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In a 1984 interview Lawrence Ferlinghetti talks about  The beginning of the beat poets/writers and witnessing Reagan's global political agenda (Iran/Contra etc)  causing a "Harvest of Hate" around the world. Even how he saw the opportunity to experience America on the road as Kerouac did as vanishing Below are excerpts from the interview. 

"Kerouac's guru, his really big hero, as far as writers go was Thomas Wolfe. And that's what Kerouac and I had in common.  Thomas Wolfe's book,  Look Homeward Angel, a book for, out of the 1930s, was a direct inspiration for both of us and, it's a vision of America very similar to Kerouac's, except it's a 1930s, a 1920s vision of America. In Look, Homeward Angel, the hero sees America from the window, from a speeding train window, whereas in Kerouac, on the road, it's from a speeding automobile window." 
"And it's an America that no longer exists except in the small,  dusty, old Greyhound bus stations in small, lost towns out in middle America. 

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No one is better suited to tell The Mountain Queen-The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa's story than director Lucy Walker, who specializes in documenting people overcoming tremendous odds. Her previous works include Blindsight, the story of six blind  teenagers from Nepal that were led to the summit of Lhakpa Ri, a 23,000 ft peak on the north side of Everest by legendary blind mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer. Blind children in Nepal are often seen as possessed by demons so this climb transforms their self image and their horizons. Lucy also directed the Academy Award-nominated and Sundance-winning The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom, which follows those devastated by the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan as they recover, repair and prepare for The Cherry Blossom Festival.
Read full article about filming Mountain Queen here https://splashmags.com/index.php/2024/07/mountain-queen-the-summits-of-lhakpa-sherpa/#gsc.tab=0

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Anne Rice describes the purpose and process of writing Feast of All Saints,"I had been doing research for that novel for about ten years.  I started it long before I did Interview with the Vampire, which was really the first work that I had published. What I was trying to do there, more than bring to life the free colored community that had existed in the 1840s. Before the Civil War is when they really had the identity, and that's what I wanted to write about in Feast of All Saints, when they had a whole society that was their own. Included in their community was the inventors of daguerreotype. a famous colored inventor that worked out a process for refining sugar. There were colored painters, there were colored sculptors who were famous for doing beautiful sculptures that was in the graveyards of New Orleans . There was one very famous colored playwright, Victor Sejour, that went to Paris and scored many successes in Paris."  Most importantly she says that she wanted to talk about them as people first and free people of color second. To that end, Anne Rice profiles Marcel who grew up thinking his life had no limits and battled forces within and outside of his community to live the life he wanted.  She also describes what The Feast of All Saints Day represents for those in New Orleans.
Interview was conducted in 1980 in her Victorian near 18th and Castro in San Francisco. She was full of insights, humor and warmth.

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Anne Rice  talks about creating Interview With A Vampire from the idea to the book.  Raised in a fertile breeding ground for fantasy and horror, Anne Rice , was schooled by the local legends and graveyards of New Orleans.   She highlights the different aspects of New Orleans culture from spending afternoons picnicking in graveyards to melange of cultures French, Caribbean and southern.  She ends by recounting some of the most horrific and disturbing legends, some like Madame LaLaurie (who was a real character) which was dramatized  in the movie Coven with Kathy Bates
The interview was conducted in 1980 (when I was young) in her Victorian house near 18th and Castro in San Francisco.  Ground zero for those who were being labeled as outsiders and carriers of a plague. I found her courageous...and someone to whom laughing or smiling was as natural as breathing.

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Paquito's story from childhood who followed his virtuoso father into playing and composing Latin, Jazz and Classical.  His lifetime of musical partnership and friendships with Chucho Valdes, Dizzy Gillespie, Daniel Ponce, Arturo Sandoval and other musical greats.He pays tribute to bandmates from Irakere, Orquesta Cubana and other bands. 00:00 My father was saxophone virtuoso plays classical music 00:26 Father brought home Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall 1938 - "It changed my life" --------- 01:00 Irakere and Chucho Valdes --------- 01:55 Mariel dedicated to those in the "boat lift", 03:12 The best percussionists - Daniel Ponce 06:15 Recording and playing with Toots Thielemans ----09:37 "Dizzy is my Godfather- a great support in my career "Manteca plays in background. 

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Wayne Shorter took a huge musical and spiritual leap forward with Atlantis, his first recording as a leader after an11 year hiatus. 00:33 He talks about the collaboration and creation with the artists he recorded it with  and how it transcended the norms for composition something he was criticized for in music class, 01:19 "You mix musical styles,apples and oranges.  Stick to the lesson plan.". 02:25 Then he talks about how he was moved toward the concept of Atlantis itself.  05:45 He describes his musical partnership and friendship with Milton Nascimento and Elis Regina.  09:00 He then talks about Lonette McKee, Maxine Sullivan and acting and playing in the movie Round Midnight with the likes of Herbie Hancock (who won an Oscar for his composition) and  Dexter Gordon (who was nominated for an Oscar for his acting performance). 12:10 Finally his hope for a brighter future he did not live to see.  All images of Atlantis created with Adobe Photoshop/Firefly.
Please excuse my excited utterances. I was young and in the presence of greatness.

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In 1997 Clark Terry was originally scheduled to perform on live and on record with Jon Hendricks.  When Clark Terry was too ill to perform Wynton offered his services. 01:17 When Jon said I can't pay you near your kind of money.  Wynton said, "Mr Hendricks do me a favor..when we talk.. NEVER  mention money to me.  It'll be my pleasure and my honor to be on the same bandstand as you."
2:00 "Wynton we gotta do this scat number and Wynton said, "No no Mr Hendricks I don't do that!" 02:35 Wynton makes his scat singing debut (against his will).  03:13 Jon Hendricks,"All jazz instrumentalists can scat."

All B&W photos by Bob Hershon

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Interview conducted  44 years ago in SF---00:00 Despite playing with DexterGordon, John Coltrane, Roland Kirk and Sonny Simmons still unknown.00:48 Interview begins--why more women don't pick the instrument up and obstacles when they do. 01:59 Playing an instrument is a gift it has nothing to do with who or what you are 02:53  "Everything is separating. That's why I call my group unity.  We could all learn from each other." Things have changed now but at the time she was breaking new ground for others to follow.  Unfortunately around 20 years later in 1998 her career was cut short by a series of strokes.  Unable to play live, she spent her last years in an assisted living facility in Olympia Washington.

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(1984) Mr. T Talks about his books and what he wants to pass on to kids. Grew up in The Robert Taylor Housing Project. In the 1990's your chance of  being a victim of violent crime there was 1 in 10. https://bit.ly/ChicagoGangHistoryRobertTaylorHomes . But he found a way out, a way to excel. Mr. T starts the interview what he wants for kids
 In the interview he talks about his book The Be Somebody Kid and he wrote to tell kids to hold their head up and not be ashamed of being poor. 


 "Success is getting a kid off drugs, off the corner and, back in school, back to loving his parents.  Then that book is a success to me. You are in the spotlight so what you do will influence kids. 

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