Public Announcement

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Press Release, 10 May 2017 — “As of today Public Announcement is much more than just a podcast. With the launch of our destination homepage we wanted to create a platform for our esteemed colleagues to share the best of the web, in one easy to navigate place.” “With a clever, brutalist design, and ground breaking Twitter-as-CMS engine, we filter information from all interests into the Public Announcement world.” — James Ellis & Chris Black, Co-Founders

Our guest Flynn McGarry is a chef whose career started at the tender age of 11 in Los Angeles. Heralded as the "Justin Bieber of food" McGarry's pop-up dinners in his parents' house regularly sold out and garnered tons of press. Now 19, McGarry has opened Gem, his first restaurant in New York City, and he’s the subject of Chef Flynn, a documentary chronicling his unique upbringing, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. During our chat, we peel back the layers to discuss all the big topics: dating, leftovers, being younger than your employees, and the cocaine side of the industry. We end with a blockbuster music quiz that focuses on the year 1998. Show page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/very-advanced-flynn-mcgarry/

This week we are joined by writer, OG “fuccmom,” and bonafide Twitter legend Naomi Fry. Naomi walks us through her younger years in Israel, her time as James Franco's professor, and her short stint as a fact checker at US Weekly. We also touch on her no holds barred campaign to get John Mayer to follow her on Twitter, and her exciting new position at The New Yorker. This is the origin story you have been waiting for, an in-depth look at one of the internet's most nuanced and fascinating characters. Show page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/the-naomi-fry-origin-story/

Editing a podcast like Public Announcement is a big responsibility and opportunity. Chris and James—and really, the entire global listenership—are asking for your help.

James and Chris trace their diverse and sometimes confusing musical roots before speaking with author Lizzy Goodman. Goodman's new book, Meet Me in The Bathroom, chronicles the famed pre-internet rock boom of the early-2000s in New York City. Lizzy recounts the six-year writing process, gives her take on The Strokes vs. Ryan Adams, and reveals the most underrated band from a very over-hyped era. Show page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/a-compulsively-listenable-audio-history-with-lizzy-goodman

Designer Duane King joins us to celebrate the 1972 Sagan/Drake mission to create the oldest artifact of humankind: The Pioneer Plaque. We learn how Duane brought the plaque back to earth, via crowdfunding platform of choice, Kickstarter. Show page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/going-space-king-duane/

This week we are very happy to present the keynote panel from the 2017 Food Book Fair, recorded live from Liberty Hall at the Ace Hotel New York. The discussion was moderated by Frank Bruni and featured panelists Mario Batali, Samin Nosrat, Myisha Priest, and Ken Friedman. They explored what it means to be engaged in the business, pleasure and politics of food today. This episode also features another pod-collab with our man in the field, Jason Stewart, aka Them Jeans. Jason interviewed authors, chefs, and a few innocent bystanders from the always poppin lobby of the Ace Hotel. Catch the long-form version of Jason's interviews on the latest episode of The Stew. Show Page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/food-book-fair-2017/

This week we try something new. Instead of our usual luxury podcast, we deliver something more raw and authentic. We sat down with friend Jason Stewart aka Them Jeans for a meeting of minds at the Ace Hotel in New York City. The first half of our discussion (Side A) can be heard on this week's episode of Jason's show, Tall Tales. You are about to listen to Side B now. All three of us are loose, relaxed, and sans edit. Take a peek behind the curtain. Show page: http://publicannouncement.org/episode/side-b-tall-tales-pod-collab/

Chris pushes James to reveal the details behind his time operating in the early days of the dark web as a teenage spammer. They speak to James' friend and accomplice John Roman to get further details on how it all worked, the amount of money they made, and the glory days of AOL. Finally, Chris puts in a call to James' Mom Sher Ellis to see how she feels about her son wreaking havoc online while under her roof.

Continuing with their Nashville series, Chris and James sit down with the city’s unofficial mayor, Libby Callaway. She was raised in rural Tennessee but made the jump to New York City where she lived an exciting and creative life as a writer and editor. After years of the big city media industry grind, she returned to her home state and settled in Nashville. Callaway has played an instrumental role in getting the city recognized for its homegrown talent. Her stories are great; her accent is even better.

