Brew's Cafe

David Rattray, Editor and Publisher of 'The Star', shares his experience of making hard choices about what goes into the paper. He discusses the impact of digitized police reports on individual privacy, controversies surrounding the East Hampton Airport, and challenges in reporting on politicians' military service. The podcast also touches on evictions, reader engagement, and debates on location names.

The week Jolie Parcher opened Mandala Yoga in Amagansett Square more than 20 years ago, Yoga was still in what she calls "Weirdoville". Two people showed up for the first few classes. The next week, Oprah declared on her show that Yoga was "a good thing'. And suddenly Jolie was looking for more space. All these years later, Jolie applies Yoga to every aspect of her life, and on this episode, she explains how and why that works for her.  Of course, she fills us in on the progression of Mandala Yoga from the small studio where it started to her latest passion, Mandala Gives, where she's bringing Yoga to those people for whom it may not otherwise be available: Local first responders, for instance; those suffering from Parkinson's Disease, for another; people seeking shelter and a new start in life at The Retreat. Naturally, we diverge from the obvious topics and drift into a deep discussion of local concerns, whether it be how to make a living, that greener grass we so often envy-- correctly or otherwise, and, as always, the difficulty of making a living and finding housing in our community. As I'd hoped, Jolie brings an interesting, compassionate and thoughtful perspective on everything we discuss. 

Bryan Downey, a multifaceted artist and local historian, delves into the untold story of The Miegs Raid during the Revolutionary War. He discusses his community efforts against beach littering, shares celebrity encounters, and explores the historical event with freed African slaves and Native Americans. Bryan's storytelling prowess and diverse talents make for an engaging podcast episode.

Ron White is one of those guys who uses up every available character in his job description: Successful Real Estate Agent, Head Coach of the Bridgehampton HS Boys Basketball team, President of the BH School Board, plus husband, father, brother and generally great guy. Whenever Ron and I get a conversation going, two things are inevitable: it's going to be interesting, and we never know where it's going to go. Fortunately, both those truths hold up in when we recently put a couple of mics in front of us and recorded the convo for the world-- or at least the world of this podcast-- to hear. Two topics we generally count on are parenting and coaching, and the challenges anyone attempting either of these face in today's rapidly changing world. But we go much deeper here, as to what makes raising kids right such a challenge today, and how coaches need to learn entirely new skill sets while instilling the values of hard work, discipline, teamwork, sacrifice and patience. Naturally, we drift into other topics such as paying college athletes, our local housing crisis, the real estate market to name just a few. 

If your legal knowledge is limited to "Better Call Saul", or even "Law and Order", and you're curious whether either of those are remotely accurate, you might want to check this one out. As a Former Prosecutor, Public (and private) Defender, as well as a practitioner of all aspects of the law (including real estate!), it's hard to think of a person better equipped to teach me about the inner workings of the criminal justice system. Curious about the hullabaloo over Bail Reform? We cover that in depth. Thinking of mounting an insanity plea? Better listen here first. Is it true only guilty parties plead guilty? We dig into this one as well. So tune into this one and you may learn a lot more than, like me, you thought you already knew based on the television shows. Only one caveat, though (see what I did there?): you might want to fact check him on Westhampton Beach surfing history!

Author Amanda Fairbanks discusses her book 'The Lost Boys of Montauk' exploring family secrets, controversies, and literary choices. They also chat about life on the East End, New York Times Spelling Bee addiction, and upcoming projects.

Mark Smith, restaurant owner and hands-on worker, shares his thoughts and stories of the restaurant business in this special episode. They discuss challenges in the industry, the changing face of East Hampton, and work ethic in hospitality. They also highlight the importance of finding support in the kitchen and contrasting reactions to VIP visits with refugees. The chapter emphasizes the significance of good people and engaging in healthy debates.

Former iconic figure Walter Struble reflects on his time at Della Femina in East Hampton, sharing stories of managing the restaurant with grace and charm. From dealing with difficult customers to the best moments with staff, Walter's journey in the hospitality industry is full of entertaining anecdotes and valuable insights.

You know that old story about the beautiful young girl walking on the beach in Hawaii and someone comes up to her and says "do you want to be a model"? It's either a fairy tale or an intro to a "Criminal Minds" episode, right? Either way, that never happens in real life. Well, don't tell that to Leilani Bishop. Of course,  nothing happens overnight, in modeling or anywhere else, and Leilani's story involves the usual episodes of rooming with four wannabe models for a summer in a tiny NYC apartment, countless appointments that went nowhere, months and years away from family and friends at home. Until that one call comes. And, to keep up the fairy tale, these careers never last more than a couple years, never mind decades. Oops, again, don't tell Leilani.  And "just a pretty face"? Once more, cliche does not apply. As this conversation will attest, Leilani is intensely thoughtful, highly intelligent, deeply spiritual and downright funny. Today she lives with her family in Amgansett and operates Botanica Bazaar, a carefully curated store in Amagansett Square, filled with natural health and beauty products that meet extremely stringent standards of quality, purity and beauty.  Tune in to this episode and join us as Leilani Bishop takes us on a tour of the adventure that has been her life so far.

If you don't know what 20,000 vinyl LP's looks like, then you've never been in Gian Carlo Feleppa's basement slash recording studio slash office slash record depository. Add to that many hundreds, even thousands of reel to reel tapes, numerous and various machines to play them on, speakers to listen to them through, mixers, recorders and other various and sundry music recording mechanisms-- and we haven't even begin to discuss the instruments. I arrive and Giancarlo is on the porch of his house, strumming and picking and harmonizing on a sitar about as tall as he is, the base of which is fashioned from a dried pumpkin. Three drum kits are also on the porch. Inside, The Beatles (or was it Wings, I was too overwhelmed to recall) spin on the turntable. A tour ensues, not unlike a tour of a local museum, and if GC and his family didn't live there, and if it weren't an active rehearsal, recording, teaching and just noodling around space, maybe it could be. Then we sit down for a conversation that took us places I hadn't planned, but wasn't surprised when we got there. Gian Carlo is the epitome of a local treasure: unique, multi-talented, highly productive, and eager to share his enthusiasm with his young students, the concert-goers at Student Body show, or the random amateur podcaster, which I've been lucky enough to be all of at one point or another.