YARN

Railfans

Featuring: Al Holtz, Jack May, and Walter E. Zullig, Jr,
Recorded:  May-September 2011, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Ossining, NY
Original Music:  Jay Kustka

Since October 1962, a small group of dedicated rail enthusiasts have been sending each other letters, photos, and reports about their common passion.  Over time, what began as a means of sharing information has become the lifeline for a lifetime friendship.  And it shows no sign of slowing down.

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(16:22)

PHOTO GALLERY:  View photos of Walter, Al, and Jack in action, train photos by Jack, a copy of the very first Circuit letter, and more, by clicking HERE.

Jay Kustka is a Boston guitarist and singer/songwriter with 30+ years experience. A recent semi-finalist of Lee Ritenour’s Six-String Theory contest, his playing styles range from roots rock/blues to funk, reggae and beyond.  Check out his music at the links below:

http://www.jaykustka.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDayRiffer
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jaykustka/with-a-little-help-my-first-album

Special thanks to Adam Greenfield, Melinda Mogel, and Lisa Zullig.

Pride of the Lady Cubs

Story by: Scott Schultz
Recorded:  August 2011, New York, NY
Music:  Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou; Nomo; Glissandro 70; Public Enemy
Music Coordination:  Jeff Golick 
 
With his comedy career stalled out, 30 year-old Scott Schultz enrolls as a Freshman at down-and-out L.A. City College.  After Scott is named Sports Editor of the school paper by default, the college's legendary basketball coach, Mike Miller, enlists his aid in assembling LACC's first women's basketball team -- an experience that changes Scott's life.




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(18:10)

Scott Schultz has been a comedian, journalist, photographer and editor for various newspapers, blogs and magazines, covering sports, music and science.  He has been a regular contributor for LA Record, since 2008, and his work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, L.A. Times and Maxim En Espanol among others. As a comedian he has performed at clubs and colleges across the country. Having grown up in Marblehead, MA and moved to Southern California via Greyhound bus when he was 18-years old, Scott graduated from UCLA.  He currently lives in the seaside town of Winthrop, MA and participates in storytelling and readings throughout Cambridge, MA.  His favorite basketball movie is Hoop Dreams, and his all-time favorite basketball coach is John Wooden.

View photos of the 1998-99 team with Coaches Miller and Schultz here.  View photos of L.A. City College's late Lady Cubs in its prime here.

Beyond the rope: a captivity's aftermath

Featuring:  Kristen Mulvihill and David Rohde
Recorded:  June 2011, New York, NY
Music:  Ryan Rumery

In November 2008, while in Afghanistan writing a book on the region, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter David Rohde was abducted by Taliban gunmen.  At the time, he had been married only two months, to Cosmopolitan photography director Kristen Mulvihill.  Seven months later, after being moved from Logar Province to the tribal areas of Pakistan, after multiple videos depicting Rohde's captivity and a string of dead-end negotiations, Rodhe and his Afghan colleague Tahir Ludin escaped from the compound in which they were held.  Days later, Rohde was reunited with Mulvihill in Dubai, and within a week the two were back home in New York City.  In December 2009, the two began work on a book about their experiences during the period.  The resulting narrative, A Rope and a Prayer, was published in November 2010.  During the months that followed, on tour and elsewhere, Rohde and Mulvihill relived details of their ordeal for audiences both awestruck and enraged by what they had to say.

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(14:51)

Kristen Mulvihill has been a fashion and photography editor at various women’s magazines, including Marie Claire and Self. Most recently, she was the photography director of Cosmopolitan magazine. She is also a painter and illustrator.

David Rohde, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, is a foreign affairs columnist for Reuters. Previously, he worked as a reporter for The New York Times for 15 years. He won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for uncovering the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia for The Christian Science Monitor and his second in 2009 as part of a team of New York Times reporters covering Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is also the author of Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica.

They both grew up in New England, graduated from Brown University and live in New York.

Photo by Erik Swain.  To view more photos of David Rohde and Kristen Mulvihill, click here.

To order the book, click here.  To order the e-book, click here.  To pre-order the paperback edition (released Oct 25, 2011), click here.  To read Rohde's series of articles in the Times and view an interactive feature about his captivity, click here.

