I do not like roller coasters. For me -- the anticipated terror proceeding the drop along with the stomach-churning loss of gravity is not thrilling fun; it is just TERROR! Nevertheless, the roller coaster is a summer-fun staple for many of us. Another stomach-churning staple for fewer Americans is the memory of the United States Air Force dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese cities at the end of World War II. In fact, for many Americans, this was a good thing as it brought the war to an end fa...
Aug 14, 2023•33 min•Season 10Ep. 202
Rebecca McKean and I visited Alice Slater in her Upper East Side apartment. Since 1968, Ms. Slater has been an anti-war activist and since 1987 an anti-nuclear bomb protestor. As a young mother she helped organize Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign working to end the war in Viet Nam and then got a law degree. Alice is the United Nations NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and is on the Board of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space , the Global Cou...
Aug 04, 2023•35 min•Season 10Ep. 201
One of our regular gigs is the West Side Community Garden Summer Concerts . The final offering of 2023 featured the luscious sounds of Afro-Haitian Jazz performed by Mozayik – led by drummer Gashford Guillaume – who has performed with Haitian superstars -- Emeline Michel and Beethova Obas. And at festivals in Amsterdam, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, St, Lucia, Martinique and many cities around the U.S. In 2000 Gashford and others started “Mozayik” – which is committed to the Haitian jazz g...
Jul 07, 2023•38 min•Season 8Ep. 200
Bar Crawl Radio podcast hosts sojourned back to the West Side Community Garden for a concert with the music duo, Brooklyn-Cumaná – Jorge Glem on the Venezuelan Cuatro and Sam Reider on the accordion. We start with a delightful conversation with former Manhattan Borough President and present UWS City Council member -- Gale Brewer. We also invited her husband Cal Snyder because our goal was not to talk local politics; rather, we wanted to know about the life of our ubiquitous, hard-working, perp...
Jun 16, 2023•56 min•Season 8Ep. 199
A program of good sounds -- mix of classic jazz and hip hop beats -- and noise -- nonessential helicopters circling our City. We talked with leaders of Stop the Chop -- Melissa Elstein and Ken Counghlin -- working to end the incessant noise of private helicopters hovering over our heads. And we caught up with a former BCR guest -- jazz saxophonist Geoff Burke -- and learned about his unique synthesis of classic jazz and hip hop beats. and shared some of the music from the June 2023 concert at th...
Jun 09, 2023•47 min•Season 8Ep. 198
In the spring of 1958 – the Golden Rule -- a 30 foot skiff crewed by four -- sailed towards the Marshall Islands where the U.S. military was testing atomic bombs. Their plan was to anchor their tiny boat in the waters close to the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls -- in order to stop the atomic testing. Over six decades later a restored “Golden Rule” sailed up the Hudson River and moored at Chelsea Pier. It was Fleet Week and the skiff's message of nuclear disarmament was displayed on its mizzen mast. ...
Jun 02, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 197
Interview with Lew Tabackin -- world famous jazz musician -- in his home on the UWS of Manhattan -- July 2018. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 26, 2023•1 hr•Season 8Ep. 196
May 21, 2023 - 6pm. West Side Community Garden It was a delightful evening in the West Side Community Garden in Manhattan. The Bar Crawl Radio audio wagon was set up on the grass in front of the stage in the garden – as neighbors secured a chair or wooden planter ledge to listen to the Lew Tabackin Jazz Trio. Tenor saxophone and flute musician -- Mr Tabackin has been playing these summer concerts for many years. Jon Ross -- founder and director of MicroAid International -- joined us for a pre-co...
May 26, 2023•39 min•Season 8Ep. 196
Recently – David Brooks of the New York Times – wrote about the suicide of his close friend—Pete—and the feelings that followed. Brooks writes that experiencing the suicide of someone close “is not just sorrow; it is a state of consciousness that distorts perceptions of time, space and self.” In 2015, there were over 44,000 suicides in America – the 10th most common cause of death and rising – I million attempt suicide each year – one every 35 seconds. In the world some kills himself – herself e...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 195
Friday – April 7, 2023. This was the final day of the 2023 Nevada Desert Experience’s Sacred Peace Walk – one mile from the Peace Camp to the White Line – entrance to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and the most bombed part of planet Earth. In the distance – on land once occupied by the Western Shoshone people – over 100 moon-shaped craters litter the desert landscape. On this Friday – under a hot afternoon sun -- over 30 people presented their grievances at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site’s While Lin...
May 10, 2023•34 min•Season 8Ep. 194
Thursday - April 6, 2023 -- of the Nevada Desert Experience's Sacred Peace Walk. This episode is a summary of the day. It was a beautiful desert day as the Peace Walkers traversed the last 15 miles to the entrance to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Darcy Ike had rejoined the group the day before and started the walk that morning with great enthusiasm -- about 7 miles down the road he had a full-blown heart attack and was take to a Las Vegas hospital by Creech Air Force Base ambulance. He would ret...
