It is the interview I conducted with director Sean Baker that planted the seed for today's episode, which is the long-delayed fiftieth episode of Fun 2 Know.  It was three years ago that Rob Burson was in pre-production for his debut film HELL OF A HEARTACHE when he stumbled across the Fun 2 Know interview with Sean Baker, whose films PRINCE OF BROADWAY and THE FLORIDA PROJECT were inspirational as examples of vivid, compelling character studies made on a strict budget.  Rob “friended” me on Facebook after hearing the interview and we would occasionally discuss film on-line while I was vaguely aware he was shooting a modestly-budgeted feature with a small crew near his home in Arizona.

Then almost a year ago, just before X-mas, Rob asked me if I'd like to take a look at his feature, humbly asking me to keep my expectations low.  Knowing the difficulties of such a limited budget I was prepared to look at the film with a forgiving eye but instead was a bit dumbstruck at the captivating, sure-footing telling of washed-up country star Bobbie Thompson and his unexpected saddling with a thirteen year old girl who may be his daughter. While the story of this pairs' relationship is humorous and engaging enough to sustain the film, HELL OF A HEARTACHE also reverberates with other ideas and themes, including modern masculinity and the lingering effects of violence against women throughout our society.  

Sharing the film with friends and family I'd become convinced HELL OF A HEARTACHE was a little miracle of a film, a masterful and very affecting work that somehow seemed to arrive out of nowhere with Burson, not only writing and directing with great feeling and subtly but delivering a performance any seasoned actor would be proud of.  Yet, Burson hadn't acted since high school and his turn to filmmaking didn't come until he was in his late forties.  

We'll unravel just how this film got made in our interview, but I should first mention that all this led to the upcoming East Coast premiere of HELL OF A HEARTACHE on Thursday, December 8th at the Rotunda, on the 40th block of Walnut Street in Philadelphia, as part of the Bright Bulb screening series. Not only will we see HELL OF A HEARTACHE, currently unavailable through your favorite streaming service, but it will be followed by a Q&A with Rob, on his first trip to the East Coast.  The screening is free and included is a second feature, from Australian director Gillian Armstrong, director of MY BRILLIANT CAREER and STARSTRUCK, we'll be seeing her nearly-lost 1987 feature HIGH TIDE, starring Judy  Davis which also tells the story of a performer uniting with her abandoned daughter.

F2K Ep. 50 - Filmmaker Rob Burson of HELL OF A HEARTACHE

On today's show, it's the second appearance of writer Mike DeCapite (previously on F2N Ep. 20), whose latest novel, JACKET WEATHER was published in late 2021 by Soft Skull Press, home to works from everyone from Dennis Cooper to Noam Chomsky. DeCapite is originally from Cleveland and the son of novelist Raymond DeCapite, a novelist whose well-reviewed work was first published in 1960. Mike DeCapite moved from Clevleand to Brooklyn in 1987 and moved in the circle around fellow Clevelanders Pere Ubu, the seminal art punk group.  DeCapite's poetic fiction would be appear in various publications over the years and his naturalistic slices of life have always revealed a deep connection to music and has made fans of an impressive range artists of various backgrounds; JACKET WEATHER includes blurbs from filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Sonic Youth bassist Lee Ranaldo and writer Lucy Sante. 

DeCapite's 1998 novel THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD drew raves for Mike's story of kicking around with small time gamblers in the city of Cleveland, an excerpt from Mike's unpublished follow-up RUINED FOR LIFE would appear along with his father's work in Harper's THE ITALIAN AMERICAN READER, and now JACKET WEATHER arrives, further refining DeCapite's anecdotal storytelling to a fine point.  The novel centers around a relationship DeCapite begins with June, a figure of romantic interest DeCapite had known casually back in the 1980s where she was doing P.R. for Pere Ubu. Now decades later, DeCapite is taken a back by the strong attraction he feels to a woman extracting herself from a curdled relationship. With the lightest of touches across bite-sized chapters, DeCapite casts an alluring story of unsentimental optimism in the just-dimming light of middle-age.    

Publishers Weekly said:
"Spare and lyrical . . . DeCapite has a poet’s eye for the city’s majestic details, and illustrates how his characters come to see the same things differently over the years . . . A worthwhile meditation." —

from Kirkus Reviews: "So very real . . . A sad but sweet song about the uncertainty of middle age and how funny it is when time slips away."    

We try an keep things loose and casual of these Fun 2 Know interviews, so much so people often think I'm just interviewing friends, but here I actually AM interviewing one of my closest friends, although it has been decades since I hung with Mike after work every Monday in San Francisco, where Mike would serve some ambitious entrees and we'd talk movies, music and writing.  The last time I talked to Mike was just before pandemic restrictions hit in 2020, now, three years later, Mike was in Philly to do a reading with Warhol biographer Victor Bockriss and we sat down at the kitchen table the following day to record this interview where we talk about JACKET WEATHER, seasonal memories, '90s Dylan, middle-aged love, writing about sex and divining renewed inspiration.

