Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, The Bachelorette, and commencement speeches on the Culture Gabfest.

Culture Gabfest: Disco, Donna Summer and Robin Gibb, The Bachelorette, Commencement Speeches

Culture Gabfest: Disco, Donna Summer and Robin Gibb, The Bachelorette, Commencement Speeches

Slate's weekly roundtable.
May 23 2012 10:46 AM

The Culture Gabfest, “I Think We Really Made a Connection” Edition

Listen to Slate's show about the contributions of Robin Gibb and Donna Summer to the legacy of disco, The Bachelorette, and the art of the commencement speech.

The Culture Gabfest has moved! Find new episodes here.

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Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 192 with Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:

The sponsor of today’s show is Bloodman, the new thriller by Robert Pobi. Get your copy in Kindle edition, paperback or hardcover. The show is also sponsored by Stamps.com.

The Slate Culture Gabfest is coming to the Greene Space on May 31 to team up with Movies on the Radio’s David Garland. We’ll be talking about music and the movies. Get tickets here.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our panelists are joined by Slate music critic Jody Rosen to discuss the contributions of Donna Summer and Robin Gibb to the legacy of disco. Our critics then explore the strange appeal of The Bachelor/Bachelorette reality TV franchise and finally discuss the unique sermon-toast hybrid that is the commencement speech and note some storied examples of the form.

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Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:

Endorsements:

Dana’s picks: Terry Gross’ 1987 “Fresh Air” interview with Carlos Fuentes and Joseph Green’s piece for the San Antonio Progressive Examiner, “Remembering Carlos Fuentes.”

Julia’s pick: All things Rich Sommer, including his contributions to the Slate Mad Men TV Club, his Twitter account, and his blog about board games, Rich Likes Games.

Stephen’s picks: The weekly radio show “Radio Deluxe” with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey. Also, Ella Fitzgerald singing “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” by Rodgers and Hart from the 1940 musical Pal Joey.

Outro: Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Mark Phillips. Our intern is Sally Tamarkin.

Follow us on the new Culturefest Twitter feed. And please like the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.

Stephen Metcalf is Slate’s critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s.

Jody Rosen is critic at large for T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic.

Julia Turner, the former editor in chief of Slate, is a regular on Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.