Bar Crawl Radio

We loved the idea so much -- we stole it. We recently met Alison Burns and Lulu Picart who have a podcast called  10K Dollar Day  in which they imagine expensive vacations they wish they could afford. Check them out -- they are funny and cute and so young and go take a listen to their wonderful banter. So, Becky and I were inspired. We wanted to imagine our $10K vacat...

In December, 1915, Mina Miller Edison—the inventor’s wife -- pulled a cord that revealed a grand statue of a fully armored person standing victoriously, astride a gallant horse and holding a sword high above. Thousands of New Yorkers and dignitaries attended. In 2019, the statue site surrounded by century old trees, is so familiar most Upper West Siders pass it without looking. On this episod...

I am writing these program notes before the recording -- later today at Mexican Festival.  This episode needs to be posted tomorrow by 10am -- our self-imposed posting time. Well -- I could get up early, but I am inspired -- now. You know that SAT test analogy question -- THIS  :  THAT  -- where the colon means "is to" and then you are given several choices of similar anal...

The  Athabasca Glacier  is one of the six principal  'toes'  of the  Columbia Icefield , in the  Canadian Rockies . The Athabasca is 900 ft. thick in places. But – this glacier has been shrinking at a rate of about 16 feet per year, and, in the past 125 years, has  receded  almost a mile -- losing over half of its volume. The Ok Glacier in Ice...

There is little doubt that if you are over 40, you will know about and have important memories of board games. Some of us are still playing board games. Becky and I took a road trip to revisit all of those imaginative games we played on card board creations with their luscious graphics, and colorful plastic game pieces. We remembered a bunch of them. We also talked with th...

We have talked with the peace activists of the  Catholic Worker movement  on several BCR episodes [#29 & #46 with bonus material] and knew that the seven men and women who broke into the U.S. Kings Bay Naval Base at St. Marys, Georgia would be in court in Brunswick in mid-August. This submarine base is where the U.S. military stores its Trident nuclear missiles. We wanted to tal...

Millions of us are so angry on the crowded highways that when we see a "stupid, really dumb driver" we've got to do something about it - teach the "dummy" a lesson -- because he has to learn to "get out of my way!" I usually do not drive -- preferring to pedal around the City; and those huge metal boxes are scary. So for this episode Becky and I talked about ROAD RAGE [RR]. A real c...

This recording was a bunch of fun. We spoke with directors and actors of the Medicine Show Theatre  about traveling to Voronezh, Russia with their production of "14 Little Red Huts" for the International Platonov Festival.   A chilled bottle of Tito's Handmade Vodka sat in a makeshift ice bucket -- thanks to Gebhard's inventive bartender, Jackie -- in the middle of the table am...

Did you ever consider how humans use language to have a conversation. Bar Crawl Radio,as is the case with most podcasts, is all about having interesting conversations. But, in most cases, if you listen to two or more people talking, what you hear is simultaneous speech in which speech sounds overlap, bump into, conflict with, mold around, push against and try to outdo each other. Conversation...

When we were young Becky and I were actors and have always been interested in the art and practice of acting and the life of the actor. Hazen Cuyler is the Artistic Director and founder of the Greenhouse Ensemble - a relatively recent addition to the wealth of professionally run UWS theatre companies. Hazen is a student and practitioner of the art of acting and we talked with him and Spe...

Becky and I picked a complicated topic to talk about this week -- What to do with public statues that are seen as representing horrible men - and yes -- it is almost always statues of men. Should Columbus atop that pedestal at the southwest corner of Central Park be toppled? VOX describes this lauded figure as "a homicidal tyrant who initiated the two greatest crimes in the history of the Wes...

Big changes in Albany this year as the Republicans and IDC – the Independent Democratic Conference – are out -- and a (hopefully) functioning and progressive legislature under Democratic control is in. About a year ago – on BCR #10 -- we talked with the women leading two important grassroots political organizations that were key in those changes – True Blue NY and Indivisible Harlem .&nb...

I was so happy with my last procedure that I needed to share my joy at this week's conversation with Becky. We set up the BCR portable "studio" at one of our favorite Upper West Side Mexican bars and restaurants -- Mexican Festival -- on Broadway and 102nd Street -- and got deep into that most special inner search for those over 53. We also got back to the topic of the Zombie Apocalypse, the...

