KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Rita Moreno, legendary Hollywood star, actress, dancer and singer, in conversation about her career and her one-woman show, “Rita Moreno: Life Without Make-up,” recorded  September 16, 2011 in the KPFA studios. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. The talented winner of the big four awards, Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony, Rita Moreno is back in the spotlight both in celebration of her 90th birthday on December 11th, and for her work in the new Steven Spielberg West Side Story. In this interview recorded during previews of her one-woman show at Berkeley Rep ten years ago, she discusses not only her work on the show, but her time in Hollywood, her five year relationship with Marlon Brando, her work on the film The King and I, working with Morgan Freeman on PBS, and other stories. The post Rita Moreno, 2011 appeared first on KPFA.

Wil Haygood, author of Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Colorization looks at the history of Hollywood from the perspective of the African American community, from protests over the showing of the racist silent film, “Birth of a Nation,” to the first great Black director, Oscar Micheaux, through the forties and the rise of black actors such as Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, to so-called Blaxploitation films and up to the present, all the while putting the films in context of the larger society and race in America. In the interview, he discusses the origins of the book, the careers of some of the Black pioneers in Hollywood film, and the way television and streaming has changed the race equation in our culture. Wil Haygood is a journalist who spent several years with the Washington Post before writing a series of biographies. He is also known for an essay in the Post which became the source for the successful film, Lee Daniels’ The Butler. The post Will Haygood, “Colorization,” 2022 appeared first on KPFA.

Janis Ian, singer/songwriter, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 14, 2008 in the KPFA studios while she was on tour for her memoir, “Society’s Child.” Janis Ian achieved success as a teenager with “Society’s Child,” but was known as a one-hit wonder until her twenties with “At Seventeen” and the album Between the Lines in the mid-1970s. She later went on to write science fiction short stories, became a columnist for The Advocate, and continued her music career as a composer (“Stars”) and performer. All told there have been 24 albums — she now says her latest, The Light at the End of the Line, released in January 2022, will be her last studio solo album. The post Janis Ian, “Society’s Child,” 2008 appeared first on KPFA.

Joseph Hansen (1923-2004) was a pioneer of private eye fiction, whose main character, Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator, was the first gay protagonist in the detective field published by a mainstream house. The first Brandstetter novel, Fadeout, was published in 1970. At the time of publication, being gay was illegal in 49 of the 50 states. Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff had a chance to interview Joseph Hansen on June 14th, 1990 following the publication of the eleventh novel, The Boy Who Was Buried This Morning. It turned into a career retrospective. There were twelve Brandstetter novels in all, culminating in 1991’s A Country of Old Men. Successful at the time, they’d fallen out of print since Hansen’s death, and are now being reissued by Syndicate Books and distributed by Soho Press. The first three books in the series, Fadeout, Death Claims and Troublemaker, were published on January 8th, 2022, with each succeeding book published on the eighth day of each succeeding month. Priot to  the Brandstetter books, Joseph Hansen published gay-centric novels in various small presses under a pseudonym. Two gothic novels under the pseudonym Rose Brock. There were also autobiographical novels and short story collections among his output. Despite the acclaim his books received, none of Joseph Hansen’s work has ever been adapted for film or television. This interview has not been heard since its initial airing thirty years ago, and has never seen the light of day in its entirety. It was digitized, remastered, and re-edited in February 2022 by Richard Wolinsky. The post Joseph Hansen (1923-2004), 1990 appeared first on KPFA.

Art Spiegelman, co-editorr of the series “Little Lit,” and author of “MAUS” and “MAUS II”, in conversation with  Richard A. Lupoff, aired originally on December 7, 2000. On the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, the McMinn County Board of Education voted 10-0 to ban Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel memoir of his father’s experiences during the Holocaust, MAUS, from county classrooms. One of the most important records of the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II, MAUS, by virtue of his graphic nature — as well as its use of mice as Jews and cats as Nazis, has been a necessary history book since its publication in 1980. In this interview aired on December 7, 2000 on Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff’s Cover to Cover program (the forerunner to Bookwaves) while Richard Wolinsky was on vacation, Spiegelman mostly discusses “Little Lit,” which translates fairy tales into comic book form. He also talks about the history of comics, about underground comics, and about MAUS. Richard A. Lupoff (1935-2020), along with co-hosting Probabilities and Cover to Cover with Richard Wolinsky, was a noted science fiction and mystery writer, and the author of a history of comic books, All In Color for A Dime. This interview has not aired in over twenty years, and was digitized and edited in 2022 by Richard Wolinsky. Image from Art Spiegelman’s inscription on Richard Wolinsky’s copy of MAUS II. The post Art Spiegelman, “Little Lit,” “MAUS”, 2000 appeared first on KPFA.

