KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Judd Winick, artist and writer and author of the best-selling graphic novel series, Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth and Hilo: Saving the Whole Wide World, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky,

On October 28th, 2015 Richard Wolinsky interviewed Judd Winick in the studios of KPFA on the publication of the first in Judd’s graphic novel series, Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth. A second book in the series, Hilo: Saving the Whole Wide World was published in May 2016. And a third book, Hilo: The Great Big Boom will be published in February 2017. Both Hilo books have spent time and continue to spend time on the NY Times Hardcover Top Ten Graphic Novels best-seller list.

Judd Winick is a comic book, comic strip and television writer and artist, and gained fame as one of the housemates on perhaps the best-known season of MTV’s The Real World reality television series, set in San Francisco. Since then, he has become a gay rights and AIDS activist, worked on The Green Lantern and Green Arrow comic books, wrote a graphic novel about his friendship with Pedro Zamora, titled Pedro and Me, and created an animated TV series, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee for the Cartoon Network.

Judd is also the recipient of several awards from the American Library Association and GLAAD. He is married to Pam Ling, whom he met and dated during the Real World: San Francisco season.

A shorter version of this interview aired on Arts-Waves on KPFA and Bookwaves via syndication.

Photo & Illustration courtesy Judd Winick. Thanks, Judd.

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Kim Addonizio, author of the new memoir-in essays Bukowski in a Sundress and a new book of poetry, Mortal Trash, talks with host Richard Wolinsky.

Kim Addonizio is the author of six poetry collections, two novels, two story collections, and two books on writing poetry, The Poet’s Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius. She was a National Book Award Finalist for her collection Tell Me. She recently collaborated on a chapbook, The Night Could Go in Either Direction (Slapering Hol Press) with poet Brittany Perham. Addonizio also has two word/music CDs: Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing (with Susan Browne) and My Black Angel, a companion to My Black Angel: Blues Poems & Portraits, featuring woodcuts by Charles D. Jones. She teaches and performs internationally.

Bukowski in a Sundress deals with her life as a writer, including the problems of writers’ block and raising a daughter (Aya Cash, currently star of the TV series You’re The Worst) while maintaining her career as an artist.

A shorter version of this interview aired on the Bookwaves radio program.

Kim Addonizio website.

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The Gershwin Project I: English Strunsky

Back in 1991, after Richard Wolinsky interviewed Deena Rosenberg, author of Fascinating Rhythm, a book about Ira Gershwin’s lyrics, along with Michael Strunsky, trustee for the Ira and Lenore Gershwin Trusts, Richard embarked on a radio documentary on the life and work of George and Ira Gershwin. For a variety of reasons, the documentary never came into existence, but several interviews were recorded along the way.

A chance meeting with Michael Strunsky in late 2015 led to the decision to digitiize, edit and air and post these interviews, now heard for the very first time anywhere. These recordings will eventually find their way to the George and Ira Gershwin Collection in the Library of Congress.

The Gershwin Project Part One: English Strunsky (1908-2003), Michael Strunsky’s father, was Ira Gershwin’s brother-in-law, and was close to both George and Ira, and the Gershwin family, and at the time of this interview, on August 25, 1992, was at the age of 83 one of the last surviving people who personally knew and spent time with George Gershwin. Ira lived until 1983, and his wife, Lenore, English’s sister, died in 1991. English himself would go on to live another eleven years. Sitting in for the interview, though not heard on the recording, was English Strunsky’s wife, Lucy. According to  Michael Strunsky, this is the only extant recording of English Strunsky’s voice, which means this is the only recording of English telling the story of the first performance of “An American in Paris.”

Deena Rosenberg’s excellent book, Fascinating Rhythm, is currently out of print, but obviously there are several biographies of George and Ira Gershwin that you can still find. You can get more information through an internet search, and of course, there’s Wikipedia. Reconstructions of Gershwin shows are available via CD or digitally, as are recordings of George himself, both via piano roll and his radio show. An American in Paris, currently on Broadway, closes on October 2nd, 2016 after over 600 performances. You can contact the various Gershwin trusts by going to Gershwin.com.

Photo of the Gershwin- Strunsky-Paley clan in 1926.

English Strunsky, age 14. is in the back row, right of center. George Gershwin, who organized the photo, is lying down in front.

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Jasson Minadakis, Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Company, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

As Marin Theatre Company enters its 50th season, Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis looks at the upcoming 2016-17 season, and back at the previous season, and discusses the various workings of the company, including how plays are chosen, and what the plays represent. Part of a series of interviews with Bay Area Theater artistic directors.

A shorter version of this interview airs on Arts-Waves on KPFA. Marin Theatre Company is located in Mill Valley. Marin Theatre Company website.

