KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Maria Semple, author of the novel “Today Will be Different,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Author of the best-selling novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” Maria Semple’s latest novel is a comic look at a day in the life of a wife and mother, dealing with the kinds of issues we all deal with, and trying to be better.

Maria Semple has a long history in the entertainment field. Her father, Lorenzo Semple Jr. created the 1960’s Batman TV series and wrote the screenplay for several films, including Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View. Maria Semple took after her father, and was in the writers’ room for several TV shows, including Ellen, Suddenly Susan (for which she was show runner), Beverly Hills 90210 and Arrested Development. “Today Will Be Different” is her third novel. Rebroadcast from February, 2017.

Maria Semple website [1]

An extended 42-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast [2].

[1] http://www.mariasemple.com/

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/maria-semple/

Loretta Greco, Artistic Director of the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Entering her tenth year as Artistic Director of the Magic at Fort Mason Center, Loretta Greco is directing "The Eva Trilogy" by Barbara Hammond, three related one-act plays, in performance through November 12, 2017.

In this interview she discusses these plays and the rest of the Magic season, as well as directing at different theaters. An extended version of this interview can be found as a Bay Area Theatre podcast.

Magic Theatre website [1]

 

 

Weekly theatre review: Imaginary Comforts, or The Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit by Daniel Handler, directed by Tony Taccone, at Berkeley Rep through November 19th.

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[1] http://magictheatre.org/

Jonathan Moscone, Chief of Civic Engagement at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and former Artistic Director, California Shakespeare Theatre, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

On Saturday, October 28th, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco is presenting the YBCA 100 Summit, based on "an annual compilation of the creative minds that inspire YBCA. The list celebrates thought leaders, provocateurs, and innovators who are using their platform to create cultural movement." The program starts at 12:30 pm and continues into the evening. For more information, go to ybca.org [1]

An estended version of this interview can be found as a Bay Area Theater podcast. [2]

[1] https://www.ybca.org/

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/interview-jonathan-moscone-yerba-buena-center-arts/

Susan Vreeland, who died on August 23, 2017 at the age of 71, was the best-selling author of several novels, most of them concerning the field of painting --- beginning with her second book, "Girl in Hyacinth Blue", which focused on a work of the Dutch artist Vermeer. A high school English teacher for many years, she was past forty when she published her first novel, "What Love Sees". After the Vermeer book in 1999, she went on to write six more works of fiction over the course of the next fifteen years.

Richard Wolinsky interviewed Susan Vreeland on January 24, 2002, when she was on tour for her third novel, "The Passion of Artemisia," about the female baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

Susan Vreeland’s later books included "The Forest Lover," about the Canadian painter Emily Carr, and e linked short story collection focusing on the French impressionists, "Life Studies."  Her final novel, 'Lisette’s List,' was published in 2014. Set in the south of France during world war II, it features as characters Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" became a made for television film, "Brush with Paint" starring Ellen Burstyn and Glenn Close.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

Also: Review of "Barbecue" at San Francisco Playhouse.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/susan-vreeland-1946-2017/

Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded April 1, 2015 at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California, while he was on tour for his latest novel, "The Buried Giant."

Over the past two decades, Kazuo Ishiguro has come to be regarded as one of the titans of modern literature. Author of such novels as "Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go," he was born in Japan but grew up in Britain, and his sensibility as an author lies somewhere between the two cultures. On winning the Nobel, he said,

"It's a magnificent honour, mainly because it means that I'm in the footsteps of the greatest authors that have lived, so that's a terrific commendation. The world is in a very uncertain moment and I would hope all the Nobel Prizes would be a force for something positive in the world as it is at the moment. I'll be deeply moved if I could in some way be part of some sort of climate this year in contributing to some sort of positive atmosphere at a very uncertain time."

Note: Program begins after Wine Country fire headlines.

Extended 43-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/kazuo-ishiguro-2015/

[caption id="attachment_272023" align="alignleft" width="370"] Lillian Ross and William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker.[/caption]

Lillian Ross (1918-2017), in conversation in June, 2002 with host Richard Wolinsky.

