Andy's Treasure Trove

Andy interviews Rusty Frank, author of “Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars And Their Stories, 1900 to 1955.” Rusty interviewed over 30 tap dance legends for this book, including Shirley Temple, Ruby Keeler, Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, Gene Nelson, Donald O’Connor, Ann Miller, Fred Astaire’s choreographer Hermes Pan, and many, many others. It’s a deep dive into pop culture of the first half of the 20th Century, and a close-up view into a cherished American dance form that swept the globe and is still popular worldwide. In addition to being a writer, dance historian and preservationist, Rusty is an accomplished professional dancer and choreographer, specializing in tap and the Lindy Hop. She teaches dance online and at her school Lindy By the Sea. She produces dance shows, and she has a dance club called Rusty’s Rhythm Club in Los Angeles. Check out everything Rusty is doing at rustyfrank.com, and consider buying her book “Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars And Their Stories, 1900 to 1955," which has a foreward by Gregory Hines. Even if you’re not interested in tap dancing you’ll be fascinated and enlightened by the stories inside. See below for more information about the people that Rusty talks about in this episode. Above: Rusty Frank (center-left) teaching tap dance at UC Santa Cruz; with tap students including Tom Lehrer (right), 1976. Above: Rusty Frank and Andy Moore in El Segundo, California, 2021. Mentioned In This Episode: Rusty Frank Tom Lehrer Mary Holmes Charles Selberg Cindy Catlin Jon Zerby Katie Zerby Louis DaPron Miriam Nelson Gerald Nachman Shirley Temple Fayard Nicholas The Nicholas Brothers Leonard Reed Willie Bryant Frances Nealy Gene Nelson Toy and Wing Bill “Bojangles” Robinson DaCapo Press Peg Leg Bates Wayne Doba Rodney Price Six Feet – A Tap Trio Stepping Out The Lindy Hop Patti Meagher Walter Freeman Babes In Arms Dames At Sea 42nd Street <a...

What to do during the COVID era when it's too dangerous to interview someone in person? Get a bunch of your poet friends to read their poems to your listeners. I realized that I have at least ten friends who are poets, some of them highly celebrated poets, and I had already recorded some of them reading their poetry. Several other poet friends wrote new poetry for this show and sent their recordings to me. Most of the poets you’ll be hearing are from California, and I live in Arizona now where I know only two poets (so far) so I’ve also included several poets from this year’s Tucson Poetry Festival, which occurred a few weeks ago, on-line because of the COVID crisis. List of poets/poems: Neil Harvey – Zoom Word Jon Hammerbeck – Accidental Droppings David Hammerbeck – 4-3-20 Susan Thackrey – Selections from Andalusia: The Farewell / How do you…; Mourning in Al Andaluse / Alba; Walnut / Eyelid; The Moon / Look How… Ralph Jack (Ralph Gutlohn) – Acceptable Limits; Be Like Concrete; At The Bottom Of A Glance Ken Paul Rosenthal – Where Icarus Flew Kara Daddario Bown – Graceland; Safety in Numbers Waz Thomas – Falling Water; I Walk, I Stumble, I Fall; Susanville; No! William Pitt Root – Ways Water Has; Ode To A Frog Pam Uschuk – Green Flame; Cracking 100 Bojan Louis - Huzzle 8

