Fun 2 Know Podcast

On today's show, with trumpeter and composer Jaimie Branch. I'd seen Jaimie's name in the credits of releases by bassist Jason Ajemian, in the large band of Keefe Jackson, with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and saxophonist Jarrett Gilmore but she didn't really capture my attention until her stunning debut with her band Fly or Die arrived on the International Anthem label in early 2017. This rock-solid quartet featuring former Fun 2 Know guest Tomeka Reid on cello, newly-minted Philadelphian Chad Taylor on drums and Jason Ajemian on bass provide a spacious landscape for the propulsive trumpet and compositions of Ms Branch, over a beautifully-paced record that pulls you through it like a great record should. Branch has collected plenty of accolades for the record, including winning Top Debut in the NPR 2017 Jazz Poll (she topped my ballot as well) Jaimie was listed in the June 2017 Rolling Stone as “10 New Artists You Need to Know” and the Village Voice called Branch “fearless” and described her album as “eerily beautiful.” Jaimie and her band Fly or Die rolled into town in late January, sharing a bill at The Rotunda on the University of Pennsylvania campus with improvisational group Sirius Juju. I'd hoped to get there early and interview Jaimie backstage but I've worked with enough band to know that traveling from town-to-town with five or six people is an inexact science so instead of having an hour to unwind into conversation we had about twenty minutes before the band downstairs began to dominate the scene with a wonderful set of music. This makes for a nice, concise episode of Fun 2 Know, where we enjoy a few cuts from Jaimie's “Fly or Die” debut, a snippet from her recordings with the trio Princess Princess, an previously undistributed date she was selling at the show as vinyl in a plain paper sleeve, plus hear Jaimie talk about how ten years of gigging has made her an “overnight sensation.”

On today's show, Matt Prigge. Matt has written about film since the late 1990s, originally at The Philadelphia Weekly, then for four years as the film editor at The Metro, the free commuter paper that has editions in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia. Matt is a particularly engaging writer with an unusually firm grasp on a wide range of cinema, finding what is worth celebrating in everything from low-grade action films to finessing the metaphors in the work of Lars Von Trier. We get rolling on a tangent-rich conversation but also chart and mourn the decline of independent weekly newspapers, that served the variety of cultural function for city dwellers until the new millennium when many of their services could be transferred easily to the internet. Across the country those papers have withered and died since the internet's rise and lost is the paper's role as a magnet that brought journalists and artists under one roof to share ideas and energy. Along the way we also discuss growing up in Mechanicsburg PA, Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom,” Richard Lester, The Beatles “Help!” Fellini meets Michael Jackson, Stanley Donen. Woody Allen, the cinema of Calista Flockhart. The politics of “Die Hard,” TheArchers - Powell and Pressburger, the late films of Billy Wilder, John Huston, the key to Tarantino. the late Alan Rickman, “listicals,” “Smokey & The Bandit,” writing about The Marvel Universe. “Twin Peaks: The Return,” Steven Soderburgh, Frederic Wiseman and Matt's new job teaching at NYU.

On today's show, Heather Henderson and Emery Emery, who together host both the award-winning Ardent Atheist podcast as well as the podcast, Skeptically Yours. I've known Heather since back in the early 2000s, when she was part of the Philly-based burlesque troupe The Peek-a-Boo Revue, who specialized comedy and satire along with classic strip routines. Heather was a memorable performer with the troop, but I knew that her experiences as a performer went back to the 90s, with a stint as a dancer on the very popular locally-produced shows Dancing on Air and Dance Party U.S.A., which like their Philly-launched forerunner American Bandstand featured teens dancing in a studio set to the latest pop and dance hits. Heather also acted, appearing in Mannequin 2 and Annapolis as well as singing with the r&b group Soulamite. In 2010, Heather relocated to Los Angeles where she continued as a burlesque performer and also met her partner comedian Emery Emery, who toured extensively as a stand-up and has worked as an editor and producer of many stand-up projects, including editing the hit stand-up doc, The Aristocrats. Together they launched the Ardent Atheist podcast in 2011 and soon after Skeptically Yours. Heather is also a member of Penn Jillette's No God band, and is currently studying film production at the Art Institute in Los Angeles. I caught up with Heather and Emery on their trip back east as they were attending the Pennsylvania State Atheist/Humanist Conference where they recorded an episode of The Ardent Atheist and caught up with old friends. Over the course of our talk we discuss Heather's growing up in Camden, her “baby Heather” phase, Philly pungency, L.A. sun, Jews for Jesus, Mother Theresa, modern attention spans, Penn Jillette, the death of Prince and more.

