All Of It with Alison Stewart

It’s that period of time in which millions of people try to balance their work lives with... surreptitiously watching hours of live basketball. Yes, it's March Madness, and even people who don't normally care about college sports are obsessed with their brackets. Sports reporter Priya Desai explains why it's having a cultural moment — and we want to know how you got into it.*This segment is guest hosted by David Furst.

The new musical “Buena Vista Social Club” is now on Broadway after an acclaimed off-Broadway run. The show follows a group of Cuban musicians coming together to record the now-famous 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club. Marco Ramirez wrote the book for the musical, and Natalie Venetia Belcon stars as Omara, a vocalist convinced to come out of retirement to work on the album. Ramirez and Belcon discuss the production, which is running now at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.*This segment is guest hosted by David Furst.

Ariel Loh is a locally based producer and mixing/mastering engineer. At the beginning of 2025, she became the first openly trans Asian-American woman to win a Grammy for her work on the track "Deliver" She joins us for another installment of our Women’s History Month series, Equalizers: Women in Music Production.*This segment is guest hosted by David Furst.

After years of waiting, the wild rollercoaster ride that is "Severance" just aired its second season finale. Erin Qualey, a freelance writer and licensed therapist, has been recapping each episode of the season for Vulture. She analyzes the finale with us, and listeners share their theories, thoughts, and predictions for season three.*This segment is guest hosted by David Furst.

Spring has sprung, and as we turn the page on another season, we'll explore some of the best new forthcoming and recently released books. All Of It Producer Jordan Lauf discusses some of her most anticipated new reads this winter. Plus, we take listeners' book recommendations.This conversation is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar.

Often on Fridays, we invite listeners to share like to hear what they're doing over the weekend. On this first weekend of Spring, listeners shout-out their weekend plans. Plus, producer Luke Green previews his weekend, including watching the NCAA March Madness tournaments and organizing a Team All Of It bracket pool.This segment is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar.

Audio engineer Karrie Keyes started her career at 18 years old and has worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and many more artists. She discusses her collaborative work, and also her organization SoundGirls, a non-profit amplifying women in the music industry, for another installment of "Equalizers: Women in Music Production."This conversation is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar.

We speak to Nicholas Quah, critic for Vulture about the new series "Adolescence," which premiered on Netflix last week. The story follows a 13 year old boy arrested for the murder of a classmate and is told from different perspectives, including the cops, the family, the friends and mental health professionals. Each of the 4 episodes is shot in one take, giving it the feel of a play. This conversation is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar.

Tony-winning actor LaChanze makes her directorial debut with a new revival of "Wine in the Wilderness," an Alice Childress play set in the midst of 1964 riot in Harlem. Grantham Coleman stars as Bill, an artist who is working on a triptych on Black womanhood. His final model is Tomorrow Marie, played by Olivia Washington. And soon their meeting will be about much more than art. Coleman, and Washington discuss "Wine in the Wilderness," running at the Classic Stage Company through April 13.

In February, The Altons, a Southern California-based band, released their debut album on Daptone Records, Heartache in Room 14. Vocalists and front-persons Adriana Flores and Bryan Ponce discuss the story of their group, and we listen to some tracks for an All Of It Listening Party. The Altons play tonight at Racket NYC at 8pm.

Calvin Eng is the Brooklyn-born chef and founder of Bonnie's, a popular Cantonese-American restaurant in Williamsburg that opened in 2021. The restaurant blends Eng's Cantonese background and American upbringing with dishes like Italian combo fried rice and clam chowder jook. Eng has written a new cookbook, Salt Sugar MSG, with recipes inspired by what he serves at his restaurant, and background into why he named his restaurant after his mother, Bonnie. Eng tells us more about his story.

Musician, composer and producer Terri Lyne Carrington talks about her career and approach to music as part of the Women's History Month series Equalizers: Women In Music Production.

[REBROADCAST FROM Feb. 20, 2025] The married musical duo The War And Treaty centers the complexities of love in their music, and even dropped their latest album Plus One on Valentine’s Day. Tanya Trotter and Michael Trotter share some live performances from our studio. They will be performing at Irving Plaza on April 8.

WNYC and Theater of War Productions have teamed up for a series of live readings and discussion series bring actors together with journalists to bring important and complex reporting to life. This month, the series features a December 2023 article from The Atlantic by Rebecca Johns called A Diet Writer’s Regrets, which reflects on weight loss, social pressure, and the unintended consequences of diet culture. On March 22, WNYC will air a recording of the live event, in which actor Hope Davis performs a reading of the article, followed by a conversation with Johns and Theater of War Artistic Director Bryan Doerries, who discuss the series, and its latest installment.

