Shows
Bar Crawl RadioNature of the U.S. Military: Matthew HohFor many of us, our country is walking a tightrope between democracy and autocracy.I am a US American civilian. I avoided serving in the US military during the Vietnam War. My father and son were in the military – one in WWII – the other a never-deployed Marine. Despite these secondary contact with our armed forces, I do not understand the US military mind and culture. I do know it is the most lethal force in human history.For this BCR series -- "Nature of the U.S. Military" -- I ask US Veterans to help me unde...
2026-02-131h 00
Bar Crawl RadioSteven Fechter: "The Big Breeze"I spoke with Steven Fechter about his newest novel -- "The Big Breeze" -- the story of Joseph Bye a phenom baseball pitcher who at the peak of his career was hit by a car and crippled. Eventually, he became a painter of baseball pitchers. Many years after the accident, he learned that he was run-over intentionally. In part this is the story of what Breeze will he do about it. But I did not want to ask Mr. Fechter about attempted murder but about baseball -- and an American culture obsessed with its heroes. “The Big Breeze” is a prime...
2026-02-0547 min
Bar Crawl RadioChoosing Humanism Over WarRebecca McKean and I started this program asking why so many U.S. Americans call Mayor Mamdani a "communist" and then explore the humanist idea that we all live in individual "landscapes" that form our perspectives and emotions -- and that those landscapes can be re-considered. We recorded at 5 Napkin Burger on Broadway and 84th Street in Manhattan -- speaking with David Andersson, the English-language editor of the Pressenza International Press Agency . We had talked with David in BCR #230 in June 2024 at the West Side Community Garden. And we invited N.J. high school honors student, Jeremy Maletzky...
2026-01-1946 min
Bar Crawl Radio3 Witness Palestine ChristiansA conversation with three men who recently traveled to Palestine to witness the state of Palestinian Christian communities living in Israel-occupied West Bank. What they experiences was horrific and hopeful. Horrific in the brutality of the young Israeli settler gangs and hopeful in the readiness of the Palestinian Christians to be accepted into a peaceful, co-existence with their Israeli neighbors. Their sojourn was organized by the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center located in Jerusalem. Sabeel organizes "Witness Visits" to Israel and Palestine; participants experience life under occupation in the West Bank firsthand, engage with Palestinian Christians and other activists, a...
2026-01-1355 min
Bar Crawl RadioAnjali Mehta: Conquering the 7 Summits & Gender-Based Violence. Pt 2Anjali Mehta is a 31 year-old mountain climber challenging the "seven summits" to support international agencies fighting gender-based violence and to bring attention to the rights of transgender girl athletes. In the first part of this two-part BCR program, we asked Anjali about her mountain climbing experiences. See BCR #265. This program is the second part of our conversation; Anjali told us about her organization "What is the Power of We?" working to unite the efforts of the many agencies around the world working to end gender-based violence. For her next climb, Anjali will carry postcards with their stories...
2025-11-2133 min
Bar Crawl RadioAnjali Mehta: Conquering the 7 Summits & Gender-Based Violence - Part 1Anjali Mehta is a 31 year-old mountain climber challenging the "seven summits" to support international agencies fighting gender-based violence and to bring attention to the rights of transgender girl athletes. In this first part of a two-part BCR program, we asked Anjali about her mountain climbing experiences. She told us about falling into a crevice and overcoming the challenges and the joy of reaching the summit.In the second part of our conversation Anjali told us about her organization "What is the Power of We?" working to pull unite the efforts of the many agencies around the world...
2025-11-2132 min
Bar Crawl RadioZuccotti Park Redux?This BCR program opened with a bit of Richard Harris' rendition of "MacArthur Park" and then quoted Daniel Libeskind -- whose architectural firm rebuilt the World Trade Center site; he described the slurry wall that held back the Hudson River after the collapse of the Towers as “an engineering wonder” and like the US Constitution – was a symbol of the “the durability of democracy and the value of human life.” We then asked is our democracy a melting cake or an indomitable slurry wall?In the fall of 2011 – young Americans took over a private park near Wall Street -- th...
2025-11-1343 min
Bar Crawl RadioStory of the Amsterdam Hostel: Institutional DignityNYC's Upper West Siders might know the 142 year-old, block long, many-storied, red-brick building on Amsterdam Avenue at 103rd Street.Completed in 1883 and designed by Gilded Age architect Robert Morris Hunt – famed for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. – the base of the Statue of Liberty – the front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – this building, on Amsterdam and 103rd Street, opened as the Association Residence for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females. In the late 1960s, it was set to be torn down. BUT – in time – was saved in great part due to the efforts of two of our...
2025-07-1741 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans: Kathy Kelly's "Other Lands Have Dreams -- Day 33Day 33 -- Veteran's For Peace "Fast for Gaza." This will be the final of the "Fast for Gaza" conversations with peacemaker Kathy Kelly. It was the beginning of a brutal heat wave in NYC; we found a shady spot on the UN side of 1st Avenue. On the opposite side a small group of fasting protestors held signs and umbrellas.Kathy and I talked about her 2004 book "Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison" -- focusing on the chapter "Change Agents" -- when she was visited in Pekin Prison by two FBI agents. Kat...
2025-06-2436 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans: Kathy Kelly / How bad is it? -- Day 26Day 26 -- Veterans for Peace "Fast for Gaza. This BCR podcast begins and ends with music -- "Let My People Go" -- from “System Ali” – nine musicians -- Jewish and Arab -- singing in their native languages – Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Yiddish, Amharic and English. My conversation with Kathy Kelly continues as Israel and Iran exchange missiles and killer drones. She arrived at the vigil at the US Mission to the UN a bit late because she had been attending a meeting of faith NGOs hearing a report from two Palestinians and an Israeli about suffering in Gaza of which...
2025-06-1721 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans; Kathy Kelly / Joy Metzler -- Day 23Day 23 -- VFP Fast for Gaza. I spoke with peacemaker Kathy Kelly and former member of the US AirForce Joy Metzler and asked them about their life choices that led them to join the "Fast for Gaza." Joy Metzler, 23, is a member of VFP and co-founder of Serivcemembers For Ceasefire – US military veterans calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza. Joy graduated from the USAF Academy in 2023 and was discharged as a conscientious objector citing “US aggression in the Middle East and the murderous ethnic cleansing in Palestine.” I asked Joy what she would say to the young U...
2025-06-1433 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans; Kathy Kelly / Brian Terrell -- Day 16This is Day 16 of the Veterans for Peace "40-Day Fast for Gaza."Since May 22, 2025, I’ve been talking with peacemaker Kathy Kelly who has been fasting to raise awareness about how the citizens of Gaza are starving. It is the day before Eid al-Adha – the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice remembering Ibrahim or Abraham’s readiness to kill his son for his God. I sat down with Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell of Malloy Iowa -- a Catholic Worker and worker for peace – he was in town to receive the 2025 Pax Christi Peacemaker AwardWe sat on a benc...
