Bob Brier | Pyramids & Mummies

January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 
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Egyptology rocks! I had a great conversation with Bob Brier on the air about his book that details how the pyramid was built. Great book, and fun conversation. More about Bob Brier from Wikipedia:

Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Brier earned his bachelor’s degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York. From 1966 to 1970, he was on the research staff of the Institute of Parapsychology (formerly the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man), in Durham, North Carolina, where he worked on such books as Parapsychology Today and Test Your ESP. He earned his Ph.D in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970, and began teaching at Long Island University in 1972. He served as chairman of the philosophy department from 1981 to 1996, and has also served as the director of the National Endowment for the Humanities‘ “Egyptology Today” program. He was appointed Senior Research Fellow at C.W. Post Campus in 2004.

Brier has conducted research in mummification practices worldwide. He has investigated well-known mummies such as Tutankhamen, Ramses the Great, Vladimir Lenin, Eva Perón (more commonly known as Evita), and the Medici family.

In 1994, Brier and a colleague, Ronald Wade, director of the State Anatomy Board of Maryland, claimed to be the first people in 2,000 years to mummify a human cadaver using ancient Egyptian techniques. This research earned Brier the affectionate nickname “Mr. Mummy” and was also the subject of the National Geographic television special of the same name. He is also the host of several television programmes for the TLC Network including The Great Egyptians, Pyramids, Mummies and Tombs, and Mummy Detective. His research has been featured in Archaeology Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, 60 Minutes and 20/20.

In 1999, Brier gave a series of 48 specially-prepared lectures entitled “The History of Ancient Egypt” for The Teaching Company. Brier is a recipient of Long Island University’s David Newton award for Teaching Excellence[citation needed].

From March 24 to April 8, 2006 Brier, along with art historian Patricia Remler, led a group of participants on a tour of the oases of Western Egypt. This tour coincided with the March 29th solar eclipse.

In addition to his above mentioned research, Brier has also written several articles and books, including:

Posted by admin | Filed Under Art, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, History, PODCAST 

John Michael Greer | Energy Crisis

January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Interview with John Michael Greer [22:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fascinating discussion with Druid Environmentalist John Michael Greer just before Obama’s inauguration. More about John Michael Greer from his website:

John Michael Greer
The Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), John Michael Greer has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years, and is the author of some eighteen books, including “The Druidry Handbook” (Weiser, 2006) and “The Long Descent: A User’s Guide to the End of the Industrial Age” (New Society, 2008). He lives in Ashland, Oregon.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Health, History, Inspiration, PODCAST, Religion, Science, Spirituality 

Aaron Goldberg | Sound Authors Radio

January 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Interview with Aaron Goldberg [15:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I had the honor of speaking with Aaron Goldberg, New York City jazz musician. More about him from his website:

For the Boston-born, New York-based Aaron Goldberg, Worlds is an encyclopedic circumnavigation of his ever-evolving musicality, which began with piano lessons at the age of seven. In high school Aaron got hooked on jazz by Bob Sinicrope of Milton Academy and continued his pursuit with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, two master educators. “At first improvisation was a mystery and a puzzle, but soon it became a profound inner and outer journey as life and music entwined.” After receiving awards from Berklee School of Music and DownBeat, Aaron left at age 17 for NYC. At the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 1991 he had his first taste of jazz in the big city, and at school he met many of his current contemporaries and friends, including Omer Avital, Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Ali Jackson and others.

In 1992 he returned to Boston and enrolled at Harvard College. While at Harvard, Aaron worked with a wide variety of artists from nearby Berklee and beyond, and won the International Association of Jazz Educators’ prestigious Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship award as well as first place in National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search in 1993. Soon he was discovered by vocalist and first lady of jazz Betty Carter and was a founding member of her historic Jazz Ahead program. He continued to perform at clubs around both New York and Boston, often commuting in the wee hours, and it was not long before he met Rogers and Harland. Aaron graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1996 with a degree in History and Science and a concentration in Mind, Brain and Behavior. On the weekends he held a long-time residence at Wally’s Cafe in Boston, and the fall after graduation he moved to Brooklyn.