F2K Ep. 51 - Novelist Mike DeCapite

On today's show saxophonist, flautist, composer, poet, Elliott Levin. Levin is a Philadelphia-born talent, who has traveled far and wide in his career, establishing himself as an iron man of music, ubiquitous across the city of Philadelphia since the 1970s, playing countless gigs across numerous styles.  

Soon after picking up the saxophone, Elliott fell under the spell galvanizing jazz pianist Cecil Taylor while Taylor taught at New Jersey's Glassboro State College.  Levin first found acclaim touring around the world with Philly International giants Harold Melvin & The Blues Notes for over a decade and his career in jazz and improvised music has seen him performing and recording with The Sun Ra Arkestra's Tyrone Hill & Marshall Allen, Mother of Invention keyboardist Don Preston, Sonic Liberation Front, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, The West Philadelphia Orchestra and Odean Pope's Saxophone Choir and his poetry has been published in The L.A. Weekly.  

I'd been wanting to get Elliott in front of a microphone for sometime, and our conversation didn't disappoint. When I spoke to Elliott has was just back from a tour of Mexico and earlier this month he celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in Philadelphia, leading a band featuring 99 year-old Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen. We discuss his upbringing in West Philly, college in the turbulent early seventies, touring the world with The Blue Notes, his collaborations with Marshall Allen, poetry, his friendship with hippie legend Buzzy Linhart, a saxophonist's life during quarantine and more, as well as hearing a bit of the music Elliott has recorded over his career.

Timely

F2K Ep. 52 - Saxophonist/Poet Elliott Levin

Episode 01: Bucky Sinister
In this debut episode we have an interview with poet/writer/comedian Bucky Sinister. Mr. Sinister discusses the 90s San Francisco poetry scene where he hosted infamous weekly reading at the dive bar The Chameleon, his Arkansas upbringing, his transition to sobriety and stand-up comedy and making a safe place for women to say "shut up" to men.

F2K Ep. 1: Comedian and Writer Bucky Sinister

Henry Plotnick, an minimalist electronic musician who has just unleashed his second release BLUE FOURTEEN at the age of thirteen, joins F2K in conversation.  Sitting at his keyboard on his bedroom floor, Mr. Plotnick discusses his musical education, his love of jazz, and the sad state of Bar Mitzvah playlists. The show wraps up with a live performance with Henry at the keys.

F2K Ep. 2: Musician Henry Plotnick

Here's the part where I give a brief introduction to this episode's guest, something particularly difficult with a guest as extravagantly talented as Steven Erdman.  He might be best described as a one-man production company, having skills as a graphic artists with hand-illustrating skills, a songwriter and producer, an animator and filmmaker, and set designer and creator and over the last thirty odd years has worked on projects at Nickelodeon and MTV, contributed artwork to numerous publications and gave birth to the weirdo rock sounds of Lard Dog & The Band of Shy, known for their surreal theatrical performances.

Erdman has rubbed shoulders and collaborated with a cavalcade of well-known talents, over the course of the episode we'll hear anecdote about everyone from James Brown, Van Morrison, Natasha Lyonne, Clarence Reid aka Blowfly, The Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen, one-time bandmate Norah Jones, and more.  It all makes for a decidedly epic and entertaining conversation, as Erd discusses his many setback and drive to keep creative, or as he proclaims, to “Yam On!”

F2K Ep. 53 - Artist/Musician Steven Erdman

On today's show, it's the Baltimore-based pianist, composer, and bandleader Lafayette Gilchrist.  Lafayette is an extravagantly-gifted instrumentalist and composer, the type of pianist often described as a “two-handed player” for the strong rhythms of his left hand and his nimble melodicism of his right.  His deep understanding of the music's history find him schooled in piano styles that go back at least a century, as well as having a modern spirit that places him in conversation with the piano's contemporary  improvising explorers. Born in D.C., Lafayette could be seen as an example of great tradition of the area's musical talent, players that had to be versed in the ideas and the styles of the North while containing the soulful feel of Southern sounds.

Since his debut THE ART IS LIFE from 1993, Lafayette has produced over a dozen releases, playing solo, in duos, in trios and with often his septet, The New Volcanoes.  He has also toured and recorded with saxophone legend David Murray and his music is heard in the HBO series', THE WIRE, THE DEUCE and TREME.  His most-recent release UNDAUNTED drew wider attention to Lafayette's talent, and when I met up with him it early August in was just before a sold out show appearing at Chris Jazz Cafe in Philly.

We talk about Lafayette discovery of the piano, finding mentors in area jazz greats Grachan Moncur III and saxophonist Carl Grubbs.  We talk about records that inspired him, his philosophy in leading a band, his musical work with children and even our mutual love of cats.  Lafayette was gracious enough to conclude the interview post-gig, so we'll get a rare pre-and-post gig conversation on this latest episode.

