Storybeat with Steve Cuden

Joe Lex retired in 2016 after 45+ years in emergency medicine. He started as a combat medic in Viet Nam and ended as a professor of Emergency Medicine at Temple University 

When he took a tour of Philadelphia’s historic Laurel Hill Cemetery, which was founded in 1836, he realized that the role of a cemetery docent seemed to suit his personality. After a year or so of giving tours, he decided that both cemeteries, Laurel Hill East and West, needed a podcast to talk about their amazing inhabitants. The result was "All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories", followed a couple of years later by "Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories."

Soon, Joe had accumulated hundreds of scripts loaded with biographical and historical information, along with some pretty astounding stories of movers and shakers, artists, authors, entertainers, scholars, educators, healers and givers, among many more. 

After Viet Nam, Joe earned an associate degree in nursing. He later graduated from medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. He subsequently spent 14 years as a community emergency physician before entering academia in 2003. 

He’s been an invited speaker at dozens of national and international meetings of Emergency Physicians. After serving five years as chair of the education committee for the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, its Educator of the Year Award was renamed the "Joe Lex Award." 

And for seven years he was the producer, researcher, and announcer for a weekly radio show on WPPM-Philadelphia.  One of his podcasts is now ranked the Number 1 Philadelphia History Podcast.

Recently, Joe published All Bones Considered: 52 Laurel Hill Women, which I’ve read and found to be a fascinating compendium of amazing women buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, many of whom helped make the United States the remarkable place it has been for so long. I highly recommend it to you.  

Laurie Berkner has been recognized by People Magazine as “the queen of kids’ music.” Laurie’s a singer, songwriter, performer, author, and founder of Two Tomatoes Records. Laurie’s songs have become beloved classics for children worldwide. Her work has received more than 1.7 billion online streams, averaging more than 22 million streams monthly. She’s also amassed more than 578 million YouTube channel views. And her CDs and DVDs have sold in the millions.

A leader and innovator in children’s music and entertainment for the past quarter century, Laurie has released 17 bestselling, award-winning albums. She was the first recording artist ever to perform in music videos on Noggin and Nick, Jr., appearing regularly on Jack's Big Music Show. She helped develop the Universal Kids short-form animated musical preschool series, Sing It, Laurie!  She also created two Laurie Berkner’s Song and Story Kitchen series with Audible Studios, later released as audiobooks.

Laurie’s also authored several picture books based on her songs. I’ve read two of those, Monster Boogie and Pillowland. Like her music, I found her writing to be colorful, energetic, and entertaining in ways that help children perceive, absorb, and live life.

She’s also written the music and lyrics for three Off-Broadway children's musicals: Wanda's Monster, The Amazing Adventures of Harvey and the Princess, and Interstellar Cinderella. And you can catch her in the children’s music documentary, Happy and You Know It, directed by Penny Lane, which is streaming on HBO Max.

Laurie maintains a busy, nationwide touring schedule, both solo and with The Laurie Berkner Band. She’s performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the White House, among many other prestigious venues.  

Please be sure to stick around at the end of the show for a very special treat.  Laurie has generously lent us her wonderfully fun song, “Everyone’s Demanding Bananas,” which you can find on her new tonie, “Harry the Chipmunk’s Treasure Hunt.” You can also find it on Laurie’s album, Walking With The Penguins.

Spade Robinson is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director, with experience that spans feature films, documentaries, TV, commercials, and theater.

Spade is the owner of the full-service production company Spade Ink Media, producing and developing a slate of film, television, and podcast projects.

In 2015, Spade founded Atlanta Film Project to support storytellers more democratically, around the world, with labs, workshops, and bespoke consulting, helping storytellers and companies tell the most compelling versions of their stories.

Spade began curating screenplays, films, and documentary projects during her time at the Sundance Institute, where she worked with the Feature Film Program, Documentary Film Program, and Sundance Film Festival. During that time, she helped hundreds of filmmakers. 