2025-06-0834 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans; Kathy Kelly / Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine -- Day 12Monday - Day 12 of the 40 day fast -- Veterans for Peace's "Fasting for Gaza.I met up with peacemaker Kathy Kelly as she was starting a Zoom call with Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine. Afterward, I asked her about Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, who spoke at the meeting regarding his arguments for a one state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her fears for one forgotten student picked up by Trump's ICE force -- Columbia student Leqaa Kordia -- and the dangers of breaking the Israeli blockade of Gaza by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.I will...
2025-06-0424 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for Gazans; Kathy Kelly / Mike Ferner -- Day 9Friday - Day 9 of the 40 day fast -- Veterans for Peace's "Fasting for Gaza." When I arrived at the US Mission across from the United Nations in Manhattan, a dozen peace activists where facing 1st Avenue with their signs calling Israel and the United States to feed the Palestinians of Gaza. I first spoke with Mike Ferner -- Mike Ferner – a Vietnam War Veteran and former city council member of Toledo, Ohio, author, and peace activist – who had protested US war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. We talked about not eating; Mike was holding up quite well with his 250...
2025-05-3018 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for GAZANS -- Kathy Kelly -- Day 6I am talking with peace activist and Nobel Peace nominee Kathy Kelly as she fasts for 40 days in solidarity with the Palestinian people starving in Gaza. This is the sixth day of her fast. I first spoke with Catholic Worker Martha Hennessy -- granddaughter of Dorothy Day -- about the portrait of the U.S. President glowering behind the streetside glass wall of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.I then found Ms. Kelly who was accompanied by about 15 other supporters of the Veterans for Peace protest of the Israeli food blockade to...
2025-05-2820 min
Bar Crawl RadioFasting for GAZANS -- Kathy Kelly -- Day 1A NEW BCR SERIES:Starting on May 22, 2025, several peace activist will fast for 40 days -- vigiling in front of the United States Mission to the UN. They demand an end to US support of Israel's military and urge the American government to pressure Israel to open the Gazan borders to humanitarian aid. For this BCR series I will meet with one of these fasters -- Kathy Kelly -- periodically, and ask her to share her thoughts and concerns. Share your thoughts about this action at barcrawlradio@gmail.com or mike@veteransforpeace.org
2025-05-2711 min
Bar Crawl RadioNYC Sleep Doctor -- Dr. Janet KennedyWe were out in Riverside Parks at the "You've Got Mail" Promenade bench of our choice talking with NYCSleepDoctor.com Dr, Janet Kennedy. The tourist helicopters were ubiquitous and our UWS neighbors had many questions for Dr. Kennedy about their sleep issues. If there is one thing I learned from this conversation is that a good night's sleep is basic to good health and an interesting life. Listening to Janet's expert advice will probably push you to a more wakeful existence. Alan Winsonbarcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
2025-05-2555 min
Bar Crawl RadioCellist Joseph Darcourt @ West Side Community Garden - May 2025West Side Community Garden on May 25, 2025 –Joseph Darcourt is an American-born Peruvian-Taiwanese cellist who has been honored by three US presidents. When he was 12 -- he debut at Carnegie Hall. And at 16 he began researching the power of music at Columbia University.This program features Mr. Darcourt performing Bach's Cello Suite #1 in G Major. I caught up with Joseph a few weeks after the concert to talk about his music and scientific studies. Joseph todl me about how he started studying the cello when he was 10 and the two national competitions he won which led to...
2025-05-2524 min
Bar Crawl RadioTalking About THE AMERICAN-pt.4: Dear on Merton on ViolenceFor this BCR series I have been asking American peacemakers: “What are we talking about when we talk about ‘The American’?”This program looks to a Jesuit priest and peacemaker Thomas Merton. At the end of “The Root of War” published in The Catholic Worker in 1962 – Thomas Merton wrote – “The first job of all is to understand the psychological forces at work in ourselves and in society.” That in a nutshell is the purpose of my conversations with American peacemakers.Merton’s autobiography -- “The Seven Storey Mountain” -- is about “a young man who led a full and worldly life an...
2025-01-171h 01
Bar Crawl RadioTalking About THE AMERICAN pt. 3: How'd we do w/AIDS?This is the third in the BCR series "Talking About The American" -- We are asking American peacemakers to try to explain how they see the qualities of our countrymen. This episode – How’d we do with AIDS?I was in Syracuse for a Veterans for Peace pro-Palestine rally at the James M. Hanley Federal Building. Before the rally I had breakfast with Christian Caurla – an Italian journalist – at the home of Michael Desalvo -- where he and his partner Nick Orth – have provided home-based care for people with AIDS since October 1992. That morning -- Michael serve...
2025-01-1028 min
Bar Crawl RadioTalking About THE AMERICAN pt. 2: Brad Wolf on Philip BerriganThis BCR Podcast series will be asking American peace activists a question borrowed from Raymond Carver:“What are we talking about when we talk about ‘The American’ ?”This episode looks at an anti-Vietnam War, anti-nuclear peace activist, longtime incarcerated American criminal – and Catholic priest – Philip Berrigan. Brad Wolf joined me via Zoom to help. Recently, Brad edited a collection of Berrigan’s writings, entitled -- “A Ministry of Risk”. Brad is a former lawyer, persecutor, professor and community college dean and is the executive director and co-founder of Peace Action Network of Lancaster PA. and he organized the "M...
2024-12-271h 01
Bar Crawl RadioTalking About THE AMERICAN pt. 1: Burying Gaza BabiesTALKING ABOUT "THE AMERICANS": BURYING GAZA BABIESOn December 9, 2024 -- I talked with several of the nearly 50 protestors holding a mock funeral on a plot of grass at the front of the Syracuse Federal Building. It was a rainy and cold morning as several peacemakers neatly ripped away the grass and created a shallow oblong hole into which a half dozen babies in the form of bloodied pillows were placed. An oversized tombstone stood at one end of the "grave." Homeland Security officers arrested three of the "grave diggers" who were given citations and released. The action...
2024-12-2324 min
Bar Crawl RadioComposer's Concordance: Contemporary Music ExplosionOnce again -- recording on the porch of Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar located in Manhattan's Upper West Side -- BCR hosts Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson talk with the four composers and performers and leaders of Composer's Concordance about "contemporary [classic] music." This music movement has been described by the New York Times as “unpredictable … irreverent …and ingenious.” For over four decades Composer's Concordance has presented concerts in all sorts of New York City area venues of inventive experimental music.Gene Pritsker -- Milica Paranosic – Peter Jarvis – and Seth Boustead -- talk about the history of the organization...
2024-11-0857 min
Bar Crawl RadioOught to Give Iowa a Try: Hot Air BrewingJuly, 2024. BCR visited the Hot Air Brewing in Creston, Iowa this summer. It is a bastion of liberality and acceptance. We were in Iowa to visit our friends Brian Terrell and Betsy Kennan of the "Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker Farm," in Malloy, IA -- about 30 miles south of Creston; Betsy and Brian introduced us to Iowan's Katie Davidson and Ryan Fuller. When we talked with her, Katie owned the Hot Air Brewery and Ryan is a farmer with his husband and performs drag as "Cherry Peaks."We wanted to get a sense of what life is...
