THE JEWISH VINTAGE ANNALS ARCHIVE PODCAST
Announcing a new @vintageannalsarchive that is a project close to my heart in posting and promoting the stories, work, history, and the arts of the Jewish culture worldwide. These are episodes we have done for the podcast under the category of Jewish stories.
Apple podcast Link
ttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewish-vintage-annals-archive-podcast/id1698847097
Spotify Link
https://open.spotify.com/show/3UQsopEgGoNABjNmxk1bPk?si=8ipHa3gWQT-gNprYx9aYJg
Hosted by:
1) Rich Wexler, photographer and curator of the @vintageannalsarchive Instagram feed.
Based in beautiful West Philadelphia.
Announcing a new @vintageannalsarchive that is a project close to my heart in posting and promoting the stories, work, history, and the arts of the Jewish culture worldwide. These are episodes we have done for the podcast under the category of Jewish stories.
Apple podcast Link
ttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewish-vintage-annals-archive-podcast/id1698847097
Spotify Link
https://open.spotify.com/show/3UQsopEgGoNABjNmxk1bPk?si=8ipHa3gWQT-gNprYx9aYJg
Hosted by:
1) Rich Wexler, photographer and curator of the @vintageannalsarchive Instagram feed.
Based in beautiful West Philadelphia.
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thejewishvintageannalsarchive/
GUESTS
Some episodes not yet released.
Subscribe here and you will be updated with every new episode .
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vaapod
Subscribe here and you will be updated with every new episode .
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vaapod
Flo Fox (Photographer/Designer/Acvtivist)
Biography
Flo Fox began her career as a photographer in New York City in 1972.
For the better part of her career, Flo Fox has been legally blind, as a result of multiple sclerosis that she contracted when she was thirty. She is Totally disabled from the neck down and has been confined to a wheelchair since 1999, Flo now shoots with an automatic camera and directs friends, attendants or people in the street to take pictures for her.
Throughout her career and with an archive of over 130,000 works, Flo photographed various subjects that chronicled the rich ironies of street life in New York City. Flo Fox’s work is in the permanent collection of Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian. Flo Fox has also been interviewed on several talks shows including Regis and Kathy Lee and Tom Snyder. During the early 80s she hosted her own show called the Foto Flo Show, interviewing other photographers such as Ruth Orkin and Ralph Gibson on their work and their creative methods. Riley Hooper made a short documentary film, FLO which was featured in The New York Times in 2013. Flo Fox is an advocate for the disabled and has taught photography class for the blind and visually impaired students at the Lighthouse for the Blind. Despite blindness, multiple sclerosis, and lung cancer, photographer Flo Fox continues to shoot the streets of New York City and never goes anywhere without her camera.
www.vintageannalsarchive.com/flo-fox-69-project.html
Flo Fox's Youtube Page
www.youtube.com/@flofox9831
Flo Fox began her career as a photographer in New York City in 1972.
For the better part of her career, Flo Fox has been legally blind, as a result of multiple sclerosis that she contracted when she was thirty. She is Totally disabled from the neck down and has been confined to a wheelchair since 1999, Flo now shoots with an automatic camera and directs friends, attendants or people in the street to take pictures for her.
Throughout her career and with an archive of over 130,000 works, Flo photographed various subjects that chronicled the rich ironies of street life in New York City. Flo Fox’s work is in the permanent collection of Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian. Flo Fox has also been interviewed on several talks shows including Regis and Kathy Lee and Tom Snyder. During the early 80s she hosted her own show called the Foto Flo Show, interviewing other photographers such as Ruth Orkin and Ralph Gibson on their work and their creative methods. Riley Hooper made a short documentary film, FLO which was featured in The New York Times in 2013. Flo Fox is an advocate for the disabled and has taught photography class for the blind and visually impaired students at the Lighthouse for the Blind. Despite blindness, multiple sclerosis, and lung cancer, photographer Flo Fox continues to shoot the streets of New York City and never goes anywhere without her camera.
www.vintageannalsarchive.com/flo-fox-69-project.html
Flo Fox's Youtube Page
www.youtube.com/@flofox9831
Samm Levine (Actor)
Samm Levine's first breakout role was as a member of the "geek" half of the short lived cult hit, Freaks and Geeks (1999).
The following year, he rejoined "Freaks and Geeks" producer, Judd Apatow, for another widely praised coming of age series, Undeclared (2001). That same year, Samm made his feature debut in the raucous teen spoof, Not Another Teen Movie (2001).
Since then, he has appeared in over 60 films and television shows, including the Oscar winning Quentin Tarantinoepic, Inglourious Basterds (2009), and in many memorable roles on beloved programs such as Entourage (2004),Modern Family (2009), NCIS (2003) and How I Met Your Mother (2005). In addition to his growing catalog of television appearances, Samm is also known for roles in many cult features, including the Broken Lizard comedy, Club Dread (2004), the sci-fi thriller, Pulse (2006), and acclaimed indie comedies, Drones (2010) and IFC's Made for Each Other (2009)
Samm has also served as co-host and producer to Kevin Pollak's renowned celebrity talk show, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (2009), since its inception in 2009 - a role he came into after his interview as a guest on the first episode.
The following year, he rejoined "Freaks and Geeks" producer, Judd Apatow, for another widely praised coming of age series, Undeclared (2001). That same year, Samm made his feature debut in the raucous teen spoof, Not Another Teen Movie (2001).
Since then, he has appeared in over 60 films and television shows, including the Oscar winning Quentin Tarantinoepic, Inglourious Basterds (2009), and in many memorable roles on beloved programs such as Entourage (2004),Modern Family (2009), NCIS (2003) and How I Met Your Mother (2005). In addition to his growing catalog of television appearances, Samm is also known for roles in many cult features, including the Broken Lizard comedy, Club Dread (2004), the sci-fi thriller, Pulse (2006), and acclaimed indie comedies, Drones (2010) and IFC's Made for Each Other (2009)
Samm has also served as co-host and producer to Kevin Pollak's renowned celebrity talk show, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (2009), since its inception in 2009 - a role he came into after his interview as a guest on the first episode.
Gary Monroe (Photographer/Author)
Gary Monroe, a native of Miami Beach, received a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1977. Upon returning home, he photographed the old world Jewish community that characterized South Beach. Since 1984 he has photographed throughout Haiti, and later looked at tourism across Florida, especially the "rite of passage" of vacationers at Disney World. He also "wanders aimlessly" to photograph in other countries – Brazil, Israel, Cuba, India, Trinidad, Poland and Egypt to name a few. Recently he has been looking at the landscape, especially the transformation of place due to corporate-driven planning.
https://www.garymonroe.net/default.html
Gary's Books
Welcome to the online gallery of Florida Highwaymen and self-taught art. The artwork offered for sale is selected from the Monroe Family Collection.
University Press of Florida has published ten books written by Gary Monroe about non-academic Florida artists. These include the primary texts, The Highwaymen: Florida’s African-American Landscape Painters and Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida’s Self-taught Artists. Building this collection of artwork has taken more than four decades and most of the artwork was acquired directly from the artists.
http://www.floridafolkart.net/
https://www.garymonroe.net/default.html
Gary's Books
Welcome to the online gallery of Florida Highwaymen and self-taught art. The artwork offered for sale is selected from the Monroe Family Collection.
