Dinner Party Download featuring Karen Russell

Author Karen Russell
Author Karen Russell is the guest of honor on this week's Dinner Party Download.
Photo courtesy Michael Lionstar

This week on the Dinner Party Download...

Icebreaker: Tristen

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Tristen delivers a joke. (She's on tour now in support of her debut album "Charlatans At The Garden Gates.")

Small Talk: Patt Morrison

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Patt Morrison -- Pulitzer-winning LA Times columnist and host of her own talk show on KPCC-FM -- tells us how Wal-Mart deals with stuck-up employees.

A History Lesson with Booze

Right around this time back in 1960, "Tonight Show" host Jack Parr walked off the set in the middle of a live broadcast. He's also remembered for torpedoing the career of red-baiting gossip columnist Walter Winchell, who held forth at a bar called The Stork Club. Hear the tale of Parr's departure, then toast his chutzpah with the bar's namesake cocktail -- as mixed by Colin Davis at The Rainbow Room in New York, NY.

Guest of Honor: Karen Russell

Author Karen Russell -- one of The New Yorker's vaunted "20 Under 40" short fiction writers -- just released her eagerly-anticipated debut novel, "Swamplandia!" It's a coming-of-age tale about a family of alligator wrestlers. She chats with Rico about real-life dinosaurs, decaying amusement parks, and the saddest whale ever.

To hear more from Karen Russell -- and catch a new tune from the band Mogwai -- head to www.dinnerpartydownload.org.