Friends & Neighbors

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 bookended 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 V.O., 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 Orlando, 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.