Kurt Andersen talks with Tracy K. Smith, whose Life on Mars (which pays homage to David Bowie) just won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.  Michael Jackson impersonators keep their idol’s legacy alive.  And the lead singer of the band Of Montreal learns everything he needs to know from Mick and ...

Kurt Andersen talks with Wayne Coyne, the mastermind of the Flaming Lips, about a near-death experience. Marina Abramović, the self-described "grandmother of performance art," sits silently in a museum atrium for months. And DIY soulster Theresa Andersson brings a garage’s worth of gadgets to the studio for a live performance. ...

Kurt Andersen talks with Lena Dunham, the 25-year-old director, writer, and star of the new HBO series Girls. The Nigerian singer-songwriter Nneka performs live in the studio. And we announce the three listeners who turned junk into treasure for our Significant Object story contest.

Kurt Andersen visits the studio of Isabel and Ruben Toledo, who design and make clothes the old school way. Kerry Washington shows her mean streak as the star of Scandal, a new series about a publicist who specializes in VIP damage control. And the New Orleans rap group New Renaissance ...