KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Stuart Woods (1938-2022) who died on July 22, 2022 at the at the age of 84, wrote over one hundred novels in a career spanning forty years. In this interview recorded May 10, 1993 with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, he discusses his recent novels L.A. Times and New York Dead, as well as his career and his dealings with Hollywood. Best known for his first novel, Chiefs, published in 1981, most of Stuart Woods’ books featured a former NYPD detective turned attorney named Stone Barrington, a former NYPD detective turned attorney. There were other series featuring CIA operative Holly Barker, Santa Fe defense lawuer Ed Eagle, Senator, later President William Henry Lee and a 1930s detective named Rick Barron. His characters appear in the same universe and often appear in each others’ novels. To date, IMDb just two lists the two miniseries mentioned by Stuart Woods in the interview, Chiefs and Grass Roots. A third novel, White Cargo, is said to be in pre-production. Wikipedia lists four posthumous Stone Carrington novels, the first, Distant Thunder, has a publication date of October, 2022. Both L.A. Times and New York Dead are still in print. This interview was digitized and edited in August, 2022 by Richard Wolinsky, and has not aired in nearly thirty years. (cover photo: Jeanmarie Woods). The post Stuart Woods (1938-2022), 1993 appeared first on KPFA.

Salman Rushdie discussing his memoir of his years in hiding from the fatwa, “Joseph Anton” with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded September 25, 2012. The recent attack on the famed author brought back memories of the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini regarding the publication of the novel “The Satanic Verses.” The death threat forced Salman Rushdie into hiding for a decade, out of which he emerged and eventually resumed a normal life. In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses how it affected his life, the life of those around him, and the nature of religious fanaticism. Transcript The post Salman Rushdie, “Joseph Anton,” 2012 appeared first on KPFA.

Joyce Carol Oates, author of “Blonde,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded May 3, 2000 in the KPFA studios. ​​​​​Joyce Carol Oates is one of American’s greatest writers, and one of its most prolific. Over a career that spans nearly sixty years, according to Wikipedia she’s written 58 novels, and according to Good Reads, has had 116 books published. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction five times and has been nominated and won many other literary awards. Her most recent novel is Babysitter, release date August 23, 2022. Among her best known works, and perhaps her magnum opus, is Blonde, one of Pulitzer finalists and a nominee for the National Book Award. This epic novel from 2000 is a retelling of the life of Marilyn Monroe, and is soon to be a motion picture starring Ana De Armas. On May 3, 2000, Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff  interviewed Joyce Carol Oates about Blonde, and about her career. This wide-ranging conversation was one of the last of the Cover to Cover (pre-Bookwaves) interviews recorded on analog tape, and has not been heard in twenty years. Digitized and edited by Richard Wolinsky in August, 2022. The post Joyce Carol Oates, “Blonde,” 2000 appeared first on KPFA.

Hershey Felder discusses his stage show, “Chopin in Paris,” playing at TheatreWorks Mountain View August 19 through September 11, 2022 with host Richard Wolinsky. Over the past 29  years, Hershey Felder has been performing one-person plays with his piano accompaniment, focusing on a variety of different composers, including George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Tschaikovsky, Beethoven and others. He has also created film versions of these and others, which can be found at his website, hersheyfelder.net. “Chopin in Paris,” a variation of “M. Chopin,” which was shown as a film supporting various theatre companies during the pandemic, focuses on the composer in 1848, a year before he died, giving a piano lesson and talking about his life. The post Hershey Felder, “Chopin in Paris,” 2022 appeared first on KPFA.

Michael Feinstein, American songbook performer, discussing his work as archivist for Ira Gershwin with host Richard Wolinsky, Michael Feinstein is an American singer, songwriter and classicist of the American songbook. At the age of 20, he was hired to help Ira Gershwin archive his collection of recordings and preserving unpublished Gershwin sheet music. He continued that task for the next seven years. By the 1980s he was a well known cabaret performer, and soon had several CDs under his belt. He has been nominated five times for Grammy Awards. Has been the subject of a PBS documentary series, and hosts a radio show on NPR, among other projects, along with two nightclubs, one of which, Feinstein’s at the Nikko, is in San Francisco. His latest album is titled “Gershwin Country.” Created to air as commentary for a 1991 KPFA Morning Concert focused on a new recording of the 1927 production of “Strike Up The Band,” excerpts of this interview were also intended to be used for a radio documentary on the life of George Gershwin. This was one of seven interviews recorded for the program before it was abandoned. Three interviews have already been posted as Radio Wolinsky podcasts. The three remaining interviews, with Gershwin scholar Deena Rosenberg, author and musicologist Robert Kimball and the late Broadway composer Burton Lane, will eventually be posted. This interview has not been heard since its initial broadcast on KPFA. George Gershwin was born in 1898 and his brother Ira two years earlier. At the age of 15 he took a job as a song-plugger, playing other people’s songs on a piano for Remick Music Publisher for the sale of their sheet music. His first composed song was published when he was 17, and at 21 he scored his first big hit, Swanee. But it wasn’t until 1924 when he teamed up with his brother Ira as lyricist that George Gershwin became, what we might call a superstar, which he remained until his untimely death from a brain tumor in 1937. Ira Gershwin, who went on to work with other composers until he retired in the early 1960s, died in 1983. The Gershwin Project Interview I: English Strunsky, Ira Gershwin’s brother-in-law and George’s wingman in the 1920s. Interview II: Musicologist Deena Rosenberg and Michael Strunsky, Ira Gershwin’s nephew. Interview III: Kitty Carlisle. The post The Gershwin Project IV: Michael Feinstein, 1991 appeared first on KPFA.

