So Important: The Interview Podcast!

Hello friends! It's been a busy time so I apologize in the lag since our last episode...but here we are, back and fresh as ever, with my GREAT conversation with Michelle Dresbold, who is one of the world's preeminent handwriting analysts. We talk about her important work supporting law enforcement, her upcoming book, and many other aspects of her fascinating career. And...well she even analyzes me! 

Michelle has an extraordinary website - you can really experience the full breadth of her work there and it's highly recommended. And we talked about her book, Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, on the show - and you can find it right here on Amazon!

We had a lot of fun chatting, and I hope you enjoy the episode as well - and as always, if you have a minute to drop a few stars and a favorable review on Apple Podcasts, it's very appreciated!

Hello friends, and welcome to this episode of So Important: The Interview Podcast! We're talking today with Esman Kurum, an authority on the cinematography of film noir - the seedy and fatalistic movies that, during the 1940s and 1950s, were often exceptionally beautiful and expressive, with great care and attention to "painting with light," in the words of the great film noir cinematographer John Alton. We talk about Alton and the great cinematography associated with the genre, but we also talk about the music, the characters, the unique storytelling - all the things that made these movies so special. 

Esman joined me from Paris and we had so much fun discussing the aesthetics of film noir - and I learned a lot! Check out his blog and enjoy our conversation, and I'll see you soon with a new episode! And of course, don't forget to drop in on I-Tunes and give a little rating and review - it's really appreciated!

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special - and very personally meaningful - episode of So Important: The Interview Podcast. This is the compelling, and in the end uplifting, story of Dr. Yolanda Avram Willis, who survived the Holocaust during World War II, in Greece. The story of the Holocaust in Greece is not as familiar as the story in other parts of Europe. But in fact, almost all of the Jewish population of that country was wiped out. This is the remarkable story of how Yolanda survived, thanks to the ingenuity of her father, and the many Christian Greeks who helped the family. 

I have known Yolanda for decades and I am so glad finally to have the chance to help tell her story. I am joined by her eldest son, Mr. Marty Willis, whom I have known since the 1960s; and because we were fortunate to have Yolanda visit my Temple in 2018 and tell her story, we are able to intersperse excerpts of her talk into the conversation.

Yolanda told her story in a 2017  book entitled A Hidden Child In Greece: Rescue in the Holocaust. It is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other fine booksellers. It's a compelling read and highly recommended!

Thank you Yolanda for sharing your story, and thank you Marty for your great insights and for all your help in making this happen. And special shout out to Aaron Zitner, who recorded Yolanda's talk in 2018. 

See you soon and if you find the episode to be special, please give the show a rating and good review on Apple Music. Thanks! 

Hello friends!

We're back with the great Steve Hackett, member of Genesis during that band's classic era in the 1970s, creator of well over 25 solo albums, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to discuss A Genesis In My Bed, his long-anticipated autobiography that was almost a decade in the making. Steve talks about what led him to the guitar, his time in Genesis, his prodigious career as a solo performer, and lessons learned from a unique and fascinating life. And I'm happy to report, much improved sound from last time!

Steve's book will be published in July, but you can pre-order it here. It's also available for pre-order on Amazon.

The book is a good one! And thanks to Steve and his U.S. promotion company, Chipster PR, for all their help in making this interview possible. 

Enjoy! New episode soon!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A trailblazer; an exuberant and charismatic performer from the 1930s all the way to the 1970s; and a wicked electric guitar player. This amazing woman was raised in, and remained loyal to, her gospel roots throughout her entire life and career; yet she took the secular music world by storm in the 1950s - and had a major, and largely under appreciated, influence on the birth of rock and roll itself. This is her amazing story, as told by the author of the great Rosetta Tharpe biographer, Dr. Gayle Ward.

Dr. Wald's book, Shout, Sister, Shout: The Untold Story of Rock and Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, is the definitive accounting of the life, music and influence of this truly groundbreaking performer. It's available here on Amazon, and if you want to visit Gayle's informative and entertaining website, you can do so here. The book is a classic, and I can't recommend it enough!

Dr. Wald is a professor of English and the Chair of American Studies of American Studies at George Washington University in Washington, DC. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and I'm sure you will too. Thank you, Gayle, for your great generosity of time and insights!

Hello friends! 

In December, 2019, David Montgomery, Staff Writer for the Washington Post Magazine, wrote an in-depth article on President Trump's proposal for a new branch of the military, to be called the Space Force. In preparing the article,, which can be accessed here, Montgomery evolved from a skeptic over the value of the Space Force to a supporter.

