Photo Credit: Crawlspace Media
Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri—producers and co-hosts of the true crime podcasts Missing Maura Murray and Crawlspace—recently launched their newest series, Empty Frames. Exploring the unsolved 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, the podcast dives deep into theories, potential leads and the ongoing drama surrounding the crime. We caught up with the duo to discuss their latest mystery.
Why do you think the Gardner Museum heist remains relevant?
Tim: It’s an insane mystery that is still ongoing.
Lance: And of course, the empty frames are still there. It’s always a reminder. … And then the amount, the dollar sign that’s on these stolen paintings is almost like a video game number. It’s like $500 million. You might as well say a few zillion. It’s so much money and no one’s ever found them. No one’s ever had a solid lead.
What sets Empty Frames apart from your past podcasts?
Tim: It’s a little bit lighter in subject matter because we’ve been dealing with missing people mostly. But we’re also both from Boston, so it’s something that really hits close to home.
Lance: It’s a lot more personal I would say.
If you could walk out of a museum with one piece of art, what would it be?
Lance: I’ve already thought about it. Tim and I went down to D.C., and they had a Vermeer and Dutch artists exhibition. We ended up walking through the museum and we saw Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait—it’s just stunning to see that. I didn’t even take a picture of it because it felt wrong after seeing it up close.
Tim: That painting really spoke to me like it spoke to you as well. I really love The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, but I know it’s not in a museum right now, so I guess my answer is the same as yours.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the podcast?
Tim: We hope that someone hears it and says, “Hey, I feel like I saw that painting in Uncle Joey’s basement.”
Lance: Also, people really should go to the museum. …You hear about it all the time, but it doesn’t really resonate until you’re in there, until you take a trip to the museum and learn about it and you see what else is in there. So we hope to just kind of open up community and public awareness to this loss and where it came from.
19 million average monthly downloads of Radiotopia podcasts. The Radiotopia Live: East Coast Tour comes to Boston on May 13, stopping at the Wilbur to showcase its network’s podcasts like 99% Invisible, Radio Diaries, Criminal and more.
THE IMPROPER’S 2018 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | MOVIES | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART | DANCE
Ear Buds
Download these podcast episodes before the live shows come to town
By Julia Aparicio March 9, 2018
Q&A with Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri
Photo Credit: Crawlspace Media
Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri—producers and co-hosts of the true crime podcasts Missing Maura Murray and Crawlspace—recently launched their newest series, Empty Frames. Exploring the unsolved 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, the podcast dives deep into theories, potential leads and the ongoing drama surrounding the crime. We caught up with the duo to discuss their latest mystery.
Why do you think the Gardner Museum heist remains relevant?
Tim: It’s an insane mystery that is still ongoing.
Lance: And of course, the empty frames are still there. It’s always a reminder. … And then the amount, the dollar sign that’s on these stolen paintings is almost like a video game number. It’s like $500 million. You might as well say a few zillion. It’s so much money and no one’s ever found them. No one’s ever had a solid lead.
What sets Empty Frames apart from your past podcasts?
Tim: It’s a little bit lighter in subject matter because we’ve been dealing with missing people mostly. But we’re also both from Boston, so it’s something that really hits close to home.
Lance: It’s a lot more personal I would say.
If you could walk out of a museum with one piece of art, what would it be?
Lance: I’ve already thought about it. Tim and I went down to D.C., and they had a Vermeer and Dutch artists exhibition. We ended up walking through the museum and we saw Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait—it’s just stunning to see that. I didn’t even take a picture of it because it felt wrong after seeing it up close.
Tim: That painting really spoke to me like it spoke to you as well. I really love The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, but I know it’s not in a museum right now, so I guess my answer is the same as yours.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the podcast?
Tim: We hope that someone hears it and says, “Hey, I feel like I saw that painting in Uncle Joey’s basement.”
Lance: Also, people really should go to the museum. …You hear about it all the time, but it doesn’t really resonate until you’re in there, until you take a trip to the museum and learn about it and you see what else is in there. So we hope to just kind of open up community and public awareness to this loss and where it came from.
19 million average monthly downloads of Radiotopia podcasts. The Radiotopia Live: East Coast Tour comes to Boston on May 13, stopping at the Wilbur to showcase its network’s podcasts like 99% Invisible, Radio Diaries, Criminal and more.
THE IMPROPER’S 2018 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | MOVIES | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART | DANCE
By Julia Aparicio
Listen Up
Catch episodes chosen by the hosts of these four podcasts as the perfect intro to their live shows.
Photo Credit: Joel Benjamin
Before Maureen Dahill and Heather Foley bring the Caught Up universe to Laugh Boston on March 14, cue up “Episode 38: Holiday Hustle & Bustle,” during which the longtime Southie residents cover everything from self-care to the humiliation of peeing in SPANX.
Exploring tales of the weird and unnerving, the horror fiction podcast NoSleep comes to Once Ballroom on March 15 with a live show based on the story “Feed the Pig,” written by Elias Witherow and performed by Jesse Cornett, Peter Lewis and Erika Sanderson in season eight’s “Holiday Hiatus #2” episode.
Brothers Hari and Ashok Kondabolu mix comedy with thoughtful commentary about the world and current events on their Untitled Kondabolu Project. Check out the first episode of the latest season for a primer on what to expect during their live taping at ImprovBoston on March 19, when they’ll chat about everything from family tales to gentrification.
Photo Credit: Craig Sjodin
Before catching The West Wing Weekly at the Berklee Performance Center on April 21, be sure to listen to the episode recapping the political drama’s season three finale, “Posse Comitatus.” That live podcast from last year featured Aaron Sorkin and guest appearances by former West Wing cast members Allison Janney and Melissa Fitzgerald reviewing the TV episode that aired in 2002. It provides a good indication for the type of unexpected moments the audience can expect at this show from Hrishikesh Hirway and Joshua Malina, which will dive into the season four finale with director Thomas Schlamme.
THE IMPROPER’S 2018 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | MOVIES | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART | DANCE
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