In this first-ever bonus episode of The Finest, we're flipping things around. Host Julia Dixon Evans sits down with producer Anthony Wallace and editor Chrissy Nguyen in a casual conversation recorded at the SDSU theater next to KPBS. We unpack big questions (what is art?), share our hottest takes (sorry, Mona Lisa) and talk about how the show comes together each week. You'll hear how each of us brings a unique perspective to the show, why relatability is our storytelling secret weapon and what keeps us inspired. Expect thoughtful moments, surprising opinions and the kind of banter that comes from real collaboration.
Mentioned in this episode:
- SDSU Main Stage Theatre | San Diego State University's main performance venue, home to student-led plays, musicals and showcases from the School of Theatre, Television and Film
- reUnify Yoga | Ocean Beach studio Anthony attended, where a teacher once gave an artistic live singing performance during shavasana
- Shavasana | Also called corpse pose, the final stretch where you lie flat on your back to rest, reflect and reset
- The Mona Lisa at The Lourve | Leonardo da Vinci's iconic 16th-century portrait, sealed behind glass in the world's most visited museum in Paris
- San Diego's proximity to Mexico | Just 20 minutes from the border, with deep cultural, culinary and family ties to Tijuana and Baja California
- San Diego sports teams | Padres (MLB) at Petco Park, Wave FC (NWSL) and San Diego FC (MLS) at Snapdragon Stadium, and the Gulls (AHL) at Pechanga Arena
- JROTC | High school program combining military structure with leadership training, public service and civic education; San Diego has one of the largest cadet programs in the U.S.
- G.I. Film Festival | Annual San Diego film fest spotlighting stories by and about service members, veterans and military families
- Convoy District | Foodie haven in Kearny Mesa rooted in Asian American culture, with bustling plazas, family-run businesses and grocery staples like H-Mart and Mitsuwa
Sources:
- "Martin Scorsese: I Said Marvel Movies Aren't Cinema. Let Me Explain." (Martin Scorsese, The New York Times, 2019)
- Quiz: Toddler Art or Modern Art? (Sporcle)
- "How Duchamp's Urinal Changed Art Forever" (Jon Mann, Artsy, 2017)
- "Mona Lisa: The theft that created a legend" (Sheena McKenzie, CNN, 2013)
- "PARU Tea: How the viral matcha spot is transforming tea culture with love and purpose" (Julia Dixon Evans and Anthony Wallace, KPBS, 2025)
- "Chargers leave San Diego: A timeline of 2017" (Annie Heilbrunn, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2018)
- "Soccer a la Frontera" (Jacob Aere, KPBS, 2025)
From KPBS Public Media, The Finest is a podcast about the people, art and movements redefining culture in San Diego. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have feedback or a story idea? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at thefinest@kpbs.org and let us know what you think.
Bonus Episode : The Finest Team Talk Transcript
Julia Dixon Evans: Hey, The Finest listeners! First of all, thank you for being here and for listening to our first six episodes. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed making them.
Before we get into today's episode, we would love to hear what you think of The Finest so far. The show is new and we're still figuring it out as we go along. So tell us, which episodes are resonating with you? What kind of stories and topics would you like to hear us explore in the future? Let us know. There are a bunch of ways to reach out to us. You can send us a note at kpbs.org/thefinest, or email us or send us a voice memo at thefinest@kpbs.org.
Today, we're bringing you our very first bonus episode. We'll drop these every now and then. Sometimes it'll spotlight another KPBS podcast, a follow up on a previous story or even a casual chat from the team.
Anthony Wallace: I really want to explore food. I love food stories. And then I love eating, so doing a food story is probably the most fun kind of thing you can do.
Evans: Next week, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.
In our upcoming episodes for the summer, we'll hear from a Kumeyaay scholar who wrote a comic book. We'll also go birding and meet San Diego's current species count leader. We'll hear the story of some old friends who found street art as a way to stay out of trouble, but instead got caught up in a graffiti sting operation. We'll look at an exhibit of textile art honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe and go deep into the legend, its roots and recent evolution. And we'll talk to some local bands, and, I promise, we'll get Anthony on a food story soon.
But today, we wanted to do something a little more chill. We thought it'd be fun to introduce ourselves and give you a behind-the-scenes peek at how The Finest comes together. So I sat down with our producer Anthony and our editor Chrissy at the SDSU Theater, right next door to the KPBS station. We talked art, San Diego and the journey of making this podcast — and we filmed it too. You can find some clips on our website. We even used The Finest-branded question cards, which made us feel like the real-deal talk show hosts.