F2K Ep. 54 - Pianist/Composer/Bandleader Lafayette Gilchrist

Ep. 7: KENN KWEDER Pt. 2 
The second and final part of our conversation with Kenn Kweder.  Kenn survives beyond the record industry's cold reach to deliver a series of riveting indie releases straight from the heart of Kweder. A true troubadour, Kweder plays a near 300 gigs a year that gives him perch to observe the endless mating ritual of the young.  Kweder shares all he has observed in this raucous talk, sharing his philosophies on the modern world,  people's changing relationship to music, and the wisdom of “The Sandwich Trick.”  Plus, Kweder meets Dylan!  All music from Kenn Kweder – KWEDEROLOGY Vols. 1&2

F2K Ep. 7: Philly Musician Kenn Kweder Pt. 2

Al Young's credentials are voluminous. He was appointed poet laureate of California in 2005, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger no less,  Al Young has been honored with Fellowships from Guggenheim, Fulbright, and the National Endowment for the Arts, he's won the American Book Award twice, he's written for Rolling Stone, and authored many volumes of essays, poems and five novels, including SITTING PRETTY, SNAKES and SEDUCTION BY NIGHT.  We discuss Mr. Young's trail from Mississippi to Detroit in the 1940s.  His time in NYC, his friendship with Charles Mingus, his screenwriting days with Cosby, Poitier & Pryor and his undying love for jazz.

F2K Ep. 8: Poet Al Young

Greg Proops has been a showbiz fixture for over the last 25 years, as a popular stand up, and as the guy with the glasses from the long-running "Whose Line is it Anyway."  He's been the voice of "Bob the Builder," the announcer in the "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" pod race scene, as well as being seen in a myriad of other appearances.  Proops' own podcast "The Smartest Man in the World" was cited in 2014 by Rolling Stone as a top comedy podcast and is a weekly live monologue by the gifted improviser that swings through current events, pop culture, film and music geek valentines, and surreal flights of fancy, all with an old time Lefty passion that is unheard of in the old media.  

Greg was passing through Philly on a three-night stand at he Helium comedy club in Philly when he stopped by to be interviewed at our Center City kitchen table. In Part One we talk about everything from class, the U.S. military, today's San Francisco, Ringo, Leslie Gore, and Proops' many stops along his 30-odd year career.  Part Two drops next week.

F2K Ep. 9: Comedian Greg Proops Pt 1

David West, revered San Francisco poet is our guest for Part One of a two-part episode.  Like Bucky Sinister, whose interview kicked off our first podcast, David West was a prolific participant of the San Francisco spoken word scene of the 1980s and 1990s, a scene that spawned such memorable writers as Daniel Higgs, Michelle Tea and the Sister Spit collective, Eli Coppola, Beth Lisick, David Lerner and many more.  Week in and week out, David West would bring the reading's volume down to stillness as his gentle voice and his writing brought a ragged range of characters to life, some transcendent and some miserable, but David made them all human and beguiling in their own way.  As wise and he was funny, David has slipped away from the world of readings to quietly ponder Shakespeare, politics and the arts while bringing a certain grace as a secretary hiding away in the business world.  

This episode was recorded in David's Bernal Heights kitchen as the sun and a bottle of red wine slowly disappeared.  Unfolding like most of the sprawling two-part episodes of FUN 2 KNOW, the first part tells David's origin story, traveling from factories in Ohio, to an ill-fated stop at Harvard onto the mid-seventies world of Harvey Milk's San Francisco and beyond.  The second part turns from biography of conversation, and David is a fount of insight and humor into people and today's world.

F2K Ep. 12: Poet David West

Kathy O'Connell, the Peabody award-winning host of WXPN's KID'S CORNER and formerly KIDS AMERICA is our guest.  In a medium famous for its transient careers, Kathy has remained an institution in Philly, broadcasting her children's live call-in talk show for over twenty five years, bringing generations of kids to their radios with her gregarious nature, her library of music for for taking calls from kids engaged by a wide variety of topics the show has touched on over the years.  Kathy's skills flow so naturally in part because she spent a good portion of her youth as a somewhat crazily devoted fan of kid's show legend Soupy Sales, who ruled the New York airwaves in the 1960s.  Kathy haunted the show's taping with a small army of similarly obsessed, mostly young girl fans, and fomented a relationship with the comic in his later years.  While Soupy and his wife Trudy became like parents to Kathy, the story of her own family exudes some very real drama, as well as her travels throughout her radio career, including a late 70s stint at New York's fabled listener-funded community station WBAI of the Pacifica network.  Along the way a lot of old show biz names are dropped, we talk about kids today, the joys of television, The Beatles, John Lennon's death and lots of discussion about the life and career of Soupy Sales, with Kathy's dog Colby occasionally calling from off-stage.  