University Press of Florida has published ten books written by Gary Monroe about non-academic Florida artists. These include the primary texts, The Highwaymen: Florida’s African-American Landscape Painters and Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida’s Self-taught Artists. Building this collection of artwork has taken more than four decades and most of the artwork was acquired directly from the artists.
http://www.floridafolkart.net/
Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate, 1965–1973 interview with David J Kramer (editor)
A Conversation between Box Brown and David Kramer
A glorious design herbarium of marijuana ads from the great underground magazines of the 1960s and '70s
The youth uprising now simply known as the Sixties was fed by one of the greatest booms in publishing history. The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) began as a loose confederation of five papers in 1966, and within a few years swelled to over 500 across the world, including Kaleidoscope, International Times and the East Village Other. They "spread like weed,” said the UPS director, weed dealer and eventual founder of High Times Tom Forcade. The metaphor was apt: the UPS spurred the legalization movement, and weed became its totem―and a helpful means for government agencies to crack down on the UPS, since weed permeated UPS pages, with gaps in text crammed with weed-inspired “spot illustrations.”
Heads Together collects these drawings, shining a light on lesser-known names in the stoner-art canon, and many who weren’t names at all since no signature was attached. It also compiles guides for growing weed from the period that were treated like contraband by the CIA. Activist-oriented, psychedelic rolling papers are showcased too. As pot now fast-tracks toward legalization in the US and beyond, its once-incendiary status is brought into odd relief. Pot’s contemporary corporate profiteers do not reflect those who fought for legalization, or the Black and Latino populations strategically criminalized for pot well before hippies were targeted and long after. The art in this book speaks to a time when pot was smoked with optimism, as something capable of activating transformation in the face of corrupt and powerful forces.
https://www.artbook.com/9783907236543.html
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu
CONVERSATION JAY SAND and RABBI GERSOM
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu is a Be’chol Lashon Rabbinic Fellow and the spiritual leader of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda. Gershom is the current leader of the 100-year old Abayudaya community of almost 2,000 Jews living in rural villages in Eastern Uganda. He is the grandson of community elder “Rabbi” Samson and lives near the Moses Synagogue in the village of Nabagogye, which he and others from the community’s early 1980s “Kibbutz movement” built with their own hands. Their goal has been to gather what was left of the Abayudaya community back together after the devastating reign of Idi Amin Dada ended in 1979.
As a visionary leader, Gershom’s dream was to attend a rabbinic seminary to better understand ancient and modern egalitarian Judaism and bring the Ugandan community intomainstream Jewish life. Gershom was awarded a Be’chol Lashon Fellowship in 2003 to attend the five-year Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He returned to Uganda in 2008 as the first native-born black rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa and opened a Yeshiva to train African teachers and rabbis to serve their ancient and emerging Jewish communities. In 2016, Gershom became the first Jew ever elected to Uganda’s parliament. As a member of the Be’chol Lashon Speakers Bureau, Gershom travels to the United State very year as an ambassador for the Abayudaya
globaljews.org/jewishand/authors/rabbi-gershom-sizomu-2/
Jay Sand, guitarist and children's music teacher, dad of three girls and world traveler (much more so before he became the dad of three girls), developed the All Around This World curriculum with his children as a way to introduce them to the countries he's already visited and the many more he plans to visit with them. Jay held his first All Around This World classes in 2009 in his West Philadelphia living room. Since then, AATW classes have caught on and spread to multiple cities around the world, both “in person” and, in our newly Zoom-friendly age, online.
http://www.ExploreEverywhere.com
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu is a Be’chol Lashon Rabbinic Fellow and the spiritual leader of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda. Gershom is the current leader of the 100-year old Abayudaya community of almost 2,000 Jews living in rural villages in Eastern Uganda. He is the grandson of community elder “Rabbi” Samson and lives near the Moses Synagogue in the village of Nabagogye, which he and others from the community’s early 1980s “Kibbutz movement” built with their own hands. Their goal has been to gather what was left of the Abayudaya community back together after the devastating reign of Idi Amin Dada ended in 1979.
As a visionary leader, Gershom’s dream was to attend a rabbinic seminary to better understand ancient and modern egalitarian Judaism and bring the Ugandan community intomainstream Jewish life. Gershom was awarded a Be’chol Lashon Fellowship in 2003 to attend the five-year Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He returned to Uganda in 2008 as the first native-born black rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa and opened a Yeshiva to train African teachers and rabbis to serve their ancient and emerging Jewish communities. In 2016, Gershom became the first Jew ever elected to Uganda’s parliament. As a member of the Be’chol Lashon Speakers Bureau, Gershom travels to the United State very year as an ambassador for the Abayudaya
globaljews.org/jewishand/authors/rabbi-gershom-sizomu-2/
Jay Sand, guitarist and children's music teacher, dad of three girls and world traveler (much more so before he became the dad of three girls), developed the All Around This World curriculum with his children as a way to introduce them to the countries he's already visited and the many more he plans to visit with them. Jay held his first All Around This World classes in 2009 in his West Philadelphia living room. Since then, AATW classes have caught on and spread to multiple cities around the world, both “in person” and, in our newly Zoom-friendly age, online.
http://www.ExploreEverywhere.com
Interview with Director of "Jews of the Wild West" Amanda Kinsey
ABOUT The film may have been silent, but the impact was that of a loud bang. “The Great Train Robbery,” known as the first American Western, would prove to be one of the most influential films in cinema. The year was 1903 and tales of the Wild West were quickly spreading throughout the world. In the film, Broncho Billy Anderson plays four roles. He is considered the first film celebrity cowboy and became so iconic that he was immortalized on a US stamp, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma. Fun fact? Broncho Bill was actually named Max Aronson and the son of Jewish immigrants.
Western Jewish pioneers, those of the silver screen and real life, are a largely forgotten chapter in US History. And yet, they played a definitive role shaping the expansion of the United States. There were nationally known names such as Levi Strauss, Samsonite founder Jesse Shwayder and the Guggenheim family, who built their great success through grit and determination in California and Colorado. A young Golda Meir spent formative years in Denver. And there were also lesser-known characters such as Solomon Bibo, a Prussian immigrant, who became a non-Native American tribal leader in New Mexico and Solomon Carvalho, a Sephardic painter and photographer who spent the mid-1800s documenting the territories of Kansas, Colorado and Utah. Wyatt Earp’s wife, Josephine Marcus Earp, was a Jewish actress whose beauty is rumored to have triggered the fight at the OK Corral. And by the end of the 19th Century nearly every notorious Wild West town had a Jewish mayor.
The wagon trains that moved westward with Jewish families traveled for the same reason as many settlers: opportunity. Continuous cycles of anti-Jewish oppression, deadly violence and forced poverty in Europe pushed over two million Jewish refugees to seek out a better life in America. The antisemitism and tenements found in New York City, however, did not offer the respite many were seeking. By 1912, it is estimated over 100,000 Jewish immigrants had moved to the Wild West. They put down roots and, today, they epitomize the important legacy of immigration in America.
“Jews of the Wild West” is a feature length documentary. The independent not-for-profit film is produced by Electric Yolk Media and directed by award-winning filmmaker Amanda Kinsey. Through on-camera interviews, compelling footage, and historical photographs, the film tells a positive immigration story and highlights the dynamic contributions Jewish Americans made to shaping the Western United States. The film premiered at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in early 2022. The documentary was funded through individual donors, grants and crowdsourcing. Any profits made by the film's distribution will be donated to the Rose Community Foundation.
"Jews of the Wild West" is currently streaming on Amazon, iTunes and most video-on-demand platforms. It is also available at participating libraries through Kanopy and is broadcasting on public television stations across the country through our distributor American Public Television. For more information about booking in person and virtual community events, please see Screenings below. Film merchandise can be purchased here. Your support of this project is greatly appreciated.
https://www.jewsofthewildwest.com/
Western Jewish pioneers, those of the silver screen and real life, are a largely forgotten chapter in US History. And yet, they played a definitive role shaping the expansion of the United States. There were nationally known names such as Levi Strauss, Samsonite founder Jesse Shwayder and the Guggenheim family, who built their great success through grit and determination in California and Colorado. A young Golda Meir spent formative years in Denver. And there were also lesser-known characters such as Solomon Bibo, a Prussian immigrant, who became a non-Native American tribal leader in New Mexico and Solomon Carvalho, a Sephardic painter and photographer who spent the mid-1800s documenting the territories of Kansas, Colorado and Utah. Wyatt Earp’s wife, Josephine Marcus Earp, was a Jewish actress whose beauty is rumored to have triggered the fight at the OK Corral. And by the end of the 19th Century nearly every notorious Wild West town had a Jewish mayor.