May 09, 2023•14 min•Season 8Ep. 193
April 4, 2023 - Wednesday - Sekhmet Goddess Temple - Indian Springs, Nevada. Nevada Desert Experience's "Sacred Peach Walk. In the morning and afternoon the Peace Walkers would protest U.S. military drone warfare at Creech Air Force Base. And, in the evening we would gather at the Goddess Temple bonfire ton celebrate the New Moon and honor the first night of Passover. It was an apocryphal overlapping of two Angels of Death -- one long past meting death in an ancient desert and the other in Nevad...
May 09, 2023•48 min•Season 8Ep. 192
DAY FOUR of the 2023 Nevada Desert Experience Sacred Peace Walk – Why Do We Walk? For the fourth day of our walk towards tMercury -- the entrance to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site -- would cover the miles we skipped the day before when we escaped the brutal desert wind and snow. After the morning bonfire gathering, the Peace Walkers were driven back to Lee Canyon for a walk back to the Sekhmet Goddess Temple . We passed a couple of maximum security prisons and the Creech Air Force Base . The next ...
May 07, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 191
Rested from our walk thru Las Vegas, the day before, the Sacred Peace Walkers headed out of the Nevada Desert Experience compound for the walk in the desert -- north of the city. I went with Darcy Ike -- who I had spoken with the day before at the MLK statue in Las Vegas -- in his weather-beaten, gear shift sedan to the starting point at Kyle Canyon on Highway 157 several miles north of Las Vegas. We followed the Porto Potty trailer for a while -- but then Darcy said he knew better way -- When w...
May 06, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 190
April 2 - Sunday - 2023. First day of the Sacred Peace Walk. 13 miles. We started at the Atomic Museum and walked through Paradise, where all the modern Las Vegas Casinos and hotels are located -- something to do with the local mobsters not wanting to pay high Las Vegas taxes. -- then, through old Las Vegas – then a sit-in at the over-the-top gaudy Fremont Experience -- then to the Las Vegas Catholic Worker for lunch – followed by a brief “hello” to the Carson County Jail – where several of the ...
May 05, 2023•27 min•Season 8Ep. 189
Day One of the Nevada Desert Experience’s “Sacred Peace Walk" -- Saturday April 1, 2023. Walkers were gathering from all around the Unites States at the NDE compound – a former military barracks – bought by the local Franciscan and Catholic Worker community – then given to the NDE in 1982 as a center protestors of the nuclear testing taking place on Western Shoshone land on the Nevada Proving Grounds to the north. The NDE compound consists of three single floor houses, surrounding a central gard...
May 04, 2023•29 min•Season 8Ep. 188
Towards the end of World War II – my country detonated atomic bombs over Japanese cities, immediately killing thousands of civilians and thousand more soon after and maiming thousands for the rest of their lives. I was born in 1949 -- My generation was taught that this military action was required to end the war – And I bought it -- Since 1945, our world has filled with more powerful atom bombs – -- in the hope that the threat of mutual destruction will dissuade their usage. So far – besides Nag...
Apr 28, 2023•45 min•Season 8Ep. 187
As reported in the New York magazine earlier this year -- the Upper West Side of Manhattan above 96th Street is a pedestrian death zone. Reporter Justin Davidson described the many victims of the “neighborhood’s out-of-control traffic -- a Bermuda Triangle of pedestrian death” – Davidson wrote that “nine years into the Vision Zero era, we should really be calling it Vision 125 -- the average number of pedestrians killed each year in New York since 2014. One every three days. Organizations like P...
Apr 25, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 186
Becky and I spoke with the music-eclectic Gene Pritsker at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar a couple of days after his Sound Liberation Band deconstructed Beethoven at Birdland Jazz Club. It was a musical brainstorm called – “Ludwig’s Night out” – Beethoven is on a bar crawl while Sonata No. 4 (for violin & piano) is echoing in his brain. Several of the pieces created by Pritsker and Composer Concordance regulars are included in this edit. A bit on Gene Pritsker: He is primarily a composer – also ...
Mar 24, 2023•47 min•Season 8Ep. 185
Adam Scott Wandt joined this Bar Crawl Radio conversation to talk about ChatGPT but we got to a whole lot more -- exploring the impact of Artificial Intelligence [AI] as it exists today and into the future. Prof. Wandt of John Jay College of Criminal Justice is the Vice Chair for Technology of the Department of Public Management. His main interest is in technology and law and has worked with the FBI, The National Institute of Justice, Interpol, the United Nations, and the U.S. Bureau of Justice....
