Episodes

  • Election Day 2024: Nauseously Optimistic
    Nov 5 2024

    It's finally here, Scorekeepers. It's Election Day 2024 here in the US. So if you haven't yet voted and made your voice heard, may we kindly suggest you pause the pod and go do that. And then while you're waiting in line or when you get back, you can listen to us chat about the literal life and death choice before us (00:33), the strange celebrity political endorsement industrial complex that seems especially present this election cycle (43:23), and then -- because we all need it desperately today -- a supersized dose of Pure Black Joy to help us all get through this anxious day (1:06:00).

    But if you don't listen to anything else listen to this: VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! And whatever happens, we'll get through it together. Stay safe and make good choices! We love you, Scorekeepers! Let's do it to it.

    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds

    Producer: Rocky Jones

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    Links

    Zora Neale Hurston Summit (Home) (Donate)

    The Black Feminist Project (Home)

    "Louisiana students who solved the Pythagorean theorem discover nine more solutions to it" (NOLA.com)

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    New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com.

    Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

    Follow Us on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • So Black & So Gay (Noah's Arc: S1, Eps. 1-3)
    Oct 21 2024

    Hey hey, Scorekeepers! We're back for another episode of your favorite podcast, THE SCORE! This week, after a little election update, we're gonna try something new. Noah's Arc was the first of its kind: a funny and frank dramedy about four Black gay men living in Los Angeles that ran for two seasons on LogoTV in the mid-2000s. For the next few months, we'll be revisiting this trailblazing show episode by episode, chatting about the friendships, the sex, the romance, the fashions, and what seeing these characters on our screens meant to us then and still means to us today. This week, we'll be covering episodes 1-3 of the first season and it's wild, gay ride! (If you'd like to watch along with us, check out the links below!) Plus, as always, we end with a little PBJ, this week with André 3000, the ladies of The Real Housewives of Potomac, and legendary playwright Dominique Morrisseau. Let's do it to it, y'all!

    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds

    Producer: Rocky Jones

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    Links

    Watch Noah's Arc along with us: Paramount+ | Amazon | Apple

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    New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com.

    Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

    Follow Us on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • The Score 2.0: Spinning the Block
    Oct 8 2024

    Don't call it a comeback, dear Scorekeepers! Call it a homecoming! Welcome to the new iteration of your favorite podcast, which we're affectionately calling The Score 2.0. The Minnesota Opera era is over. The Lincoln Center era is over. We're now proudly coming to you as a wholly independent, Black and queer media enterprise, liberated from the shackles of any institutional pressure. What does that mean? It means we're going to keep bringing you the same Black, queer arts and culture commentary you've come to enjoy, but a bit freer and a lot spicier. Plus, we're excited to dip our toes into some completely new topics that we've always wanted to explore. It also means, however, that we need your support more than ever, so if you love The Score and you want it to continue, please tell everyone you can about us, share our content on your socials and, of course, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you're listening. We love you all and thank you a million times for joining us on this new journey!

    On this week's inaugural episode of The Score 2.0, we chat about our hopes and fears for next month's election, union-busting at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and, of course, we end with a little Pure Black Joy featuring Doechii, the reboot of classic sitcom A Different World, and remembering Frankie Beverly. Let's do it to it, y'all!

    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds

    Producer: Rocky Jones

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    Links:

    "Dallas Black Dance Theatre fires 9 dancers over social media video; city council calls for probe" (Fox4News.com)

    Dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre (Instagram)

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    New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com.

    Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

    Follow Us on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • ART CLASS: Episode 1 - Fahrenheit 2024 w/Junauda Petrus and Nathan Horowitz
    Jan 16 2024

    Hey hey, Scorekeepers! At long last, it's time for the premiere of our new show with Lincoln Center, ART CLASS! If you loved The Score, you'll absolutely adore ART CLASS! We've kept a lot of the things you've come to know and love about The Score, but we've expanded our scope beyond classical music and we're shining a light on Global Majority artists creating in all sorts of different art forms, like books, film, theater and so much more. We figured we'd drop the first episode here on this feed, but moving forward new episodes will be dropping over on the new ART CLASS feed. So if you're into it, make sure you follow, subscribe and review us over there. And of course, tell all your friends! Thanks so much for all your support!!! <3

    --

    What's up, Classmates?! Class is officially in session! Welcome to the first episode of Lincoln Center's new podcast, ART CLASS, a provocative, thoughtful and often humorous podcast all about art and artists creating at the intersection of beauty and innovation. This week, hosts Lee Bynum, Paige Reynolds, and Rocky Jones are joined by author, activist, and multi-disciplinary artist Junauda Petrus, whose novel The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, has appeared on multiple banned books lists in the past few years (0:22:33). We talk art and censorship, other influential, inspirational artists who have also showed up on banned book lists, and how Junauda's West Indian ancestry influences her life and work. Later, we're joined for "Career Day" by Nathan Horowitz, who gives us behind-the-scenes peek at a day in the life of a Hollywood stunt performer (1:03:46). Plus, contributor Emilia Mettenbrink brings us the "Morning Announcements," a list of live and virtual arts offerings that we think you might want to check out (1:00:52). And, as always, we end with a moment of PBJ aka Pure Black Joy, a weekly little snack for your soul that highlights the Black people, culture, and art that are making us happy this week (01:12:03). Let's do it to it, y'all.

