Last Saturday, the Great Hall at Cooper Union was the site of a live taping of the VBS.TV show Soft Focus, hosted by former Make-Up frontman Ian Sevenonius. His guests were Ted Leo of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys (it was advertised that Kathleen Hanna would be there, but I doubt anyone was too disappointed when her boyfriend Adam showed up in her place). For those who aren’t familiar with the show, Ian interviewed both musicians about their careers, lives and political views — but most interestingly, on the changes to their two musical genres over the years: how rock-and-roll has gone from eloquently-phrased anger to screaming machismo (Ted Leo’s example: Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” ), and hip hop from issues set to verse to flash-in-the-pan club music. Later, Ian rounded out the evening by spinning some of his favorite soul records at Lit.

The episode will eventually be viewable online here.

Image: Ted Leo via Brooklyn Vegan