Friends & Neighbors: Recent Episodes
Wagner Bros.
Join the award-winning filmmakers of ”Mister Rogers & Me” as they explore how their friends and neighbors are cultivating depth and simplicity in their own complex lives.
In this rebroadcast of "Better Humans" Author Janeane Bernstein's KUCI-FM radio show, "Get The Funk Out," we share our experiences with mental health, and discuss the imperative of supportive relationships and meaningful community, the path toward wellness – and what it all looks like in the real world.
When the high school I graduated from asked me to speak with students and parents, I decided to go for broke. I addressed the artificiality of contemporary Western culture. And I bookend the speech with a radical piece of audience participation. What happened next may surprise you.
As I fly to Des Moines to screen my new film this week, I revisit my interview with singer/songwriter, music therapist, trauma counselor, and "Friends & Neighbors" helper, Kelli Rae Powell, two years later.
In this live episode recorded after the premiere of "Friends & Neighbors," Opera Delaware's Kerriann Otaño moderates Q&A with director Benjamin Wagner, plus "helpers" Alonna Berry, Logan Herring, Sarah McBride, Lauren Scott, and Matthew Tousignant. Together, the panel digs deeper into the root causes of and potential solutions to our current mental health epidemic. Watch Friends & Neighbors through May 31 at www.friendsandneighbors.mov.
She rehearsed with Pearl Jam, flew private with Korn, sparred with J Lo, and fled the out-of-control, nu-metal-fueled arson of Woodstock ‘99. We talk mic flags, mult boxes, and pd-150s; junkets, red carpets, and festivals; plus Chris, Kurt, and Tabitha. We dodge stereotypes in the studio with Raekwan, and rubber bullets at the RNC with Rage Against The Machine. Keep your hands on the wheel, and your eyes on the 605, this is Liane Su.
One-Time VP & EP of MTV News, and The All-Time King of VO, Jim Fraenkel, takes us from the driver’s seat of his Picasso Pizza delivery days and his stint at the legendary Geffen Record (where he was nearly cast in Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video), to his nearly two-decade run at MTV News. We’ll travel with Jim from interviewing NSYNC in Orland, Florida, to covering Matthew Shepard’s murder in Laramie, Wyoming, and get lost in Harlem at 3am with a very-pregnant Sandra Bernhard. We’ll listen to R.E.M. rehearse, watch Kurt and Courtney cuddle, and feel all the feels at a private dinner with His Royal Badness.
Music and Fashion Writer and Editor turned Rupaul co-star, Merle Ginsberg, talks about sharing a scene with Laurie Anderson, Twyla Tharp, and Eric Bogosian, catching The Clash, Television, and Glenn Branca at Danceteria, Mudd Club, and The Ritz, and parlaying Downtown Avant-garde Art into Midtown Corporate Music Media Business at a then-nascent MTV.
Legendary MTV News Senior Writer, Rhonda Markowitz, takes us on a wild, star-studded, forgotten New York ride from Bayside, Queens (alongside her childhood friend, a certain Loser’s mom, Bibbe Hanson) to her first concert (yup, The Beatles at Shea Stadium) to her stints at A&M and Polygram Records, and, eventually, the MTV newsroom. We’ll hear about befriending INXS’ Michael Hutchence, Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett, and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe; and tag along at the Concert for Bangladesh, MUSE's “No Nukes” benefits, and Live AID. And Rhonda walks us step-by-step through her reportage of Kurt Cobain’s final days.
This week, onetime MTV News intern-turned-senior producer Darin Byrne takes us into the studio with Beyonce, on-tour with WuTang Clan, on-stage with Biohazard, backstage with Matchbox 20, and on-set at 1515 Broadway. He talks about sharing an office with Sway, the impact of digital video on the newsroom, and a certain 2002 quadruple-bill at CBGBs, Newsapalooza.