The wagon trains that moved westward with Jewish families traveled for the same reason as many settlers: opportunity. Continuous cycles of anti-Jewish oppression, deadly violence and forced poverty in Europe pushed over two million Jewish refugees to seek out a better life in America. The antisemitism and tenements found in New York City, however, did not offer the respite many were seeking. By 1912, it is estimated over 100,000 Jewish immigrants had moved to the Wild West. They put down roots and, today, they epitomize the important legacy of immigration in America.
“Jews of the Wild West” is a feature length documentary. The independent not-for-profit film is produced by Electric Yolk Media and directed by award-winning filmmaker Amanda Kinsey. Through on-camera interviews, compelling footage, and historical photographs, the film tells a positive immigration story and highlights the dynamic contributions Jewish Americans made to shaping the Western United States. The film premiered at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in early 2022. The documentary was funded through individual donors, grants and crowdsourcing. Any profits made by the film's distribution will be donated to the Rose Community Foundation.
"Jews of the Wild West" is currently streaming on Amazon, iTunes and most video-on-demand platforms. It is also available at participating libraries through Kanopy and is broadcasting on public television stations across the country through our distributor American Public Television. For more information about booking in person and virtual community events, please see Screenings below. Film merchandise can be purchased here. Your support of this project is greatly appreciated.
https://www.jewsofthewildwest.com/
Julie Klasner (Actress/Writer) talks about writing "Schmigadoon" Season Two
Julie Klausner created the Hulu series “Difficult People,” produced by Amy Poehler and starring Klausner and Billy Eichner. Her podcast, How Was Your Week, was called “one of the few essential podcasts” by the New York Times. She is head writer and Co-EP of Billy on the Street. She’s also written for Mulaney, Best Week Ever, The Big Gay Sketch Show, The Triumph and Jack Show and many other comedy specials and pilots. She wrote a YA Novel called Art Girls Are Easy, and a a memoir called I Don’t Care About Your Band, which she’s currently developing to be a movie with Broad Green Pictures. Julie was, at one point, steadily employed by Vulture.com, which showcased her Real Housewives recaps and original videos in addition to lots of her other pop culture writing. Julie does a lot of comedy, variety and cabaret shows in New York City, where she lives with her tuxedo cat, Jimmy Jazz. She is a writer for "Schimagadoon".
Arlene Gottfried and The AG Legacy Project
Arlene Harriet Gottfried (August 26, 1950 - August 8, 2017) was a New York City street photographer who recorded scenes of ordinary daily life in some of the city's less well-to-do neighborhoods. Her work was not widely known until she was in her 50s. Although Jewish by birth, later in her life she embarked on a career as a gospel singer. Gottfried published five books of her work: The Eternal Light (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1999), Midnight (powerHouse 2003), Sometimes Overwhelming (2008); One of her series, Bacalaitos and Fireworks (powerHouse 2011), focused on Puerto Ricans in the 1970s; Mommie (powerHouse 2015) was a portrait of three generations of women in her family: her immigrant grandmother, her mother, and her sister. Mommie : Three Generations of Women received Time Magazines Best Photobook Award in 2016. Her photographs and archives are in the collections of the European House of Photography (MEP), the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the New York Public Library Gottfried has exhibited at Paris Photo, the Leica Gallery in New York and Tokyo, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and at Les Douches La Galerie in Paris. Her photographs can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Berenice Abbott International Competition of Women's Documentary. Born in Brooklyn, she moved with her Jewish immigrant family to the neighborhoods of Alphabet City. Gottfried was the older sister of comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried. When Arlene was a teenager, her father Max gave her an old 35mm camera, which she eventually took to Woodstock, even though she said, "I had no clue what I was doing. She credited her upbringing for giving her the ability to get intimate photographs of strangers . I had exposure to all kinds of people, so I never had trouble walking up to people and asking them to take their picture. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She worked as a photographer for an advertising agency before freelancing for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Life, the Village Voice, and The Independent (London (UK)). She was an habitue of Nuyorican Poets Café, a friend of Miguel Piñero, and on the Lower East Side sang gospel with the Eternal Light Community Singers. Her photography dealer was the owner of the Daniel Cooney Fine Art Gallery. She died August 8, 2017 from complications of breast cancer at her home in Manhattan at the age of 66 surrounded by friends and family. We will be interviewing many folks that have been close to her and have championed her work.
cover photo by Kevin Downs
cover photo by Kevin Downs
Perry Shall (T-Shirt Collection/ Artist/Musician ) episode coming soon
You might not know Perry Shall by name, but if you’re a music fan in Philadelphia, you’ve almost certainly heard the longhaired rocker in one of his many bands or seen his art gracing the albums and t-shirts of some of your favorite acts. You might have even heard him on WFMU’s The Best Show – he has the show’s slogan WE GET IT / THEY DON’T tattooed on his wrists – or seen the wildly popular SuperDeluxe video about his immense vintage t-shirt collection, 1400 and counting. He is the very definition of a man about town, though these days that town isn’t just Philly: Shall has been doing much of the art and design work for Nashville-based label Easy Eye Sound, run by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Don’t worry, he’s not leaving us for the Music City. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who loves this city as much as Perry does and I suspect he’ll never live anywhere else.
https://perry-shall.myshopify.com/
https://perry-shall.myshopify.com/
Dan Fishback (Playwright/ Performer/Singer)
DAN FISHBACK is a playwright, songwriter, performer in the band Cheese On Bread, and host of the podcast Sick Day with Dan Fishback. He founded The Helix Queer Performance Network in 2013, and directed its programming through 2020. Fishback’s musical The Material World was called one of the Top Ten Plays of 2012 by Time Out New York. His play You Will Experience Silence was called “sassier and more fun than Angels in America” by the Village Voice. Also a performing songwriter, Fishback has released several albums, both solo and with his band Cheese On Bread, which dropped "The One Who Wanted More" in 2018, along with a video for their song Bad Friend, directed by Stephen Winter and featuring Justin Vivian Bond. With the Helix Queer Performance Network, Fishback created La MaMa Experimental Theater's annual series La MaMa's Squirts: Generations of Queer Performance. He is developing a new musical, Rubble Rubble, which was the focus of public controversy in 2017, when a Zionist institution canceled the play’s first reading in response to Fishback’s support for Palestinian human rights.
Fishback has had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for over a decade, and partially supports himself through his Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/danfishback
https://www.danfishback.com/
Fishback has had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for over a decade, and partially supports himself through his Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/danfishback
https://www.danfishback.com/
Andy Sweet Photo Legacy
Andrew John Sweet was a young photographer living and working in Miami Beach in the late 1970s. His life and his art were cut tragically short when he was murdered on October 16, 1982. Andy left an extensive body of work that exhibits a level of creative maturity far beyond his years. His photographs are a testimony to a rich but often overlooked period of Miami Beach’s cultural heritage.Background
Andy Sweet returned home to Miami Beach after receiving a Masters degree in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1977, to photograph the old world Jewish culture that then distinguished South Beach. While in graduate school, Andy was part of a small faction of young artist-photographers who were discovering the creative possibilities of color imagery. His beach-ball hues perfectly described the vivid light and lively culture he explored and portrayed, a culture that many others found bleak and pedestrian.
