Journey of an Aesthete Podcast https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com/
By Mitch Hampton
From the vantage point of the internal process of different artists, makers and creators, we deep dive into all things arts and humanities.
Your neurodivergent host, Mitch Hampton, is a journalist and world renown pianist and composer for films. Through his lens, we explore the rich stories of artists, what inspires them to create as well as, Mitch's own personal journey as an artist on the autistic spectrum.
Journey of an Aesthete Podcast https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com/Oct 25, 2021
Season 4: May "Book Lunch" “Technopoly” by Neil Postman
Thanks to all who joined us for our recent Book Lunch" livestream featuring a book from 1992 by the late Neil Postman called “Technopoly”. We loved your insightful thoughts and questions.
I took the deep dive into one of the last great polemical works on culture and technology - Neil Postman's Technopoly. I situate Postman as one of the greatest examples of New York Jewish intellectual life of the twentieth century more generally, as well as possessing totally unique perspective on what technology can and can't do in particular.
More on this recent livestream event, here:
This “Book Lunch” will feature a book from 1992 by the late Neil Postman called “Technopoly”.
At once a humanities and liberal arts based and informed historical survey of attitudes towards technology in the United States as well as a cultural polemic, rereading it in our current moment makes it is some ways a book that could have been written his
very month even - as its examples are incredibly "dated" in a technical sense.
I will do the deep dive into Technopoly, the title word being Postman's neologism for a new kind of totalitarianism, one where machines rather than we humans would be in charge.
I situate the author's attitudes and perspectives within the context of the legacy of Marshall McLuhan in particular and the liberal arts
and humanities in general, the latter being in many respects the foundation of our very podcast.
#booklunch #techopoly #NeilPostman #author #amwriting #mitchhampton #podcasts
The Sam Wasson Show
Inside this Episode with host, Mitch Hampton
When it comes to nonfiction prose, surely the work and accomplishments of biographers and cultural and social historians might be at the forefront of meaningful documents of a given society.
When you being to consider what is involved in narrating the life story of a well known and public figure in the arts it becomes clear that this too is an art in itself.
The guest of this episode, Sam Wasson is one of the leading figures in such writing, not only is he a comprehensive and indefatigable chronicler of the history of Hollywood cinema, he is most unusual in his ability to understand equally both the classical Hollywood of the 1920s through the fifties as well as the New Hollywood of the 1960s and 70s.
Wasson is also a consummate journalist who has been able to speak with many of the most important figures and players in both periods and has been crafting surveys of the periods and their creators.
Interestingly I first became familiar with Wasson for his biography of Bob Fosse, only later reading his work on Hollywood.
I see Wasson as somebody on whom future academic historians and fans alike will rely to get a real feelings for the qualities of popular art over the past sixty odd years.
Sam Wasson's Bio
L.A. native Sam Wasson studied Film at Wesleyan University and at the USC School of Cinematic Arts before publishing his first book, A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards, “the critical resurrection of Blake Edwards" (Andrew Sarris). The subsequent publication of Paul on Mazursky, Wasson’s book of conversations with the legendary writer-director of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, occasioned Quentin Tarantino to declare Mazursky "one of the great writer-directors of cinema.”
Published in 2010, Wasson's Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman became a New York and Los Angeles Times Best Seller and a New York Times and Publishers' Weekly best book of the year. Winner of the Cinémathèque française’s Meilleur livre étranger sur le cinéma, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. has been translated into over a dozen languages and was named by Entertainment Weekly one of the best pop-culture books of all time.
For his full bio visit:https://www.samwasson.com/about
Links to Mr. Wasson’s works: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Sam-Wasson/s? rh=n:283155,p_27:Sam+Wasson
Season 4: May "Funky Friday at Five" Part 4 of our 70s Cinema Series, "Getting in Touch with your Feelings"
In this the third part of an ongoing 70s cinema series I discuss the treatment of emotions -from detached humor, to intimate domesticity.
More on this Funky Friday, Here:
Seventies cinema is, above all else, about the undiluted, raw and immediate expression of human feelings in all of their authenticity.
The emotions I have in mind are not only those of the characters in the films but the attitudes too of the filmmakers.
The films see this expression as far more important than any solution or conclusion about what to do with any of these feelings.
This feature of 70s cinema is not for everybody, of course, but gives them their distinctiveness, across differences of genres and budgets.
Interestingly, humor and comedy is one of the ways they accomplish this - in addition to unsparing episodes of intense melodrama.
Rather than seeing these two modes as mere opposites I will show how they interact with one another, through the powers given to actors and radical tonal shifts within given films and, most unusually inside of single scenes.
Examples I discuss include Taxi Driver, A Woman Under The Influence, Nashville, Between The Lines , The Conversation and more to be announced.
#1970s #cassavetes #boston #cinema #francisfordcoppola #lindsaycrouse #jeffgoldblum #jilleikenberry #mariluhenner #gwenwelles #johnheard #scorsese #robertdeniro #paulschrader #genehackman #allengarfield #genarowlands #peterfalk #joanmicklinsilver #robertaltman #michaelmurphy #nyc #johncazale
Season 4: April "Book Lunch" Alexandra Lange's "Meet Me By The Fountain"
Inside this special livestream with your host, Mitch Hampton, here:
Alexandra Lange's "Meet Me At The Fountain", the first major book on the history of the mall a phenomenon that had an outsized influence for the past sixty years and, a Lange, makes clear in her book is often misunderstood and a force for as much positive as negative.
Lange's advantages as a writer are that she wears both the hats of a cultural or social historian and in her professional life is a design critic so she is equally as knowledgeable about aesthetics in the history of design and architecture.
I learned more from reading this book than I ever thought possible and will share Lange's prose and ideas with the audience, including some additional discussion of such classics as Robert Venturi's "Learning From Las Vegas", Martha Coolidge's movie Valley Girl , Charles Jenck's What Is Post-Modernism and some surprises revealed on the lunch.
Season 4, Bonus Content: Spring LiveStream Concert Featuring Original Music by host, Mitch Hampton!
More from Mitch on this special event!
“As Spring is associated with creativity in general, I thought it would be fitting to do a trio concert of all original compositions."
The music is Yves Klein Blues, the first movement of Hampton's Second Jazz Concerto - "Because After All One Must Begin" - The (Count) Basie Plus, and two others to be announced.
All the music was written in the past five years!
