Shows
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With David LeisnerToday, David Leisner and I talked about being a composer, a guitarist, and his recent album Dedications (below), released January 16. You can buy it here.Below is the video mentioned during the interview. David performs “Farewell, R.W.” by David Del Tredici, one of the compositions on Dedications, at Plaza Blanca in Abiquiu, New Mexico.Thanks again to everyone to tuned in live.Next Week At Media Room Live!Join me next week for an interview with singer-songwriter Courtney Hartman whose new album With You is one of the fine...
2026-02-1230 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Michael Stephen BrownThank you to everyone who tuned in to the live video. Michael Stephen Brown and I talked about being a composer and pianist, the state of contemporary classical music, and the upcoming release of TWELVE BLOCKS (below).Media Room Live! is now a weekly feature. Join us every Thursday at 11:00AM EST when I interview an artist doing some of today’s most interesting work.* On February 12 I will talk with classical guitarist David Leinser about his new album Dedications, released January 16.* On February 19 I will be in conversation with singer/so...
2026-02-0523 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Steve TibbettsThank you to everyone who tuned into the live video. The video above is the continuation of a discontinued live stream that had to be abandoned due to technical issues. For those of you that were with us for that, we traced it to a bluetooth issue.I apologize for any inconvenience the technical issues may have caused and I hope you enjoy our discussion.Join us for another Media Room Live! event 11:00 AM EST February 5, 2026 when I talk with pianist and composer Michael Stephen Brown about his music and his new album “Tw...
2026-01-2220 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'SpongeBob Squarepants: The Search For Squarepants'I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review “The Search For Squarepants,” published today.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Paid subscribers receive audio posts for all movie reviews. This review has been made available to all subscribers. In 2026, audio and video posts will only be available to paid subscribers.If you are a free subscriber check your email for a special upgrade offer that expires Christmas Day. As always, thank you for reading Media Room, and Happy Holidays. Cover image...
2025-12-2304 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With JoAnn FallettaThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mediaroom.substack.comThank you to everyone who tuned in! Click here to read more about the two compositions on the recording, including my reviews of the BPO performances. Click here to read Atlanta music critic William Ford’s recent article, mentioned in the interview. Buffalo Philharmonic coverage is for paid subscribers only. Take advantage of Media Room’s Holiday Special
2025-12-1826 min
Media Room PodcastTV Review: ‘Pluribus'I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review of “Pluribus,” published today. It is currently streaming at Apple TV.Following the review is a six minute performance of Renaissance composer Johannes Ockeghem’s “Dei Gratias” performed by the Huelgas Ensemble conducted by Paul Van Nevel. “Dei Gratias” plays over one of the most beautiful scenes in Plurbius, as the Others silently conduct an exodus from Albuquerque. You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Paid subscribers receive audio posts for all movie reviews. This review has been...
2025-12-0912 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'Tapawingo'I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review of “Tapawingo,” published today. It began streaming at Amazon Video and Apple TV December 2.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Paid subscribers receive audio posts for all movie reviews. This review has been made available to all subscribers. If you like what you hear please consider becoming a paid subscriber.This Holiday, Give The Gift Of Quality Arts WritingMedia Room is quality arts writing, not “entertainment content.”Media Room’s 30% off Holiday Spec...
2025-12-0403 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'Wake Up Dead Man'I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review of “Wake Up Dead Man,” published today. The movie is in theaters now and begins streaming December 12 at Netflix.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Paid subscribers receive audio posts for all movie reviews. This review has been made available to all subscribers. If you like what you hear please consider becoming a paid subscriber.This Holiday, Give The Gift Of Quality Arts WritingMedia Room is quality arts writing, not “entertainment content.”Media Ro...
2025-12-0204 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Amaury FayeToday, Amaury Faye joined me from Paris to discuss Rust, his recently released album featuring music inspired by jazz’s source, the great city of New Orleans. Rust was recorded at Maringy Studios in the Crescent City and features New Orleans musicians Julian Lee (tenor sax), Amina Scott (bass), and Herlin Riley (drums). The album was released digitally November 14 with physical media scheduled for December 12. Media Room debuted the album’s trailer, below. In our interview, Amaury explains the panda head. Thanks to everyone who tuned in to watch. ...
2025-11-2523 min
Media Room PodcastTomorrow: Interview With Amaury FayeAmaury Faye is French jazz composer and pianist who, after a visit to New Orleans, recorded “Rust” with some of that great city’s jazz artists. It was released digitally November 14 with physical media to follow in December.Watch the album’s trailer (above), first released here at Media Room.Faye and I will discuss “Rust” during our live event tomorrow Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at 11:00AM EST. Click here to watch live.I promise to ask him about the panda head. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss t...
2025-11-2403 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Eric JacobsenGuest Conductor Eric Jacobsen will be leading the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra this weekend in its “Grieg & Schumann: Romantic Impressions” program.Paid subscribers received the interview Wednesday. I hope you enjoy our discussion. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediaroom.substack.com/subscribe
2025-11-2119 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'Nouvelle Vague'I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review of “Nouvelle Vague,” published today. The movie begins streaming tomorrow at Netflix.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Paid subscribers receive audio posts for all movie reviews. This review has been made available to all subscribers.Media Room paid subscribers receive special audio and video posts, access to paywalled coverage of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and much more. Click below to subscribe.Cover image: See written review for caption. © Netflix. This is a pu...