2024-09-2951 min
Poetry! What is it good for?Bicycles & Book Stores: Amy Barone & Ron KolmBack at our usual poetry-reading haunt -- Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar -- Chris Brandt, Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson talk with poets Amy Barone and Ron Kolm -- about:Extinction / Gambling with God / Men's love of their penes / COVID / Bison comeback / Book thieves and Ceiling stompers / Suicide and Attempted suicide / and -- of course -- A child's bicycle. Can you resist?CONTACT: barcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2024-09-2151 min
Bar Crawl Radio26th Kateri Peace Conference: A Panel on War.The 26th Kateri Peace Conference held in Fonda, NY in mid-September, 2024 was entitled “What’s Love Got to do with it?” The outcome of peace activism is the end of always-war. If, indeed, we are all connected on this minuscule green spot in a vast universe – if we are sisters and brothers who care for each other – why do we choose to kill each other in horrific and massive ways? Bar Crawl Radio hosts -- Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson -- moderated the Friday evening panel with Ann Wright, Brian Terrell, Brad Wolf, and Vera Anderson. The panel fo...
2024-09-191h 02
Bar Crawl RadioHarris OR Trump? Report from Mexico & ScotlandBCR podcast traveled to Mexico and Scotland in August and asked what citizens of the world were feeling about the U.S. Presidential election. Nearly everyone I met was aware of the election and had significant and personal feelings about "Americans" and their limited choice for leadership. I talked with people from Puerta Vallarta, San Miguel de Allende, Edinburgh, and Aberfeldy -- tourists, a waiter, a van driver, teens from Belfast, couple of cooks, a photographer and painter, a teacher, an airline worker, Cambridge students, tour guides, Edinburgh Fringe Festival workers and artists, and the Fringe Financial Manager. Let...
2024-09-0656 min
Bar Crawl RadioLa Manga @ West Side Community Garden - Full Concert - June 2024A full length presentation of a performance by La Manga in the West Side Community Garden in June 2024. For a conversation with La Manga founder, Daniela Serna, go to BCR #230.Alan Winsonbarcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2024-06-141h 03
Bar Crawl RadioDavid Andersson of Pressenza @ the WSCGFor the fourth time this summer Bar Crawl Radio podcast is not at a bar. But we are continuing to have conversations with neighbors doing positive work for their community. We will be talking with a citizen journalists who works in the field of peace activism and whose writing is published in Pressenza – an international news agency pushing ideas of peace, non-violence, and human rightsFor this BCR recording we were ensconced in our mobile studio in the southeast corner of the West Side Community Garden observing Upper West Siders choose their favorite spots to listen to La M...
2024-06-1442 min
Bar Crawl RadioWalking for Peace in Inwood ParkFor this BCR conversation we were not at a bar having a conversation with people working positively for their communities – but at Inwood Park – in upper Manhattan – former home of the Lenape People. Catholic Worker, Anthony Donovan, opens this program as he talks to a group of about 20 people who had joined the Veteran's for Peace "2024 Peace Walk" -- for the day. The VFP Walk started in Ogunquit Maine on May 5th and will arrive in Washington, DC July 5th – a nearly 600 mile trek. Some walk for a day – others longer – and one former military person has walked nearly the entire le...
2024-06-0729 min
Bar Crawl RadioChance & Choice @ the West Side Community GardenFor this BCR conversation at the West Side Community Garden we investigated the stories of two ladies--one affected by chance--the other by choice. The first story is about a chance phone call that led to instant and fleeting fame – and the other -- a choice to help recently arrived neighbors which will lead to – what?Rebecca McKean and I were set-up in the southeast corner of the West Side Community Garden. As our UWS neighbors sought their favorite spots to listen to the Cassatt String Quartet, we talked with Marilyn O’Day – a high school junior who started...
2024-06-0741 min
Bar Crawl RadioKumara @the West Side Community Garden ConcertKumara is a uniquely global trio of musicians who create a synthesis of sound that is unique and beautifully inspiring across and within cultures and communities. I spoke with Samite who plays African Harps and the Kalimba and Shem Guibbory, a classical violinist the day before the WSCG concert. Guitarist Sean Harkness couldn’t make it; he was in a recording studio.This program presents the entire Kumara performance at the West Side Community Garden Concert on Sunday, May 26, 2024.Alan WinsonCONTACT: barcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...
2024-05-291h 04
Bar Crawl RadioStop the Chop & Kumara @ WSCGIt was another post COVID, pre climate catastrophe Sunday on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Rebecca McKean and I – Alan Winson – co-hosts of BCR podcast – had erected our sound studio in the southwest corner of the West Side Community Garden and waited for our guests. Stop the Chop has worked to rid our city of those pesky, rotor-whirling metal blobs that spew noise and GHG pollution for no positive reason. We spoke with Melissa Elstein and Ken Couglin, leaders of Stop the Chop. and we were oined by Adrian Benepe--NYC Parks Commissioner from 2002 - 2012. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...
2024-05-2945 min
Bar Crawl Radio"The Keeper": Film about suicide in the U.S. militaryThis BCR conversation talks about suicide in the U.S military. A growing statistic: Women and men who had dedicated their lives and minds to the most destructive military ever – are killing themselves at increasing rates. I spoke with Angus Benfield – an Australian actor – now working in the U,S, -- about his newest feature film – "The Keeper" which he stars in, produced, and co-directed. “The Keeper” is a true story about George Eshleman an artillery officer who participated in Desert Storm. Years after his time in Iraq, he was hit with lingering PTSD and considered sui...
2024-05-2746 min
Bar Crawl RadioJody Sperling & Kaoru Watanabe @ WSCGKaoru Watanabe was the featured music artist of the first summer concert in the West Side Community of 2024. Rebecca and I got to the Garden early and set up our portable studio in a corner alcove to talk with Jody Sperling -- dancer and choreographer -- and the Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance which explores environmental performance forms. Also, Jody is the Eco-Artist in Residence at the New York Society of Ethical Culture. We talked about her artistic work to raise emotions about the climate disaster impinging on our wonderful world. And she told us about the upcoming T...
2024-05-2345 min
Bar Crawl RadioEllen Jovin: "Rebel with a Clause"This is the first "Park Bench Chat" of the 2024 Summer Season – a production of Bar Crawl Radio. During the warming days of spring and summer, Rebecca and I sit at our favorite park bench in the “You’ve Got Mail” garden in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side and talk with our neighbors. Today’s topic--“grammar.” Ellen Jovin is a self-proclaimed “grammar nerd.” She has degrees from Harvard and UCLA in language-related subjects and has studied bunches of languages because she lives in NYC -- a multi-verse of languages. Ellen is a cofounder of Syntaxis, a communication skills training firm...
2024-05-2049 min
Bar Crawl Radio"I Am Gitmo": A conversation with film director Philippe DiazPHILIPPE DIAZ is a film director – producer – and promoter of “intelligent films.” Born in Paris France, he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. Since 1980 he has produced and distributed international films by auteur directors for world audiences. Diaz has directed both documentary and feature narrative films on political, economic and social issues. In 2003, Diaz and his team created Cinema Libre Studios -- producing and distributing socially relevant independent narrative and documentary films. The director was in Manhattan to promote his newest narrative film – “I Am Gitmo” -- premiering at the Cinema Villag...