This week, an MTV News Legend behind iconic shows like The Week In Rock, The Big Picture and House of Style, prosocial coverage like Choose or Lose, and fundamentals like the news cube, on-air graphics, and one-sheet, former Senior Vice President of MTV News & Specials, Linda Corradina. From the Rock & Wrestling Connection with Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou and shoots with Hall & Oates, R.E.M., The Replacements, and David Bowie, to the Moscow Music & Peace Festival to Kurt Loder’s audition, this is origin story stuff from a true original.
Buckle up, Dear Listener, as Writer, Producer, Director, Showrunner, and one-time MTV News Senior Writer Corey Moss regales us with tales of interviewing rock icons Green Day, The Pixies, and Weezer. He takes us to Neverland Ranch sans Michael Jackson, onto the set of the Dukes of Hazzard with Jessica Simpson, and in the studio with the former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline. And he tells us what it was like to be holding the mic for one of Kanye’s most well-documented rants.
Correspondent Kim Stolz takes us on her unexpected journey from studying foreign policy to becoming a contestant on America’s Top Model and, eventually, landing her gig at MTV News. She talks about spending a day on-camera with a very young Taylor Swift, making trouble with Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson at the height of their “Twilight” heyday, and sitting down with Rihanna, Obama, and her lifelong dream interview, Stevie Nicks.
In the '90s and early aughts, Matt Anderson parlayed an MTV News internship into a role as Supervising Producer, and eventually, Executive Producer of Series & Development. This week, Matt talks about producing Week in Rock & House of Style, meeting Madonna and Whitney, shopping with Cindy and Sheryl, and what it was like on set when Tabitha Soren famously went toe-to-toe with Mariah’s publicist.
As an MTV News Correspondent from 2001-2010, SuChin Pak interviewed everyone from Mariah Carey to Mary J. Blige, helmed daily news on TRL and ten to the hour, hosted Video Music and Movie Award Pre-Shows, and her docuseries, My Life (Translated). This week, SuChin shares her journey from a born-again Baptist household to anchoring the VMAs alongside Kurt and Sway, covering 9/11, and interviewing her hero, Gwen Stefani. And she opens up about the challenges of live television, and witnessing some of the century's most significant stories.
Onetime Supervising Producer and West Coast Bureau Lead Shari Scorca remembers going on tour with 50 Cent; speeding through Yonkers with Jadakiss; and catching an impromptu, unplugged performance from Thom Yorke and David Crosby. She talks about covering the Michael Jackson trial with John Norris and floor producing the VMAs with Kurt Loder, plus backstage moments with Madonna, Bono, Dave Grohl, and more.
MTV News Assignment Editor, Nina Justman, recalls her early days at a fledgling MTV News; meeting her teenage dream, David Cassidy; escorting NSYNC to the Rockefeller Center tree lighting; partying with Elton John; dinner with George Michael; championing an underappreciated Dave Matthews; that time ODB swiped her all-access pass; plus red carpet moments Madonna and Britney, Mick Jagger, and more.
Before he launched The Daily Show, Chappelle’s Show and South Park, and before her oversaw MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central simultaneously, Doug Herzog was MTV’s first News Director. This week, the Broadcasting & Cable Hall Of Famer shares stories about almost turning down the offer from MTV co-founders, John Sykes and Bob Pittman; branding ten-to-the-hour-every-hour news briefs; hiring Kurt Loder; launching the Week in Rock; and generally transforming the fledgling network's news operation from VJ-hosted rip and reads to prime time, enterprise journalism. Along the way, Doug recalls bum-rushing Lionel Ritchie at Live Aid, office visits from the then-teenage Beastie Boys, and an unforgettable photo op with Bruce Springsteen.
Longtime MTV News Editorial Director Michael Shore shares stories about the days Kurt Cobain died and Courtney Love crashed Madonna’s VMA pre-show; Tabitha Soren’s Choose or Lose audition; office visits from Axl Rose and Jay-Zl; interviewing heroes Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, and Miles Davis; Live Aid, Woodstock; and much more.
These days, Elon Johnson leads development for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. But in 1999, Elon was one of a handful of MTV News Writers tasked with writing and producing daily news briefs and packages. This week, Elon breaks down day-to-day operations in the MTV Newsroom and recalls bumping into Busta Rhymes, getting tight with Christina Aguilera, championing Alicia Keys, and fanning out on Cyndi Lauper.
