A feast of words, written for song, for print and for laughs on this episode of the Cabinet. A.C. Newman, front man for the powerpop powerhouse band The New Pornographers, sings a song still in the works. Will Sheff of Okkervil River, delivers penetrating lyrics with a gentle melody. Singer Megan Reilly takes on the role of a bird, in a duet with host John Wesley Harding. Writer and musican Rick Moody takes a stand against the drum machine. Duo Dean and Britta show off their love of psychedelic rock. Comedian Eugene Mirman takes joy in insults to his manhood. And novelist Colson Whitehead, reads a passage about the adolescent trauma he survived when Coca Cola traded in Coke for New Coke.
Russian-born comedian Eugene Mirman regularly appears on Comedy Central and the shows Flight of the Conchords and Delocated. He has published a book, hosted a radio show, and released two comedy albums. Mirman puts on a weekly comedy show "Pretty Good Friends" in Brooklyn.
Writer Rick Moody's novel, The Ice Storm, became a bestseller and was made into a film that same year. Moody also works in novellas, non-fiction, satire, editing, and music. The modern folk group, the Wingdale Community Singers, took him on as band member and composer. Moody published his collection of essays On Celestial Music this year.
A.C. Newman is the front man for Canadian indie-rock group, The New Pornographers. The New Pornographers have released five albums from 2000 to 2010. Newman has also been juggling a solo career since 2004.
Megan Reilly started performing her unique alternative country music in her hometown of Memphis, TN at a young age. Reilly recently released her third album The Well.
Will Sheff is front man for the Texas-based groups Okkervil River and Shearwater, and is a part-time solo artist. He plays the banjo, piano, guitar, and harmonica.
Novelist Colson Whitehead was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award for The Intuitionist and the PEN/Faulkner award for Sag Harbor. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002 after publishing his most well known novel John Henry Days.
Husband and wife duo Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, are known as Dean and Britta. They were members of indie dream-pop band Luna. Dean and Britta have worked on film scores, including The Squid and the Whale. For their third, most recent album as a duo, 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, they were commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum to score 13 silent portrait films made by Warhol.
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