Martha Hennessy & Carmen Trotta & the Catholic Worker Movement We spoke with two of the "stars" of the anti-nuclear proliferation movement -- Martha Hennessy and Carmen Trotta. They are members of the Catholic Worker Movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, committed to voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken. Martha and...

BCR #46 EXTRA Following is a talk by Brian Terrel at the Catholic Worker's Maryhouse (June 7, 2019--Lower Eastside, Manhattan, NYC) on the efficacy of arrest to engender peace and positive social change. Brian is a long-time member of the Catholic Worker Movement and writes for the National Catholic Reporter and The Catholic Worker . He is a leader in several peace activist groups – incl...

It was the second podcast recording of the day. As soon as we finished our conversation with two progressive protestors--Mia Pearlman, True Blue NY , and Nan Faesller, Indivisible Harlem --at Gebhards Beer Culture Bar [BCR #48], we Via-ed up to Gabriela's Tequila Bar  for a B&A version of our podcast--Becky and Alan just talking.  This time it was about retirement -- which I fee...

A Conversation with Four Vietnam Veterans. The day of the recording, Becky and I walked a few blocks from home to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Riverside Drive and 89th Street for this year's Memorial Day Services. The U.S. Navy Band was playing and we wanted to get some background sound for our session later in the Day with four U.S. veterans of the war in Vietnam. It was a splendif...

BONUS CONTENT: Memorial Day 2019 with the Hudson Warehouse After we spoke with four Vietnam Veterans on Memorial Day 2019, we invited to the BCR mics on the Gebhard Beer Culture Bar , the writer, director and one of the actor's of the Hudson Warehouse's 2018 'Veteran's Day Remembrance" production to talk about how they created the program. Susane Lee, the program's writer speaks in dramatic detail...

OK -- once again Becky and I were at 5Napkin on Broadway and W. 84th Street, for our bi-monthly conversation about whatever flits through our reticular activating system. And, as fate would be, we hit on some most significant topics. Can you see the connections?: playing with stuff -- and how that can annoy some. de Blasio Presidential commercial with our bi-ethnic grandchild. setting the volume o...

We are a city of cyclists and walkers -- and a growing number of scooter riders. [Whatever happened to in-line skaters? They're dancing in the Park.] But our streets are controlled by cars, buses and trucks. Bikers must be vigilant -- constantly. It's Bike Month , and so it seemed appropriate to invite Erwin Figueroa of Transportation Alternatives to BCR to talk about the NYC cycling culture. Rece...

I kinda -- sorta -- OK -- I definitely hogged this episode. Podcasting with one's life mate is delightful and enjoyable -- Is fraught with dangers -- Is ennobled with potential growth. The Zoom recorder was sitting on the bar at 5Napkin , and as I turned it off, I noted a familiar burning on the side of my neck. Becky was giving me that "you fucked up. buddy" look -- and, indeed I had. Of course,...

This BCR episode is a conversation with Michael Kink of Strong Economy for All - a coalition of healthcare and education unions and community activists groups working for a moral budget for all NYers. Kink is the Executive Director is a public interest attorney who had worked for Legal Aid and Housing Works, Inc.. We tried to decrease the wonk and get at the experience of this dedicated worker in...

The planning -- the work -- the anxiety - the exhaustion -- the exhilaration -- then the wedding. Our Tulie is married to a most amazing man and our grandchild carried the ring. This BCR episode is personal, but we had to record a debriefing of our experiences of this pivotal moment in ours and our daughter's lives. Of course, if you love wedding stories, you will love this one -- Recorded at the...

Gene Pritsker--composer and world musician--joined us to share his latest adventures on tour in Europe and composing for and acting in Nettflix's  Babylon Berlin. Categorizing the work of Gene Pritsker is impossible. He calls his music "eclectic" but that does not capture his effects for me. Pritsker is dyna-manic and dynamite – he is a ball of human energy – an experimental musicia...

Eine lebendige Welt The plan was that we would talk about films we like as adults and we sort of did that but we talked about a lot of other stuff -- like: our daughter's upcoming marriage tending bar and working fast and making $$$ walking home along 9th Avenue mid-day martinis and evening martinis meeting our friend the professional juggler -- See the Gizmo Guys in action.  bangin' on the b...