From KPBS Public Media, this is The Finest. A podcast about the art, movements and people redefining culture in San Diego. I'm Julia Dixon Evans.
[Theme Music]
Evans: The member of our team whose voice you haven't heard yet is Chrissy, our editor. She'll kick things off.
Chrissy Nguyen: OK, so I'm going to start. What's the most "that's not art" take you're prepared to defend?
Wallace: OK. I feel like I'm pretty chill. I don't think I would say Marvel movies aren't art.
Nguyen: You're not Scorsese? Didn't he…
Wallace: Or, I don't know, maybe a really postmodern thing. I could get behind the urinal on the wall maybe going too far.
Evans: I think I also have a pretty expansive view of it. I feel like I could defend any of that, the urine on the wall.
OK, so I take my kids to museums a lot and kids are notorious for saying, I could do that in front of a color field painting or something that's just like one smear of paint. I think the defense for that is, but you didn't. Right? That's my first reaction to those things, like that's not art, is thinking about somebody made it and you didn't.
Wallace: I will say I'm pretty much always on the side of defending a contemporary painting that's just splotches of color and stuff. I think if you stand in front of one of those for a long time, you can have a really cool experience. Maybe it just takes some openness to it. I got a reel that was like was this a contemporary artist or a 4-year-old? And they would show a thing and then you'd have to guess, and I got one wrong.
Nguyen: Oh, was it…
Wallace: It was by a 4-year-old.
Nguyen: Oh, wow.
Wallace: And I thought it was by… but maybe the 4-year-old's just actually an amazing artist.
Nguyen: There's a lot of them out there.
Wallace: Yeah.
Evans: I also think there's a lot of boundary-pushing too like noise art, sound art, death metal as well. There are things that are a little bit more accessible to more people that are just also abrasive. I don't know. I think that I could defend those too.
Wallace: Yeah, there's stuff that people would say like, that sucks, but I don't know if they would say it's not art. But I think I like a lot of music that a lot of people are like this… I went to a yoga place in Ocean Beach and the teacher did a singing performance during Shavasana that I thought was amazing, which I think is definitely art. Maybe most people would also agree, but yeah, I'd prefer to just have the broader view that, you know, it is art.
But yeah, I think there is bad art. I don't want to be too positive, I guess where I'm saying everything's art, everything's good. Yeah, I guess the worst offender would just be things that are lifeless and don't have much passion behind them and are really just some kind of imitation. So maybe if you go into a new apartment building and the decor and the lobby looks like all the other new apartment buildings that would be bad.
Nguyen: We went to Paris and I saw the Mona Lisa, and I think it's super overrated and it's so small.
Evans: Yes, it's so small. It's definitely smaller than you expect.
Nguyen: But also we were in the Louvre and they were, the security was not enforced at all really. And people were eating in the museum and someone actually dropped a jar of jam. And I wish I took a photo, but I was just so shocked.
Wallace: Like it broke?
Nguyen: It broke and it splashed across the wall.
Wallace: It is interesting that the Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world — it's just because it was stolen in the early 1900s. And now it's a media sensation.
Nguyen: Yeah.
[Music]
Nguyen: What's the difference between arts and culture? I guess Julia, you can go first.
Evans: OK. I would say that art is something that is made. Anything that is made: poetry, music, theater, food. And then culture is a little more broad. It's more like your identity, whether it's as a region or as an individual. So it's your background. It is the food you grew up with, it's what is happening in your neighborhood. And I think so many more things fit into culture.
Wallace: I was thinking about what culture is, and I think culture is just everything that gives a particular place and space or time its character and color. So, think about ancient civilizations or other countries. It's just all those things you think about when you think about that place, and it's really what makes it what it is.
Evans: Great answer.
Wallace: Thanks.
Nguyen: Well then now, how do you guys define art in the context of our podcast?
Evans: I think, for me at least, the way that we're thinking about finding stories and when we have a story, digging into how the interview is going to go and what we spotlight, I'm thinking more about the way the art is made or who the person is behind it. So it's really individual and it's really creative and about the process or the motivations and the dreams and who that individual is.
Wallace: I guess I think of my philosophy of art classes from college: art is like content plus form. It's an idea that's put into an emotionally compelling package of some kind, whether it's painting or poetry, music. I think with the podcast, it's great to explore those ideas and the stories, the things that are important to these artists and why, and how they're expressing them through the art.
Evans: Anthony's gonna summon academia on every answer.
[Music]
Wallace: I'm up? OK. What can people expect from the podcast?
