Making "best of" lists will almost always get you in hot water. In 2015, Rolling Stone published their 100 best songwriters of all time. Despite including many of the modern greats, such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Kanye West and Joni Mitchell, there were also some obvious omissions...and people were not happy about them. Having said that, Jonathan decided to make his own list of best songwriters, and it's unquestionably LESS inclusive than Rolling St...
Aug 13, 2019•1 hr 21 min
A graduate of Lehigh University, Brian Tyler Cohen moved to Los Angeles to be an actor and writer, and has been doing plenty of both! The former managing editor of Occupy Democrats, he now spends most of his time offering political commentary and analysis on his YouTube channel. Brian stopped by the Radio Free Brooklyn studio recently to chat with Jonathan about his trajectory, and the current INSANE political landscape. Also in the episode... -Jonathan's response to the mass shootings in El Pas...
Aug 12, 2019•1 hr 22 min
Jonathan runs through his immediate thoughts and feelings regarding the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 election season. Did CNN learn from msnbc's mistakes and improve the format? Did anyone have a standout performance? Did it move the needle AT ALL as far as polling goes? All this and more.
Aug 06, 2019•34 min
Jake Williams is a YouTuber, and the creator of Bright Sun Films. With over 600,000 subscribers, his channel hosts various shows, like Abandoned, Cancelled, and Bankrupt. He joins Jonathan to talk about how he went from posting gaming videos as a teenager in Canada, to making professional, mini-documentaries as a young adult...in Canada. Check out his stuff on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Catch The Next Best Thing LIVE, every Monday night from 10-midnight EST on Radio Free Brooklyn!...
Jul 07, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Losing a parent is truly a unique form of pain, grief and loss. Our parents guide and protect us. They take care of us when we're sick, pick us up when we fall, and provide unconditional love. No matter how old you are, no one is ever truly ready to lose a parent. This is the first of what we're hoping to be a series of conversations Jonathan has with people who have had to say goodbye to their Mom and/or Dad, and how they've learned to cope with life ever since. In our inaugural episode, Jonath...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 13 min
A native of Staten Island, Lauren Hartnett is a Gun Rights activist, an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor, and the founder of the Girls Got a Gun organization. She and Jonathan don't agree on much when it comes to guns, but they were bound and determined to find some common ground. Did they succeed? You be the judge. Catch The Next Best Thing LIVE, every Monday night at 10:00 EST, on Radio Free Brooklyn!
Apr 27, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Leaving Neverland, a new HBO documentary, tells the story of two men: Wade Robson and James Safechuck. They accuse Michael Jackson of having sexually abused them for years, beginning when they were respectively about 7 and 10 years old. Jackson faced several allegations that he molested young boys during the latter part of his career, and this documentary has rekindled all kinds of interest in the singers alleged crimes. There's no shortage of Jackson defenders, though, and Jonathan went head-to...
Apr 26, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Joel Acevedo, vice-president of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, stopped by the Radio Free Brooklyn studio to discuss what it means to be a young Republican today. Tune in to what was certainly an interesting, and always civil, conversation.
Apr 14, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan. To some, those names mean nothing at all. To others, they represent the absolute WORST of the American Presidency. That is, at least, until Donald Trump came along. Join Jonathan, and guest Christo Grabowski, as they discuss all of the God-awful U.S. Presidents, and how Donald Trump has been a gift to each of their legacies.
Feb 27, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Between January 2017 and April 2018, the number of jobs in the newspaper industry declined from around 46,000 to 39,000 across America. To put that in perspective, there are 76,416 seats at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. If every single person currently working for an American newspaper were to congregate there, the stadium would be HALF EMPTY!! Sam Mellinger, award-winning sports columnist for The Kansas City Star, joins Jonathan to talk about what's been happening to local ...
Feb 06, 2019•1 hr 23 min
Everyone loves a good conspiracy. James Earl Ray initially confessed to killing Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4th, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, but he would later recount his confession and did so until his death in 1998. Loyd Jowers owned and operated a tavern below the rooming house where James Earl Ray was staying, and he later claimed to have participated in a plot to assassinate Dr. King. Was he just a nutty old man? Could it possibly have been a mafia hit, or a...
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 10 min
Comic David Bradley Isenberg returns to the RFB studio to talk politics, political correctness, and his Second Cousins Comedy show at the Sidewalk Cafe, on Avenue A! https://www.facebook.com/secondcousinsshow https://www.facebook.com/NBTRadio/ www.rfb.nyc/nbt
Jan 16, 2019•1 hr 9 min
His work is challenging, exhilarating and powerful to watch and to perform. More than just the intricate scores and difficult vocals, Stephen Sondheim musicals are unique in their subject matter. From exploring the issues of contemporary life, marriage and relationships in “Company,” to injustice, murder and revenge in “Sweeney Todd,” he's spent his career offering Broadway audiences works of remarkable craft that challenged and tested the form of the American musical. In this episode of The Nex...
Dec 13, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Jarret Berenstein is a writer and comedian based in New York City. He hosts the hilarious show, "Famous Dead People" on Radio Free Brooklyn! He stopped by the studio to chat with Jonathan about his recent stand-up tour across America, Famous Dead People, his book "The Kellyanne Conway Technique," and the recent midterm elections!
