Bar Crawl Radio

Will NYC bars survive? Between early March and early May, over 100,000 small businesses nationwide have shut down and our neighborhood bars in NYC have been hit hard. More than 80 percent of the city’s restaurants and bars did not pay full rent in June, according to the NYC Hospitality Alliance. In this COVID19 moment, it is clear that we must social distance if we are going to beat...

This was a fun +hour talking with two brilliant poets who mentor each other's new work. MERVYN TAYLOR born and lives in Trinidad, and now retired there, Mervyn graduated from Howard and Columbia Universities. He taught at Bronx Community College, The Young Adult Learning Academy,  He has published six books of poetry and won the Paterson Poetry Prize for sustained literary achievement.&n...

Bar Crawl Radio is now on the street at West End Avenue and 92nd Street -- bringing in guests and talking with neighbors on our open mic. For Episode #104 Rebecca and Alan talked about the collateral damage of CVD19 and then had a most unusual guest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BCR is recording in the middle of West End Avenue -- where it is safe - for a conversation with popular scientist Nathan H. Lents, the author of  Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes  (2018). Lents also maintains the Human Evolution Blog and writes for  Psychology Today  under the tagline “Beastly Behavior: How Evolution Shaped Our Mind...

It's seems to be the just-right-moment to stock up on all the essentials, preferably canned or irradiated -- find a cozy indoor spot, conveniently chained with a steel door and no windows -- and wait for it to get dark -- so we can listen for the gurgling sounds of the always ravenous walkers of the night. Life has become much like the pandemic films we so love -- Contagion -- Outbreak -- 28 Days...

BCR100-PART 3: For BCR's 100th Episode, we invited two young women running for the NY City Council in the 2021 election. Johanna Garcia is running for a seat in District 10 - Upper Manhattan. She is the daughter of immigrants and mother of three children. As President of the School District's Presidents Council and as President of the Community Education Council, Ms. Garcia opposed extreme te...

BCR100-PART 2: Our second guest for out outdoor podcast on West End Avenue was former NY City Council Member, Rafael Espinal. Rafael is one of our favorite guests. , He has been with us many times and Alan covered his run for City Advocate a year ago. We have celebrated his many accomplishments as City Council Member for District 37 in Brooklyn. And now Rafael Espinal is the leader of th...

BCR100-PART 1 : This three-part BCR episode celebrated its 100th episode on a Manhattan street. West End Avenue was closed to traffic and so BCR took to the street to celebrate the resiliency of our UWS Neighbors as we face-down a most deadly pandemic.  PART ONE: Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer talked about her attempts to guide the mayor and governor to make the wisest decisions for...

The ugliness of police brutality aimed at Black Americans cannot be ignored – and cannot be papered over with meagre policy changes. We have to recognize the ugly fact that Racism is at the core of this country – is the ground from which arises white rage against dark skin. Rebecca and I feel it is important that we develop conversations about the enormous issue of white privilege and th...

This country has two social crises – the coronavirus pandemic – and – social unrest caused by white racism. Added to that – our government has no coherent, effective policy to help us move forward.  These social and health upheavals have impacted our children’s education.  For this Bar Crawl Radio episode, we are talking with two educational leaders whose organizations are working t...

BCR has gone to the streets -- West End Avenue and 92nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan -- to be precise. We set up an open mic in the middle of the asphalt and have been taking testimony from UWSers about how they are doing. AND -- one of the BCR hosts makes a life-changing announcement -- proving one more time that it is never too late to change your life. It is part of the 'Don't Be...

Recently, a dear friend sent us her son’s new book about his work in the field of social justice in poor and Black communities in the Chicago area – and elsewhere.   At the end of Seeds of Justice Alex Tindal Weisendanger writes:  “We can transform our churches and our churches can transform the world” This BCR episode features Alex and two other Christian leaders working for s...

Becky and I are hunkered down at the Windermere Chateau Bar overlooking beautiful West End Avenue to talk about how social isolation has a positive side. We spent some time earlier in the week at the Street level Bar talking to our neighbors taking a late afternoons stroll -- and asked "How you doin'?" We will continue to collect their testimony for future BCR episodes. Contact us at barcrawlradio...

