Bob Gruen
Bob Gruen was friends with John and Yoko almost from the moment they arrived in New York City in 1971. Gruen, who has photographed Tina Turner, Joe Strummer, Green Day, and Ozzy Osborn, among dozens of other bands, has perhaps the most complete record of John’s time in New York. He took the two iconic photos of John Lennon from this period: the New York City t-shirt photo, and John in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Download the MP3 here or listen below.
Each podcast will consist of slightly edited interviews conducted for the film American Masters LENNONYC introduced by Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer of American Masters and a producer of LENNONYC and Michael Epstein, director/writer of LENNONYC. New “episodes” will post weekly every Thursday until the Thursday after broadcast on November 22. The final episode will be a question and answer session using the best questions submitted by users via email at lennonycpodcasts@thirteen.org. The content will be available here on the American Masters Web site and iTunes. Users can check back in these locations or subscribe to keep up to date with the newest episodes.
Slated to appear on later podcasts are Bob Gruen, personal friend and Lennon photographer, Jim Keltner, drums on various Lennon/Ono albums, Elton John, musician, and Yoko Ono, multi-media artist and peace activist.
January 22, 2012
Bob Gruen | American Master | mp3
other good drummers| Jim Keltner
September 23rd, 2010LENNONYC: Beyond BroadcastEpisode 3: Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner is one of the world’s most beloved session drummers. A true talent, he contributed to the solo recordings of three out of the four Beatles, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman, Arlo Guthrie, Harry Nilsson, Bonnie Raitt, Yoko Ono and many more. Over the course of a decade, Keltner and Lennon established a close friendship, playing together on six of Lennon’s albums. In this interview Keltner gives us perspective on Lennon as a person and as an artist.
Download the MP3 here or listen below.
Each podcast will consist of slightly edited interviews conducted for the film American Masters LENNONYC introduced by Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer of American Masters and a producer of LENNONYC and Michael Epstein, director/writer of LENNONYC. New “episodes” will post weekly every Thursday until the Thursday after broadcast on November 22. The final episode will be a question and answer session using the best questions submitted by users via email at lennonycpodcasts@thirteen.org. The content will be available here on the American Masters Web site and iTunes. Users can check back in these locations or subscribe to keep up to date with the newest episodes.
Dr. Angela Davis Black Power| video
Dr. Angela Davis Reflects on the Black Power Movement
Earlier this month, Independent Lens launched a slate of films celebrating Black History at the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles. While at the event, the series teamed up with PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan to interview many of the filmmakers and subjects. Watch an excerpt below of Sreenivasan’s conversation with Dr. Angela Davis, profiled in Göran Hugo Olsson’s The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975 which premieres on PBS on February 9.
Stay tuned for more of Hari’s conversations in the weeks to come!
OFF THE CHARTS . The Film . Poets & Musicians | PBS
Meet the some of the song-poets featured in the film and the musicians who set their lyrics to music.
Listen to the audio clips below using RealPlayer. Download RealPlayer.
Name: Caglar (pronounced Sha-lar) Juan Singletary
Hometown: Elmira, NY, home of Mark Twain and birthplace of Tommy Hilfiger
Songs include: "Annie Oakley," "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers," "Bruce Lee's Daughter"
Alter ego: "Captain Bicycle"
Favorite lyrics:
"I have taken a vow of celibacy until marriage
But if Annie was to tempt me into her carriage
I might lose to Miss Oakley - it's not funny
Annie is one of my historical honeys."
Listen to a clip of the song "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers"
Name: Gary Forney
Hometown: Lives in Avoca, IA with his wife Bonnie, son Josh and daughter Laura
Songs include: "Caravan," "Three Eyed Boy," "Chicken Insurrection"
Favorite lyrics:
"What are we doing here, where are we going to
Caravan
Tell me if you can, what is the big plan
Everywhere we go everyone we know seems to be Insane."
Name: Art Kaufman, a.k.a. David Fox
Hometown: Lives in Cedar City, UT with his wife and two daughters
Songs include: Thousands of song-poems. Art has been writing music for song-poems for 25 years.
Songs featured in film: "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers," "Caravan," "Annie Oakley," "The Thing"
Craziest song he ever received: His first in the business, "Masakay Demoken," a freestyle seemingly nonsensical rant against all that we hold sacred; lyrics include - "The fat man walks, the gypsy laughs behind him, the wicked evil tomato head derides ..."
Name: Gene Merlino, a.k.a. Gene Marshall, "King of the Demo Singers"
Hometown: Born in San Francisco; has lived in Los Angeles since the mid-1950s working as a session musician and vocal coach.
Fun Fact: Winner of a Best Vocal Group Grammy in 1966 for his participation with the Anita Kerr Singers and their song "Michelle."
Songs Featured in Film:
"I am a Ginseng Digger," "The 23rd Channel," "Jimmy Carter Says Yes!" and "Out in the Woods."
