Sara Bareilles, and a buffalo stampede in Brooklyn
Alchemy with Anthony Mason
A new show about the art of making things.
Anthony Mason is a veteran journalist with decades of experience in conversation with the artists who make our cultural record. Alchemy is the show he's spent a career preparing to host. Sign up for the Alchemy newsletter to check out behind-the-scenes stories from decades of fascinating interviews, and the the books, films, art shows and music Anthony's loving lately.
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Issue 8 / September 23, 2026
IN THIS ISSUE: Sara Bareilles brings our first canine guest, a buffalo stampede in NYC, and the song I have on repeat
Dear friends,
Welcome to the 8th edition of Alchemy newsletter.
We have big news to report. Yes, as you may have witnessed, a majestic herd of 40 buffalo puppets roamed through New York City this past week (more below). But that’s not the best headline we have to share.
Starting today, you can listen to Alchemy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. We’re very proud that Apple listed us as one of its “Fresh Picks” this week. And we’re excited to announce that new episodes will now be dropping weekly, beginning with our latest…
- Anthony
This Week on Alchemy: Sara Bareilles
Photo: Rebecca Castagna
I’ve long been a fan of Sara Bareilles. Sara’s been part of two of my all-time favorite live performances. The first was back in June of 2019, when she sang a duet of “You’ve Got a Friend” in Central Park with Emily King. Sara and Emily, who are very close friends, made the most beautiful sound together that night. I took a blurry video of them from the back of Rumsey Playfield because I wanted to hold onto the moment somehow. I was glad I did because I would come back to it later.
When I was cooking up Alchemy, Sara was one of the first people I reached out to. As a singer, songwriter, and actress, she is a creative powerhouse. She’s also a lovely human, who’s been wide open about her struggles with anxiety. Her new album, "Good Grief," which deals with the loss of a couple of close friends, is an absolute stunner. Sara, who wrote the score for the hit musical, "Waitress," is also working on a new show called "The Interestings," based on the Meg Wolitzer novel. She talks about all of that on the latest episode of Alchemy, while her dog Louie dozes at her feet. (Our first canine guest, Louie behaved impeccably.)
"I always knew that my pull towards making music was like a much deeper—it felt like a connection to, you know, God, the universe, life, whatever. That I was pursuing something that was profound for me. But the industry is confusing. And then you're sort of asked to define your edges maybe a little bit before you know what they are. I was so, so anxious so much of the time when I look back. I didn't enjoy so much of my life and career until I was much, much older."
-Sara Bareilles on Alchemy
Less than a year after I saw Sara perform in Central Park, we were in the depths of the pandemic. Looking for something to lift me up, I signed on to co-produce a benefit concert called "Play On" with some friends (Greg Williamson, Nicole Rechter, John Varvatos, Kevin Bacon). With all the travel and social distancing restrictions, this was a daunting task. The concert was going to air on CBS but we needed to find three different venues to record the show in and artists who’d be willing and able to get to them.
That’s when I remembered Sara and Emily’s performance. I reached out to them about "Play On." At that time it was pretty big ask, but both said yes immediately. And in November of 2020, they showed up at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for our taping.
Our musical director was the great drummer Steve Jordan, who paired Sara and Emily with Jon Batiste. If that trio wasn’t amazing enough, the band included Meshell Ndegeocello, Chris Bruce and Pedrito Martinez. They had a masked rehearsal together in the basement of the Apollo. Steve had come up with a fantastic arrangement of the Curtis Mayfield classic, “People Get Ready.”
Left to right: Sara Bareilles, Pedrito Martinez Jon Batiste, Steve Jordan, Emily King, Chris Bruce at the Apollo Theater (2020)
Inside the theater, there was no audience waiting for them. They were just playing for the cameras and themselves. But even that was a luxury during Covid. And their joy just in making music again was visible.
That day in the empty Apollo Theater, they gave one of the most sublime performances I’ve ever witnessed. Even from the back of the room where I watched on the monitors, it gave me chills. It’s one of my few joyous memories from those very dark days. As it turns out, Sara really struggled with depression during the pandemic—she talks about it on Alchemy—which makes that performance all the more special and makes me even more grateful. She showed up. She collaborated, beautifully. And she nailed it.
