Category Archives: Putin

A Fly On The Wall

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Generation Chef by Karen Stabiner is a captivating page-turner about the first year at a young chef’s first restaurant. Stabiner researched her story like a fly-on-the-wall in Jonah Miller’s New York kitchen. The result is a tale full of gripping details that reads like a novel. The author chronicles restaurant culture across the United States over the past decades, the growing, intense financial pressures, the overcrowded field, and the impact of social media, which can dictate who thrives, who survives, and who crashes and burns. Karen Stabiner joins us for the next edition of Life Elsewhere to talk with Norman B about her new book, Generation Chef – Risking It All For A New American Dream.

Also in the program, we are very pleased to bring you the latest single from Spartan Jet Plex. The talented musician behind the odd-sounding name is Nancy Kells, and we believe she deserves your attention. Plus, Russian blogger, Sergey Armeyskov shares his opinion on how Russians view the US Presidential election, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. Make sure you don’t miss the next edition of Life Elsewhere.

Life Elsewhere Show #187 airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network

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If you miss any editions of Life Elsewhere, go here then go to the Listen On Demand panel, choose the date of a show and click play.

Check out the Life Elsewhere Music page and download Norman B’s curated selections of new, obscure, rare, unique and extraordinary music; hits of the future; artists who deserve your attention and timeless recordings you probably missed.

Two Excellent Books. One Cool Magazine.

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Into The Lion’s Mouth
The Invention of Russia – From Gorbachev’s Freedom To Putin’s War
Ubikwist Magazine

Did you know there was a real James Bond who inspired Ian Fleming’s iconic character? He was a daring double agent, who would have made James Bond look timid. He was Dusko Popov, his true story is told by author Larry Loftis in his page-turner of a book, Into The Lion’s Mouth.

This December will be the 25th anniversary since the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin, Russia and America are again heading toward a confrontation—what happened? Joining us to offer some insight will be Arkady Ostrovsky, the author of The Invention of Russia – From Gorbachev’s Freedom To Putin’s War.

A very cool magazine called Ubikwist caught Norman B’s attention because the talented British singer-songwriter Zuzu was featured on the cover. Ubikwist founder and editor, Giannie Couji explains how his magazine is a work of love and deliberately multicultural.

Life Elsewhere Show #174 airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 7.00pm ET at WROM Radio
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

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If you miss any editions of Life Elsewhere, go here then go to the Listen On Demand panel, choose the date of a show and click play.

PS: You can now download the new WMNF mobile app for FREE and listen to LIfe Elsewhere as it streams live at 12 noon ET every Sunday

Where Have All The Protest Songs Gone?

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Recently we asked, “Where have all the protest songs gone?” Matthew Collin in his new book, Pop Grenade: From Public Enemy to Pussy Riot – Dispatches from Musical Frontlines, may have the answer. Moreover, Collin, suggests if you ask that question, then you haven’t been listening to the right stuff. He writes that music is still a vital form of resistance in these latter days of Capitalism. He begins his book with the raw political force of Public Enemy at their height, moving next to the ultimately tragic arc of the Love Parade in Berlin. From there, he accompanies a group of techno renegades as they travel central Europe, visiting the war-torn Balkans to inject some humanity into a hell-scape. Next he stops is the slightly surreal era of Saakashvili’s Georgia who enlists the help of Boney M to regain the rebellious states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Collin journeys to tear-gas clouded Gezi Park, as the Turks push back against Erdoğan and a swelling religio-neoliberalism. Finally, he heads to Moscow, to get a feel for Putin’s Russia after more than a decade of control, and the nascent push-back by the likes of Pussy Riot and others.

His book is a fascinating read, because he writes from experience, documenting a mixture of the personal and the journalistic, interspersed with historical allusions and slices of local flavour. Matthew Collin will join Norman B in an upcoming edition of Life Elsewhere to talk about his engaging book and answer, “Where have all the protest songs gone?”

Life Elsewhere airs every Sunday at 12 noon ET on The Source WMNF HD3 and Mondays at 5.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

The Road To An American Tragedy

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“It was called, tellingly and absurdly, the War on Terror, an emotion all nations would like to declare war against if only that were possible. Instead, they waged war on the Muslims. It was always the Muslims.” 

This is a line from the new book The Brothers: The Road To An American Tragedy by Masha Gessen. It is just one of many provocative statements Ms Gessen makes in a her deliberately thorough book about the Boston Marathon bombings. To better understand the sentence above and Masha Gessen’s raison d’être for writing The Brothers, digest her statement at the front of the book, “The pain inflicted by the Boston Marathon bombing was one of the few aspects of that act of terror that were immediately accident and certain. Such is the nature of the crime that hundreds of individuals and families will suffer loss and trauma for many years to come. This book, however is not about that pain. It is about something that, whatever evidence is unearthed, will never be entirely certain: it is about the tragedy that preceded the bombing, the reason that led to it, and its invisible victims”. Masha Gessen writes with an unbridled clarity that may surprise, if you are not familiar with her unwavering observant eye.

The award winning Russian-American author returns to Life  Elsewhere to talk about her new book. Expect insights and details you’ll not hear anywhere else about the Tsarnaev brothers, the investigation and the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. Masha Gessen’s knowledge of the Russian Federation, Chechnya, Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan was well-documented in her previous (and formidable) book,The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise Of Vladimir Putin. In The Brothers she uses the same persistent reporting, with the end result of inviting us to reconsider all we think we know about terrorism.

This will be a must-listen to show, make sure you tune in at 12 noon ET, Sunday, April 12 at The Source, WMNF HD3 and 5.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio

Life Elsewhere is now available at Soundcloud