Today on the show, we welcome Linda Holmes. Linda is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of the popular Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. She’s also a novelist, and we talk about her recent book release, Flying Solo. We also discuss some cool topics in the crossover of food and pop culture, including meal kits, olestra, The Flavor Bible, macaron rules that need to be broken, food on TikTok (specifically cinnamon rolls covered in apple pie filling), the New York City diner breakfast that needs no notes, the supremacy of Is It Cake?, and wrestling with the legacy of Anthony Bourdain. More from Linda Holmes:Love in the Time of Hollering: The Age of Enthusiasm [NPR]After Beanie Feldstein's departure, can Lea Michele really save 'Funny Girl'? [NPR] Buy: Flying Solo

125: Linda Holmes

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Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Famer Duff McKagan is a former member of the Fastbacks, The Fartz, 10 Minute Warning and Guns &#8216;n&#8217; Roses.  He plays bass in Velvet Revolver and founded Meridian Rock, a wealth management firm for musicians.

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Maria Bakalova is now starring in the new sci-fi drama O Horizon, opposite David Strathairn, Adam Pally, Maggie Grace and Paulina Porizkova. She is a Bulgarian actress who, straight out of drama school, was cast by Sacha Baron Cohen to play Borat’s daughter of in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), for which she won a Critics&#8217; Choice Movie Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Actor Award, and a Golden Globe Award. Born and raised in Burgas, Bakalova began her career in Bulgarian cinema while attending the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts, mostly portrayed dramatic roles in films such as Transgression, The Father, Last Call and Women Do Cry.

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Three Great Things: Maria Bakalova

Martin Brugger is a producer based in Munich. He plays in Fazer and is the co-founder of Squama Recordings. His latest record The Shell is out June 26, 2026.

Martin Brugger

Damian Dalla Torre is an Italian-born saxophonist, composer, and producer based in Leipzig, Germany. His latest record, People Pleaser, is out June 12, 2026. 
(Photo Credit: Maximilian Semlinger)

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Martin Brugger and Damian Dalla Torre Learn to Live With the Mistakes

Writer, director and producer Kerry Mondragon’s latest film, the pscyhedelic jungle thriller <a href="https://dekanalog.com/film/wetiko-detail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wetiko</a>, is out now on digital. Best known for his films, Tyger Tyger (2020) and Meet Me at a Funeral (2015), Mondragon was born and raised in the ancient haunts of the Sonoran barrios and borderlands of the Mexican desert, a landscape populated by wild poets, peyote roadmen, and saintly Mexican grandmothers. He wrote poetry at an early age and corresponded with Allen Ginsberg at age 10, until Ginsberg&#8217;s death. After his biological father left, he was raised by his mother and step-father (turned-father,) they relocated to Marin County, California where he was blasted by the culture shock of a very different world. He discovered the dark shadow side of the wealthy county – a youth scene of bullying, trauma, drugs, alcohol – and was disgusted by the spiritual pretense of their culture. Bullied out of middle school and unable to adjust to high school, he lived the life of the youth underworld of one of the nation’s wealthiest towns. Throughout, he honed his artistic skills, he dropped out of college, worked at an ad agency and used that money to jump onto a crowd-funded Spike Lee feature film where he assisted the legendary director in prep and principal photography. This served as his film school. Upon returning to California and after significant life experiences, he resolved to make something pure, honest, and true – something stripped of all Hollywood illusions that was recognizable to those still lost in the pain of addiction – something to give hope to the hopeless. (Photo by Federico La Tona © Uninflected Pictures.)
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Kerry Mondragon

Murder, Fever Dreams and Spiritual Reckoning: Behind the Scenes of Wetiko

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