As Senior Hip-Hop Editor, Rob Markman led some of the cultures' most vital conversations, from MTV News' weekly RapFix Live show, to the most debated list in all of music, Hottest MCs. This week, Rob traces his journey from Flatbush, Brooklyn, to a Queens mailroom, all the way to MTV's Times Square Studios, and drops gems on Drake's beef, Kayne's TV, Killer Mike's mad props, Pusha T's career advice, and much much more.
For over a decade, Josh Horowitz has been foisting the MTV mic flag into movie stars' faces, asking questions sacred and profane, substantive and sometimes just plain silly. On this week's star-studded episode, Josh regales us with his MTV News origin story, plus hilarious tales about hanging out with Meryl Streep, dishing with Leonardo DiCaprio, vacationing with Jason Bateman, rubbing knees with John Travolta, yelling at Chris Pratt, and much, much more.
For nearly a decade in the early aughts, On-Air Correspondent Christina Garibaldi lived her teenage dream, hosting numerous Video Music and Movie Awards Pre-Shows and interviewing everyone from Britney and Selena to Backstreet and ‘NSYNC, and more. This week, Christina takes us behind the scenes the day Michael Jackson died and the night Kanye nabbed Taylor's Moonman. She remembers Backstreet's big kiss, Arianna's off-camera tears, Avril's cold pricklies, and dealing with very, um, distracted Justin Bieber.
Ryan Kroft recounts his remarkable rise from Intern to Senior Vice President of Specials & Events across MTV, VH1 & Logo in which he did it all, from Executive Producing dozens of Video Music and Movie Awards Pre-Shows, to live coverage of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston’s deaths, to shows like “A Conversation With President Obama,” “When I Was 17,” “Detox with Jim Cantiello” and “MTV First.”
For a hot minute there in the late 90s, Robert Mancini and I were the first two staffers into the MTV News offices every morning. Robert wrote years of daily news articles, on-air briefs, and VMA pre-shows and specials, and ultimately oversaw daily news across all media. Here, Mancini plays straight man to Diamond David Lee Roth, talks golf with Pantera's Vinnie Paul, gets a private show from Pink Floyd, plus more hilarity featuring Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, and Chewbacca.
As a writer, reporter, and producer for "The Week in Rock" and a wide range of documentaries including "Gangsta Rap: An MTV News Special Report," Abbie Kearse sat down with some of rock and hip-hop’s biggest legends and tackled some of the most important social issues of the day. This week, Abbie recounts interviewing a sleepy Joe Perry, tracking down an errant Rakim, covering Snoop and Tupac’s respective trials, hanging with Kurt Loder and Mick Jagger – and you won’t believe who turns up to perform at one of MTV’s infamous company parties.
Few MTV News staffers had a run like Michael Alex. From producing "The Week in Rock" and "Choose or Loose," to launching MTV News Dot Com, Michael did it all. Buckle up and ride shotgun with Michael and Paul McCartney, Kieth Richards, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Sinéad O'Connor, Bootsy Collins, and many, many more.
In his more than two-decade tenure, MTV News Correspondent John Norris interviewed everyone from Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to U.S. Senator John McCain and Vice President Al Gore. In this broad, deep, and thoughtful conversation with the self-described "retrophobe," we trace the arc of his career, hitting the club with Madonna, going to court with Michael Jackson, walking the VMA Red Carpet with Green Day, and much, much more.
The journalist and author dives deep into his New York Times Best Seller, “Look For Me There,” in which he recounts a journey that began a few months of travel to decompress, and became a three-year, six-continent odyssey to discover the world, process his grief, and find himself.
As Founder and Co-Director of Headlines Network, Hannah Storm is at the forefront of creating connections and driving conversations toward improving journalists’ mental health. From her home north of London Hannah discusses her early career at BBC, Reuters and Channel 4, her experience with journalism safety and wellness, and her own healing journey.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Coach, Community Builder and CoMuse CEO, LJ Malberg and I go deep on cultivating compassion, finding connection, getting uncomfortable, and letting go.
