
Often on Fridays, we invite listeners to share like to hear what they're doing over the weekend.
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Kusha Navadar
Listener Supported WNYC Studios this is all of it on wnyc. I'm Kusha Navadar. Guess what? It's Friday and one of my favorite parts about guest hosting this show is hearing what you've got planned for the weekend. Maybe you're listening right now and thinking hey guess what, I need ideas or maybe you've got a great plan or event. So let's crowdsource. What do you recommend we should do this weekend in our area? What are you doing that you want to share with us? Call or text us now at 212-433-9692. That's 212433 WNYC. Or you can hit us up on Social. We're lvitnyc. Also I wanna forward promote Monday's show just in case on your mind is that your weekend plans include watching the Severance finale. If that's the case, we'll be talking about it on the show on Monday with Aaron Quaily who recaps the show for Vulture. And we'll talk about March Madness with sports reporter Priya Desai. So if you've got any events you want to shout out that your fellow listeners should consider checking out, how do you like to enjoy New York, especially during this time of the year that we've officially entered into spring, give us a call. 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. So in my case I'll start off since I'm asking folks to share this week happens to be Nowruz or Persian New Year. Saturday is also my wife's birthday so we are having a party. It will be dual purpose for Nowruz. If you've never celebrated before, we're going to be doing traditional things like decorating a table with special items to represent spring, decorating eggs. We're getting wooden eggs because hey, we all know how right now and we're going to be jumping over fire to represent cleansing yourself of all the bad vibes from last year. And on the birthday side of things we'll have cake. So I'm very excited about that and happy early birthday. Elise, my wife just want to give a shout out. Let's go to our first caller that we've got. This is Matt from Brooklyn. Hey, Matt. Welcome to the show.
Matt
Hey there, Christian. It's great to be on the show.
Kusha Navadar
Great to have you. What's your plans this weekend?
Matt
Yeah, so my neighbors were giving away tickets to see Moby Dick at the Metropolitan Opera, so I took them up on their gift and my wife and I are going to go on Saturday night.
Kusha Navadar
Oh, wonderful. That's really great. Are you a fan of, of the Story of Moby Dick?
Matt
I'm a bit of a fan. I'm actually a little bit. It's been a while since I've been familiar with it, so I'm kind of going in cold, especially in the opera version. So it'll be a nice surprise. But we don't get out to the Metropolitan Opera that often, so this will be a bit of a treat.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah. Wonderful. I wonder if the whale will sing. Hello, Matt. Thank you so much for that call. I hope you have a great time at that show. That sounds wonderful. The opera of Moby Dick. We've got a text here. I'm moving this weekend, so y'all are gonna have to have fun without me living vicariously through the show. Good. L. With that move, moving in New York City or moving in this general area can be quite tough. Wishing you the best. Thanks for listening with us. Okay, so maybe folks, you are just tuning in and you're wondering what we are talking about. We are asking for crowdsourcing for weekend plans. Are you doing anything fun? Call or text us now. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Are there any events you want to shout out that your fellow listeners should consider checking out? How do you enjoy New York, especially during this time of the year, that spring? 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. We've got another text here that I want to read. It says, hello there. This is Andrew from Crown Heights. I plan to spend some of my weekend volunteering at the local farmer's market and then attending my weekend jiu jitsu class. I hope everybody has a blessed day into the weekend. Happy Spring as we continue. Andrew, thank you so much. Happy Spring to you, too. All right, while we screen your calls, let's hear a bit about what team all of it is up to this weekend, starting with producer Kate Hines. Senior producer Kate Hines is playing mahjong with her friends. She's in A club that has been meeting monthly for years. They play Chinese mahjong, not American. Plus, she's going to a Norus party. I wonder whose party that is. And since it's the start of the spring migration season, she will definitely spend a day this weekend birding in Central Park. I am happy to also have our producer Luke Green in the studio now to hear what he's got going on this weekend. And I'm pretty sure I have one guess, because Luke is the organizer of our office March Madness bracket pool. Luke, welcome to the show.
Luke Green
Kucha. It's great to be here, as they say. I like to say it's Friday, the keys are in the lock, and the weekend's about to open.
Kusha Navadar
Oh, I love that. That's such a wonderful outlook on the next couple days. So let's talk about March Madness. Luke, you're at the bracket pool. Can you explain exactly what that.
