15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger

15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger

By Jamie BergerSociety & Culture
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15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger episodes

  • 5 from '18 - #4, Ansel Appleton

    Second up in 5 from '18 is performance poet Ansel Appleton:


    http://www.15minutesjamieberger.com/news/2018/10/31/ut7e8v0a42fxh464sg7ponwmyq6nvh


    It's noon on New Year's Eve - the countdown is on! Have a great one, all!


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    54 min
  • 5 from '18 - #5, Beth Lisick, (part 2)

    Hello All,


    We'll be back in the new year with new episodes, but wanted to repost a few favorites you might have missed. Here's, #5, which is the second half of my conversation with writer/performer/friend-of-show Beth Lisick.


    http://www.15minutesjamieberger.com/news/2018/2/22/episode-54-beth-lisick-pt-2


    Since then, Beth trekked up to Western Mass to participate in our first live show, AND got signed by a great publisher (I'm blanking on who it is right now) for her first novel, which will be out sometime in 2019!


    (In part one of our conversation,

    http://www.15minutesjamieberger.com/news/2018/1/19/episode-52-beth-lisick-part-1

    we wrestle with more difficult stuff such as men learning how to reckon with their actions and how to successfully apologize - this one is the lighter half of the conversation)


    Below are the original notes for that episode, from back in January.

    Happy New Year, all!


    ***



    Here's part two of my conversation with writer/performer, old San Francisco friend Beth Lisick. (And here's Part One)
    Before the conversation, I read a shortened version of an essay of mine called "Peep Show", that Beth was instrumental in getting me to write, a pretty long time ago., when she asked me to perform at her (And Arine Klatt's) legendary San Francisco storytelling series, Porch Light. 
    If you want more of a bio of Beth, go take a look at Episode 52, where you can find the first half of our conversation. 
    Among the topics we dive into here are: Moving to New York City in one's 40s, writing/writer career stuff and how we define success therein, "Punk-Rock Damage," asserting/enjoying one's own successes, making sure you get to do your own own audio book if you have the chance and want to!, working with a writing partner, avoiding becoming a “brand,” connecting with strangers in Trump Year One, #metoo and Louis and Harvey and fame and sex and power and whether it’s time for redemption and the misuse of the word “pervert” as equivalent to “predator,” and a bunch of other stuff. 
    Coming up in March are comedian/author/Conan-O'Brien-writer Laurie Kilmartin and former Playboy Editorial Director Chris Napolitano.
    Here's the full-length version of the essay "Peep Show" I read at the beginning of the episode that came out of a story told at Porch Light ...
    ... and here's the short story, "Close," that led to the Porch Light story that led to the essay that ...
    And here's the book Bo's Arts, which came out of an art show at Adobe Books that Beth wrote about back in those halcyon days of yore.
    Find Beth Lisick at http://bethlisick.com
    Find us at http://15minutesjamieberger.com
    Thanks!



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    1 hr 21 min
  • Episode 67 - Chris Napolitano (pt. 2)
    (This is the second half of a conversation that begins in episode 56, from back in March)
    Christopher Napolitano is an old college friend. When we graduated, I headed off to work for literary presses Grove Press and New Directions, while Chris started working at Playboy, where he eventually rose to be Editorial Director for many years. After his 20 year tenure at Playboy, he became the Creative Director at Indian Country Today Media network.


    In the earlier episode, we talk about editing in general, editing one's heroes (Norman Mailer and John Updike, among them), Chris’s decision to take a sharp turn away from the glitz and glam of Playboy in the early 2000s, and much, much more.
    This episode is the somwehat less literary of the two. Among the topics we discuss are Chris's first-hand impression of Donald Trump (they met in the Playboy offices, near Trump Tower, on several occasions), #metoo and the legacy of Hugh Hefner, Playmates’ odd celebrity, and a story about Perry Farrell’s party at the Mansion.
    Find all episodes of 15 Minutes on iTunes, Spotify and pretty much everywhere pods are cast, or at http://15minutesjamieberger.com.
    -jb



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    58 min
  • Episode 66 - Ansel Appleton
    A conversation with writer and slam poet Ansel Appleton, along with a story recorded from Ansel’s performance at our two-year anniversary show in June. Among topics that came up are the slam poetry scene in Cambridge and beyond in the late 90s and early 2000s and Ansel’s preference to perform only for strangers rather than for friends or family colleagues or heroes. ***Find us at http://15minutesjamieberger.com or wherever pods are cast! Thanks!



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    54 min
  • Episode 65 - Jamie and Dan talk about the Stephen-Elliott/Shitty-Men Lawsuit
    Daniel Oppenheimer and I talked about Stephen Elliott’s essay and lawsuit (filed last week) against Moira Donegan and the “Shitty Men in Media” list that Elliott was named in a year ago this week.


