Blank on Blank: Recent Episodes
Quoted Studios
George Michael in a never heard interview from the Joe Smith Collection at the Library of Congress. He talks about sexuality, Wham!, going solo, dreams, and playing in Communist the China. He was 23 at the time of the recording. Watch the animated version of this interview: blankonblank.org/george-michael
Alvin Toffler and Margaret Mead, an author and an anthropologist who endeavored to understand the impact of scientific invention. In this episode of our series, The Experimenters, we hear from two visionaries who believed that while we’ve started a technological revolution, we don’t quite know where it’s going to take us. But maybe most interesting of all […]
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Oliver Sacks, Jacques Cousteau, and George Washington Carver. Our podcast returns with lost interviews featuring this trio on self, sight, and deep-sea diving. The three icons had the imaginations and daring to go where none had gone before. They overcame indifference and bigotry, exploring the darkest depths of the ocean, and even challenging their own deepest assumptions. These […]
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“The evolutionary record is clear that extraterrestrials would be very different from us” – Carl Sagan in 1985, as told to Studs Terkel. The incomprehensible vastness of the universe, the wonder of our own place in it all… Carl Sagan was able to explain the science of space in a way everyone could understand. As part of […]
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“I have to make my life worth saving, and each day you spend as if it would be your last” – Dame Steve Shirley in 2010 Dame Stephanie Shirley might be the most successful tech entrepreneur you have never heard of. In the early 1960s, Shirley started a barrier-breaking, all-woman software company that would eventually be valued at $3 billion. From […]
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“Everything in my mind works like a search engine set for the image function.” – Temple Grandin in 2008 This rarely heard oral history with the autism activist, author, and professor of animal science, was uncovered at Colorado State University. In this conversation, Temple Grandin is at her best, explaining for the rest of us what it’s […]
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"Everything in my mind works like a search engine set for the image function." - Temple Grandin in an oral history recorded in 2008
Watch the animated version of this episode: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/temple-grandin-visualizing-autism-aspergers-cattle-nerds/
"Any man who really has faith in himself will be dubbed arrogant by his fellows" - Frank Lloyd Wright as told to Mike Wallace in 1957
Watch the animated version on this episode: blankonblank.org/frank-lloyd-wright
“Any man who really has faith in himself will be dubbed arrogant by his fellows” – Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957, as told to Mike Wallace Architect Frank Lloyd Wright did something new when he made buildings that somehow became one with the landscape. Long, low lines, and interiors that brought the light and space […]
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“I wish that there had been another woman on my flight. I think it would have been a lot easier.” – Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, shortly after her historic launch in 1983. Interviewed by Gloria Steinem. At the time of this interview, as far as the public – and it turns out […]
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“My family was shocked when I came home with a volume of Hemingway … There was a price to be paid for being interested in fiction.” – Garrison Keillor in 1994 In this new episode we have a conversation with a true storyteller, the humorist, Garrison Keillor. This interview was recorded in front a live […]
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“It’s a good time for black people to be alive. It’s a lot of hell. A lot of violence, but I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I’ve dreamed.” – Nina Simone in 1968, from a rare interview that’s never been heard before. […]
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"I‘m a coward, I didn’t want to die." – Patty Hearst in the 1982 during the first interview she gave after getting out of prison. Hearst been convicted of bank robbery after joining forces with the SLA--the very same group that kidnapped her in 1974.
