June 08, 2007
It was the sleeper hit of the summer of 2001, and now Legally Blonde is a hit on Broadway. Kurt talks with Nell Benjamin and Lawrence O’Keefe, the husband-and-wife team behind the songs. They’ve been nominated for a Tony, and their life is a zany musical comedy of its own. (Photo courtesy of Craig Brockman/BroadwayWorld.com)
Axl Rose, the songwriter and singer behind Guns N’ Roses, has been working on a new album for longer than many bands have existed. He’s still trying to top his biggest hit, 1989’s Sweet Child O’ Mine. How do great expectations turn into no expectations? Jennifer Ordonez has the story, co-produced by Queena Kim of KPCC in Pasadena.
It plays MP3 files like an iPod - but the Buddha Machine only holds nine songs, each an endless, mesmerizing loop. Its creator, Christian Virant (of the band FM3), got the idea while he was a tourist in China. Produced by Chris Roose.
Eric Steel filmed the Golden Gate Bridge every single day of 2004. They captured gorgeous time lapse images of the picture-postcard landmark. But Steel’s film The Bridge, now out on DVD, also captures the very last moments of many people who ended their lives there.
The Italian icon of mid-century transport is back in the States, zipping around in irresistible candy colors. Paola Antonelli, design curator at the Museum of Modern Art, has her own soft spot for the scooter. Produced by Angela Frucci.
Studio 360 is a co-production of
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Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
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National Endowment for the Arts, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and
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National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
