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The Organist

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In this four-part episode, MF Doom, in absentia, sends imposters to wear his steel gladiator mask and rap at his concerts. Joshua Cohen, author of Moving Kings, writes a novel live online while heckled by Reddit-grade hate speech. Novelist Fiona Maazel explores the nascent form of the podcast from a 4 am retirement home toilet seat, as performed by actor Zoe Lister-Jones. Brian McMullen recites his epic catalog of unclaimed URLs.

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By Andrew Leland • Sep 7, 2017 • 33m Listen

Has the internet documented everything? This week we explore its lacunae and unmoderated chat rooms and the ways we might slip away from the public identities we create online and in the media.

Joshua Cohen, author of Moving Kings and Book of Numbers, writes a novel live online, each word as he types it visible to the spectators of a raucous unmoderated chatroom funneling Reddit-grade hate speech into the margins of the author’s screen as he types, completing the novel in just five days.

MF Doom, who raps while wearing a steel gladiator mask, began sending other rappers—known as Doomposters, or MF Dupes—to headline his own shows. We investigate MF Doom’s slippery approach to identity and its relation to black performance art in conjunction with the Believer magazine’s return to the newsstands.

“My idea of advanced technology is a toilet seat whose trajectory from up to down takes so long to complete, I can pluck my unibrow while waiting for it to happen.” Zoe Lister-Jones, writer, director, and star of the new film Band Aid performs short fiction from novelist Fiona Maazel, explores the nascent form of the podcast from a 4 am toilet seat in a retirement home with stops along the way for eating disorders, evasive children, and the sinking feeling of disappearing from reality.

Throughout this week’s episode you’ll hear a catalog of unclaimed URLs from artist and writer Brian McMullen. “Kittenlawyer.com, specialgrandson.com, coolgrandson.com, supergrandson.com, bestgrandsonever.com, cocainegalaxy.com, cocaineuniverse.com, cocainery.com, badassperson.com, decentemployer.com, decentemployee.com, splendidsex.com, sexaintbad.com, abolishsex.com…”

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Andrew Leland

    author of “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir At The End Of Sight”

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    Ross Simonini

    Producer, 'The Organist'

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Andrew Leland

    author of “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir At The End Of Sight”

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    Jenny Ament

    producer, 'The Organist'

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