Beyond The Fog Radio

Protecting the Environment w/ Secretary Jared Blumenfeld

Jared Blumenfeld is the Secretary of Environmental Protection for the State of California. From protecting air and water quality to regulating pesticides and toxic substances, Jared has had a direct and positive impact on all of our lives here in the Golden State. Thanks to his efforts, not only does SF have the strongest recycling and composting program in the country, but we have also banned plastic bags and styrofoam and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. Blumenfeld is somewhat o...

Old Skool Cafe w/ Teresa Goines

Teresa Goines is Founder and Executive Director of Old Skool Cafe, a non-profit youth restaurant located in San Francisco’s Bayview District. Once a probation officer in juvenile prison, Teresa realized that locking up kids only perpetuated their troubles. She wanted to give them direction, income, community, and purpose. With the help of volunteer chefs and builders, Old Skool Cafe went from a small pop-up in Teresa’s home to a beautiful 1920s-style supper club in an old refurbished church. Wit...

Developing the Waterfront w/ Simon Snellgrove & Wayne Perry

Simon Snellgrove is Founder and Principal of Pacific Waterfront Partners, a development company dedicated to restoring the city’s Waterfront. Since San Francisco is such a difficult city to build in, this native Australian has shown immense resilience in facilitating a seamless transition between the old and new parts of the Embarcadero and Piers, all the while maintaining historical accuracy in his clean and tasteful restoration. Wayne Perry is an East Bay native and CEO and Chairman of Corners...

Redeveloping Van Ness and SoMa w/ Oz Erickson

Oz Erickson is the Founder and Chairman of the Emerald Fund, a San Francisco-based real estate development company dedicated to transforming entire neighborhoods. Since 1979, Erickson and his company have turned abandoned warehouses into livable communities and commercial office buildings into residential homes, totaling over 8 thousand housing units. Oz also sits on several non-profit boards, allowing him to approach his work from a humanitarian point of view. He understands deeply what it take...

The Role Of The Developer w/ Charmaine Curtis

Charmaine Curtis is one of the first female African American developers in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s creative, driven, and socially-conscious, developing affordable and below-market housing to build up and better her community. From multi-family homes to urban infill projects, Curtis has overseen or participated in the development of more than seven thousand housing units. We at Beyond The Fog Radio find Charmaine to be charming, warm, and thoughtful. She describes looking at development...

Developing Bayview Hunters Point w/ Michael Baines & Cathy Davis

Our guests this week, Michael Baines and Cathy Davis, have done incredible work to help our city’s challenged neighborhoods. Michael Baines is a developer and contractor for low-income housing and founded his own company, BGI Group Inc. Even more, his company is the largest employer of formerly incarcerated people in the Bay Area. Cathy Davis is the Executive Director of Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services, a nonprofit that provides services to disadvantaged seniors in San Francis...

Waterbar & Epic Steak w/ Pete Sittnick

With over 25 years of experience in the Bay Area’s restaurant business, Pete Sittnick has opened, operated, and supervised more than 20 restaurants in the Bay Area and beyond. From designing innovative Italian eateries to teaching hospitality at USF, Sittnick’s knack for hospitality management has helped create some of the city’s most frequented restaurants. Most notable are his sister restaurants Waterbar and Epic Roast House. One for seafood (Waterbar) and one for meat (Epic Steak), these rest...

Making Change In San Francisco w/ Art Agnos

Politician, social worker, and champion of liberalism in San Francisco, former Mayor Art Agnos has left a lasting mark on our city’s offices and landscape. Through his 1988-1992 term, he worked to break up nepotism in the Fire and Police Departments, paving the way for our city’s second African American Police Chief and female Fire Chief. He made it possible for regular citizens to sit on city commissions. Agnos even appointed minorities, lesbians and gays to city positions, and bolstered civili...

The Story of Sal Garcia

The Ferrari Doctor, the Mayor of Potrero, the proud owner of Waterfront Automobili— Sal Garcia is a living landmark of San Francisco’s rich local communities. His story is one of immigration— from El Salvador to SF’s sunny Mission District, Garcia spent his formative years learning to master the English language and connecting with locals in his neighborhood. He graduated with Mission High with honors, and later USF with degrees in Business and Military Science. After a successful career as Lieu...

Carnaval and the Mission w/ Elizabeth Soberanes

On a sunny February afternoon in Mission Dolores Park, Jae and I interviewed lifelong Latin dancer, arts educator, producer, and choreographer Elizabeth Soberanes. She’s been an active performer and resident in San Francisco’s Mission District for over 40 years, starting with a BA in Dance Ethnology from SFSU. Elizabeth is a champion of Latin dance styles including Afro-Haitian, Brazilian, Cuban, Capoeira, Hip Hop and Jazz. In 2009, Elizabeth founded Latin Dance Grooves (LDG) to share her love o...