Bar Crawl Radio hosts interview the interviewers -- members of The News Broads Podcast . A breezy conversation with three media savvy ladies about their experiences of talking with the biggest movers in journalism and entertainment on their podcast produced by David Levin. Judy Licht -- Co-founder of firstcomesfashions.com ; Commentator on WNBC's "Power Panel" ; Cohosted "Living in Style" for Mart...

Once again -- Becky and I are hunkered down in the Windermere Hotel Chateau Bar overlooking lovely West End Avenue. Another large crowd gathered near to the BCR mics as we talked about escaping the tribulations of life. Along the way Becky revealed the truth about our marriage -- and I decided her truth was not fake. This episode features one of my favorite entertainers --Jimmy Durante -- who cont...

"Poetry! What is it good for?" is a BCR series in which Becky and I have conversations with important poets. This episode opens with a rendition of "America the Beautiful" performed by the students of the Curtis Institute of Music [see Hunkered Down ??? for a conversation with the conductor Robert Kahn]. This conversation with the "3 Poets 4 Peace" is a follow up of BCR #92 in which we talked abou...

In 2002 this country began a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan -- 18 years later – that war continues.  Three New York poets , Veronica Golos, Angelo Verga, and Chris Brandt decided that we could not stand by and bemoan U.S. policies. They organized events in which poets expressed their opposition to war’s destruction of life, and efforts to create understanding of life -- in l...

Becky and I had a lot of fun with this one -- maybe Becky, the Dominatrix, had a bit more fun. We all deal with pain -- but all pain is not bad. This is a totally unofficial -- absolutely unscientific and subjective investigation of pain -- good and bad. For those of you who are a bit queasy, you may want to avoid the end of this episode as Becky puts me through a variety of pain tests. WARNING: D...

WARNING : Corona virus is mentioned -- in passing -- in this podcast. Announcing -- the official opening of the Windermere Chateau Bar and Grill --the new gathering place on West End Avenue. Masks are optional. Stupidity is celebrated. Meet Bob and Delores -- the arguing couple. Betsy -- the pansexual service person. And -- along with Becky and Alan -- consider your inner rage. CONTACT: barcrawlra...

Bar Crawl Radio hosts, Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson spoke with two young men, recently released from Otisville Medium Security Prison—Sam Johnson and Christopher Lee -- and with Professor Richard Hoehler from John Jay College who teaches in the Prison to College Pipeline – an educational program founded by English Professor Baz Dreisinger and administered by the college's Prisoner Re-e...

OK -- sit down -- calm your busy mind -- and get ready to listen to two amazing poets read and talk about their work. Martin Espada is a world-renowned poet; he tells the stories of the Puerto Rican diaspora experience. Lauren Schmidt's poems live on the ground -- and are raw and brave, exposing the sacred lives of the oppressed and the unspoken secrets of familial love. And -- Lauren and Martin a...

A CORONA-FREE PODCAST. Relax and get lost in a conversation between Becky and Alan on the topic of rudeness -- how to handle the rude adult and the rude child. Learn about what are the most effective comebacks when someone is rude to you. How to come out on top when someone tries to hurt your feelings. Here are the important lessons on how to squash that rude cell phone talker at a bar or that per...

This is for the historians: It's New York City - early spring -- 2020 -- and the Big Apple is on P.A.U.S.E . Bars are closed -- but BCR pushes on. Becky and I had a wonderful conversation with Caroline and Steve of the Angst & Daisies Podcast via Skype. Steve Saporito is a Broadway producer and Caroline Aaron is a co-star of "The Amazing Mrs. Maisel." The conversation ranged from surviving the...

Remember the scene in “Gypsy” when Rosalind Russell plods down the theatre aisle yelling at her daughter – “Sing out, Louise! Sing out!!” Well – wouldn’t you know it – there’s an activist group called “Sing Out, Louise” -- inspired by the election of The Don to protest through parody songs “in the key of F you.” That’s their line -- not ours. We gathered--seven of us--on the Porch o...

We sat at the bar at 5Napkin on W. 84th Street, and I looked around at a somewhat crowded bar and restaurant and wondered how it is we were all there together as COVID19 swirled around us. But Becky and I are dedicated to podcasting, and so we put our bodies on the line for our loyal listeners and talked about "TINY EVILS." We asked the question that have alluded great minds: Does EVIL exist, and,...