Bar Crawl Radio

This episode introduces a new series of podcasts with our co-producer Chris Brandt. Chris is a professor, peace activist, carpenter and poet, and he helped produce BCR #34 when we invited three poets to share their work related to the World Poetry Movement.  We had such a great time, it was decided that we needed to talk poetry regularly on the show. So, this BCR episode is the first in a series focusing on thinking about, listening to, and having conversations with poets. Chris invited two poets to talk about and read their poems dealing with racial and ethnic borders and the possibility of crossing them -- Martha Collins and Sarah Gambito.

We recorded at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar on W. 72nd Street. Contact Us -- [email protected]

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Becky and I had two very different and -- at the same time -- very similar experiences this week -- both involving children with "high" ideals. Young people who are actively involved with doing something about what they know is true and real.

During the recording, Becky had an awesome vodka martini with a stick o'olives -- I tried out Flower Power IPA at 5 Napkin Burger on Broadway and W. 84th Street. We are there -- pretty regularly -- set-up at the front corner of the bar. Jaylean [sp?] our barkeep was as cute and helpful as ever -- the tower of onion rings was hot and delicious. So -- join us on our bar crawl through life.

If you like what you hear email us at [email protected]

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This episode was recorded in mid October, 2019. Becky and I had been reading about the large protests that have been going on in Hong Kong as young people demanded a free and open system, and we had read about the Umbrella Movement that began in 2014 but clearly we needed to learn more.  BCR co-producer--Alina Larson--had just visited Hong Kong and interviewed several of the young protesters who were urging their government to establish a free Hong Kong. Alina invited Ken Sui, a young Hong Konger living in the United States since he was a child, and a leader of @NY4HK -- New Yorkers for Hong Kong, to join us to tell us about the history of Hong Kong, its people, its relationship to China [PRC] and the reason for these protests. What we learned from Ken about what is happening in Hong Kong at this time in mid-October was shocking. We wonder why the stories of state-sanctioned violence, killing and rape is not being reported more vigorously by our free press.

See photos from the protest at BCR website -- barcrawlradio.com

Contact us: [email protected]

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This was an unusual BCR episode. Becky and I went back to the place we first dated -- the Santa Maria Inn in Central California and spoke with th owner of the inn Judy Hearn in the Wine and Martini Bar. During the high times of Hollywood all the great movie stars stayed there on the way to Hearst Castle.  

The strange part is that we visited Rudy Vallee's room -- the 1930s and 40s singing star actually stayed there.  There were rumors that ghosts resided in that room -- a sea captain and the mistress he killed. So -- at the end of this episode your intrepid podcasters visited Room 221 -- where we found .... Well -- check out this episode and when you reach the end -- keep listening.

If you love Bar Crawl Radio than Subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite episodes and leave a review. LIKE us on Social Media -- we would so appreciate it.

And email us with ideas for future programming [email protected] 

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Our intention was to focus on what we considered the "best" or "most significant" day of our lives -- and we did get to that question after we talked about:

• Alan's experience of fasting at an Orthodox Synagogue for Yom Kippur - 2019.
• Turd toys and bursting balloons.
• Colonoscopy -- Part II
• X-rated Via ride.

After our silliness we turned to Thorton Wilider's masterpiece "Our Town" to consider what was really significant about living.

So -- what was the "best day" of your life. Email us at [email protected]

Like Bar Crawl Radio on Facebook and Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

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At the end of 1944, as an older teen, David Hersch beat KZ Mauthausen – the most violent Nazi concentration camp in Austria. His harrowing escape from the German death machine is told by his son -- Jack Hersch -- in "Death March Escape The Remarkable Story of a Man Who Twice Escaped the Nazi Holocaust" (2018). Throughout his life, Jack listened to his father's story at the Passover Seder but discovered after his father's death that he needed to know more. We talked about his father’s experiences and why this story has haunted him throughout his life.

Jack Hersch is a talented writer, but his day job is as a strategic advisor to investment institutions and corporate managements. He has served as a corporate board member, and has guest-lectured in the business schools of M.I.T., U.S.C. and U.C. Berkeley. He lives in New York City. 

 Also, he is is a pilot who flies aerobatic planes – earned a second-degree black belt in Goju Ryu karate – is a long-distance cyclist and ice hockey player – plays tennis at a competitive level and ran five marathons. And -- he lives in NYC. 

There are many children of Nazi Holocaust survivors – but few have spent time discovering their parent’s past. Jack dedicated several years in researching, traveling and interviewing experts to uncover how his father beat death by the Nazi killing machines. We talked about his father's story and why the son wrote this book.