Andy’s aesthetic was as fresh as his colors. He rejected formalist theory and idea-driven imagery in favor of immediate and unmediated responses, of living it up and aligning himself with the people he knew he was privileged to photograph. Andy admired the work of Diane Arbus, and like her he rejected the notion of self-conscious art making. The pure and spirited photograph was what mattered. He knew he was an artist but his aesthetic, his intellect, and his ego required that he conceal this fact in service of achieving the caliber of photograph he desired. Intuitive, but certain, each click of his camera’s shutter release was an affirmation.
He photographed in this way until his death in 1982. He was only 29 years old. Citizens of the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County were shocked and horrified by Andy’s senseless murder. This native son, affable and fun-loving, who, having entered his artistic prime and was becoming well known for establishing an important visual legacy, was abruptly gone. While mourners overflowed from the sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El, The Miami Herald was preparing a tribute about Andy Sweet; it was the cover story in Tropic magazine, its Sunday supplement. Family and friends sat shiva while the police searched for his killers. Time passed, but the Sweet family and their friends kept an emotional vigil. Andy’s photographs, in boxes containing hundreds of large colorful prints, became their focal point. His archive would represent his richly-lived short life. However, if there was any glory in their undertakings, there would be much more anguish.https://andy-sweet.format.com/#1
Andy Sweet returned home to Miami Beach after receiving a Masters degree in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1977, to photograph the old world Jewish culture that then distinguished South Beach. While in graduate school, Andy was part of a small faction of young artist-photographers who were discovering the creative possibilities of color imagery. His beach-ball hues perfectly described the vivid light and lively culture he explored and portrayed, a culture that many others found bleak and pedestrian.
Andy’s aesthetic was as fresh as his colors. He rejected formalist theory and idea-driven imagery in favor of immediate and unmediated responses, of living it up and aligning himself with the people he knew he was privileged to photograph. Andy admired the work of Diane Arbus, and like her he rejected the notion of self-conscious art making. The pure and spirited photograph was what mattered. He knew he was an artist but his aesthetic, his intellect, and his ego required that he conceal this fact in service of achieving the caliber of photograph he desired. Intuitive, but certain, each click of his camera’s shutter release was an affirmation.
He photographed in this way until his death in 1982. He was only 29 years old. Citizens of the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County were shocked and horrified by Andy’s senseless murder. This native son, affable and fun-loving, who, having entered his artistic prime and was becoming well known for establishing an important visual legacy, was abruptly gone. While mourners overflowed from the sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El, The Miami Herald was preparing a tribute about Andy Sweet; it was the cover story in Tropic magazine, its Sunday supplement. Family and friends sat shiva while the police searched for his killers. Time passed, but the Sweet family and their friends kept an emotional vigil. Andy’s photographs, in boxes containing hundreds of large colorful prints, became their focal point. His archive would represent his richly-lived short life. However, if there was any glory in their undertakings, there would be much more anguish.https://andy-sweet.format.com/#1
Amos Poe (Filmmaker)
Amos Poe is an American New York City-based director and screenwriter, described by The New York Times as a "pioneering indie filmmaker. Amos Poe is one of the first punkfilmmakers and his film The Blank Generation (1976)—co-directed with Ivan Král— is one of the earliest punk films. The film features performances by Richard Hell, Talking Heads, Television, Patti Smith, and Wayne County. Rolling Stone named it number 6 on its list of 25 Greatest Punk Rock Movies of All Time. He is also associated with the birth of No Wave Cinema due to films such as The Foreigner (1978), featuring Eric Mitchell, Debbie Harry, Anya Phillips; and Subway Riders (1981) starring Susan Tyrrell, Robbie Coltrane, and Cookie Mueller. During this time he was also the director of the Public-access television cable TV show TV Party hosted by Glenn O'Brien and Chris Stein. He is part of the Remodernist film movement, which he described as the next development of Postmodernism and the transformation of existing cultural features, but "using the technology and the sensibility of contemporary rather than nostalgia". "My idea of my work's importance is to see how it moves the culture to where I'd like to see it," Poe said in a 1981 interview. In 2008, he wrote the screenplay for the 2008 Amy Redford film The Guitar. The New York Times reported in 2020 that Poe had lost all ownership of several of his groundbreaking films, including The Blank Generation, to Ivan Kral in a 2012 lawsuit over profits from licensing fees for showings of the film. Thereafter, Kral billed himself as the director of the film, demoting Poe to co-editor; Kral also acquired ownership, for $10 each, of Poe's films Unmade Beds, The Foreigner, Subway Riders, and Empire II. In late 2019, shortly before Kral's death, at a screening of The Blank Generation, it was revealed that Kral, or his wife, Cindy Hudson, had changed the ending of the film, switching out the original ending (depicting Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye), for a brief biopic about Kral, followed with the credit "directed by Cindy Hudson." Although the theater screening the film had, apparently unknowingly, marketed it as the iconic 1976 work, it was a considerably different film, and Poe's name was excised entirely.
Dean Friedman - Musician/ VR Expert/ Author
Biography
Dean Friedman first marked his entry into pop consciousness with the Top 20 chart success of his infectious hit single, Ariel, a quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl in a peasant blouse who lived, as the lyric goes, "...way on the other side of the Hudson". Friedman scored again with the release of his follow up album, “Well, Well,” Said the Rocking Chair’, and the now classic hit single, Lucky Stars. This magical duet, performed with singer, Denise Marsa, zoomed to the top of the UK singles charts, going instantly gold. Lucky Stars paved the way for a slew of Friedman hits, including familiar radio staples such as Lydia, Rocking Chair, McDonald’s Girland Woman of Mine.
Friedman’s consummate songwriting and performing, have earned him a loyal international following, devoted to the sophisticated, funny and profound work of a master songsmith. “Stunning Musicianship” - Hot Press, "Songsmith Extraordinaire!" - Music Week , "An Amazing Talent" - The Sun, "An American Classic" - Tribune, “The Soundtrack of Our Lives” – NY Times, are just of few of the superlatives used to describe Friedman's powerfully unique and original talent. Friedman’s recent run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival garnered similar critical praise:
“Every song in this Edinburgh show is a classic. You won't see a better show.” – London Theatre Guide. "Sophisticated and humorous work from an old master!" Scotland on Sunday. “With his mix of jaunty ditties, sentimental ballads and bashful charm, Friedman is the pop troubadour of choice.” The Scotsman. “Dean Friedman is entirely unique and utterly brilliant” – ThreeWeeks. Though Friedman’s next single, McDonald's Girl was officially banned by the BBC for mentioning the tradename of the fast food restaurant, the irrepressible pop song has been successfully covered by a number of acclaimed contemporary bands including the Blenders (Universal) and top canadian band, Barenaked Ladies [WEA]. (BNL member, Steve Page, sings background vocals on Dean’s recent double album.) The song has become a viral YouTube video hit, and a staple of high-school and college a capella groups, around the world – including Harvard’s Din & Tonics and Yale’s Mixed Company - spawning more than 40 different video versions on YouTube; and now, three decades after being banned, the song has just been licensed by the McDonald’s corporation to be featured in a national TV/Radio campaign:"McDonald's Girl". Friedman composes and produces music soundtracks for TV and film, including five seasons of Central TV's hit series BOON and the soundtrack to the underground cult horror film classic I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle [Hobo Films/U.K.]. Other credits include Nickelodeon, NBC, BBC and FUJI TV. Despite Friedman's apparent absence from the popular music scene, evidence that his name and music have made a lasting impact on pop music can be found repeatedly in popular media: The British band Half Man Half Biscuit released a best selling EP containing the oddly titled, The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman. (Dean emphatically denies this claim.) Friedman extracts his revenge on his CD, Submarine Races with his song, A Baker's Tale, the hitherto untold story of Nigel Blackwell's dubious origins. With his influence evident in the music of contemporary bands like Barenaked Ladies, the Blenders and Ben Folds Five, Friedman states, ‘It’s nice to see my music has made an impact on a new generation of artists.’ Friedman also produced and presented BBC Radio Scotland’s acclaimed radio series, ‘Real American Folk’, which has featured American Folk icons such as Christine Lavin, David Bromberg, John Prine and Steve Forbert. One of Friedman's recent tours was almost cancelled when it was announced that his tour sponsor www.goldenseeds.co.uk would distribute packets of cannabis seeds to the first ten people that purchased CD's at each of Friedman's gigs. The controversy was only resolved after Friedman promised not to distribute the seeds within 50 yards of the venue premises. (click to see Songwriter's Cannabis Controversy). [note: it is legal to possess cannabis seeds in the UK as long as they don’t get wet and germinate!] Friedman’s latest CD, 'American Lullaby', has been receiving rave reviews from fans and critics, alike. The long awaited, fan-funded, studio album contains 12 brand new original tracks, lyrical soundscapes and story-songs, bursting with life, love and survival in a surreal world. It contains instant classics like, 'American Lullaby', 'Halfway Normal World', 'The Russians Are Coming!', 'Too Much Stuff', 'Welcome to Stupid Town', 'On a Summer's Night', and more. This stunning recording further confirms Friedman’s status as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. Friedman, 66, makes his home in Peekskill, NY where he lives with his wife, Alison, and Lola, the smallest dog in the world.