This week, jazz trumpeter Theo Croker takes the stage at SMOKE Jazz Club from Wednesday, March 19, through Sunday, March 23, for a special preview of his upcoming album. He stopped by WNYC's studios for a live performance and a conversation about Dream Manifest, set for release in June 2025. You can hear the full conversation and more music from our conversation on Tuesday. Today, we present a bonus track.

The J-pop duo YOASOBI have earned fans around the world, sold out shows at Radio City Music Hall, and played at Lollapalooza and Coachella. The J-Pop duo's lead singer Ikura performs an exclusive set in our studio, featuring acoustic versions of their hit songs.

The new Peacock series, "Long Bright River," is based on the best selling novel by Liz Moore and is set in an Philadelphia area known for high opioid rates. It tells the story of an awkward cop, played by Amanda Seyfried, investigating the deaths of known prostitutes in the area while also searching for her own sister, also an addict. Seyfriend joins along with showrunner Nikki Toscano to discuss making the series.

In 2016, DJ and producer TOKiMONSTA underwent two brain surgeries for Moyamoya disease, after which she had to relearn how to speak and hear music. In 2019, she became the first Asian-American woman nominated for Best Dance / Electronic Album at the Grammy Awards. Her new album is called Eternal Reverie. She joins us for another installment of "Equalizers: Women in Music Production."

This week, jazz trumpeter Theo Croker takes the stage at SMOKE Jazz Club from Wednesday, March 19, through Sunday, March 23, for a special preview of his upcoming album. But first, he stops by for a live performance and a conversation about Dream Manifest, set for release in June 2025.

In a new film, stand-up comedian and actor John Leguizamo plays a man who finds himself in an unlikely friendship with a young woman searching for her estranged father on Facebook. The two of them just happen to have the same name, Bob Trevino! Leguizamo and writer-director Tracie Laymon, who partly based the film on her own experience, joins us to discuss "Bob Trevino Likes It" which opens in theaters this Friday, March 21.

The "phone eats first" trend is about cooking or ordering your food with an eye toward a visual presentation worth sharing on social media. Author Allyson Reedy has written a new cookbook, The Phone Eats First Cookbook: 50 of Social Media's Best Recipes to Feed Your Feed...and Then Yourself, all about the most viral recipes. Reedy discusses how Instagram and TikTok have changed our food culture and listeners share their favorite recipes that they first saw online. BIRRIA TACOSDahianna | @_cookingwitdServes 6It was the Instagram post heard ’round the world in 2018, when an L.A. influencer posted a picture of his dinner from a neighborhood quesabirria taco truck. Almost instantly, influencers were scouring their own ’hoods for birria tacos, clamoring for that perfect shot of glistening, griddled tacos being dunked into Styrofoam cups full of dark pools of chile-infused goodness. Talk about gussying up #tacotuesday. Demand skyrocketed, with influencers piquing our interest for a dish that, prior to 2018, was barely known to most outside of Mexico. Birria tacos started popping up on Mexican restaurant menus across the country, and food bloggers began posting recipes for DIY tacos and Frankenfoods like birria ramen. This recipe slow simmers dried guajillo, ancho, and arbol chiles with garlic, onion, oregano, and cumin to out-birria the rest.HASHTAG PAIRING: #birriatacos #tacotime #whenidipyoudip #tacoboutawesome #birriaiswhyimbrokePHOTO TIP: With brownish foods like tacos, add pops of color with onion, cilantro, and lime 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast6 cloves garlic5 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed5 dried chiles de arbol, stems and seeds removed4 dried ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed4 bay leaves½ medium white onion½ carrot1 tablespoon beef or chicken broth1 tablespoon dried oregano1 tablespoon ground cumin1½ teaspoons sugar1 teaspoon kosher salt12 yellow corn tortillas3 cups grated Chihuahua, Oaxaca, or Monterey Jack cheeseChopped white onion, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges for servingIn a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the beef, garlic, chiles,bay leaves, onion, carrot, and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil overmedium heat, then simmer for 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon or skimmer, remove the garlic, chiles, bayleaves, onion, and carrot and place in a blender. Add about ½ cupof cooking liquid and puree. Add the broth, oregano, cumin, sugar,and salt and blend until thoroughly combined. Strain through afine-mesh sieve back into the pot with the beef and the remainingcooking liquid. Stir to combine, cover, and cook over low heat until the beefshreds with a fork, about 3 hours. Transfer the beef to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly, andshred it with two forks. To make the tacos, heat a cast-iron griddle or skillet overmedium-low heat. Dip a corn tortilla halfway into the broth in thepot. Place on the griddle and top with ¼ cup cheese and about½ cup shredded meat. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of broth to thegriddle, fold the taco, and cook until the cheese melts and the meatsizzles. You can make several tacos at a time. When ready to serve, ladle broth into small individual bowls fordipping and top the broth and the tacos with chopped onion andcilantro. Serve with lime halves on the side.

