KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Stephen King, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Lawrence Davidson, while on tour for The Dead Zone, recorded September 8, 1979 at Dark Carnival Bookstore in Berkeley, and posted in honor of his 75th birthday on September 21, 2022. At the time of this recording, Stephen King had only written a handful of books — Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining and the Stand preceding The Dead Zone. There were also two novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, which was still a secret at the time. Since then, Stephen King has become a literary institution with over 300 credits for television and film adaptations at IMDb. He also has 64 novels, 11 collections of stories, and 5 non-fiction books. This interview was transcribed and can be found in both Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King, edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller, and Stephen King and Clive Barker: Macabre II, edited by James Van Hise. Photo: Stephen King during the era of the interview. Photo by Marty Reichenthal/AP/Shutterstock. The post Stephen King, “The Dead Zone,” 1979 appeared first on KPFA.

Peter Straub (1993-2022), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded April 4, 1993 while on tour for his novel, “The Throat,” third in a thematic trilogy that included “Koko” and “Mystery.” Peter Straub, who died on September 4th, 2022 at the age of 79, was a master of horror and supernatural fiction whose work erased any distinction between genre and the literary world. Among his best known novels were Ghost Story, Shadowland, Floating Dragon, The Hellfire Club, and his collaboration with Stephen King, The Talisman.   He was also a poet and short fiction author. Three years after the interview, Peter Straub’s novel The Hellfire Club was published to great acclaim, followed in 2001, with Black House, a sequel to The Talisman, written with Stephen King, and four later novels, the last one, A Dark Matter, published in 2010. A third book in The Talisman series was announced, but never written. A television series based on The Talisman for Netflix and created by The Duffer Brothers of Stranger Things fame, was announced in 2021 and is apparently still on track. The post Peter Straub (1943-2022), 1993 appeared first on KPFA.

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.