Part 1 of a two-part program about the increasing use of consciousness-expanding substances, many of them illegal, for health and personal spiritual growth. People around the world are using these consciousness-expanding substances, also called psychedelics or hallucinogens, to treat conditions ranging from allergies and anxiety to alcoholism and addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other problems. Some people use these materials regularly in low doses to enhance their everyday life, or they may use them more occasionally in larger doses for a more profound experience. This is a topic that has gotten more attention these days, due in part to Michael Pollan’s recent book entitled How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, which includes accounts of his own personal experiments with LSD, psilocybin and DMT.I thought that now would be a good time to dig into my trove of recordings and play you some that I’ve made on the topic of psychedelic drugs over the years between 1976 when Timothy Leary came to speak at my college, and just a couple of weeks ago when I recorded an interview with a friend who was under the influence of LSD at the time.In this episode I’m going to start out by playing you part of a recording that I made in 1991 of a talk given by Terence McKenna at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco. Terence was a visionary explorer and writer, and a singularly engaging speaker. He wrote books like The Archaic Revival, Food of the Gods, and True Hallucinations, all of which I own and recommend. He also happened to have gone to high school with one of my best friends in San Francisco, so I’m lucky to have gotten to know Terry personally a little bit too, and I treasure a letter that he sent me a short while before he died.After Terence McKenna, we’re going to hear from Rick Doblin, the President of an organization called MAPS (which stands for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). Rick will talk about that organization’s work to bring currently illegal psychedelic materials into the light of science so that they can be studied properly and used to help people. You’ll hear Rick speaking to doctors, therapists, researchers and other members of MAPS at a MAPS conference in San Jose, CA in 2010, and then you’ll hear Rick in conversation with me, at MAPS’ former headquarters in Ben Lomond, CA, where I met him for the first time.In the next episode, episode 24, which is also available now, we’ll continue this psychedelic journey and you’ll hear my brief chat with psychologist Ralph Metzner, one of the early LSD research pioneers at Harvard University along with Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (aka Ram Das), Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil. Ralph talked with me just before going onstage at the New Living Expo in San Francisco in 2012. After that I’m going to play you a short bit of a recording of Timothy Leary lecturing at my college, UC San Diego, in 1976 or 1977, talking about psychedelic drugs, pleasure, and human destiny. After that we’ll hear Dr. Andrew Weil at that same MAPS conference in 2010, talking about how he cured some of his own allergies using LSD, and then we’ll listen to a personal conversation I had with Dr. Weil around 2012, about the mind-body connection and how consciousness-expanding substances can play a role in optimizing that connection. Finally, I’ll have a chat with a friend here in Tucson Arizona, who, as we talked, was under the influence of LSD. He tells about the subtle ways that it is influencing his perceptions and his engagement with his art-making.Please post your comments and reviews in <a...

This time my conversation is with Hugh King (also known as "Chopper King.") When I interviewed Hugh, it was at his and his wife Karen’s cavernous concrete home in Los Angeles about ten years ago. What I’ve selected from our conversation for this podcast has to do with three distinct parts of Hugh’s life that I find especially interesting: 1) His childhood pyromania; 2) The part Hugh played in the anti-war “GI Coffeehouse Movement” during the Vietnam War in the late 1960’s and 70’s; and 3) The emergence of Hugh's "Chopper King" character from the TV shows Biker Build-off and Motorcycle Mania.

This is my homage to my favorite band, Sparks, and the core of Sparks, brothers Ron &amp; Russell Mael. I speak to Tosh Berman of Tam Tam Books, who wrote a book about a history-making Sparks 21-album concert series in London and who published a book of Sparks song lyrics. I also chat with Eric Theise, an artist, musician and avid and articulate Sparks fan. Laurie Cohen, Director of the Mill Valley Philharmonic, shares her first impressions of Sparks music, and I mention something about each of Sparks' 25 albums from 1972 to the present, and play excerpts from some of my favorite tracks. The episode closes with "Part One" of my conversation with Ron and Russell Mael! There's a great podcast totally dedicated to Sparks called "All You Ever Think About Is Sparks" hosted by Christian Huey. It can be found at https://sparkspodcast.podbean.com if you'd like an even deeper dive into the music of Sparks. Check it out.