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We loved the idea so much -- we stole it. We recently met Alison Burns and Lulu Picart who have a podcast called  10K Dollar Day  in which they imagine expensive vacations they wish they could afford. Check them out -- they are funny and cute and so young and go take a listen to their wonderful banter. So, Becky and I were inspired. We wanted to imagine our $10K vacation. Becky played by the rules and I did not. There is much wise advise about traveling in this episode that you do not want to miss.

We had our conversation at 5 Napkin Burger on Broadway and W. 84th Street. And we invite our listeners to share your versions of a $10,000 vacation. Email us at [email protected]

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In December, 1915, Mina Miller Edison—the inventor’s wife -- pulled a cord that revealed a grand statue of a fully armored person standing victoriously, astride a gallant horse and holding a sword high above. Thousands of New Yorkers and dignitaries attended.

In 2019, the statue site surrounded by century old trees, is so familiar most Upper West Siders pass it without looking.

On this episode of Bar Crawl Radio, we had a conversation about Jeanne la Pucelle and Anne Vaughn Hyatt, the woman who designed the magnificent Joan of Arc Statue on W. 93rd Street in Riverside Park. The first NYC public statue created by a woman and the first to honor a real woman.

Our guests were Professors Michele Bogart of Stony Brook College and Anne Higonnet of Barnard College, both experts on large art installations. And James Panero, a culture writer and Executive Editor of The New Criterion.

This BCR episode was recorded at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar. Let us know what you think of our podcast and its contents by emailing Becky and me at [email protected]

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I am writing these program notes before the recording -- later today at Mexican Festival. This episode needs to be posted tomorrow by 10am -- our self-imposed posting time. Well -- I could get up early, but I am inspired -- now.

You know that SAT test analogy question -- THIS : THAT -- where the colon means "is to" and then you are given several choices of similar analogies, and you have to find the one that is the closest matches to the original -- and they all look right? That is the game we will be playing when we record today at the side bar at the Mexican Festival.  OK -- that is the second time I mentioned the Mexican Festival. Why? We could not find a bar to do this week's recording. Our regular go-to bars were not returning our emails. So I called Mexican Festival and the manager -- who we know and have had on BCR -- said "yes," and then, she said, "None of your listeners have come by -- why is that?" And I mumbled something like, "We'll let them know. See you at 5pm." And she said, "We'll go over our promotions." BTW -- we are not sponsored or receive anything from Mexican Festival, and we pay for our drinks. We do like their margaritas and freshly made "guak."

Last weekend, we attended a podcast conference -- MAPCON. We sat through hours of sometimes interesting presentations and some great networking. We love our fellow podcasters -- but this conference was a bit of a slog.  BTW.2 -- our team won the Create-a-Podcast Contest -- for the second year in a row. [Listen to the winning entry on this episode -- Be Careful]   AND ... it was held at the Ocean Resort Casino [ORC] on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. AND ... it occurred to me as I woke up this morning that our efforts at podcasting are quite similar and entirely different than what we observed in AC as the "walking dead" moved around the enormous ORC in their red scooters. OK -- the "scooting dead."

So here are my choices as the best analogy to the title of this episode:

1. Sponge Bob : A dishrag
2. Donald Trump : Any of the Democratic candidates.
3. Jumping Jack Flash : A flash drive
4. Cotton Candy : My mother's Lemon Meringue Pie.
5.  Left : Left out

One more thing -- will all our BCR listeners who live on the Upper West Side get over to the Mexican Festival bar and restaurant and tell Lara you heard about the Mexican Festival on Bar Crawl Radio. It's really a fun bar and restaurant, and we recommend it. Thanks, Lara.

Let us know what you think of our podcast -- [email protected]

*Ans. - #4. But #2 is a close second

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The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, in the Canadian Rockies. The Athabasca is 900 ft. thick in places. But – this glacier has been shrinking at a rate of about 16 feet per year, and, in the past 125 years, has receded almost a mile -- losing over half of its volume. The Ok Glacier in Iceland "died" recently. So -- book your tickets now for Jasper National Park in Western Canada -- you have about 100 years hike an actual glacier.

Becky has always wanted to walk on a glacier. I hiked a Swiss glacier many years ago – and so she had to catch up. For this Bar Crawl Radio episode, we found a glacier near the Upper West Side in Alberta, Canada, in the Columbia Ice-field. Early in the day, we walked on the Athabasca Glacier.  And then drove 100 Km north to the Jasper Park Lodge to talk with glacier guide Peter Lemieux. Check out this episode -- it is the closest you're going to get to a glacier today.

We also spoke with Jasper Park Lodge manager, Gregg Lown, about the interesting history of this log cabin lodge with its many cabins surrounding a pristine glacial lake.

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