The trio features Justin Watt on drums and Zack Page on bass
The Rob Chalfen Interview: Boston's Counterculture Performing Arts History
Rob Chalfen is one of the living connections to the history of Boston and Cambridge's countercultural performing arts scene.
I have had the opportunity to perform in at least two of his iconic venues over the decades but did not know in those years just how knowledgeable he was about the political economy of the arts, though I did know him as a serious jazz historian and scholar and recording collector.
Rob Chalfen is what at one time would be identified as a hippie from the 60s and 70s, or as he would more accurately categorize it. "freak."
One of the things I have always appreciated about greater Boston is its attempt to combine political aspirations with aesthetics and Rob Chalfen has been in the thick of that over many decades.
I certainly learned a lot in this episode about Boston past and present.
Links to Rob’s beautiful work:
Website/Blog:
https://thecambridgeroom.wordpress.com/tag/rob-chalfen/
Gallery Address
OUTPOST 186 : 186 1/2 hampshire st. cambridge ma 02139
http://outpostproducershandbook.blogspot.com/
Support Local Community Radio Act : http://freepress.net/lpfm/
Season 4, April 2023, "Funky Friday at Five" Part 2 of our 1970s Movies Series: The Art of Editing"
In this 2nd part of our ongoing series exploring the beauty and pathos of 1970's films, with your host Mitch Hampton! More on this series, here: In this, the second part of a 70s movie series, I will explore the most unusual editing style of 70s cinema. Many people think that 70s movies are unique for their slowness or long takes and the enormous attention paid to the actors on screen and, while all this is true, the uniqueness of 70s movies is that they use long takes in combination with very short, abrupt and jagged editing - often purposefully in violation of classical editing practice and without the usual preparations to prepare audiences for scene transitions. It is all these working together that give the films their visual and narrative style. One of the effects of this stylistic strategy is to create overall mystery in the films and an uncertainty in the viewer - qualities of mind that are actually closer to our daily lives, including our interior thoughts and feelings, than we often are often ready to admit. In psychological jargon, 70s movies are opposed to "closure". And unlike in films after the 1980s. the goal is not to show associational connection between one image and the next as in montage, nor to establish rhythm, but conversely, to create a cubistic and pluralistic vision of reality. Editors and films discussed will include Dede Allen, Suzanne Pettit and films like Night Moves, Girlfriends, Klute, some to be announced, and those of Nicholas Roeg. #films #Cinema #aesthetics #funkyfridayatfive
Season 4, March 2023 "Book Lunch" featuring Douglas Coupland's masterpiece, "Generation X"
Enjoy our recent "Book Lunch" livestream featuring Douglas Coupland's iconic "Generation X" ! More on this special event from your host, Mitch Hampton:
"In this book lunch I go back to the novel that helped start the Gen X category, discuss Coupland's prose style and what it is like being in the generation that bears the name.
On this book lunch proud (but never flag waving) Gen X'er Mitch Hampton returns to the novel that started it all: Douglas Coupland's Generation X
While mainly discussing Coupland's invention with language and the overall "hangout" quality of I'd characters, he will also discuss more generally the often misunderstood and overlooked nature of the generation of which he is part."
On Performance on and across the Borders: A Conversation with Rosalie Purvis
When first I was introduced to our guest it was courtesy of our producer.
At that time I was not acquainted with her work and career. Purvis is interesting in the theatre for a number of reasons, not the least of which is her equal proficiency in performance and direction as well as serious theoretical work, a breadth that is less common.
Her work in the theatre takes diversity most seriously as much more than a buzzword and some of her work consists in the translations and movements between and among different cultures from around the world, one example of which is the Chaepani intercultural performance project.
I found that we had an enormous amount in common intellectually and artistically and it was good to have conviviality with her on this episode.
Rosalie’s Bio
Rosalie Purvis holds a BA in Literature and Dance from Bard College and an MFA in Theatre Directing from Brooklyn College and a Phd in Performing and Media Arts from Cornell University where her dissertation “Intimate Acts of Translation” focused on intercultural performance methods and translation and border studies in performance.
Since 2000, she has worked as a freelance director/performer in New York City where work has been featured at, among others, the Atlantic Theatre’s Second Stage, Theatre for the New City, the Brick Theatre, Dixon Place, the Estrogenius Festival, Teatro la Teo, the Culture Project, Teatro Circulo, 59 East 59, the Puerto Rican Traveling Company, Dance New Amsterdam, 78th Street Theatre Lab and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She also creates site specific works, globally.
Most recently, she joined a Kolkata-based performing arts collective and together they have performed at various national borders.
She has taught courses in performance, literature and writing most recently at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Presidency College (Kolkata) Jadavpur University (Kolkata), the City University of New York, Mercy College in the Bronx, Pace University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Marlboro College.
She is currently serving as Libra Assistant Professor of Theatre and English at the University of Maine.
Links to Rosalie’s beautiful work
https://www.rosalietpurvis.com/
Season 4, March Funky Friday at Five: "70s Cinema, Arts & Culture Part 1, A New Concept of Beauty"
Thanks to everyone who came to our recent "Funky Friday at Five" livestream that was a first in a series all about the beauty of 70s arts, culture and film.
If you missed it, here it is and please share it with us!
You may not know your host, Mitch Hampton is a 70s scholar and currently working on a book about the decade! More on this stream, here:
Funky Friday @ 5: "70s Cinema Part 1, A new concept of beauty. My first foray into 70s cinema, t,v, and visual culture which I am currently writing a book about. #1970s #1970svintage #1970sfilm #author #AmWriting #podcast Journey of an Aesthete Podcast #filmcriticism
Season 4, "Book Lunch" featuring Judy Blume's classic novel, "Forever"
In this book lunch I discuss Judy Blume's classic popular novel "Forever" with special attention focused on her special style of her prose and how this is in fact is what has most contributed to its popularity over so many years, more so than even the innately attractive subjects of love and sex.
Season 4, February 2023 Funky Friday at Five, "The Films of Yasujirō Ozu "
In a part two of a series started in January, this Funky Friday at Five continues your host, Mitch Hampton's discussion of the many styles of representing two characters in art with the example of Yasujirō Ozu - one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.
More on this very special livestream event with podcast host Mitch Hampton, here: "In a part two of a series started in January, this Funky Friday at Five" continues the discussion of the many styles of representing two characters in art with the example of Yasujiro Ozu- one of the greatest filmmakers of the 2oth century.
