Our guest is the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose activism has made him a fixture in the press for decades in his hometown of New York City. Lately, though, we often see him as the eulogist at funeral after funeral of those taken too soon through violence. He does it with enormous grace and power, including after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. And there’s a reason for that. As Rev. Sharpton explains to Kevin Burke in this rare interview, there’s a traumatic incident that happened to him a long time ago, when he was 9 years old, that gives him the ability to speak to children who are in pain, because there is a pain deep inside of him that permanently shaped the arc of his formation as a preacher and future civil rights leader. It’s a story he doesn’t tell often, because it’s so surprising and unexpected, but in this episode, you’ll hear him share it in the most personal way. In listening, you’ll also gain an understanding that may forever alter the way you see this icon of our times. 

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

 

Music

Ernestine Washington – “Teach Me How to Wait” 

Mahalia Jackson – “Walk In Jerusalem” (1963)

Mahalia Jackson – “No One Knows the Trouble I've Seen” (1963) 

James Brown – “The Payback” (1973)

James Brown – on Soul Train (1973) 

 

Archival

Bishop F. D. Washington Preaching at the COGIC Holy Convocation in 1978 

Rev. C. L. Franklin – “Lo, I Am With You Always” 

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. – “Keep The Faith, Baby” (1967)

Sermon Excerpt - Dr. William Augustus Jones, Jr. 

"I am somebody!" - Historical footage of Rev. Jesse Jackson leading a crowd in a chant of solidarity

Reverend Al Sharpton delivers eulogy at George Floyd’s funeral (2020)

George Floyd Funeral: Rev. Al Sharpton Delivers Eulogy (2020)

Jan. 21, 2013: Inaugural Ceremonies for President Barack Obama

 

Illustration

Nick Gregg 

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. 

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Special thanks

Rebecca Stanford

Maria Bartiromo anchors three different shows on the Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel and was the first TV reporter to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She doesn’t come from the world of CEOs, however. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, she was a kid growing up in Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where she worked the coat check at her father’s restaurant and catering hall, The Rex Manor. Her whole family pitched in there, including her mother, who also had a job at the local OTB (Off-Track Betting). In that world of hard work, family, and sacrifice, what did Maria learn that would help her break through the doors of the Stock Exchange? What lessons she absorbed from her family and hometown remain with the Maria we see in the world of cable news today? Join Kevin Burke at the intersection of place, time, and memory for another episode of Your Hometown.

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

If you like what we’re up to, leave us a written review on your favorite podcast app. Thank you.

 

Show Notes

 

Music

Joey Ramone - "Maria Bartiromo" (2002)

Frankie Valli - "My Eyes Adored You" (1974)

Bing Crosby - "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" (1932)

Donna Summer - “Last Dance” (1977)

 

Archival

"Battle In Burma," British Pathé (1944)

"Crazy George Yelling for Horse at Off-Track Betting" (2009)

"Maria Bartiromo, Anchor & Global Markets Editor, Fox Business Network, Rings The Opening Bell" (at the New York Stock Exchange) (2020)  

"Experience Wall Street Stock Trading in the 1980s" (2020)

"CNBC's Maria Bartiromo at 10:14 AM on 911" (2020) 

“CNBC on Sept. 11 (Fixed Broadcast) 8:34 AM - 11:25 AM” (2016) from CNBC on Sept. 11 (Fixed Broadcast) 8:34 AM - 11:25 AM

“Mr. Softee Theme” (2011)

“Bargain chain Century 21 to shut down after nearly 60 years” PIX11 (2020)

 

Illustration

Nick Gregg

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Special Thanks

Emily Burnham and Caley Cronin

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the most well-known scientists on the planet. In addition to authoring numerous books, he hosts the wildly popular podcast, StarTalk, and has helped revive the epic TV series Cosmos that originated with Carl Sagan, whom he met when he was in high school. Neil is also the director of the world-renowned Hayden Planetarium, part of the Rose Center for Earth and Space that he helped launch at the American Museum of Natural History in his hometown of New York City. In this episode of Your Hometown, we turn a giant lens on the galaxy of Neil’s childhood to explore the origins of his mission to make science fun and intelligible to the public. What inspired him as a kid growing up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in an apartment complex called, of all things, the Skyview? What were the forces that propelled him, and what were the barriers he had to push through to achieve his dreams?

