Penny Arcade is an icon. By that I mean she stands for something. Something important which involves being aware. She is also incredibly talented and entertaining. Penny travels a lot performing all over the world, but she is on the phone and not too far away, calling in from a residency at The Watermill Center  to talk to me in the studio. Her latest show Longing Lasts Longer, is a rock n’ roll blend of stand-up comedy and memoir which she has performed for the past 4 years, all around the world and is bringing it home to Joe's Pub. It's described as – 

"An evening of dangerous ideas and radical inquiry into what it means to be human, right now! Right here!"

Penny and I talk in depth about a lot of what's on her mind which are topics in the show, such as the failed promise of the internet, and the culture we live in. So much thinking here from someone who's traveled the world and seen it all. Penny's FABULOUS SHOW is at JOE'S PUB, Tues., Aug. 13, Tues., Aug. 20 and Tues., Aug. 27. Tickets $20 which is a bargain for Joe's Pub - GET TICKETS HERE! Penny Arcade's Bio is a must read, here's the first sentence, "Since first climbing out of her bedroom window at age 14 to join the fabulously disenfranchised world of queers, junkies, whores, stars, deviants and geniuses she has become one of the most influential performers in the world." Read the rest HEREAnd more about Penny, including video HERE

Fresh off  her first in person live performance at an exclusive club in Montauk on July 4th weekend, artist Leah Schrager unloads about her experience (positive = exciting) performing for an unsuspecting audience at the $2000/lounge chair pool. Photos of her performance. Angles On A Woman HERE. Leah was on #DrLisaGivesAShit in 2016, and at that time we tried to make clear how hard it is for her work to be interpreted as art and photography. Once again I stress all of Leah’s achievements: her academic awards (B.A. Dance and B.S. Biology, summa cum laude, University of Washington, Seattle, high school valedictorian), numerous high profile dance performances such as with Martha Graham Dance company and her trade of choosing art over becoming a doctor. She has many options, people! She is not just trying to do this work for money, if you think so, you are missing the point! Her recent experience leads us to a discussion about the power/power struggle of women’s sexuality and more. It’s exciting to see Leah’s progress on integrating the topic of women’s ownership of their bodies over the past few years.

Owning her image is central to Schrager’s art practice. She has spent years creating work in which she is the photographer, model, and artist in order to facilitate an institutional critique of the standard exploitative practices of the fashion and arts industries. The impulse to sexually shame women, however, is one of the reasons Schrager invented Ona in the first place.

Follow Leah Schrager on Instagram: @leahschrager

More about Leah and her work here: https://leahschrager.com/

Bring you own tissues!!!   

This interview took place on July 11, a short time before artist/activist/photographer, Savannah Spirit’s 44th birthday which is a year to the date of her mother’s unexpected death at age 73. In this session, Savannah generously and openly articulates the experience she went through and the subsequent personal growth she, as well as her father and brother, have developed individually and as a family, going forward. A turning point for her is a meeting a friend takes her to in January of this past year. I think this episode will be a true gift to anyone who has or is currently experiencing grief or has a mission to grow as a human. Scroll down to read the notes from Savannah in preparing herself for this session.

MORE ABOUT SAVANNAH and her work: https://savannahspirit.photography/

FOLLOW on Instagram- @savannahspirit.artist

Savannah's Notes: 

- My mom was my first champion cheerleader as an artist and photographer, always supportive of my projects and vision, when I lost her, I felt I lost my biggest supporter. I then have realized I have to be own cheerleader and champion now. -Turning point came to a head early January just after the New Year. A friend took me to an AA meeting (although I'm not an alcoholic my father is and it shed light.) I bawled my eyes out at that meeting because of the stories I heard, it inspired me to let go of my anger from my mom's death so I did -on a person who felt deserved it.... -I literally googled, "When your mother dies on your birthday..." and the Reddit post which came up. This particular entry was amazing because it was as if my mother was talking to me directly about why she died the day I was born... -My father's and my relationship seemed so solid but after mom died it was revealed that we had to work on things. Mom was always the buffer... the journey of repairing things with my dad has been ongoing and very difficult. Her death has also revealed things that I had to change (she enabled.) Even though her death has been horrible and terrible in every way, realizations had to happen and changes I had to make were necessary. -Been revisiting Elton John since I saw the film "Rocketman"- I was listening to the song the other day and like a flood grief struck me because I thought the lyrics were so poignant. They remind me of what my dad is going through. Not tethered to reality nor to earth because of losing mom.