Joan Liman: Life in Full Circle

Story by:  Joan Liman
Recorded:  July 2010, New York, NY
Music:  Kurt Weill; with selections from the musical Signs of Life, music by Joel Derfner, lyrics by Len Schiff, book by Peter Ullian

From a childhood in Brooklyn dreaming of a career in the theater to the producer of a successful off-Broadway musical.  From motherhood, through medical school and beyond.  Though illness both physical and psychological.  A portrait of a life, well-lived and hard-fought, that is the very definition of survival.  

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Joan Liman, MD, MPH, MC* is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The State University of NY at Buffalo who spent her post-college years working in human resources in New York and New Jersey. She eventually went on to earn MD and MPH degrees from New York Medical College (NYMC). She spent more than two decades working in medical education, retiring in 2008 from Metropolitan Hospital in NYC. Joan's website can be found here.  The selections from Signs of Life are from the Village Theatre (Issaquah, WA) production. You can read more about the show here.  Read about Amas Musical Theatre here. (*Master of Cancer)

Rip this band off: Billy & Dolly and the art of giving it away

Featuring the voices of:  Bradley Ellis, Jeff Golick, Victoria Harmer, Kira Petersons, Dahlia Gallin Ramirez, and Bill Rousseau
Recorded:  January 2010, New York, NY
Music:  The Monolith; Billy & Dolly

Featured on KQED.org, San Francisco, April 27, 2010.  Broadcast May 3, 2010 on KUT-FM's "O'Dark 30" (Austin, TX).

What's an unknown band to do after pouring blood, sweat, tears, and its own money into making the most awesome record ever?  The answer:  give it all away.  Outraged, one dedicated follower takes it upon himself to spread the word, one fan at a time.  

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(20:45)

Visit Billy & Dolly's website here.  Listen to "In the Beginning" in its entirety or download the album here.  Brad Ellis is a Brooklyn-based DJ and dancer.  Jeff Golick is the co-author of destination: Out, an MP-free music blog.  A former employee of Arista Records and BMG, Victoria Harmer works in the hotel business in New York City.  Kira Petersons is a San Francisco-based writer and editor.  Thanks to Stephen Grant.  Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Pressman on Pressman: three lives in three parts

Story by:  Michael Pressman
Recorded:  January 2010, Brooklyn, NY
Music Coordination:  Jeff Golick

Scenes from the extraordinary lives of three members of one extraordinary family:  stage and television director David Pressman; his brother, composer/chess enthusiast Yasha Pressman, also known as Jacques Press; as told by their son and nephew, film-TV-stage director Michael Pressman (pictured, left).

PART ONE:  THE THEATER OF WAR 

Music:  Sergei Prokofiev; Leroy Jenkins

In which David Pressman goes to war, suffers the consequences, and comes home to direct a hit play.  (Pictured, right:  Jason Robards, Jr. in The Disenchanted on Broadway)

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(8:31) 

PART TWO:  UNCLE YASHA

Music:  Jacques Press; Sugarman 3

In which David's brother Yasha, a composer of songs and symphonic suites, has an encounter with chess legend Bobby Fischer.

Michael Pressman:  "A story about my Uncle and his friendship with one of the most mysterious men of the 20th century, Bobby Fischer, at the time that Bobby disappeared from the public eye after winning the world championship match against Boris Spassky.  His whereabouts were unknown and his plans to return to Chess were unclear.  But my Uncle seemed to know more than he let on."   

Note: this piece features two :30 excerpts from an undated Bio Channel documentary on Fischer, and a :20 clip from one of Dick Cavett's memorable TV interviews with Fischer.

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(3:44)
 

PART THREE:  RED AND BLACK

Music:  Coleman Hawkins; Sergei Prokofiev

In which David's one-time involvement in the Communist party results in a near-devastating blow.