Luke Green
Yes. So most of you probably will know what this is already, but basically, the ncaa, which is like the. The National College Athletic association, it puts on basketball tournaments for the men's and women's side of the game. And basically what you do is you fill out a bracket, which is essentially just picking which team you think is going to win, and then ultimately ending up in a winner for each round, for each. For each round. So there's A Round of 64, Round of 32, 16, 8, Final 4 to the championship. And what a bracket pool is is essentially everyone gets together, fills out their bracket, sends it in. You could put money on it. You also don't have to. And then the winner, you know, gets a prize. And it's good, especially for offices. I think it makes a pretty fun environment for two weeks to kind of just, you know, poke fun at each other and things like that.
Kusha Navadar
And it is wildly difficult statistically to have not even a perfect bracket, but just, like, a pretty good bracket.
Luke Green
Yeah, I mean, a perfect bracket. I don't know the exact number, but it's like one multiple thousands that the odds of that ever happening. And it's even just crazy that we have one co worker, Malik, who's been on the show before and is great, currently has, I think, a 99th percentile bracket with only two. Wrong.
Kusha Navadar
Wow.
Luke Green
So. And Malik's, you know, sports, curious, like, enjoys stuff, but isn't, like, watching it every game. So I think that's a great example of how, you know, you don't even have to like sports that much to still be into this kind of thing.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah, it's really interesting. People kind of get all into it. Right. Why do you think that is?
Luke Green
Well, there's a few reasons. First of all, I think just having a rooting interest in something, even if you don't really care that much in the beginning, it just makes it easier to get excited, you know. And I also think this competition specifically there are, you know, a 16 seed can go up against a one seed and beat them. It's happened before. And these 16 seeds, they were all. They often play for schools you might have never heard of before. They often, their average height might be like a foot less. There's like five foot nine dudes going up against like six foot ten people. And they can win.
Kusha Navadar
Right.
Luke Green
And then you can pick them to win. And if it happens, all of a sudden you're on the website of their university and you're trying to buy some McNeese merch.
Kusha Navadar
You're like, you have this emotional connection out of nowhere. Right, Right.
Luke Green
And so I think that is a great example of why this tournament, why I like it so much. Because there's those underdogs, those Cinderella stories, and at the same time, you and your coworkers, maybe you're spending time together, you're just kind of having office chat for these two or three weeks. You can kind of, you know, everybody has something, have something else to bond over and talk about. And if someone's bracket gets busted, you can kind of, you know, haha, like sucks to suck. You know what I mean? Like you can, you can poke some fun in a innocent way that still promotes like a lot of camaraderie.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah. And we're talking a lot about this on Monday's show. So we're. If you're interested in this, we're gonna have a whole segment about it. You should definitely check out on Monday. I gotta say, I graduated from Duke and I feel like I am always the bad gu. Yeah, right, exactly. I'll accept it. It's very well deserved. I know that is the. It definitely makes me feel like I have a new way of interacting with colleagues. Every. Every March when where you went to school comes up, who are you going to pick? So let me ask you, who is your pick for the men's and women's brackets?
Luke Green
Okay, well, I should caveat say this with a caveat in that I am not an expert. In fact, I'm so not an expert that I'm currently in second to last place in our office pool. But I can tell you, based on some experience and watching a lot of the games this year, who I have Picked on the men's side, I, you know, we were speaking about Duke. I. Unfortunately, I did pick them to win, and the reason I did so is because, you know, they're the number one seed, one of the number one seeds. And they also have Cooper Flag, who is likely going to be the number one NBA draft pick this year. And he's. It's just insanely good. Six'ten can shoot a lot fast, great passer. And so I was. When I was trying to think, who am I going to pick to win, I was just like, well, this guy, they have the best player. And so as much as it pains me to pick Duke, I did it.
Kusha Navadar
I welcome it. Yeah, go ahead.
Luke Green
Yeah. On the women's side of the game, I spent some of my childhood in Connecticut, and so I'm a pretty big UConn fan. And we are heading into the last year of Paige Becker's season with the UConn women, or I like to call her Paige Buckets. UConn has not won in almost 10 years a national championship, but they've dominated the women's game for most of the 2000s. Coached by Gino Auriemma, they're the 2 seed this year. And I just have a feeling that they're going to win, that they're going.
Kusha Navadar
To go all the way.
Luke Green
I just have a feeling that in Pages last year, it's going to happen. They're going to make that run. They're going to beat usc, beat South Carolina, beat ucla, and we're going to have some, you know, blue and white skies.
Kusha Navadar
So there's a lot of people that are following this this weekend. So, folks, you know, be sure to tune in on Monday. Luke, I'm going to ask you to stick around while we take some more calls from folks to see what else people have going on this weekend. Let's go to Paul in Morristown. Hey, Paul, welcome to the show.