F2K Ep. 14:  KID'S CORNER Host Kathy O'Connell

Jordan McLean on today's show, the composer, Antibalas trumpeter and co-founder of the System Dialing record label.  Antibalas is the Brooklyn Afrobeat band that took the lead in re-popularizing the classic sound of Fela Kuti's revolutionary music beginning in the late 90s.  Antibalas' success and McLean's probing playing has presented numerous musical opportunities for the trumpeter, including collaborations with David Byrne,  Angélique Kidjo. Daptone Producer Mark Ronson, The Roots, St. Vincent, TV on the Radio and Valerie June.  

But it was his collaboration with jazz legend Ornette Coleman that led to this discussion.  In 2009, McLean, Amir Zev, and Adam Holzman, partners in the band Droid, worked together with Ornette on a series of recordings that would be released late in 2014 under the title “New Vocabulary.”  The recordings brought Coleman's saxophone into soundscapes unlike anything he had recorded over his 40 odd year career.  I heard a few jazz purists complain, but that's certainly nothing new when it comes to the music of Ornette and I found the record to be hugely enjoyable, and not just for  another rare chance to hear the octogenarian blow his horn.  

I found McLean to be an exceedingly earnest gentlemen and we hit it off with a great, free flowing conversation.  He has a seeming ocean of varied music to draw from and we'll feature excerpts of his work with Antibalas, Droid, his solo trumpet and electronic project World Gone Mad and McLean's Piano Music & Song Trio.  Over the course of our discussion we talk about McLean's NYC education, the early years of Antibalas, Lily Tomlin, McLean's time spent playing in the groundbreaking Tony-award winning Broadway play FELA!, a musical drama set during Fela last show at his legendary Nigerian nightclub The Shrine as well as McLean's collaboration with the great Ornette Coleman.

F2K Ep. 15: Antibalas Trumpeter Jordan McLean

On today's show Filmmaker Mike Dennis.  Mike is the founder of Reelblack, currently in its 16th year.  Through Reelblack Mike has exercised his multifaceted talents as a production house for hire, as a producer for his own films, making content for their YouTube channel ReelBlack TV (currently at 5 million hits and climbing) and as a promoter of over 200 film events in and around the Philly area.  Check out their regularly updated website at Reelblack.com

Besides being a ingratiating conversationalist, Mike is a graduate of film programs of both NYU and the American Film Institute.  Mike's own story as a filmmaker spans a fascinating era in black cinema, heading to New York at few years after Spike Lee broke out of NYU with SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, then going to school in LA in the 90s, where he interned on THE COSBY SHOW and was a witness to Hollywood in the years when films like The HOUSE PARTY series, MALCOLM X and Mario Van Peebles POSSE were being produced.  

We get to hear how Mike's career found its feet amongst this history as well as some more free-wheeling talk about black film today, John Waters, Eddie Murphy, Steven Speilberg, The Rock, TV's EMPIRE and BLACK-ISH, the blaxploitation era and more.

F2K Ep. 16: Reelblack's Mike Dennis

On today's show, the saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis joins us for a spirited conversation.  James Brandon Lewis has become a prominent figure in the world of modern creative music, showing himself to be prolific both as a band leader and as a player on a number of others' projects, building a thrilling body of work, and personally, some of the most-played in my collection over the past five years.  His album 2021 release JESUP WAGON with the Red Lily Quintet, a tribute to George Washington Carver seemed to heighten interest in Lewis, winning the Downbeat album poll and his 2023 release FOR MAHALIA, WITH LOVE would win the Best Album from the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. He has also recorded with his own trios and in collaboration with the D.C. rock group The Messthetics, all showing a different side of his musical personality and talent.

In early June I met with James at 8:30 am, the morning after his sold out gig at Solar Myth in Philadelphia. The conversation came easy, we talked about his family and his roots in Buffalo, we talked about his extensive schooling, which took James from Buffalo to D.C., to Colorado and Los Angeles, and finally to New York City, with James just recently receiving his doctorate. We discuss his pursuit of his own sound, the community of family, musicians and teachers that inspired and supported him  along the way, the film “Mr. Holland's Opus,” audience assumptions, where he's heading next and how he sees his place in the jazz firmament.

F2K Ep. 55 - Saxophonist/Composer  James Brandon Lewis

Nicole Mitchell, flutist, composer and bandleader is our guest on today's show. .  Around 2001, Ms. Mitchell began to receive notice for her work around Chicago, quickly releasing a flurry of releases on the Delmark, RougeArt nad Firehouse 12 labels, all capturing her spirited flute and her deep well of memorable compositions.  Her reputation began to stretch out to Europe and worldwide collecting accolades and commissions and fronting groups like The Black Earth Ensemble, The Black Earth Strings, Ice Crystal and Sonic Projections.  In 2009, she became the first female President of the AACM, the legendary Chicago-born collective whose initials stand for The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and has been home to many of the greatest jazz musicians of the last fifty years.  Ms Mitchell has been a Downbeat poll winner, was the Chicago Tribune's 2006 "Person of the Year,"  and in recent years has left her home in Chicago to live and teach in California at UC Irvine. 