Watch the animated version of this episode from our series with PBS Digital Studios: blankonblank.org/patty-hearst
“Nothing means anything — except the artist makes his living by pretending, by putting it in a meaningful hole, though no such holes exist.” – Kurt Vonnegut in 1970 Kurt Vonnegut walked into a class room at NYU in November 1970. He was a guest speaker that day. He’d prepared some handwritten notes on what he […]
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"Nothing means anything" – Kurt Vonnegut on November 8, 1970 in a class at New York University. Excerpted from the Pacifica Radio Archives
Watch the animated version of this episode from our series with PBS Digital Studios: blankonblank.org/kurt-vonnegut
"I was always laughing in church" – As told to Chris Roberts in September 1988, from Rock’s Backpages
Watch the animated version of this episode from our series with PBS Digital Studios: blankonblank.org/tom-waits
“I‘m just an obnoxious guy who can make it appear charming, that’s what they pay me to do.” – Bill Murray in 1988 as told to T.J. English This previously unheard interview was recorded at Bill Murray’s house in New Jersey. T.J. was writing a profile for Irish America magazine. Bill’s dog was there and had […]
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“I‘m a coward, I didn’t want to die” – Patty Hearst in 1982, as told to Larry Grobel. Larry Grobel told us the story about a time back in the early 80s when he borrowed a swimsuit at the Playboy mansion. It seems that back then, Hugh Hefner kept spare trunks at the ready whenever his guests […]
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“I don’t know what the ‘big time’ is” – Tom Waits in 1988 as told to Chris Roberts Imagine what would happen if you sat down on a couch next to Tom Waits? Here’s the tape. Watch the animated version of this episode from our series with PBS Digital Studios: blankonblank.org/tom-waits
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“I keep my mouth shut now. I’ve turned into a professional coward.” – Hunter S. Thompson in 1967 with Studs Terkel. The interview was recorded shortly after the release of Thompson’s book, Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. He spent more than a year living, drinking and riding with the Hells Angels up and down the […]
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“I carried a knife taped to my leg. I never used it but it was there.” – Dustin Hoffman in 1971. Listening to this interview tape from the Pacifica Radio Archives, we were drawn to this idea of the struggles that pop up between different generations and the internal questions one confronts as he or […]
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"I have no faith at all. I only hold convictions." - Ayn Rand from her 1959 conversation with Mike Wallace.
More from the interview and the animated version of this episode from our PBS series: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/ayn-rand-love-marriage-religion-faith-business/
“I was young for my age. Not as naïve as they expected. I don't know why I seem to bring that out in people.“
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“If you have to ask yourself whether or not you love a girl or you love a boy, forget it. You don't.”
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“Mama just always said, 'you be what you are and you don’t have to worry about nothing.'”
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"The key was somehow to know what was important because I can’t learn everything."
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"I must reorganize the environment of man by which then greater numbers of men can prosper" - Buckminster Fuller as told to Studs Terkel The Experimenters series: Icons of science, innovation and technology on what spurred their creativity. The Experimenters is made possible by Squarespace: Build a beautiful website for your idea. Get a free trial and 10% off your first purchase: squarespace.com/blankonblank
More Bucky magic here -- >> http://blankonblank.org/interviews/buckminster-fuller-geodesic-dymaxion/
"I WRITE A SONG CALLED ‘HEROIN’, YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT I MURDERED THE POPE OR SOMETHING" - Lou Reed, as told to Joe Smith in 1987. Watch the animated version from our PBS series: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/lou-reed-guns-ammo-the-velvet-underground/
“I write a song called 'Heroin', you would have thought that I murdered the Pope”
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“A lot of people are kind of depressed. I'm happy some of the time, and some of the time I'm not.”
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“Comedy is there to show us we fart, we laugh, to make us realize we still are part animal.”
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“I‘m pouring my guts out so they can feel like your guts at the same time.”
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“Anyone that dares begrudge what I have today, just better get off their duff.”
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“I think men have got to change an awful lot. They still prefer the little woman.”
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"MY SINGING… I’LL JUST SAY IT SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE: IT’S JUST GODLY." MJ in 1980. He required the interviewer, John Pidgeon, to first ask his questions to 13-year old Janet Jackson who then relayed them to Michael before he would respond.
Watch the animated version from our PBS series here: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/michael-jackson-godliness/
“The thing that was relentless for me was how you look... It just drove me crazy.”
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"I love to see people being dangerous” - David Bowie
From an interview recorded in 1988
Watch the animated version of this episode: blankonblank.org/interviews/david-bowie-ziggy-stardust/
"If it’s wearing a pink hat and a red nose, and it plays a guitar upside down, I will go and look at it."
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“When you please your mother, it gives you confidence you can please other people”
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“I’ve done some dastardly things but what can I do except make amends and apologize?”
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“When things get too heavy just call me helium--the lightest known gas to man.”
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“There is the fear you somehow neglected to say what was really yours to say.”
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“I feel like a tragic hero in a Shakespeare play.”
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“The President turned to me and asked: ‘Is that a Givenchy you‘re wearing?‘”
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“When we fell in with the acid tests we a started having the most fun we had ever had.”
