We wrap-up the second of our two episodes by talking about just how high (pun intended) the Silver Factory could get.

We begin with the first of two episodes talking about the rapid and unprecedented success of Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory. It was part studio, part party palace and part crash pad for tripping pop stars, street gurus and suicidal Superstars.

Easily New York’s most successful commercial illustrator, Ambitious Andy wanted to be accepted in the hoity-toity fine art world. Unfortunately, he found that would take a little time and the right moment.

We begin our fourth season with an introduction to the cultural chaos of the mid-1960s, when Warhol found himself in the right place at the right time.

Pepsi announced it’s moving forward by moving backwards (sort of), returning to more of a traditional look for their logo and cans. But as they kick their last logo to the curb, we go back in time to discuss how they became saddled with this burdensome brand look in the first place.

In this episode we take a step back from our typical subject matter to answer questions submitted by you, our listeners.

Turns out we’re not quite ready to let The Beats go! Sticking with our topic of separating myth from reality, we wrap-up our dive into mainstream interpretations with a quick conversation about the Sinatra movie The Man with the Golden Arm.

For our final episode about The Beats, we touch on the TV debut of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and the introduction of a character named Maynard G. Krebs.

For our final illustration episode, we wrap-up our jazz album conversation by sharing the story and work of Jim Flora.

Building on our last episode, we continue talking illustrators and jazz albums by sharing the story of S. Neil Fujita.

Records have always featured mood-setting illustrations in addition to more standard photographs. In this episode we share the story of the fun and idiosyncratic illustrator David Stone Martin finding jazz music.

Any conversation about art will involve Andy Warhol sooner or later. Today we jump in and discuss album illustration from early in his career for Count Basie, a group called Trombone By Three and a duet with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins.

The jazz label Blue Note Records existed before Reid Miles was hired, so we talk about the guy who set the stage for him: John Hermansader.

This episode begins with the founding of iconic Blue Note Records. Albums from the golden age of jazz—the same ones The Beats listened to—have a distinct look and feel, largely thanks to a single label.

We start our collection of episodes about the Beat era with the release of Jack Kerouac’s iconic book On the Road in 1957 and then discuss who the Beats were beyond Kerouac.

We start our collection of episodes about the Beat era with the release of Jack Kerouac’s iconic book On the Road in 1957 and then discuss who the Beats were beyond Kerouac.

For our upcoming season, we’re going to be mixing it up a little bit from our first two. Think themes. Think mini-series. The Beats and Studio 54. ’80s modern and ’90s grunge.

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is frequent artist, occasional sax player and current German (formerly North Carolina) resident Kyle T. Webster.

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, North Carolina resident and all-around nice guy Lenny Terenzi.

Sometimes, in spite of their better judgment, friends choose to join us in the bar. One of our drinking buddies is artist, autodidact and bon vivant in Seattle and beyond named Terry Marks.