Studio 360 Goes On the Road with Penn, Kerouac, Friedlander

Just when you thought our celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” was (finally) over, here we go again. Only briefly, though. This week Kurt Andersen‘s excellent radio program Studio 360 featured newlyweds Hillary Frank and Jonathan Menjivar—he had a scribbled-in copy of “On the Road” he’d read when he was 17; she’d never read it—debating the merits of the book and, as the promo says, provoking “a little marital tension in the process.” It’s an interesting look at a book that, as World Hum readers know, has been examined every which way during the last month.

Studio 360 rounded out its road-themed program with a couple other stories World Hum readers might be familiar with—an interview with Sean Penn about the upcoming movie version of “Into the Wild” and a look at the new highway sign font Clearview. Also featured: A piece about Tania Ketenjian, who during a cross-country drive made a point of talking to strangers, always beginning by asking them what made them happy, and a story with Erik Friedlander, a cellist with an album of music inspired by family road trips he took in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

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