Wonderful link to Criterion's collection of the films of Yasujiro Ozu: https://www.criterion.com/current/ posts/3836-the-sigmature-style-of-yasujiro-ozu
Traveling Between Stage and Page: A Conversation with illustrator comic artist, and comedian, Teresa Roberts Logan
Listeners, we are honored to feature our delightful talk with artist and comedian, Teresa Roberts Logan who shares with us her inspiring journey ! Inside this episode with host, Mitch Hampton: Teresa Roberts Logan is one of several guests who comes to our podcast courtesy of our producer, Laurie Strickland.
Initially I was most impressed with the artwork she did for our show ( pictured below) - what I feel to be an iconic man with the suitcase traveling the world of art humanity. What I later found out was her considerable career as a stand up comic ( link to a clip of her stand up here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7wKWN5EWIk&t=6s).
I really relished hearing her stories of performing on the road and on television in the 80s and 90s. Teresa is somebody with lots of stores and lots of humor, some of which we were blessed to experience in this episode.
Teresa’s Bio:
Teresa Roberts Logan (aka The Laughing Redhead) is an award-winning standup comic and cartoonist who has appeared on HBO, The Comedy Channel, and A&E. She has toured clubs acrossthe U.S. and opened for Jerry Seinfeld and other famous people! As a cartoonist, she makes regular appearances at comics fests such as SPX, TCAF, and New York Comiccon. A Silver-Reuben-nominated cartoonist, Teresa has been doodling designs, and writing and drawing comics since she was a kid in Memphis, and did her first “Snobby Models” comic book (basically a bunch of models with their noses in the air, wearing funky paisley clothes.) In her early 20s, she landed in standup comedy from her job as a Hallmark artist/writer (she was dared by the Shoebox staff to do an open mic night), and has appeared on HBO, A&E, The Comedy Channel, and lists the finest clubs in the US on her resumé, from Zanies Chicago to Comedy Works Denver to Catch A Rising Star Vegas, and Gotham Comedy Club NYC. She has opened for Jerry Seinfeld, Ardal O’Hanlon, Maria Bamford, Ellen, and Paula Poundstone, among others. Taking the funny from page to stage and back again, her comics have been featured in The Center for Cartoon Studies’ nationally distributed “Cartoon Crier,” and her comics “Purty Funny” and “Noodlehead” chosen to be in Dirty Diamonds All-Girl Comics Anthologies most recent iterations. Her webcomic JESUS FREAK: LOSING MY RELIGION is ongoing, and its first volume is available in print.
She also loves painting on big canvases, and her work is in collections worldwide, including the extensive art collections of Kyoko Ono Cox and Whoopi Goldberg. Andrews McMeel Publishing (Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side) is her publisher, and she is on her third book with them, a coloring book full of Mandalas, following her first hit coloring book, “Posh Coloring Book: Paisleys for Fun & Relaxation,” and her book of cartoons, “The Older I Get, The Less I Care.” She is a regular exhibitor at New York ComicCon, TCAF, and SPX, where she sells her comics to pay for art supplies. Every two years, she takes a group of ne’er-do-wells onto the high seas, and conducts art journaling workshops, in between touring Mayan temples. She art directed a zombie movie in college, and loves zombies to this day.
She particularly loves travel, writing, drawing, being a mom, making things with pumpkins, and drinking wine, but not necessarily in that order.
Links to Teresa’s beautiful works:
www.LaughingRedhead.com www.Linktr.ee/LaughingRedhead www.GoComics.com/Laughing-Redhead-Comics Twitter, Instagram, TikTok : @LaughingRedhead Links to Teresa’s beautiful works: www.LaughingRedhead.com www.Linktr.ee/LaughingRedhead www.GoComics.com/Laughing-Redhead-Comics Twitter, Instagram, TikTok : Teresa Roberts Logan https://www.amazon.com/stores/Teresa-Roberts-Logan/author/B001ICON16?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Season 4, Pianist Mitch Hampton's 2023 Valentine's Piano Concert!
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our evening of romantic piano music by our host, Mitch Hampton.
In case you missed it, please enjoy and share it with us!
More on the piano recital, here: In 1993, at the age of 25, Mitch Hampton made his first recording as a pianist. On that recording he composed and performed an original work for solo piano named Free Valentine, which was a variations on a famous song from Rogers and Hart.
Now at the age of 55, Mitch Hampton returns to that work and will perform some original and newer music, all of which can be considered "romantic" in the spirit of the Valentine season.
This will be the first time Mitch Hampton has performed solo piano in a concert style since 2017.
Link to Mitch's Music, here: https://mitchhampton.bandcamp.com
#piano @steinwayandsons #steinwayandsons #film #Interlochen #filmcomposer #pianist #podcast Journey of an Aesthete Podcast #pianorecital #livestreams #concert #virtualconcert #romance #oldhollywoodmusic #filmscores #cinema #piano #pianorecital#pianomusic Steinway & Sons Interlochen Alumni Journey of an Aesthete Podcast #composer #MitchHampton
Season 4, Special livestream episode with special guest, filmmaker Andrew Bujalski featuring the release of his new film , "There, There!"
"I always want to make a film that I feel like no one else is going to make." Andrew Bujalski
More on this special livestream interview from your host, Mitch Hampton:
There are so many wondrous things to say about our livestream guest Andrew Bujalski.
The first that comes to mind is how long I have known him.
Having met him on his first feature, the groundbreaking Funny HaHa wayback in 2002, no less, and been blessed to have my music as part of his score in his previous Support The Girls in 2018, I think it is a rare thing to watch a single and singular artist grow and evolve over such a length of time.
His newest feature, "There there", while not directly about the Covid Pandemic in plot, drew upon the Pandemic in its formal properties.
In "There there" he essentially created a new way of filming characters as well as environment: no two actors are in the same location and the photographic technology scanned great geographical distances.
"There, there" is a dense, humanistic work about human relationships and love, at once a critical document of our current moment and a continuation of the themes that have most concerned Andrew over the entire 00s to today, including some sweetness and heart alongside the struggles of his characters. I can think of no better decision by Magnolia than to release it on this Valentines Day.
It was a treat to speak in depth with Andrew as we discussed many things - all in keeping with the overall artistic and cultural interests of our podcast.