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"I even thought that I was gay. I thought that might be the solution to my problem." - Kurt Cobain
Interview by Jon Savage July 22, 1993 Cassette tape
Profile appeared in The Observer Hear the full interview at http://RocksBackpages.com
Watch this episode as part of our animation series with PBS -->> http://blankonblank.org/interviews/kurt-cobain-on-identity/
“I even thought that I was gay. I thought that might be the solution to my problem.”
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“If somebody don’t like something that I do, that’s his or her prerogative. Just like it’s mine.”
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"In my insides, it really hurts if someone doesn't like me. It's silly." - Janis Joplin
Interview by Howard Smith September 30, 1970. By phone TheSmithTapes.com
Watch this episode as part of our animation series with PBS -->> http://blankonblank.org/interviews/janis-joplin-on-rejection/
“In my insides, it really hurts if someone doesn't like me. It's silly.”
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"If this Revolution falls, what we will have here in Cuba is a hell. Hell itself." - Fidel Castro.
In 1959 an editor for U.S. News and World Report interviewed Fidel Castro weeks after the fall of Batista. No one has heard the tape. Until now.
Hear the story behind the interview and why Castro said he wasn't a communist and why it was a problem when American sailors went looking for entertainment in Guantanamo.
Watch the animated version of this episode from our PBS Series youtube.com/blankonblank
The full, unedited, 35-minute interview is available here: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/fidel-castro-1959-lost-interview/
“If this revolution falls, what we will have here in Cuba is a hell. Hell itself.”
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“I’ve got on these stiletto heels aimed for his face.”
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"You've got to be good or as bad as the devil. ... Even if we had two, three days off I still had to blow that horn a few hours to keep up the chops." - Louis Armstrong
"Pops" interviewed by two teenagers in 1964 @ Ravinia outside Chicago
Watch the animated version of this episode from our PBS Series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNRy1To5vg
“How do you prevent being eaten or mauled by a monster? I still worry about it.”
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“Black is not a color; it’s an attitude. It’s the attitude of independence, respect and dignity.”
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"Black is not a color; it’s an attitude." - James Brown. 1984.
Interview by Rocci Fisch. Cassette Tape.
Watch the animated version of this Blank on Blank in our new series with PBS: youtube.com/blankonblank
“A lot of ladies found me so attractive because I was different, and I acted on that.”
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“The night I went to the lady’s house. I mean, I mean, I was petrified.”
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"I looked in the mirror the other day and I said: My God, what happened to that handsome young man? Who is this grizzled b-a-s-t-a-r-d staring at me?" - Sam Pickering. The UConn professor who inspired Robin Williams character in "Dead Poets Society"
- Interview by John Dankosky | studio recording in September 2012
- Hear the entire conversation from WNPR's Where We Live
- Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Amy Drozdowska
"You’re in your birthday suit up there. People can see clean through you. And your music, your actions and the vibes you bring forth to the audience come out. You cannot hide that. " - Art Blakey
- Interview by Ben Sidran in 1982
- Originally aired on NPR’s Jazz Alive
- Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Amy Drozdowska
"People would come and defecate on the floor of the dressing room. So I just thought that was his Gap, but I came to find out that it happens in all stores across America." - David Sedaris
Interviewed by Gabe Bullard in June 2009 Related piece aired on WFPL - Louisville
Discover more lost interviews @
"So I bought the postcard, memorized it and sent it off to a friend. And I never thought about God again after that." - Brian Selznick
Interview by Joe Fassler in 2012 | by phone | digital recorder Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Amy Drozdowska | Slideshow: Libby Walker
Watch the interview slideshow and hear more lost interviews @ blankonblank.org
"The truth is I'm not very good at compromising." - George Clooney Rough cut from interview by Ginanne Brownell Related Q & A appeared in Newsweek 2007 Microcassette recorder
Blank on Blank Voices: Tony Bennett, Thom Yorke, Tim Gunn, Dwyane Wade, Elle Parrino, Andre Agassi
"I have been challenged to fight for saying 'can't we all get along.' I’ve had people say I want to kick your ass for saying that." - Rodney King
April 16, 2012 — weeks before he died // By Phone, King at home in Southern California // Digital recorder
Related article appeared in the Philadelphia Tribune
Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Amy Drozdowska
More info and more lost interviews @ blankonblank.org
In 1966, a persistent 17-year-old with a high school radio show near Chicago got the interview of lifetime: Muhammad Ali. But only a handful of people ever got to hear this time capsule. Until now.
