Low Culture Boil Low Culture Boil

listen up 3

Rax and author Elyssa Maxx Goodman discuss drag from 17th century kabuki theater to RuPaul's Drag Race and pandemic-born Zoom drag shows, all as told in Elyssa's forthcoming book "Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York"! The book comes out on 9/12 and is a must-read for anyone who loves, duh, glitter and concrete.

Amber and Rax chat about another 90s classic, Rugrats! This weird looking show about babies getting into shenanigans was the first cartoon with truly multigenerational appeal. It first aired in 1991 and we're here to say, it still slaps. Shoutout to listener Rachel Feingersh for the topic suggestion!

 
Sources:

The Oral History Of ‘Nicktoons’, Part III: Exploring The Multigenerational Appeal Of ‘Rugrats’ (Caseen Gaines and Mathew Klickstein, Decider, 2016)

Talk About a Baby Boom (Paul Brownfield, LA Times, 1998)

When Grownups Let Children Have a Say (Laurie Midflin, NYT, 1997)

‘Rugrats’ Creative Force (Rugrats Writers, LA Times, 1996)

You Dumb Babies! (Mimi Swartz, The New Yorker, 1998)

Amber and Rax talk about one of their favorites, Eve Babitz. The LA Woman, the groupie, the muse, the artist, the author and ultimately the star. IYKYK, if you don't, listen.
Info for this ep comes from:
The “Sex and Rage” of Eve Babitz (Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 2017)
Eve Babitz, a Hedonist With a Notebook, is Dead at 78 (Penelope Green, NYT, 2021)
How Eve Babitz Saw Herself (Kevin Dettmar, The Atlantic, 2022)
and of course
Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. by Lili Anolik, 2019
 

Rax and Amber dive into RV history and culture, touching on the development of the National Parks Service and the USPS along the way. We wouldn't even have the Margaritaville RV Resort if not for the Postal Service!

Amber and Rax (btw love how we write these in the 3rd person like we have a fancy producer, it's just us) anyway, Amber and Rax (definitely not us) talked about the Goosebumps books series and it's superstar author R.L. Stine. The series is known for getting boys into reading, and being despised by adults and critics, which is how you knew it was cool. Listener beware, you're in for a scare, not really, just some fun facts and opinions on children's books.
Amber got most of the information in today's pod from this book!
What’s So Scary About R. L. Stine (Patrick Stones, 1998)
 
Also some good stuff in these articles and interviews:
Proposed Goosebumps Ban is Misguided (Coney Kingrey, Biz Journals, 1997)

 
Giving 11 Year Olds Nightmares Since 1992 (Katy Waldman, Slate, 2012)
 
R.L. Stine Explains How He Managed to Publish One Goosebumps Book a Month (Ryan Buxton, Huffington Post, 2014)

‘I Never Wanted To Be Scary’: An Interview With R L Stine (Chris Plante, The Verge, 2015)
 
R.L. Stine’s Top 13 Writing Tips (Bobby Powers, Writing Cooperative, 2021)