Andrew Buljalski's Biography
Andrew Bujalski was born in Boston in 1977 and studied film at Harvard’s Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.
He wrote and directed the films FUNNY HA HA (2002), MUTUAL APPRECIATION (2005).
His first films all appeared on the New York Times’s “Best of the Year” lists.
Bujalski wrote both screenplays, and appears as an actor, playing a major role in both films. BEESWAX (2009) and COMPUTER CHESS (2013), Bujalski's third and fourth independent films, were filmed in Austin, where the director lives now.
COMPUTER CHESS is a period film set at a computer programming tournament in 1980, premiered at the Sundance FF and won the Alfred Sloan Feature Film Prize.
His film RESULTS (2015), premiered at Sundance FF. SUPPORT THE GIRLS (2018) had its world premiere at SXSW and will be released by Magnolia Pictures.
More about his new film "There, there":
A lover's doubt in the cold light of morning leads a chain of uneasy intimacies--counselors, disruptors, peacemakers and fire-starters--every one looking to have a little faith rewarded.
Link to watch Andrew's Film, "There there":
Season 4, January 2023 "Book Lunch" featuring Andrea Wulf's “Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and The Invention Of The Self ”
We discussed Wulf's new book on the birth of Romanticism in Jena and how this cultural, artistic and intellectual revolution made much of our world today.
More on this special livestream event:
Join your host, Mitch Hampton for his first “Book Lunch” of 2023, Wednesday the 25th on our show Facebook page! We welcome your thoughts and comments during the stream.
More on this special event here:
“This particular book lunch will be a moderately deep dive into Andrea Wulf's most important and wonderfully written “Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and The invention Of The Self ” from this year.”
More about her work, here:
Season 4, January 2023 "Funky Friday at Five" featuring host Mitch Hampton's art talk on style"
Listeners, thank you so very much for joining us for our "FUNKY FRIDAY AT FIVE" featuring your host, Mitch Hampton!
We had such a great time with our livestream audience and hope you will share this with us.
More on Mitch Hampton's art talk, here:
On this Funky Friday Mitch discussed the varieties of stylistic expressions using examples from stage, screen, and more!
#funkyfridayatfive #arttalk #podcast #podcasting #humanities #ArtsandHumanities #unity #creativity
Season 4, "The Aesthetics of Hollywood and Beyond: A Conversation with Todd Berliner"
Inside this Episode with Mitch Hampton
My very first familiarity with Todd Berliner comes from a single book: his book on 70s movies, “Hollywood Incoherent”.
Although my incentive to read this was partly due to ongoing research for my own book, there were many things I found intriguing about Berliner's book.
Only gradually over time did I begin to realize that my commonality with him was wider than interest in 1970s cinema: we also tended to look at movies and, most generally art, in very similar ways - ways we were fortunate to get into in this episode.
Like all my favorite scholars Berliner gets "inside" of what he discusses, rather than distract us with relatively irrelevant or unimportant material.
I enjoyed talking movies with him during this episode and it certainly brought me back to the days when I was around "haunts" like the Brattle, Film Forum, Coolidge Corner, or even the days of Cinema 5 and 16!
I hope the audience enjoys listening to this episode as much as we did creating it.
Professor Berliner’s Bio
Todd Berliner, Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, teaches film style, storytelling, and aesthetics and American film history. He is the author of Hollywood Aesthetic: Pleasure in American Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2017), Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema (University of Texas Press, 2010), and many articles and book chapters.
He was elected a Fellow of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image in 2010 and currently serves as a board member.
Professor Berliner was the founding chairman of UNCW’s Film Studies Department and the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar awards, including the Laszlo Orszagh Distinguished Chair in American Studies.
He holds a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Links to Todd's beautiful work:
http://people.uncw.edu/berlinert/
Season 4, January 2023"Funky Friday at Five" Part 3 of Inside Mitch's Music"
Enjoy Mitch Hampton's recent "Funky Friday at Five" Part 3 of his special music series.
He discusses writing for larger ensembles as well as the development of his solo piano "hard listening".
Link:https://youtube.com/watch?v=1S60hCAReiM… #musician #composer #composerlife #jazz #piano
Season 4, Bonus Content: “The Madame B and Mitch Hampton Morning Holiday Show!” Part 2 of 2
“The Madame B and Mitch Hampton Morning Holiday Show!”
More on this bonus stream, from your host, Mitch Hampton, here:
“An opportunity for a livestream episode with Madam B will be an occasion for many possibilities for discussion, including her deep knowledge of culinary matters, living in France and our shared interest in arts and culture.”
Madame B’s You Tube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@heybichette543
Madame B’s Recent Podcast Episode with Mitch:
https://anchor.fm/mitch-hampton/episodes/The-Madame-B-Talks-e13dc6c/a-a5vufa0
Season 4, Bonus Content: “The Madame B and Mitch Hampton Morning Holiday Show!” Part 1 of 2
“The Madame B and Mitch Hampton Morning Holiday Show!”
More on this bonus stream, from your host, Mitch Hampton, here:
“An opportunity for a livestream episode with Madam B will be an occasion for many possibilities for discussion, including her deep knowledge of culinary matters, living in France and our shared interest in arts and culture.”
Madame B’s You Tube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@heybichette543
Madame B’s Recent Podcast Episode with Mitch:
https://anchor.fm/mitch-hampton/episodes/The-Madame-B-Talks-e13dc6c/a-a5vufa0
Season 4, Bonus Content, " Holiday Concert featuring your host, Mitch Hampton and his Jazz Trio!"
Hello listeners, thanks to everyone who joined us last night for our holiday concert featuring the Mitch Hampton Trio!
In case you missed,here it is, please enjoy and share it with us!
#concert #jazztrio Mitch Hampton #mitchhamptontrio #piano #music #holidaymusic #holidayseason #Christmas#christmas2022 Interlochen Alumni
Season 4, “On the Intersection of Art and Healing: A Conversation With artist Emily Bracale”
Inside this episode with Mitch Hampton
“Interlochen Arts Academy at times appears to me to be a vast ocean whose streams extend quite far into my current life. Not only have many of its alumni been guests on this podcast, like Dmitri Matheney, Quinn Lemley, and Coleman Reaboi, but but many of its alumni also possess excellent networking skills that have enabled episodes to be fully realized.
In this case it was Jaques Wickham Davis who was in my graduation class and connected me with our current guest Emily Bracale.