VR Work
In Video - In 1986, Dean saw a demo of a powerful VR program that put you right inside of a video game using a video camera - no helmet required. It blew me away and he wrote an article about it for Electronic Musician Magazine. Three years later he used the software to design a game called Eat-A-Bug which he licensed to Nickelodeon TV and served as a prototype for the series Nick Arcade, for which he produced a dozen InVideo games. Since then, InVideo has produced state-of-the-art VR games for TV and leading theme parks, family entertainment centers and museums around the world, including Nickelodeon, Disney, Fuji TV, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Science Museum of London, Boston Science Museum, Liberty Science Center.
Dean's The Complete Guide to Synthesizers, Sequencers, and Drum Machines
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Synthesizers-Sequencers-Machines/dp/082562410X
Dean Friedman first marked his entry into pop consciousness with the Top 20 chart success of his infectious hit single, Ariel, a quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl in a peasant blouse who lived, as the lyric goes, "...way on the other side of the Hudson". Friedman scored again with the release of his follow up album, “Well, Well,” Said the Rocking Chair’, and the now classic hit single, Lucky Stars. This magical duet, performed with singer, Denise Marsa, zoomed to the top of the UK singles charts, going instantly gold. Lucky Stars paved the way for a slew of Friedman hits, including familiar radio staples such as Lydia, Rocking Chair, McDonald’s Girland Woman of Mine.
Friedman’s consummate songwriting and performing, have earned him a loyal international following, devoted to the sophisticated, funny and profound work of a master songsmith. “Stunning Musicianship” - Hot Press, "Songsmith Extraordinaire!" - Music Week , "An Amazing Talent" - The Sun, "An American Classic" - Tribune, “The Soundtrack of Our Lives” – NY Times, are just of few of the superlatives used to describe Friedman's powerfully unique and original talent. Friedman’s recent run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival garnered similar critical praise:
“Every song in this Edinburgh show is a classic. You won't see a better show.” – London Theatre Guide. "Sophisticated and humorous work from an old master!" Scotland on Sunday. “With his mix of jaunty ditties, sentimental ballads and bashful charm, Friedman is the pop troubadour of choice.” The Scotsman. “Dean Friedman is entirely unique and utterly brilliant” – ThreeWeeks. Though Friedman’s next single, McDonald's Girl was officially banned by the BBC for mentioning the tradename of the fast food restaurant, the irrepressible pop song has been successfully covered by a number of acclaimed contemporary bands including the Blenders (Universal) and top canadian band, Barenaked Ladies [WEA]. (BNL member, Steve Page, sings background vocals on Dean’s recent double album.) The song has become a viral YouTube video hit, and a staple of high-school and college a capella groups, around the world – including Harvard’s Din & Tonics and Yale’s Mixed Company - spawning more than 40 different video versions on YouTube; and now, three decades after being banned, the song has just been licensed by the McDonald’s corporation to be featured in a national TV/Radio campaign:"McDonald's Girl". Friedman composes and produces music soundtracks for TV and film, including five seasons of Central TV's hit series BOON and the soundtrack to the underground cult horror film classic I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle [Hobo Films/U.K.]. Other credits include Nickelodeon, NBC, BBC and FUJI TV. Despite Friedman's apparent absence from the popular music scene, evidence that his name and music have made a lasting impact on pop music can be found repeatedly in popular media: The British band Half Man Half Biscuit released a best selling EP containing the oddly titled, The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman. (Dean emphatically denies this claim.) Friedman extracts his revenge on his CD, Submarine Races with his song, A Baker's Tale, the hitherto untold story of Nigel Blackwell's dubious origins. With his influence evident in the music of contemporary bands like Barenaked Ladies, the Blenders and Ben Folds Five, Friedman states, ‘It’s nice to see my music has made an impact on a new generation of artists.’ Friedman also produced and presented BBC Radio Scotland’s acclaimed radio series, ‘Real American Folk’, which has featured American Folk icons such as Christine Lavin, David Bromberg, John Prine and Steve Forbert. One of Friedman's recent tours was almost cancelled when it was announced that his tour sponsor www.goldenseeds.co.uk would distribute packets of cannabis seeds to the first ten people that purchased CD's at each of Friedman's gigs. The controversy was only resolved after Friedman promised not to distribute the seeds within 50 yards of the venue premises. (click to see Songwriter's Cannabis Controversy). [note: it is legal to possess cannabis seeds in the UK as long as they don’t get wet and germinate!] Friedman’s latest CD, 'American Lullaby', has been receiving rave reviews from fans and critics, alike. The long awaited, fan-funded, studio album contains 12 brand new original tracks, lyrical soundscapes and story-songs, bursting with life, love and survival in a surreal world. It contains instant classics like, 'American Lullaby', 'Halfway Normal World', 'The Russians Are Coming!', 'Too Much Stuff', 'Welcome to Stupid Town', 'On a Summer's Night', and more. This stunning recording further confirms Friedman’s status as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. Friedman, 66, makes his home in Peekskill, NY where he lives with his wife, Alison, and Lola, the smallest dog in the world.
VR Work
In Video - In 1986, Dean saw a demo of a powerful VR program that put you right inside of a video game using a video camera - no helmet required. It blew me away and he wrote an article about it for Electronic Musician Magazine. Three years later he used the software to design a game called Eat-A-Bug which he licensed to Nickelodeon TV and served as a prototype for the series Nick Arcade, for which he produced a dozen InVideo games. Since then, InVideo has produced state-of-the-art VR games for TV and leading theme parks, family entertainment centers and museums around the world, including Nickelodeon, Disney, Fuji TV, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Science Museum of London, Boston Science Museum, Liberty Science Center.