"I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife

It's lonely out in space

On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long long time

Till touch down brings me round again to find

I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man

Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone" -My very close friends have become my family. 

In this episode I am away at an artist residency but I want to get in a session with my good friend, artist David Kramer, because his exhibition is opening at The Front Room gallery and I need to know what he is wearing there, (he didn't know). RFB host, Billy C of THE Attitude Adjustment Show and Cosmic Debris, runs the studio and chimes in while David is on the air. David is clearly excited about the show and happy with his work. We get a view of some of the behind the scenes antics involving a film made for the exhibition with the help of his film-school son, Martin's young friend, Sebastian, which ultimate leads to some unexpected father-son creative bonding.

Emily Frembgen is a talented singer/songwriter, so when I had to go out of town I had one of our music hosts, Gianluca Tramontana, with serious chops as a music journalist (among other things) sit in with her to great results. Great chemistry, personalities and best of all Emily's music - she brought her guitar. You can hear more of her work on Spotify as well. And you can listen to Gianluca's show, Sitting with Gianluca every Wednesday on Radio Free Brooklyn at 6pm, where he has made it his mission in life to get people to listen to his favorite music. He wants to leave you with that extra bit of knowledge so you can hear a familiar record in a completely different way.

George Tannenbaum was hired the same time I was in 1990, to be my copywriter-partner at a well-known (at the time) ad agency, Ally & Gargano, 1990-1995. I was an art director. We were both just past a solid start in our careers as creatives in advertising. George wound up being super-successful in advertising—he’s an Executive Creative Director and Copy Chief at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and I wound up flunking out of that business that George still works in.

In this episode, I coerce George into making a lot of this session into therapy about me, while putting George on the spot. I must say he’s a great sport about trying to help me resolve some difficult questions I still have about myself as a functioning adult in a workplace. It’s interesting to hear George’s take on our shared experiences, what George’s natural abilities are and how he’s succeeded in a highly cutthroat, competitive environment. George has a lot of his own great insights and anecdotes about working as a creative person in a corporate environment. Afterwards, I had a thought that perhaps George’s role as a dad gave him more distance from himself in order to survive in the workplace – maybe? I dunno.

One of George’s gifts is his wildly popular ad blog that is relatable to anyone who works in any business. George’s humor gets to the heart of the challenge of being a human in this world. 

Rachel Music (her real last name) is a multi-hyphenate creative. Currently her main focus is Schadenfrau, an emergent interdisciplinary studio dedicated to playful defiance, which she is the founder of.At only 28, she's gone through some serious sexual, emotional and physical abuse. But let's not forget Rachel is super multi-talented and hard working too. She details her journey in a straightforward manner. In all my years as a fake shrink, I don't think I've heard such strength and humor in how Rachel has confronted her demons head on and wrestled them to the ground. There's a great demonstration of how someone who you work with can heal you in a way that sometimes a friend or family can't because they see the side of you that's productive and talented first.

This episode sounds heavy, but somehow there's a lightheartedness to it. Also, I found Rachel through this great interview in the Bushwick Daily.

Abby Ehmann was one of those "cool chicks" that everyone knew or was aware of, but my nerd lifestyle kept us from crossing East Village paths until now. Abby was at the helm of so many important and radical events. I was just about to write them in here, but there are too many so scroll down.

