, Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf

28

Eastsiders enraged as charred, rotting food stinks up Boyle Heights

29

What’s behind the Los Angeles Zoo’s doom loop

30

Angry voters. Corrupt leaders. Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ feels like a modern tragedy

31

What happens when a quarter of Congress is over 70

32

Why libraries still matter as LA Central Library turns 100

33

Why immigration arrests are surging again

34

AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood. Marketing gag, or existential threat?

35

White House mounts fierce push to reverse soccer star’s red card

36

Fireworks are illegal in LA. Why are they still everywhere?

37

‘A little bit of freedom’ as CA moves death row prisoners out of isolation

38

State Sen. Scott Wiener run out of a trans march over Gaza stance

39

How legendary producer Ariana Morgenstern shaped KCRW’s sound

40

Supreme Court puts thousands of Haitians at risk for deportation

41

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and sports’ most intense rivalry

42

Brexit begets ‘Bregret’: 10 years on, Brits feel buyer’s remorse

43

What’s in Boyle Heights fire’s toxic air spreading across LA?

44

Venezuelan artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess is 96. And pissed.

45

Remembering Lorcan O’Herlihy, who built affordable housing that looked good

46

Yoko Ono at The Broad: An 'iconoclast' willing to do 'the strangest stuff'

47

Miles Davis’s nephew says his uncle’s fusion era is misunderstood

48

‘A global eclipse’: The World Cup arrives in Los Angeles

49

The eyebrow-raising ethics of a White House cage fight

50

Historian Ada Ferrer recounts her 9-year-old brother left behind in Cuba

51

Jakob Nowell on filling his late father’s shoes as Sublime’s frontman

52

The unpleasant experience of visiting Yosemite

53

Bass headed to runoff; Pratt says ‘I hope she’s ready’

54

Do YouTubers’ success in Hollywood threaten the studio system?

55

Spencer Pratt’s insurgent campaign reflects the anger of some Angelenos

56

Assessing Karen Bass's record on housing, public safety, fires

57

Political outsider Adam Miller promises more cops, fewer homeless in LA

58

Nithya Raman tries to forge a third way for LA between Bass, Pratt

59

How Monterey Park banned AI data centers

60

Chiara Barzini’s ‘Aqua’ chronicles LA’s water in peril

61

Mayoral hopeful Rae Huang vows to fire LAPD chief, make buses free

62

The many delights of Herb Alpert

63

Why the coming “Godzilla El Niño” could preview life on Earth in 2035

64

Sophy Romvari reimagines her family tragedy in ‘Blue Heron’

65

Meet the sculptor making a giant transgender Jesus out of chocolate

66

Jazz giant Arturo Sandoval still finds inspiration in his 70s

67

LA Metro’s decades-in-the-making D Line opens this weekend

68

Why climate change is making our food less nutritious

69

They’re cute. Even polite. But does LA need more delivery robots?

70

How McCabe’s in Santa Monica became a nationally known venue

71

$25 billion (and counting): The Iran War’s cost, 2 months in

72

‘A hugely terrible opinion’: UCLA’s Rick Hasen on SCOTUS voting rights decision

73

Comedian Sheng Wang on immigration, kind comedy, and ‘rat news’

74

Ruth Slenczynska, Rachmaninoff’s student who performed for presidents, dies at 101

75

A Thriller? Or just Bad? We review the Michael Jackson biopic

76

Why Lena Dunham inspires so much hate, and love, as a millennial feminist

77

Louise Erdrich’s remarkable encounters with the natural world

78

‘Ramones’ turns 50: Punk producer Craig Leon’s stories from the studio

79

LACMA’s decades-in-the-making $724 million wing finally opens

80

AI is replacing coders, but some coders welcome the change

81

‘LIVE from…’ London? Saturday Night Live expands to the UK

82

Swalwell’s stunning exit adds more chaos to CA governor race

83

Remembering “Swedish Death Cleaning” guru Margareta Magnusson

84

LA Phil's new conductor Anna Handler 'energized, motivated' by Los Angeles

85

Photographer Cathy Opie remembers friend, mentor Larry Sultan

86

UCLA demolishes South Carolina to claim first national title

87

Artemis II heads to the dark side of the moon

88

For LA City Council President, police reforms are personal

89

‘No Kings’ protests and CPAC symbolize a nation divided

90

The déjà vu of the 1970s oil shock after a Middle East war

91

Writer Annabelle Gurwitch on the ‘unexpected joys’ of cancer

92

Writer McKay Coppins on his 'year as a degenerate gambler'

93

James Blake’s ‘Trying Times’ and how he sees the world

94

Fallout for the farmworker movement Cesar Chavez led

95

Cesar Chavez biographer on rape, sexual assault allegations

96

Iran’s $200/barrel oil threat could mean $8 gas in California

97

Is Israel preparing to occupy Lebanon again?

98

What makes good casting as the Oscars add a new category

99

Iran War could prompt a fresh look at alternative energy

100

Why air power alone is destined to fail in the Iran War

101

Buck Meek looks in 'The Mirror' to face fear, find self-acceptance

102

LA has a trash problem. The meth crisis is a big part of it

103

Wagner Moura on ‘The Secret Agent’s’ real-life inspiration

104

The big winner in the war with Iran? Benjamin Netanyahu

105

Assessing the “known unknowns” of Trump’s war with Iran

106

Art Insider Carolina Miranda previews Frieze Los Angeles

107

Celebrity chef Alison Roman on making ‘Something from Nothing’

108

Gavin Newsom’s new memoir is a ‘clapback’ to his critics

109

How Tucker Carlson went from mainstream pundit to MAGA extremist

110

Sanders, Newsom on opposite sides of California’s ‘wealth tax’

111

Artist Sayre Gomez recreates LA’s infamous ‘graffiti towers’

112

How ‘America’s Next Top Model’ trafficked in abuse

113

Ski patrol deaths at Mammoth Mountain prompt scrutiny

114

Humanity’s first trip to the moon in 53 years is weeks away

115

How ICE is defying court orders to release immigrants

116

Decoding the political messages in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show

117

Chuck Klosterman argues football’s hold on America will fade away

118

“He should resign.” Councilmember Nithya Raman on LA28 chair Casey Wasserman

119

Artist An-My Lê’s desert photos of starscapes, and the sublime

120

LAPD won’t enforce ICE mask ban. Is it legal?

121

Evan Kleiman on the meme’d, maligned, and misunderstood bay leaf

122

Writer George Saunders on death, morality, and ruining our planet

123

‘Sinners’ nabs record 16 Oscar noms. Has horror finally found respect?

124

Will CBP agents who killed Alex Pretti be held accountable?

125

“They’re all kind of mid”: An underwhelming CA governor’s race

126

“This is NATO’s funeral,” even as Trump tempers Greenland threat

127

Comedian Eddie Izzard takes on the ultimate tragedy: Hamlet

128

Selena, A Tribe Called Quest inspire Adrian Quesada’s ‘boleros psicodelicos’

129

BTS is back! Previewing the year ahead in KPop

130

Could exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi be Iran’s next leader?

131

Can Democrats capitalize as ‘Abolish ICE’ regains momentum?

132

Altadena rapper Fat Tony on grief, resiliency, and…pickles?

133

Remembering Christine Moore, her ‘famous hugs,’ and community she built at Little Flower

134

Palisades, Eaton victims mark a year since devastating wildfires

135

R. Crumb’s Zwirner Gallery show a ‘culmination of his obsessions’

136

What’s next for Venezuela after U.S. indicts Nicolás Maduro

137

‘Uptown Girl’ Christie Brinkley dishes on Billy Joel, becoming the 1980s’ biggest model

138

Christmas Eve special: Remembering musical visionary Brian Wilson

139

Goodbye to ‘Stranger Things,’ the show that defined modern streaming

140

DOJ may face contempt charges over unreleased Epstein files

141

Oscars move reveals what YouTube always wanted: to replace TV

142

Rob Reiner’s son’s struggles feel familiar for many families

143

Rhea Seehorn on happiness, self-loathing, and optimism in ‘Pluribus’

144

Remembering Rob Reiner, and his ‘endlessly quotable’ films

145

Disney’s $1B Sora deal could upend Hollywood’s relationship with AI

146

Restaurant critic Bill Addison on LA’s 101 best restaurants

147

A bear moved into Altadena man’s crawlspace. He won’t leave.

148

Remembering Frank Gehry, the ‘never pretentious’ star of the starchitects

149

Caribbean boat strikes, Signal fiasco. Could Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s days be numbered?

150

Why San Francisco sued Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, and others over ultra-processed foods

151

‘No Lessons Learned’ over 12 pretty, pretty good seasons of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’

152

Mothers of the Mothership: The women who shaped the sound of 70s funk

153

How two movie critics (and their thumbs) became must-see TV 50 years ago

154

What every restaurant owner wants - Michelin Guide stars. But how do you get them?

155

Composer Alexandre Desplat on ‘Frankenstein,’ collaborating with Guillermo del Toro

156

R.I.Penny. Is the nickel next?

157

‘Rental Family’ and the morality, ethics of stand-in roles in peoples’ lives

158

Susan Orlean’s new memoir ‘Joyride’ and ‘the essence of feeling alive’

159

How the Sierra Club ‘imploded’ over DEI

160

Why California has some of the country’s weakest drunk driving laws

161

The 100-year history of motels from architectural gems to ‘hot pillow joints’

162

Veterans Day special: ‘He's become untouchable’: Jeff Buckley is star of new documentary

163

‘Electric Nebraska’: Springsteen album that never was…until now

164

Nancy Pelosi to retire after nearly four decades in Congress

165

How famed war photographer Lynsey Addario balances work, home life

166

Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen: Presidential assassin character ‘less calculating than Tom’

167

‘Dodgers stand tall,’ win back-to-back World Series titles

168

42 million may lose SNAP benefits. This CA mayor is one of them

169

Why child sex trafficking exploded on Figueroa in South LA

170

Why AI data centers are the ‘new American factory’