Evans: I think for me it's those little seeds of relatability that we have in addition to the story and these amazing things that people have gone through. There's always something in there that is: I relate to it. And sometimes when the episode is on the chopping block and we're trying to find things to cut or ways to tighten up the story, I get really attached to those little moments where I'm like, this person is leading a totally different life than me. They are doing something incredible with their art, but they still have this little human thing that I do, and I love those things.
Wallace: I think that helps their art resonate with you a lot more when you realize there's a connection between your life and their life.
Nguyen: Yeah, and I think all three of us are very different and whenever we talk to someone or we hear their story, I think we kind of attach ourselves to a different part of what they're telling us. And I think that's what our audience will find too. We're all three very different people and we are still connecting to this one artist or this one creator.
Wallace: We've said this a lot, but I hope it helps people feel like they know San Diego better.
Nguyen: Yeah, for sure.
Wallace: What makes you excited about this project? Talk about culture and arts in San Diego. Julia?
Evans: What makes me excited about this project is probably the chance to really spend a lot of time with people and their stories. It takes us out of this rapid fire, upcoming events, news cycle. Even talking about art, it's still very much like what's happening this weekend or what is in the news right now, and it gives us a chance to step outside of that and spend a ton of time on one person or one business or one area and get that full story. And I think that is really like par for the course for what is really exciting about arts and culture in San Diego. If you look for it and if you spend a little bit of time, you can find something really magical.
And there's also a ton where you don't even have to try. You can walk down any city block and there's probably an art gallery. You can go to a concert in every corner of the county. You can find something to do quite easily. And what I love about the work that we're doing with this podcast is we're showing you what amazing stuff is there if you dig and if you spend some time looking.
Nguyen: I also think we're also looking at art in a different way, a new way where, like we mentioned, there's music and there's theater performances and there's paintings in the museum, but our first episode actually is about tea. And that's something that I think not a lot of people will connect to arts and culture, but once we met these tea makers, it's entirely, it's the culture of San Diego, you know? We're pointing out the art and culture that's under your nose but you just don't realize the impact that it's having in your community, in your city.
Wallace: It's like a tea store that you maybe have heard of, maybe driven past or got one of their drinks at a farmer's market, but there's this whole world that's underneath that that you can learn about.
Evans: Here's one. I'll start with Anthony because you just moved here. So I wanna know what you think makes San Diego's cultural scene unique from the perspective of a former outsider.
Wallace: I think the first thing I think of is the proximity to Mexico, where it's basically one metropolitan area like Tijuana and San Diego. And that is very unique. I've never lived in a place like that. And I love Mexico, so it's like an amazing amenity for me to be able to just walk there and get food and hang out.
One dimension of culture is sports. I've been interested and excited by how passionate San Diego is about its sports teams. I've always thought that San Diego was unjustly stripped of its major NFL and NBA teams and it seems like the result is almost like the city has just poured its love into the Padres and the Wave and the new MLS team and even the minor league hockey team. I think that's really cool and exciting.
Evans: And Chrissy, you grew up here.
Nguyen: Yeah.
Evans: So what about you? What do you think makes San Diego's cultural scene unique?
Nguyen: I think just the sheer variety of things here. You know the typical surf culture, beach culture, but then there's also a lot of military families. The military plays a big role in San Diego, and I don't think a lot of people kind of attach that to culture and arts. I went to San Diego High School. I was in ROTC.
Evans: Really?
Nguyen: I see there's a lot of artists that come out of there. KPBS has the G.I. Film Festival, so there's great art coming out of that community that you don't always realize.
Besides just art, we're talking about culture.There's like lots of food and fashion and we have these communities on Convoy, you can get every single type of Asian food you could possibly imagine. We have it here in San Diego and not just have it, but it's done really well. So I think that's what's unique about San Diego.
[Music]
Nguyen: What's something unexpected that falls under art or culture that you hope to explore?
Wallace: I don't know if it's unexpected: food. I really want to explore food. I love food stories. I've done a lot of those in my career as a journalist. I think they're a great entryway into personal stories. Food is so tied up in your family and your memories. I love eating, so doing a food story is probably the most fun kind of thing you can do.
Nguyen: I think that's really true too. You said food's individual, but also it's very universal. Everyone has to eat. I think we talked about this before too, where you can review or you can talk about a movie or a TV show or a book even elsewhere, but to talk about a region's food, you kind of have to be there. I think that's something that I'm excited to explore and look into — just the food culture here.