Paul
Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I'm going to be at my daughter's high school performance of Les Miserable weekend tonight. Two shows tomorrow and show on Sunday. So looking forward to it. And with that in mind, I just wanted to mention, you know, for people on a budget, there's a lot of good theater in the area. I can speak to North Jersey, I'm sure, schools like LaGuardia and the performing arts schools and all sorts of schools around the area. So whether you want to get your kid into theater or just introduce them to it, or you want to go again on a budget and you can't afford Broadway Prices.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah.
Paul
Les Mis, Marstown High. I think there's still some tickets available. That's where I'll be.
Kusha Navadar
Awesome. Paul, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. It's such a good point. There is so much good theater that's happening all around.
Luke Green
Yeah. You know, you can think about going to Broadway all the time, but also, as they pointed out, like, North Jersey has great theater. Upstate has great theater. Westchester has great theater, Connecticut, everywhere. And I think the tickets are cheaper. The quality's just as good. I was tempted to break out into do you hear the people sing? But I will spare everyone.
Kusha Navadar
That'll be a special pod drop for our listeners. Paul, I just want to say best of luck to your daughter. Break a leg. Can't wait to hear how it goes. That's wonderful. Let's go to Maria in New Canon, Connecticut. Maria, hey. Welcome to the show.
Maria
Oh, thank you. Thanks for taking my call. I'm calling to give a shout out to the play the Skin of Our Teeth. My husband has a small part in it, and it's showing at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Westport this weekend. And I hear it's amazing. We'll see Skin of Our Teeth and then. Yes. The Skin of Our Teeth. Yes. And then I'm also doing. I'm a volunteer for hair and makeup. So shout out to another Les Miz show at the New Canaan High School. Another one this weekend. We opened last night, and I heard it was amazing. I was backstage, so I didn't see it, but I'll see it tonight. And it's. It's on tonight and tomorrow, two shows.
Kusha Navadar
Awesome. And where is that, Maria?
Maria
In New Canaan High School.
Kusha Navadar
New Canaan High School. Okay. So multiple high school productions of Les Mis. That's wonderful. I love hearing how people from across the area kind of have parallel tracks. It makes me feel like this is a community, you know? That's wonderful.
Luke Green
We're all connected.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah. That's wonderful. Thank you, Maria, so much for that. Let's go to Lindsay in Morris County, New Jersey. Lindsey. Hey, how you doing?
Lindsay
Hi. I'm all right. Thanks for taking my call.
Kusha Navadar
Totally. What do you got going on this weekend?
Lindsay
This weekend I'm having my annual friendsgiving that I do in the spring instead of the fall. Oh. Having a bunch of people over, making a turkey, doing it all like Thanksgiving, but. But, yeah, I like to celebrate the first day of spring as if it's the new year like they do in some other cultures. And it's just a great time of year to really look forward to, you know, spring coming and summer and getting all friends together and having a good time.
Kusha Navadar
I love that. Lindsay, I gotta ask you, what is the dish you're most excited about eating or making?
Lindsay
Oh, I love the turkey that I do because it's, I have a really good recipe for. Yeah, it just tastes really good. Everyone else, they don't all love the turkey as much as I do, so I don't know.
Kusha Navadar
Well, that's awesome, Lindsay. I hope you have a great time at your friendsgiving. I love that idea. Thank you so much for calling and that's wonderful. I'm going to read some texts that we got coming in, listeners, just to check in with you. If you just tuned in, we are getting a idea of what you all are doing this weekend. Spring is here. There's so much to do in this wonderful city in the surrounding region. So what are you up to this weekend? Or are you looking for something and you want to use the crowdsource power of New York City to kind of get some suggestions? Give us a call, send us a text. We're here at 212-433-9692. That's 212433, WNYC. I'm going to read some more texts coming in. Luke, this one's for you. Doing my taxes and watching my NCAA bracket, hopefully not go bust. So that's good multitasking there. A lot of statistics in there.
Luke Green
A lot of stress in there, though.
Kusha Navadar
Yes, a lot of stress. Best of luck. We've got. I highly recommend the orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. I was there a couple weeks ago and it's great. Christina from the Bronx. Got another one. Taking my husband to see the Moth Radio hour live at our amazing local jewel, the Tarrytown Music Hall. That's Maggie from Sleepy Hollow, New York. Shout out to Maggie. We've got another good text here. I will be volunteering at QXR's Classical Kids Fair at Brooklyn Children's Museum this Sunday. That's Caroline from Forest Hills and community advisory board member. That's wonderful. Thank you all so much for those recommendations. I want to get to some more calls before we run out of time. Let's go to Robin in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Hey, Robin. Welcome to the show.
Robin
Hi.
Kusha Navadar
Hey.