A salute to the pioneering comedy team of Bob &amp; Ray, featuring a new interview with Bob Elliott, many excerpts from Bob &amp; Ray recordings, and some recent appreciative comments by another comedy great Tom Lehrer. Host Andy Moore is “mighty grateful” to know Bob Elliott &amp; Tom Lehrer, and wishes he had met Ray Goulding. All Bob &amp; Ray recordings are available on Amazon.comKeywords for Episode 17: Bob &amp; Ray, Bob Elliott, Ray Goulding, Tom Lehrer, Wally Ballou, Boston, radio, WHDH, Fisherman’s News Service, Sunny Side Up, Robert Benchley, Kurt Vonnegut, Maine, Matinee with Bob &amp; Ray, Jack Headstrong, Grit, Smurge, Whiff, Einbinder Flypaper, NBC, Aunt Penny’s Sunlit Kitchen, Hard Luck Stories, The Word Wizard, Garish Summit, One Fella’s Family, Just Fancy Dan, the Barber of Hartsdale, Just Plain Bill, Mr. Treat, Chaser of Lost Persons, man on the street, Tippy the Wonder Dog, Tom Cook, The Gathering Dusk, Mary Backstayge Cast Party, Grand National Spelling Bee, Steven Wright, Seinfeld, Charles the Poet, Slow Talkers of America, Mary McGoon’s Recipe for Frozen Ginger Ale Salad, Chris Elliott, Abby Elliott, Two Rode West, David Pollock, Bob and Ray—Keener Than Most Persons, Amazon.com

Episode 15 begins with a mammoth roll of thunder recorded here in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. Then there&#8217;s a 2.5 min. interview with Becky Haycox (winner of the recent iPod contest) about the &#8220;science quilts&#8221; she is making in Ventura, California. After that we talk with Lorenzo Barrar, a 12-year-old jeweler and mycologist who has spent most of his life in a forest near Gualala, California. Lorenzo talks about his mushroom hunting and jewelry-making, and the rewards that close observation of nature provides (11 min.). Then the main event&#8212;my interview with singer/songwriter Candace Roberts, along with tuneful excerpts from her album Honeymoon for One (33 min.). The episode closes with some voicemail messages left by listeners on the Andy&#8217;s Treasure Trove Listener Call-in Line (415-508-4084). Please add your comments by calling that number and leaving a message for me or for the whole Treasure Trove audience. This is your opportunity for immortality! And please tell your friends about Andy&#8217;s Treasure Trove&#8212;a new contest is coming soon! Call the listener call-in line to leave a message for Andy and/or his audience: 415-508-4084 When you call, please say &#8220;This is [your name] and I&#8217;m on Andy&#8217;s Treasure Trove!&#8221; Listen &amp; Subscribe to this podcast (it&#8217;s free!) via iTunes: click HERE Also on GooglePlay: click HERE Explore Candace Roberts and her album Honeymoon for One at www.candaceroberts.com Keywords and links: Thunder, San Francisco, Becky Haycox, science quilts, Ventura, Lorenzo Barrar, mycology, mushrooms, marasmius mushroom, chanterelle mushroom, black trumpet mushroom, death trumpet mushroom, hedgehog mushroom, jewelry-making, antique jewelry, Gualala, CA, Roots Originals, Point Arena, CA, Candace Roberts, Honeymoon for One, Kazakhstan, Walton-on-Thames, England, Sarah Schulman.