Actor Brian Tyree Henry discusses his starring role in the new series "Dope Thief." The show follows two friends who decide to pose as Drug Enforcement agents to rob a house, a decision that leads to unforeseen consequences. "Dope Thief" airs on Apple TV + on Fridays.

Singer, pianist and producer Patrice Rushen holds the distinction of being the first woman musical director of the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards. A producer of her own releases, she's also worked with many other artists, notably producing Sheena Easton's jazz standards album No Strings. Rushen joins us for another installment of "Equalizers: Women in Music Production."

Consuelo Kanaga was one of the first women to be hired as a staff photojournalist for a major American newspaper. She used her camera to document social issues such as racial injustice, urban poverty, and labor rights, particularly in Black communities. However, the The Brooklyn Museum – which owns the most extensive collection of her photographs – argues her work is still overlooked. A new exhibition, “Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit,” sheds light on Kanaga's legacy. Co-curators Pauline Vermare and Drew Sawyer discuss the show, on view at the Brooklyn Museum through August 3.

When comedian Phil Hanley hit the first grade, he started to realize that while his classmates were learning to read, he couldn't seem to make any progress. That was the start of a lifelong journey with dyslexia, which caused Hanley to struggle in school, only to find success as a male model and now as a comedian. Hanley discusses his memoir Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith.

Composer Hans Zimmer has contributed scores to films such as “Dune,” “Gladiator” and “Inception.” He now has his own film: “Hans Zimmer and Friends: A Diamond in the Desert.” Part concert film, part documentary, it features Zimmer performing his most famous works, and commentary from colleagues such as Christopher Nolan and music industry stars like Billie Eilish and Pharrell. Hans joins us in studio to discuss.

Season Three of the hit HBO series "The White Lotus" is set in Thailand, and follows a group of privileged vacationers at a wellness resort and spa. One of those guests, Timothy Ratliffe, seems to be facing a serious impending legal issue. Actor Jason Isaacs, who plays Timothy on the show, joins us to discuss Season Three, and the mysteries of his character.

Social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney rose to fame through her series documenting her gender transition on TikTok. But along with love from many in the LGBTQIA+ community, the videos attracted hate and transphobia. Mulvaney found herself embroiled in a national controversy after her turn as a spokesperson for Bud Light led some to declare a boycott of Bud Light's products. Now, Mulvaney is chronicling her journey into womanhood and national fame in her new memoir, Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer.

This week All Of It is reflecting on the five year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 quarantine. We finish with the stories of New York's essential workers, compiled in a new book from Manhattan borough historian Robert W. Snyder, When the City Stopped: Stories from New York's Essential Workers. Snyder discusses what he learned from collecting personal accounts from the city's workers who were on the front lines.

On the 5th anniversary of the COVID pandemic, we look at how it shaped the world we know today. Did you take up a new hobby, find a passion, meet your soulmate or just learn something about yourself? What lessons or what growth did you experience? We speak with writer and comedian Josh Gondelman and take listener calls.

In 1983, artist and DJ Michael Stewart was beaten and choked by New York City Transit Authority police after allegedly spray painting in the 14th Street subway station. After 13 days in a coma, he died in Bellevue Hospital. The new book from writer Elon Green seeks to share more about Stewart's life in New York, and explores the aftermath of his brutal death. The book is called The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart's New York.

4 Non Blondes vocalist and Songwriters Hall of Famer Linda Perry is one of a handful of women nominated for the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical which has never been awarded to a woman. Perry is also the co-founder of EqualizeHer, an organization aimed at addressing gender inequality in the music industry. She joins us for another installment of our March series, Equalizers: Women in Music Production.

Note: There were audio issues at the beginning of this conversation, which were resolved by the 5 minute mark. The Hulu series “Paradise” follows the twists, turns and mysteries in the wake of a president’s murder. Emmy-winner Julianne Nicholson plays the world’s wealthiest self-made woman, Samantha ‘Sinatra’ Redmond, who has gained control and influence amid chaos. Nicholson reflects on the series for an All Of It Watch Party, and listeners share their thoughts about the show.

Our March Get Lit with All Of It book club selection is the novel Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett. The story follows an NYC-based asylum lawyer who is forced to confront a violent night from his past that left him estranged from his mother for 20 years. Haslett joins us for a preview conversation ahead of our April 2nd Get Lit event. Click here to borrow the book and grab your free tickets!