Mar 03, 2023•57 min•Season 8Ep. 184
Back in 2019 when the city knew not of COVID19 BCR co-hosts talked with Erwin Figueroa of Transportation Alternative about the bike culture of New York City. A lot has changed since then. Today – biking in the city is certainly scarier – maybe that’s a sign that some of us are getting old – but the variety of speedy e-bikes – e-scooters – Inmotion-style unicycles – BTW -- Onewheel describes their vehicles as “weapons” – mixed in with the ubiquitous metal shelled vehicles who own the streets – bi...
Jan 27, 2023•54 min•Season 8Ep. 183
Shortly after the American North won the Civil War, construction on the East River bridge was started. Tammany Hall and graft controlled NY City and State, Ulysses S. Grant had just been elected President, and the German-immigrant and bridge designer/builder, who conceived the plan for the bridge, had died. Work on the Bridge took 13 years and up to 40 men died -- mostly immigrants. The cathedral-sized, wooden caissons which allowed workers to dig out the bottom of the East River used pressurize...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 182
Early in the summer of 2022, my Bar Crawl Radio host – Rebecca McKean -- and I travelled with our grandson -- Jackson Castro -- to the family farm of Martha Hennessy – granddaughter of the founder of the Catholic Worker – Dorothy Day. While there, Martha told me of the work of a Catholic priest – Father Philip Gbao -- and suggested we produce a BCR program on his work with African students. Listen to that conversation with Father Philip in BCR #175. For this BCR program, we spoke with two of Fat...
Dec 17, 2022•24 min•Season 7Ep. 181
It was a cold and windy Monday morning – Nov 14, 2022 – across the street from the United Nations. A group of U.S. veterans – many with combat experience – were building a watch tower – with 20 foot high painter’s scaffolding – on top of the city patio overlooking the Isaiah Wall and Peace monument – to call out to the UN that a large part of the world’s climate crisis was and is caused by the U.S. Military, We spoke with Veterans for Peace members -- Garett Reppenhagen / Tarak Kauf / Jim Rine /...
Nov 21, 2022•32 min•Season 7Ep. 180
Back in November 2022 -- I attended the christening of the newest -- most modern Staten Island Ferry – the Dorothy Day – named for the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. A half a year later – I am back on Staten Island for the maiden voyage of the Dorothy Day Ferry – asking what is the significance of naming a ferry after the great peace activist and soon-to-be Catholic Saint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 12, 2022•9 min•Season 8Ep. 179
"How rich we are, we who profess voluntary poverty as a foundation for our work as agitators, to be able to take a ferry ride and be, within an hour, in [Staten Island] a rural area which is still part of New York City ... my conversion took place here." Dorothy Day's journal - Summer 1977. November 4, 2022 the newest Staten Island Ferry was commissioned "Dorothy Day." I traveled out to the event and spoke to those there to honor the event. Alan Winson -- BCR Co-host Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...
Nov 11, 2022•40 min•Season 7Ep. 179
James Baldwin argued that unlike Europeans, Americans do not know who they are. In "Stranger in Paris," Baldwin argued that the French know who they are—ethnically, historically. But Americans are confused. He writes -- we know one when we see one, but cannot name what we have in common. The idea of “America” is formed in our precollege American History classes. But as Joseph Moreau argues – “Writing history is always political -- always reflects the relationships of power in the society.” For t...
Nov 04, 2022•55 min•Season 7Ep. 178
BCR hosts Rebecca and Alan spoke with actor Ronald Guttman after his one-actor performance in the play based on Camus' The Fall" at the Soho Playhouse bar. Matt -- the bartender -- talks about The Huron Club Bar [THC] -- which was also the set for the play and former speakeasy and brothel for Tammany Hall. THC Bar is an appropriate setting for Camus' final work -- "The Fall" (1956) -- which takes place at a "sailor's bar" in Amsterdam named renamed "Mexico City." Mr. Guttman talks about being up...
Oct 30, 2022•22 min•Season 7Ep. 177
August 2, 2022. Outside the United States Consulate to the United Nations. Second day of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Several dozen people--mostly in their 70s or more--marched and chanted and practiced civil disobedience in a call to end the build-up of nuclear arms. Here is a reflection of what some of them believed -- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 06, 2022•26 min•Season 7Ep. 176
Father Philip Gbao is a Salesian Catholic Priest who works with the poor and children in West Africa. At one time he was the principal of a school in Uganda. As a young student he escaped the civil wars in Sierra Leone and now works to empower young women, to train teens in practical skills that will earn them a living wage, and to encourages his students to change behaviors that will make their country cleaner and healthier. He was in the United States to raise money for several young women and...
Aug 05, 2022•46 min•Season 7Ep. 175