On today's show, our guests are Michelle MF Ausman and Kimberly Vice of the musical duo Hestina. Named after a genus of butterflies, the duo's 2016 nine-song release, BLOSSOM TALK is a tour-de-force of harmony vocals, literate lyrics and rhythmically-propelled melodies that haunt long after they hit their climax. With the easy accessibility of modern music, favorite songs can come and go fast but Hestina's music lingered with me and got replayed regularly over the last year and a half. Visiting their website at hestinamusic dot com a few weeks back I had discovered that the duo have moved recently from New Orleans and relocated in the Fun 2 Know Podcast's hometown of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. A few Facebook messages later, like magic we were talking in our kitchen and even knocking out a few beautiful tunes live. What an ingratiating pair, we talked about about New Orleans vs. Philly, early mix-CD revelations, religion, singing harmony, pleasing your parents, bars that never close, Jeff Buckley the modern grind and more. We'll also hear a few cuts from their release BLOSSOM TALK, available at iTunes and other on-line outlets.

On today's show: Film director Sean Baker and film critic Piers Marchant. First, a very recent conversation I had with filmmaker Sean Baker. I was so taken with Sean Baker's 2015 film TANGERINE, famously and beautifully shot from an Apple iPhone, that I started tracking down his earlier work, four fascinating films, including two brilliantly-executed micro-budget indies, 2004's TAKE OUT set in the world of NYC Chinese food delivery, and 2008's PRINCE OF BROADWAY, about an African immigrant selling knock-off designer bags who is unexpectedly left alone with a baby that might be his son. Baker's 2012 film STARLET centered around a friendship between an elderly widow and a sweet up-and-coming adult film star, played by Muriel Hemingway's daughter, Dree. But it was the 2015 film TANGERINE that was Baker's breakthrough, hitting the zeitgeist right as transgender issues were making big news and following two streetwalkers on a wild and unapologetic 24-hour tour through the Hollywood strip, and featuring incredible performances from first-time actresses Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. The pair were later part of the first Academy Award campaigns for openly transgender actresses. Now Baker follows-up TANGERINE with THE FLORIDA PROJECT, a fascinating ramble around the world of budget motels in Kissimmee, Florida. The film is mostly seen from the perspective of six year old Moonee, played by newcomer Brooklyn Prince and through her eyes, the rundown, kitschy motels and gaudy tourist traps seem just as enchanted as Disney's Magic Kingdom one town over. Her mother is played by Bria Vinaite who gives a downright feral performance as Moonee's loving but distracted mom and Willem Defoe exercises his compassionate side as the diplomatic motel manager Bobby. It's a film that vibrates with real life and its episodic quality allows the tightening dynamics of the plot to escape notice until its emotionally-tumultuous finale. It's also a film that captures childhood more vividly than any film in recent history as well as further exploring the themes of work, morality and people on society's fringes that is the hallmark of Baker's ever-more impressive filmography. I was given a chance to talk to Baker just before THE FLORIDA PROJECT screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival and when I saw the schedule I realized I was given 20 minutes just before Baker was due to walk on the festival's red carpet for a Saturday evening featured screening. I found Baker to be completely direct and unpretentious and would have loved to have him on for a more leisurely interview but as it was I was able to squeeze a few more minutes out of him for a half-hour of conversation. We talk about Baker's New Jersey roots, discovering Cassavetes, Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers, working with first-time actors, 70s Hollywood film, The Our Gang series, shooting on video and film and knowing how the movie is going to end. After the interview we'll go to an even more recent discussion with film critic Piers Marchant from PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE and The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Piers and I get into a much more leisurely conversation, discussing Baker and THE FLORIDA PROJECT but also, BLADE RUNNER 2049, The Coen Brothers, George Lucas, the state of modern Hollywood and some of our favorite films of the 2017.