Exploring the Neighborhoods w/ Martin Luther and Jeanne Anyanwu McCoy

Welcome to Season 3 of BTFR! We are honored to start off with musician, actor & SF native Martin Luther McCoy and his artist & activist wife Jeanne Anyanwu McCoy. This talented and stylish 1970’s “Soul Train” couple play an extensive role in the Bay Area’s art and activism communities. Martin Luther was fundamental in the 1990s Bay Area neo-soul scene and is a recent member of the SFJAZZ Collective. He is widely known for his work with hip hop collective the Roots and is likewise acclaim...

Florio w/ Naizar Mubarak (re-release)

Beyond The Fog Radio Season 3 launches NEXT WEEK! We couldn't be more excited to share more amazing stories from the Bay Area — and this will be our biggest season yet! To tide over our loyal listeners (and ourselves) for the next seven days, we have one more episode to revisit: our conversation with Naizar Mubarak, Executive Chef at Florio Restaurant in San Francisco (Season 2 Episode 12). Mubarak began his culinary career at age 19 in his home country of Sri Lanka. He moved to the Bay Area in ...

Theatre of the Bay Area w/ Margo Hall (re-release)

Welcome back to Beyond The Fog Radio! We're almost ready to launch Season 3 — can you believe it? Before the new season begins, the team is looking back at some of our favorite episodes from the first two seasons. This week, we're revisiting our interview with award-winning artist and educator Margo Hall, the new Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansbury Theater in San Francisco (Season 2 Episode 15). Margo Hall has been active in the Bay Area theatre scene for over 30 years. She is a founding ...

Touch of Class Choir w/ Mr. Gregory Cole (re-release)

Welcome back to Beyond The Fog Radio! Recording for Season 3 is still underway, but in the meantime, our team is looking back at some of our favorite episodes from our first two seasons. This week, we're rediscovering Touch of Class Choir (Season 2 Episode 11) and the man behind its magic — Mr. Gregory Cole! Mr. Cole has taught music and made a difference for Bay Area children for over 40 years, to the point where we can’t list all of his accomplishments here in the episode description! His grea...

North Beach w/ Nina Clima and the Gang (re-release)

Welcome back to Beyond The Fog Radio! Recording for Season 3 is underway, but in the meantime, our team wanted to take a look back at some of our favorite episodes from both Season 1 and Season 2. This week, we're rediscovering our episode on San Francisco's North Beach (Season 1 Episode 18). Our esteemed guests are three 80-years-young North Beach residents who are just as lively as the neighborhood itself! Nina Clima, Charles Farruggia, and Don Di Basilio grew up together in North Beach and re...

Chinatown w/ David Lei (re-release)

Welcome to Beyond The Fog Radio! Recording for Season 3 is underway, but in the meantime, our team wanted to take a look back at some of our favorite episodes from both Season 1 and Season 2. This week, our spotlight is on the culturally and historically rich community of Chinatown — and who better to tell us about this amazing neighborhood than the equally amazing David Lei? In April of 2021, the Beyond The Fog Radio team had the honor to speak to Mr. Lei, a retired social worker and businessma...

A16 and Italian Cuisine w/ Shelley Lindgren

Shelley Lindgren is a Bay Area-based wine sommelier and a restaurateur. She co-founded restaurant and wine spot A16 in 2004, focusing on the food and wine of Southern Italy. Shelley trained under two of San Francisco’s most well known Chefs and Restaurateurs Hubert Keller and Maurice Rouas, owners of the top SF French restaurant Fleur de Lys. This training inspired her passion for wine and fine dining, and after receiving her professional wine Sommelier degree, Shelley opened A16 in hopes of int...

Urban Jazz Dance Company w/ Antoine Hunter

Mr. Antoine Hunter, also known as Purple Fire Crow, is an award winning Deaf, Disable, African, Indigenous producer, choreographer, Founder and Artistic Director of the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival, as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of the Urban Jazz Dance Company. Antoine studied dance at The California Institute of the Arts and the Paul Taylor Dance School in New York City. Deafness allows Antoine to experience music somatically, thus connecting him more deeply with th...

Beyond The Fog Radio 2021 Holiday Special

It would not be the Holidays if we did not take the time to thank our listeners, our team and everyone who helps us each week with producing this podcast. We began this amazing journey in September 2020 when the world was still dormant from the Pandemic lockdown. Many places were closed, a vaccine had not been released yet and people were working and attending school from home. My friend Jae Yee called me to ask how my tour company and blog Beyond the Fog was coming along. After telling him it w...