2024-05-0544 min
Bar Crawl RadioVoices of the "Sacred Peace Walk" 2024Rebecca McKean and I walked during Easter week 2024 in the desert north of Las Vegas to the Nevada Nuclear Bomb Test Site– with a community of people who know about the imminent danger of a targeted and ready-to-go American nuclear arsenal. This BCR podcast will not counter the insanity of the deterrence argument – rather here are a few of the people who walked to the white line at the entrance to the most bombed place in the world – run by the U.S. Department of Energy and protected by the U.S military When you are awar...
2024-04-121h 07
Bar Crawl RadioWe Are Guantánamo: U.S. Courts are Surreal w/Gabor RonaThis is a must listen conversation with Gabor Rona -- Law Professor at Cardozo Law School – and in the past served as the International Legal Director of Human Rights First. For over 20 years our government has imprisoned 100s of innocent Muslim men in the Guantanamo Prison and tortured them repeatedly for no good reason – and now cannot try them because they were tortured and cannot release them because they are not allowed on US soil, and it is not clear what other countries would do to them – and they are getting old and have been physically and mentally traumatized – and all in...
2024-03-1534 min
Bar Crawl RadioWe Are Guantánamo: 7 Voices“We Are Guantanamo” – in other words – you and I -- all of us identifying as "American" are complicit – and insofar as the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp remains an active US military and illegal entity – it belongs to us.Since 2002, the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp has held 779 Muslim men accused of attacking the US on September 11 2001. Nearly all were innocent. 740 have been transferred someplace – 30 remain – 9 died there.I have been speaking with seven people who have tried to close Guantánamo since 2004. My conversation with Gabor Rona – former Legal Director of Human Rights First – will post next week. The...
2024-03-0842 min
Bar Crawl RadioLibraries/Radically Open Spaces: Emily Drabinski & Lauren ComitoFor this BCR program, we talked about that age-old American tradition – book burning – or more precisely – thought control. Our guests were two brave librarians – practicing a profession that is at the core of any effective democracy. Emily Drabinski heads-up the American Library Association [ALA] and Lauren Comito leads Urban Librarians Unite [ULU]. According to ALA findings efforts to ban books in this country are growing at a high rate and the groups engaged in this activity probably do not have children. Librarians and authors fight back, but it is an exhausting struggle. Lauren Comito talked about how the ULU k...
2024-03-0153 min
Bar Crawl RadioTwo Jewish IsraelisFor this BCR program, we spoke with two Jewish Israeli's. Nahum Schnitzer is my cousin. Ariella Dubrowin is my cousin once removed. Both have raised their families in Israel, Nahum -- 40 years – Ariella – 20. The conflict in Gaza has encased their world in ways that neither I – nor most of you listening to this podcast – can fully get. Ariella wrote me about a month ago. She was troubled about a recent program I posted – "I want to say Kaddish" – which presented both the intense protests in the US against the actions of the IDF in Gaza and the general obliviousness of winter-break...
2024-02-161h 05
Bar Crawl RadioAI & Human HealthThis BCR conversation may seem complex but its also simple – and – will possibly end human existence. If your physician can access all of your medical records, she will do a better job. And if generative AI knows all about the health of every human -- what then?We talked with two experts developing the power of Artificial Intelligence to keep us healthy. Dr. Mark Braunstein is the guru of FHIR -- not a misspelling -- an acronym for Fast Healthcare interoperability Resources – a technology helping physicians to access everything about our medical history and condition, easy and fast. M...
2023-12-2359 min
Bar Crawl RadioAnti-Nuclear Gadflies: Martha Hennessy & Brian TerrellLate November, 2023 -- John C. Wester -- Archbishop of Sante Fe -- spoke at the Church of Our Savior at E. 38th Street and Park Avenue. About 200 were gathered to honor the 43rd anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day – and – to consider the abolition of nuclear weapons. At the United Nations that week the countries that signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons were meeting. The United States was not one of them.The day after Archbishop Wester spoke – I met with two people who have dedicated their lives to peace in our world -- Brian...
2023-12-151h 00
Bar Crawl RadioSustainable Banking: Amalgamated Bank & Ivan FrishbergWhat is a bank?What is a bank for?Can a bank fight evil and right wrongs?Or is a bank no more than a profit-seeking shark working for its investors?Or - both?For this BCR program we had a conversation about a little bank that could … that is, could make our lives better through responsible investments. We invited Ivan Frishberg -- Senior Vice President Chief Sustainability Officer of Amalgamated Bank – to 5Napkin Burger Bar and Restaurant to talk about how he is leading his bank and our world...
2023-12-0838 min
Bar Crawl RadioEleanor Roosevelt's Trip to the Pacific WarWe are looking forward to sharing a conversation about a great American -- Eleanor Roosevelt. Shannon McKenna Schmidt has focused her literary work on travel. She has written for National Geograpic, Traveler, Nashville Public Television and Arrive magazine – and has appeared on Morning Joe and The Travel Show with Arthur and Pauline Frommer. We spoke to Ms. Schmidt about her most recent book “The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back.” American and architectural historian Deborah Gardner has worked with the Municipal Arts Society for landmark preservation and has written articles...
2023-11-0346 min
Bar Crawl Radio25th Kateri Peace ConferenceRebecca McKean and I drove to Fonda, NY for the 25th Annual Kateri Peace Conference. We spoke with several major players in the contemporary "no war" peace movement in the United States -- who are working to help the rest of us see the insanity of war and its link to the climate disaster. The voices on this program include the following: Maureen Aumond, John Amidon, David Swanson, Gloria Caballero, Nick Mottern, and Debra Sweet. And thanks to Lew Tabackin for allowing us to us his composition "Garden at Life Time" to introduce the show.Alan Winson
2023-09-151h 03
Bar Crawl RadioDrag On! Art and PoliticsBecky and I went on a tempestuous drag race at Gebhard’s Beer Culture Bar as we dug down into Drag culture with two young NYC Drag Queens following their command performance for an Open Streets event. We talked with Drag artists Ann Arky and Vampy Von Thickums Galore who had recently performed at the International Drag Queen Celebration on West !03rd Street organized by Park to Park 103 and Open Streets. Before talking to our guest performers we spoke with Bella Gallo a coordinator of the event.Alan Winson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
2023-09-1049 min
Bar Crawl RadioForgetting Horror: 78 Years After Hiroshima & NagasakiI do not like roller coasters. For me -- the anticipated terror proceeding the drop along with the stomach-churning loss of gravity is not thrilling fun; it is just TERROR!Nevertheless, the roller coaster is a summer-fun staple for many of us. Another stomach-churning staple for fewer Americans is the memory of the United States Air Force dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese cities at the end of World War II. In fact, for many Americans, this was a good thing as it brought the war to an end faster -- despite ending the lives of over 200,000...
2023-08-1433 min
Bar Crawl RadioAlice Slater: Ridding the World of Nuclear WeaponsRebecca McKean and I visited Alice Slater in her Upper East Side apartment. Since 1968, Ms. Slater has been an anti-war activist and since 1987 an anti-nuclear bomb protestor. As a young mother she helped organize Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign working to end the war in Viet Nam and then got a law degree. Alice is the United Nations NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and is on the Board of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the Global Council of Abolition 2000, and the Advisory Board of Nuclear Ban-US which supports the mission of the I...
