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:

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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.

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

• Jody Rosen’s remembrance of Donna Summer for Slate, “Donna Summer, 1948-2012”
• A key event in the anti-disco movement: 1979’s Disco Demolition Night in Chicago
• The Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin duet “Je T’Aime ... Moi Non Plus.”
• The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”
• Donna Summer’s “Love to Love you Baby,” “Last Dance,” and “I Feel Love.”
• The Bee Gees’ “Tragedy.”
• Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters.
• Conan O’Brien’s 2011 commencement speech at Dartmouth College.
• David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College.
• Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University.
• Aaron Sorkin’s 2012 commencement speech at Syracuse University.
• David Haglund’s post for Slate’s Brow Beat culture blog “Count the West Wing Lines in Aaron Sorkin’s Commencement Speech.”

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.

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