KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Joel Selvin, author of  Altamont: The Rolling Stones, The Hells Angels and the Inside Story of Rock’s Darkest Day is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Joel Selvin came to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1972 under the tutelage of John Wasserman, and after Wasserman’s death in 1979, took over music coverage at the newspaper, a stint that lasted until 2009. Joel Selvin has also served as co-author of several books, and sole author of Summer of Love: The Inside Story of LSD, Rock and Roll, Free Love.

The Altamont concert was a free concert given by the Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway in east Contra Costa County on December 6th, 1969. Originally intended to be in Golden Gate Park, it was moved to Sears Point Raceway and then, on short notice, to a dilapidated racetrack in the middle of nowhere. When the dust cleared, a concert goer had been killed before the horrified eyes of Mick Jagger, and rock and roll changed.

This interview was originally heard on KPFA’s Arts-Waves and Bookwaves programs in two parts.

Joel Selvin website

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Bill English, Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse, discusses the 2016-2017 season with host Richard Wollinsky.

In this yearly update, Bill English talks about the process of creating a world premiere, from commission to production, examines the previous and upcoming season at San Francisco Playhouse and talks about the theater as a vehicle for empathy and social change.

San Francisco Playhouse is located at 450 Post Street in San Francisco. The first play of the season is “Seared” by Theresa Rebeck, a world premiere commissioned by the Playhouse, about the battle between art and commerce at an upscale restaurant in Brooklyn.

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Susan Faludi talks with host Richard Wolinsky about her latest book, In The Darkroom, which is about a search for identity … specifically the identity of her father, who moved to Hungary and had a sex-change operation late in his life, and with whom she reconnected. Susan Faludi is the author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women and Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man.

In the interview she discusses transgender issues and their relationship to feminism, the history of Hungarian Jews, her own search for identity, the relationship between transgender issues and photography, and the upcoming national election.

A shorter version of this aired on Bookwaves on KPFA.

Susan Faludi website

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Jonathan Lethem: Live Career Retrospective, hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

On March 3, 2016, Richard Wolinsky had a chance to sit down with author Jonathan Lethem in front of a Berkeley audience as a benefit for KPFA. Jonathan is the author of several novels, including Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Chronic City and most recently Dissident Gardens, along with short story collections and a book of essays, The Ecstasy of Influence. The event was intended as a career retrospective; the first 45 minutes devoted to prepared questions, followed by a period of questions from the audience, with follow-ups.

Jonathan’s collection, Lucky Alan and Other Stories, had just come out in trade paperback.His newest novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy has a release date of October 16, 2016. Special thanks to Bob Baldock, who creates these events, and Jane Heaven, who records them.

A shorter version of this interview airs on Arts-Waves on October 3, 2016.

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Carl Hiaasen, whose latest comic thriller is Razor Girl, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Carl Hiaasen is both a best-selling novelist and a weekly syndicated political columnist for the Miami Herald. Over the past thirty years, he’s been working both sides of the pavement, writing humorous crime novels for adults and young people, and devoting column inches to trenchant examinations of state and national politics. Two of his novels, Strip Tease and Hoot, became films.

On September 11, 2016, Richard Wolinsky had a chance to sit down with Carl Hiaasen just before an event at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California.  The conversation ranged from an in-depth look at writing novels, characterization and the use of Florida issues in  exaggerated form, to the Trump candidacy and the political careers of Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.

Carl Hiaasen’s Sunday columns can be found on the Miami Herald Website (it takes a while to find the most recent columns). You can also check out carlhiaasen.com.

Special Thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the folks at Book Passage Bookstore.

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