I am happy Jacques did this because I discovered two beautiful works of art in the process.
Had I only known Emily by her high school major, I would have thought her main career would have been as a clarinetist!
Yet she has two illustrated books on the subjects of healing and grief that are important in their respective fields.
One common theme on our podcast is that at times guests have had more than a single career and are accomplished in more than a single medium.
Bracale is no exception to this principle.
I was very impressed with her books and was only too happy that she spoke candidly about her own health and history and even spiritual beliefs.
I feel her books would be helpful and meaningful to many in our audience and I hope you enjoy listening to our episode as much as we enjoyed recording it!
Emily’s Biography:
Emily Bracale is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and College of the Atlantic, with a B.A. in Human Ecology.
Her visual arts training began in early childhood from a clan of three generations of women artists and art teachers.
She has taught and supported the creativity of thousands of students from preschool through the college level, in private and public schools, summer camps, and independently.
She has held many solo art exhibits with an educational twist, most notably cultural travel sketches and paintings in “Visions of the World” and the “Lyme-Light” collection.
Many of her watercolor landscapes and seascapes are in private collections in the US and abroad.
She lives with her family in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Links to Emily’s beautiful works:
http://www.inthelyme-light.com
Season 4, "Funky Friday at Five" 2nd Part in Special Music Series Featuring host Mitch Hampton on his process as a composer!
Hi listeners,
In case you missed it, here is your host, Mitch Hampton's recent "Funky Friday at Five!
More on the stream, here:
This is the second episode in which I discuss both my musical journal, some unusual qualities of my upbringing and education and how my interest in all of the arts informs my music.
#composing #piano #pianolessons #pianoteacher #mitchhampton #funkyfridayatfive #podcast
Season 4, Bonus Content, November "Book Lunch" featuring Don Delillo's masterpiece, "White Noise"
In this November "Book Lunch" I take the deep dive into Don Delillo's 1985 novel about an American academic midwestern family, societal unrest, consumerism and much more. Mitch dove deep into the pages and heart of this text, while also exploring the upcoming film adaptation!
More on this special livestream event, here:
Although it is a novel from the 1980s, Don Delillo's “White Noise” not only remains my favorite novel by him - yes even more even more than his “Underworld”, “Falling Man” and “Cosmopolis” - but will soon be a major film on Netflix, directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Driver, Don Cheadle and Greta Gerwig!
Moreover it is still one of the greatest of contemporary novels and my book lunch will be a celebration and deep dive into it."
Link to the film: https://www.netflix.com/title/81317320
#WhiteNoise #books #literature #filmadaptations #WhiteNoise #BookLunch
The Fool's Journey: A Conversation with Tanya from Tanya LoveBuddha
Inside this Episode with your host,Mitch Hampton
Our current guest TanyaLoveBuddha comes courtesy from our producer Laurie Strickland.
Coming from our principle of equality, just as writer might read form their writing, musicals might perform music and painters show what they have painted, I thought it most appropriate to actually show in real time what someone with the gifts of Tanya does when she performs a Tarot reading.
While being in no way an expert on the nature of her art, I was more than happy for this opportunity to be able to observe a tarot reading.
As for the content of what she says about your host, there won't be any spoilers: as the flow of the episode is the best way to experience all that Tanya has to offer.
More About Tanya:
Tanya is an intuitive empath, natural-born seer, modern-day mystic, wayshower, and soul coach.
She has spent decades developing her natural abilities, delving deep into the esoteric world, psychology, and the understanding of humans and the human condition.
Tanya is a bridge between worlds, she has the unique ability to see truth and core issues effortlessly. She uses her finely tuned senses, vast knowledge of the metaphysical world, many psychic and storytelling skills, humor, experience, and deep compassion to guide, deliver insights and teach.
Her work has been described as shamanic as she is gifted with the innate ability to transform and transmute those who connect with her, yet she prefers to see herself as simply being of service.
She is often referred to as ‘the real deal’ and delivers spiritual guidance and soul medicine in a very grounded modern-day way.
Links to Tanya’s beautiful works and to book work with her:
Website: www.tanyalovebuddha.com
Season 4, "October 22nd, Funky Friday at Five, featuring host Mitch Hampton on his Journey as a Pianist"
Listeners, in case you missed our recent “Funky Friday at Five” livestream series that featured your host, Mitch Hampton as he shares his journey as a professional composer and pianist.
In this, the first part of a series on music, Mitch discusses the beginnings of his life in music with some digressions on other arts and experiences.
More on this special livestream series, here:
More on this livestream event, here:
“In what will be an ongoing series of special music related Funky Fridays, your host, Mitch Hampton reflects on the unusual circumstances of his childhood and youth in both music education and musical appreciation and how all of his experiences continue to inform and inspire the very way he composes his own music today as well as his approach to the piano.”
#podcast #piano #steinwaypiano #steinwayandsons #steinway #funkyfridayatfive #newenglandconservatoryofmusic
Season 4, Bonus Content: Mitch Hampton's Special Jazz Trio Birthday Concert!
Listeners, in case you missed it here is your host, Mitch Hampton's birthday concert for you to enjoy as bonus content!
You may not know Mitch is a concert pianist as well as a podcast host. He has scored films as well as, composed and performed all over the globe.
Mitch and his world renown trio play some standards from Cole Porter as well as, some newly composed music.
Thanks to all who came out and to the trio for so much wonderful music!
#coleporter #music #jazztrio #podcast #concert #livemusicmusic
Season 4, Bonus Content, "Popup Livestream Featuring Pianist Michelle Alexander"
Listeners in case you missed our pop up livestream stream with the amazing, multi faceted performer, Michelle Alexander, here it is!
We thank Michelle for stopping by the studio, playing some music and sharing about her journey as an artist! We always love adding bonus content for you all whenever we can.
More on this pop up livestream from host, Mitch Hampton: "This very brief popup livestream is the occasion of my meeting old friend and New England Conservatory classmate Michelle Alexander after close to twenty years.
I thought it might be fun to talk a little and record it for my podcast. Michelle Alexander like me is a pianist and we compare notes on our different journey in art and music."
#art #music #journies #podcast @necmusic Journey of an Aesthete Podcast
Of Cast Iron, Textiles and Love Letters: A Conversation with Artist Anna Shapiro
Inside this Episode with Mitch Hampton
"As I say a lot when introducing guests on our show, there are some guests whom I have never had the opportunity to meet, only knowing them from their accomplishments in the public world.