    This one was put together on short notice, and made in part because I couldn’t find written words to express my thoughts on this and it was making me crazy. Here are some stories mentioned in the episode:
    Elliott’s “How An Anonymous Accusation Derailed My Life”: https://quillette.com/2018/09/25/how-an-anonymous-accusation-derailed-my-life/
    The news story about the lawsuit: https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/stephen-elliott-sues-moira-donegan.html
    Other “shitty men” respond to the lawsuit: https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/stephen-elliott-moira-donegan-men-respond.html
    Writers respond to the lawsuit: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/writers-condemn-author-stephen-elliott-after-he-sues-creator-of-s-ty-media-men-list
    On the possible effects of the suit:https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/stephen-elliott-lawsuit-moira-donegan-spreadsheet-privacy-expert.html
    The Honest Couretesan’s Maggie McNeill’s “Topping from the Bottom” mentioned & quoted in intro: https://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2018/10/15/topping-from-the-bottom/
    Moira Donegan’s legal defense fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/hz8sxq
    My “A noisy man on the silence of men” rant:https://medium.com/@15minsjamieb/if-this-reads-like-a-facebook-post-a0fde26a45a7


    If you want to read Bari Weiss’s Times Opinion Piece, you’ll have to look it up yourself.


    Please find all our episodes, I’d say all of them more cheery than this one, at
    http://15minutesjamieberger.com
    Insta/twitter: @15minsjamieb
    Feedback? [email protected]



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    1 hr 9 min
  • Episode 64 - Hearty White (returns!)
    Hello All,


    My guest this week, in our now-annual visit, is WFMU radiomaker (also available in podcast form!) and 15-Minutes-inspirational-icon Hearty White. This being his third visit (see Episodes 8, 31, and 32 for more!), we’ve pretty much dispensed with the formality of talking about fame and just chat about whatever comes to mind, which this time included Timothy Leary, sanity, The Rockford Files (of course), rings, heroes, the Attention Economy, Black Stalin, Sundar Popo, Chutney Music, how he makes episodes of “Miracle Nutrition” (his show), the cultural obsession with recording/preserving memories, and much much more! Find him on WFMU.org or by searching for "Miracle Nutrition with Hearty White" on your favorite podcasting application.


    Before that, though, I rant for a while about how infuriating it is how many dudes such as this clever fellow (picture of a tweet you won’t see on the podcast apps so go to 15minutesjamieberger.com)


    and most most recently, long-since-relevant comedian Norm McDonald, insist on shouting BUT IT’S NOT COMEDY about, instead of discussing the content of, Hannah Gadsby’s Netflix stand-up comedy special, “Nanette,” which somehow led me into a tangentially related story from my San Francisco performance art days.


    Find “Miracle Nutrition with Hearty White” at/on WFMU and all the podcast places, where you can also find this show, or at 15minutesjamieberger.com.


    Thanks!
    -jb




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    1 hr 32 min
  • Episode 63 - Sarah Wisby
    This episode is the first of several featuring recordings from our live show in Greenfield, MA at Hawks and Reed, back in June. Sarah Wisby, writer and recent transplant to Western Mass, and I, talked, a couple months after the show, about performance, writing, what success means to an artist as opposed to what it means to the public who perceives/judges artists, about being a character in someone else's (in her case, Michelle Tea's) work and a movie and meeting the person who played you in the movie based on that work, and so much more. You'll also hear the two swell stories Sarah read at the show. (You can find episodes with two of the other performers, Beth Lisick and Myra Bartok, in our archive, and episodes with the others, Old Pam, Ansel Appelton, and Zak Trojano are soon to come.)
    Here's the bio from Sarah's website. Sarah Fran Wisby writes poetry, short fiction, memoir and essays, preferring always to deepen and subvert genre by way of the hybrid form. Her book Viva Loss was published in 2008 by Small Desk Press. Recent work can be found in Eleven Eleven Journal and Rumpus Women Volume 1, and heard on Invisible Cities Audio Tour #2: The Armada of Golden Dreams. She’s also been published in Instant City, Sparkle and Blink, Digital Artifact, and The Encyclopedia Project Volume 2, F—K, for which she was honored to write the entry for fuck. She performs her work all over the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and was a Literary Death Match champion in December 2010.***Coming next week to wrap up August, will be part two of the conversation from earlier this year, (Episode 56) with former longtime Playboy editorial director Christopher Napolitano.