[REBROADCAST FROM Sep 18, 2024] Writer Sandy Frazier spent fifteen years walking around the Bronx, getting to know the borough, its history, and its people. His book based on those walks is called, Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough, which is a finalist for the 2025 Gotham Book Prize.

Everyone needs to give a speech at some point in their life, and every speech can benefit from some humor. But trying to write a funny speech is a dangerous game. Veteran comedy writers Carol Leifer ("Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Hacks") and Rick Mitchell ("The Ellen DeGeneres Show") have written a new book, How to Write a Funny Speech: for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation & Every Other Event You Didn't Want to Go to in the First Place. They discuss the ins and outs of comedy in speeches, and how to strike the right balance.

Actors Christian Slater, Calista Flockhart, and Cooper Hoffman discuss playing members of the Tate family in the current revival of the 1977 Sam Shepard play "Curse of the Starving Class." Slater plays Weston Tate, a destructive alcoholic. Flockhart plays his wife, Ella, who is hoping to sell the family's property to make ends meet. Hoffman plays their son, Wesley, who is left to pick up the pieces. "Curse of the Starving Class" runs at the Pershing Square Signature Center through April 6.

On the 5th anniversary of the COVID pandemic, we reflect on how the crisis shaped the world we know today. We speak with New York Times writer Jessica Grose about the virus' impact on workplaces and attitudes about essential work and the value of labor. Plus, listeners call in to share how their work lives have changed as a result of the pandemic.

On the 5th anniversary of the COVID pandemic, we look at how it shaped the world we know today. Vox writer Allie Volpe talks about how the virus affected relationships from dating to friendships. Plus, listeners share how their relationships changed throughout the crisis.

Carla Fernandez lost her father to cancer the same year she turned 21, and subsequently hosted a dinner party for some friends who’d also experienced loss at a young age. This gathering launched a global community and support group for those navigating grief, from which she has learned the lessons distilled in her new book, Renegade Grief: A Guide to the Wild Ride of Life After Loss.

Eric Adjepong is a Ghanaian-American, native New Yorker, "Top Chef" finalist, and author of the new cookbook, Ghana to the World. He talks about the unique flavors and traditions of Ghanaian cuisine, and how to make, among other dishes, the perfect jollof rice.

Musician and producer Paula Cole won Best New Artist at the Grammys in 1998, and that year, was nominated in the rest of the “Big Four” categories (Best Album, Song and Record of the Year). She also made history as the first woman nominated for Producer of the Year without a male collaborator. Cole talks about her career and approach to music as part of the Women's History Month series Equalizers: Women In Music Production.

A new memoir from Amazon’s principal accessibility researcher and MacArthur fellow Joshua Miele recounts how the acid attack that blinded and scarred him as a child led to a career at the intersection of design, technology, and accessibility. Miele talks about his life, his work and his book Connecting Dots: A Blind Life.

Five years ago this month, the pandemic arrived in New York. The city declared a state of emergency, and began a series of shutdowns. We'll mark this anniversary on the show all week long, and today we want to know: what are your memories of the start of the shutdown? WNYC/Gothamist reporter Arun Venugopal talks about his experiences reporting during this time, and listeners call in to reflect on the beginning of the pandemic.

Lauren Christy co-founded the writing/production trio The Matrix, whose work on Avril Lavigne's debut album earned the group their Producer Of The Year Grammy nominations. Christy is the first of only three women nominated for POTY in the 21st century. Christy is featured in today's installment of the Women's History Month series, Equalizers: Women In Music Production.

We set our clocks forward over the weekend for Daylight Saving Time, affecting our circadian rhythms. Lynne Peeples, scientist and author of the book, The Inner Clock: Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms, talks about ways to improve sleep by understanding our bodies and environment.

Grammy award-winning vocalist and producer Bilal and Grammy-winning jazz bassist esperanza spalding shared the stage at our February Get Lit with All Of It book club event for a one-of-a-kind collaborative performance.

Imani Perry discusses her new book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, which looks at Black American history by examining the significance of the color blue. Perry discussed the book at our sold-out February Get Lit with All Of It book club event. We present these highlights.

In the new film "Eephus," a recreational baseball league in Massachusetts comes together to play one last game before their baseball diamond is razed to make room for a new school. Writer and director Carson Lund talks about the film, which is in select NYC theaters (IFC Center, and Film at Lincoln Center) today.

Before the 1985 Grammy Awards, no women had ever been nominated for Producer of the Year. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman became the first as part of Prince and the Revolution, though still no woman has ever won the award. Wendy & Lisa discuss their career as part of our series Equalizers: Women in Music Production. Plus, Susan Rogers, a veteran audio engineer who worked for years with Prince and on a number of Wendy & Lisa's albums, will share some tales from the studio.