Delaware First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney and Trauma Matters Delaware Chairperson Dr. Julius Mullen discuss their pioneering work in recognizing and responding to childhood trauma.
Singer/songwriter and alt-rock frontman John Faye’s “The Yin and the Yang of It All: Rock’n’Roll Memories from the Cusp,” takes us for a ride into the belly of a dream. In the new memoir, Faye beautifully renders his healing journey from an alienated and grief-stricken teen and major label frontman to a fiftysomething father, mentor and champion of the middle-class musician.
In which I find out how my long-time music marketing and singer/songwriter friend made a mid-life pivot to become a psychotherapist -- and how the 80s band Styx and Broadway musical, Annie, bind us.
A week after I dashed off the demo, bandleader Will McFarlane, asked, “Should we go full Otis on this one?” Otis Redding recorded his posthumous hit, “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” in that very room on those very keyboards just months before dying in a plane crash. "Absolutely," I responded. The story behind Constellations' fifth and final song and Kyiv-penned music video, this week on Friends & Neighbors.
Prior to becoming CEO of Center for Public Integrity, Paul Cheung put in three decades at America's most prestigious journalism institutions including The Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Associated Press, and the Knight Foundation. This week, Paul travels back to his childhood in Hong Kong and immigration to Manhattan's Lower East Side, adolescence in suburban New Jersey, and storied career at the intersection of journalism, technology and social justice.
In this audio companion to my recently premiered documentary short, I trace my road trip from Memphis to Muscle Shoals writing and recording my tenth album, "Constellations," and reveal how a Texan waitress, Mexican tailor, and Tupelo pop icon's secrets helped inspire my path towards recovery.
For more than a decade, David Smydra has been at the forefront of assuring that tech platforms deliver personalized, high quality news by leading “humans in the loop,” journalists who bridge the gaps between editorial quality, product and audience development, and algorithmic design. This week, the former Google and Twitter curation lead and Online News Organization Board President shares his journey from Detroit to Palo Alto and Back East, as well as his firsthand experience of what it was like when when Elon Musk showed up at his place of now former employ.
It has been an outstanding and occasionally excruciating year. Through it all, I’ve found hope and healing in the shared wisdom of my friends and neighbors. This week, we listen back to some of those insights, inspirations and lessons learned from Senator Sarah McBride, Author Tim Madigan, Music Therapist Kelli Rae Powell and more.
Ironically, perhaps, I don’t remember writing I Remember Everything, the penultimate track on my new album, Constellations. What began as another in a long list of "disaster song" evolved into something noticeably different, deeply instructive and profoundly transformative.
Cellist Patrick Riley has performed string arrangements on albums by Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, and The Envy Corps, played live alongside The Eagles and Father John Misty, scored big-time Hollywood films – and graced every one of my albums since 2010’s “Forever Young.”
In the 90s, the CDC made the correlation between adverse childhood experiences like divorce, violence, substance abuse and mental illness and adult outcomes like anxiety, depression, addiction and many of the leading causes of death. It’s just that, well, no one told most of us.
When what I thought was anxiety and depression was diagnosed as PTSD last fall, I suddenly saw trauma and its impact all around. Since April, I've been quietly crisscrossing the country, examining the roots of my own trauma, and the traumas that affect us all. I’ve been seeking insights, solutions, and strategies to help heal the anxious and uncertain communities around us. And now, I’m seeking your help.
As outgoing CEO of the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, Online News Association, Irving Washington has led programming and fundraising initiatives for journalists, media professionals, and students worldwide. This week, in the fourth of a series of Media Transformation Challenge-sponsored episodes, MTC Journeys, Irving shares how MTC helped accelerate the organization's transformation, and how a childhood passion for re-creating mainstream media through the lens of representation connects his career of service at RTDNA, NABJ and ONA.