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

 

Show Notes 

 

Music

Theme from “Head of The Class” (1986)

Christopher Cross - “Arthur’s Theme” (1981)

Gladys Gooding - V-Disc 741 (1947)

 

Archival

Intro to “Startalk Podcast: Cosmic Queries Galactic Grab Bag” (2021)

Cosmos: Possible Worlds Official Trailer (2018)

Clip from "Dark Universe" | Hayden Planetarium (2014)

“Watch the moment men first landed on the moon” – CBS News Coverage of 1969 Moon Landing

“President Johnson Opens New York's World Fair 1964” - (2014)

“Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City” - (2014)

“2015 West Indian Parade” - (2015)

WABC Music Radio 77: Chuck Leonard reports on the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4 1968) - (2011) 

Opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Opening scene of Escape from New York (1981)

 

Illustration

Nick Gregg

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Suggested Reading

The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist, Letters from an Astrophysicist, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going.

In an industry where most startups go up, down, and disappear, Danielle Guizio is a New York-based fashion designer on Forbes’s 30 under 30 list. If you think of the biggest celebrities on the style pages today, you’re likely to find a photo of them wearing her designs.  She describes the line – which shares her name, Danielle Guizio – as “celebrating the modern-day woman who aims to deviate from the traditional and push boundaries in all aspects of life.” She has even revived the corset, which Ariana Grande wore in black satin on the set of her music video for “7 Rings.” Because of her age, one might assume Danielle came to her success in a straight line. But as we hear in her interview with host Kevin Burke, Danielle’s coming of age was more jagged and uncertain, filled with experiences that brought her face-to-face with some scary and ugly sides of life.  Out of all this, she placed her big bet on designing clothes that make young women like her, as she says, feel confident and strong.

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

 

Music

Ariana Grande - “7 Rings” (2019)

Haul + Try On Essentials - The Hess Twins (2021) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf8Z4esNaMg) 

Britney Spears – “Lucky” (2000)

Whitney Houston - “How Will I Know” (1985)

Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)

Lady Gaga - “The Edge of Glory” (2011)

"Kylie Jenner Hits the Met Gala in a showgirl inspired dress" (Daily Mail YouTube Clip, 2019) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHgm_iyU-FE) 

 

Illustration

Nick Gregg

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Special thanks

Michelle Bao

Lynn Nottage is the first woman ever to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, and she’s one of the most important voices writing for the stage and screen today, with works that include Infinite Apparel, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Ruined, Sweat, and MJ: The Musical, an upcoming show on the life of Michael Jackson. She often writes about characters in private, intimate spaces, where and how real people really talk. It’s a process that began in her hometown of New York City, where she was a girl growing up in the Boerum Hill section of pre-gentrified Brooklyn. On the surface, she says, it was the kind of neighborhood people passed through to get to other neighborhoods in 1970s. But to Lynn, it was the setting for her story, starting on her block and in the brownstone where her parents, Wally and Ruby Nottage, raised her and her brother and hosted family, friends, artists, and activists. There was lots of noise in the house, especially in the kitchen. Lynn still lives in that house today, a wife, mother, professor, and playwright surrounded by the memories and materials of her ancestors.

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

Music

Original Composition: Sterling Steffen

 

Illustrations

Nick Gregg

 

Archival

Etan Patz Disappearance: Original News Report, Pat Harper, WPIX 11, May 28, 1979

 

Poem 

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855) 

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. 

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.” 