2023-08-0435 min
Bar Crawl RadioMozayik @WSCGOne of our regular gigs is the West Side Community Garden Summer Concerts. The final offering of 2023 featured the luscious sounds of Afro-Haitian Jazz performed by Mozayik – led by drummer Gashford Guillaume – who has performed with Haitian superstars -- Emeline Michel and Beethova Obas. And at festivals in Amsterdam, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, St, Lucia, Martinique and many cities around the U.S.In 2000 Gashford and others started “Mozayik” – which is committed to the Haitian jazz genre. I sat down with Gashford – about a week after the concert to talk about Haitian Jazz and its link to the Haitian c...
2023-07-0737 min
Bar Crawl RadioStop the Chop & Geoff Burke's Jazz/HipHop @ WSCGA program of good sounds -- mix of classic jazz and hip hop beats -- and noise -- nonessential helicopters circling our City. We talked with leaders of Stop the Chop -- Melissa Elstein and Ken Counghlin -- working to end the incessant noise of private helicopters hovering over our heads.And we caught up with a former BCR guest -- jazz saxophonist Geoff Burke -- and learned about his unique synthesis of classic jazz and hip hop beats. and shared some of the music from the June 2023 concert at the West Side Community Garden on the...
2023-06-0946 min
Bar Crawl RadioGolden Rule Sails Against Nuclear WarIn the spring of 1958 – the Golden Rule -- a 30 foot skiff crewed by four -- sailed towards the Marshall Islands where the U.S. military was testing atomic bombs. Their plan was to anchor their tiny boat in the waters close to the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls -- in order to stop the atomic testing.Over six decades later a restored “Golden Rule” sailed up the Hudson River and moored at Chelsea Pier. It was Fleet Week and the skiff's message of nuclear disarmament was displayed on its mizzen mast.For this program I biked over to...
2023-06-0228 min
Bar Crawl RadioMicroAid's John Ross at WSCG Summer Concert & Lew Tabackin Jazz TrioMay 21, 2023 - 6pm. West Side Community GardenIt was a delightful evening in the West Side Community Garden in Manhattan. The Bar Crawl Radio audio wagon was set up on the grass in front of the stage in the garden – as neighbors secured a chair or wooden planter ledge to listen to the Lew Tabackin Jazz Trio. Tenor saxophone and flute musician -- Mr Tabackin has been playing these summer concerts for many years. Jon Ross -- founder and director of MicroAid International -- joined us for a pre-concert warm-up conversation. We had ta...
2023-05-2639 min
Bar Crawl RadioDesert Walk #4: Day Three -- It Snows in the DesertRested from our walk thru Las Vegas, the day before, the Sacred Peace Walkers headed out of the Nevada Desert Experience compound for the walk in the desert -- north of the city. I went with Darcy Ike -- who I had spoken with the day before at the MLK statue in Las Vegas -- in his weather-beaten, gear shift sedan to the starting point at Kyle Canyon on Highway 157 several miles north of Las Vegas.We followed the Porto Potty trailer for a while -- but then Darcy said he knew better way --Wh...
2023-05-0627 min
Bar Crawl RadioDesert Walk #2: Day One--At the NDEDay One of the Nevada Desert Experience’s “Sacred Peace Walk" -- Saturday April 1, 2023. Walkers were gathering from all around the Unites States at the NDE compound – a former military barracks – bought by the local Franciscan and Catholic Worker community – then given to the NDE in 1982 as a center protestors of the nuclear testing taking place on Western Shoshone land on the Nevada Proving Grounds to the north. The NDE compound consists of three single floor houses, surrounding a central garden patio. I used the day to meet the Peace Walkers.Alan Winson – BCR Producer Hosted on...
2023-05-0428 min
Bar Crawl RadioDesert Walk #1: Las Vegas's Atomic MuseumTowards the end of World War II – my country detonated atomic bombs over Japanese cities, immediately killing thousands of civilians and thousand more soon after and maiming thousands for the rest of their lives. I was born in 1949 -- My generation was taught that this military action was required to end the war – And I bought it --Since 1945, our world has filled with more powerful atom bombs – -- in the hope that the threat of mutual destruction will dissuade their usage.So far – besides Nagasaki and Hiroshima – we have been lucky – but for how long...
2023-04-2844 min
Bar Crawl RadioPower of Two Ugandan WomenEarly in the summer of 2022, my Bar Crawl Radio host – Rebecca McKean -- and I travelled with our grandson -- Jackson Castro -- to the family farm of Martha Hennessy – granddaughter of the founder of the Catholic Worker – Dorothy Day. While there, Martha told me of the work of a Catholic priest – Father Philip Gbao -- and suggested we produce a BCR program on his work with African students. Listen to that conversation with Father Philip in BCR #175. For this BCR program, we spoke with two of Father Philip's students about their professional goals and dreams to r...
2022-12-1723 min
Bar Crawl RadioSI Ferry Named "Dorothy Day""How rich we are, we who profess voluntary poverty as a foundation for our work as agitators, to be able to take a ferry ride and be, within an hour, in [Staten Island] a rural area which is still part of New York City ... my conversion took place here." Dorothy Day's journal - Summer 1977.November 4, 2022 the newest Staten Island Ferry was commissioned "Dorothy Day." I traveled out to the event and spoke to those there to honor the event.Alan Winson -- BCR Co-host Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...
2022-11-1139 min
Bar Crawl RadioTeaching American HistoryJames Baldwin argued that unlike Europeans, Americans do not know who they are. In "Stranger in Paris," Baldwin argued that the French know who they are—ethnically, historically. But Americans are confused. He writes -- we know one when we see one, but cannot name what we have in common. The idea of “America” is formed in our precollege American History classes. But as Joseph Moreau argues – “Writing history is always political -- always reflects the relationships of power in the society.” For this BCR episode, hosts Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson, talked with American Historian, Joseph Moreau, author of “School Book Nat...
2022-11-0455 min
Bar Crawl RadioDouglas Hostetter: TET - CIA assassination attempt - Ending warDouglas Hostetter – Mennonite and Conscientious Objector -- served in the middle of a hot zone during the VietNam War supporting the people who lived there. His is an amazing story. Rebecca McKean and I spoke with Mr Hostetter at Gebhard’s Beer Culture Bar in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Juneteenth and Father’s day, 2022. We will post our conversation with Douglas in two parts. In the second part of our conversation, Douglas Hostetter describes his daily activities in and around the Tam Ky battle zone during the Viet Nam War – his interaction with the American Marines and...
2022-07-1546 min
Bar Crawl RadioDouglas Hostetter: C.O. at WarDouglas Hostetter – Mennonite and Conscientious Objector [CO] -- served in the middle of a hot zone during the VietNam War supporting the people who lived there. His is an amazing story. Rebecca McKean and I spoke with Mr Hostetter at Gebhard’s Beer Culture Bar in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Juneteenth and Father’s day, 2022. We will post our conversation with Douglas in two parts. This is part one: During the Viet Nam War from 1966 – 1969 -- rather than carrying a gun, Douglas Hostetter organized literacy classes for Vietnamese children and craft training for his neighbors. Rather than the relative...
