Jonathan met Kevin Necciai when they were both studying Vocal Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Since then, Kevin has served a full term with the Peace Corps in Rwanda, performed in various roles around NYC, worked as a voice coach and music director, and is in the process of building a career as a stand-up comedian. They talk about all that and more in this episode of The Next Best Thing!
Where were you on September 11th? If you were alive on that day in 2001, then you have a story to tell, and likely a vivid image locked indelibly in their hearts. On this 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we reflect on how it all went down, how the world has changed, and most importantly, remember some of the stories of those we lost much too soon.
No Birthday would be complete without a clown, am I right? Join Jonathan on his 30th birthday, as he discusses the joys (and pitfalls) of Facebook, Hillary Clinton's new book, and who will go down in history as the one, TRUE Pennywise, the dancing, murderous clown.
All professional sports leagues have their scandals. Racist owners in the NBA, MLB's steroid era, Lance Armstrong's entire career..? The NFL is no stranger to controversy. On the contrary, the league seems to attract it like a magnet. From Spygate to Deflategate, to rising stars being convicted for murder, there's one thing the NFL will never be able to hide under the rug: their game can destroy its players lives. Join Jonathan as he delves into all the pain and misery former NFL stars have endu...
Racism, sexism, bigotry and homophobia--they're all very real. We saw some of it on full display recently in Charlottesville, Virginia. What happens, though, when humor, wit and/or good intentions are mistaken for spite and racism? When political correctness and true bigotry are suddenly indistinguishable? That can only lead to 1 of 2 things: a world where EVERYONE is a racist, or a world where no one is. Could you tell the difference? #TheNextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn #Racism #Politics #Cult...
Zachary Mabry won our hearts as Porky in the 1994 film The Little Rascals, but what has he been up to in the 23 years since? He joined Jonathan to talk about that, what it was like making the film, working with Donald Trump, and more! #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #TheLittleRascals #Nostalgia #Porky #Movies #NBT
Part two of the definitive list of Best Broadway Musicals of ALL TIME! #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #Broadway #Theatre #Drama #Music #MusicalTheatre #NYC
Musical theatre combines the thrill of live music with the compelling storytelling and drama of watching a TV show or film. Sometimes, when done with incredible care and sensitivity, the combination of the two can lead to something transformative. Join Jon as he takes you through his list of the 21 BEST Broadway Musicals of all time! #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #MusicalTheatre #Art #NewYorkCity #Broadway #Theatre #America
Cam Perron has been featured on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel not once, but twice! He joined Jonathan to talk about how he went from being a kid collecting baseball cards, to one of the nation's leading authorities on Negro League Baseball.
Luigi DiGangi is a comedy writer, sketch performer, and one-third of the comedy team known as Gibbon Brain. He stopped by the studio to talk with Jonathan about what he and his guys have been up to, what's on the horizon, and just life in general. #TheNextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn #GibbonBrain #Comedy #Podcast #FunnyorDie #Radio
John Jastremski is an up-and-coming star on WFAN, New York's premier Sports Talk Radio stations. Since 2011, he's hosted his own show, JJ After Dark, during the overnight hours, but as Jonathan points out in their interview, that's likely to change in the near future. We also covered what life is like for JJ outside of the sports realm, and what his future plans may be. #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #WFAN #JJAfterDark #Radio #NewYorkCity #Sports
Charles Busch is a playwright, actor, screenwriter, and one of American theatre's most famous drag artists. While known to most Broadway playgoers as the author of THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE and the book of TABOO, Busch really earned his star-status for early works like VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, and THEODORA, SHE-BITCH OF BYZANTIUM. Jonathan was thrilled to have a chance to sit down and talk to Mr. Busch about his fascinating life and career. #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNex...
According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, between the short window of December 2015 to March 2017,, nearly 50% of all young Republicans left the party. John William Schiffbauer was not one of them. He quit his job as Deputy Communications Director of the New York State Republican Party, and advocated hard against voting for Donald Trump, but he remains a dedicated member of the Republican Party. Find out why, and what he thinks may be in store moving forward, in this remarkably civ...
Arguing with umpires is as old as baseball itself. In recent years, however, blown calls have gone from simply being "part of the game," to becoming a real problem. Why? Because we now have the technology to see every missed call, down to each individual pitch. It seems no one would find this information more useful than the home plate umpire, and yet they're literally the ONLY ones MLB doesn't show it to. Try and figure that one out. #Baseball #MLB #Sports #Umpires #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBe...