Our guest Anna Shapiro is someone who I not only knew have known personally for almost two decades but she and I actually dated in the early 00s!
I have had the good fortune then to see both her her work evolve over a long stretch of time.
Like all the best artists Anna Shapiro is hard to encompass in a few words in a context like this. Straddling the worlds of sculpture, paint and performance, above all, her work is about the materials of life, how those materials sustain, benefit, and complicate our lives and the aesthetics of it all.
If I think about it, i can't think of any artist who can better represent the spirit of our podcast. An environmentalist, a feminist, Anna Shapiro also has worked as a park ranger, something about which I had no knowledge until this episode!
As always, one of the best things about this show is how each guest is always surprising and inspiring.
Anna’s Bio
Anna Shapiro is an artist and catalyst. She incorporates metal, textiles and other everyday materials into her sculptures. The work she makes connects social and ecological issues that have been important to her since her early employment as a wilderness guide and National Park Ranger.
Anna has received awards and residencies in Vermont, New York, Brazil and Latvia, and has spoken on panels about iron casting in relationship to five-element Chinese medicine and about eco-feminism.
She has published intermittently about these subjects.
Anna is known as the “wavelady” for her interactive performances “making waves”.
She loves molten metal, and has taught welding and iron casting at the Steel Yard in Providence, RI. Anna has also catalyzed many creative industries in Boston and Rhode Island including art spaces, festivals, alternative grocery stores and mobile hydroponic gardens.
Her studio is in Providence RI.
Links to Anna’s beautiful works
Website: annashapiro.com
Blog: wavelady.com
Instagram: @w.a.v.e.l.a.d.y
All the links and more information is on this post on my blog: http://wavelady.blogspot.com/2022/05/little-prompts.html
Season 4, October 2002 "Book Lunch" Featuring Azar Nafisi's new book, "Read Dangerously!"
Enjoy our October “Book Lunch”, as we welcome special guest author and public intellectual Azar Nafisi back to our show to discuss her new book Read Dangerously!
More on this episode from Mitch’s notebook
“While I do love to speak freely and spontaneously on a book that has become close to my heart or seems central to our collective lives in a moment or "snapshot" (as I would formulate it), there is simply nothing as powerful and valuable as being able to communicate with the author of the book in question in the moment.
This was nowhere more forcefully brought home than being able to have a conversation with Azar Nafisi on her book “Reading Dangerously”.
Not only is her book possibly one of the most important in our current moment it is also concerns our universal humanity as she expressed so eloquently during our conversation.
This is Azar Nafisi's second visit to our show and I always feel blessed when she is on our show as in a very real sense she represents the spirit of our podcast.
As you will hear she certainly knows her literature but many subjects came up into course of our show - issues of literature, philosophy as well as politics. I certainly hope you will celebrate her book with us as it one we will surely enjoy reading long into the future as much as we will now.”
September 16th, "Funky Friday at Five" featuring host Mitch Hampton "On Ancestry and Influence"
Listeners, in case you missed it, here is our recent wonderful livestream art talk, "Funky Friday at 5" featuring your host, Mitch Hampton.
Mitch talks with us about artistic legacy and the artists who help shape us and our arts & culture.
More on this special livestream, here:
"On Ancestry and Influence"
The recent passing of pianist Ramsey Lewis and French film giant Jean Luc Godard, two favorites, puts Mitch Hampton in a reflective mood about how artistic practice is always indebted to the many ancestors who have come before so that something can be created for the now and into the future.
"Book Lunch" featuring Louis Menand's "The Free World"
Thanks to everyone who came to our recent "Book Lunch" on Friday September 9th, featuring Louis Menand's "The Free World".
In case you missed it, here it is for you to enjoy and share with us!
#bobdylan #jacksonpollack #newcriticism #structuralism #coldwar #sovietunion #american #vietnam #elvispresley #jamesbaldwin #susansontag #hannaharendt #thebeatles #georgemartin #lioneltrilling #unesco #rolandbarthes #jojhnlennon #familyofman 4pulitzerprize #williamfaulkner #themetaphysicalclub #americanstudies #williamjames #newyorker #johndewey #charlessanderspeirce #oliverwendellhomesjr #pragmatism #unitedstates #nationalhumanitiewsmedal #barackobama #nationalendowmentforthehumanities #NEH #harvardlawschool #columbiauniversity #1950s #1960s #20thcentury #GeorgeKeenan #MartinLutherKingJr
Frank La Mendola on Sharing One's Passion: A Conversation with designer and Chef/Baker Frank La Mendola
Inside the Episode with Mitch Hampton
“As I will never tire of expressing, one of the many goals of this podcast is to feature guests who have had different lives and careers than your host.
Although I have always been intensely interested in men's fashion and menswear and our guest Frank La Mendola started out as, among other things, a fashion illustrator, his particular journey involved becoming both a designer of accessories for women, notably handbags as well as the world of food culture and catering in his capacities as a baker and chef.
These are worlds that are most interesting to me and with which I have had little involvement.
I loved hearing his stories on this episode, in particular the relatable way in which he talks about his many careers.
He is both a tireless, hard worker, and yet never loses humility and a positive outlook, qualities which we were fortunate to feature on this episode.
As he said on this episode, he has had many lifetimes in this one and I certainly enjoyed hearing about some of those on this episode.”
Frank's Bio
Frank La Mendola is a designer, artist and culinary arts instructor.
A native to New Jersey, and an avid designer, gardener, and cook; thanks to a lifelong passion for art, nature, and food!
After studying fashion and design, Frank spent over three decades designing handbags in New York City, where I resided for several years, while traveling the globe for business.
A few years ago, after moving back to New Jersey, Frank decided to follow his other passions which are gardening, cooking and baking, and then began teaching Culinary Arts at a private all girls’ high school in Northern New Jersey.
Sharing behind the scenes and how to instruction for everything that takes place in the kitchen and garden, allows me to create content for Celebrate 365, which is the perfect mix and use of my professional background as an artist, designer and teacher.
Whether I'm growing vegetables or trying out new recipes, sharing these experiences with family, friends and followers, is incredibly satisfying... and why I started blogging.