Robert Moses’ KIN w/ Robert Moses

Robert Moses is the Founder, Artistic Director and Choreographer of the internationally acclaimed dance company Robert Moses’ Kin. Since 1995 Robert Moses’ Kin has told complex stories about human nature through contemporary dance, focusing on expanding the expressiveness of the human body and speaking often from his African American heritage.The company’s dynamic works are distinct from other dance companies in that they blend still photos, videos, music and live voices to creatively amplify ea...

Dance In The Bay Area w/ Blanche Brown

Our first guest in the History of Dance series is a Dancer, Choreographer, Haitian Dance teacher, and mother of our Co-Host and Producer, Susan. Blanche Brown began dancing while studying at San Francisco State University, and although she initially left to support her husband’s political career and raise their three children, she returned at 35 to receive her Masters in Physical Education with an emphasis in Dance. In the 1970’s, she joined the Wajumbe Performance Ensemble, touring with them in...

TRAILER: History of Dance in San Francisco

Tosca and Pier 23 w/ Jeannette Etheredge and Flicka McGurrin

Every city has its legendary places that reflect its personality and charm, that are “living museums” of its rich history. This week we interviewed two entrepreneurs who’ve cultivated two of San Francisco’s iconic restaurants. The first, Flicka McGurrin, is a sixth generation San Francisco native who launched Pier 23 Cafe over 35 years ago. It has consistently been a local favorite, not just for the delicious seafood, but for the long-time community that is now ushering in its second generation ...

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts w/ Jonathan Moscone

Jonathan Moscone is a champion of arts and activism. A long-time theater director and current Chief Producer at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), he has devoted his career to interweaving arts organizations with civic life and community in an impactful way. With his Civic Engagement practice at YBCA, Moscone has created youth fellowships, artist residencies in the City’s public schools, programs to help artists lead financially sustainable lives, and ballot measures to restore city fun...

The Mill Valley Film Festival w/ Zoë Elton

An Oakland resident for many years now, England-born Zoë Elton has colored the Bay Area’s film and theater world with her many talents. She is a film curator, writer, cartoonist, interviewer, director, jewelry-designer, and the long-time Program Director for the Mill Valley Film Festival. Not only has her leadership and dedication to filmmaking helped the international Festival flourish, but her keen creative eye has helped the Festival choose films that would go on to win Oscars. Elton’s passio...

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre w/ Margo Hall

Margo Hall is an award-winning activist, educator, actor, director, playwright, and newly-appointed Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco’s premier African American Theatre. Originally from Detroit, Hall has been an active director and performer in the Bay Area for over 30 years. She recently directed "How I Learned What I Learned" at the Marin Theatre Company and "Barbecue" for SF Playhouse, as well as acted in "Ah, Wilderness!" for the American Conservatory Theater...

Musical Theatre w/ Brendon Chan

Brendon Chan is a singer, dancer, actor, and native San Franciscan. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Dance degree, and began his professional career traveling the world performing on cruise ships. He then moved to New York City to pursue musical theater. His years of performing and hard work have proved fruitful, as he was most recently featured in the San Francisco cast of "Hamilton" at the Orpheum Theater. Brendon is a delightful person from the moment you meet him. His personality ex...

Beach Blanket Babylon w/ Jo Schuman Silver

Jo Schuman Silver was the producer, director, and writer of the legendary Beach Blanket Babylon. A gem of the city's culture, Beach Blanket Babylon was the world's longest-running musical revue in live theater history, and was started by Jo’s late husband, Steve Silver, in 1974. Beach Blanket Babylon was often described to be “as San Francisco as it gets,” with elaborate costumes and extravagant hats featuring city landmarks such as mechanical cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Transame...

TRAILER: Film & Theater of the San Francisco Bay Area

As an artistic hub, The San Francisco Bay Area has a long history of theater and film production. The rich landscape of performers, audiences, and artistic innovation makes it home to some of the best community and experimental theater in the country. Its idyllic location, with ocean views, historic landmarks, and a lush natural landscape, draws filmmakers from all over the world as well. In particular, documentary filmmakers are drawn to the Bay because of its reputation for being open and welc...

Florio w/ Naizar Mubarak

Naizar Mubarak is a native Sri Lankan who used his love for cooking to find success in the Bay Area’s culinary world. Mubarak began his career at the age of 19 working at the Galle Dutch Fort, a UNIESCO World Heritage site in Sri Lanka. He also worked for American actor and writer Charles G. Hulls, learning from Hull’s private chef how to prepare food for European customers. After emigrating to the Bay Area in 2004, Mubarak worked his way through the ranks at various Oakland restaurants such as ...