Bar Crawl Radio

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Day One of the Nevada Desert Experience’s “Sacred Peace Walk" -- Saturday April 1, 2023. 

Walkers were gathering from all around the Unites States at the NDE compound – a former military barracks – bought by the local Franciscan and Catholic Worker community – then given to the NDE in 1982 as a center protestors of the nuclear testing taking place on Western Shoshone land on the Nevada Proving Grounds to the north. The NDE compound consists of three single floor houses, surrounding a central garden patio. I used the day to meet the Peace Walkers.

Alan Winson – BCR Producer

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Towards the end of World War II – my country detonated atomic bombs over Japanese cities, immediately killing thousands of civilians and thousand more soon after and maiming thousands for the rest of their lives. 

I was born in 1949 -- My generation was taught that this military action was required to end the war – And I bought it --

Since 1945, our world has filled with more powerful atom bombs – -- in the hope that the threat of mutual destruction will dissuade their usage.

So far – besides Nagasaki and Hiroshima – we have been lucky – but for how long?

I am Alan Winson – this year for Passover – I walked with peace activists of the Nevada Desert Experience, from Las Vegas to Creech Air Force Base – the center of U.S drone warfare – and then to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site –where -- until the early 1990s, my country detonated over 1000 atom bombs. The craters that were left have been used to train astronauts navigating the lifeless terrain of the Moon.

 I wanted to learn why-- for the past 40 years -- people of various beliefs and ethnicities gathered in Las Vegas, to walk the 60 miles to the entrance of the Nevada Nuclear Test Site where armed military stopped them at a broad white line in the road --  why each year they went to plead for an end to nuclear armament – when the need is so dire and change so impossible.

For the first program in this 8-part series I talked with Joseph Kent -- curator of the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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As reported in the New York magazine earlier this year -- the Upper West Side of Manhattan above 96th Street is a pedestrian death zone. Reporter Justin Davidson described the many victims of the “neighborhood’s out-of-control traffic -- a Bermuda Triangle of pedestrian death” – Davidson wrote that “nine years into the Vision Zero era, we should really be calling it Vision 125 -- the average number of pedestrians killed each year in New York since 2014. One every three days.

Organizations like Park to Park 103  are working to change this deadly dynamic by designing a walker- / biker-friendly 103rd Street from Riverside Park to Central Park. For this Bar Crawl Radio program Becky, Alina, and I ambled over to 103rd Street on the UWS to an exciting street fair promoting Open Streets. In a city filled with walkers and cars it is time we found an equitable balance.

We spoke with Gale Brewer--UWS City Council person -- Shelly Fine -- unofficial "mayor" of the Upper West Side -- Peter Frishaut -- creator of Medscape and coordinator of the Open Streets Community Coalition -- Richard Robbins -- founder of Upper Westside Strategies -- and Cidalia Acosta -- a Magnet School Specialist at West Prep Academy. And we talked with the young Park to Park 103 Ambassadors of West Prep Academy.

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Becky and I spoke with the music-eclectic Gene Pritsker at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar a couple of days after his Sound Liberation Band deconstructed Beethoven at Birdland Jazz Club. It was a musical brainstorm called – “Ludwig’s Night out” – Beethoven is on a bar crawl while Sonata No. 4 (for violin & piano) is echoing in his brain. Several of the pieces created by Pritsker and Composer Concordance regulars are included in this edit.

A bit on Gene Pritsker: He is primarily a composer – also --a rapper – DJ – guitarist –a coordinator of music concerts – teacher – and at one time an actor.  As of 2023 he had created over 900 compositions – including, chamber operas – orchestral and chamber works – electro-acoustic music – songs for hip hop and rock ensembles – with accents from many cultures - performed world wide. Gene is the co-director of Composers Concordance with Dan Cooper. 

We last spoke with the musician at the bar for BCR #38 -- April 2019. It was great catching up with Gene who has been quite busy during the pandemic; for instance, he recorded the sound track for the new "Matrix Resurrections" at Abbey Road Studios and produced a record while in Berlin. 

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Back in 2019 when the city knew not of COVID19 BCR co-hosts talked with Erwin Figueroa of Transportation Alternative about the bike culture of New York City. A lot has changed since then. Today – biking in the city is certainly scarier – maybe that’s a sign that some of us are getting old – but the variety of speedy e-bikes – e-scooters – Inmotion-style unicycles – BTW -- Onewheel describes their vehicles as “weapons”

– mixed in with the ubiquitous metal shelled vehicles who own the streets – biking in NYC feels different to me. So today let’s talk about cycling in Metropolis. For this BCR conversation we talked with Juan Restrepo a senior organizer of Transportation Alternatives about the new Brooklyn Bridge bike lane and the continued dangers of cycling in the city.

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Shortly after the American North won the Civil War, construction on the East River bridge was started. Tammany Hall and graft controlled NY City and State, Ulysses S. Grant had just been elected President, and the German-immigrant and bridge designer/builder, who conceived the plan for the bridge, had died. Work on the Bridge took 13 years and up to 40 men died -- mostly immigrants. The cathedral-sized, wooden caissons which allowed workers to dig out the bottom of the East River used pressurized air, resulting in debilitating Caisson Disease-- otherwise known as the "bends."

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883 and quickly became an American icon--a towering structure reflecting a sense of national pride and progress -- a reality, in part, built on greed and death.

We spoke with Sarah Rosenblatt, an Architectural Conservationist who is working on restoring the original look of the Brooklyn Bridge -- and with Prof. Richard Haw who has written several books on the Bridge. His most recent book -- Engineering America: The Life and Times of John A. Roebling.

Recording at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar in Manhattan.

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Early in the summer of 2022, my Bar Crawl Radio host – Rebecca McKean -- and I travelled with our  grandson -- Jackson Castro -- to the family farm of Martha Hennessy – granddaughter of the founder of the Catholic Worker – Dorothy Day.

While there, Martha told me of the work of a Catholic priest – Father Philip Gbao -- and suggested we produce a BCR program on his work with African students. Listen to that conversation with Father Philip in BCR #175. 

For this BCR program, we spoke with two of Father Philip's students about their professional goals and dreams to raise awareness of the power of Ugandan women in a culture which undervalues their worth.   We spoke with Nambogwe Claire who is studying to be a community organizer and Birungi Martha who is working to be an automobile engineer.  Both see themselves as examples of a new and different choice for Ugandan women outside of marriage, domestic work, and child rearing.

Alan Winson -- [email protected]

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It was a cold and windy Monday morning – Nov 14, 2022 – across the street from the United Nations. A group of U.S. veterans – many with combat experience – were building a watch tower – with 20 foot high painter’s scaffolding – on top of the city patio overlooking the Isaiah Wall and Peace monument – to call out to the UN that a large part of the world’s climate crisis was and is caused by the U.S. Military,

We spoke with Veterans for Peace members -- Garett Reppenhagen / Tarak Kauf / Jim Rine / Ellen Barfield / Elliot Adams.

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