Sep 7, 2021

New Yorker Alan Gross devoted much of his life to his passion for airships, amassing an incredible collection of blimp-related videos, toys, books, and much more. Jeff Parnes reflects on his good friend "Airship Al" — and where Alan's sizable archive ended up after his death in 2018.

Alan's website:

Aug 23, 2021

Working as a staff writer on "The Late Show with David Letterman," Steve Young began collecting records of industrial musicals — obscure productions commissioned by large companies and performed for their executives or distributors. Since then, he's co-written a book on the subject and starred in "Bathtubs Over...

Jun 7, 2021

Attention Kmart shoppers! When Mark Davis worked at Kmart stores in the 1980s and 90s, he saved the cassette tapes (full of soft-rock hits, sale announcements, and "elevator music") that played over the in-store audio system. Years later, the digitized audio went viral, inspired new music, and even brought Mark a bit...

May 18, 2021

He's been a ranch hand, a rodeo rider, and a country music singer, but these days Larry Callies runs the Black Cowboy Museum, which showcases his collection of Black cowboy artifacts — and sets the record straight on the history of African-Americans in the American West.

The Black Cowboy Museum:

May 3, 2021

University professor Christine Whelan has devoted much of her career to examining self-help literature, collecting more than 200 of the genre's titles — and asking her students to try the advice in self-help classics for a book of her own.

Christine's website: www.christinewhelan.com

Opening theme: "Keepers" by Still...