He has designed both elegant private houses (Alexander McQueen’s) and grand public spaces (the Nobel Peace Prize Center in Oslo). While he was working on the Smithsonian’s Museum of African American History and Culture, he was often asked: will it look African American? But what does that mean? Does Renzo Piano’s Times building look newspapery? … Continue reading »
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Episode 115: Melissa Manchester
Most musicians, even talented musicians, have no career at all. Hers has lasted, depending how you count, 40 years? 50 years? Or with my special math, 1000 years, dating to the middle ages. At 15, she was singing commercial jingles; while still in high school, she was a staff writer for Chappell Music. Her first hits, … Continue reading »
Episode 115: Melissa Manchester
Most musicians, even talented musicians, have no career at all. Hers has lasted, depending how you count, 40 years? 50 years? Or with my special math, 1000 years, dating to the middle ages. At 15, she was singing commercial jingles; while still in high school, she was a staff writer for Chappell Music. Her first hits, … Continue reading »
Episode 114: Mark Bittman
It is his core belief that food affects not only our personal but our political health, a principle he has expressed through cook books, cooking shows, and an op-ed column in the New York Times. During our conversation at JCC Manhattan, he cooked chili for the entire audience. Of course he didn’t. But he did … Continue reading »
Episode 113: Steve Israel
He represents New York City’s third congressional district, comprising much of both Nassau and Suffolk counties, as Long Islandian as you can get, and is the first member of Congress to be a guest on the show, so the stakes were pretty… actually, there was no pressure at all. He was amiable, I was attentive … Continue reading »