Links to Frank’s many beautiful works:
Website: https://www.365celebrate.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franklamendola/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@frank_lamendola Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/365celebrate You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF0WTbzQg7TeP0KWkYqZ5fQ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklamendola/
Mitch Hampton Jazz Trio Concert August 21st 2022, Bonus offering for you to enjoy and share with us!
Thank you to everyone who joined us last night, to all the musicians and our tech team!
In case you missed it, here was our concert and we hope you enjoy the music.
Your podcast host, Mitch Hampton is also professional concert pianist and composer, having scored many films with a prolific music career, so we share this as some bonus content!
#jazz #music #concert #livemusic Mitch Hampton
"Funky Friday 5" featuring neurodivergent activist, Eddie Abreau!
Hello listeners!
In case you missed it, here is our wonderful talk with the spectacular #EddieAbreau!
We cannot thank him enough for joining us on our recent "Funky Friday at 5", to speak about his activism for autistic and neurodivergence.
It was extra special for us as our host, Mitch Hampton was recently made aware of his own neurodivergence and they both explore in this talk, how creativity has inspired them forward in their journeys.
It was a truly joyful talk and Eddie is an absolute inspiration to us all. We hope he will be back again soon!
More about this very special event from your neurodivergent host, Mitch Hampton, here:
“I believe I first became aware of Eddie Abreu on the recommendation of one of our guests Stephanie Persephone.
I am most glad she put in touch with one another.
I was first of all impressed with his style of dress which makes him already a soul brother of sorts.
Only later did I realize his contributions to activism for autistic and neurodivergence more generally as well as his work as a tutor.
He is also highly erudite.
Even though we have not yet met in person and both have deep connections to New York City, one of the features of our Internet Age is that people can meet in all sorts of ways.
I very look forward to learning much from him and our conversation for the Funky Friday.”
On Art and Beauty: A Conversation with Wendy Steiner
"I have been reading Wendy Steiner since the publication of her 1996 book The Scandal Of Pleasure.
Imagine my astonishment that I actually got to speak with her on this podcast after so many years.
If I had to describe Wendy Steiner's contribution in arts and letters I would discuss her first as one of the very best public intellectuals.In her case, one who writes books for a general readership on the subjects closest to my heart. For her art and beauty are essential and very real things in the world, never abstractions or options that come after necessities.
The ways she weaves examples into her prose from both popular and non- commercial works and, above all, HOW she writes of them - with great erudition and wisdom - seems to me so rare in today's world.
And I look forward to her next book on beauty - even if I must wait a year.
Only recently did I discover that she is a part of the world of opera in writing librettos.I have been learning from her for decades and I hope you can feel my enthusiasm at being able to discuss my favorite subjects in the world with her in this dream come true episode."
Bio:
Wendy Steiner is the author or editor of fourteen books on aesthetics and cultural criticism, including The Scandal of Pleasure: Art in an Age of Fundamentalism (NY Times “100 Best Books of 1996”); Venus in Exile: The Rejection of Beauty in Twentieth-Century Art (2001); and The Real Real Thing: The Model in the Mirror of Art (2010). At the University of Pennsylvania, she was the Richard L. Fisher Professor of English and Founding Director of the Penn Humanities Forum (now the Wolf Center). A Guggenheim, ACLS, Bellagio, and NEH Fellow, Steiner received a NYSCA Individual Artist’s Grant for her photography-opera-hologram installation in the 2022 Venice Biennale, Upon Reflection: An Opera in Ten Images (composer, Frances White).
For the 2019 Biennale, Steiner co-designed Traces on the Farther Side (with Andrew Lucia), a “digital visualization” of an earlier composition by White. Steiner is the librettist of four operas with composer Paul Richards, two of which premiere in 2022: Mondo Novo, in the Vienna Summer Music Festival; and A Braided Light, commissioned by White Snake Projects in Boston.
Steiner lives in New York, where she is at work on a new book, “The Beauty of Choice: Aesthetics and the Agency of Women.”
Links to Wendy’s beautiful works:
Website: https://web.english.upenn.edu/~wsteiner/
Links to Wendy's Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Wendy-Steiner/e/B000APVXBA%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
A recent webinar about Wendy’s Venice Biennale project,
Upon Reflection: An Opera in Ten Images: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdrplK6Zkgk
"Book Lunch" Featuring Kei Hiruta's Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin: Freedom, Politics and Humanity”
Enjoy our recent "Book Lunch" featuring Kei Hiruta's masterpiece, “ Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin: Freedom, Politics and Humanity”.
Share it with us, leave a comment and thanks for being the best part of our show!
More on this “Book Lunch” from your host, Mitch Hampton
“Looked at as two individuals, both Isaiah Berlin and Hannah Arendt are, objectively speaking, two of the greatest thinkers in twentieth century thought.
Both were Jews who fled the two dominant totalitarian regime of the 20th century- Berlin fleeing Soviet Russia as a child to become a major figure in British political philosophy, Arendt fleeing Nazi Germany as a young woman to become a leading thinker in the United States.
Berlin single handedly developed the most influential idea of values pluralism in the middle of the 20th century.
Likewise, Hannah Arendt was a scholar who analyzed both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, helping clarify and solidify contemporary understandings of totalitarianism. And both were much more than these: Berlin had roots in Oxford philosophy and wrote on a wide array of topics, from Russia history to Machiavelli.
Hannah Arendt developed original ideas about what democracy actually means.
In Kei Hirta's one of a kind book, "Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin: Freedom, Politics and Humanity", it is revealed that these two figures were at odds during their lifetimes.
Though Berlin outright hated Hannah Arendt and Arendt more or less ignored and/or was aloof towards Berlin, this strained relationship is much more than an historical curiosity or gossip, but rather raises profound issues that continue today - issues concerning styles of philosophic thought, for example European versus Anglo-American, and beliefs about statecraft and public and private life.
Hirtua explores all of these issues in ways that taught me an enormous amount and will prove to be of lasting important in non-fiction on ideas and the history of political thought in the contemporary period."
Related Links:
aias.au.dk/aias-fellows/kei-hiruta/
www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-kei- hiruta
Funky Friday at 5, July 8th featuring special guest actress Quinn Lemley!
In case you missed it, enjoy our recent Funky Friday at 5 art talk, featuring special guest, Quinn Lemley!
More about the livestream here:
“There can be no doubt that the heat was on this past July 8th at 5 when we are joined by triple threat singer, dancer and actor Quinn Lemley, star of Rita Hayworth The Heat Is On!, Secrets of Broadway, From Burlesque to Broadway and much more.”