 If musically Mitchell wears her passions on her sleeve, she did in conversation too, easily discussing family dearths, the racism and other obstacles she has faced as well as her worries and fears.  But she also laughs easily and often.  We talked about musicians Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and her teacher Jimmie Cheatem as well as The Hunger Games, the travails of being an adjunct professor, jazz in Chicago, dwindling student diversity, the writings of sci-fi author Octavia Butler and more.

F2K Ep.17: Flutist Nicole Mitchell

On today's show, the pianist and composer, Digba Ogunbiyi. Digba is originally from Lagos, Nigeria and came to the states to pursue his dream of a career playing jazz piano. His diligence has earned him a doctorate in musical studies and a position at Syracuse University as an instructor of jazz piano. Digba currently resides in Philadelphia, where a chance meeting at a neighborhood cafe led to our discussion  presented here.  Digba's story makes for an unusually moving episode of Fun 2 Know, telling of how his love for piano led him to jazz music, a genre that does not have much of a following in his native Nigeria. This led to his journey to the U.S., where his talent was recognized and nurtured.  Talking to Digba and listening to his music reinforces the suspicion that him and his talent are on the cusp of big things.    Stick around for the end to hear info on Digba's upcoming gigs, including one at Philly's Chris' Jazz Cafe in July.

F2K Ep. 56 - Pianist Digba Ogunbiyi

On today's show, Sun Ra Arkestra guitarist DM Hotep. Philadelphia-born DM Hotep has been a part of the Sun Ra Arkestra for over 25 years.  The musical group was originally formed in the 1950s by the keyboardist known as Sun Ra.  Ra's all-encompassing imagination claimed his origins were from the planet Saturn, and with light shows, flamboyant costumes and group chants and a musical palette elaborately versed in both the earthly and celestial, the Arkestra were forerunners of the  concept of “Afrofuturism,” contributing to the African diaspora's interaction with culture, technology, astronomy and sci-fi themes.  “Space is the Place” was one of Sun Ra's main credos, with interstellar exploration and space reoccurring as a regular motif.  Sun Ra's band the Arkestra has continued on since his passing in 1993, today led by the 101 year old longtime Arkestra saxophonist Marshall Allen.

We talk to DM about his fascination with the guitar, how he got pulled into the reestablished Arkestra's orbit and how he found his musical place amongst the sometimes 20-plus conglomeration.  DM's musical adventures go beyond the Arkestra, he also performs and records with his partner, Arkestra vocalist Tara Middleton in Jupiter Blue, in Kevin Diehl's collaborative Airlft while also curating the residency of Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, regularly bringing brave musicians from around the world to perform and be conducted by the legendary Marshall Allen. We'll hear samples of DM's work, including some of his film scoring, throughout the conversation.

We also discuss DM's upcoming performance at The Rotunda in Philadelphia, 4014 Walnut Street. At 7pm on Thursday July 10th, DM will be perform a solo ambient set, followed by a screening of Jerome Bixby's THE MAN FROM EARTH, a speculative sci-fi feature, presented by Bright Bulb Screenings.

F2K Ep. 57 - Sun Ra Arkestra Guitarist DM Hotep

On today's show: drummer, percussionist, composer Chad Taylor.  I first became aware of Chad's name around the turn of the 21st century, as the players in Chicago's post-rock scene, most famously including the instrumental band Tortoise, began to collaborate with players from Chicago's rich modern jazz world, where the famous creative musician's collective, the AACM was still active. Chad's playing  was  always distinguished by an extra sense of propulsiveness, juicing the energy and supplying an expressive net beneath his collaborators. 

Chad began his long musical partnership with Rob Mazurek under the name Chicago Underground, recording genre-defying improvisational songs and soundscapes that frequently featured Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker. Chad would become one of his era's most prolific drummers working his everyone from Iron & Wine to Pharoah Sanders. After becoming synonymous with Chicago jazz Chad moved east, finally landing in Philadelphia where he's spent the past decade.  In this time he has appeared on some of the most critically-lauded jazz records of recent years, including projects with guitarist Marc Ribot as well as the late trumpeter Jaimie Branch and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, both former guests on Fun 2 Know.

You'll get an idea of just what a genial gentleman Chad is by knowing that although we've communicated through IM's, we'd never actually met or had spoken together until just moments before the tape rolled on our interview.  In abundant modesty and good humor Chad talks about his early musical motivations, his teen years, already drumming in Chicago clubs, and his moves to NYC and Philly, his studies with Blue Note drum great Joe Chambers and Chad current gig as Head of Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.  Chad has also had success composing and leading his own groups and is celebrating the release of his latest work with his new Philly-centric Chad Taylor Quintet, SMOKE SHIFTER on the Otherly Love label.