Whether as a touring guitarist for the avant-garde rockers, Psychic TV, or producer for artists like Boy George, Lenny Kaye, and Pharoahe Monch, Jeff Berner makes a safe, creative space for those around him to make great art. This week, we trace Jeff’s life from first falling for “Sunshine of Your Love,” to building his studio career, performing in Russia with punk legend Genesis P-Orridge – and producing, performing on and brilliantly wedging an electric bouzouki into my new album, Constellations.
The fourth single, final track and thesis statement of my new album, Constellations, began as an expression of darkness and sadness but with time and telling, transformed into something altogether different.
Philly singer/songwriter Lily McKown & Wilmington psyche rocker, Hayden Chance (a/k/a Chvnce) have both graduated to national stages but are close enough to rock 'n roll's rickety attics and ratty basements to remember the stale smell of beer and sharp shock of an ungrounded microphone. This week, we discuss early influences, song craft and what it feels like to finally arrive.
From a chance meeting with Nashville waitress with a profoundly personal and deeply universal story to a lushly realized FAME Studios recording, then Brooklyn-mixed and mastered masterpiece, this is the story of one song's journey to your ears.
When the Associated Press’ Noreen Gillespie walked through doors of the Media Transformation Challenge at Poynter Institute in 2019, she was tasked with evolving the AP domestic news operations amidst a rapidly changing ecosystem. Three years later, the AP’s approach to U.S. news is wholly transformed, and Noreen’s applying everything she learned to coverage of the rest of the planet.
Sound Mind Live Executive Director Chris Bullard talks about growing up in L.A., sharing a mic with Kris Kristofferson, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and his mission to end the stigma that surrounds mental health through the power of music.
We all have secrets, truths that gnaw at us, crush our spirit, and kill us from the inside out. The second single from my forthcoming album, Constellations, is that moment of realization and transformation made manifest. On this week's episode, I share the journey of writing and recording of "The Secret Song," from inception to release, and explore how it came to help me, as Fred Rogers often said, “make the mentionable manageable.”
As Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Alberto Mendoza transformed the organization's mission while driving record-breaking membership. Now the Managing Director for the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University, Alberto shares his path from high school journalist to non-profit entrepreneur in the second in our MTC Journeys series sponsored by the Media Transformation Challenge at the Poynter Institute. Alberto goes deep into how personal and professional experiences informed the launch of Palabra, an innovative media platform designed to represent and advocate for NAHJ journalists and the communities they cover, and how his MTC fellowship helped catalyze its success.
Last August, armed with a dozen new demos, I set out for FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to begin recording my forthcoming LP, Constellations. The album, my tenth, drops October 14th. This week, the journey from iPhone demo to mastered album track for the first single, Wide Awake.
Since 1973, Bo and Sita Lozoff’s Human Kindness Foundation has given talks and distributed countless copies of their spiritual guidance to the incarcerated across America in order to encourage more kindness, simple living and service in the world. Fred Rogers was a fan, purchasing copies of books like "Deep & Simple" (the key message in Mister Rogers & Me) by the box load. As the organization approaches its fiftieth year, newly-appointed Executive Director, Erin Parish, shares her vision for the next fifty.
As Assistant Managing editor for International at The New York Times, Michael Slackman oversees international reportage across the newsroom and bureaus around the world. This week, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner talks about growing up in the Bronx, getting shot at in Bahrain, defying Gaddafi in Libya, and learning life lessons from a gold-toothed Muscovite.
In the first in a series of episodes sponsored by the Media Transformation Challenge at the Poynter Institute, newly-installed Freakonomics Radio Network's Executive Vice President Neal Carruth walks us step-by-step through his exceptional career and provides a deep dive into how his MTC experience helped him drive transformation at NPR, catalyzed personal and career growth, and provided immediate value in the early days of his new role.
Yoga instructor, Kirtan Smith, shares his experience growing up in a Hare Krishna ashram, how painful sports injuries led him to yoga, and how – even as he led others through this deep and sacred practice – he was hurting inside too.
