KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) Excerpts from various sources, including KPFA, of Philip K. Dick discussing his career, his books, and his life, originally created as a memorial program by Richard Wollnsky, Richard A. Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson in the spring of 1982. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

When science fiction writer Philip K. Dick died of a stroke on March 2, 1982 at the age of 53, most of the literary world shrugged and the entertainment world barely took notice. The film Blade Runner, based on his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, was still a few months from its release.

Today, IMDb lists nearly fifty adaptations for film, TV and other media, which includes twelve feature films and a handful of television series, from Total Recall to A Scanner Darkly to Minority Report to The Man in the High Castle and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.

The science fiction world, though, knew it had lost one of the all time greats. Between the time the KPFA show Probabilities started in the February of 1977 until Phil Dick’s death five years later, Dick Lupoff, Lawrence Davidson, and Richard Wolinsky never did get a chance to fully interview him for the program, though over the years they’d collected several excerpts to use in a two-part memorial program  which was aired some time in the spring of 1982.

The show consisted of commentary and explanations from all three of us interspersed with these excerpts. As is pointed out a couple of times in the program, the sound quality of the excerpts is very uneven, and even with digital tweaking, some of it may be unintelligible.  This is the two-part show that originally aired, minus a few musical segments along with an outro from part one, and intro and outro from part two. The program was never rebroadcast, and the cassette sat in a closet for the next forty years, until it was digitized, remastered and edited in 2023. Complete 47-minute recording.

Alan Furst, historical spy novelist, discussing his career,  in a short excerpt from an interview recorded in 2014 while he was on tour for Midnight in Europe. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Complete 41-minute interview.

Alan Furst Wikipedia page.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 4, 2023 – Philip K. Dick – Alan Furst appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Don Winslow, author of “City of Dreams,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on April 12, 2023

Don Winslow is the author of 22 novels, many of which focus on crime and the criminal underworld, including The Cartel, The Force, Savages (which became an Oliver Stone film), and The Border. His latest novel,  “City of Dreams”, continues the saga of “City on Fire,” which told of a mob war using as a template the story of the Trojan War, The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and other works. In this latest novel, we follow the character of Danny Ryan, (Aeneas) as he finds himself in Hollywood, and falling in love with one of filmdom’s biggest stars, which tells the story of Aeneas and Dido, with forays into the Odyssey and the greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Europides.  The third volume, which shifts the locale to Las Vegas, is scheduled to be published in April, 2024. Don Winslow has stated that these will be his final novels.

Don Winslow also produces political videos aimed at saving the American democracy from insurrectionists and fascists, and is a vital force on Twitter.

Complete Interview. Photos: Richard Wolinsky.

Norah Piehl, who is the Director of Literary Programs at the Bay Area Book Festival, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

The Bay Area Book Festival is in its 9th season and runs Saturday and Sunday May 6th and 7th in various venues around Berkeley, including the Berkeley Public Library and Freight & Salvage. Among the guests are singer and activist Joan Baez, novelist and cyber-expert Cory Doctorow, playwright V (Eve Ensler), historian Adam Hochschild, and novelists Dave Eggars and Jane Smiley.

Norah Piehl has been the Director of LIterary Programs since November, 2021 and before that served as the Executive Director of the Boston Book Festival. She is a freelance writer, and the author of a series of books titled “Social Issues Firsthand.

Complete 30-minute interview

Website for the Bay Area Book Festival.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Standard Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 27, 2023: Don Winslow – Norah Piehl appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Gemma Whelan, whose latest novel is titled “Painting Through The Dark,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on April 5, 2023.

‘Painting Through the Dark” concerns a young ex-nun in Ireland, Ashling, who comes to America in 1981, specifically San Francisco, in order to get away from her family and from the control of the Catholic Church in Ireland. A dedicated painter, after spending time attempting to get a job at a local gallery, she takes a position with a family in a rural home outside Mendocino.