F2K Ep. 58 - Drummer & Composer Chad Taylor

Writer, film director and musicologist Robert Gordon is a specialist in the music and history of the town of his where he still lives, the legendary American Music hub of Memphis Tennessee.  He's written about Muddy Waters. Al Green, B.B. King, Otis Redding, Alex Chilton and beyond.  Many writers have charted the course of Memphis music but almost none have done it with the emotional depth and deep historical knowledge that Gordon has and his works always stood out to musicians and music lovers as the work of a deeply-devoted fellow soul.  Since 2003 Gordon has transformed himself from writer to filmmaker, making acclaimed documentary films, contributing to Martin Scorsese's THE BLUES series, adapting his Muddy Waters bio for the PBS  "American Masters" series and producing works on ultimate cult band Big Star and Memphis' powerhouse r&b label, Stax Records.  

Gordon's vast curiosity and sense of history takes him away from music for his first theatrical film, the documentary BEST OF ENEMIES, co-directed with Morgan Neville whose documentary on the lives of backing vocalists 20 FEET FROM STARDOM won the "Best Documentary" Oscar in 2014. .  BEST OF ENEMIES explores the debates between Conservative publisher William F. Buckley, and historical author, satirist and playwright Gore Vidal.   Their ten articulately cantankerous bouts, held during the fledgling ABC Network's coverage of the Presidential conventions of 1968 are forever remembered for the moment when Buckley angrily lashed out at Vidal, threatening violence and calling Vidal “a queer” after Vidal labeled Buckley a Crypto-Nazi.  The network news divisions saw big money in name-calling debates and the film suggests we've been down a dreary road ever since.

We discuss BEST OF ENEMIES before falling into a conversation about Memphis music and arts, discussing Alex Chilton, Jeff Buckley, Tav Falco and Panther Burns, Isaac Hayes and the photographer William Eggleston.  

F2K Ep. 19: Documentarian and Author Robert Gordon

On today's show, musician blogger and label owner, Jim Slade.  I met Slade back in the mid-80s, when his band Nixon's Head was a regular in Philadelphia area clubs.  A five-piece rock and roll titan, The Head specialized in loud rock and roll inspired by 60s garage pop nuggets and the early New Wave all brought to life by a quintet of close-knit friends.  Their shows are some of the most joyous rock and roll shows I've ever witnessed and they were a big part of a under-documented Philly scene of the mid to late 80s, sharing gigs with similarly-minded bands like The Ben Vaughn Combo, Baby Flamehead, Sky-Grits, The Wishniaks, Electric Love Muffin as well as the Dead Milkmen, whose reputation spread world-wide.   You can check out all these bands and more on a compilation called “You're Soaking in It” a compilation produced by New York rocker Palmyra Delran, released in 1988 on Apex Records

Although the Head broke-up for a few years in the early 90s they soon reformed and have continued on for over three decades now, recording a number of releases, their most recent being the 2014's MOD!, a dual disc with the band The Donuts.  In late April,  the band will play a one-time only gig at The Boot & Saddle in Philly as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, performing a set of your favorite Clash tunes, as long as your favorites are pre-COMBAT ROCK.   

Outside of his time with The Head, Slade is the Moderator on the popular music blog ROCKTOWNHALL, a spirited forum to discuss the aesthetics of classic rock and roll, you can find them at rocktownhall.com.  Slade also founded the Groove Disques label, which besides releasing Nixon's Head music has distributed releases from the bands Trollyvox, The Knife and Fork Band, Dave Ragsdale and the Stiff Records tribute disc, "The Stiff Generation."  You can find out more at groovedisques.com

I met with Slade a few weeks back at the Fun 2 Know kitchen studio, our conversation fueled by Jim's as-yet unfinished memoir, entitled AND IT WAS ALRIGHT, named after a line form the Velvet Underground tune “Rock And Roll.”  It is an inspiring honest and intimate look at growing up in love with rock and roll in the 70s and 80s that also touches on family strife and the struggle of a young man to forge a place in the world.  It's a music-drenched, extended conversation between two rock and roll disciples, littered with many asides and a batch of great tunes from across Nixon's Head's discography, hope you enjoy it.

F2K Ep. 25: Jim Slade of Nixon's Head

Today show, an epic conversation with artist and painter Skirmantas Pipas.  Skirmantas Pipas is a Lithuanian-American artist in the process of painting fantastic otherworldly landscapes that serve as History Paintings of a world yet uncharted.  

I first met Skirmantas (aka "Skip")  when he briefly worked at a Philadelphia cafe in my neighborhood, a lovely spot called The Chapterhouse, where Skip revealed himself as an unusually thoughtful and perceptive 29 year-old.   Only after getting to know him better did he share his story as a 21st century American Immigrant relocating from Lithuania to Philadelphia in the years after the Soviet Union's collapse.  Living under the Soviet system and the West, has given Skip a rich perspective on our country and our moment in time.  Over our expansive conversation Skip discusses arriving in the U.S. as a non-English speaker, navigating the city's somewhat insufficient English as a Second Language program, attending art school, we discuss modern Lithuania, ROBOCOP, Iphones, I-Pads, Gaming and the internet, and the interests and concerns that Skip is working into his paintings.  