Ali epically riffs about fighting on Mars, traveling through time, and explaining why big talk and boasting got him a shot at a title fight faster than other challengers. “Some of them thought I was crazy,” Ali said. “They were frightened of me.”
Watch the animated version of the interview @ blankonblank.org
Interview by Michael Aisner // Muhammad Ali Fan Club, Chicago 1966 // reel-to-reel tape recorder
Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producers: Sky Dylan-Robbins & Amy Drozdowska
"It’s easier to deal with a woman who is compliant and sweet and sunny and nice and non-confrontational."
Interview by Jason Feifer // NYC hotel in 2011 // digital recorder
Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Amy Drozdowska
Find the transcript and more lost interviews @ http://blankonblank.org/interviews/amber-heard-on-not-sitting-pretty-and-shutting-up/
"What better way to mask who you really are than wearing a mullet, right?" - Andre Agassi
Interview by James Sullivan // By phone in 2011 // Digital recorder // Related Q&A appeared in the Boston Globe
Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Amy Drozdowska
"We used to laugh behind Mick Jagger's back saying: 'Can you imagine Mick singing at 40?' And he's bloody nearly 70 and he's still going." - Photographer Terry O'Neill
Interview by Josh Baron, editor-in-chief @ Relix Magazine // via telephone in 2010 // digital recorder
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews @ http://blankonblank.org/interviews/terry-oneill-on-his-photos-of-the-stones-and-the-beatles/
"He dropped right by my feet. And what do you do in this situation? You make sure this person doesn’t get up. ... So I just started booting him in the head." - Mark Barry
Interview by Suhrith Parthasarathy // Mark Barry’s apartment in Queens // Digital recorder
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach // Producer: Amy Drozdowska
Read Suhrith’s profile of Mark Barry “Glory, Glory for a Man for United” @ The Classical sports website.
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews @ http://blankonblank.org/interviews/mark-barry-on-fighting-for-manchester-united/
"Whenever they (fans) tell me they make love to my music, I tell them to do one for me." - Tony Bennett
Interviewed by: Jeanne Wolf July 30, 1991 // Tony Bennett's Hollywood office // Cassette tape recorder
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach // Producer: Amy Drozdowska Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com Music Credits: Tony Bennett “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” | ”For Once In My Life” | ”(with Frank Sinatra) Lady is a Tramp” | “The Very Thought of You” | “Steppin’ Out”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews @ http://blankonblank.org/interviews/tony-bennett-on-making-love-to-music-shy-stars/
“I was really anorexic at the time. I looked like a walking skeleton...I looked kind of like E.T.” ~ Christina Ricci
Interviewed by: Thomas Beller Fall 1998 // NYC restaurant // Cassette tape recorder Thomas Beller’s profile of Christina Ricci, “Hello Nasty,” appeared in SPIN magazine
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Photo Credit: Entertainment Press // Shutterstock.com Music Credits: Beatconductor “Guarambembere” // Freddie Jackson “Easin’ On Down”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/christina-ricci-on-anorexia-incest-and-her-%E2%80%9967-ford/.
“The combination of the beauty marks and the ink on her body, I thought I could tattoo them onto me…I could take a mark from somebody else’s body and put it on my body and then I would remember. Then I started getting constellations.” ~artist Kiki Smith
Interviewed by: Tift Merrit, Grammy-nominated musician and host of The Spark The Scene: Kiki Smith’s kitchen in New York City Hear the full interview and more at http://www.marfaspark.com/.
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Amy Drozdowska Photo Credit: Music Credit: Tift Merritt
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/kiki-smith-on-tattoos-and-making-your-your-own-art/.
"You don’t have to swing just on the bandstand...The way you pick up your child and bounce him, I think everything can swing."
Interviewed by: Ben Sidran, author and musician NYC recording studio // 1980s Hear the full interview and listen to Sidran's conversations with more than 60 other jazz legends at bensidran.com.
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Amy Drozdowska Photo Credit: Music Credits: Lambert, Hendricks, Bavan “Cousin Mary” // Jon Hendricks and the Horace Silver Quintent “The Preacher” // Jon Hendricks “Gimme That Wine” // Jon Hendricks and friends (including his daughters) “Shiny Stockings” // Lambert, Hendricks, Ross “Untitled” // Dizzy Gillepsie & Jon Hendricks “Untitled”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/jon-hendricks-on-learning-how-to-communicate/.