This is Gemma Whelan’s second novel. Her first, “Fiona: Stolen Child,” was published in 2011. Gemma is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and educator. She was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Area, and of Corrib Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Her short film The Wake was the winner of the Silver Knight Award at the Golden Knight Film Festival, Malta; her feature screenplay Eye of the Storm won the Robert and Ellen Little Screenwriting Award; and her screenplay Wedding Bells won the American Gem Short Screenplay award and was optioned by Fox Broadcasting.

Russell Banks (1940-2023), who died on January 7, 2023, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios on November 11, 2004 while on tour for his novel, The Darling.

Russell Banks, who died on January 7th, 2023 at the age of 82 was a master of long and short form fiction. In a career that began in 1975 and continued to his death, there were 14 novels, six collections of short stories, two volumes of poetry, and three works of non-fiction. Among his novels were Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both of which became critically acclaimed films, plus Continental Drift and Cloudsplitter. His most recent novel, The Magic Kingdom, was published in 2022. This is the second of two interviews and has not been heard in almost two decades. 2000 Interview with Russell Banks.

Review of “English” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through May 7, 2023 and “Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2” at ACT’s Strand Theatre through May 7, 2023.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Standard Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 20, 2023 – Gemma Whelan – Russell Banks appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Jason Graae discusses his latest show, “Faith Prince and Jason Graae,” which will be at Feinsteins at the Nikko, April 14-April 15, along with his early career on Broadway and elsewhere with host Richard Wolinsky. Recorded April 10, 2023 on zencastr.

Jason Graae has appeared on Broadway in A Grand Night for Singing, Falsettos, Stardust, and Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? and off-Broadway in several shows, including the original cast of Forever Plaid.  He’s appeared on television as a guest on Frasier, Friends, China Beach and other shows, and has appeared innumerable times in various concerts. He has also sung on over 45 CDs, including reconstructions of several musicals of the 1920s through 1940s.

Jason Graae has performed several times with both 42nd Street Moon and Musical Theatre West, and along with various benefit concerts for Moon, he appeared on “Scrooge in Love” on the Gateway Theatre stage in late 2019. Complete Interview.

Jason Graae website.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Standard Time.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 13, 2023: Jason Graae appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Donald Spoto (1941-2023), noted biographer,  in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 18, 1997 while on tour for “Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman.”

The legendary biographer Donald Spoto died on February 11th, 2023 at the age of 81. Among his works were biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Marlene Dietrich, Tennessee Williams, Lawrence Olivier, the House of Windsor, James Dean and several others.

This is the first of three interviews about his subjects and about the art of biography. The second interview was conducted a year later for The Hidden Jesus: A New Life. The third and final interview was recorded in 2000 for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, A Life. Later biographies focused on Francis of Assisi, Alan Bates, Grace Kelly and the Redgraves. His final biography, published in 2016 focused on the life of actress Teresa Wright.

Digitized, remastered and edited on April 1, 2023. This interview has not been heard since its original 1997 broadcast. Complete Interview

Justine Bateman, actress and director, author of “Fame: The Hijacking of Reality,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Green Apple Books on the Park on San Francisco on October 27, 2018.

Justine Bateman jump-started her career at the age of sixteen with the role of Mallory in the hit television show “Family Ties.” She went on to other television shows, films and stage presentations before turning to directing and getting university degrees after she turned forty. Her book “Fame” details, from personal experience, what it’s like to be famous at an early age, how one deals with fame, and how a member of the public deals with a famous person. She details the ups and downs of fame, from the first time fans take notice to the later times, when nobody takes notice. Her first film as writer/director is Violet, released in 2021, which can be found on the free library app, Kanopy. Complete Interview.

Review of “The Triumph of Love” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through April 23, 2023.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Standard Time.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 6, 2023: Donald Spoto – Justine Bateman appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Rebecca Makkai, whose latest novel is “I Have Some Questions for You,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Rebecca Makkai is the author of three earlier novels, The Great Believers, The Hundred Year House and The Borrowers, and one collection of stories, Music for Wartime.

This latest novel is a mystery of sorts that takes place in a New England boarding school and involves a murder that took place twenty years earlier, a murder in which an athletic coach was arrested and convicted, but likely isn’t the guilty party.