Anyway Abby is in my age group she's almost 60, I'm 63. I identify with Abby now, or I would like to! I think it's because we're in the same age group, but both still as crazy as we were when we were younger. We've had some parallel paths in our lives, so I get to understand where we diverged (we both started out as creatives in advertising, never had kids) and what I missed because I don't have the balls she does. Her life is still more exciting right now because she has a new boyfriend who sounds like a dream, where I've been married since 2010. I am making up for lost time now though, cause I can hang at her bar that she opened 2 years ago on Ave.B, Lucky! BEST JUKEBOX anywhere because it's curated by Abby's friends. More about Abby and some of her thoughts on dating: https://editrixabby.wordpress.com/

Here's an edited list of Abby's endeavors (in Abby's words):

In the past, I have been a self-described “smutmeister” and in my capacity as a writer I have covered almost every conceivable sexual topic: obscure fetishes and carnal obsessions, nightclubs and erotic events, sex toys, adult DVDs, not to mention tales of my personal sexploits.   Three months out of the year I work with the Black Rock City Department of Public Works building Burning Man  Penthouse Forum, Penthouse Variations, Screw, Hustler, SexyNYC, Live Girls, Leg Sex, Panty Play, Big Butt, Leg World, Playboy’s rouze.com, The Museum of Sex’s theposition.com, Dirty and New Rave.  Extreme Fetish magazine, Porn Free, my theme-based fanzine Start in Erotica as Associate Editor for Penthouse Forum, working for legendary domina and editor V.K. McCarty. one of Manhattan’s preeminent party impresarios. Mondo Porno, a bi-annual rock ‘n’ roll meets smut extravaganza in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Las Vega BDSM play parties and on-site sex events, served as “Kink Control” of the weekly cyber-fetish soiree Click + Drag, was the grand dame of Gomorrah, Kitsch Inn, a weekly evening of rock ‘n’ roll debauchery. BadAss Burlesque, The Black & Blue Ball, The Goddess Ball and The Miss Fetish New York Pageant. In my more cultural capacity, I curated a lecture series at Manhattan’s Museum of Sex, booked talent for Rupert Murdoch’s Christmas Party, Princeton University’s Class of 1985 20 Year Reunion. I have been interviewed for sex-related television segments around the world, 

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Art critic/writer and now curator, Jillian Steinhauer hit a collective nerve with a powerfully meaningful exhibition she’s curated at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts titled In the Presence of Absence. The show is described briefly here by Mary Louise Schumacher, "When it comes to grief, our culture values the stiff upper lip. But stoic composure comes with a price. It keeps the realities at arm’s length, including truths about the erasure, enslavement and slaughter of Native Americans and Africans. A small show in New York, “In the Presence of Absence,” suggests that mourning may be a means of empowerment and a way through. It is a show that requires a certain openness, a bit of courage even, to experience." — Picking up on a line in exhibition statement from Jillian, it says, This exhibition is dedicated to Henrietta, Suzanne, and Bronia. We learn that two of these women are Jillian's grandmothers, and the third is her partners mother, who have all passed away in the past three years. Jillian takes us on an examination of how she activated her own interest in art, artists and art writing to take her on a journey of healing and understanding grief and death as a personal, as well as a universal level. Talking about these topics and the exhibition helps demonstrate that facing grief is of course sad, but also can be comforting, uplifting and helps us recognize each other as human across all boundaries. A true demonstration that art is healing.

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A long term art world teammate of mine, close friend, artist and former gallerist Christopher Stout talks about his latest work at Lichtunfire and his interest and exploration of the concept of Gay Abstraction in his work. It’s a fascinating topic because it is an emerging term, one that Christopher is helping to define. Stout also gives us a hint about the new project he is commandeering to catalogue the past and present of art in Bushwick from 2010 on. 

Gianluca Tramontana, host of RFB's Sitting With Gianluca, (every Wed., 6pm) /https://radiofreebrooklyn.com/show/sitting-with-gianluca/ hangs with Meghan Taylor (lead vocals and Damian Eckstein (bass) of the band GIFTSHOP, while Dr. Lisa takes a vacation. http://www.giftshoptheband.com They are a fabulous and wildly popular band out of Astoria Queens and the music played on this show is not to be missed! Just so nothing is missing, Dr. Lisa prepares a phone interview write-up anyway, which you can read HERE: