Tag Archives: talk radio

Vices & Taboos

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Much of the health advice we receive today tells us that in order to be healthy, we must consume a Spartan diet, exercise with the intensity of an Olympic athlete, and take a drug for every ailment. We constantly worry about the foods we should or shouldn’t be eating and the medical tests we have neglected to take. And all that worry costs us dearly–financially, emotionally, and physically according to naturopathic physician Dr. Harry Ofgang and health journalist Erik Ofgang in their new book, The Good Vices. The sub-title is From Beer To Sex, The Surprising Truth About What’s Actually Good For You. Clearly, the Ofgangs have a sense of humor, but we questioned if sex or beer should be labeled as vices. Make sure you listen to hear their answers.

Aging, sex, and death. When combined together, these three emotive words become taboo for many people. In Jill Ciment’s latest novel, The Body In Question she thrusts the question of age and sex and death to the forefront of her imaginative and provocative story set in central Florida. A sensational murder trial is about to get underway. Two of the jurors: Hannah, a married fifty-two-year-old former Rolling Stone and Interview Magazine photographer of rock stars and socialites (she began to photograph animals when she realized she saw people “as a species”), and Graham, a forty-one-year-old anatomy professor. Both are sequestered (she, juror C-2; he, F-17) along with the other jurors at the Econo Lodge off I-75. As the shocking and numbing details of the crime are revealed during a string of days and courtroom hours, and the nights play out in a series of court-financed meals at Outback Steak House (the state isn’t paying for their drinks) and Red Lobster, Hannah and Graham fall into a furtive affair, keeping their oath as jurors never to discuss the trial. During deliberations, the lovers learn that they are on opposing sides of the case. Suddenly they look at one another through an altogether different lens, as things become more complicated. After the verdict, Hannah returns home to her much older husband, but the case ignites once again after public outrage over the verdict. Then, the judge receives an anonymous letter telling of “two fellow jurors who had sexual contact.” This happens as her husband is dying. Ciment reveals in our conversation, her own story of aging, sex, death and how she used her experiences for her moving and powerful book.

The Podcast is available at NPR One, Apple Podcasts & Mixcloud

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3
Sundays 10.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

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.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Sundays 11.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

Show #327

Two Books, Two Conversations

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It would be reasonable to presume by the title, Why We Elect Narcissists And Sociopaths – And How We Can Stop is yet another book determined to explain how Donald J. Trump became President of the United States. But, bestselling author, therapist, lawyer, and mediator Bill Eddy accomplishes more by describing how dangerous, high-conflict personalities have gained power in governments worldwide – and what citizens can do to keep these people out of office. Eddy suggests democracy is under siege. He says the reason isn’t politics but personalities: too many countries have come under the sway of high-conflict people (HCPs) who have become politicians. Most of these high-conflict politicians have traits of narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial (i.e., sociopathic) personality disorder, or both. HCPs don’t avoid conflict, they thrive on it, widening social divisions and exacerbating international tensions. Drawing on historical examples from Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Nixon to Trump, Maduro, and Putin, Eddy shows how HCPs invent enemies and manufacture phony crises so they can portray themselves as the sole heroic figure who can deal with them, despite their inability to actually solve problems.

Nima is a young Sherpa woman living in the foothills of the Himalayas, a range so immense and place so isolated it is impossible to imagine anything existing beyond it. Nima and her sister are both betrothed to Norbu, a local Sherpa, but when Norbu stuns both families by only wanting to marry Nima, she flees her father’s wrath and the destiny that had been arranged for all of them. Disguised as a man, Nima seeks work and is hired by an American journalist to guide their small group up to Everest Base Camp. The journey is treacherous, and Nima challenges every restriction her culture places on her gender while balancing the duties of her new role as a guide. Popescu brings to life the many contradictions of the region through the eyes of Nima: trails strewn with litter overlook majestic views, Buddhist clarity is marred by sexual oppression and a tourism industry that fuels the local economy also threatens to destroy it. Adam Popescu’s harrowing yet poignant debut novel is all the more intriguing because he convinces the reader these are not his words and thoughts but those of17-year-old Nima.

Order NIMA directly from Unnamed Press and they will donate 20% to the Apa Sherpa Foundation, which provides free hot lunches to schoolchildren in rural Nepal and pays their teachers’ salaries.

The Podcast is available at NPR One, Apple Podcasts & Mixcloud

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3
Sundays 10.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

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.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Sundays 11.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

Show #326

Another Look At The Headlines + A Conversation With Ani DiFranco + New Music from Tiawa

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Theresa Resigns! A Stable Genius Insults The Speaker! Espionage & Assange! The “I” Word! Alabama Abortion Alarm! Dems Identity Crisis! Trump Trauma Disorder! Orchestrated Chaos! The headlines kept coming. Breathlessly the talking heads on cable news and the itchy-fingered online commentators barely had time to catch their collective breath this past week. As breaking news happened more alarms went off with cutaways to even more breaking news. It was hard to keep up. Thankfully, at Life Elsewhere Towers, we can always call upon Dr. Binoy Kampmark to garner his astute, and often alternate take on the incessant headline news blasts. Dr. Kampmark a frequent contributor to Life Elsewhere is a senior lecturer at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He writes regularly for Counterpunch.