In this fast-paced book, Rebecca Makkai takes on the Me Too movement, misogyny in high school, true crime podcasts, and hidden abuse.

The interview was recorded on March 2, 2023 at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.

John Sayles discusses his latest novel, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey,” along with his work as a writer and film-maker, with host Richard Wolinsky. Part Two

John Sayles is best known for his work as a director, screenwriter and actor, though this is his sixth novel. Among the films he directed are Lone Star, Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, The Brother from Another Planet, Baby It’s You and Passion Fish. His acting credits include small roles in several films, and he wrote the screenplay for the films he directed.

His novel “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey” follows the characters of Jamie, a Scotsman captured by the English after the Battle of Culloden, and Jenny, another captured refugee from Scotland, as they make their way to the New World, Jamie winding up in a Native American village and Jenny moving from the Caribbean to Quebec, both of them involved in the French and Indian Wars.

Recorded March 1, 2023 at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the staff at the bookstore. Part One aired last week.

Complete 45-minute Interview.

Review of “Merrily We Roll Along” at 42nd Street Moon Gateway Theatre through April 9, 2023.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Standard Time.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/ Artwaves March 30, 2023: Rebecca Makkai – John Sayles appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

John Sayles discusses his latest novel, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey,” along with his work as a writer and film-maker, with host Richard Wolinsky. Part One.

John Sayles is best known for his work as a director, screenwriter and actor, though this is his sixth novel. Among the films he directed are Lone Star, Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, The Brother from Another Planet, Baby It’s You and Passion Fish. His acting credits include small roles in several films, and he wrote the screenplay for the films he directed.

His novel “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey” follows the characters of Jamie, a Scotsman captured by the English after the Battle of Culloden, and Jenny, another captured refugee from Scotland, as they make their way to the New World, Jamie winding up in a Native American village and Jenny moving from the Caribbean to Quebec, both of them involved in the French and Indian Wars.  Photos: Richard Wolinsky.

Recorded March 1, 2023 at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the staff at the bookstore. Part Two airs next week.

Complete 45-minute Interview.

Nora Ephron (1941-2012) in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 21, 2010 in the KPFA studios, while on tour for her book, “I Remember Nothing.”

Known as one of the finest screenplay writers Hollywood ever saw, she is best known for such films as Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, and Sleepless in Seattle. Her final film was Julie & Julia. A playwright and essayist, her influence is still felt in the entertainment business. Complete Interview.

Review of “Cambodian Rock Band” at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre through April 2, 2023.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. All times Pacific Standard Time.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/ Artwaves March 23, 2023: John Sayles – Nora Ephron appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Joe Ngo, who plays the role of Chum, the father, in “Cambodian Rock Band,” by Lauren Yee, and won an Obie for his performance at the Signature Theatre in New York, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Joe Ngo is an actor and musician, and has been performing in “Cambodian Rock Band” since its origins at the Ground Floor, Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work in 2016 before moving on to Houston and New York. Previously he acted in regional theatre in both “King of the Yees” and “Viet Gone,” as well as other plays.

In the interview, he discusses how “Cambodian Rock Band” evolved, his own development as a musician, his relationship to the material in the show — both his parents lived through the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields era in Cambodia before migrating to America — and his career as an actor.  Photos: Berkeley Rep; Joe Ngo. Recorded via zencastr due to ongoing Covid protocols on March 8, 2023.

Complete 42-minute interview.

Jesse Green, New York Times theatre critic, and co-author of “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

In this brief previously unaired excerpt from an interview recorded on September 8, 2022, Jesse Green discusses Mary Rodgers’ greatest feature, working on theatre reviews, the current state of Broadway theatre, and his view on the new Editor in Chief of the New York Times.

Complete 48-minute interview.

Review of “Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” at TheatreWorks Lucie Stern Theatre through April 2, 2023.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. All times Pacific Standard Time.

Book Stores

Live Theater Companies

Misc. Listings:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/ Artwaves March 16, 2023: Joe Ngo – Jesse Green appeared first on KPFA.