A cold-open featuring Chris Black behind the kit—on his throne—leads to our hosts discussing Oasis as “the Lynyrd Skynyrd of Britain”, a proposal for upping Nashville’s edge, and thoughts on carpetbagging transplants. The second episode of the Public Announcement Nashville series, Chris and James visit musician Vanessa Carlton’s East Nashville home to learn about NYC Professional Children’s School, pop stardom formative years, developing a second act as an artist, touring with a toddler, and life in the Athens of the South.

This week Chris and James head down to Nashville (aka Music City USA, aka Nashvegas, aka The Athens of the South) to see what all the fuss is about. Their first stop is East Nashville to chat with their high school buddy Jacob Jones and his business partner Reno Bo. Under their Electric Western umbrella they do all sorts of interesting stuff, from the very popular Keep on Movin’ party to releasing albums and even operating a popular Airbnb property. Crack a Budweiser, put in your EarPods™  and enjoy.

Navigating the world wide web in 2016 can be difficult. The oversharing, lawlessness and mob mentality can make even light Twitter work a challenge. But if you can avoid the Facetuned selfies and fit tea ads you will find news, intelligent opinions and strong LOLs. This week James and Chris chat with extremely logged on LA based comedian Brandon Wardell who is responsible for some of the funnier things floating around the www. While his meme creation and masterful use of Twitter is impressive, Wardell is also a serious stand up making waves in the comedy scene, opening for the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Eric Andre and Bo Burnham.

James and Chris commiserate over their aging bodies and health problems. They also celebrate the 10th episode with a look back at some of the great moments in the show's rich history.

Much has been said about the millennial generation (aka Generation Y, aka Digital Natives, aka Generation Rent, aka Echo Boomers, aka Generation Me). Are they self-involved, narcissistic, lazy, pragmatic idealists who take a lot of selfies? This week Chris and James conduct the Public Announcement Summer Sixteen Millennial Survey. They ask four core millennials–Amardeep, Carson, Mitch and Rachel–a laundry list of questions to help better understand the largest generation in Western History. Some of their answers may actually surprise you.

This week Chris and James hit the streets of Soho to buy James his first cool hat.

Men’s fashion has seen a steep rise in popularity in recent years. This week Chris and James talk to Grailed brand director Lawrence Schlossman about the speed of trends and the role he plays in the culture. He gives James some feedback on his look, explains Rick Owens and the meteoric rise of Vetements. Lawrence’s ability to keep it real no matter who is listening (or reading) has helped him gain a significant following online. He is unabashedly himself at all times, an attractive quality in today’s always offended society.

Discovery and influence often lend themselves to one another. Find something great, love it and then introduce it to someone else. Our guest this week, Millie De Chirico, is very familiar with that process. Her taste and instincts have made her someone who decides what you listen to and what you watch. We discuss her stint as program director at Atlanta’s WRAS 88.5, the popular college radio station of Georgia State University as well her current role as manager of programming at Turner Classic Movies. We hope you like The Smiths as much as we do.

This week is the first episode in an ongoing series called New Theory. Chris and James lift the curtain and reveal their true feelings about a wildly popular genre of film and television. They chat with Sher Ellis (J’s Mom) who is ultimately very helpful in finding clarity with her decisive words.

No matter what you are told when you are younger, careers are not always planned. Ellis Jones had worked at VICE for a long time before she became the editor-in-chief. This week we speak to her about the recent overhaul of the twenty-one-year-old magazine, drinking wine in the bathtub and her role at the ever-evolving media giant.

In 2007 the band Cartel thought they were getting the break of their career when they signed a deal with MTV for a promising new reality show, "Band in a Bubble" which would film them 24 hours a day while they recorded their sophomore album… in a bubble. Chris, who was their manager at the time, negotiated the deal; James and his former firm designed the album packaging. All of us grew up together. We sit down with drummer Kevin Sanders to discuss what it’s like to have a brush with fame and everything that comes with it.

In high school Chris discovered that someone had put a dead deer in his suburban driveway. The incident changed his life forever. After 17 years we try to find out who did it, and the story is a little different than we remember.