Journalist Samantha Critchell shares how growing up in the garment business informed her career at Associated Press and beyond, and how that loving but sometimes unpredictable upbringing led to her profound objectivity.
Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and performer, Dennis Scott, takes us on a wild ride from Queens to The Catskills, Broadway to Nashville, where he produced two albums of songs from the Fred Rogers Songbook with Amy Grant, Roberta Flack, Tom Bergeron and more.
Detoxicity podcast host, music exec, and wellness advocate, Mike Joseph, shares his often challenging and ultimately uplifting journey from Brooklyn to the Billboard Pride Power Player list.
Ride shotgun on Grand Canyon frontman Casey Shea's rock n’ roll road trip from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Nashville, Tennessee, New York City, and Los Angeles, California.
On this week’s blockbuster episode, Happy Sad Confused Host and MTV Movies Correspondent, Josh Horowitz, regales us with heartbreaking and hilarious tales from growing up on mean streets of the Upper West Side, to hanging out with Meryl Streep, pestering Tom Cruise, casting Johnny Depp, yelling at Chris Pratt, and much, much more.
Following stints at The Houston Chronicle, MTV and Discovery Channel, Emmy Award-winning producer, social justice advocate, and mindfulness teacher, Kim Thai, founded GaneshSpace in order to help create a community where she could be her authentic self on her own healing journey while helping others on theirs.
As a music therapist, singer and songwriter, Kelli Rae Powell parlayed her education, and personal and professional experience to heal herself, and bring healing to others – including and especially me.
As Executive Director of the Center for Environmental and Economic Partnership and Director of Hudson Valley Energy, my longtime hiking and existential conversation partner, Jeff Domanski, leverages environmental and behavioral science, public policy, art and communications to help communities make the right choices for a sustainable future.
A dear friend since tenth grade, Matthew is a certified Breema Practitioner and Instructor who combines hands-on bodywork with practical psychology. In this episode, we trace his journey from strait-laced, Lacrosse All-American, Ivy League Scholar, to Berkeley somatic psychologist, and learn about the unification of body, mind, and feelings.
From a one-bedroom in Woodside, Queens, to jamming with Elmo, puppeteer Kathy Kim shares the remarkable story of how she got to Sesame Street. In this special episode, Kathy takes us inside her audition, her first meeting with meeting Big Bird, and the development of Ji-Young, Sesame's first Asian American Muppet.
This week, the second of our two-part conversation with Neighborhood Archivist, Tim Lybarger, “Simple Faith of Mister Rogers” Author, Amy Hollingsworth and “I’m Proud of You” Author Tim Madigan, in which Amy, The Tims, and I discuss how reflection is critical, hope is participatory and “deep and simple” is an ever-evolving concept.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Mister Rogers & Me on PBS, we asked Neighborhood Archivist Tim Lybarger to reminisce with authors Amy Hollingsworth, Tim Madigan and me about the enduring and evolving legacy of America's Favorite Neighbor, Fred Rogers.
Christofer Wagner graduated with a major in broadcast journalism, a minor in political science, and an eye on Tom Brokaw’s chair. He ended up in the edit suite, cutting everything from The Year in Rock to Monday Night Football. This week, Chris talks about growing up in the Midwest, his early days in digital media, and making Mister Rogers & Me.
Of all the people who helped “Mister Rogers & Me” get made, find its audience, and make its impact, few did so much so quickly and with such potency as PBS Distribution’s Amy Letourneau.
Throughout March, we're celebrating the tenth anniversary of “Mister Rogers & Me” on PBS by reconnecting with some of the friends and neighbors who made our film possible. In the coming weeks, I'll be speaking with PBS Distribution's Amy Letourneau; Sesame Street puppeteer Kathy Kim; Neighborhood Archive Creator Tim Lybarger; authors Amy Hollingsworth and Tim Madigan; and Wagner Bros. #1, Christofer Wagner.
Backstaged author Alison Bonaguro discusses her journey from Motown to Music City, the power of the small gesture and the magic of the middle eight.