Other companies with whom she’s consulted include: The Sundance Institute, Film Independent, FOX Networks, Disney, and HBO, among others! 

This is Thaao Penghlis’s second time on Storybeat. Among Thaao’s many talents, he’s an actor, writer, director, and podcast creator. If you’re a fan of daytime dramas, then you know Thaao from his more than 40 years of playing Tony DiMera and Andre DiMera on Days of Our Lives and Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem. For his work, he’s been nominated for three Emmy Awards. 

In 1989, he starred as disguise master Nicholas Black on the primetime TV series revival of Mission: Impossible. You may have also seen Thaao in various miniseries and movies like: Sadat, Sydney Sheldon’s Memories of Midnight, Under Siege, Tribe, and in perhaps his most unusual role, Colonel Godowni, the lover of Dame Edna in the cult classic Les Patterson Saves the World. He’s also starred in the films, The Story of Esther, Job’s Daughter, Redeemed, and the short film The Secret of Joy that deals with children experiencing cancer. 

Thaao published his first book, Places, in 2015 to great reviews. It deals with his journeys to the Middle East and the dangers he encountered in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. His second book Seducing Celebrities One Meal at a Time was released in November 2016, and many of his short stories have been published as well. 

Thaao’s lifelong fascination with Archaeology led him to create the podcast series, The Lost Treasures, which is based on Heinrich Schliemann’s discovery of Troy and ‘Mycenaean,’ Greece. 

Most recently, Thaao’s been writing, producing and performing his new podcast, The Great Escape. I’ve listened to the first 3 episodes that have been released and found it to be a riveting dramatization of the story of Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus fleeing capture and certain death by Herod’s forces. 

P. K. Edgewater, a military veteran and doctor of 40 years, is the debut author of the novel Passages: A Voyage From War To Peace, which offers a timely and deeply human perspective on recovery after conflict. The book focuses not just on war itself, but on mental health challenges that follow, like trauma, grief, moral injury, and the difficult work of healing. I’ve read Passages and can tell you it’s a wonderfully well-written exploration of how lives intertwine in unexpected ways, changing our perspectives on life and how we live it, even through deep trauma. P.K.’s vividly drawn tale seems as much like a memoir as it does a fictional story.

P.K. retired in 2020 after a four-decade medical career that included working as an internist and rheumatologist, founding and managing an arthritis and rheumatology research center, and consulting on clinical trials in China and Russia.

He was named a Top Doctor by Phoenix Magazine annually from 2005-2019. He served as a clinical volunteer in numerous countries, including Vietnam, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, and Nicaragua, as well as in Guadalupe and Phoenix. P.K. published his doctoral dissertation on short-term medical volunteering overseas.

P.K. served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War but did not see combat. Subsequently, he's treated many military veterans during his long medical practice. He’s also taught medicine all over the world. And he’s published dozens of articles in numerous medical publications. 

For the past three years, he’s been a clinical volunteer with the Lincoln County Medical Reserve Corps in Oregon. He now tends to overnight guests in a winter shelter for those who are experiencing homelessness.

John Vorhaus is making his third appearance on StoryBeat.  John is best known for his classic comedy-writing book, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not.

At last count, he’s taught and trained writers in 40 countries on six continents, and created TV shows of his own in Nicaragua, Romania and elsewhere. His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and more than two dozen works of non-fiction.

John’s latest books are The Book of Practice: How to do Better What You Want to do Well and The Comedy Writer’s Companion. I’ve read all three of these books and can highly recommend them to anyone who is thinking about writing comedy or in the middle of doing so.  We’ll chat more today about The Comedy Writers Companion, which I find to be highly helpful when working on funny stories and scripts.