On today's show: a conversation with poet and author Maryan Nagy Captan Maryan is a poet, writer and performer currently centered in Philadelphia. Born in Cairo, Egypt, Mayan's parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s where they earned a somewhat hard-scrabble living and raised two girls. With English as a second language, Maryan approached language with a linguistic curiosity that helped fuel her early creativity. In recent years, Maryan has indulged her love of travel, visiting and sometimes teaching writing to young people in Vietnam, Portugal, San Francisco and as we discuss, The Lakota Native reservation in Pine Ridge South Dakota. Maryan also has unleashed her first chapbook this year, a beautiful volume entitled COPY/BODY, published by Empty Set Press. Across the interview we discuss the immigrant experience, small town America, Maryan's love of hip-hop, the 2008 Bonnaroo Festival, soul great Solomon Burke, author Gwendolyn Brooks, performing for audiences, living well beneath the poverty line, feminism, teaching Lakota youth, where to sit in a sweat lodge, Maryan's emo phase and more, as well as hear Maryan performing her own work.

In the 90s I began seeing Travis Crawford's byline pop up in assorted magazines, and over the years he has written for publications including Film Comment, Filmmaker, Fangoria and increasingly in the liner notes of archival DVDs. Currently he writes regularly for the U.K. Publication, the Calvert Journal. Crawford's always intelligent and passionate writing, often about films that mix genre conventions with exploratory filmmaking, has made his a byline worth seeking out. Personally, his biggest impact was made in his years as a film programmer at the Philadelphia Film Festival, whose highlight was always the sidebar “Danger After Dark,” a series of films curated by Crawford that brought some of wildest and most thrilling films to the festival and promoted the work of major directors who had been otherwise under-represented. Film is a major passion of mine but we haven't had a guest to discuss film with on the show since we had Reelblack Cinema's guru Mike Dennis on twenty episodes ago. Travis and I have chatted across Facebook a lot but I'd only met him fleetingly before the Fun 2 Know mobile studio trekked down to quaint Wilmington, Delaware, still basking in its Revolutionary-era charm. I usually try to pry out the guest's origin story but listening to Bill Ackerman's excellent Supporting Characters podcast, it seemed that Bill had already completed that job. Instead, we engage in a more freewheeling, loose conversation, one hardly influenced at all by the slowly emptying bottle of Lillet Blanc that mysteriously evaporated over the two-plus hours of talk. We discuss our theater going experiences across Delaware, Philadelphia and San Francisco, the work of Dario Argento and Brian De Palma, the current state of the great directors of the 70s, Lindsey Lohan, film distribution today, the limitation of the TV medium, Asian cinema, clawing out a living, bad jobs, film snobbery, Michael Shannon, the new Twin Peaks and much more, So let's head over now, you can imagine the late afternoon sun slowly dropping in the sky while we sit in the dining room of a bed and breakfast with every detail in the room rich in Colonial detail, as we mull over nearly a hundred years between us of film-viewing thoughts and memories.