More about Quinn’s beautiful work, here: https://quinnlemley.com https://www.facebook.com/officialquinnlemley/videos/400471748691191
Happy Season 4 of Journey of an Aesthete Podcast and thank you all!
Listeners!
Today we celebrate with you SEASON 4 of our show!
We are SO grateful to you all for being on the journey with us and we are so excited to share what we have planned for this season.
In case you missed our celebratory livestream today featuring your podcast host, Mitch Hampton, here it is , full of surprises and a lively discussion about the arts, 1970s' ( Mitch is a 70's scholar) and Season 4 of our show.
Please listen, subscribe, share and leave a comment!
https://anchor.fm/mitch-hampton https://www.patreon.com/journeyofanae... https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast... http://www.audibletrial.com/Journeyof...
On Warhol and Fine Art: A Conversation with Blake Gopnik
Every guest on our show is wholly unique.
In the case of Blake Gopnik he might be most well known for a definitive and conprehensive biography of Andy Warhol. But one of the many things that goes into making such a good biography, of course is the learning, dedication and research of the author.Nowhere is this more than case than with Blake Gopnik.
He is so well versed in so many aspects of the arts and art history, in particular the category of fine arts, that at times I had to work to catch up with him.
That is the kind of thing we like to do on our podcast and I hope that whether you are longtime Warhol fan, novice or skeptic, and whatever your relationship to fine art, that you will enjoy this episode as much as we did concocting it.”
Blake Gopnik’s Biography
Blake Gopnik, Warhol, my comprehensive biography of the Pop artist, was published by Ecco at HarperCollins in 2020. I’ve been the staff art critic at the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post and Newsweek and am now a regular contributor to the New York Times.
I got my PhD in art history from Oxford University.
Links to Blake Gopnik’s Work
BlakeGopnik.com
Warholiana.com
Publisher’s page for Blake’s Warhol book (and its free endnotes) at HarperCollins.com/Warhol
Links to Blake's Socials
Twitter: @BlakeGopnik
Instagram:@Blake_Gopnik, Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/blake.gopnik
Our May 31st "Book Lunch" featuring author Laurie Verchomin and her masterpiece, The Big Love: Life and Death with Bill Evans"
We were so honored to have had as our guest for our recent May 31st "Book Lunch", featuring author Laurie Verchomin. We discussed her poetic and classic memoir, "The Big Love: Life And Death With Bill Evans", which in my view one of the best jazz books to have come out in a long time, in part for the individual uniqueness of the author's perspective.
We also discussed her spiritual journey and her artistic progress. I also wrote an original piano piece to thank Laurie called "Verchomin's Buddha Nature".
It was so special to have her on and we know you will love it !
https://anchor.fm/mitch-hampton https://www.patreon.com/journeyofanaesthete?fan_landing=true https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com/ http://www.audibletrial.com/JourneyofanAesthete New England Conservatory #music #jazz #composing #humanities #podcasts #audible #anchorfm #film #theatre #philosophy #filmtheory #filmarchives #spirituality #jazz #composition #literature #poetry #soundart #soundtracks #playwrighting #theatre #arts #travel #augustwilson #legacy #writing #philisophy #artsbroadcasting #books #audiobooks #creativity #artists #folkart #artisans #creation #spiritual #meditation #academics #filmarchives #travel #travelwriting #music #BillEvans #jazz #Buddhism #spirituality
Funky Friday at Five with special guest, artist Alexandra Carter, a deep dive discussion of the film, "The Lost Daughter" by Maggie Gyllenhaal
A little more about the livestream, here:
On this particular Funky Friday at 5 , special guest Alexandra Carter and I take the deepest dive into Maggie Gyllenhaal's remarkable film "The Lost Daughter" on Netflix, in my view one of the best films from last year.
Of course we are likely to discuss other things as well which we will leave to the spontaneity of the moment."
Enjoy a May Bonus Pop Up Livestream Art Talk!
Hi listeners!
Enjoy a May Bonus Pop Up Livestream Art Talk just for you! We deep dive into creativity, inspiration and how the arts unite us!
anchor.fm/mitch-hampton
www.patreon.com/journeyofanaesthete?fan_landing=true
www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com/
www.audibletrial.com/JourneyofanAesthete
New England Conservatory #music #jazz #composing #humanities #podcasts #audible #anchorfm #film #theatre #philosophy #filmtheory #filmarchives #spirituality #jazz #composition #literature #poetry #soundart #soundtracks #playwrighting #theatre #arts #travel #augustwilson #legacy #writing #philisophy #artsbroadcasting #books #audiobooks #creativity #artists #folkart #artisans #creation #spiritual #meditation #academics #filmarchives #travel #travelwriting #music
The Political Situation in 2022: A Conversation with journalist, activist and counselor Andy Heintz
One of the most unfortunate developments in the post internet age is the loss of town and local newspapers.
Our guest Andy Heintz is a veteran of that era.
One of the many advantages of localized journalism is what I personally was trained to report as first order of business back when I was a journalist in the 80s and 90s: the "big five" of who, what, where, how and why.
You start from basic facts about a school board, the water table, farm food production, the weather, elections and so on. After that you can interpret as much as you like, but there had to be a consensus concerning facts.
Our guest Andy Heintz learned the art of this type of reporting in the American Midwest. And like other reporters, he is still very much with us, even if this or that newspaper is not - making me hopeful that this necessary function in society can be rejuvenated.
Heintz is also a political activist and a drug counselor and I hope the fact that we got into all of these subjects will help the audience feel invigorated as to the function of basic journalism as well as whatever interpretations they will realize once in command of basic facts.
Close regular audiences of our podcast should realize that I don't love politics as a field as much as I do some other things yet it remains an indispensable, even relentless fact itself of all of our daily lives.
Andy's Bio
Andy Heintz is a freelance writer who covers human rights, democracy, women's rights, environmental issues, labor rights and cultural issues.
He is the author of Dissidents of the International Left.
His work has been published in progressive media outlets in the United States, South America, England India, Pakistan, Syria, France and Australia.
He his work has been featured in The Progressive, NACLA, Foreign Policy in Focus, New Politics, New Internationalist, CounterVortex, News International in Pakistan, Tikkun, The New Arab, Balkan Witness, Secularism is a Women's Issue and Democracy in Africa
Links to Andy’s beautiful works: