COVER STORY
Intimacy
Kurt Andersen and performance artist Karen Finley talk about the risks performers, writers, and artists take to create an intimate space for their audiences.

Dear Diary
We live in an age of blogs, confessional TV, and an overload of information about the private lives of celebrities. But literary self-exposure is still respectable, and more people than ever are writing old-school journals. Sara Fishko has been thumbing through a lot of diaries lately and finds there's a unique thrill to be found in the intimate written thoughts of strangers.
Go to Olivia Dresher's site
Go to Ned Rorem's site
Buy Books by Ned Rorem

Lonesome Gal
In 1949 a sultry voiced siren, who called herself Lonesome Gal, carved out her own special place in radio history. Produced by Andy Lanset.
Read an article about Lonesome Gal

Tied
Back in 1982, two artists: Teching Hsieh and Linda Montano bound themselves together—with a piece of rope--for a whole year. They were seasoned performance artists, but nothing could have prepared them for this experiment in closeness. Produced by Tara Geer.
Go to Linda Mantano's site
Go to Tehching Hsieh's site

SPECIAL GUEST
Karen Finley
Karen Finley is a performance artist and the author of several books, including "A Different Kind of Intimacy." She is a visiting professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and contributes to Ariana Huffington's blog, The Huffington Post.
Go to a Karen Finley fan site
Go to a Coagula article on Finley
Buy Books by Karen Finley

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The Accidental Masterpiece
Michael Kimmelman's day job is chief art critic for the New York Times. But in his new book The Accidental Masterpiece, he abandons the tough-minded, critical mindset, instead telling stories about the surprising glimpses of beauty and truth that are all around us. Kurt talks to Kimmelman about the serendipitous paths to accidental masterpieces.
Read the full interview
Buy The Accidental Masterpiece

Set A Course For Adventure
Last year 9 million North Americans took a cruise vacation. For the cruise lines, keeping all those people entertained isn't easy, and many pay good money to lure great musicians aboard. But no matter how exalted the performers, anything can happen once they leave terra firma. Theo Zimmerman talked to three virtuosos about music on the high seas.
Go to Ian Finkel's website
Go to Mulger Miller's website
Go to Sara Sant' Ambrogio's website
Go to the Eroica Trio's website
Buy Ian Finkel's CD

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