Gargsville

Gargs interviews Taraka Larson, formerly of Prince Rama, on the occasion of the release of her first solo album "Welcome to Paradise Lost."

Gargs interviews Morningbell frontman and music biographer Travis Atria on the eve of his first solo release "Moonbrain."

Author Vrinda Sheth and her mother, artist Anna Johansson, talk about their upcoming book release and third volume of their Sita’s Fire Trilogy called Destroyer of Sorrow.

Gargs Allard interviews Achyutananda Das, one of Hare Krishna founder AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's first initiates.

Achyutananda Das (aka Charles Barnett) who is now 72, became Srila Prabhupada's student at the age of 17 and soon lived in India for the next 11 years, where he became a successful musician and Vedic lecturer.

Prior to that, he was the flautist for counterculture musician Richie Havens, who led off Woodstock.

Achyutananda recorded musical albums in the 1970s and has also more recently published a well-received book about the pioneering days of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and his memories of his spiritual master and other spiritual mentors in his life.

We discuss all these things and more in this the sixth episode of the Gargsville Podcast.

Gargs guest is 89-year-old Will Lewis, former instructor at the University of Florida, former news director of WUFT TV in the 1960s, one of the pioneers of KCRW, and the man who went to jail for withholding the SLA tapes involving Patty Hearst from the FBI while heading KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles / 98.7 FM Santa Barbara.

He got his Bachelor’s at the University of Miami, his Master’s at Boston University and was awarded a Fellowship at Columbia University.

We discuss these things and much more, including the anti-semitism his father dealt with in Miami in the 1940s, and his service in the Marines during Korean War, where he wrote for Stars & Stripes.

Will's younger brother, Marty Lewis (the voice of Old Uncle Hound), also makes an appearance.

In this sometimes fun and sometimes sober interview with Fountains of Wayne lead guitarist Jody Porter, Gargs and Jody discuss Jody's upcoming solo album Waterways, coping during the pandemic, and his life and times with Fountains of Wayne bandmates, Chris Collingwood, Brian Young, and the late Adam Schlesinger.

Gargs Allard catches up with stand-up comedian and actor Brittany Brave. They discuss her personal history, current projects and the art of comedy.

Bio from brittanybrave.com:

Brittany Brave is a NYC-based comedian, actress, writer, producer and host. Born in New Jersey and raised in Miami, Florida, Brave used these unfortunate facts to develop a line of comedy that is as animated as it is cerebral.

Having both trained and performed at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), iO, Second City, The People’s Improv Theater, Magnet Theatre, SAK Comedy Lab, Impromedy Miami and more of the world’s leading schools, Brave has accumulated more than 15 years of on-stage experience with a focus on improv and sketch comedy. 

In 2017, Brave began to perform stand-up and was quickly named an Emerging Talent by TBS Network at the New York Comedy Festival, and two short years later (2019), the festival selects Brave to perform on their Best New Talent showcase at Caroline’s on Broadway. In addition to Caroline’s, Brave performs stand-up comedy nightly at Broadway Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, Greenwich Village Comedy Club, LOL Comedy Club, Stand Up NY, Yonkers Comedy Club, Lucy’s Laugh Lounge and more. She celebrated her first tour in fall of 2018 with LA-based comedian Josh Novey (Jay Leno, Amazon Prime). The two performed original comedy on the Nobody’s Happy Comedy Tour, traveling cross the Northeast U.S., raising money for Stronger Than Stigma, a non-profit organization advocating for mental health awareness.

Not only an acclaimed performer, but an accomplished producer, Brave runs two critically acclaimed, monthly comedy show’s Improvised Tarot at QED Astoria and Rock Candy at Rockwood Music Hall. Rock Candy is the venue’s only original stand-up comedy series and has welcomed the likes of Mark Normand, Harrison Greenbaum, Sean Donnelly and more, as well as praise from The New York Times for being a must-see weekend comedy event.

Brave has made appearances on TBS, MTV, Sirius XM, The Jerry O. Show and The Wendy Williams Show, and local networks like NYC’s BRIC TV and BalconyTV, in which she was the on-camera personality for the Manhattan and Brooklyn branches of the series from 2016-2018. Her comedy, specifically her material on gender dynamics and abuse, has been praised by ELLE Magazine, Ashton Kutcher’s A-Plus, sheBOOM and Ciao Magazine.

Brave, a survivor and open advocate for domestic violence awareness, co-hosted and produced the podcast, Violently Funny.  She also launched and runs Cat Call (@wearecatcall), a live platform and organization committed to advancing female leadership and camaraderie. The organization has established partnerships with Bumble, Sofar Sounds, Deep Eddy Vodka, SassClass and more. 

Brave does all this and is still somehow only 4’11? What a crime.