2022-07-0849 min
Bar Crawl RadioScott Munson QuintetRebecca McKean and I were out on a delightfully comfortable summer eve in the West Side Community Garden to listen to the jazz compositions of Scott Munson -- vibraphonist -- performed by his quintet: Dmitri Kolesnik on bass / Scott Neumann on drums / Joe Magnarelli on trumpet / Emma Larsson singing. Before the concert we talked about informal T-shirt wear and straight thighs, messed-up signs, Yankee Stadium, bugs, and the Upper West Side. After the concert we talked with Scott about his career as a performer and a composer. Alan Winson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2022-07-0143 min
Bar Crawl RadioArgentinian Musical Journey with Federico Diaz & Juana LunaRebecca McKean and I – Alan Winson – were out on a late Sunday summer afternoon at the West Side Community Garden on the UWS of Manhattan -- waiting to take a musical tour through Argentina with guitarist Frederico Diaz and vocalist Juana Luna. And we will talked to these two amazing artists after the concert. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2022-06-2442 min
Bar Crawl RadioWSCG Summer Concert - Inti and the MoonBack at the West Side Community Garden -- between W. 89th and 90th Streets – Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues -- and we opened this Bar Crawl Radio podcast with the sounds of "Inti and the Moon" – an Andean / Latin / World Fusion band. It was the second concert of the 2022 summer series in the Garden – organized by Randa Kirschbaum. Rebecca McKean and I were out on a beautiful late spring afternoon to settle an argument about whether it is rude to point – AND – to enjoy some delightful music. At the end of the recording, I talked with Geo Suquillo – founder and le...
2022-06-0337 min
Bar Crawl RadioPlowshares : Nuclear War : Ukraine : Peace?Catholic Workers – students of peace activism – knowers of Father Berrigan and the Plowshares movement – are already aware that this week was the fourth anniversary of the Kings Bay Plowshares action protesting the U.S. military’s nuclear stockpile. It is also the week that Martin Luther King was assassinated, over three decades ago. Less than a year before he was murdered, Dr. King addressed the National Conference of New Politics and argued that the American society was spoiled by 3 evils – Racism, Materialism and Militarism.Three Evils of Society: Racism, Materialism, and MilitarismThis week -- sitting on the e...
2022-04-0852 min
Bar Crawl RadioEscaping UkraineFor this BCR episode, we were privileged to talk with a woman who a few days prior to the recording escaped the war in Ukraine. I teach at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and recently one of my students missed several classes. This was unusual as Mishelle is the sort of student any teacher would welcome – attentive – actively participating – interested in most topics I bring up – and always prepared. In one class -- I had noted a sticker on the back of her laptop -- "F*** Putin" -- and she shared with the class her concerns with what was happe...
2022-04-0534 min
Bar Crawl RadioUkrainians in NYCBCR co-hosts Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson and producer. Alina Larson spoke with Ukrainians living, working and protesting in NYC. Andrew Fessak is the president of the Board of Trustees of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr located on Manhattan's Upper West Side; Sam and Natasha are owners of the Blintz Box located in the underground Turnstyle Market next to the 59th Street subway station; Aleksandra Pryymak is a yoga instructor at a local Montessori school and a former Soviet athlete. Alina Larson spoke with several Ukrainian and Russian New Yorkers at the March 5, 2022 rally in Times Square protesting...
2022-04-0154 min
Poetry! What is it good for?Weiner & Walowitz on why people hate poetry & more ...Estha Weiner was born in Maine and from an early age, yearned to live in New York City and be an actress. Her early experiences as an actor and working for the BBC clearly show up in her poetry. Amongst her many other books of poetry – At the Last Minute – was published in Ireland in 2019. Her poems have appeared in The New Republic and Barrow Street and many others. Estha is an alum of Sarah Lawrence where she is the founding director of the College’s NY Alumni/ae Writers Nights. She is a Speaker on Shakespeare for The New York Counc...
2022-01-2855 min
Bar Crawl RadioMost Unusual JobsPark Bench Chats -- back in Riverside Park in Manhattan -- talking with our Upper West Side neighbors about their unusual jobs. And there were several. Join Rebecca and Alan as they talk with:Sam who was a motion picture projectionist for senior citizen homes and was in charge of painting the lines on NYC street - Al Gorgoni, guitarist, who was involved with most of the big hits that came out of New York City in the 60s including the opening riff of Van Morrison's "Brown Eye'd Girl" which he composed. Al also worked with the Monkees...
2021-11-1239 min
Bar Crawl RadioIs Winning the Game "that" Important?Alan Winson here -- co-host of Bar Crawl Radio podcast. I had just lost an important Lawn Bowling competition -- by a "squeaker" -- to my former bowling student and friend -- Joe Kelly. I was happy for Joe, but -- hey -- I lost. It got me thinking about the experience of winning the game. Rebecca McKean and I invited Joe and his life partner, Ryan Hastu, to meet us on a Riverside Park bench below the crumbling Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument to talk with us and our neighbors about the importance of "winning" ... and "losing." Hosted on...
2021-10-2941 min
Poetry! What is it good for?Crossing Borders of Racism and ImmigrationThis episode of "Poetry! What is it good for?" [PWIIGF] was first produced in April 2019 as part of the Bar Crawl Radio podcast. PWIIGF hosts-Chris Brandt, Rebecca Mckean and Alan Winson -- spoke with poets, -- Martha Collins and Sarah Gambito about racial and ethnic borders and the possibility of crossing them in new and healthy ways. We recorded at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar on W. 72nd Street. Contact Us -- poetrygoodfor@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2021-10-0852 min
Bar Crawl RadioJ.T. Rogers: American PlaywrightThis conversation was first posted on the Hunkered Down Podcast on June 5, 2020.J.T. Rogers urge to move is reflected in the dynamism of his Tony Award-winning play "Oslo" and in the way he perambulated around his office during our conversation. Clearly, this artist thinks on his feet.“Oslo” -- first produced on Broadway in 2017 -- is a heart-wrenching telling of the back-channel meetings started by a Norwegian couple to bring Palestinian and Israeli leaders together to talk about peace—person to person. Of course, in the end, the resulting Oslo Accords failed to bring peace t...
2021-10-0846 min
Bar Crawl RadioKathryn Erbe during the lockdownThis is a re-dux of the Hunkered Down Podcast --conversations with creatives who stopped creating during the COVID19 pandemic:For eleven successful seasons -- Kathryn Erbe played Detective Alexandra Eames to Vincent D’Onofrio’s Det. Robert Goren on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Prior to Criminal Intent – Ms. Erbe appeared as a death row inmate on the award-winning TV series OZ. This talented actor has worked steadily in television, film, and theatre since she graduated from NYU in 1989 and most recently appeared in Sam Levinson’s teen slasher film – “Assassination Nation.”For this episode, Ms. Erbe talks a...
2021-09-2447 min
Bar Crawl RadioMartha and Carmen are free. Well ... sort ofRebecca and Alan talk with two Catholic Workers who have been in prison for protesting U.S. Navy submarines armed with world-ending numbers of nuclear missiles. We first talked with Carmen Trotta and Martha Hennessy on the porch of Gebhard’s Beer Culture Bar in Manhattan in June 2019 – a bit over two years ago. At the time, Martha and Carmen and other members of the anti-war Plowshares movement were under house arrest for trespassing onto the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia, the previous year. They both wore ankle bracelets. Since then -- they were found guilty...