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(3:57)

Michael Pressman directed the recent NY and Los Angeles productions of the revival of Inge's Come Back Little Sheba starring S. Epatha Merkerson, as well as the L.A. productions of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (six L.A. Drama Critics Award nominations), Days and Nights Within and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Film: To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter Gallagher; Some Kind of Hero starring Richard Pryor; Those Lips, Those Eyes starring Frank Langella, Thomas Hulce, Herbert Berghoff; The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training; and Frankie and Johnny Are Married, which he also wrote. TV: his many film and episodic credits include “Shootdown” with Angela Lansbury, “Anne Tyler’s Saint Maybe” with Blythe Danner and Mary Louise Parker, “Law & Order” (where he first worked with Ms. Merkerson) and, as executive producer and director, “Picket Fences," "Chicago Hope," and episodes of "In Treatment," "Damages," and "Weeds."

Dad to dad: a preparation

Featuring the voices of:   P.J. Escobio, Tom Foley, Jeff Golick, Jason Kravits, Jeremy J. Lee, and David Markus
Recorded: September 2009, New York, NY
Music:  Luiz Bonfá
Music Coordination: Jeff Golick

In Fall 2009 as my wife entered the late stage of pregnancy I asked several friends who are recent or long-time dads for advice on becoming a father myself.  I interviewed all six over the phone, requesting two pieces of advice, one for first time dads in general and one for me specifically.  I'd worked out a precise timeline for transcription, editing, and publication of the piece.  But things didn't happen according to schedule.  Photo by Leda Ward.

Broadcast June 20, 2010 on KUT-FM's "O'Dark 30" (Austin, TX).

To view a photo of Eric & Lisa interviewing their 3 week-old son, click here. 

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(15:03)  

P.J. Escobio is an actor and producer who lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughter.  Tom Foley is a filmmaker who lives in Marblehead, MA with his wife and son.  Jeff Golick is pro-Brooklyn, pro-jazz, pro-friends, and anti-oxidant.  Jeremy J. Lee lives with his wife Maggie and son Lucas in Sunnyside, NY; Lucas made his Broadway debut about a month before he took his first breath.  Jason Kravits is an actor/writer/director, and especially father, living in NYC.  In addition to David Markus’ work as a model for Conde Naste Traveler and the New York Times, he is a hedge fund manager, husband and father of two pretty wonderful kids, Nicholas and Nora. 

Cassavetes' blessing

Story by:  Alexis Iacono
Recorded: August 2009, New York, NY
Music: Exploding Star Orchestra
Music Coordination: Jeff Golick

After that initial spark of inspiration, how do performers know that the profession they've chosen is the right one?  For one young girl, growing up on Long Island in the early eighties, that confirmation comes in the form of a chance encounter with an unlikely source of confidence and self-esteem.

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(12:11)

Alexis Iacono is a professional film and theater actress (film credits here), cellist and tap dancer whose fancy footwork can be heard underneath her voice in this piece.

The Bakers of Butter Lane

Featuring the voices of:  Maria Baugh, Linda Lea, and Pamela Nelson
Recorded: February 2009, New York, NY
Music: Django Reinhardt; Pink Martini

Is there such thing as a recession-proof product in a downward-sliding economy?  Three vets of the corporate world are banking on the cupcake as today's luxury item of choice, and that the secret to building a better confection lies somewhere between traditional Southern baking and the stylish sophistication all New Yorkers secretly crave.

Featured by PRX as a News Station Pick for April 2009.  Broadcast April 4, 2009 on WILL-AM's "Sidetrack" (Urbana, IL) and March 19, 2009 on WAMC-FM's "Midday Magazine" (Great Barrington, MA).

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(8:20)

Butter Lane is located at 123 East 7th Street in New York City.  You can read more about the bakery here.  Photo by Lisa Zullig.

Brotherly Bond: Anticipating "Quantum of Solace"

Featuring:  Eric Winick and T.J. Winick
Recorded: October 2008, Brooklyn, NY
Music: Jack White & Alicia Keys, with selections by John Barry

With "Quantum of Solace," Daniel Craig's second entry in the long-standing James Bond film franchise, two brothers take the opportunity to discuss a lifelong fixation that has become, in a sense, their most meaningful area of common ground.

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(6:47)

Based in Washington, DC, T.J. Winick is currently a correspondent with ABC NewsOne, the network's affiliate news service.  The material in this piece is an excerpt from a much longer conversation I had with T.J., but is representative of many such conversations from over the years.  The piece was my first attempt to create a timely "soft feature."