There is an eloquence to Skip's insights that I found particularly intriguing as I pieced together this episode, I think you'll enjoy the ideas he brings to this week's show.  The F2K studios went mobile to the back room of Skip's West Philly apartment, and you will a steady array of passing sounds in the background, circular saws, car alarms, sirens, crashes from the other room that I'm embracing as a certain aural scenery of the bustling neighborhood of West Philly.  

F2K Ep. 28: Painter Skirmantas Pipas

On today's show, violinist Diana Monroe.  I spent most pf the 90s living in San Francisco and when I returned to my old home of Philadelphia around 2000, I was struck by how rich a pool of musical talent existed in Philadelphia, particularly across the world of Philadelphia jazz. A great place for talent spotting is in Bobby Zankel's incredible jazz orchestra, The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound a striking group led by saxophonist and composer Bobby Zankel whose numbers can swell to a dozen and beyond, all instrumentalists that can play the music to the highest standards.  But for me, Diane's fiery and passionate violin playing always stood out as particularly beguiling and brilliant.  Entering her name in Google and looking at her credentials informed me on how rich and varied her career has been, from leading the string quartet in Max Roch's ground-breaking Double Quartet, to playing with Wynton Marsalis and Yo Yo Ma and touring with Barbara Streisand, Monroe has been a first-rank session musician and in recent years has turned her attention to jazz improvisation.  We finally got to sit down and have a conversation at the studios of WPRB to talk about her music and her life recently, we'll hear that conversation as well as sample her music, in duo with vibraphonist Tony Micelli, with Max Roach's Double Quartet, with The String Trio of New York and finally, alone with a solo piece. I was completely charmed talking the Diane and impressed at how completely she's committed herself to the music.

F2K Ep. 31: Violinist Diane Monroe

On today's show, our guests are Michelle MF Ausman and Kimberly Vice of the musical duo Hestina.  Named after a genus of butterflies, the duo's 2016 nine-song release, BLOSSOM TALK is a tour-de-force of harmony vocals, literate lyrics and rhythmically-propelled melodies that haunt long after they hit their climax. With the easy accessibility of modern music, favorite songs can come and go fast but Hestina's music lingered with me and got replayed regularly over the last year and a half.  Visiting their website at hestinamusic dot com a few weeks back I had discovered that the duo have moved recently from New Orleans  and relocated in the Fun 2 Know Podcast's hometown of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. A few Facebook messages later, like magic we were talking in our kitchen and even knocking out a few beautiful tunes live.  What an ingratiating pair, we talked about about New Orleans vs. Philly, early mix-CD revelations, religion, singing harmony, pleasing your parents, bars that never close, Jeff Buckley the modern grind and more.  We'll also hear a few cuts from their release BLOSSOM TALK, available at iTunes and other on-line outlets.

F2K Ep. 40 - Michelle Ausman and Kimberly Vice of Hestina

On today's show, Matt Prigge.  Matt has written about film since the late 1990s, originally at The Philadelphia Weekly, then for four years as the film editor at The Metro, the free commuter paper that has editions in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia. Matt is a particularly engaging writer with an unusually firm grasp on a wide range of cinema, finding what is worth celebrating in everything from low-grade action films to finessing the metaphors in the work of Lars Von Trier. We get rolling on a tangent-rich conversation but also chart and mourn the decline of independent weekly newspapers, that served the variety of cultural function for city dwellers until the new millennium when many of their services could be transferred easily to the internet.   Across the country those papers have withered and died since the internet's rise and lost is the paper's role as a magnet that brought journalists and artists under one roof to share ideas and energy.  Along the way we also discuss growing up in Mechanicsburg PA, Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom,” 
Richard Lester, The Beatles “Help!” Fellini meets Michael Jackson, Stanley Donen. Woody Allen, the cinema of Calista Flockhart. The politics of “Die Hard,” TheArchers - Powell and Pressburger, the late films of Billy Wilder, John Huston, the key to Tarantino. the late Alan Rickman, “listicals,” “Smokey & The Bandit,” writing about The Marvel Universe. “Twin Peaks: The Return,” Steven Soderburgh, Frederic Wiseman and Matt's new job teaching at NYU.

F2K Ep. 42 - Film Writer Matt Prigge

On today's show, with trumpeter and composer Jaimie Branch.  I'd seen Jaimie's name in the credits of releases by bassist Jason Ajemian, in the large band of Keefe Jackson, with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and saxophonist Jarrett Gilmore but she didn't really capture my attention until her stunning debut with her band Fly or Die arrived on the International Anthem label in early 2017.  This rock-solid quartet featuring former Fun 2 Know guest Tomeka Reid on cello, newly-minted Philadelphian Chad Taylor on drums and Jason Ajemian on bass provide a spacious landscape for the propulsive trumpet and compositions of Ms Branch, over a beautifully-paced record that pulls you through it like a great record should.  Branch has collected plenty of accolades for the record, including winning Top Debut in the NPR 2017 Jazz Poll (she topped my ballot as well) Jaimie was listed in the June 2017 Rolling Stone as “10 New Artists You Need to Know” and the Village Voice called Branch “fearless” and described her album as “eerily beautiful.”

