Shows
The Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks With Griefcat's Louisa Hall & Annie Nardolilli About Their New Album & Upcoming TourIn 2019, that halcyon year before we found ourselves seeking shelter from the storm known as covid, musicians of every stripe were putting the finishing touches on albums and looking forward to hitting the road to promote them. Such was the case for a female singer-songwriting duo that met at a music festival and found that they shared a similar quirky outlook when it comes to songwriting.Louisa Hall and Annie Nardolilli joined forces and a zany pairing was born. One indicator of their somewhat skewed outlook on life is the name t...
2024-04-2142 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks With Singer-songwriter Leo Sawikin About His Upcoming Album & TourSinger-songwriter Leo Sawikin, like many other emerging recording artists, is busy making up for lost time. He wrote the material for his first album, Row Me Away, in 2019. The album was released two years later in 2021 — one year into the covid pandemic. Promoting that album in front of a live audience wasn’t possible.But that was then. Sawakin has been back in the studio recording tracks for a follow-up album to be released in the fall. Seven new singles are already out. Leo is gearing up for numerous tour dates that...
2024-04-2051 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks With Griefcat's Louisa Hall & Annie Nardollilli About Their Album "Late Stage Capitalism"In 2019, that halcyon year before we found ourselves seeking shelter from the storm known as covid, musicians of every stripe were putting the finishing touches on albums and looking forward to hitting the road to promote them. Such was the case for a female singer-songwriting duo that met at a music festival and found that they shared a similar quirky outlook when it comes to songwriting.Louisa Hall and Annie Nardolilli joined forces and a zany pairing was born. One indicator of their somewhat skewed outlook on life is the name t...
2024-04-2042 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with Griefcat's Louisa Hall & Annie Nardolilli About Their New AlbumIn 2019, that halcyon year before we found ourselves seeking shelter from the storm known as covid, musicians of every stripe were putting the finishing touches on albums and looking forward to hitting the road to promote them. Such was the case for a female singer-songwriting duo that met at a music festival and found that they shared a similar quirky outlook when it comes to songwriting.Louisa Hall and Annie Nardolilli joined forces and a zany pairing was born. One indicator of their somewhat skewed outlook on life is the name...
2024-04-2044 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks To Susan Bartz Herrick About Her Gripping Mother-Son Memoir, "Slow Dancing With The Devil"In 2021 alone, more than 60 thousand of the 80 thousand overdose deaths in the United States were due to opiods. One of those who died was 30-year-old Robert “Luke” Paschal, whose mother, Susan Bartz Herrick, has penned the mother-son memoir, Slow Dancing with the Devil: A Son’s Substance Use Disorder, A Mother’s Anguish.In it, Herrick chronicles a catastrophic car crash that very nearly killed her son, Luke, who was airlifted to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to repair both his crushed chest and broken back. Numerous internal organs were also damaged...
2024-03-3155 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks To Brian K Pagels of Duo Brian K & The Parkway about Debut Album "Killing the Bear"Brian K. Pagels is one half (along with partner Stephen Russ) of the musical duo, Brian K. & The Parkway. He and Russ formed the band in 2021. Pagels describes the duo’s music as “coastal heartland rock.”Their first album, Killing the Bear,” was preceded by two singles — Wind the Clock and Straight Through. On the latter, Pagels is joined by singer-songwriter Cat Popper, known for – among other things — her group Puss N Boots with Norah Jones. How did Pagels get an established performer such as Popper perform with him on his debut outing? P...
2024-03-2938 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Interviews Singer-Songwriter John Ondrasik About Antisemetism & His Searing New Anthem"OK"John Ondrasik, known by his stage name Five for Fighting, rose to fame with the 2002 Grammy-nominated single Superman (It’s Not Easy). The song charted at number 14 on the Hot 100 and reached number 1 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40. Music aficionados considered it an anthem following the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. On his third album, The Battle for Everything, the single 100 Years rose to the number 1 spot on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It remained there for 12 non-consecutive weeks. Partnering with Broadway composer Steven Schwartz, John, along with Steven, Steven developed a TV show ca...