Miss Cleo? Convicted of fraud. Sylvia Browne? Also convicted of fraud. John Edward was a well-known mentalist before becoming a "psychic," and producer of the hit show "Crossing Over." Are these people for real, or are they just clever conartists who prey on the grieving and the vulnerable? #Psychics #Paranormal #Ghosts #Skeptic #Cynical #TheNextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn #Podcast
Donald Trump recently had one of the WORST weeks in Presidential history. Even worse than the 25 weeks before it, which were pretty damn awful. This Presidency got off to an atrocious start, and things don't seem to be improving. How long can this go on? Could Donald Trump be on his way out of office just 4 months after being sworn in?? Is this the beginning of the end? #NextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn #Politics #Trump #News #Scandal
Jon met singer, songwriter, producer, and all-around good guy Dan Zimberg in 2012, when they were in an Off-Broadway production together. While both Progressives, the two look at politics quite differently. Dan, for example, was a self-described "Bernie Bro," turned Jill Stein voter. Jon...wasn't. Hear their thoughts and feelings in this civil discussion of the election that was 2016. #Politics #BernieBro #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #Podcast
Evan Gregory is the eldest member of The Gregory Brothers, a musical group whose sole purpose is to songify the universe. Plain and simple. Best known for their viral videos, like Songify the News (previously Auto-Tune the News), and classics like the Bed Intruder and Double Rainbow Song, he stopped by the studio to talk with Jon about their musical upbringing, how they went from being a traditional band to YouTube phenomenon, and what their plans are for the future! #TheGregoryBrothers #TheNext...
Tyler Lea spent an entire year performing on Broadway as the lead role in the Tony-Award winning play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Jon sat down with him to discuss what life was like before the show, during its run, and since it closed back in September of 2016. #TheNextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TylerLea #Broadway #Theatre #CuriousIncident
Jonathan met Davi Santos in late 2010, when they were both cast in a bizarre little musical in New York City. Since then, he's gone on to appear in various films and television shows, including Mr. Box Office, Don't Trust the B**** in Apt. 23, Switched at Birth, and of course, as the Gold Ranger in Power Rangers Dino Charge! He and Jon discuss all this and more during their time in the studio. #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #DaviSantos #PowerRangers #ShowBiz
Part two of our deep look into the epidemic that is gun violence in America! www.rfb.nyc/nbt #Guns #NRA #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #America
No other developed country in the world has anywhere near the same rate of gun violence as America. The US has nearly six times the gun homicide rate as Canada, more than seven times as Sweden, and nearly 16 times as Germany, according to UN data compiled by the Guardian. The problem just keeps getting worse, and we're doing NOTHING about it. Jon delves into this and more in this two-parter! #Guns #NRA #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #America
For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth. A chance to forget last season, when all 30 of the major league clubs and their millions of fans begin with 0–0 records. Going into 2017, everyone seems to have written off Jon's beloved Kansas City Royals. It's cool, though. As we learned in 2014 and 2015, being written off and disrespected is precisely when KC plays their best baseball. #MLB #OpeningDay #RaisedRoyal #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #Radio #Podcast
Accomplished attorney, and ardent Hillary Clinton supporter, Zarah Levin-Fragasso joins Jonathan to talk about her experience working as a volunteer lawyer for the HRC campaign, what went wrong, and where we go from here! #HillaryClinton #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #Radio
To some, she was the greatest star of all time. To others, she was a tragic figure. For most of us, though, she will be forever be remembered simply as "Dorothy." A look into the life and career...of Judy Garland. #Podcast #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing #Singers #JudyGarland
Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan...what do they all have in common? They each have one of the most distinctive, celebrated voices of all time! See who else made the list on this episode of The Next Best Thing. #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing
Donald Trump had an incredible life. He never expected to be the President. He never WANTED to be the President. And now that he is, he absolutely hates being the President. Might he be doing all he can to lose the job he spent 2 years trying to win? I wouldn't put it past him. #TheNextBestThing #RadioFreeBrooklyn
The age in which we all saw the sign, did the Macarena, and learned NOT to go chasing waterfalls. The decade that asked that age old question: what if God was one of us? All this and more as we celebrate the 1990's! #ILoveThe90s #decades #nickelodeon #PowerRangers #RadioFreeBrooklyn #NextBestThing
Barbra Streisand hated feeling rejected, and once told a casting director, "you'll be sorry." Sigmund Freud once told a childhood friend of his to save his letters. "You never know how important they will be," he said. Whether an actor, singer, psychologist or baseball player, there are some things ALL very successful people have in common: vision, resilience, ambition, and an unyielding belief in themselves. It's never easy getting from where you are to where you truly want to be, as you'll hea...
Kellyanne Conway has a supernatural ability to derail any interview and avoid answering ANY real questions. How does she do it? And how much longer will she be able to pull it off? Seems to be unraveling before our very eyes... #News #KellyAnneConway #RadioFreeBrooklyn #TheNextBestThing