A topic of interest to me personally, I reached out to David to talk about Space Force - how it came about, what it's intended to do, and what the international community might do to promote stability and the peaceful exploration of space. And we talked about the abiding allure of space, and the great men and women dedicated to carrying out the Space Force mission. 

Very grateful to David for his time and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I hope you do too, and see you soon with a brand new episode of So Important: The Interview Podcast!

Hello friends! Who's up for a second episode in a row...about Baseball?? I talked with  Mitchell Nathanson, Professor of Law at Villanova University and the author of numerous books and articles on the subject of baseball, about his new book on the one and only Jim Bouton, whose 1970 book, Ball Four, was a rite of passage for fellas like me! It was a must-read as a kid, known for its honest and very revealing look at the life of a major league baseball player. But it turns out Bouton's significance goes well beyond that - and that's the topic of Mitchell's book.

Mitchell was granted access to Jim's extensive archival material that supported the writing of Ball Four and got to know Jim Bouton and his family personally. The result is a book that will prove to be unique and invaluable, in what it brings to the table about an extraordinary individual.  

You can learn more about Professor Nathanson and his many books and publications on his excellent website, and you can follow Mitchell on twitter at @MitchNathanson. His book can be ordered on Amazon here.  And a tip of the hat to Mitchell - thank you so much for chatting, and I am looking forward to reading Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original!

Hello friends, 

Well, we should be deep into the baseball season by now...but life had other ideas, and here we are approaching May with no start of the season in sight. Not to worry...I've been talking with some TOP NOTCH guests to help fill the void, beginning with one Jeremy Newberger, the CEO of Ironbound Films, who talked with me about his fantastic documentary, Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel. If you haven't seen the documentary yet, you should! It is an uplifting tale of grit, and giving it everything you've got - even when the odds are conspiring against you. 

This is the story of the team that represented Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and who progressed through the tourney well beyond anyone's expectations - except their own. It is the story of how these players bonded through their Jewish heritage, and how they took the Classic by storm when everyone had dismissed them. It's a great story, as only Jeremy Newberger, who directed the film, can tell it - with passion and enthusiasm, and great love and respect for these very human players. 

Big news: The film will be released on DVD in early May - and you can preorder it right here! If you want to learn more about Ironbound Films, make sure you check out their website, and here's the official trailer for the film.

Enjoy the show, PLEASE go to Apple podcasts and give a good review and rating for the series, and I'll see you soon with a new episode! Go Bucs!

Monte

Hello friends and welcome to a new episode of So Important! My guest is Mr. Benny Becker, an investigative reporter focused on issues in the Appalachian region of the United States. Benny is compassionate, thorough, and incisive - as his many stories on the challenges faced by the towns and people of Appalachia bear out. This is the story of Benny's journey, and we also talk about some of Benny's most recent stories. 

It was a great pleasure to speak with Benny, and I urge everyone to read his stories, and spend a few minutes hearing what he has to say. Here's a link to his website, as well as a direct link to his most recent reporting on clean water issues in West Virginia. And here's a nice link to many of Benny's stories. 

I hope you enjoy this episode, and I am grateful to Benny for speaking with me about his fascinating, and important, work. 

See you soon with a new episode of So Important!

Well my friends, I notice that I tend to describe every episode as "very special," but this one is for sure. I talked with legendary Guitarist Steve Hackett, who was the guitar player in Genesis from 1971 to 1977, when they were at the height of their progressive rock powers. There is nothing like the early, pre-pop music of Genesis, and along with Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins (who did ok for himself btw), Michael Rutherford, and Tony Banks, Steve was a big reason why that is the case. He has gone on to record over 25 solo albums and he continues to tour to this day. I saw him and his stellar band a couple nights ago and it was a truly transcendent experience. SEE HIM!

Special thanks to Steve for his time and while the audio quality wasn't quite as good as I would have liked, a number of audio engineers, including David Martin in the DC area and Trebor at the Audacity Windows Forum site, helped significantly to improve it - which I really, really appreciate. Ultimately there was only so much that could be done, but thanks to these guys it came out ok. And special thanks to my wife Nancy, who had to endure my obsessive work on this particular episode!

You will find a number of musical excerpts sprinkled throughout the show. With a musician as accomplished as Steve Hackett, one should look for any opportunity to let the music speak for itself. So, that's what I did. I created a special playlist for those who want to hear each of these songs in their entirety, as well as a few others curated for the show. Here's the link: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56ilQhAtzQI6gDXgYeWKbh?si=-mY7gEQCQ9ePGzNfuyKa5Q

Check out Steve's website, and don't forget to check for tour dates. It's an amazing show and you owe it to yourself to see a true master of the craft in action. 

See you soon with a new episode, and THANK YOU STEVE HACKETT!