As we have every year for at least the last 12 years, to round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year.

GUESTS:

• Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album is Possibilities
• Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; in 2025, he has released a four-volume series of albums called Right Now
• Gene Seymour: A film, television, and music critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lists feel especially suited to the digital age, but humans have been creating lists for a long time.

So why are we drawn to lists?

This hour, the art and the utility of the list.

GUESTS:

• Matthew Dicks: A West Hartford elementary school teacher and the author of Twenty-One Truths About Love

• Dan Kois: Editor and writer at Slate, where he recently wrote the list “The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time”

• Ann Powers: NPR Music’s critic and correspondent

• Liam Young: Author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 4, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the night of December 4, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford, put 11 performers together on the stage there, and let them rock their way through 27 holiday- and holiday-adjacent classics.

We’re turning that two-hour performance into two radio shows over the two holiday weeks. Part onepremiered on Christmas Eve.

And this hour, live from the Foisie Family Amphitheater at Watkinson, it’s part two of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

• Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
• Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
• Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
• Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
• Latanya Farrell: Vocals
• Jim Henry: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
• Paul Kochanski: Bass and vocals, The Shinolas
• Steve Metcalf: Piano
• Molly Sayles: Drums, Atla & Matt
• Tyler Sherman: Bass, Atla & Matt

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the night of December 4, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford, put 11 performers together on the stage there, and let them rock their way through 27 holiday- and holiday-adjacent classics.

Our plan is to turn that two-hour performance into two radio shows over the two holiday weeks.

This hour, live from the Foisie Family Amphitheater at Watkinson, it’s part one of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

• Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
• Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
• Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
• Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
• Latanya Farrell: Vocals
• Jim Henry: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
• Paul Kochanski: Bass and vocals, The Shinolas
• Steve Metcalf: Piano
• Molly Sayles: Drums, Atla & Matt
• Tyler Sherman: Bass, Atla & Matt
• Cynthia Wolcott: Vocals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour is about self-checkout technology and its impacts. We'll debate its pros and cons, look at the history of self-service at grocery stores, and talk about the future of technology in stores.

Plus, we'll learn about the psychology of "weak ties," and the value of talking to strangers in places like the checkout aisle.

GUESTS:

• Christopher Andrews: Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Drew University, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy

• Stew Leonard Jr.: President and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, a regional supermarket chain headquartered in Connecticut

• Gillian Sandstrom: Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 20, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to vultures and sky burials, President Trump’s post about Rob Reiner’s death, our show with Paul Winter, Colin as chicken salad, the multiverse … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

• Hayloft – Mother Mother
• Hypotheticals – Lake Street Dive
• Vivid Light – Blood Orange
• Christmas Eve Can Kill You – Andy Shauf, Madi Diz
• Possibilities – Jen Allen
• Anywhere – Ratboys
• The Telephone Call – Kraftwerk

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh O’Connor is having a bit of a moment. He’s been in four movies this year. On December 12, two of them became available to watch at home, including the biggest movie of his career so far, the new Knives Out mystery, Wake Up Dead Man. On December 13, O’Connor hosted Saturday Night Live. On December 16, the first trailer dropped for the soon-to-be biggest movie of his career so far, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.

Not too bad.

So The Nose is looking at the other new Josh O’Connor movie from last week: The Mastermind, written, directed, and edited by Kelly Reichardt. It’s a slow-cinema kind of heist movie set in 1970 and also starring Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffman, and Bill Camp.

And: Sorry, Baby is a black comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Eva Victor. According to A24’s logline, “Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on … for everyone around her, at least.” Eva Victor, who plays Agnes, is nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama.

GUESTS:

• Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
• Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
• Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
• Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour we talk about the history of the Second Red Scare, a period also known as McCarthyism.

We learn about why the Scare took off in the United States, its impact, and how it eventually fizzled out. Plus, we look at the parallels and throughlines between that time period and our current moment.

And, a look at how the Second Red Scare impacted Hollywood, and how it, in turn, was reflected back through the movies.

GUESTS:

• Clay Risen: Reporter and editor at The New York Times and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America

• Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post’s senior film critic; she is the author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 15, 2025.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.