"I design so many scenes, driving on the freeways, listening to music." ~ Martin Scorsese.
Interviewed by James Sullivan, author and Boston Globe Contributor October 8, 1999 // Microcassette recording of telephone call
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Dave McGuire Photo Credit: aspen rock // Shutterstock.com Music Credit: Lonnie Donegan “Lost John” // Przemyslaw Haluszczak “Tangos Rompeserones”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/martin-scorsese-on-soundtracks-in-movies-and-his-life/ .
"It surprised me when I saw [Fidel]’s not tall, but he came into the room and seemed bigger than life, because he’s got the uniform and that presence." ~ Bill Draper
Bill Draper is considered the godfather of venture capital and he’s one of the few patriarchs of a dynasty in Silicon Valley. After more than 20 years investing in technology, Draper was tapped for a big position at the United Nations, which brought him to Cuba and a dinner party with Fidel Castro.
Interviewed by: Danielle Sacks, senior editor at Fast Company magazine Winter 2012 // Draper's Silicon Valley office // Digital recorder
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Amy Drozdowska Photo Credit: Las Razones de Cuba via Flickr Music Credit: Ellen Allien ”Zauber” // Belle and Sebastian ”Consuelo” // Goran Bregovic ”Lullaby” // John Clarke “Revolution”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/bill-draper-on-his-20-bet-with-fidel-castro/.
"Oscar (the Grouch) was a harder one for me initially, because I had never did a big, rough, tough guy’s voice." ~ Caroll Spinney
In 2007, writer James Sullivan got to do something that millions of kids have dreamed about doing--he got to go to Sesame Street. And while he was there, James met the voice behind both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. It’s a guy named Caroll Spinney, and James profiled this puppeteer--who was approaching 80 years old--for a story he wrote in the Boston Globe. Here's Spinney on creating the voices for some of Sesame Street's most famous residents.
Interviewed by: James Sullivan, journalist and author 2007 // Sesame Street Studios// Digital recorder Visit JamesSullivanAuthor.com for more of Sullivan’s interviews
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Shawn Wen Music Credits: “Sesame Street” theme song // Jon Brion “Monday” Photo Credit: Marnie Joyce via Flickr
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at: http://blankonblank.org/interviews/carroll-spinney-on-creating-big-bird-and-oscar-the-grouch/.
"Funny things happen at funerals. Very funny, comical, human things. You may not laugh, but it’s all mixed up together." ~playwright Thomas Bradshaw
This Blank on Blank deals with a simple question about man’s ability to move on: is there a right way to deal with death and tragedy? Can you find laughs--or even love--at a funeral? Well, one man’s answers come to us from BOMB magazine in an interview by cultural critic Margo Jefferson. It’s with award-winning playwright Thomas Bradshaw. Here is Bradshaw's take on some of the eternal questions of life.
Interviewed by: Margo Jefferson, BOMB magazine Fall 2009 // Digital recorder Read Jefferson’s full interview with Bradshaw at http://bombsite.com/issues/109/articles/3329
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Shawn Wen Photo Credit: David Paul Morris
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/thomas-bradshaw-on-humor-at-funerals/.
"We played 12 concerts in Poland. Underground meetings and underground concerts...we didn’t understand how we could be that important. We had no clue that we were helping people break away from Communism." ~ jazz legend Dave Brubeck
Today we have an interview Brubeck gave on stage during the Litchfield Jazz Festival. He’s speaking with John Dankosky, the host of Where We Live, a show that airs on WNPR in Connecticut. It’s a remarkable story: Brubeck fighting communism with jazz. So here it is. Dave Brubeck remixed. This is Blank on Blank.
Interviewed by: John Dankosky, host of WNPR's "Where We Live" Fall 2008 // Live at the Litchfield Jazz Festival For more of John Dankosky’s interview with Dave Brubeck and other "Where We Live" broadcasts, visit WNPR.org.
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Amy Drozdowska Music Credit: Dave Brubeck live at the 2008 Litchfield Jazz Festival Photo Credit: "The Great Dave Brubeck" by CJ Peters via Flickr
See photos of Brubeck's early days, read the transcript, and discover more unheard interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/dave-brubeck-on-fighting-communism-with-jazz/.
