Bar Crawl Radio

Politics on the UWS is in a liminal place where a new reality is aborning. Of course, this nation exists in "between" places where possible versions of democracy are tried and then abandoned.  This week the social democratic version has gained a foothold in our Upper West Side neighborhood – and maybe American politics. Eli Northrup – Bronx Public Defender and justice policy wonk -- was...

Columbia University’s “College Walk” -- on West 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue -- became part of the University’s campus in 1953 with the understanding that "College Walk" would remain available to pedestrians. Massive iron gates, put up in 1967, were designed as an ornamental decoration which would not be used to restrict access. But the gated closed on Oct. 12, 2023, whe...

In Elon Musk’s “dark MAGA” there is no truth.—which for historian Jill Lepore creates a fear that everything might collapse because everything is so fragile and so fake , so untrustworthy -- and so -- unreal .    For Lepore -- it is a fear created by the “Artificial State.” Back in January of this year – 2026 -- BCR hosts spoke with William Hartung about his political stand-up routi...

Throughout human history the political dissident has been imprisoned, tortured, murdered. Today’s dissident opposing the U.S. war machine is silenced by corporate media and punished by U.S. courts. And mostly – unseen. Why do they do it – when there is no chance of success? BCR podcast has been asking American dissidents that question for years.  For BCR #273, we asked Gal Beckerman...

This BCR conversation with Carl Dix was recorded at Gebhards Beer Culture Bar on the UWS. Mr. Dix is a leader of the RevCom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity. Our conversation focused on his his experiences with the U.S. military when our country was at war North Vietnam. In a recent email, Mr. Dix wrote me: “My experience with the US military was an important part of what formed my political...

For many of us, our country is walking a tightrope between democracy and autocracy. I am a US American civilian. I avoided serving in the US military during the Vietnam War. My father and son were in the military – one in WWII – the other a never-deployed Marine. Despite these secondary contact with our armed forces, I do not understand the US military mind and culture. I do know it...

I spoke with Steven Fechter about his newest novel -- "The Big Breeze" -- the story of Joseph Bye a phenom baseball pitcher who at the peak of his career was hit by a car and crippled.  Eventually, he became a painter of baseball pitchers. Many years after the accident, he learned that he was run-over intentionally. In part this is the story of what Breeze will he do about it. But I...

Rebecca McKean and I started this program asking why so many U.S. Americans call Mayor Mamdani a "communist" and then explore the humanist idea that we all live in individual "landscapes" that form our perspectives and emotions -- and that those landscapes can be re-considered. We recorded at 5 Napkin Burger on Broadway and 84th Street in Manhattan -- speaking with David Andersson, the English-lan...

A conversation with three men who recently traveled to Palestine to witness the state of Palestinian Christian communities living in Israel-occupied West Bank. What they experiences was horrific and hopeful. Horrific in the brutality of the young Israeli settler gangs and hopeful in the readiness of the Palestinian Christians to be accepted into a peaceful, co-existence with their Israeli neighbor...

William Hartung -- senior researcher at The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft -- reads from his new book "The Trillion Dollar War Machine" and talks about The Big Five -- the U.S. military industrial complex using American tax dollars to arm the world and make enormous profits. In the first half of the program Mr. Hartung talks about the insanity and stupidity of the U.S. arms policy. In...

Anjali Mehta is a 31 year-old mountain climber challenging the "seven summits" to support international agencies fighting gender-based violence and to bring attention to the rights of transgender girl athletes. In the first part of this two-part BCR program, we asked Anjali about her mountain climbing experiences. See BCR #265. This program is the second part of our conversation; Anjali told us ab...

Anjali Mehta is a 31 year-old mountain climber challenging the "seven summits" to support international agencies fighting gender-based violence and to bring attention to the rights of transgender girl athletes. In this first part of a two-part BCR program, we asked Anjali about her mountain climbing experiences. She told us about falling into a crevice and overcoming the challenges and the joy of...

This BCR program opened with a bit of Richard Harris' rendition of "MacArthur Park" and then quoted Daniel Libeskind -- whose architectural firm rebuilt the World Trade Center site; he described the slurry wall that held back the Hudson River after the collapse of the Towers as “an engineering wonder” and like the US Constitution – was a symbol of the “the durability of democracy and the value of...