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    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds

    Guests: Junauda Petrus, Nathan Horowitz

    Contributor: Emilia Mettenbrink

    Producer: Rocky Jones

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    Links

    • Junauda Petrus (Website) (Instagram)
    • Seen, Sound, Scribe (lincolncenter.org)
    • Spectral Evidence: Gregory Pardlo with Imani Perry (nypl.org)
    • Antonia Hylton + Craig Melvin: Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum (strandbooks.com)
    • The Black Joy Project by Kleaver Cruz (HarperCollins)
    • Legacy of Orisha Series by Tomi Adeyemi (
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • ART CLASS Trailer: Subscribe now! New episodes start Tuesday!
    Jan 10 2024

    What's up, Scorekeepers?! As Mariah would say, "It's tiiiiiiime!" ART CLASS, Paige, Rocky and Lee's new podcast with Lincoln Center premieres this Tuesday, January 16. So if you've been missing us popping up in your feed on the regular, you can now officially check out the new show on our page at lincolncenter.org and subscribe to ART CLASS on your podcast platform of choice. Platforms such as...

    • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-class/id1721941273
    • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2EZH1c4iX97tyFgtrGXDTS
    • Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f95482a-9595-4fa8-b749-58dc3c78a69d/art-class
    • Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vYXJ0LWNsYXNzLw

    And of course, wherever you listen, please don't forget to leave a 5-star review!!! Thanks so much for all your support these last few years. We can't wait to go on this new adventure with all of you!

    -xo, P, R, & L

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    2 mins
  • ART CLASS: Come See Us Live Sunday, 10/29!
    Oct 24 2023

    It's been way too long, Scorekeepers! Did you miss us? We missed you! How was your summer? How has your fall been? How's your mama and them? Well, we have been hard at work on our next endeavor since we last left you and we are so excited to FINALLY share the details of our new adventure! So... if we may, we'd like to proudly introduce you to... ART CLASS, a brand new podcast from the one and only Lincoln Center Education. Yes, you read that correctly, THE Lincoln Center! ART CLASS will consist of the same news and interviews you've come to expect and love from The Score, but with an expanded scope and a chance for us to spread our wings and try some new ways to showcase art and artistry from our Black, queer perspectives. So hit play and let us tell you all about it!

    ART CLASS officially launches everywhere you get fine podcasts on January 16, 2024. However, we'll be soft launching the new show with a live recording this Sunday, October 29 at 4pm at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall in New York City. The recording is free and open to the public, so come on by if you're in town. Check out this page for more details. But if you can't make it, don't worry, the live show will be released on ART CLASS' new feed in November. We're still building all that infrastructure, however, so watch this space for all of those links and details.

    Thanks so much for all your patience, love and support and we hope you'll be a part of this chapter. We can't wait to keep the party going with all of you wonderful, beautiful Classmates!

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    19 mins
  • The Final Score (w/3rd Annual Juneteenth Panel)
    Jun 28 2023

    Hello, all you wonderful, gorgeous Scorekeepers! It's a momentous and bittersweet day here at THE SCORE HQ. After 2 years, 3 seasons, 58 episodes, a murderers' row of amazing guests and countless engrossing conversations, it's our last episode. BUT! It won't be the last you hear from the three of us, because we haven't been cancelled. Far from it! We can't spill all the details yet, but this fall we'll be embarking on a ridiculously exciting brand new podcasting adventure and we can't wait to share all the details with you! But until then, we are so happy to go out on one of our favorite notes, our 3rd annual Juneteenth panel, moderated by our very own Dr. Lee Bynum! This year, we're talking about the intersection of Blackness and arts education with panelists Queen Herawin (Hip Hop Education Center), John Lucas (Step Into the Light), Curtis Stewart (American Composers Orchestra) and Dacia Washington (Lincoln Center). All that, plus one last PBJ to carry you through the summer! We love you all so much and thank you for your support these last few years. It means more to us than you know. Now... let's do to it!

    Oh, and don't unsubscribe from this channel! We'll be back periodically throughout the summer with more details about where to come find us this fall! We can't wait to share this news with you, btw. It's BIG!!!

    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds (Mabolé Iya Inawale)

    Guests: Queen Herawin, John Lucas, Curtis Stewart, Dacia Washington

    Producers: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones

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    LINKS

    Hip Hop Education Center (Website)

    American Composers Orchestra (Website)

    Step Into the Light Foundation (Website)

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    New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Wednesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. For more info about the exciting EDI work happening at MN Opera, please visit mnopera.org/edi. Email your questions or comments to thescore@mnopera.org.

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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • The Main Course (w/Damian Norfleet)
    Jun 14 2023

    Hi hi, Scorekeepers! It's time for another episode of your favorite podcast, THE SCORE! This week's episode has been two years in the making and, considering he's married to one of us, I can't believe it's taken all this time to finally nab today's fabulous guest: singer, composer, activist and all-around brilliant and lovely person, Damian Norfleet! Join us as he shares his insightful thoughts and opinions on the state of arts education and what institutions should avoid when commissioning work from Black artists. Plus, we have a chit-chat about the commercialization of Juneteenth and, of course, a little PBJ to help you finish out the week strong! Let's do it to it, y'all!

    Oh, and mark your calendars, because next episode is our annual Juneteenth panel. Plus, we'll be making a HUGE announcement about the show! Don't miss it!

    Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds (Iya Inawale)

    Guest: Damian Norfleet

    Producer: Rocky Jones

    Music: "Praise Pecola!" by Damian Norfleet

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    Links

    Damian Norfleet (Website) (Insta)

    Open Road Fund (Website)

    -

    New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Wednesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. For more info about the exciting EDI work happening at MN Opera, please visit mnopera.org/edi. Email your questions or comments to thescore@mnopera.org.

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    1 hr and 26 mins