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A Conversation with Justin Cronin, author of the best-selling “The Passage” science fiction fantasy trilogy, hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Justin Cronin was a struggling literary novelist with two books to his credit when he took his young daughter’s advice and began writing The Passage, first book in what would be a trilogy about a viral apocalypse that turns people into zombie vampires, and features a young girl as the heroine. The second and third volumes, The Twelve and The City of Mirrors, continue the story, which not only tells an adventure story, but examines a future of climate change and the changing roles of men and women.

In this in-depth interview, he talks about The City of Mirrors, the latest volume, as well as the writing of the other two, and the political and social ideas which mirror our own world, as well as the task of writing a literary novel disguised as a potboiler.

A shorter version of this interview can be found as a Bookwaves interview.

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A Conversation with Tony Taccone, Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre is one of the country’s leading regional theaters. In this in-depth interview, Artistic Director Tony Taccone talks about the plays that were produced in the 2015-2016 season, and gives a preview of plays coming up in the 2016-2017 season, including his own adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s powerful novel, It Can’t Happen Here.

He also discusses the effects of the new Peets Theatre sound system, along with a look inside how he views audience response to Berkeley Rep shows, and the process of creating a new play through the company’s playwrighting wing, The Ground Floor.

He also discusses the future of two successful productions, Amelie and Aubergine, and some of the work involved in finding plays to produce.

Hosted by Richard Wolinsky and recorded at Berkeley Rep on July 15, 2016.

Currently running at Berkeley Rep: Latin History for Morons starring John Leguizamo, through August 14, 2016.

Berkeley Rep website

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An Interview with Garry Marshall

Garry Marshall died on July 19, 2016 at the age of 81. Over the course of his life, he was a comedy writer, actor, director, and television show-runner, creating shows such as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, and Mork and Mindy, and directing such successful films such as Overboard, Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries and more recently Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve . His last film, released this April, was Mother’s Day. 

Marshall started out as a joke writer for Jack Paar and Joey Bishop, then came to Hollywood and worked on various shows, including I Love Lucy, Make Room for Daddy and The Dick Van Dyke Show, before creating his own programs. He later moved on to films, created his own theater company, and even directed for the Los Angeles Opera.

Richard Wolinsky interviewed Garry Marshall on May 9, 2012 while he was on a book tour for his memoir, co-written with his daughter Lori Marshall, My Happy Days in Hollywood. The interview was recorded at Book Passage Bookstore, in Corte Madera, California.

This interview covers Marshall’s entire career, from his early days in New York to his work in television and film, including in-depth looks at the process of creating film and television.

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A conversation with Jim Obergefell, co-author of Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Jim Obergefell’s husband John in Ohio was dying when he was approached by an attorney who explained that because the state did not recognize gay marriages from other states, Jim’s name would never appear on John’s death certificate. Jim and John both agreed to go for it, and the result, in June 2015 in the case Obergefell v Hodges, the Supreme Court made gay marriage the law of the land. Since then he has become a spokesperson for gay rights around the country.

The book Love Wins, co-written by journalilst Debbie Cenziper, tells the story of the marriage equality case against the backdrop of Jim and John’s relationship, and the relationships of others who also joined the case.

In this compelling discussion, Jim Obergefell talks about the case, about his relationship, and about how his life has changed in the past year.

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 A conversation with Richard Lonsdorf and Edwin Outwater of the San Francisco Symphony, hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Richard Lonsdorf is the programmer and Edwin Outwater the conductor of the San Francisco Symphony’s annual summer series of concerts. In this interview, they talk about the upcoming series of concerts, which focus on popular classical music pieces and orchestral movie soundtracks. They also discuss the acoustics of different venues, how to program a series, what synch’ing a movie to a live orchestra entails, and the future of classical music.

The San Francisco Symphony Summer Series consists of nine programs and twelve concerts, most (though not all) of which are in Davies Hall. More information can be found on the San Francisco Symphony Summer Series webpage.

Edwin Outwater is Music Director of Ontario’s Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS), and regularly guest conducts the Chicago and New World Symphonies. Richard Lonsdorf is the Associate Director of Artistic Planning at the San Francisco Symphony.

A shorter version of this interview was heard on Arts-Waves on KPFA.

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A conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, The Sympathizer. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Viet Thanh Nguyen came over from Vietnam with his family at the time of the fall of Saigon. The Sympathizer is the story of a Communist exile in America following the end of the Vietnam War, both a spy and in some respects, a lover of American culture.

An Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of two non-fiction books, Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America and just published, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, a non-fiction bookend to his novel.

A shorter version of this interview aired on the Bookwaves radio program.

Viet Thanh Nguyen webpage

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