Evans: I think for me, the unexpected thing is nature. We talk to a botanist, we talk to a parks employee. That kind of thing is really fascinating to me. I'm a nature person, and so to bridge those worlds. And I also feel like hiking and running groups, those are all ways that people connect also. That's where I get the deepest in conversations with my friends. And so I feel like bringing storytelling back to that place is kind of full circle, I guess.
Nguyen: I'm really excited to kind of get to know people who, again, like I said, you don't always connect them as an artist or a typical artist. The other day we were doing an interview and somebody mentioned that this piece was created by a piñata artist. And that's really something where everyone knows what a piñata is, but have you ever thought about the creator, the person behind it? To hear those stories, like how do you become a piñata artist? What motivates them to do the work that they do and why it matters to the community?
Evans: OK. If someone listening wants to get more involved in the arts community, where should they start?
Wallace: If you're interested in getting more involved in the arts community, I think just by listening, hopefully, you'll feel more connected. Hopefully the episodes help people relate to the art and the artists. Maybe sometimes it can feel intimidating to try to approach a new form of art or food or something, but I think when you hear the stories and you hear more about it, hopefully the walls will break down. And then I think for most of the episodes, it's pretty easy to see what you can do if you're interested: go to the restaurant, listen to the musician, go to shows. A lot of the people we've interviewed have mentioned specific suggestions of like, if you wanna feel more connected to this scene, go to these places, try this.
Nguyen: Yeah, that's another thing that's great about being involved with your community and the arts is that you can have a conversation with these artists. They're not some far-fetched person — that untouchable feeling — you can interact with these people and become friends. So I think that's really cool and a way to support these people that we're talking to.
Wallace: And feel more connected to the community. I guess all this stuff is local, so you can live your whole life just like listening to music that's international and eating at chain restaurants and stuff, but there is something special about engaging on a day-to-day basis with things that were made in your community that reflect its unique character.
Evans: One of the things that we tossed around when we were very early brainstorming for this podcast was the idea that somebody making something great could be your neighbor. Right? And the flip side also is these great things are made in your neighborhood or made in the place you live. I love that.
Wallace: I thought you were gonna say, the flip side is your neighbor can be a murderer.
Evans: Yeah, the flipside also.
Nguyen: If this podcast had an outrageous tagline, what would it be?
Evans: I don't know. I feel like we have a lot of inside jokes now that are like, it's a podcast where when we're talking about something and Anthony says, oh, we should make a podcast about that, or like, we should call that person. I don't know, Anthony's little, we should make a podcast about… You can always hear it before he says it.
Wallace: Making casual conversation.
Nguyen: Yeah. Whenever we're pitching news stories and you're like, oh, that could be a podcast.
Wallace: It's a podcast about stuff that could be a podcast.
Evans: Not our finest answer.
Nguyen: We always joke though, there's been lots of like numbers.
Evans: It's a math podcast.
Nguyen: Yeah. We always joke that it's a math podcast, but it's not because I'm awful at math.
Wallace: Interesting numbers. Interesting numbers.
Evans: Yes, interesting numbers. Math at work in your life today. Anthony's actually a really good mathematician.
Nguyen: Yeah. Yeah.
Wallace: All right, well that was a lot of fun talking about the podcast, but we have a lot of work to do, a lot more episodes to make, so let's wrap this up and get to work.
Evans: OK. And you can find The Finest wherever you get your podcasts. Been waiting to say that. All right, that was more awkward than I thought it would be.
Crew: Do one more take.
Evans: Just like an outtake?
Crew: Still rolling? Yes. Yeah, just rolling. OK.
Evans: He's right, and I've been dying to say this, but you can find The Finest wherever you get your podcasts. Good job.
[Music]
Evans: And now that you've heard from us, we wanna hear from you too. Tell us what you think. And also, what is it about this region that inspires you? Or give us your hot take about art.
[Theme Music]
Evans: Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It really helps new listeners discover the show. And best of all, if you can think of anyone in your life that might like The Finest, please share it with them.
Next week on The Finest, we examine an icon. Our Lady of Guadalupe has been a powerful symbol for 500 years. She emerged during a dark period of oppression in the Americas and, over the centuries — in large part thanks to artists — she’s been reimagined as a source of resilience and pride.
Ariana Torres: She has all of these layers. You know, she could be a private figure, she can be a public figure. She could be a source of comfort. She could be a source of pain. And I think people really need to understand that. She isn’t just one thing. Her power comes because she has all of these different facets to her.
Evans: The Finest is a production of KPBS Public Media. I'm your host, Julia Dixon Evans. Our producer is Anthony Wallace, who also composed the score. Our audio engineer is Ben Redlawsk, and our editor is Chrissy Nguyen.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.