On today's show, a conversation with author and comedian Ritch Shydner. Ritch Shydner rode in on the wave of the 1980s stand up boom, playing stages coast-to-coast, working with the best comedians of the era along the way appearing on HBO, David Letterman, both Jay Leno and Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW as well as working and writing on shows incl. ROSEANNE, MARRIED ...WITH CHILDREN, and THE JEFF FOXWORTHY SHOW. Shydner took time off from doing stand-up in the late 90s but has returned in recent years, I had the good fortune to see Ritch play the Borgota in Atlantic City a few weeks back where he took control of a crowded house and again delivered his lean compact set like the seasoned professional that he is. It's all in Shydner's recent memoir, “Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As a Stand-Up in the 1980s Comedy Boom” on the Mr. Media imprint, a highly-readable book, where Shydner is witness to the birth of modern comedy while working with people of the stature of Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Sam Kinison, as well as taking the stage on some of television's most-watched programs. But deeper down in the details there's a beautiful quiet desperation where struggles with economics, status, and chemical abuse, all led to a personal and professional collapse. Plus, there's jokes. I wanted to talk to Shydner about the book but I also wanted to talk about our shared past. We both grew up in the same small Southern New Jersey town, Pennsville, a town of about 14,000, historically tied to the county's DuPont chemical plant and later, The Salem Nuclear Power Plant. It's the kind of small town kids dream of escaping when growing up and Shydner's success was a sort of inspiration and source of local pride. Although I had never met Ritch before, I did attend kindergarten with his younger sister, Rhonda and I believe Ritch was friendly with my cousin Cheryl since high school. As I'd hoped, that Pennsville camaraderie kicked in right away, and we talked about Ritch's opening for the Ramones, working for Roseann Barr, taking bad advice from Sam Kinison making a lethal faux pas with Johnny Carson, his friendship with cult comic Bill Hicks, being competitive with his stand-up ex-wife, knowing who to make fun of, swimming in chemical waste and more.

On today's show, vocalist, bandleader and songwriter, Brandy Butler I first met Brandy Butler when she worked with my wife at a Philadelphia charter school, when Brandy was fresh out of college and teaching music to elementary school kids. I was aware that Brandy and her band Saigon Slim were performing around town in the same era when the Philly band The Roots were affiliated with Black Lily night at the club The Five Spot, when it was a showcase for talent like Jill Scott, Floetry and Jaguar Wright. We lost touch for a bit when Brandy moved to Switzerland to become an au pair but were happy to hear later of the success she had touring Europe with assorted bands as a vocalist, and making recordings with Chamber Soul, The Foxionaires and others. In 2013, Brandy was a contestant on the Swiss edition of The Voice, making Brandy an instant celebrity within Switzerland's borders. All these experiences influenced Brandy's latest recording, INVENTORY OF GOODBY (named after the Anne Sexton poem perhaps?) and it's a gorgeously realized full-length song cycle, inspired by a transformative whirlwind romance with another artist, a project that came into shape while Brandy was recovering in the deserts of the American southwest. We talk about all these things as well as Black theater, Stevie Wonder, Swiss village life, not being Aretha Franklin, Schlager music, the lure of television, finding your voice, love, sex and Millie Jackson, as well as hear some cuts from Brandy's new album. You can find the album, Brandy Butler and the Broken Hearted – INVENTORY OF GOODBYE on Amazon and other outlets, see a video for one of its songs, ”Spell” at youtube and discover all things brandy butler at Brandybutlermusic.com

Today's show: entertainer John Davidson. The family traveled up to Saratoga Springs last month as my wife appeared in the pilot of a TV program called "The Caregiver Connection," following the stories of people involved in health care in America. The pilot was hosted by a guitar-strumming John Davidson, who has been an ubiquitous TV presence since the 1960s, appearing as a host with Fran Tarkenton and Cathy Lee Crosby on the ABC hit THAT'S INCREDIBLE, acting in various TV shows, recording a number of records for the Columbia label and singing and dancing on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein's STATE FAIR and most recently touring as The Wizard in the hit show WICKED. It's been awhile since we've seen John in the spotlight and I wasn't sure what to expect, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the entertainer, now in his 70s, to be such a warm and open human being, taking time after along filming day to sit down and talk about his career, knowing Walt Disney, working with Carol Burnett, Telly Savalas, the Cowardly Lion Bert Lahr, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, growing up as the son of a preacher, playing John Davidson, atheism, hosting THE TONIGHT SHOW, the era of Donald Trump and even performing a few of his original songs for us. You can find out more about what's going on with John today at Johndavidson-dot-com, and thanks to producer Todd Kwait for sharing his insight and talent with The Fun 2 Know podcast.