 

Suggested Reading

Poof!; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Infinite Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Ruined; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Sweat

 

Special Thanks

Elisabeth Frankel

Sigourney Weaver is one of the greatest movie stars of all time, and many of us think of her as the tough, no-nonsense screen heroines she has played in films from Alien to Avatar. But that’s not how she saw herself as a girl growing up in Manhattan, where she was Susan, the shy, bookish daughter of a dynamic set of parents in that whirling scene of trailblazers in television’s first golden age. In this revealing episode, hear how she found empowerment roaming the streets of New York and attending an all-girls high school where she discovered her name.

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

 

Music

This Is Your Life, with host Ralph Edwards and honoree Roger Williams (1959)

I Married Joan: Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot (1952) John Lennon Murder: Original News Report, Eyewitness News (December 8, 1980)

“Give Peace a Chance” Live Recording @ Strawberry Fields in Central Park, NYC

“Ghostbusters,” by Ray Parker Jr. (1984)

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Recommended Films (Sigourney Weaver’s NYC films)

Eyewitness

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters 2

Working Girl

The Guys

My Salinger Year

 

Special thanks

Holly Chou

Richard Price is a writer’s writer, with novels that include The Wanderers, Clockers, Freedomland, and Lush Life. He’s also collaborated on such landmark television series as HBO’s The Wire, The Night Of, The Deuce, and The Outsider. Hear him talk with Kevin Burke about how New York City is better understood as a series of hometowns and how growing up in the Bronx shaped him as a writer of human drama and dialogue in stories set in the gritty landscapes of urban America.

 

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Read

Richard Price, The Wanderers, Clockers, Freedomland, Lush Life

 

Watch

The Wire, The Night Of, The Deuce, The Outsider

 

Special thanks

Lorraine Adams

This is part 2 of a “double-album” interview with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who grew up in Hollis, Queens in the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s, where he became one of three founding members of the Hall of Fame hip-hop group, Run-DMC. Hear DMC talk about his childhood passion for comic books, how they introduced him to his hometown of New York City and inspired his creativity as a rapper, and how they ultimately informed his search for meaning and identity as the adopted son of Byford and Banna McDaniels – a secret he didn’t discover until he was 35.

Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels.

 

Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast.

 

Show Notes

 

Music

Theme from “Mighty Thor” (1966) 

Kool DJ Red Alert Live on KISS FM in NYC (1984)

“King of Rock” Live at Live Aid- RUN DMC (1985)

“Walk this Way” - RUN DMC (1986)

“Angel” - Sarah McLachlan (1997)

“Son of Byford” - RUN DMC (1986)

 

Illustrations

Nick Gregg

 

Poem

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855)

 

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

 

“You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood.

 

“Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.”

 

Read

Darryl McDaniels, Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide: A Memoir 

 

Special thanks

Darryl McDaniels, Richard Barone, and Stephen Petrus. 

 

We are also grateful to the Museum of the City of New York, our co-presenter on this New York City feature series, and especially want to thank Whitney Donhauser, Sheryl Victor Levy, Fran Rosenfeld, Keith Butler, Jerry Gallagher, Jennifer Hernandez, Lillian Lesser, Danny Curtin, Corin Infantino, Lizzy Marmon, Brittney Benham, Meryl Cooper, Robin Carol, Chie Miyajima, and Tara Dawson.

In the first of a two-part interview, Kevin Burke speaks with Darryl McDaniels, the legendary hip-hop artist from Hollis, Queens, where he and his two friends formed one of the truly pioneering groups in American music: Run-DMC. Darryl was the “DMC” in that equation, and together with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, he put Hollis on the map for an entire generation. Before then, Hollis was the neighborhood where they were kids growing up in homes and on streets where the gaps between blocks sometimes felt like the borders between different kingdoms.

For more, including artwork and a hand-drawn map of Darryl’s hometown, visit us at yourhometown.org.

And check out the show’s New York City series page, including information on live events with our co-presenter, the Museum of the City of New York at www.mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast

Hear from our host, Kevin Burke, on the importance of telling the stories of the highs, lows, and unforgettable moments of childhood through Your Hometown.