Glitter & Doom

Our favorite political expert, Jarrett Murphy, joins MacKenzie in the studio to help us make sense of why congestion pricing has got commuters blowing their lids. Also, 112BK pundit Nick Rizzo, stops by to talk about America’s favorite socialist grandpa, Bernie Sanders.

In our current moment of turmeric tonics and açai everything, can "healthy" cocktails cure what ails you? Amanda Schuster, the senior editor in chief of The Alcohol Professor, joins us to discuss her new book, "New York Cocktails.” And while we’re on the subject, psychic and medium Heather Carlucci drops by to talk about healthy spirits of a different sort.

In 1965, Elektra Records released an LP called Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons. The album featured work songs, blues, spirituals, preachings, and toasts all recorded by the American folklorist and ethnographer Bruce Jackson. The African-American men whose voices appear on the record were serving time, doing hard labor on prison farms, many of which, in a former life, were family-owned plantations worked by slaves. This album is the foundation of a play being mounted by The Wooster Group at St. Ann's Warehouse. "The B-Side" opens on March 1, 2019, and to tell us more we're joined in the studio by director Kate Valk and Eric Berryman, main performer and conceiver of the project. And then, hear from Bruce Jackson himself.

Nearly half of the 40 NYC breweries participating in this year’s Beer Week are based in Brooklyn. We've assembled a few of those Brooklyn brewers today to talk about some of the most pressing issues facing the craft beer industry. Does beer have a race problem? A woman problem? Are breweries still feeling the effects of the government shutdown? How hazy is too hazy? Anne from 5 Boroughs, Kyle from Big Alice, and Katarina from Lineup join us in the studio to weigh in. Then, Joanna Briley and Hollie Harper join us to talk about the Black Women in Comedy Festival.

In the late 70s, two teenage graffiti writers started tagging walls in SoHo and the East Village with SAMO, a shorthand for "same old shit." One of those artists was Al Diaz, and the other was Jean Michel Basquiat. Diaz joins us in the studio to talk about his ongoing contributions to New York's street art scene and the upcoming symposium at BKLYN COMMONS on art, murals and hip hop called Destination Bed-Stuy.

Author Jodie Patterson talks about how raising a transgender child led to her own transformation and her book "The Bold World," where she talks about the transitions made by her whole family, the 60's civil rights movement, intersectional feminism, and the struggle for transgender and gender non-conforming rights. Then, a former Rabbi  who left her cloistered community after coming out as trans joins us to talk about the current policies and political rhetoric around trans rights.

What happens when the owner of an establish doesn’t want their building to be landmarked? The owner of the Stand Bookstore, Nancy Wyden, is worried that if the building that houses the bookstore is granted landmark status, the Stand could get tied up in red tape. Landmarking is seen as a way of protecting important buildings, but who gets to decide what’s worth preserving and what’s not? To tell us more, we’re joined by Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, and Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Then, we talk trash with designers Colin P. Kelly and Brit Kleinman and learn about what might be New York City’s next municipal refuse receptacle.

A new play called “Eddie and Dave” delves into the legendary breakup of Van Halen, but does so with a twist: each member of the group is played by a woman. Playwright and actor Amy Staats (who plays Eddie Van Halen) and actor Megan Hill (who plays David Lee Roth), join us in the studio to tell us more. Then, David Lee Roth famously insured his penis. Wondering how that works? Attorney Alan Levin explains how, exactly, one goes about insuring an appendage.

The challenges of modern dating are often amplified for women and people of color. In a country where Islamophobia is on the rise, Mariam Bahawdory wanted to create an app that not only catered to Muslims looking for love, but specifically put Muslim women in the driver’s seat. Hear from Bahawdory talk about her app, Eshq. Then, learn about a new oral history project that seeks to record and amplify the stories of Brooklyn’s Muslim communities from Brooklyn Historical Society’s Zaheer Ali.

We've come a long way in recognizing that transgender people exist, with trans rights openly discussed on TV, in the news and in the halls of government. But imagine if you didn't have access to mainstream television, movies, or even news. Imagine growing up trans in that environment, and thinking that maybe no one had ever felt what you were feeling. Abby Stein was raised as a boy in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn, and became a rabbi before eventually deciding to leave her closed community and come out as trans.