Marsha Scarbrough worked in Hollywood as an Assistant Director on major motion pictures and primetime television for almost 20 years. As a graduate of the prestigious Directors Guild of America’s Assistant Directors Training Program, she supported many directors, including Clint Eastwood, Leonard Nimoy, Blake Edwards, Colin Higgins, and Carl Reiner. And she worked directly with stars like: Pierce Brosnan, Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Gena Rowlands, Gene Wilder, Farah Fawcett, Mary Tyler Moore, John Travolta, and more.

Marsha is also the author of two award-winning memoirs about her spiritual adventures, Medicine Dance and Honey in the River, both available at Amazon.com.

As a journalist, she’s had over 100 articles published in national magazines. Marsha was a contributing editor of Written By: The Magazine of the Writers Guild of America, west, and the Spain correspondent for International Living magazine.

Marsha’s third memoir, 20 Years in Hollywood: Tales to Tell, is being published in installments on substack.com. To read her tales about working with celebrities, please subscribe to her substack blog, Adventures of a Roaming Crone.

I’ve read Marsha’s book, Inside Breaking Bad, and as that is one of my favorite TV shows ever, I found her perspective on that production and of the amazing people she worked with, to be fascinating, entertaining, revealing, and educational.

This episode includes discussions of mental health issues, substance abuse, and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.

Christa Parravani is the author of the bestselling books, Her: A Memoir, and Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of Choice, Children, and Womanhood.

Loved and Wanted is acclaimed for its take on curtailed maternal health care as it pertains to children, and its condemnation of the personal, financial, and emotional repercussions of curtailed access for women. Loved and Wanted was a New York Times Editor's Choice, and one of Dwight Garner's favorite books of the year. 

Christa’s bestselling book, Her: A Memoir shares her journey through grief after the death of her identical twin sister, Cara. Her was an NPR critics pick. Vanity Fair called Her, "astonishing." Bookforum said, “Her invites obsessional reader behavior because Parravani has the ability to make life, even at its worst, feel magic-tinged and vital and lived all the way down to the bone.” I’ve read Her and can tell you it’s a most beautifully written and unnerving memoir. I was deeply moved by Christa’s telling of her experiences in confronting Cara’s challenged life and untimely death. 

Christa also happens to be married to one of my favorite StoryBeat guests, the extraordinary writer of Jarhead and other books, Tony Swofford.

Gabby Gruen is appearing on StoryBeat for the second time.  He has been a writer and producer of ads and commercials for several top tier ad agencies and their high-profile clients. 

As a screenwriter, he’s sold work to Fox 2000 Films, and wrote movie scripts on assignment for a number of independent production companies.

More recently, Gabby has been publishing novels. We chatted about his excellent first book, The Uniform, a Holocaust thriller, during his first time on this show. I found The Uniform to be an intense page-turner with real heart and wit.

Gabby’s next book, The Ride of a Lifetime, a Crime Novel, is set on the frozen streets of Detroit. I’ve read The Ride of a Lifetime and can tell you it’s a gritty trip through the criminal underbelly of Detroit. If you like urban noir thrillers, I’m certain you’ll enjoy The Ride of a Lifetime.

Tricia Gardella, who is known as National Park Gramma, is the award-winning author of scores of children’s books, including a 10-book Mouse Travelers Series, which explores and promotes a love of national parks and monuments. I’ve read Mouse Visits Everglades National Park and can tell you it’s a charming story, wonderfully illustrated, about Tricia’s hero, Mouse, exploring the Everglades during a most engaging journey through the park so that young audiences can get a sense of the beauty of the endangered species that live there.

Tricia’s had her writings published in Highlights Magazine, been interviewed on Sacramento TV shows, and was featured in her local newspaper. 

She’s a Lifetime Member of The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, as well as an active member of Women In Publishing, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and The Alliance of Independent Authors. 

Tricia’s not only a celebrated author, she’s also the matriarch of a large family, and an entrepreneur who has run a half-dozen businesses, including an ice cream parlor, crafting, and ranching. 

After raising her family, Tricia earned her B.A. in Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at the tender age of 75.