Jonathan Lethem: Live Career Retrospective, hosted by Richard Wolinsky. On March 3, 2016, Richard Wolinsky had a chance to sit down with author Jonathan Lethem in front of a Berkeley audience as a benefit for KPFA. Jonathan is the author of several novels, including Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Chronic City and Dissident Gardens, along with short story collections and a book of essays, The Ecstasy of Influence. The event was intended as a career retrospective; the first 45 minutes devoted to prepared questions, followed by a period of questions from the audience, with follow-ups. Jonathan’s collection, Lucky Alan and Other Stories, had just come out in trade paperback.His next novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy was released October 16, 2016. Special thanks to Bob Baldock, who creates these events, and Jane Heaven, who records them. His most recent novels are The Feral Detective and The Arrest, the latter published in 2020. The post Jonathan Lethem, Career Retrospective, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Christopher Moore, author of “Razzmatazz,” “Noir,” and other novels of comic fantasy and horror, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Christopher Moore has eighteen novels to his credit, including Practical Demonkeeping, Bloodsucking Fiends, Fool and Secondhand Souls, many of which take place in San Francisco, where he now lives. Razzmatazz, his latest novel, is a follow-up to Noir, and takes us back to the City by the Bay in 1946, and the world of Chinatown and North Beach, and lesbian and cross-dressing bars, gangsters both foreign and domestic, the African American community at the time, aliens, and magical dragons, with a side-trip to 1906. In the interview, he discusses all of that, plus his views on satire, on current politics, and on researching during the pandemic. The post Christopher Moore, “Razzmatazz,” 2022 appeared first on KPFA.

An interview with Harlan Coben, author of Fool Me Once. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Encore Podcast originally posted on April 21, 2016. From the 2016 podcast description: Harlan Coben is the best-selling author of 28 fast-paced novels of suspense and has won virtually every major award in the field. His latest book, Fool Me Once, features a protagonist suffering from PTSD. Eight of his novels feature an amateur detective in the sports field named Myron Bolitor. He also has a young adult series featuring that character’s nephew, and a children’s book titled The Magical Fantastical Fridge. His novel Tell No One became an acclaimed French film. This interview was recorded at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. Since the interview, several of his novels have been adapted into television miniseries, including Hold Tight, Stay Close, Gone for Good, The Innocent, The Woods, The Stranger and others. His latest novel is The Match, published March 15, 2022. The post Harlan Coben, “Fool Me Once,” 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Susan Faludi talks with host Richard Wolinsky about her book, In The Darkroom, winner of the 2016 Kirkus Prize and a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. This encore podcast was first posted on October 5, 2016. In The Darkroom remains Susan Faludi’s most recent book to date. In The Darkroom is about a search for identity … specifically the identity of her father, who moved to Hungary and had a sex-change operation late in his life, and with whom she reconnected. Susan Faludi is the author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women and Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man. In the interview she discusses transgender issues and their relationship to feminism, the history of Hungarian Jews, her own search for identity, the relationship between transgender issues and photography, and the upcoming national election. Susan Faludi website The post Susan Faludi, “In the Darkroom,” 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Peter Brook (1925-2022), visionary director, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Peter Brook was one of the greatest theatrical directors of the twentieth century. Artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company for twenty years from 1962-1982, he transformed how the English speaking world looked at the plays of William Shakespeare. He is perhaps best known, during those years, for his production of “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” also known as “Marat/Sade,” which later became a film and turned Glenda Jackson into an international star. His other films include “Lord of the Flies,” “Meetings with Remarkable Men” and a version of “King Lear” starring Paul Scofield. His 1985 nine-hour adaptation of the Indian epic Mahabharata is probably his masterpiece. At the age of 92, he and his collaborator Marie Helene Estienne went back to the Mahabharata with a short theatrical piece, “Battlefield,” which played at ACT’s Geary Theater in May, 2017. This interview was recorded on April 24, 2017 in a rehearsal studio in the ACT offices in San Francisco. Included in the podcast is a brief commentary on Peter Brook by actor and director Simon McBurney. Peter Brook Wikipedia page   The post Peter Brook (1925-2022), legendary director, “Battlefield,” 2017 appeared first on KPFA.