The Dinner Party Download featuring Dan Bejar

Dan Bejar
Musician Dan Bejar.
Ted Bois

This week on the Dinner Party Download...

Icebreaker:Wanda Jackson
Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson -- the powerhouse voice behind '50s classics like "Let's Have A Party" -- calls it like she sings it. (Her Jack White-produced album "This Party Ain't Over" debuts this week.)

Icebreaker:Small Talk:
Madeline Brand, host of KPCC-FM's The Madeline Brand Show, tells us why Genghis Khan was good for the planet (though not so much for humanity).

Icebreaker:A History Lesson with Booze:
This week way back in 1993, Chad Rowan became the first non-Japanese in recorded history to reach yokozuna - the highest rank in sumo wrestling. Hear how he did it, then throw yourself off-balance with the "Nalo Smash" - an East-meets-West cocktail from Lewar's Lounge, on Rowan's home island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Icebreaker:Guest of Honor: Dan Bejar
Dan Bejar's music is a gallimaufry of pop culture references and poetry, set to whatever sort of music he happens to be digging at the time. (And if you don't know what "gallimaufry" means, you're getting a taste of what it's like trying to decode his hyper-literate lyrics.) Bejar talks to Brendan about what's in a name, being presumptuous, and unknowingly getting caught in the quiet storm.

For a longer version of that interview with Bejar -- and some insights about why restaurant websites are annoying -- head to dinnerpartydownload.org.