CONVERSATIONS.BUZZ: Recent Episodes
Conversations.Buzz
KEN LEVINE is one of the most successful TV writers in the history of the medium. A former head writer for MAS*H, along with his partner David Isaacs, Ken has also written, directed, and produced such iconic shows as Cheers and Frasier, plus many others. But that's just the beginning of his amazing creative achievements. In this conversation, Ken explains how he worked hard to become a deejay, a talk host, a Major League Baseball play-by-play announcer, an author, and a cartoonist for the New Yorker.
As the late, great John Houseman surely would have said, "He earned it."
Follow Ken's podcast, Hollywood & Levine, and read his 16 years of wildly popular blog posts, by Ken Levine.
DAVE GROSBY is a sports radio legend and my dearest friend in the business. We met 40 years ago in Sacramento and haven't stopped laughing since. The line that best sums up our friendship came from the Groz one night when we were both young and single, bellied up to the bar at Sacramento's Maple Room. The drinks were flowing and so were our tears of laughter. At one point, while catching our breath, he managed to gasp, "God, if only one of us was a woman!"
And we laughed again.
I'm in Dallas now and he's been in Seattle forever, but together or apart we will always be Morningman & The Groz.
Renowned political scientist ALLAN SAXE has been informing and expanding young minds for nearly 60 years. His lessons are built upon a foundation of bedrock American history. Now, like many Americans these days, he's losing hope that our democracy can survive what he sees as a relentless attack on freedom and decency. America, he says, has lost its way
In 2009 the city of Oakland, California, sent WALTER HOYE to jail for standing quietly outside an abortion clinic holding a sign that read, “Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help.” Investigative journalist Robert Artigo wrote Walter's story, Black and Pro-Life in America. It's a shocking indictment of the for-profit abortion industry and its supporters in City Hall.I talked with both of them just three days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Here's our conversation
ANITA FAYE GARNER grew up a gospel gypsy, traveling across the South with her Pentecostal preacher father, Brother Ray Jones, her famous singer-songwriting mother, Fern Jones, and her reluctant brother, Leslie Ray. Here, she tells their story and shares Fern’s original songs that changed the direction of American music.
To learn more about Anita's wonderful book, The Glory Road, visit her website: https://www.anitagarner.com/
TOMMY JOHN is a baseball legend. He was a four-time Major League All-Star and has the third-most wins (288) of any pitcher since 1900 not in the Hall of Fame. Ironically, that may be due to the fact that he is world-famous for the elbow surgery named for him that rescued his career.
He has nothing to do with the underwear company of the same name and says he won't watch major league baseball these days.
Tommy is a motivational speaker now. He lives happily in Florida with his devoted wife, Cheryl.
I asked KENNY LEE LEWIS how he got so damned good. He told me, "It's a gift". And, he continued, "It's what we in the industry call 'the curse'." Explanation straight ahead.
For 40 years he has played lead and bass while singing, writing, and producing for the legendary Steve Miller Band. Along the way, Kenny Lee has collaborated and performed with Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Money, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, Peter Frampton, Boz Scaggs, Brian Wilson, Steve Stills, and many, many others.
Kenny is a family man and an avid fly fisherman. He speaks of the Bible and of the paranormal; he's written a novel steeped in both.
He is a fountain of great tales.
The dude is cool as they come.
BOB SHERWOOD owns a distinctive voice, delightful wit, and the capital city of California. Sacramento still remembers Bob and his all-star lineup of deejays at top-40 powerhouse KROY. As an executive with Columbia Records he guided and occasionally battled some of the biggest stars in the business.
JOHN LEVEY has four primetime Emmy awards for casting major TV hits The West Wing, and E.R. The actors he cast in those two shows have more than 50. He was also Casting Director for Third Watch, China Beach, Southland, Torchwood, Animal Kingdom, SEAL Team, Shameless... The list goes on for decades. John loves his career and has written about it in a new book, RIGHT FOR THE ROLE, available soon.
Singer/songwriter, JD HINTON has composed songs and music for Hollywood films including Gloria, Tik Tok, and Mark Medoff’s film, Children on Their Birthdays, which features his song, I Have to Dream, sung by Celine Dion.
JD takes his original music into Los Angeles and New York clubs for sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall, Vitello’s, Rockwell, House of Blues, and the Viper Room.
A personal highlight was singing at the Vatican for the Pope.
As heartfelt as the late, great Hank Williams, Hinton’s music has been compared to everyone from Leonard Cohen to Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson.
Before his music work began, JD was the midnight to dawn disc jockey on a highly rated R&B radio station that kept L.A. dancing the night away. Hinton began using improvisational skills he developed as a disc jockey to land acting roles in television and films. His name continually popped up starring on TV shows like “Dynasty”, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”, “Mork and Mindy”, and recently in the hit show “Jane the Virgin” for CBS. Look for him soon in Reese Witherspoon’s new project “The Morning Show” for AppleTV.
JD Hinton never met a stranger and thinks any day is a good day for chili.
His original music is available everywhere Learn more here: http://jdhinton.com/
I found MARK CUBAN in the back of a town car with his son stalking lobster claws in New York City. We spent a lot of our recording time trying to fix a lousy connection. We finally did but it cut our planned conversation time in half. Still enjoyed it a lot. He's a good guy. Here's Mark talking about the crappy economy, the Mavs, and his new mission to disrupt the prescription drug industry by making prescriptions affordable without insurance.