2025-11-1303 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Prof. Nancy NewmanAlma Mahler married Gustav Mahler in 1902 when he was 41 and she was 22. Both were accomplished composers. In a famous letter, Gustav famously insisted that Alma cease composing as a condition of their marriage. Watch Cate Blanchett read that letter in the video below.‘You Must Surrender Yourself To Me’#AlmaTooIn her essay #AlmaToo: The Art of Being Believed, published in 2022 by the Journal of the American Musicological Society, University at Albany Professor of Music Nancy Newman writes about Alma Mahler in the context of the contemporary #MeToo movement.Nanc...
2025-11-0425 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Alexandra KazovskyThe Ariel Quartet formed in Jerusalem two decades ago and is currently in residence at The University of Cincinnati. It is one of the finest musical ensembles performing today, noted for its sophisticated, passionate sound. Ariel has recorded all of Beethoven’s sixteen quartets in three recordings on the Orchard Classics label. Volume I was released April 4, 2025 and Volume II comes out November 7, 2025 (above). The final volume, Volume III, will be released in June 2026 followed by a boxed set in 2027, in time for the 200th Anniversary of Beethoven’s death (March 26, 1827). Alexandra and I di...
2025-10-3028 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'Spinal Tap II: The End Continues'Thank you for being a paid subscriber.I hope you enjoy this reading of Media Room’s review of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," published today.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here. Below is the lyric video for “Cups And Cakes,” a verse of which was quoted at the end of my review. You mark my words. This “Paul McCartney” will be a big star one day. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscr...
2025-09-1603 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With John LargessThe Miro Quartet is approaching its thirtieth anniversary. Violist John Largess and I met in Buffalo in 2023 when the Miro was in town performing the Beethoven Quartet Cycle and we caught up in a live event this morning. John and I talked Beethoven, the workaday life of a string quartet, and the Miro’s new album of Alberto Ginastera’s three string quartets. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.At 30:55 John discusses Ginastera’s Quartet No. 3 and why he finds it moving. Soprano Kiera Duffy joined the Quartet in the fo...
2025-09-1234 min
Media Room PodcastMovie Review: 'Becoming Led Zeppelin'I hope you enjoy my reading of Media Room’s review of “Becoming Led Zeppelin," published yesterday.You can read the review, including images and links, by clicking here.Audio posts are a paid subscriber benefit, but this post is being made available to all subscribers.Please consider supporting Media Room with a paid subscription. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra season begins September 20 and Media Room will be following it with its exclusive, paywalled coverage. Fall Discount - 50% Off Through SeptemberBuffalo journalist Andrew Galarneau said:Medi...
2025-09-0306 min
Media Room PodcastLive Interview With Buffalo Philharmonic Music Director JoAnn FallettaThank you to JoAnn Falletta and everyone who tuned into my live video! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediaroom.substack.com/subscribe
2025-08-2826 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Mason WinfieldToday I spoke with Mason Winfield, author of Buffalo’s Occult Architecture: The Spiritual, the Supernatural, and the Niagara's Great Builders.While I am skeptical of the paranormal and occult, the people who built Buffalo were not. Mason and I discussed how the Queen City’s built environment was based on cosmological symbolism and sacred geometry, including Buffalo City Hall, H.H. Richardson’s Buffalo Psychiatric Center and the Guaranty Building (above).It was a fascinating discussion. Thanks to all who tuned in live. This is a public episode. If you'd...
2025-07-1148 min
Media Room PodcastMedia Room Live! With Zach WoolfeThanks to Zach Woolfe for making Media Room’s first live event a success!I should note that our interview was conducted under a shadow. New York woke up after last night’s devastating loss by its resurgent New York Knicks, who led by 14 points with 2:51 to go in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.The Knicks haven’t been in the Finals since 1999 and they haven’t won a championship since 1973 so choking losing in such a dramatic, unprecedented fashion has to hurt.That said, we Buffa...
2025-05-2230 min
The Square PodcastThe Square - Ep 79 - What's The Mander, Gerry? feat. Frank HoushWe talk with election law attorney Frank Housh this week about voting rights and the trend of redistricting toward the terrible.You can find Frank here-->Website: https://www.houshlaw.com/Twitter: @houshlaw=================In news, we complain about the Buffalo property tax hike and the hypocrisy around it, Andrew Giuliani ascending, Scott walker stinkin' up the town, a certain Home Depot thief and more~=================Find us at:Facebook: www.facebook.com/squarepodTwitter: @squarepodbuffIG: SquarePodcastJim: @JamesTamolRyan: @darealryansteelRiy: @GFY-We have shirts! If you're Buffalo Rad, get them here:https://the-squares-radpack-store-2.creator-spring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
2022-05-051h 27