2021-06-221h 03
Bar Crawl RadioNita Renfrew: Hands-on Healer. Lover of Central Park wildlife. And a bit more.I met Nita Renfrew feeding her "friends" in an isolated section of the Central Park Rambles. She is a fascinating person -- iconographer, Reiki master, practitioner of Craniosacral Massage Therapy, journalist, and lover of the wildlife existing in our natural cityscape. Becky and I talked about my conversation with Nita recorded in the Rambles. And we talked with our Upper West Side neighbors as they strolled along the Promenade in Riverside Park about their thoughts on hands-on--Reiki-style healing. Stick around for the end of this episode for an interesting reveal.Contact Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson at...
2021-06-1840 min
Bar Crawl RadioJeffrey Swann: Pearly Sounds from the IvoriesConcert violinist Rolf Schulte describes pianist, Jeffrey Swann, as a polymath, speaker of several languages, and a magnificent musician. Mr. Swann has won several prestigious piano competitions – including the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition in Brussels as a young man and then the Ciani Competition in Italy and a prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. The last few years he has run a music festival and teaches at a conservatory in Italy. Early in his career Mr Swann was also a composer and studied with Darius Milhaud. He has lectured on Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival. Presently, he tea...
2021-04-1656 min
Bar Crawl RadioAn Elementary School Teacher During COVIDRebecca McKean and I - Alan Winson - were back at our "studio" in the loft at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar in our Upper West Side neighborhood. Rebecca is an elementary school teacher, and I had watched her conduct distant learning classes in our tiny apartment from our dining room table and listened to her concerns about her students for months and wanted to interview her about the difficulties of teaching as an elementary school teacher during the pandemic. This is one dedicated teacher's experience -- that is repeated throughout the world by these dedicated teachers. Hosted on Acast...
2020-12-0531 min
Bar Crawl RadioCOVID19 Long-haulers with Nathan LentsThis will be the third visit with scientist and genetics expert -- Nathan Lents. We focused our conversation on the nature of the "long-haul" maladies of those who have had the COVID19 virus. These serious health outcomes are known to effect even those who did not manifest the disease. And we talked to Dr. Lents about the new approach to viral vaccines using the mRNA technique. We also talked to two COVID19 survivors about their experience during and after contracting the infection. Believe it or Not - this thing is serious.CONTACT BCR hosts Rebecca...
2020-11-2351 min
Bar Crawl RadioBuggin' with Rebecca & Alan @ Gebhards Rebecca and Alan are back at their favorite bar -- Matt Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar on the Upper West Side on W. 72nd Street. It was really good to be back on our old turf recording Bar Crawl Radio. The episode honed in on the behaviors and sounds and bugs that bug us. It was loud and a bit smelly from the fumes on the busy bus-strewned street -- but we had a great time sitting at a real bar and recording our silliness. Contact us at barcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
2020-10-2336 min
Bar Crawl RadioMicroAid International - ReduxJon Ross, the founder and head of Micro Aid International joined Rebecca and Alan on the patio of Ellington in the Park on a beautiful Autumn afternoon. Jon Ross was with on BCR #36 at Vino Laventino – where we no longer record because the owner kicked Alan out several months ago – but that is another story. In our previous conversation, we got into some depth on Jon's life and work building single-family, multi-generational homes in third word disaster areas. Now he is carrying out this important work during a global pandemic. Micro/Aid International is a non-profit that goes i...
2020-10-0936 min
Bar Crawl RadioConspiracy Theories--This I believeIt's time we just give it up to all of those wonderful, wacky, weirdo conspiracy theories and go along with Rebecca and Alan for one ludicrous and fun-filled romp way past Alice in Wonderland and walk around in the land of the inane and creative. If you are a QAnon-er -- you might just get all down with TAnon -- and become an equal opportunity reviler of authority. Hear us out -- it makes sense and we have the proof. BCR is once again on the street talking with our Upper West Sider neighbors about their favorite conspiracy theories...
2020-08-2840 min
Bar Crawl RadioCollateral Damage and the CVD19 CollectiveBar Crawl Radio is now on the street at West End Avenue and 92nd Street -- bringing in guests and talking with neighbors on our open mic. For Episode #104 Rebecca and Alan talked about the collateral damage of CVD19 and then had a most unusual guest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-08-0737 min
Bar Crawl RadioRafael Espinal: Head of the Freelancers UnionBCR100-PART 2: Our second guest for out outdoor podcast on West End Avenue was former NY City Council Member, Rafael Espinal. Rafael is one of our favorite guests. , He has been with us many times and Alan covered his run for City Advocate a year ago. We have celebrated his many accomplishments as City Council Member for District 37 in Brooklyn. And now Rafael Espinal is the leader of the Freelancers Union. We talked about his many accomplishments with a Council Member, his new job as head of the Freelancers Union and possible future political aspirations. Talking with Rafael is al...
2020-07-2018 min
Hunkered DownAnita HollanderWhat is an actor? For instance -- can a disabled person play an able bodied character? How stuck are we in our imaginations? Is it possible to look beyond physical characteristics and focus just on the character being performed? Anita Hollander has performed in major theatre venues throughout Europe, Asia and America as an actress, singer, composer, lyricist, director, producer and teacher. As a two-time cancer survivor, Anita has negotiated over half her 50-year performing career on one leg, And she has worked to raise awareness about issues surrounding the disabled actor.Ms. Hollander has premiered new works...
2020-05-2958 min
Hunkered DownKathryn ErbeFor eleven successful seasons -- Kathryn Erbe played Detective Alexandra Eames to Vincent D’Onofrio’s Det. Robert Goren on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Prior to Criminal Intent – Ms. Erbbe appeared as a death row inmate on the award-winning TV series OZ. This talented actor has worked steadily in television, film, and theatre since she graduated from NYU in 1989 and most recently appeared in Sam Levinson’s teen slasher film – “Assassination Nation.”For this episode, Ms. Erbe talks about her early work in television with Lynn Redgrave on “Chicken Soup,” her experiences of working on “Criminal Intent,” and her work...
2020-05-2247 min
Hunkered DownJohn Miller: Professional Bassist / Broadway ContractorJohn Miller plays the bass and if you were a fan of that amazing, fantastical series about a NYC symphony orchestra – you know John Miller as Dee Dee – the drug supplying timpanist in “Mozart in the Jungle.” John’s only other acting role was in Cy Coleman’s “I Love My Wife” for which he won a Drama Desk Award. But John Miller is mainly a Music Contractor having put together the pit bands for over 130 Broadway productions. He has worked on Broadway's biggest hits such as “The Producers,” “Jersey Boys,” and “Hairspray.” And -- as a bassist -- has played with Madonn...