For this Park Bench Chat edition of Bar Crawl Radio podcast we talked about the changing nature of the New York City theatre review and how Tik Tok might be dumbing down the craft of the NYC theatre critic. Joining us on a park bench in the "You've Got Mail" Riverside Park Promenade are two NYC Theatre Critics -- David Cote and Zoe Kaplan. David Cote is a playwright, librettist, song writer, actor...

NYC's Upper West Siders might know the 142 year-old, block long, many-storied, red-brick building on Amsterdam Avenue at 103rd Street. Completed in 1883 and designed by Gilded Age architect Robert Morris Hunt – famed for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. – the base of the Statue of Liberty – the front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – this building, on Amsterdam and 103rd Street, opened as...

“Stop the Chop” exists to eliminate non-essential helicopters from the skies above New York City – because – according to the "Stop the Chop" website: “Tourist, charter and commuter helicopter flights dramatically reduce the quality of life for millions of people in the metropolitan area. They pollute our environment, pose significant safety risks, harm our children, and make us miserable” It was...

Day 33 -- Veteran's For Peace "Fast for Gaza." This will be the final of the "Fast for Gaza" conversations with peacemaker Kathy Kelly.  It was the beginning of a brutal heat wave in NYC; we found a shady spot on the UN side of 1st Avenue.  On the opposite side a small group of fasting protestors held signs and umbrellas. Kathy and I talked about her 2004 book "Other Lands Have Dreams: F...

Day 26 -- Veterans for Peace "Fast for Gaza . This BCR podcast begins and ends with music -- "Let My People Go" -- from “System Ali” – nine musicians -- Jewish and Arab -- singing in their native languages – Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Yiddish, Amharic and English.  My conversation with Kathy Kelly continues as Israel and Iran exchange missiles and killer drones. She arrived at the vigil at the...

Day 23 -- VFP Fast for Gaza.     I spoke with peacemaker Kathy Kelly and former member of the US AirForce Joy Metzler and asked them about their life choices that led them to join the "Fast for Gaza."  Joy Metzler, 23, is a member of VFP and co-founder of  Serivcemembers For Ceasefire  – US military veterans calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza. Joy graduated fr...

Monday – June 9, 2025 -- 19th day of the VFP Fast for Gaza -- talking with peacemaker Kathy Kelly and friends, as they consume no more than 250 calories a day for 40 days in solidarity with the citizens of Gaza who have been forced to exist on very little sustenance    This program begins with a Democracy Now! report on the seizure of the Gaza-bound aid ship – Madleen – in inte...

This is Day 16 of the Veterans for Peace "40-Day Fast for Gaza." Since May 22, 2025, I’ve been talking with peacemaker Kathy Kelly who has been fasting to raise awareness about how the citizens of Gaza are starving. It is the day before Eid al-Adha – the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice remembering Ibrahim or Abraham’s readiness to kill his son for his God. I sat down with Kathy Kelly and Brian T...

Monday - Day 12 of the 40 day fast -- Veterans for Peace's "Fasting for Gaza. I met up with peacemaker Kathy Kelly as she was starting a Zoom call with Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine. Afterward, I asked her about Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, who spoke at the meeting regarding his arguments for a one state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her fears for one forgotten student picked up...

Friday - Day 9 of the 40 day fast -- Veterans for Peace's "Fasting for Gaza." When I arrived at the US Mission across from the United Nations in Manhattan, a dozen peace activists where facing 1st Avenue with their signs calling Israel and the United States to feed the Palestinians of Gaza.  I first spoke with Mike Ferner -- Mike Ferner – a Vietnam War Veteran and former city council member o...

I am talking with peace activist and Nobel Peace nominee Kathy Kelly as she fasts for 40 days in solidarity with the Palestinian people starving in Gaza. This is the sixth day of her fast. I first spoke with Catholic Worker Martha Hennessy -- granddaughter of Dorothy Day -- about the portrait of the U.S. President glowering behind the streetside glass wall of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations...

A NEW BCR SERIES: Starting on May 22, 2025, several peace activist will fast for 40 days -- vigiling in front of the United States Mission to the UN. They demand an end to US support of Israel's military and urge the American government to pressure Israel to open the Gazan borders to humanitarian aid. For this BCR series I will meet with one of these fasters -- Kathy Kelly -- periodically, and ask...