Still in his twenties when he prosecuted a war crimes case at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, he’s come to believe that social justice will not come through courts or politics. To change the world we must first change ourselves, if I can reduce a lifetime’s work to one glib phrase. A conversation … Continue reading »
Author Archives: Randy Cohen
Episode 251: Brian Lehrer
Reviewing his 30 years at WNYC, the invaluable broadcast journalist considers this question: have decades of technological progress improved the shows themselves? Yes, he asserts, and in an unexpected way. Plus music from The Wisterians. Continue reading »
Episode 250: Michael Frank
Many of us become interested in our family’s history later in life, but the author of the celebrated memoir The Mighty Franks was drawing family trees before he was 14. Who they were shapes who we are. A conversation at KGB’s Red Room. Music from Lauren Lee. Produced with Lori Schwarz. Continue reading »
Episode 249: Ethel
This quartet performs in concert halls around the globe but still works the Balcony Bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “We’re a bar band,” say artistic directors Ralph Ferris (viola) and Dorothy Lawson (cello). What a band! What a bar! Plus a performance with Face The Music, all at the Kaufman Music Center. Continue reading »
Episode 248: Jeffrey Sachs
This renowned economist, an advisor to governments around the world, tells the Center for Architecture that to save the planet and increase human happiness, we must study sustainability, read Aristotle, and drink very good coffee. Music from Sam Reider. Continue reading »
Episode 247: Dominique Browning
If everyone – everyone! – knows that mercury does horrible things to children, why would anyone weaken the regulations that protect them from exposure? Dominique Browning, co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force, has an answer, and she expounds it eloquently at the Environmental Defense Fund. Music from Stephanie Jenkins and Ben Cosgrove. Continue reading »
Episode 246: Jane Alexander
A much admired actor, she’s lead the National Endowment for the Arts – when the White House still supported the arts. And education. And clean air. And… what was the question? Right: what about her environmental concerns? She is on the board of the Audubon Society and is the author of Wild Things, Wild Places. … Continue reading »
Episode 245: Gary Shteyngart
Admired for fiction (The Russian Debutante’s Handbook) and non-fiction (Little Failure), he began at age five when his grandmother asked him to write a book about Lenin. “She paid me a piece of cheese for every page I wrote, and I wrote 100 pages. I love cheese.” A conversation at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan with music … Continue reading »
Episode 244: Eddie Brigati
If you’re wildly successful at age six, what do you do next? Eddie Brigati had a string of hit records with the Young Rascals – Good Lovin’, Groovin’, Lonely Too Long – all before 1970. OK, he wasn’t six but he wasn’t near retirement age either. So what did he do with the ensuing 50 … Continue reading »
Episode 243: Joe Restuccia
Executive director of the Clinton Housing Development Company, he’s lived in the neighborhood for 50 years and offers this advice about burglary: “When they steal your underwear, it’s time to go.” Tales of Hell’s Kitchen at the Irish Arts Center with music from Jacob Tilove. Continue reading »
Episode 242: Joan La Barbara and Morton Subotnick
She’s a composer and vocalist who’s performed with pretty much every orchestra on earth. He’s a composer best known for his electronic music, especially an early work, Silver Apples of the Moon. “Lawyer and Other Lawyer to Wed,” runs pretty much every NY Times wedding announcement. How did it omit theirs? Continue reading »
Episode 241: Marc Guggenheim
A writer and producer for TV, movies, comic books, and video games, he is best known for creating the series Arrow and co-writing the feature film Green Lantern, but his heart belongs to Billy Joel. “There’s no scientific or rational explanation,” he tells the UAlbany Alumni Association. Doctors are working on a cure. With music … Continue reading »