Dean's The Complete Guide to Synthesizers, Sequencers, and Drum Machines
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Synthesizers-Sequencers-Machines/dp/082562410X
Stuart S. Shapiro and Night Flight (Plus)
Biography
Stuart S. Shapiro is a visionary who has spent his career producing, directing, writing, and creating innovative entertainment and e-communications content and technologies. A pioneer in the field, Mr. Shapiro is responsible for many cutting-edge breakthroughs. He was among the first to use e-mail as a form of mass marketing and communication for government. As an entrepreneur, he founded several successful Internet communication ventures, including, Woodstock.com, ArtistEnt and Patronet with Todd Rundgren, one of the first Internet artist music subscription services, and AskDrMao.com, The Natural Health Search Engine. Mr. Shapiro is also credited with producing the 72-hour live Webcast of Woodstock99, the largest Internet live music event in history at that time. As a film distributor and producer, Shapiro was responsible for such classics as Tunnel Vision, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps, Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii, Mondo New York, Comedy’s Dirtiest Dozen, which helped launch the careers of Tim Allen and Chris Rock, and Only The Strong, from which he produced the famous Mazda song, “Zoom Zoom Zoom.” He also created, directed and produced Night Flight (nightflight.com), the award-winning late night TV series on the USA Network. He recently re launched Night Flight as an OTT streaming channel, Night Flight Plus (nightflightplus.com). As an author/producer he published Flash Frames, a book featuring the best of Flash art from the Internet and This is Today, a history of NBC’s Today Show. His new book, iDentifi Yourself, will be published by Dolphin Books in 2017.
https://www.nightflightplus.com
Stuart S. Shapiro is a visionary who has spent his career producing, directing, writing, and creating innovative entertainment and e-communications content and technologies. A pioneer in the field, Mr. Shapiro is responsible for many cutting-edge breakthroughs. He was among the first to use e-mail as a form of mass marketing and communication for government. As an entrepreneur, he founded several successful Internet communication ventures, including, Woodstock.com, ArtistEnt and Patronet with Todd Rundgren, one of the first Internet artist music subscription services, and AskDrMao.com, The Natural Health Search Engine. Mr. Shapiro is also credited with producing the 72-hour live Webcast of Woodstock99, the largest Internet live music event in history at that time. As a film distributor and producer, Shapiro was responsible for such classics as Tunnel Vision, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps, Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii, Mondo New York, Comedy’s Dirtiest Dozen, which helped launch the careers of Tim Allen and Chris Rock, and Only The Strong, from which he produced the famous Mazda song, “Zoom Zoom Zoom.” He also created, directed and produced Night Flight (nightflight.com), the award-winning late night TV series on the USA Network. He recently re launched Night Flight as an OTT streaming channel, Night Flight Plus (nightflightplus.com). As an author/producer he published Flash Frames, a book featuring the best of Flash art from the Internet and This is Today, a history of NBC’s Today Show. His new book, iDentifi Yourself, will be published by Dolphin Books in 2017.
https://www.nightflightplus.com
Austin Pendelton (Actor)
Although Austin is not Jewish he was in the original production of "Fiddler on the Roof" and worked with Barbra Streisand
Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. He is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen who has appeared in various films including Catch 22 (1970), What's Up, Doc? (1972), The Front Page(1974), The Muppet Movie (1979), Short Circuit (1986), Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990), My Cousin Vinny(1992), Amistad (1997), A Beautiful Mind (2001), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination, and Finding Nemo (2003). For his work in theatre he has received a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Play for the Broadway revival of The Little Foxes in 1981. He has received two Drama Desk Award nominations and the recipient of a Special Drama Desk Award in 2007. He also received a Obie Award for Best Director for the Off-Broadway revival of Three Sisters in 2011. Recent Broadway credits include Choir Boy in 2016 and The Minutes in 2022. Pendleton first received critical acclaim in 1964 for his performance as Motel in the original Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof. He appeared in The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance and an Obie Award), The Diary of Anne Frank, Goodtime Charley, and Up from Paradise as well as many other plays. In August 2006, Pendleton played the Chaplain in Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater production directed by George C. Wolfe at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. In 2007, he appeared as Friar Lawrence in the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Delacorte Theater. Pendleton wrote the plays Uncle Bob, Booth, and Orson's Shadow, all of which were staged off-Broadway. Uncle Bob had its off-Broadway premiere in 2001 at The SoHo Playhouse, starring George Morfogen—for whom the role of Bob was written—and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who made his New York theatre debut in the production. The critically acclaimed production was directed by Courtney Moorehead and produced by Steven Sendor. As a director, Pendleton has worked extensively on and off Broadway. His direction of Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes garnered him a Tony Award nomination in 1981. Additional directing credits include The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt(1977), Spoils of War by Michael Weller (1988), and The Size of the World by Charles Evered (1996).
Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns and founding member of Guns and Roses
Tracy Richard Irving Ulrich (born January 20, 1966), known professionally as Tracii Guns, is an American guitarist best known as the co-founder of glam metal group L.A. Guns, as well as the supergroups named Brides of Destruction and Contraband. He was also a founding member of Guns N' Roses, but left shortly afterwards. Ulrich's uncle Ron taught him how to play guitar at a young age. Ulrich attended Fairfax High in Los Angeles. While there, he met future L.A. Gunsmembers Robert Gardner and Michael Jagosz. The three formed a band called Pyrrhus with bassist Dani Tull. Ulrich (now going by Tracii Guns), Gardner, and Jagosz recruited Danish bassist Ole Beich for their new band in 1983, officially starting L.A. Guns after leaving Guns 'N Roses. Ulrich cites Johnny Thunders, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Mick Jagger, Michael Schenker, Tony Iommi, and Jimmy Page as his influences. L.A. Guns was formed by Guns in 1983, initially with singer Mike Jagosz, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner. This lineup recorded the EP Collector's Edition No. 1 which would be the only release from the band with its original lineup. After Jagosz was arrested in a bar fight, Bill Rose (later known as Axl Rose) joined the band as singer. Rose had previously fronted Hollywood Rose, backed by Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber. Rose's stint in the band was short-lived, as Jagosz returned weeks later. Guns joined a newly reunited Hollywood Rose (alongside Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Steve Darrow) for a 1985 New Years show. Shortly afterwards, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose merged bands to become Guns N' Roses, with the lineup consisting of Guns, Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Beich. Guns, Beich, and Gardner would exit Guns N' Roses just two months into the new band, with Guns leaving after an argument with Rose, claiming "It just wasn't fun anymore." Guns was replaced by Slash, while Gardner and Beich were replaced by Steven Adler and Duff McKagan respectively, forming the "classic lineup" of Guns N' Roses
Gabe is an author, editor, actor, playwright, director and a lover of commas. For five years, he worked at Montgomery County Emergency Service, Inc. (MCES), a non-profit crisis psychiatric hospital in the capacity of Allied Therapist and, later, as Development Specialist. At MCES, he created innovative programs such as a psychiatric visiting nurse program, a suicide prevention collaboration with SEPTA, and an Inpatient Concert Series that brought professional performing artists to entertain the patients and enrich their inpatient experience. While at MCES, Gabe also produced and directed a full-scale production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town with the staff of the hospital, as an exercise in teamwork, empathy-building, and creative expression. He lives in a suburb of Philadelphia with his wife, twins and a basset hound named Tennessee. Gabe Nathan, a Wynnewood activist and Herbie the Love Bug enthusiast, brings joy and a serious message with his replica of the famous Volkswagen Beetle. Image via OC87 Recovery Diaries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlQz0KDJJGg&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlQz0KDJJGg&t=4s
Gabriel Nathan and Herbie
Sing Your Life Karaoke host Sara Sherr is a former Tower Records employee, music critic and music promoter who was hanging out in record stores with her musician father by the time she could walk. She is known for her work with women's music series Sugar Town, live independent music events Plain Parade, international women's music festival Ladyfest Philly, and LGBTQ music and arts festival Phreak N Queer.
https://singyourlifekaraoke.com/
https://singyourlifekaraoke.com/
Sara Sherr (Karaoke Host)
Sing Your Life Karaoke host Sara Sherr is a former Tower Records employee, music critic and music promoter who was hanging out in record stores with her musician father by the time she could walk. She is known for her work with women's music series Sugar Town, live independent music events Plain Parade, international women's music festival Ladyfest Philly, and LGBTQ music and arts festival Phreak N Queer.
https://singyourlifekaraoke.com/
https://singyourlifekaraoke.com/
Eddie Davis (Musician)
Bio
Eddie Davis, Vocalist, Recording Artist, Producer and PublishedSongwriter, known for his soulful, dynamic, vocal style & warm, out-going personality, has played the most upscale events & private parties over the years with Eddie Davis Band. Eddie is owner of Eddie Davis Entertainment, which had become one of the premier booking agencies in the tri-state region, booking bands, unique acts and talented artists for special events.