Singer Richard Conrad is interviewed, and he reflects back on a career that got a big boost early on from opera superstar Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge when they asked him to record The Age of Bel Canto with them and Marilyn Horne in 1963. During our discussion he’ll talk about those days, and about Gilbert &amp; Sullivan, Noel Coward and many other notables in the music world. Richard also tells us a joke he told to Noel Coward that made Coward fall down laughing, and he tells about a hilarious men’s room encounter with none other than&#8230;Adlai Stevenson! I ask you, where else can you get this kind of programming? At the close of the episode, Andy reminds listeners to enter the drawing for a free iPod by calling 415-508-4084 and saying the secret word (found at 18 min., 20 sec. into Episode 12). Happy listening! Call the listener call-in line to leave a message for Andy and/or his audience: 415-508-4084 When you call, please say &#8220;This is [your name] and I&#8217;m on Andy&#8217;s Treasure Trove!&#8221; Listen &amp; Subscribe to this podcast (it&#8217;s free!) via iTunes: click HERE Also on GooglePlay: click HERE Keywords and links: Richard Conrad, Home, Sweet Home, Sir Henry Bishop, William Merrill, Joan Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, Marilyn Horne, The Age of Bel Canto, Hughes Cuenod, Angiol di Pace, Beatrice di Tenda, Daniel Pinkham, Noel Coward, Tom Lehrer, W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, Gilbert and Sullivan, Eleanor Steber, Adlai Stevenson, Vencenzo Bellni, Angiol di Pace (from Beatrice di Tenda), The Major General&#8217;s Song, The Pirates of Penzance. Selected Discography of Richard Conrad: London Records: Baroque and Bel Canto Opera Westminster-Music Guild: Baroque Sacred Cantatas Composers Recordings: 20th-century vocal music Telefunken: Handel Opera Northeastern Records: 20th-century vocal music MMO: Porgy and Bess, Can Can, Showboat Pearl Records: Songs and Ballads by Arthur Sullivan Newport Classic: Songs of Noel Coward Naxos: Vanessa Arsis: The Cask of Amontillado by Daniel Pinkham

http://www.andystreasuretrove.com/andystreasuretrove.com/Media/ATTSF%20Episode%20%2311%20Levelated.mp3.mp3 ()Episode 11 starts with two potential theme songs for Andy’s Treasure Trove submitted by listener and friend David Lisle, followed by Andy’s interview with British actor, writer and director Terence Davies. Born in 1945 in Liverpool, England, Terence Davies was the youngest of 10 children in a Catholic working-class family who suffered with an abusive father, bullies at school, the abuses of the Catholic Church and his own legendary self-loathing for being gay. After a shut-down adolescence he spent years as an accountant. He got into acting and then writing and filmmaking. His first 3 short films made in the 1980’s entitled Children, Madonna and Child, and Death and Transfiguration later became known as The Terence Davies Trilogy. They were semi-autobiographical glimpses into the harrowing life of torment experienced by Davies in post-WWII Liverpool. In his first feature film, 1988’s Distant Voices, Still Lives, the family again lives in the shadow of a monstrously abusive father, this time played by the great British character actor Pete Postlethwaite, whom Davies says is the only actor to play a member of his family who actually looked like the person they were portraying. Andy talks to Terence Davies about the 1992 film The Long Day Closes, a beautiful film centering on the favorite time of Davies’ childhood between the time his abusive father died and the family could relax a little, and the onset of his own highly fraught adolescence. They talk about several of his favorite cinematic techniques including his re-contextualizing of fragments of soundtracks from other movies, about the lost tradition of public singing in Britain, and of the chronic low self-esteem that haunts this great artist. Also about his new documentary/essay film about Liverpool entitled Of Time and the City, opening on Jan. 21 at Film Forum in NYC following a buzz-generating special screening at the Cannes film festival last year. Terence Davies is also being honored at New York’s Museum of Modern Art this week. In an article in the New York Times yesterday (Jan. 11th), Dennis Lim compared Terence Davies with the English singer Morrissey in that they have both made a beautiful body of work based on misery. Andy spoke to Terence Davies following a chance meeting at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley California. See keywords, links and a photo below: Keywords and Links: Andy’s Treasure Trove online store, http://www.andystreasuretrove.com/ (www.andystreasuretrove.com), Terence Davies, theme music, theme songs, David Lisle, The Great Hall of 100 Treasure Boxes, Liverpool, England, abusive father, Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration, The Terence Davies Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives, Pete Postlethwaite, Postlewaite, The Long Day Closes, The Neon Bible, The House of Mirth, Film Forum, Cannes Film Festival, New York Times, Dennis Lim, Morrissey, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California, Leigh McCormack, autobiographical films and plays, T.S. Eliott’s Four Quartets, Brueckner, depression, The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Meet Me In St. Louis, 20th Century Fox Fanfare, Randy Newman’s Uncle Alfred Newman, Nat King Cole, Stardust, cinematic look, technique, testing, light, texture, Anaglypta textured wallpaper, Christopher Hobbs, film editing, timing, A Shropshire Lad, George Butterworth, British Film Institute Fellow, public and private singing in Great Britain, popular music, lyrics, Cole Porter, vulgarization and decline of most artforms in the last 40 years, Rogers and Hart, Hammerstein, Hoagy Carmichael, Great Period of American Songwriting, Lorenz Hart, Of Time And The City, BBC, Listen With Mother, Williamson Square, Berceuse (lullaby) from The Dolly Suite by Gabriel Faure, Alchemy, Magic,