On stage and in-studio, Jamie Leonhart has been one of my most frequent collaborators for nearly two decades. As singer-songwriter, playwright ("Estuary") and backup singer (Steely Dan, St. Vincent), she has always been game to wade into the gray areas of life, love and art, self, spouse and family. On the eve of the release of her new album, "The Illusion of Blue," Jamie shares her journey from a New Jersey summer camp stage to New York City artist, performer and mother.
Sarah McBride, the United State's first openly transgender state senator, author of the deeply moving memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different,” and my Wilmington, Delaware, neighbor, shares how our deepest insecurities can be our most potent inspiration.
Michael Tyler is the author of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award-winning children’s book, "The Skin You Live In," and Co-Founder of Ubica Advisors.
My friend, Ron Lieber, leads the league in reasoned, thoughtful conversations about hard things. This week, the New York Times Columnist and Best Seller shares who inspires him, why curiosity is so important and how he ran two marathons in 30 days.
For more than 30 years, Brian Ives has kept the music scoops coming on SiriusXM, VH1 and MTV. Brian currently runs digital content operations for Beasley Radio’s 40+ stations. This week, Brian and I discuss doing what you love, building rapport with artists and colleagues, and being present.
As Education Director at the New York International Children’s Film Festival, and Founder of Practice Wonder, Martine McDonald is “dedicated to co-creating and developing diverse children's media with mindfulness and representation of LGBTQ+ and families of color on screen.” In this episode, Martine, an early “Mister Rogers & Me" booster, goes deep into her journey as an advocate for diversity and inclusion, and a human being on Earth.
In the second part of our two-part conversation, music journalist, Brian Ives, and I discuss my new collection of "greatest hits," "Essential Benjamin Wagner (2001-2021)," including stories behind set staples "Summer's Gone," "Crash Site," and "Dear Elizabeth," as well as their potential legacy.
When it came to helping me put context on two decades of music for my new release, "Essential Benjamin Wagner (2001-2021)," my friend, Brian Ives, was the only choice. Brian is a rock journalism lifer with three decades at MTV, VH1, Loudwire, Sirius XM and Radio.com. He currently runs digital content operations for Beasley Radio’s 40+ stations, and hosts the podcast, “How You Play Your Hand."
In her new book, “The Last Letter,” author Karen Baum Gordon explores the events that shaped the lives of her father and his parents — two Holocaust victims that he tried in vain to save in the early years of World War II. In this painstakingly researched, heartbreaking and inspiring page-turner, Karen reminds us that we often need to dig deeper into our pain in order to manage it, and let go of it in order to move on.
How one Hell's Kitchen public school custodian helped me understand the weight of sadness, and turn it into one of my most beloved songs.
This week, a nor'easter blows through the Brandywine Valley, downing limbs, shattering crockery, and prompting a reckoning.
Economies are scaffolded around the institution of marriage to build the mystery and protect the fantasy. In the sermon of Abbigail and my wedding ceremony (fourteen years ago today), our officiant, Fred Rogers' ally, Bo Lozoff, tempered our idealized, golden-hour, white-chiffon fantasies with reasoned, practical, even difficult wisdom.
What do you do when your real life exceeds your wildest dreams? You don't keep it to yourself.
Through tsunamis, drought, insurgencies, pandemics, heartbreak, worry and regret, one deep, simple and essential truth provides sanctuary.
From Nashville to Memphis and Muscle Shoals, join "Friends & Neighbors" host Benjamin Wagner as he travels deep into the south to walk the floor at The Ryman Auditorium, meet Elvis' ghost, and record with The World Famous Swampers.
In which we descend into the verdant Tennessee Valley, meet The Swampers, and record at the world famous House That Aretha Built, Fame Studios.
In which we enter the gates of Graceland, meet the last living purveyor of The Nudie Suit, and drive off in The King's pink Cadillac.
In which we travel to Nashville, Tennessee, and meet extraordinarily normal Americans wrestling with extraordinarily normal and inspiring things.
Whether playing The Best Buy Guy, Cheez-It Scientist, or Generally Clueless Husband, actor Joe Smith always breaths humanity and humility into his characters.