Celebrated singer-songwriter & social activist, Ani DiFranco, has written a memoir, No Walls, & The Recurring Dream. We are especially delighted to have been able to chat with Ani while she dashes about on a hectic schedule. In her absorbing book, Ani recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. Her writing is frank, honest, passionate, as she tells the tale of one woman’s eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Her enthusiasm for life and her beliefs comes across so evidently in our conversation and she does not hesitate to comment forcefully on the recent anti-abortion move is some Southern States. “We should have a constitutional amendment ensuring women’s rights for reproductive freedom!” She announces, adding, “Choosing when to reproduce is the most fundamental right a human being should have!” Make sure you do not miss Norman B’s conversation with Ani DiFranco.

When incredible new music comes our way, we feel it’s our duty to share it with you. Tiawa is an accomplished songwriter, and on her brilliant single, Pain Killa she gives us a call to the collective consciousness, she reminds us of the power of our love to conquer and overcome as she says, “Living in a high vibration, tired of low expectation…let the love shine bright and raise it up…because the heart is a natural Pain Killa”. The Brighton-based chanteuse’s single is available on the Roots Garden label and we are planning to check in with them shortly because their recent output is simply first class. Turn the volume up to 11 for this one! Enjoy!

The Podcast is available at NPR One, Apple Podcasts & Mixcloud

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3
Sundays 10.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

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.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Sundays 11.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

Show #325

The Stonewall Anniversary + A Conversation With m1nk

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Stonewall Inn circa 1969
Erika & Barry, m1nk

June 28, 2019, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library’s archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume top coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation of 1969.

m1nk, (pronounced em one en kay), first came to our attention over a year ago with their independently released single, Fuck You Up. Then, two excellent follow-up singles, The Far Side and eBomb prompted us to make contact with the talented duo behind m1nk. Recently, on a beautiful sunny afternoon in Athens, we caught up m1nk for an in-depth conversation. Erika Bach (aka Lola Demo) is based in Athens by way of Australia and Germany. She says she comes from a more garage rock background with some electronic influences in her productions. Trainspotters may argue Erika’s haunting voice and edgy trash ethic evoke identifiable references, but we prefer to think she has a style all of her own. Barry Snaith (aka The Inconsistent Jukebox), moves effortlessly between genres, his productions encompassing everything from acerbic alt-pop and industrial soundscapes to French cabaret and dubstep. Together as m1nk, they make dark, gothic, electronic soundscapes. They are certainly distinctive, yet hard to define. In our conversation, you’ll be impressed by their candor and the passion they so obviously have for the music they make. Based in Manchester, UK and Athens, Greece, m1nk have just released their album m1nk = em one en kay on Seja Records out of The Netherlands.

The Podcast is available at NPR One, Apple Podcasts & Mixcloud

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3
Sundays 10.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

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.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Sundays 11.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

Show #322

Bob Ross. Binoy Kampmark. Monica L Smith. Verdigrls.

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Bob Ross on Avengers: Endgame

“I’m not interested in seeing, Avengers: Endgame!” Says the usually moderately-toned, Bob Ross, who then launches into an atypical commentary on the reasons why he believes Superstar-packed, mega-movies are a symptom of the fake news era. “There’s a lot of mass psychosis going on in the country today. People do not want to deal with reality. So they have become affixed in the Marvel universe. I find more interesting things in my universe, commonly know as reality!” He continues, “You know this whole thing about what’s true and what’s possible is no longer part of our process.”

Monica L. Smith on Cities – The First 6,000 Years

Today, more than half the world’s population lives in cities, and it’s predicted that by 2030, 60% of the population of China, 87% of Americans, and 92% in the United Kingdom will be city dwellers. Yet urban inhabitation is a relatively new phenomenon in the timeline of human history. The first cities came into being about 6,000 years ago. Yet. The creation of cities was not an inevitability, so why did it happen? Monica L. Smith, professor of anthropology at UCLA, discusses her new, fascinating book.

Binoy Kampmark on Julian Assange

Belmarsh Prison

A frequent contributor to Life Elsewhere, Dr. Binoy Kampmark recently wrote a piece for Counterpunch titled, Julian Assange As Neurosis. The very mention of Assange and Wikileaks immediately generates polarized opinions. And, without fail, Binoy’s take on most subjects always trigger animated responses. With Assange being unceremoniously removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to Belmarsh prison, (known as the UK equivalent of Guantanamo), and his possible extradition to the US, the outpouring of response from all quarters has been intense. Dr. Kampmark knows Assange and the Wikileaks story better than most, he ran on the Wikileaks ticket in the 2013 Australian elections.

Verdigrls

Catherine Wolk, Anna Wolk, and Rachel Rossen perform under the moniker, Verdigrls. They are out of Brooklyn, NY, and their new EP is titled Small Moves. The track you’ll hear is Daylight Savings. And we happen to think Verdigrls deserve your attention.

 

 

The Podcast is available at NPR One, Apple Podcasts & Mixcloud

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3
Sundays 10.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

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.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Sundays 11.00am ET at WNRM The Root
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud

Show #321

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