Robin
I'm calling because this is New Jersey Makers Weekend and I don't know about other libraries, but I know that the East Brunswick library is having a lot of activity for Makers Day at the library. There'll be different workstations all through the library. Crafts, robotics, 3D printing and it's a great place to go. I run from 11 to 4 at the east Brunswick public Library to Gene Walling Civic Center Drive 11 to 4.
Kusha Navadar
At the east New Brunswick public library. Did I get that right?
Robin
Not new. Not new. New Jersey has three different Brunswicks. East, north and south. This is east East Brunswick.
Kusha Navadar
Thank you. I wanted to make sure I got that right. Thank you so much. Really appreciate that. Robin, here's a great text that we've got. It says my neighborhood civic group, Prospect Heights neighborhood development council is sponsoring an iftar with the local Nigerian mosque. All are invited on Sunday at 6:30pm let's go to Katrina in the Bronx. Hey, Katrina, welcome to the show. What do you got going on this weekend?
Maria
Hey, y'all. My wife and I just saw Dorian Gray on Broadway. It is Sarah Snook is terminally unique. It's the best thing I've ever seen in my life. But on Saturday night, we're gonna go see Colton Kastrup and his band at the Delancey at 8:30. He's a young guy from my church and he is amazing and he's moving away soon, so it's probably the last time you'll get to see Colton and his band perform in New York.
Kusha Navadar
Oh, great. Shout out, Katrina. Thank Katrina's life.
Luke Green
The coolest New Yorker.
Kusha Navadar
That is a very cool life. Great taste, Katrina. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Let's go to what some of our team is doing this weekend. So Simon close, our producer is catching up on the finale of severance on Friday night. Know a lot of people are thinking about that. Are you thinking about that, Luke?
Luke Green
I am. I plan to watch it tonight. And just a plug that on Monday we will be recapping the season again. So plan to be with us that.
Kusha Navadar
Day and you know, I'm going to read this kind of to close this out. On Saturday, Simon will also be participating in a bar crawl slash hide and seek game that involves a chicken costume. Someone in the group will be selected to put on the chicken costume. The chicken heads to any bar of their choice within a certain radius. The rest of the group will be split into teams and each team will try to find the chicken. First team to find the chicken wins. If you're in Williamsburg on Saturday and you see a chicken, please text Simon immediately. And then Simon wanted me to read this so I of course, have to. A chicken crosses the road. He walks into a bar called the other side. Simon, thank you so much. Luke, how would you rate that joke?
Luke Green
Zero?
Kusha Navadar
I would give it a 10 out of 10. Thank you so much. All right, Luke, we got about 15 seconds left. Anything else that you want to point out to listeners about this weekend?
Luke Green
I would only point out that as a Yukon homer, I am very much rooting for my Huskies tonight and I am rooting them for them to win their third straight championship.
Kusha Navadar
Awesome. Well, Luke, thank you so much for hanging out with us. We really appreciate all your tips and for listening.
Luke Green
Thank you, Kuja.
Kusha Navadar
And listeners, I want to say to you, thank you so much as well for your recommendations. It's always fun to hear from them. That's all of it. Thanks for listening. Coming up on Monday's show, we'll talk about the season finale of Severance, which Luke just brought up, the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club, and also why even non basketball fans are getting into March Madness. Thanks for listening. Always a pleasure to hang out with you. Have a great weekend.
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All Of It: Episode Summary – "What Are You Doing the First Weekend of Spring?"
Release Date: March 21, 2025
Host: Kusha Navadar
Duration: Approximately 19 minutes
In the episode titled "What Are You Doing the First Weekend of Spring?" from WNYC's All Of It, host Kusha Navadar invites listeners to share their weekend plans as spring blossoms in the New York City area. The show emphasizes community engagement, cultural celebrations, and diverse activities that reflect the vibrant spirit of the city.
Kusha begins the episode by encouraging listeners to participate in crowdsourcing their weekend activities. She states:
"Maybe you're listening right now and thinking hey guess what, I need ideas or maybe you've got a great plan or event. So let's crowdsource." [00:23]
Listeners are prompted to call or text their weekend plans to 212-433-9692 or reach out via social media (@lvitnyc). Kusha also teases the upcoming Monday show topics, including a discussion on the "Severance" finale and March Madness.
Kusha shares her personal weekend plans, highlighting a cultural celebration:
"This week happens to be Nowruz or Persian New Year. Saturday is also my wife's birthday so we are having a party. It will be dual purpose for Nowruz." [00:44]
She describes traditional Nowruz activities such as decorating eggs and jumping over fire for cleansing, alongside celebrating her wife Elise’s birthday with cake.