Episode 9 begins with a visit to San Francisco’s Mega Phone Bank for the Barack Obama campaign. We speak to the organizers and the volunteers. Then JoAnne Brasil tells us what astrology says about the month of November, and we close with another beautiful song by Janis Ian called Through the Years. Keywords and links for this episode: Barack Obama, Diebold, JoAnne Brasil, astrology, John McCain, Joe Biden, Janis Ian.

Episode #7 focuses on Gary Weimberg, the documentary filmmaker who, along with his partner Catherine Ryan, has created many insightful films and television programs, the newest of which is the documentary Soldiers of Conscience, about soldiers grappling with the moral issues of war. Soldiers of Conscience airs on PBS on Oct. 16. But first Gary talks about his encounters with major movie stars, directors and others who have mentored him along his filmmaking path. See photos of Gary and Andy below, under the keywords for this episode. Keywords and links for this episode: Gary Weimberg, Luna Productions, BART (Bay Area Regional Transit), Burt Lancaster, Lawrence Olivier, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, American Zoetrope, “Apocalypse Now,” “One From the Heart,” Anne Goursaud, Akira Kurosawa, Jenny Weyman-Cockell, Malcolm Forbes, hot air balloon, Great Sphinx of Giza, Catherine Ryan, “Maria’s Story,” Julie Christie, “The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez,” “Soldiers of Conscience,”

Episode #5 emphasizes astrology with JoAnne Brasil, writer and astrologer, telling us about the astrological charts of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, as well as her usual monthly report on what the stars are doing. Then we’ll hear two poems written and read by Ralph Jack (who plays the flute as well). This episode is about 20 minutes long. Keywords: Astrology, JoAnne Brasil, John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, Big Religion, US banking system, mortgage scandal, Cassiopeia, Orion, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Mercury retrograde, Halloween, Presidential Election, Ralph Jack, “Don’t Let Dogs Yawn,” “Your Day To Lollygag,”

Prepared in Santa Cruz, California while Andy is on a “working vacation” there, Episode #3 starts with a visit to the opening night party of the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival and an amusing encounter with filmmaker Harjant Gill, then to the Roxie Theater and a chat with Barbara Hammer at the premier of her new film “A Horse Is Not A Metaphor” about her recovery from cancer and how guided imagery of horses helped her recover. Next, we’ll talk to Stephen Kent Jusick about the plight of short experimental films, go on a Karaoke adventure with Jack, Valerie and Frank, and close with some ‘deep thoughts’ about responsibility. This episode is 22 minutes long. Please view the photos and video below, under the keywords for this episode. Enjoy! Keywords for this episode: Santa Cruz, California, San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Frameline32, Harjant Gill, Washington, DC, “Lot’s Wife,” Barbara Hammer, “A Horse Is Not A Metaphor,” wrinkles, alluvial fans, “Mommie Dearest,” Faye Dunaway, ovarian cancer, guided imagery, horse, Georgia O’Keefe, Stephen Kent Jusick, MIX: The New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Michael Snow, Michael Wallin, Karaoke, responsibility, Apple.