For two decades, reporter Roger Clark has been NY1's everyman, rendering curiosity, empathy and humility for the world's most-watched local news channel. Today, he shares tales from his Queens upbringing to his trial-by-fire as a newly-minted reporter in the week after September 11th.
Farm Sanctuary CEO, Megan Watkins, shares her journey from Newton, Massachusetts, to Barnard College, Big Banking and beyond, including the moment she aligned with her values to lead a movement
The highly-decorated columnist and author of I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers and The Burning: The Tulsa Massacre of 1921 shares deep, hard-earned insights on how the stories we tell can transform one another's lives.
What's life like on the edge of your comfort zone? Kinzen Co-Founder and COO, Áine Kerr, shares her journey from quiet County Monaghan to the front lines of the battle against misinformation.
As a Rolling Stone contributor, Musician editor, and MTV executive, Bill Flanagan helped passionate music fans get closer their favorite artists. As an author of six books, he has helped readers get closer to their humanity. This week, Bill shares a few tales from some wild rides with everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Ray Davies to Jimmy Buffet and Robert Plant.
For nearly a decade, “Death, Sex & Money” host and “Let’s Talk About Hard Things" author, Anna Sale, has embodied one of Fred Rogers' guiding principles, that “What is mentionable is manageable."
The dots may connect when we look back at our lives, but how can we make sense of the moment when we're in it? And keep growing despite bad days, bad luck, negativity and naysayers? Hint CEO, Kara Goldin, shares insight from her book, "Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts & Doubters."
In this audio-only special, we consider Microwave Culture, College Rock, and the forgotten value of the increment.
If laughter is the best medicine, how do we use it to cure the cancer of racism without flatlining? My guest and friend, Comedian, Writer, Actor, Director, Podcaster and Mother, Negin Farsad, is helping heal the world one punchline at a time.
Social Justice Comedian Negin Farsad, Hint CEO Kara Goldin, Farm Sanctuary CEO Megan Watkins and other remarkable humans share real insights into living a deep and simple life on Season Two of "Friends & Neighbors."
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In this audio-only special, I recall 6+ years as a Facebook employee as I rapidly approach my last day. What's left behind? Only what's essential.
In this audio-only special, we workshop the anodyne company laptop, the autonomic nervous system, and the power of a purpose-build, 8.5 x 11" poster made manifest.
In this audio-only special, we traverse 1200 miles of Interstate 95 in search of America, and ourselves.
In this audio-only special, we cross the decades to a time when discovering the kind of song you really, deeply connected to, the kind you wanted to tell everyone about, was very, very different.
Year after year, music gets me through the darkest nights of the year.
So join me LIVE Monday, December 21 at 8p for the Friends & Neighbors Holiday Benefit.
How does hip hop artist and media executive, Rob Markman, exceed expectation, over-perform and over-deliver in the middle of a global pandemic? With steady-handed, pragmatic optimism, grace and humility. Do listen up.
As we count our blessings in the blue glow of the Zoom screen, let us remember those who may need our kindness, generosity, or help the most.
"The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers" author discusses the value of counting paper clips, and cultivating an eye for the glimmer.
Veteran, Rhodes Scholar and Best Selling Author, Craig Mullaney, shares lessons of loss, courage and resilience hard earned from Warwick to West Point, Oxford to Afghanistan, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.
Singer, songwriter, photographer, storyteller and Nadas front man, Jason Walsmith, takes us on a half-life journey from Des Moines to Beijing and back with a guitar, a camera, and one simple word.
Blogging Legend, Newsletter Pioneer & Comic Book Author, Whitney Matheson, shares her story from small-town USA to the pages of USA Today.
“Friends & Neighbors” explores how our friends and neighbors across the world are cultivating depth and simplicity in their own complex lives.
Starting Wednesday, October 14, watch YouTube and Facebook, or listen on Apple or anywhere you find podcasts.
Visit friendsandneighborsshow.com to subscribe to the newsletter, and more. Because your “Friends & Neighbors” are everywhere.