Aaron wasted no time in the Big Apple. He quickly established himself as a stellar sideman, performing with a vast array of leaders including Al Foster, Nicholas Payton, Stefon Harris, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Mark Turner, and others. In 1998 he joined the band of Joshua Redman, with whom he toured for 4 years and recorded two albums (Beyond, 2001 and Passage of Time, 2002).

Most recently, in addition to leading his telepathic trio Aaron has been touring and recording with young guitar guru Kurt Rosenwinkel. In 2005 he also toured South America with Madeleine Peyroux and spent 6 months performing with Wynton Marsalis in his quartet as well as with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Aaron’s long and impressive list of recorded credits includes work with a diverse spectrum of artists ranging from Guillermo Klein to Terry Gibbs/Buddy DeFranco, as well as with fellow leaders of the next generation including John Ellis, Jimmy Greene and Eli Degibri. In 2004, Aaron produced and performed in Jazz for America’s Future, a fundraising concert for John Kerry’s presidential campaign that also featured Savion Glover, Brad Mehldau, Michael Brecker, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride and others. He is currently the musical director of All Souls at Sundown, a jazz and poetry series at Manhattan’s All Souls Church. His first recording as a leader, Turning Point, was released on the J Curve imprint in 1999, followed by Unfolding in 2002. He’s also a member of the OAM Trio, which recorded Trilingual (1999) and Flow (2002) for the Fresh Sound/New Talent label, as well as two collaborations with saxophonist Mark Turner: an upcoming studio project and the acclaimed Live in Sevilla (2003) on Lola Records.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST 

Paul Lockhart | Baron de Steuben Biography

January 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Interview with Paul Lockhart [12:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I spoke with Paul Lockhart about Washington at Valley Forge and much more. Fascinating! More information about Paul Lockhart from his website:

Paul Douglas Lockhart has been teaching history at Wright State since 1989, when he completed his Ph.D. under the direction of the late Gunther E. Rothenberg.  Until very recently, his research has centered around the history of early modern Scandinavia, with an emphasis on the Danish monarchy before 1660.  He teaches courses on Scandinavian history, the “Age of Religious Wars,” warfare in European history, and a variety of other topics on early modern and modern Europe.

Dr. Lockhart has resided in Denmark as visiting lecturer at the Institut for Historie, Kultur og Samfundsbeskrivelse, Odense Universitet, in 1997, and was named National Endowment for the Humanities Visiting Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York/Potsdam College during the fall semester 2000.  He has held fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and the American-Scandinavian Foundation.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, History, PODCAST 

Amanda Foreman | Award-Winning Author

January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Interview with Amanda Foreman [17:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What a great honor to speak to award-winning author Amanda Foreman! Her memoir The Duchess was just made into a major motion picture called The Duchess, starring Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley. More about Amanda Foreman from her website:

Amanda Foreman is the author of the award-wining best-seller, ‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

She is the daughter of Carl Foreman, the oscar-winning screen writer of many film classics including,  The Bridge on the River Kwai, High Noon, and The Guns of Navarone.

She was born in London, brought up in Los Angeles, and educated in England. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University in New York.

She received her doctorate in Eighteenth-Century British History from Oxford University in 1998.

‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’ was a number one bestseller in England, and best-seller for many weeks in the United States.  It has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish. The book was nominated for several awards and won the Whitbread Prize for Best Biography in 1999.

Since the publication of “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire”, Amanda Foreman has worked as a presenter on English television and radio. She also writes regularly for newspapers and magazines in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’ has inspired a television documentary, a radio play starting Dame Judi Dench;  and a movie, titled ‘The Duchess’, staring Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes.

Amanda is currently living in New York with her husband and five children.

She has been working on her second book for the past eight years.  Called, ‘A World on Fire’ the book tells the remarkable story of the British men and women who volunteered their services during the American Civil War.
It is almost finished and will be published by Random House in 2009.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Fiction, History, Hollywood, PODCAST 

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