Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast

Rabbi Phil Cohen, author of Nick Bones Underground (affiliate link), a “a thought-provoking wild ride through a dystopian New York City,” is the guest on this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast. Cohen’s book was named a finalist in the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards in the Debut Novel category. Nick Bones Underground, the first of a planned trilogy, takes the reader on a fast-paced journey filled with colorful and eccentric characters both human and artificial.

Nick Bones Underground is available at Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.  For more information visit philmcohen.com.

About the Guest

Rabbi Phil Cohen, Ph.D., received his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.  He earned a Ph.D. in Jewish thought from Brandeis University, and Master of Fine Arts degree from Spalding University in Louisville. Rabbi Cohen is married to Betsy Gamburg and is Elly’s, and Talia’s father, and Ava Ruth’s saba. He is a strong advocate of Israel, loves theology, Bible, Jewish History, exploring interfaith relations, and reading and writing fiction. Rabbi Cohen resides in Greensboro, NC, with Betsy and Maggy, their rescued greyhound, and travels regularly to Albany, GA, where he serves as rabbi for Temple B’nai Israel.

Our guest on this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast is Joan Mellen, professor emeritus of literature and creative writing at Temple University. Joan is author of Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty about how the US government and Israel concealed the true nature of what was described as an accidental attack on the USS Liberty, an electronic surveillance ship, off the coast of Egypt at the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

You can purchase a copy of Joan’s book through Amazon (affiliate link).

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JOAN MELLEN is a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is the author of twenty-four books, ranging from film criticism to fiction, sports, true crime, Latin American studies and biography. Her early work was about the cinema. Her “Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film” published in 1974, was a landmark work in feminist studies. Larry McMurtry pronounced it “brilliant” in his “Washington Post” review. Her study of the image of women in film was followed by the companion study, “Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Cinema.” Her book about “The Battle of Algiers,” written in 1972, has been quoted widely in connection with the events of 9/11.

In 1972, she was awarded a prize by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper organization in Japan. This led her to write five books about Japan, including “The Waves at Genji’s Door: Japan through Its Cinema,” 1976. Her 1981 novel, “Natural Tendencies,” is set in Japan. More recently, she has written two books about Japanese film for the British Film Institute, “Seven Samurai” (2002) and “In the Realm of the Senses” (2004).

She is also a biographer. Both “Kay Boyle: Author of Herself” (1994) and “Hellman and Hammett” (1996) were “New York Times” Notable Books of the year. “Hellman and Hammett” was also a finalist for the “Los Angeles Times” book prize.

She has written for a variety of publications such as the “New York Times,” the “Los Angeles Times,” and the “Philadelphia Inquirer, including the “Baltimore Sun” where she is a frequent contributor. She has also lectured widely at universities and festivals, including, twice at the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors and, most recently, during the summer of 2005 at the Shaw festival in Niagara-On-The-Lake.

In 2004, she was awarded one of Temple University’s coveted “Great Teacher” awards for outstanding achievement, in particular in the graduate program in creative writing.

Joan Mellen lives in Pennington, New Jersey.

On this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we chat with Texas-based author Terry Beck, whose book, A Train of Thoughts: Forty Years Workin’ on the Railroad, is a collection of stories based on Terry’s 40 years of experience working the Santa Fe Railroad.

You can learn more about Terry’s writing on his Facebook page.

He also blogs and you can follow him on Twitter.

Buy Terry’s book here.

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Harry J. Whittinghill survived the hellish Bataan Death March in 1942 and wrote a memoir about it that his children brought to Brookdale Community College History Professor Paul E. Zigo. Zigo, a retired Army officer and founder of Brookdale’s Center for World War II Studies, worked with Drew University History Prof. John McLaughlin and Marie D. Somers, director of communications of the New Jersey World War II Book Club, to bring the memoir to print, as When Men Have to Die.

Zigo spoke with us about the upcoming 75th anniversary of the death march, and the lessons for a new generation from the experiences of the World War II era.

