A rainy fall morning, a record day of downloads, and a park that literally changed overnight—sometimes the smallest surprises set up the biggest questions. We stumbled onto a brand-new playground where a restroom used to be, tested the slide with more courage than grace, and used that jolt of change to explore the hidden pressure behind great performances. From there, we traveled into the tape archive of infamous studio blowups: Buddy Rich’s volcanic bus tirades, Casey Kasem’s whiplash betwee...