Lillian Ross, who died on September 20, 2017 at the age of 99, spent seven decades as a staff writer for the New Yorker Magazine, beginning in 1945. Writing for the Talk of the Town section of the magazine, her credo was “Your attention at all times should be on your subject, not on you. Do not call attention to yourself.” In 1950, her profile of Ernest Hemingway, according to the New York Times, elevated her into the top ranks of New Yorker stylists. Using novelistic techniques for writing non-fiction, she is often credited as the primary influence of what came to be called “new journalism” as exemplified in her series of articles about the making of the John Huston film, The Red Badge of Courage, which were collected in the book, Picture, often called the best book ever written about Hollywood. She spent several years as the mistress of long-time New Yorker editor Willliam Shawn, as chronicled in her book Here But Not Here, from 1998.

This interview with Lillian Ross took place on June 4, 2002 on the publication of her book, “Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism.” An extended version can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

Also: Review of "How I Learned to Drive" at Custom Made in San Francisco through June 14th.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/lillian-ross-1918-2017/

Taylor Mac, playwright/performer, "A 24 Decade History of Popular Music," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Taylor Mac is a playwright, actor, performance artist whose latest work is performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco over four six-hour performances Sept. 15th and 17th, and 22nd and 24th and in a three-hour abbreviated version on Sept. 27th at Stanford University. Wearing wild costumes and singing hundreds of songs, Taylor Mac takes the audience for a ride in order to open their eyes to America  and unpack the hidden meanings of the country's most popular songs, decade by decade. It's an audacious work, coming to San Francisco after rave reviews in New York, and a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Theater.

Taylor Mac has written several successful plays, two of which, "Hir" and "The Lily's Revenge" recently played at San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

Curran website

Taylor Mac website [1]

Stanford Live website [2]

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Bay Area Theater podcast. [3]

Also on this program: A review of "Luna Gale" at the Aurora in Berkeley through October 1, 2017.

[1] http://www.taylormac.org/

[2] https://live.stanford.edu/calendar/september-2017/24-decade-history-popular-music-abridged

[3] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/interview-taylor-mac-24-decade-history-popular-music-curran/

Christina Augello is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Fringe Festival, which runs September 8-23 at one of the three venues in the Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy St. in San Francisco. She is also the Artistic Director of the Exit, which has its own schedule. Christine Augello is a solo performance artist who works the Fringe circuit when she's not at home producing plays. She talks about the Festival, the history of Fringe, her own life story and other matters with host Richard Wolinsky.

San Francisco Fringe website [1]

Exit Theatre website [2]

[1] http://www.sffringe.org/

[2] http://www.theexit.org/

Gore Vidal, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded on October 5, 2000 in San Francisco, California. Conclusion of two parts.

Over a period of sixteen years from 1990 to 2006, Richard Wolinsky conducted four interviews with Gore Vidal, two of which involved co-host Richard A. Lupoff. This is the third chronologically of those interviews, conducted on October 5, 2000 while Gore Vidal was on tour for his novel The Golden Age, the final in his series of seven novels exploring American history and titled “Narratives of Empire.” The other novels in the series are Burr, 1876, Lincoln, Empire, Hollywood and Washington D.C.

This conversation mostly concerns the period of The Golden Age, which encompasses the World War II and post-war era, focusing on the war itself, Roosevelt and Truman, Stalin, and the institution of the Cold War and the National Security State. The interview also tackles the Bush v Gore election season, and was conducted a month before Election Day.

Digitized, remastered and re-edited in August, 2017 by Richard Wolinsky.

The complete interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/gore-vidal-2000-golden-age/

Gore Vidal, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded on October 5, 2000 in San Francisco, California. Part One of two parts.

Over a period of sixteen years from 1990 to 2006, Richard Wolinsky conducted four interviews with Gore Vidal, two of which involved co-host Richard A. Lupoff. This is the third chronologically of those interviews, conducted on October 5, 2000 while Gore Vidal was on tour for his novel The Golden Age, the final in his series of seven novels exploring American history and titled “Narratives of Empire.” The other novels in the series are Burr, 1876, Lincoln, Empire, Hollywood and Washington D.C.

This conversation mostly concerns the period of The Golden Age, which encompasses the World War II and post-war era, focusing on the war itself, Roosevelt and Truman, Stalin, and the institution of the Cold War and the National Security State. The interview also tackles the Bush v Gore election season, and was conducted a month before Election Day.

Digitized, remastered and re-edited in August, 2017 by Richard Wolinsky.

The complete interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/gore-vidal-2000-golden-age/