12:00: Who are the greatest living American songwriters?
1:00: 'Connections Summer Sessions:' Is human intelligence unique in the universe?
Earlier this month, the New York Times and its music critics caused a bit of a dustup with its "30 Greatest Living American Songwriters" list. Tough assignment — and no list like that is going to make everyone happy. But the real drama happened in the responses: how the critics responded to criticism, and arguments for who should have been on that list. Musicians and writers — including Rick Beato, Ted Gioa, and Brad Meldau — jumped into the fray with their thoughts not just on the choices, but on how those choices are made (Did Billy Joel belong on the list? Or at least deserve a little more respect from the critics?). This hour, guest host Mona Seghatoleslami and local music experts talk about the art and the craft of songwriting. In studio:
- Dave Chisholm, comic artist, writer and musician
- Anna Reguero, Ph.D., arts journalist, music scholar, and founding editor of Rochester Overture
Then in our second hour, we continue our special summer series where we bring back some of our most popular and engaging episodes of Connections. This week's "Connections Summer Sessions" theme is astrophysicist Adam Frank. In this special rebroadcast, he says we may not be the universe's first advanced civilization. In a paper he co-authored, he puts some numbers on how likely it is that humans are unique. In this special rebroadcast, we discuss how Adam Frank modified the famous "Drake Equation" of 1961, and why it's so likely that other intelligent life is either out there — or has been out there, at one time or another. Our guest:
- Adam Frank, Ph.D., author and Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester
"Connections" is livestreamed each day on the WXXI News YouTube channel. Watch here.