2020-05-0841 min
Hunkered DownMartin Espada & Lauren SchmidtThis will be our second visit with the renowned poet of the Puerto Rican diaspora – Martin Espada - and with his partner and wife, Lauren Schmidt -- poet, writer, teacher and worker in the field of the socially oppressed. Rebecca McKean and Chris Brandt and I – Alan Winson—spoke with Lauren and Martin on Bar Crawl Radio – Episode #88. For this Hunkered Down Podcast we found the couple cozied together in their home in Shutesbury, Massachusetts with their Pomeranian – Fenrir – named after the giant wolf that ate Norse gods. You can hear her panting in this recording.We spoke about their...
2020-05-051h 00
Bar Crawl RadioBecky & Alan: RAGE @ a New BarWARNING: Corona virus is mentioned -- in passing -- in this podcast.Announcing -- the official opening of the Windermere Chateau Bar and Grill --the new gathering place on West End Avenue. Masks are optional. Stupidity is celebrated. Meet Bob and Delores -- the arguing couple. Betsy -- the pansexual service person. And -- along with Becky and Alan -- consider your inner rage. CONTACT: barcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-05-0133 min
Bar Crawl RadioFrom Prison to College: Second ChancesBar Crawl Radio hosts, Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson spoke with two young men, recently released from Otisville Medium Security Prison—Sam Johnson and Christopher Lee -- and with Professor Richard Hoehler from John Jay College who teaches in the Prison to College Pipeline – an educational program founded by English Professor Baz Dreisinger and administered by the college's Prisoner Re-entry Institute [PRI].Contact: barcrawlradio@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-241h 07
Hunkered DownJoel BernsteinI met actor Joel Bernstein at a BCR recording -- #52 – at the time he had been in Russia with The Medicine Show Theatre’s production of "14 Little Red Huts." Joel is a complete actor – stage – film -- television -- and was most recently seen in a recurring role in “Mozart in the Jungle” playing Warren Boyd the orchestra’s first violinist. He has been on episodes of “Law and Order” and "The Chappelle Show" and most recently the 2017 film “The Meyerwitz Stories.”Contact: Alan Winson - upperwestsideradio@gmail.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/hunkered-down.
2020-04-1436 min
Hunkered DownThe Shrill Collective: Keep MovingThe Shrill Collective is a musical and theatre group of women who write, produce and perform in socially and economically relevant plays to raise money and awareness. Their goals is to give women and non-binary artists a platform to share their artistic perspectives. Chelsea Feltman had been on Bar Crawl Radio #85 podcast to talk about her groups activism. Kristina Cole is an actor-director-writer who has appeared on "Billions," "Parenthood," and "The Black List." Lynda DeFuria hails from New Jersey and grew up in Las Vegas. She has produced two albums of her piano-driven pop songs-- and was almost on...
2020-04-0738 min
Bar Crawl RadioTiny EvilsWe sat at the bar at 5Napkin on W. 84th Street, and I looked around at a somewhat crowded bar and restaurant and wondered how it is we were all there together as COVID19 swirled around us. But Becky and I are dedicated to podcasting, and so we put our bodies on the line for our loyal listeners and talked about "TINY EVILS." We asked the question that have alluded great minds: Does EVIL exist, and, if so, what is it? And we came up with an answer -- sort of -- and I -- Alan Winson -- revealed...
2020-03-1338 min
Bar Crawl RadioBeyond WitnessingLast week I -- Alan Winson -- spent a few days with a committed group of people. They regularly protest and get arrested in a nearly impossible attempt to end the horrors of Gitmo -- the U.S. prison in Cuba which, after over 18 years, incarcerates 40 Muslim men accused of 9/11 terrorism. Most of these men are innocent and have been exonerated; yet, they remain in an isolated hell in Guantanamo. The court trials they demand are beyond them -- maybe forever -- because evidence of being tortured are being destroyed by our government. The members of Witness Against Torture...
2020-01-1736 min
Bar Crawl RadioON Losing a wallet & Finding the Chapstick.Recently, I, Alan Winson, lost my wallet. I was devastated for a few hours, but over the next few days I felt a freedom that came from a sense of being untethered from a thing that had controlled my days. 'Oh God! Where is my wallet -- all my pocessions? This is really not good!!!' TURNED INTO -- I feel lighter -- freerWhen you lose a wallet or purse -- it is certainly inconvenient, but you learn quickly that a wallet can be replaced -- all of those cards and IDs can be duplicated and...
2019-11-2239 min
Bar Crawl RadioBCR #29 Extra: "Is this who we are?" -- FridayA long march to the White House. An anti-WAT protestor. And the fast ends.Guantanamo or Gitmo has held many hundreds of men accused of terrorism against the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 2001 attacks – most were innocent of any crime – several dozen remain at the prison on the Cuban island. They have been imprisoned for 17 years in limbo -- beyond judicial recognition.“Is this who we are?” is a podcast series reflecting the actions, arguments, and emotions of the WAT protesters who gathered for a week in 2019 in Washington. D.C. My name is Alan Winson. I...
2019-04-051h 00Bar Crawl RadioBCR #29 Extra: "Is this who we are?" -- ThursdayArrests at McConnell's Office.Guantanamo or Gitmo has held many hundreds of men accused of terrorism against the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 2001 attacks – most were innocent of any crime – several dozen remain at the prison on the Cuban island. They have been imprisoned for 17 years in limbo -- beyond judicial recognition.“Is this who we are?” is a podcast series reflecting the actions, arguments, and emotions of the WAT protesters who gathered for a week in 2019 in Washington. D.C. My name is Alan Winson. I lived with the WAT members in the First Luthe...
2019-04-0559 minBar Crawl RadioBCR #29 Extra: "Is this who we are?" -- WednesdayArrests at the Supreme Court.Guantanamo or Gitmo has held many hundreds of men accused of terrorism against the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 2001 attacks – most were innocent of any crime – several dozen remain at the prison on the Cuban island. They have been imprisoned for 17 years in limbo -- beyond judicial recognition.“Is this who we are?” is a podcast series reflecting the actions, arguments, and emotions of the WAT protesters who gathered for a week in 2019 in Washington. D.C. My name is Alan Winson. I lived with the WAT members in the First L...
2019-04-0558 minBar Crawl RadioBCR #26: Rap & Bullying OR Why DJ King Assassin did not show up.Folks -- this is a weird one. Little worked in this episode as we planned; nevertheless, your intrepid podcasting bar crawlers forged ahead and continued to drink at their moderate rate. That's good--yes?Rebecca and Alan were joined for the intro segment by Paul Alan Ruben -- author of Terms of Engagement -- at Vino Laventino to share Malbec and bad poetry. Alan introduced this episode's ennui by sharing his discouraging experience of The New York Review of Books--Holiday Issue. And Becky ended the intro by describing her "Little Stool."We then gathered ourselves and...
2019-04-031h 00Bar Crawl RadioBCR #13: Crime Stories in Two ActsConversations with two "crime" writers. In Two ActsAct 1 -- BCR13, hosts -- Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson -- talked with Michael Wilson who wrote the "Crime Scene" column for the NY Times from 2011 to 2017. In over 300, well-formed narratives, Wilson covered the human-side of crime from both sides of the law. BTW -- did you hear the one about the criminal who "robbed" the frig during the heist?Act 2 -- [@ 00:50:30] A troubling conversation with author Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich -- "The Fact of a Body." Do not miss this writer's description of her na...
2019-04-031h 18