    Oh, last thing - this episode contains some wonderful adult content - enjoy!
    As ever, thanks for listening! 
    -Jamie

    http://15minutesjamieberger.com




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    49 min
  • Episode 62 - Simon Rich
    After finishing off his collegiate tenure as president of the Harvard Lampoon, Simon Rich became one of the youngest writers ever hired on Saturday Night Live and has written for Pixar and “The Simpsons.” He is the creator and showrunner of “Man Seeking Woman” (originally on FXX, now available on Hulu) and “Miracle Workers” (TBS), which he based on his books. His other collections include Spoiled Brats and Ant Farm. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. “Hits and Misses” is, as his publisher puts it, his “new collection of stories about dreaming big and falling flat, about ordinary people desperate for stardom and the stars who are bored by having it all.” Inspired by Rich’s real experiences in Hollywood, Hits and Misses chronicles all the absurdity of fame and success alongside the heartbreaking humanity of failure. From a bitter tell-all by the horse Paul Revere rode to greatness to a gushing magazine profile of everyone’s favorite World War II dictator, these stories roam across time and space to skewer our obsession with making it big–from the days of ancient Babylon to the age of TMZ.We talk about some of that stuff! Simon also reads two of his stories, (47:30) one of which includes a cameo of me as Death! Look out Hollywood, here I come!




    At least today, July 24th, 2018, which is also the pub date for Hits and Misses, this is my new favorite episode. Hope you enjoy it!




    -Jamie

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    1 hr 19 min
  • Episode 62 - Sonny Smith
    Sonny Smith is an old San Francisco friend I hadn’t spoken to in fifteen years.

    Here’s what Mother Jones had to say about his new album:

    “On his own, or as leader of Sonny and the Sunsets, the engaging Sonny Smith specializes in finely observed vignettes about everyday people that showcase his wry, slackerish voice. For all its rough edges, though, there’s nothing casual about his scruffy garage pop, which tempers a streak of melancholy with offhand, self-aware wit. Produced by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach (who knows a thing or two about making eccentricity accessible), Rod for Your Love is Smith’s most commercial effort yet—it’s all relative—boasting a brighter sound and sunnier vibe than before. Witness the jaunty, toe-tapping optimism of the irresistible “Lost,” where he chirps, “I know the way this time,” or the romantic drama “Burnin’ Up,” featuring Angel Olsen’s tangy harmonies. While Smith may never top the charts, he’s never been more entertaining or more deserving of mainstream attention.”
    We talked about flying to Nashville to be produced by a rock star (and guests Pat Sansome of Wilco and Angel Olsen), and about then deciding to head home and onto his next projects instead of hitting the road to promote that album. We traded Robyn Hitchcock and Spalding Gray stories. We went into the tough decisions artists need to make regarding creative living versus promoting a creative life. To name just a few topics. We had a lot of fun reconnecting. Or at least I did. I think we both did.
    We mention a few names and places. Virgil = Virgil Shaw, Kelly = Kelly Stoltz, Atom = Atom Ellis, and the Make Out Room is a bar I used to work at and he used to play at in the Misison in SF.
    Find all episodes of 15 Minutes at:http://15minutesjamieberger.com
    Lately, we’ve had to turn down a couple of great guests because there’s just no budget to put up more episodes in a timely fashion. Please help us make this show more than twice a month, at: https://www.patreon.com/15minutesjamieberger
    Or via Paypal at [email protected]
    Thanks!



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    1 hr 23 min
  • Episode 60 - Keith Lowell Jensen
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    Hello All! 
    Getting back in the groove after our first live recording (episodes to come in August) and the big ole 2nd-anniversary David Sedaris episode!Episode 60 is a conversation with comedian Keith Lowell Jensen, whom I started following on twitter last year, because of tweets like this that make me feel better and worse about life in America:




    I had Keith on my list of people to contact to see about having him on the show, and when his latest album of new material, "Bad Comedy for Bad People," hit #1 on the iTunes charts this spring, it seemed like the time. It was the time! And now is the time to bring that conversation to YOU!
    We talk about: calling out pervy middle-school teachers, letting go of his grudge on Julie for throwing his BDP cassette across the cafe, Keith's friendship with Robin Williams, and the time he performed for him in the parking lot after a show, TMZ & how much fame is too much fame, and much much more!
    You can find out more about where to catch Keith live, how to buy any of his 8 or so albums, on his site (click the words "his site" there). If you want to read and/or support his comic strip collaboration with Evan Svoboda, you can do that here. For all episodes of this show, please go to 15minutesjamieberger.com.And yes, we too have a Patreon page, on which you can pledge as little as $1 per episode to help us get this show made. Please and thank you! You can also pledge whatever you want whenever you want but just Paypalling 15minutesjamieberger at gmail. We'd love to get back to three or even four episodes a month, but right now we just don't have the income to make that time. Thanks, regardless!Ed Patenaude is the engineer. I, who write these words, Jamie Berger, am the host and pretty much everything else, except graphic designer and occasional photographer - that's Anja Schutz.Find us on Twitter and Instagram @15minsjamieb, and on Facebook by searching "15 Minutes Jamie Berger."




    Christian Cundari made the theme song.
    Thanks for listening!

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    57 min

About 15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger

From the publisher's feed

For more info:http://15minutesjamieberger.comorhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/15-minutes-podcast-about-fame/[email protected] twitter / instagram @15minsjamieb

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