As a songwriter, Eddie is affiliated with ASCAP & The Harry Fox Agency. Eddie wrote & produced "Doin’ The Zombie," a well-known Halloween tune recorded by Chubby Checker and released on K-TEL’s Bare Bones label. Eddie has written, produced & sung many of his own compositions, as well as co-written & recorded a number of songs with songwriter/guitarist, Richard Lee Steacker, the late, great, Grover Washington, Jr.’s guitarist.
Eddie formed the blues band, Blues Anatomy, which Eddie fronts and shares the stage with 5 other world-class musicians and has performed and recorded with the best musicians anywhere, locally & nationally. Some of his acclaimed CD’s include “Blues Diamonds,” “Blues Anatomy,” "Blues Is My Business, "Let's Straighten It Out" and “Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson.” His newest release is "Good News, Still Singin' The Blues."
Still going strong, writing, recording and playing, Eddie is looking forward to putting out more great, soulful music for everyone to enjoy.
eddiedavismusic.com
Eddie Davis, Vocalist, Recording Artist, Producer and PublishedSongwriter, known for his soulful, dynamic, vocal style & warm, out-going personality, has played the most upscale events & private parties over the years with Eddie Davis Band. Eddie is owner of Eddie Davis Entertainment, which had become one of the premier booking agencies in the tri-state region, booking bands, unique acts and talented artists for special events.
As a songwriter, Eddie is affiliated with ASCAP & The Harry Fox Agency. Eddie wrote & produced "Doin’ The Zombie," a well-known Halloween tune recorded by Chubby Checker and released on K-TEL’s Bare Bones label. Eddie has written, produced & sung many of his own compositions, as well as co-written & recorded a number of songs with songwriter/guitarist, Richard Lee Steacker, the late, great, Grover Washington, Jr.’s guitarist.
Eddie formed the blues band, Blues Anatomy, which Eddie fronts and shares the stage with 5 other world-class musicians and has performed and recorded with the best musicians anywhere, locally & nationally. Some of his acclaimed CD’s include “Blues Diamonds,” “Blues Anatomy,” "Blues Is My Business, "Let's Straighten It Out" and “Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson.” His newest release is "Good News, Still Singin' The Blues."
Still going strong, writing, recording and playing, Eddie is looking forward to putting out more great, soulful music for everyone to enjoy.
eddiedavismusic.com
Meryl Meisler (Photographer)
Meryl Meisler was born in 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. Inspired by Diane Arbus, Jacques Henri Lartigue, and her dad Jack and grandfather Murray Meisler, Meryl began photographing herself, family, and friends while enrolled in a photography class taught by Cavalliere Ketchum at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1975, Meryl returned to New York City and studied with Lisette Model, photographing her hometown and the city around her. After working as a freelance illustrator by day, Meryl frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. As a 1978 CETA Artist grant recipient, Meryl created a portfolio of photographs that explored Jewish Identity for the American Jewish Congress. After CETA, Meryl began a 3-decade career as an N.Y.C. Public School Art Teacher. Meryl was honored with the 2021 Center for Photography at Woodstock Affinity Award. She is included among The Hundred Heroines – a celebration of Women in Photography. TIME includes her in their selection of women trailblazers in photography: The Unsung American Female Photographers of the Past Century. Meryl has received fellowships, grants, and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Light Work, Y.A.D.D.O., V.C.C.A., Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Leonian Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, Time Warner, Artists Space, C.E.T.A., the China Institute, and the Japan Society. Her work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, Dia Art Foundation, MASS MoCA, Islip Art Museum, Griffin Museum, Annenberg Space for Photography, the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New-York Historical Society, Steven Kasher Gallery, The Whitney Museum of American Art and in public spaces including Grand Central Terminal, South Street Seaport, Photoville and throughout the N.Y.C. subway system. Her work is in the permanent collections of the American Jewish Congress, ARTPPOOL Budapest, AT&T, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Brooklyn Historical Society, Book Art Museum- Poland, Columbia University, Emory University, Islip Art Museum, LaGrange Art Museum, Library of Congress, Musée de la Poste Paris, New York Transit Museum, Pfizer, Reuters, Smith College Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, University of Iowa, The Waskomium and can be found in the artist book collections of Carnegie Melon, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Chrysler Museum, the Museum of Modern Art N.Y.C., Metronome Library, and Whitney Museum of American Art.
Upon retiring from the N.Y.C. public schools, she began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph, A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned-out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s. Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside N.Y.C. street and nightlife. Her latest monograph, New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco (Parallel Pictures Press 2021) makes her first books seem like fairytales. She has returned to her analog roots in the darkroom, making gelatin silver prints of contemporary images and never seen photos from her enormous archive. Meryl lives and works in New York City and Woodstock, NY, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery. ClampArt represents her work.
www.merylmeisler.com
We will be referencing the images below in her episode.
Upon retiring from the N.Y.C. public schools, she began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph, A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned-out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s. Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside N.Y.C. street and nightlife. Her latest monograph, New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco (Parallel Pictures Press 2021) makes her first books seem like fairytales. She has returned to her analog roots in the darkroom, making gelatin silver prints of contemporary images and never seen photos from her enormous archive. Meryl lives and works in New York City and Woodstock, NY, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery. ClampArt represents her work.
www.merylmeisler.com
We will be referencing the images below in her episode.
* Stephen Tobolowsky (Glee/Goldbergs)
Episode 3
Prolific actor and storyteller Stephen Tobolowsky tells us amazing stories, teaches us ancient wisdom, not to mention vivisection and briefcases full of penises. StephenTobolowsky.com for his podcast, books, documentaries about him, upcoming movies and lots more! Thanks so much Stephen! Hosted by DJ / costumed karaoke host Dr Thunder, and photographer / VAA Creator Rich Wexler.
Bio
Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the leading character actors today. He has appeared in over 200 movies and television shows. Here is the list: Stephen Tobolowsky at IMDB for credits.
He has played everything from Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day to Sandy Ryerson in Glee. He has appeared almost naked as Stu Beggs on Californication and has worn the same suit for seven years as Principal Earl Ball on The Goldbergs. Stephen currently appears as Dr. Leslie Berkowitz in the new generation remake of Norman Lear's One Day at a Time. Seasons 1-3, at present, are still available on Netflix. PopTV and CBS aired Season 4. Hopes are high for more episodes as soon as safe filming practices can be set in the pandemic era!
Please read here for the One Day at a Time journey.
Stephen has always been a storyteller. In sixth grade he won his school’s storytelling contest and over that summer won the award as best storyteller in the City of Dallas (13 years old and under division.) That impulse led him into writing. He wrote the screenplay for True Stories with David Byrne and Beth Henley.
He wrote and performed his storytelling films Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party and The Primary Instinct.
His labor of love has been The Tobolowsky Files, created with producer David Chen. What began as a behind-the-scenes movie podcast has become a sometimes funny, sometimes compelling portrait of a human life - as described by Miles McNutt here. “The Tobolowsky Files” is available at tobolowskyfiles.com and on Apple Podcasts. Early episodes were also previously broadcast on KUOW 94.9 in Seattle, on WFPL in Louisville, KY and many stations through Public Radio International (PRI). He has two books of stories published by Simon & Schuster: The Dangerous Animals Club and My Adventures with God.
https://stephentobolowsky.com
We reference some of the photos below in this episode.