Jaimie and her band Fly or Die rolled into town in late January, sharing a bill at The Rotunda on the University of Pennsylvania campus with improvisational group Sirius Juju.  I'd hoped to get there early and interview Jaimie backstage but I've worked with enough band to know that traveling from town-to-town with five or six people is an inexact science so instead of having an hour to unwind into conversation we had about twenty minutes before the band downstairs began to dominate the scene with a wonderful set of music.  This makes for a nice, concise episode of Fun 2 Know, where we enjoy a few cuts from Jaimie's “Fly or Die” debut, a snippet from her recordings with the trio Princess Princess, an previously undistributed date she was selling at the show as vinyl in a plain paper sleeve, plus hear Jaimie talk about how ten years of gigging has made her an “overnight sensation.”

F2K Ep. 43 - Trumpeter Jaimie Branch

Kenn Kweder talks about his 1975 gig with Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. From the soon forthcoming episode 44 of The Fun 2 Know podcast...

Excerpt from forthoming F2K ep. 44: Kenn Kweder on Patti Smith

Early on in the show's history I had Monnette on the short list of Philly-area musicians with which I wanted to interview. I'd long been a fan of the records she recorded in the mid-1970s for the prestigious Steeplechase label, a Danish label who continues today to make important records for artists who have gone slept-upon back here in the states, artists including Archie Shepp, Chet Baker, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill and more. Monnette was spotted at the Newport Jazz Festival playing in Sam Rivers band by staff at the label who would go on to produce a trio of Monnette records starting in 1976 with TIME FOR A CHANGE then LIVE IN EUROPE and BRIGHTER DAYS FOR YOU. 

Ms. Sudler has continued to record regularly, playing over the years with the late drum great Sunny Murray, Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, and many more and has a plethora of awards she has collected across her active career.  

Monnette talks about her beginnings in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, her collaborations with vibraphonist Khan Jamal, her teaching and poetry and at the end, talks candidly about some of the personal and physical obstacles she's faced along the way, including her experiences at Muncie State Penitentiary.  It's makes for one of the more moving conversations I've captured here at Fun 2 Know and I want to thank Monnette for sharing her story.

F2K Ep. 45 - Guitarist Monnette Sudler

On today's show: music historian Elijah Wald. I was just hanging out in my South Philly neighborhood when I happened to get introduced to Elijah, a music historian who has written over a dozen books, mainly on the subject of roots music but also on subjects as diverse as hitchhiking, the cultural phenomenon known as “the Dozens” and the genetics industry. Elijah won a Grammy for his liner notes in 2002, had the book he co-authored with Dave Van Ronk adapted for the Coen Bros. 2013 film, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as well as making the scene as a guitarist rooted in the folk blues tradition.

It's just one of Elijah's books that we focused on in this episode, the 2009 publication, “How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music” from the Oxford University Press.  The Beatles don't actually appear until near the book's climax, the book's main focus is as a corrective to past musical tomes that distort 20th century history by focusing on the canon of artistically “important artists” at the expense of minimizing many of the commercially dominant artists of their day. It's a rich and challenging book, impeccably researched as well as being highly-readable.  We'll dive into the books many ideas, along the way discussing, Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, Tom Waits and Ricky Nelson, as well as The Stones, The Beatles, Dylan and the Three Degrees as well as examining how gender biases cloud the story of 20th century music. You can find out more about Elijah at elijahwald–dot-com

F2K Ep. 46 - Music Historian Elijah Wald

On today's show: Austin, Texas musician and thereminist, Aileen Adler.  I first met Aileen back in the late '80s during the halcyon days of Tower Records, when we both worked at store #173 on South Street in Philadelphia.  I moved to Alaska and then San Francisco in the early '90s, around the same time when Aileen moved to another artist's hub, Austin, Texas.  We lost touch with each other for a couple decades after that, finally meeting up again in the Facebook era.  From there it was that sort of half-awareness you got from social media, I'd see pictures of Aileen looking striking in theatrical clothing, entertaining at events, but what it was she was actually doing was somehow lost on me.  Reading that she was back in Philly for a visit, I thought it would be a perfect time to crack the mystery of Aileen Adler.

Aileen was always a dynamic character, and I wasn't disappointed.  We discuss her early years arriving in the Philly, her move to Austin, singing and adopting the electronic instrument the theremin, visiting Morocco, blacksmithing and collaborating of John “Drumbo” French from Capt, Beefheart's legendary Magic Band.  We'll also hear some samples of Aileen's music, with the group the Temple of Ape Collective, joined by the didgeridoo from her album, THEREMIN FOR THE MASSES, which you can discover at thereminforthemasses.com as well as Aileen's theremin joined by the pianist and composer Catherine Davis.

F2K Ep. 49 - Austin Thereminist Aileen Adler

Featuring interviews with writers, musicians and artists with host (and former FRESH AIR researcher) Dan Buskirk

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