2024-03-2030 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Talks To Dana Richie & Francesco Lucarelli About Post-Pandemic Documentary "Unlocked"Covid-19 infections exploded across the globe in 2020. By the end of the year, statistics were staggering. In the United States alone, estimates put the number of infections at 20 million. Of those, some 340 thousand people died. Worldwide, nearly 84 million people had been infected resulting in more than 1.8 million fatalities. The World Health Organization (WHO) designated the virus a pandemic on March 11. Two days later, President Trump declared a national state of emergency. On March 19, California became the first state to issue stay-at-home orders.In the earliest days of the pandemic, confusion reigned...
2024-02-1138 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks Earthquakes & Volcanoes with Volcanologist & Geologist Jess PhoenixJess Phoenix wears many hats. The history undergrad major took a geology class on a lark and found herself instantly hooked. Soon enough, she earned a master’s degree in geology at California State University, Los Angeles. Her thesis is a mouthful: Lava Flow Morphologies and Structural Features Along the Axis of the South Rift Zone of Loihi Seamount, Hawaii.Jess’s expertise in volcanology and seismology has made her a darling of media outlets — especially in recent weeks as volcanoes in both Iceland and Hawaii have exhibited increased activity and threatened public safety.
2024-01-0946 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks to Filmmaker Vishavjit Singh about His Animated Short Film, "American Sikh"In the Republic, the philosopher Plato notably penned that “Our need will be the real creator.” A rephrasing of those words survives to this day: Necessity is the mother of invention. And so it is. Just ask filmmaker Vishavjit Singh, a cartoonist, performance artist, and public speaker. Singh is a member of the religious sect Sikhism, a worldwide spiritual movement that has its roots in India. Singh was born in Washington, DC, where one of his parents was a member of the delegation at the Indian embassy. In his teens, his family moved back to Indi...
2023-12-2441 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with Actress, Filmmaker, & Playwright Aba Arthur about The Color Purple Musical Film & MoreAba Arthur is an actor, playwright, filmmaker, and author. This multi-hyphenate woman knew what she wanted her future to look like from day one. A cast member of Wakanda Forever, the sequel to Black Panther, she now can be seen in the new musical motion picture, The Color Purple, a revisiting of the 1985 film adapted from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by the same name. There's more on the near horizon: In the Spring of...
2023-12-2142 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper talks to filmmaker Neer Shelter about short film, "Perspectives"Tandy Culpepper talks with Australian filmmaker Keer Shelter, the man behind the live action short film, Perspectives. The film has qualified for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the folks that bring you the Oscars every year. Perspectives' storyline involves a female Israeli soldier who finds herself on a bus with a Palestinian man she suspects may be a suicide bomber. The film is semi-autobiographical for Shelter.: in addition to holding Australian citizenship. Shelter holds Israeli citizenship. Like the protagonist in the film, Shelter served in the Israeli military.
2023-12-1336 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with Singer-Songwriter John Ondrasik AKA Five For Fighting: Ukraine & Afghanistan & MoreYou may know him as John Ondrasik. You may know him by his stage name Five for Fighting. No matter. By any name, this acclaimed singer- songwriter is recognized throughout the music industry as one of America’s greatest balladeers. Think Superman and 100 Years.Last year, Ondrasik set out on an arduous and perilous journey. After Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, John sat down at his piano and composed Can One Man Save the World. It’s a paean to Ukraine and a soaring anthem that begged for an orchestral accompaniment.R...
2023-11-0846 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks Israel-Hamas War with Veteran Journalist and Author Don DahlerI’d been trying to schedule an interview with veteran broadcast journalist Don Dahler (most recently of CBS News) for weeks. We finally found a good date in October, and looking back, I realize had we conducted the interview in September, I would have missed out on his valuable observations regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier in his career — as a war correspondent with ABC News — Dahler was embedded with American forces during the second Gulf War. That experience informs much of this episode as he provides insights into the major players in the current armed confli...
2023-11-0643 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with The Christian Science Monitor's Francine KieferFor several months, I had been trying to pin down journalist Francine Kiefer for an interview regarding her award-winning work as West Coast bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor. My efforts were complicated by unforeseen circumstances not of our making. Kiefer had been asked to assume the role of interim national news editor pending results of a search to fill the position long term. I caught up with Francine the second week of October, a time in which news from overseas was dominated by events taking place in Israel and the Gaza Strip. On the home...