Kathy Geritz, film curator at Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, discusses the films of Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety with host Richard Wolinsky. A series of films by and about the director run from Friday, January 21st through Sunday February 6th. Djibril Diop Mambety (1945-1998) directed two features, Touki Bouki and Hyenas, and a handful of short subjects, but despite his limited output, his singular style and bold looks at Senegalese life and the divisions between wealthy and poor, and the legacy of colonialism make him a major figure in world cinema and, of course, African cinema. These films, plus documentaries about the life and work of Mambety, are being shown on different nights at BAM/PFA. Touki Bouki and his first short, Contras City, can be found on the Criterion app. Hyenas, two of his shorts, Le Franc and The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun, along with a documentary, A Thousand Suns, are on the free Kanopy app from local libraries. A look at the making of Touki Bouki, The Prince of Colobane, is available on YouTube. Mambety Wikipedia page. Cover photo from Touki Bouki.   The post Kathy Geritz: The films of Djibril Diop Mambety appeared first on KPFA.

Itamar Moses, playwright and librettist for “The Band’s Visit,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded January 10, 2022. Itamar Moses has written several plays, including “Yellowjackets,” which was performed in 2008 at Berkeley Rep, and the books for three musicals. He won a Tony Award for “The Band’s Visit,” which plays at BroadwaySF‘s Golden Gate Theater through February 6, 2021. Raised in Berkeley (and his parents kept the radio tuned to KPFA), Itamar Moses attended Yale and the Tisch School at NYU. Along with his work as a playwright, he served in the writing room for Men of a Certain Age, Boardwalk Empire and The Affair. In this interview, he discusses, in depth, the creation of “The Band’s Visit,” and takes us to the writing room of Boardwalk Empire. He also discusses his other work and his career path as a playwright. The interview concludes with his views on diversity in theater and his own work through the pandemic. The post Itamar Moses, librettist, “The Band’s Visit,” the musical, 2022 appeared first on KPFA.

Andrew Vachss (1942-December 27, 2021), author of several noir novels that focus on child abuse and child sexual abuse, in conversation for Probabilities with hosts Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded June 27, 1991 in the KPFA studios while he was on tour for his novel Sacrifice. The nineteen eighties and nineties presented an explosion of noir and detective fiction, led by such stalwarts as Elmore Leonard, Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, James Ellroy, Sara Paretsky … the list goes on. Among those first rate practitioners, was Andrew Vachss, who died on December 27th, 2021 at the age of 79. In Vachss’ early novels, which all featured a protagonist named Burke, he established not merely a unique character with a unique background and unusual associates, but a way to bring the public’s attention to child abuse, and particularly child sexual abuse. He hit the pavement running with Flood in 1985 and followed that novel with Strega, Blue Belle, Hard Candy and Blossom, before Sacrifice and the book tour that led to this interview. This podcast is the first airing of the complete discussion, and was digitized and edited on January 7th, 2022. To date, none of Andrew Vacchs novels have hit film or television (though IMDDb does list a short film from 1995). At the time of his death, Andrew Vacches had written a total of eighteen Burke novels, culminating in Another Life in 2008, nine additional novels, five collections of short stories, nine more comics and graphic novels, along with three plays. A film from one of his Cross novels was in the conversation in recent years, but no new information is forthcoming. Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky would interview him once more, in 1995, while he was on tour for his novel, Footsteps of the Hawk. Andrew Vachss Wikipedia page   The post Andrew Vachss (1942-2021), 1991 appeared first on KPFA.

Jan Morris (1926-November 20, 2020), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded November 16, 2001 while she was on tour for “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere.” Jan Morris was a noted travel writer and historian, and a leading figure in the trans world. As James Morris, she accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Before and after her transition in 1964 to the time of her death, Jan Morris had published 18 travel books, six history books including a three volume history of the British Empire, eight memoirs including the best-selling Conundrum, two novels and twelve collections of essays. True to her word in the interview, “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” was the last full-length book Jan Morris would write. Collections of new and old essays were published in 2004 and 2010, an illustrated essay on the Battleship Yamoto in 2018, and two volumes of late in life diaries were published, the first in 2018, “In My Mind’s Eye,” and posthumously in 2021, “Thinking Again.” Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff interviewed her twice; the first time on August 8, 1999 while she was in San Francisco for a conference, and here now, a second time on November 16, 2001 while on tour for “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere.” This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in November, 2020 by Richard Wolinsky. The complete interview has never been published or aired until now.         The post Jan Morris (1926-2020), “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere,” 2001 appeared first on KPFA.

Joan Didion (1934-2021), noted essayist, novelist, screenwriter social critic and journalist, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios on October 21, 2003. Joan Didion died on December 23, 2021 at the age of 87. A chornicler of of the American zeitgeist, she was the author of several novels, including Play It As It Lays and The Last Thing He Wanted, the brilliant book-length essay on grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, and several collections of essays including Slouching Toward Bethlehem. Her screenplays include The Panic In Needle Park, True Confessions, and the 1976 A Star Is Born, most of them co-written with her husband, John Gregory Dunne. This interview was conducted while she was on tour for her collection of essays, Where I Was From. Sadly, due to technical difficulties, only the first part of the interview was recorded before both the computer and back-up failed. Photo: Joan Didion at the Brooklyn Film Festival, 2008. Creative Commons. The post Joan Didion (1934-2021), 2003 appeared first on KPFA.