Harry Mandel has been performing magic most of his life. Inspired by the Amazing Randi on Wonderama and Mark Wilson on his Magical Land of Alakazam back in the early days of kids television shows. Harry has always been intrigued by Carnival hucksters and pitchman, as well as the escape artistry of Harry Houdini. For more about his magical life, visit www.mandelmagic.com
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:23 — 22.6MB)
Franklin Rodriguez, aka Frank Rhodes, was born and raised in Washington Heights, here in NYC. Frank began with writing poetry, which he would later turn into songs while teaching himself how to play guitar. In the Summer of 2020, he released the electronic ballad “un poco.” Then in January of 2022, he began to record his debut album, “The Many Deaths and Life of Frank Rhodes.” Newly signed by the independent record label, Another Dream Records, he gives us an eclectic love letter of the genesis of something new and the unknown. Follow him @frankrhodesmusic
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:27 — 28.8MB)
Nadema Agard Winyan Luta (Woman Holy Red} is a Cherokee/Lakota/Powhatan artist, illustrator, curator, educator, lecturer, storyteller, writer, poet, published author, museum professional and consultant in Repatriation and Multicultural/Native American arts and cultures. She earned a B.S. Degree from N.Y.U. and M.A. in Art and Education from Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Her work spans more than four decades and includes multiple solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and guest curatorship’s nationally and internationally. See more of her work at www.nademaagard.com.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:10 — 28.5MB)
David Friend is an experimental musician living in New York City. A classically-trained pianist, he performs regularly with new music groups and as a soloist at major venues and DIY spaces throughout the city, across the country, and abroad. The New York Times describes him as ‘[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene.’
He has recorded for numerous labels, including his most recent release for solo piano and electronic processing, ‘Post-,’ for New Amsterdam Records; and with Third Coast Percussion for Cedille in an album that won the Grammy award for Best Chamber Music Performance.
He is a cofounder of Bent Duo, an interdisciplinary project with Bill Solomon, that frequently explores issues of queer identity, theory, and aesthetics through performance, multimedia work, and artistic collaborations. As a generative artist, his work often focuses on experimental queer traditions of availablism, aesthetics of extremity, and the disruption of traditional hierarchies between and among artists and the public. Learn more at www.davidfriendpiano.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:17 — 51.5MB)
James Bosley is the Founding and former Artistic Director of Up Theatre Company; which produced the word premiere of his plays All the Best Ingredients, Broad Channel, and Epic Poetry. His play Fun, was developed at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and premiered at MCC Theater, and has received many subsequent productions in the U.S and abroad. The film version of Fun, for which he wrote the screenplay, was shown in competition at Sundance, among other festivals, and was nominated for an IFP “Spirit Award.”
James’ plays have also been produced by The Williamstown Theatre Fringe Festival, The Ice Factory, and many others. He has been awarded residency fellowships from Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony and the Edward Albee Foundation. In addition, James was a member of the 2018 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Visit www.uptheatre.org to view James’ legacy and find out more about his past and upcoming work.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 24.6MB)
Sarah Seeds has appeared in TV Shows, Web series, Films, Off-Broadway plays, and national Voiceover campaigns. Sarah created and starred in the series, ‘Riding The D with Dr. Seeds,’ now distributed worldwide on PlexTV, and can be seen in the feature films, ‘THE MINT,’ and ‘AMERICAN FANGO’ on Amazon Prime. Sarah also filmed a principal role in the TV Pilot “After Life,” and played the female lead in the upcoming dramatic short, “Powerful Stuff.” She’s attached to the dystopian series, “The City of Children,” and the sci-fi feature, “The Madison Code.” She’s currently filming the dystopian sci-fi thriller, “Bathed in the Night,” (Written by Sarah herself and directed by Michael Pizzano!) in the lead role. She is on the SAG-AFTRA Board and is a member of the Television Academy. Keep up with her at www.sarahseeds.com
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:38 — 34.5MB)
Charlie Kirchen is a music-maker and theorist based in Inwood, NYC. He composes, improvise, plays bass, and lead bands. Roughly situated in the realm of “jazz/experimental music,” his music reflects an aesthetic and technique gained from study of the broad sweep of both jazz and western classical music, as well as immersion in American pop music of the past 50 years.
His compositions are made of a handful of notated themes which are related by subtle motivic and structural correspondences and linked together by passages of free improvision.
As a theorist, he is working on a dissertation at Columbia University which studies cases to theorize the nature of musical “influence,” drawing on ideas surrounding notions of creativity, embodied cognition, hybridity, craft, and aesthetics in the process. Find more of his music on bandcamp and follow @charliekirchen
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:14 — 40.5MB)
Rory Lutz is a born and raised New Yorker. He’s a comic, writer, and dad to a smaller and more well behaved version of himself. He is a believer in the human connection and helping each other…and that laughter really is the best medicine. Rory hosts comedy shows from his Uptown apartment is and venturing out to start a production company to bring consistent comedy to the neighborhood. Keep up with his comedy schedule on instagram @the_laughing_pad_
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:05 — 21.1MB)
Sanakori Ramos is a cultural keeper and spiritual leader of the Indigenous-Caribbean Tribal Nation, Arayeke Yuyayek. He has served on various Indigenous-Caribbean communities and non-profits for the past 25 years. He founded the NYC Indigenous Day of Remembrance event, NYC Indigenous Mobile Library and traveling cultural center, and Tainoradio.com. Sanakori is a Taino dancer and Powwow Fancy Dancer with years of cultural musical performances. He is also a NYS licensed Social Worker. Get involved with Sanakor by emailing him at TainoRadio1491@gmail.com.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:25 — 21.5MB)
Mary Illes has had a storied Broadway, touring and international acting career. Her Broadway performances include The Phantom of the Opera, The Music Man revival (with more than 80 performances as Marian, I might add), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Steel Pier, and She Loves Me.
Internationally, she was in the original Toronto company of Sunset Boulevard with Diahann Carroll, directed by Trevor Nunn, and she played the Gumbie Cat and Griddlebone in Cats/Paris in French, and Cats/Vienna in German.
Mary was also an original company member in the Anastasia 1st National Tour in 2019, where she understudied and performed the role of the Dowager Empress. Select Off Broadway credits include: Fidler Afn Dakh at National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, directed by acclaimed actor/director Joel Grey, Noel Cowards’ After the Ball at Irish Rep, and four shows for New York City Center’s Encore Series.
When not performing, she teaches voice in New York, and is a founding teacher for the Joffrey Ballet Summer Musical Theater Workshop. Check out her work at www.maryilles.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:39 — 32.6MB)