2023-10-2038 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with Singer-Songwriter Lauren Calve about her Debut Long-form Album, "Shift" Recently I had the opportunity to interview the D.C. based singer-songwriter Lauren Calve. By her own wry admission, she’s something of a late bloomer. In fact, one of the tracks on her debut long-form album, Shift, bears that very title. The ten track collection was released the first week of September. Calve recorded the LP in Nashville – and, boy, howdy, did she have heavyweight musicians in the studio with her. From her website LaurenCalve.com:(Shift) was recorded in Nashville at 3Sirens Music Group with producer, engineer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dex Green (Margo Price, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Alli...
2023-09-2129 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with Judy Lev about her Groundbreaking New Memoir, "Our Names Do Not Appear"Judy Lev (the pen name for Judy Labensohn) is an American-Israeli writer whose new memoir -- Our Names Do Not Appear -- breaks new ground for the genre. One book critic referred to it as a "hybrid memoir." After reading it, I must opine that hybrid is an accurate description for the book. Judy mixes creative nonfiction with elements of fiction, and she does so with a deft hand. The story mines memories from a traumatic childhood event that the author carries with her for many years until she faces the same sort of dilemma after becoming a young...
2023-08-1926 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks Psychoanalysis with Psychologist and Hypnotherapist Dr. Nancy IrwinDr. Nancy Irwin is a Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist. A longtime mutual friend thought I’d enjoy interviewing Dr. Irwin, and our friend was right. She came to this profession by way of an interesting journey . Can you imagine a stand up comic who morphs into a shrink? Well, Dr, Irwin traveled that road. I talk to Dr. Irwin about why people — including Hollywood celebrities — seek her services.
2023-08-1331 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks Menopause and Vampires with Pamela Skjsvik, Author of "Forever 51"Pamela Skjolsvik and I met in 2008 at Goucher College where we both were enrolled in the Creative Nonfiction MFA program. We’ve kept in touch over the years. When Pamela decided to try her hand at fiction, she settled on a topic guaranteed to raise eyebrows. The novel is Forever 51, a dark comedy about a menopausal vampire named Veronica. Pamela’s protagonist is forever condemned to a life of irritability and hot flashes. The idea for the high-concept tale came to Pamela as the result of a question posed by her young son. Hear the question in this interview. Pame...
2023-08-0928 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks Painting and Poetry with Chris Arvidson, Author of "The House Inside My Head"I caught up recently with a woman who, like me, graduated from Goucher College's MFA program in Creative Nonfiction. She and I have been Facebook friends, but we spoke by phone for the first time only in the last month. I came across one of her posts in which she shared that she had just come out with a poetry collection titled The House Inside My Head. In this episode of THB, she tells us about her new book, about how she became a poet, why she took up painting, and workshops she conducts in something called ekphrastic writing...
2023-07-2455 minThe Hollywood BeatTandy Culpepper Talks with new Grammy Member, Dr. James Michael StevensDr. James Michael Stevens is a professor of music and chair of the music department at Welch College in Gallatin, Tennessee. Stevens is also a composer and a prolific one at that. By his estimation, he has some 8,000 compositions to his credit, mainly for piano but also for organ and choral groups. The chorale composition Without Love We Have Nothing– written with Joseph M. Martin – has been performed and recorded all over the world, particularly in South Korea. Last month, Dr. Stevens was invited to join the Recording Academy as a voting member of the Grammy Awards. In this epis...
2023-07-2243 minThe Hollywood BeatReba Merrill Talks with Tandy Culpepper about her Stellar Career as a Journalist in HollywoodTandy Culpepper talks with author, lecturer, and broadcast journalist Reba Merrill. This is a woman one Hollywood wag dubbed "The Queen of the Hollywood Press Junket." Merrill came to Los Angeles and sought to build a brand in entertainment journalism at the unheard of age of 47 -- unheard of because, for a woan at that time, 47 was over the hill. So after assorted trials and tribulations, she beat the odds and overcame both misogyny and ageism. Now, her lengthy career has been capped off with a major honor: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Merrill for...
2023-07-1137 min