Matt shares his plans to attend a rare Metropolitan Opera performance of "Moby Dick":
"My neighbors were giving away tickets to see Moby Dick at the Metropolitan Opera, so I took them up on their gift and my wife and I are going to go on Saturday night." [02:51]
Kusha humorously responds, wondering if the whale will sing, highlighting the unique experience of attending the opera.
A text from a listener moving this weekend is acknowledged:
"I’m moving this weekend, so y'all are gonna have to have fun without me living vicariously through the show." [03:29]
Kusha wishes a smooth move, recognizing the challenges of relocating in New York City.
Andrew plans to volunteer at a local farmer's market and attend a jiu-jitsu class:
"I plan to spend some of my weekend volunteering at the local farmer's market and then attending my weekend jiu jitsu class. I hope everybody has a blessed day into the weekend." [11:19]
Andrew expresses his enthusiasm for community involvement and personal development.
Kate engages in traditional and leisurely activities:
Luke introduces listeners to his involvement in the office March Madness bracket pool:
"Most of you probably will know what this is already, but basically, the NCAA... puts on basketball tournaments for the men's and women's side of the game." [05:51]
He explains the dynamics of filling out brackets, the excitement of potential upsets, and the camaraderie it fosters among coworkers. Luke humorously admits:
"I am so not an expert that I'm currently in second to last place in our office pool." [08:58]
He shares his picks for the tournament, backing UConn women’s team based on his childhood affinity and their strong performance history.
Paul highlights affordable local theater options:
"I'm going to be at my daughter's high school performance of Les Miserable this weekend... there's a lot of good theater in the area." [10:45]
He emphasizes the accessibility of quality performances outside Broadway, encouraging support for local arts.
Maria promotes multiple theater productions:
"My husband has a small part in [Skin of Our Teeth]... also doing a volunteer for hair and makeup at another Les Mis show at the New Canaan High School." [12:02]
Her contributions showcase the community's involvement in the arts, both onstage and behind the scenes.
Lindsay celebrates spring with a Friendsgiving event:
"This weekend I'm having my annual friendsgiving that I do in the spring instead of the fall... it's a great time to look forward to spring and summer." [13:16]
She shares her excitement for traditional dishes, particularly her prized turkey recipe.
Robin announces a Makers Weekend event at the East Brunswick Public Library:
"East Brunswick library is having a lot of activity for Makers Day... Crafts, robotics, 3D printing." [15:35]
This highlights educational and creative opportunities within the community.
Maggie shares her plans to attend "The Moth Radio Hour Live" at the Tarrytown Music Hall:
"Taking my husband to see the Moth Radio Hour live at our amazing local jewel, the Tarrytown Music Hall." [14:50]
Katrina discusses her weekend theater outings:
"My wife and I just saw Dorian Gray on Broadway... we're gonna go see Colton Kastrup and his band at the Delancey." [16:49]
She praises performers and supports local artists, reflecting the episode's cultural emphasis.
A significant portion of the episode delves into March Madness, moderated by Luke Green. He explains the intricacies of the bracket pools, the thrill of unexpected upsets, and the social aspects it brings to workplaces. Notably, Luke mentions a coworker, Malik, who boasts an impressive bracket:
"Malik... currently has a 99th percentile bracket with only two wrong." [07:02]
Kusha and Luke discuss their personal bracket choices, with Luke expressing confidence in UConn's women's team and humorously admitting his lack of expertise.
Kusha shares listener recommendations, including:
She also highlights Simon Close’s playful weekend plans involving a chicken-themed bar crawl in Williamsburg, adding a light-hearted conclusion to the episode.
Kusha wraps up the episode by thanking listeners for their contributions and teasing the Monday show:
"Coming up on Monday's show, we'll talk about the season finale of Severance, the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club, and also why even non-basketball fans are getting into March Madness." [18:48]
She expresses gratitude for the community's engagement and encourages continued participation.
Notable Quotes:
"Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong..." – Cristina De Rossi (Referenced in Podcast Description)
"Malik... currently has a 99th percentile bracket with only two wrong." [07:02]
"This week happens to be Nowruz or Persian New Year. Saturday is also my wife's birthday so we are having a party." [00:44]
"East Brunswick library is having a lot of activity for Makers Day at the library." [15:35]
This episode of All Of It beautifully captures the essence of spring in New York City through diverse cultural celebrations, community events, and personal anecdotes. By integrating listener interactions and team activities, the show fosters a sense of belonging and shared experiences among its audience. The combination of traditional festivities, local theater, sports enthusiasm, and innovative events like Makers Day exemplifies the rich tapestry of New York City's cultural landscape.