Nov 18, 2018•1 hr 24 min
Billy Magnussen is a very busy guy. When he's not starring in blockbuster films, like Into the Woods, Bridge of Spies, Ingrid Goes West, Game Night, and the upcoming live-action adaptation of Disney's Aladdin, you can catch him on Netflix in Maniac, or on CBS All Access in Tell Me a Story. He's also a veteran of the Broadway stage, who, in 2012, was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Above all else, though, he's just a damn good guy, and one helluva softball player! ...
Nov 01, 2018•1 hr 16 min
Nikolay Krupelnitskiy, co-founder and owner of Julia Valler Staffing & Events, stopped by the RFB studio to chat about what it takes to start and run a business, emigrating from Russia, having to learn an entirely new language and much more! Catch The Next Best Thing LIVE every Monday night at 10:00pm on Radio Free Brooklyn!
Sep 11, 2018•1 hr 18 min
James Higgins is a music director, pianist, arranger, and sound designer with 30 years of international experience. RFB fans may recognize him as the accompanist/collaborator from A Night of Dreams, presented in May of 2018. He stopped by to chat with Jonathan about his current project, Me The People: Fire & Fury edition, playing most Tuesday nights between now and the midterm elections at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, in the basement of the West Bank Cafe!
Aug 15, 2018•1 hr 11 min
Nick Pecoraro is a vegan, animal rights activist and organizer for Anonymous for the Voiceless, an animal rights organization that specializes in street activism. He calls in from Hawaii to chat with Jonathan about everything from how and why he became a vegan to proper messaging and documentary recommendations!
Aug 07, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Depression is something that has touched the lives of so many people in one way or another. In September of 2017, Sam Swanson turned to Facebook to share of his own, personal struggle. It ended up getting picked up by the Huffington Post, and the rest is history. He stopped by the studio to talk about depression, how it affects people, and to remind those who suffer from it that they’re not alone.
Jul 06, 2018•57 min
The Rainbow Connection, Eye of The Tiger, 9 to 5, Philadelphia...what do all of these iconic movies songs have in common? They all LOST the Academy Award for Best Original Song! In this episode, we go over all of the songs we've come to know and love that SHOULD have won an Academy Award, but didn't! Hold onto your butts.
Apr 12, 2018•1 hr 22 min
The 3rd installment of our series on the Trump administration, and it's incremental undoing. In this episode, we cover the State of the Union address, and the release of what has come to be known as the Nunes memo. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.
Mar 31, 2018•1 hr 14 min
Once upon a time, winning a debate came down to one thing: cold, hard facts. Whether the topic was US Foreign Policy or "who was better: Tom Brady or Joe Montana," it didn't matter. Whoever came prepared with more facts and evidence always won the day. Sadly, those days are over... Living in our current "facts don't matter" society, winning a debate takes much more than before. In this episode, we go over all the pitfalls, and how to avoid them.
Mar 22, 2018•1 hr 3 min
The conclusion of our look into who Vladimir Putin really is, and why he worked tirelessly to see that HIllary Clinton did NOT become the President of the United States.
Jan 27, 2018•48 min
Recall step by step how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy, how U.S. intelligence came to believe he targeted the 2016 presidential election, what could have been done to prevent it, what it means for the future of American democracy. Scary stuff.
Jan 22, 2018•49 min
John William Schiffbauer, former Deputy Communications Director for the New York Republican State Committee, returns to the show to discuss the current state of the Republican Party, and why through it all, he remains a loyal member of it. Catch The Next Best Thing LIVE, every Monday night from 10-Midnight on Radio Free Brooklyn!
Dec 06, 2017•57 min
Stories of the strange, scary and unexplainable on this Halloween episode of The Next Best Things. Listen LIVE every Monday night from 10-Midnight EST on Radio Free Brooklyn.
Nov 26, 2017•1 hr 14 min
According to Gallup, about 8 million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience (NDE), and many of them regard it as irrefutable proof of an afterlife. Skeptics insist those are merely anecdotal, and easily explained away by the biochemistry of the dying brain, pumped up by morphine and stress. The truth is, though, NO ONE knows for sure. Listen as we explore some of the various experiences and possibilities.
Nov 17, 2017•1 hr 12 min
The second half of our definitive list of the scariest movies of ALL TIME. Not for the faint of heart..!
Oct 26, 2017•49 min
An excellent horror movie is truly one of the hardest films to make. That's why there are so few of them. If you glanced at what's come out in the past 20 years, you might think that what makes a movie scary is the amount of diced body tissue flying around the screen. Shock value has its place, but what really unsettles isn't blood and gore, it's that ominous sound from around the corner, the indecipherable figure in the distance, a sense of impending doom as somebody opens a door. Join Jonathan...
Oct 25, 2017•54 min
Some call it the most notorious haunted house in the world. So famous, in fact, that the name of the town in which it stands has become synonymous with horror: Amityville. To kick off our "Haunted Halloween" series, we revisit the violent, potentially haunted past, of the house that sits at 112 Ocean Avenue. Warning: NOT for the faint of heart.
Oct 13, 2017•1 hr 16 min