"I’ve found out that the song started off as a union song in the 19th century." ~ Pete Seeger
Interview by Josh Baron, editor-in-chief of Relix magazine 2010, by phone, Seeger on his way to a performance
http://blankonblank.org/interviews/pete-seeger-on-we-shall-overcome/
"I can remember trying to impress my dad with my sense of humor. Sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing." ~Chris Elliott with his dad, Bob Elliott
What’s it like to grow up in a really funny family? Where it’s more than just hilarious road trips or nightly comedy routines around the dinner table? A family where your dad makes a living making people laugh. Does the comedic touch rub off? And can anyone get in the last laugh? Well, Jane Borden, a comedian herself, got an answer when she interviewed Bob and Chris Elliott. Bob’s the father and you may know him from the legendary live comedy duo of Bob and Ray. Chris is his youngest son who’s built his own successful comedy career on TV and in film. Here’s how Bob and Chris Elliott remember growing up in Manhattan.
Interview by Jane Borden, author and comedy editor for Time Out New York March 2008 // By phone, Chris Elliott driving and Bob Elliott at home // Cassette recorder The Related Article: Read it at TimeOutNewYork.com
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Music Credit: Vitamin String Quartet “Stand”
http://blankonblank.org/interviews/chris-elliott-and-his-dad-on-family-comedy/
"The bad things are going to pass, and the good things are going to pass. That's the beauty of life and living moment to moment, and I try to capture that essence in my work." ~playwright Thomas Bradshaw
This conversation deals with simple questions about man’s ability to move on: is there a right way to deal with death and tragedy? Can you find laughs or even love at a funeral? One man’s answers to come to us from Bomb Magazine and an interview by cultural critic Margo Jefferson with award-winning playwright Thomas Bradshaw.
Interviewed by Margo Jefferson, theatre critic and professor Read the full interview at BombSite.com
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Shawn Wen
"That bunny dressing room was a magical place. It had anything you needed from mascara to a shoulder to cry on." ~ Elle Parrino, former Playboy bunny
Back in the 1960s the Playboy clubs were hot. Hugh Hefner’s nightclubs in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles… all the big stars came out. The feminists hated the clubs. But the bunnies who waited tables in those custom-made, tight-fitting, satin get ups made a pretty good living. Elle Parrino says they were bringing in $500 a week, a huge sum back then. I wrote a profile on Elle for a weekly magazine in New York back in the early 2000s. She was approaching 60 at the time. Yet life, her life at the Playboy Club, was clearly still with her. So the story begins in 1965. Elle was almost 20 and she needed to find work. I taped conversation on one of those old school microcassette recorders. Enjoy the tape.
Interviewed by David Gerlach March 2003 // Upper West Side of Manhattan at Elle's Restaurant // Microcassette recorder Related profile originally appeared in “The L Magazine”
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Dave McGuire Music Credits: The Larry Page Orchestra “Zabadak” // Juan García Esquivel “Miniskirt” // Piero Piccioni “Isabel”
Watch the video version of this interview at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/the-bunny-mother-on-life-at-the-playboy-club/
"I do remember the image of him lying in his bed...Why was I able to get in there at the end of this life?" ~ dietitian Rona Steinberg on her encounter with Bob Marley
The year was 1981. It was springtime. Rona Steinberg was working at Cedars Medical Center. It’s down in Miami. That’s when Bob Marley, who had been battling cancer for a number of years, came in for treatment. Here’s what happened next.
Interviewed by David Gerlach March 23, 2011 // Recording of Skype call
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Producer: Dave McGuire Music Credits: Bob Marley and the Wailers “Dreamland”
Read the transcript and discover more unheard interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interview-category/bob-marleys-dietitian/
"I am afraid of crowds of people. Performing on stage is the way I feel I can relate to other human beings the best." ~ performance artist Cynthia Hopkins
In this interview, we have performer and musician Cynthia Hopkins interviewed by Annie-B Parson, the artistic director for Big Dance Theater. The interview answers a simple, yet tough dilemma: How do you reconcile being downright scared of people and crowds if you’re always on stage?
Interviewed by Annie-B Parson, artistic director of Big Dance Theater Around a kitchen table for breakfast Read the entire interview at BombSite.com
Host & Executive Producer: David Gerlach Music credit: Blossom Dearie “Life Upon The Wicked Stage”
Read the transcript and discover more lost interviews at http://blankonblank.org/interviews/cynthia-hopkins-on-fearing-people-and-her-crowds/.