Prolific actor and storyteller Stephen Tobolowsky tells us amazing stories, teaches us ancient wisdom, not to mention vivisection and briefcases full of penises. StephenTobolowsky.com for his podcast, books, documentaries about him, upcoming movies and lots more! Thanks so much Stephen! Hosted by DJ / costumed karaoke host Dr Thunder, and photographer / VAA Creator Rich Wexler.
Bio
Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the leading character actors today. He has appeared in over 200 movies and television shows. Here is the list: Stephen Tobolowsky at IMDB for credits.
He has played everything from Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day to Sandy Ryerson in Glee. He has appeared almost naked as Stu Beggs on Californication and has worn the same suit for seven years as Principal Earl Ball on The Goldbergs. Stephen currently appears as Dr. Leslie Berkowitz in the new generation remake of Norman Lear's One Day at a Time. Seasons 1-3, at present, are still available on Netflix. PopTV and CBS aired Season 4. Hopes are high for more episodes as soon as safe filming practices can be set in the pandemic era!
Please read here for the One Day at a Time journey.
Stephen has always been a storyteller. In sixth grade he won his school’s storytelling contest and over that summer won the award as best storyteller in the City of Dallas (13 years old and under division.) That impulse led him into writing. He wrote the screenplay for True Stories with David Byrne and Beth Henley.
He wrote and performed his storytelling films Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party and The Primary Instinct.
His labor of love has been The Tobolowsky Files, created with producer David Chen. What began as a behind-the-scenes movie podcast has become a sometimes funny, sometimes compelling portrait of a human life - as described by Miles McNutt here. “The Tobolowsky Files” is available at tobolowskyfiles.com and on Apple Podcasts. Early episodes were also previously broadcast on KUOW 94.9 in Seattle, on WFPL in Louisville, KY and many stations through Public Radio International (PRI). He has two books of stories published by Simon & Schuster: The Dangerous Animals Club and My Adventures with God.
https://stephentobolowsky.com
We reference some of the photos below in this episode.
Arlene Gottfried Legacy Project
Vintage Annals Archive has been in partnership with Karen Gottfried (Arlene's sister) and runs The Arlene Gottfried Legacy Page on Instagram with Karen's generous help. This was eight years in the making. We are also working on a Podcast about Arlene's Life and Work1
ALL LINKS TO VIDEOS HERE!
https://youtu.be/jqEaLJrHL7c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMFIB951IhE&t=8s
https://youtu.be/M1btBD7LhCw
https://youtu.be/spGu4NZek58
https://youtu.be/LBDgUgaMwn8
https://youtu.be/ZFjYy8dXybs
https://youtu.be/427jEs_0ZZk
https://youtu.be/drAElMDFFMc
https://youtu.be/HwTe7pJASVY
https://youtu.be/YPNq2vdFeRw
https://youtu.be/XOCmMijc2qg
Vintage Annals Archive Youtube Playlist about Arlene Gottfried
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme6sc-SwtxRu0xIjzfP6J05-
Please follow Arlene Gottfried Legacy Project on Instagram!
And explore all the article links on our Instagram below
https://linktr.ee/arlenegottfriedlegacy
https://youtu.be/jqEaLJrHL7c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMFIB951IhE&t=8s
https://youtu.be/M1btBD7LhCw
https://youtu.be/spGu4NZek58
https://youtu.be/LBDgUgaMwn8
https://youtu.be/ZFjYy8dXybs
https://youtu.be/427jEs_0ZZk
https://youtu.be/drAElMDFFMc
https://youtu.be/HwTe7pJASVY
https://youtu.be/YPNq2vdFeRw
https://youtu.be/XOCmMijc2qg
Vintage Annals Archive Youtube Playlist about Arlene Gottfried
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme6sc-SwtxRu0xIjzfP6J05-
Please follow Arlene Gottfried Legacy Project on Instagram!
And explore all the article links on our Instagram below
https://linktr.ee/arlenegottfriedlegacy
Jewish Deep Dives
Jewish Deep Dives (Patreon Level Subscription)
*The Deep Dives are part of our Patreon subscription and you need to join to access them.
Memberships start at $24 a year for access to these below.
You can join here through out Patreon or make a one time donation via PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App. Info below!
Deep Dives came about because of the way I research the interviews/ conversations of our guests on the Podcast. They simulate the process I go through in searching for content. I spend around 5-8 hours researching our guests for each episode and I first cast a wide net of resources. I use a wide variety of resources to create a picture in my head of what's at the core of each guest. A big part of that is tied to the idea of experiential learning, which just means if I am interviewing an actor, I will watch a film, or if it's a musical act . I'll listen to a few albums. This is the reason why we create our pwn video and audio playlists. The Deep Dives provide a framework to explore on your own and choose the links, articles, that speak to you. I also look for resources and interviews that dig deeper and don't just ask the same questions as everyone else. Our goal for the interviews/conversations is to never ask a question that's been asked 100 times before, so we seek out unique content. We practice 100% inclusion here and will be focusing on the overall diversity within the Jewish community and world.
Deep Dives are well researched investigations into a person or subject and includes articles, video playlists, audio playlists, books, and such. They are meant to be self-directed resources that you can dig into as much as you'd like, as well as experience the work of a person or topic. This idea is based on two education concepts. One is self-directed learning (https://www.self-directed.org/sde/) and the other is based on the idea of experiential learning. Simply put the goal is to listen, watch, and experience the content instead of just reading but also based on your own exploration and interests where you control the way your learn. These concepts come out of working with disabled folks, and folks who learn different from working in the psych field and as a teacher for 30 years. https://experientiallearninginstitute.org/resources/what-is-experiential-learning/
AGE WARNING - 18 and Up - About 1/3 of the content is 18 and above, although there are no nude images or anything. Just recommended that since they have adult themes and content, so under 18 should get parent or guardian approval to view.
*The Deep Dives are part of our Patreon subscription and you need to join to access them.
Memberships start at $24 a year for access to these below.
You can join here through out Patreon or make a one time donation via PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App. Info below!
Deep Dives came about because of the way I research the interviews/ conversations of our guests on the Podcast. They simulate the process I go through in searching for content. I spend around 5-8 hours researching our guests for each episode and I first cast a wide net of resources. I use a wide variety of resources to create a picture in my head of what's at the core of each guest. A big part of that is tied to the idea of experiential learning, which just means if I am interviewing an actor, I will watch a film, or if it's a musical act . I'll listen to a few albums. This is the reason why we create our pwn video and audio playlists. The Deep Dives provide a framework to explore on your own and choose the links, articles, that speak to you. I also look for resources and interviews that dig deeper and don't just ask the same questions as everyone else. Our goal for the interviews/conversations is to never ask a question that's been asked 100 times before, so we seek out unique content. We practice 100% inclusion here and will be focusing on the overall diversity within the Jewish community and world.
Deep Dives are well researched investigations into a person or subject and includes articles, video playlists, audio playlists, books, and such. They are meant to be self-directed resources that you can dig into as much as you'd like, as well as experience the work of a person or topic. This idea is based on two education concepts. One is self-directed learning (https://www.self-directed.org/sde/) and the other is based on the idea of experiential learning. Simply put the goal is to listen, watch, and experience the content instead of just reading but also based on your own exploration and interests where you control the way your learn. These concepts come out of working with disabled folks, and folks who learn different from working in the psych field and as a teacher for 30 years. https://experientiallearninginstitute.org/resources/what-is-experiential-learning/
AGE WARNING - 18 and Up - About 1/3 of the content is 18 and above, although there are no nude images or anything. Just recommended that since they have adult themes and content, so under 18 should get parent or guardian approval to view.