About Paul Zigo

Paul E. Zigo, a history professor, author and military historian, is the founder and director of the World War II Era Studies Institute. He is a graduate of Temple University and the United States Army War College. He authored and edited in 2009 Witnessing History: The Eisenhower Photographs, featuring all the photos of General Dwight D. Eisenhower taken by his personal wartime photographer, Al Meserlin. Zigo was also the executive producer and narrator of the cable network series Triumphant Spirit: America’s World War II Generation Speaks from 2001 to 2004. In 2014, he authored the book, The Longest Walk: The Amazing Story of the 29th Inf. Division on D-Day 6 June 1944. Mr. Zigo is a 30 year veteran of the United States Army, retiring as a Colonel.

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On this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, our guest is Jessica Rhodes, CEO of InterviewConnections.com, a booking agency for people seeking to be guests on podcasts. Jessica is the author of the just-published Rock the Podcast!, a book that describes how to make podcast guest appearances part of your overall marketing strategy for your business, your consulting practice, or your personal brand.

About the Guest

Jessica Rhodes is the founder and CEO of InterviewConnections.com, the premier guest-booking agency for podcasters and guest experts! After starting her own virtual assistant business, Entrepreneur Support Services, Inc., where she got her clients booked for interviews one on one, she realized there was a real need in the podcasting industry for a premier connector of hosts and great guests! In September 2013, Jessica launched Interview Connections, and today she and her team of highly trained and skilled booking agents personally represent both podcast hosts and guest experts. As a team, they book hundreds of interviews every month.

Jessica knows the podcasting industry. She is the host of the hit weekly web TV show, Interview Connections TV where she helps you #ROCKTHEPODCAST from both sides of the mic! Jessica is also the host of Rhodes to Success, a weekly podcast that teaches you strategies for leveraging the power of podcasting both as a guest expert and a host. She is also the co-host of The Podcast Producers with Corey Coates, an audio series about the art and business of podcasting. After just one season, Apple selected The Podcast Producers as a “How to Podcast” show in the iTunes store and the podcast is now part of a course syllabus for a university in Canada.

Jessica is a sought-after speaker on the power of podcast interviews. She speaks regularly at Dream Business Academy and has shared the stage with top podcasters at Podcast Movement, Podcast New England, the Mid-Atlantic Podcast Conference and Podfest.us.

Buy Jessica’s Book through Amazon.com (affiliate link)

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In this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we have a return visit from author Shel Israel, whose latest book with Robert Scoble,

About the Guest

Shel Israel and Robert Scoble have been researching, writing and speaking about technology’s impact on the near-term future together and separately since 2005. They are best known for two critically acclaimed, best-selling tech business books: Naked Conversations (2006), which is credited with explaining the business opportunities in social media; Age of Context (2012), that explained how the convergence of mobile, social media, IoT, data and location technologies, would forever change the relationships between businesses, customers and stakeholdersShel Israel has written six previous books and has contributed to Forbes, Fast Company and BusinessWeek. He has been a keynoted at business and tech conferences on all continents not covered by ice.

This is Shel’s second appearance on the podcast. He previously joined us to discuss Lethal Generosity, his book about how treating your customers with kindness and giving them highly personalized experience, companies will absolutely screw competitive efforts to hijack them.

In this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with Harriet Levin Millan, a creative writing professor at Drexel University, whose first novel, How Fast Can You Run. A novel based on the life of Michael Majok Kuch, will be published October 28 by Harvard Square Editions. Millan is one of the local authors being showcased at the Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill on Tuesday, September 13 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. No tickets are needed for the local author showcase.

At 7:30 p.m., New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner will discuss her new book, a young adult novel. For tickets to Jennifer Weiner, visit katzjcc.org.

