Aural Education

Spike Jonze in the Austin City Limits soundstage (Courtesy of Mike Andrick)

Back in April, Spike Jonze spent a couple of hours in the Austin City Limits studios on the UT campus. He was the guest of honor at John Pierson's Master Class, in town on a super-hush-hush film shoot with Arcade Fire (who release a new album on Aug. 3; maybe the collaboration with Jonze isn't far behind?). Jonze weathered Pierson's amiable grilling with grace and aplomb, fielding questions on his commercial work, music videos, and feature films (Where the Wild Things Are, Adaptation.). It was a night to remember for the lucky few who got in the door – there was a line snaking around the building an hour before showtime – but now that lucky few expands to anyone in the KUT listenership.

Starting this Sunday – okay, technically, Monday morning – and as part of the late-night, free-form O'Dark 30 show, edited versions of Pierson's Master Class interviews will air in 30-minute chunks. In addition to Jonze, other hot-seaters include producing powerhouse and Austin institution Elizabeth Avellán (Spy Kids); Timur Bekmambetov, the Kazakhstan native and director of 2008's patently (but stylishly!) preposterous Angelina Jolie actioner, Wanted; and the lightly spiky twofer of Richard Linklater, who revitalized Austin as a film town in the early Nineties, and Alison Macor, who wrote the book on that history in Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids.

O'Dark 30 airs from 12mid to 3am on Monday mornings on KUT 90.5FM.

Aug. 2: Spike Jonze

Aug. 9: Elizabeth Avellán

Aug. 16: Timur Bekmambetov

Aug. 23: Alison Macor and Richard Linklater