You can see Sara, Emily, & Jon's performance here. I promise it’s worth all three minutes and 45 seconds. I watch whenever I need to be reminded that even in the bleakest moments you can make something profoundly beautiful.
Jon Batiste, Emily King and Sara Bareilles recording "Play On"
You expect to get caught in traffic in New York City. You don’t expect to get caught in a buffalo stampede. But the NYPD had to cordon off streets when a majestic herd of 40 life-size buffalo puppets roamed through lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn last Friday and Saturday. It was quite a spectacle. Commuters, tourists, parents and kids came running. The public arts project, which was put together by the Brooklyn theater, St. Anns Warehouse, was mother to a million Instagram moments. Here’s mine:
“This is the craziest thing we’ve ever done,” producer Karen Brooks Hopkins admitted. Hopkins was standing in the middle of St. Anns Warehouse early last week, while 160 volunteer puppeteers were learning how to bring the bison to life. “There's a mile of burlap on those puppets,” Hopkins added for emphasis. “One mile. Just think about that, okay?”
The buffalo puppets were designed by Ukwanda Puppets of South Africa, but were built right in St. Ann’s Warehouse along the waterfront just under the Brooklyn Bridge. Assembly began in July and Puppetry Director Craig Leo likened it to a giant IKEA furniture project.
“It’s quite fun to make actually,” Leo said in his gently rolling South African accent, while acknowledging that like some IKEA assemblies, it could all go wrong. “If you've got 40 of them and you get 40 legs arriving and you're not careful, you end up spending hours trying to find bits and pieces like a puzzle.”
“It took St. Ann's to the edge of what we are capable of in a good way,” said St. Anns artistic director, Susan Feldman.
The planning began in earnest back in February. “You have to have the courage to just say ‘go’ when you come up with an idea like this,” said Hopkins, who ran the Brooklyn Academy of Music for 17 years. “If you wait and you hesitate, it won't happen.”
When I arrived at the Warehouse early last week, the puppets were all lined up at one end of the stage floor looking like they’d all gone down for a nap together. Even in repose they were imposing. I was working on a story for CBS Sunday Morning. And this was one of those “only in New York” moments I would not have wanted to miss. (The organizers hope to take the buffalo to other cities.)
I asked Hopkins and Feldman what they hoped New Yorkers would take from the buffalo.
“We've had a lot happening in New York this summer,” Hopkins said. “We had the Knicks, we had the World Cup, we had fireworks, we had tall ships. We've had tennis. We felt there needed to be an art event.”
Feldman told me ultimately it was about community: “I just think being able to come together for something really good these days is a rare experience and something to be cherished.”
The title of Ashe’s news single is surprising when you know that Ashlyn Rae Willson was just married this past October. But It was her second wedding and Ashe used the moment to reflect on her first which occurred just after she graduated Berklee College of Music back in 2015.
While that marriage didn’t work out, it would inspire her breakout hit, “Moral of the Story,” which went platinum and now has more than a billion streams on Spotify.
Last fall, I saw Ashe perform with FINNEAS as part of their side project, The Favors. As well as a gorgeous voice, she has great stage presence. We talked recently for CBS Mornings—the interview will air around the time her new album, "The Girl of Your Dreams," drops on October 16.
The morning we spoke she’d just gotten word that “Stop The Wedding!” had cracked the British charts. And she was glowing both about that news and about her new husband, John Canada, a drummer she met on tour. “It's the first time I've ever been with anyone who's not like, could you put a lamp shade on? You're being a little too bright, you know. And I'm loud. I'm dramatic. And I want to shine.”
She’s certainly shining. “Stop The Wedding!” is now at No. 9 in the UK charts and is rapidly heading up the charts here in the U.S. too. And as much as I love this song, there's another I love even more on her new album. Look out for it!
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Anthony Mason is a veteran journalist with decades of experience in conversation with the artists who make our cultural record. Alchemy is the show he's spent a career preparing to host. Sign up for the Alchemy newsletter to check out behind-the-scenes stories from decades of fascinating interviews, and the the books, films, art shows and music Anthony's loving lately.