How Fast Can you Run is a novel that spans three continents and relates the story of people affected by genocide. This story also includes what happens when its protagonist is resettled in America and faces discrimination. The novel follows five-year-old “Lost Boy” of Sudan Michael Majok Kuch as he gets separated from his mother, escaping their burning village in the middle of the night, to his thousand mile trek, barefoot and naked, across war zones and wilderness, to a series of refugee camps where he lives for the next ten years. In 2000, he, along with approximately 4,000 other unaccompanied minors, is selected for political asylum in the U.S., where he is eager to use America’s resources—internet, telephone and postal services—to continue his search for his mother. His new life in America is not without trauma. He attends high school, and afterwards, a mostly white college, where another student falsely accuses him of sexual assault.

Millan, who holds a MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, is a prizewinning poet and writer. For the past three years, she has brought Drexel undergraduate creative writing  students to the PEN center outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti for a week-long writing trip. She teaches creative writing and directs the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing in the English Department at Drexel University, and she lives outside Philadelphia with her husband.

The Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast continues a special series of interviews featuring local Philadelphia and South Jersey area authors who will be participating in a “meet and greet” event at the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill, NJ on Tuesday, September 13 at 6 p.m.

Steve Lubetkin, host of this podcast, and co-author with Toronto podcaster Donna Papacosta of The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional, will be among the authors signing and selling their books at the event, which also includes a talk by New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner. Tickets for Weiner’s talk are available for purchase at the Katz JCC website. No tickets are required to meet the local authors.

In this program, we chat with Leonard Berman, author of a trilogy of novels. The final book in the trilogy, Old and Full of Days, was published recently. With the completion of the Chernov family trilogy, Len Berman completes a three decade effort to write a fictional story that explores the machinations people employ to survive the harsh realities and sudden conflicts one finds in a world that is often hostile and capricious.  Len Berman’s professional career began as an English, drama, and humanities teacher in New York City in 1961.  By 1969 he was the New Jersey State Consultant in Arts and Humanities.  He continued his twenty-seven years with the New Jersey State Department of Education as a Schools Program Coordinator, retiring in 1996.  His career continues as an educational consultant, as a teacher of Judaica, and as a writer.  He lives with his wife, Toby, in Voorhees, New Jersey.  He has nine brilliant grandchildren.

The Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast supports our Middle Chamber Books store, which is affiliated with Amazon.com. Please order your copies of Len Berman’s books from Amazon using the links below.

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The Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast returns with a special series of interviews featuring local Philadelphia area authors who will be participating in a “meet and greet” event at the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill, NJ on Tuesday, September 13 at 6 p.m.

Steve Lubetkin, host of this podcast, and co-author with Toronto podcaster Donna Papacosta of The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional, will be among the authors signing and selling their books at the event, which also includes a talk by New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner. Tickets for Weiner’s talk are available for purchase at the Katz JCC website. No tickets are required to meet the local authors.

In the first podcast of this series, we chat with Irene Levy Baker, a Philadelphia public relations consultant who spent a decade working in the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her new book, just released this month, is 100 Things to Do in Philadelphia Before You Die (100 Things to Do Before You Die) and features itineraries and sightseeing suggestions for some familiar–and some nontraditional–sights to see on a tourist visit to the City of Brotherly Love. In this interview, Irene shares some of her favorites, and some tips for visiting Philadelphia. Visit her book’s website for a complete list of her upcoming appearances and book signings.

The Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast supports our Middle Chamber Books store, which is affiliated with Amazon.com. Please order your copy of Irene’s book from Amazon using the link below.

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In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we chat with Shel Israel, author, journalist, and “recovering publicist,” whose new book, Lethal Generosity: Contextual Technology and the Competitive Edge, discusses what companies need to do to earn and keep the loyalty of their customers. It completes a trilogy of books that also includes Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers and Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy. Together the three books tell the story of more than a decade of technology-induced changes in the modern workplace.

I first met Shel at the New Communications Forum in 2008, and we later reconnected — by accident — when we found ourselves in Tel Aviv at the same time in 2011.

You can read more about that encounter in my December 2011 “CompuSchmooze” column about the ability of social media to make connections even when people are travelling far from home.

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