Episode #39
muMs the Schemer a.k.a. Craig Grant is a playwright, poet, actor and performer. Film and TV roles include: “Poet” in HBO’s ground breaking OZ, Chappelle Show, HBO’s Def Poetry (3 seasons), Boston Legal, Bamboozled, & Horace and Pete; member of the NYC LAByrinth Theater Company; writer performer, A Sucker Emcee and the play Paradox of the Urban Cliché; guest-starring role in the Netflix series Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Reggie; aka Squabbles.
Episode #38
Judith Regan has had a long and award-winning career as a book publisher, TV/film producer and television and radio talk show host. She is currently the CEO of Regan Arts. Published: Gregory Maguire’s WICKED, now a Broadway musical, Wally Lamb’s SHE’S COME UNDONE and I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, soon to be an HBO series, National Book Award nominee Jess Walter, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Moore, Khloe Kardashian, Ronda Rousey and hundreds more. Regan has hosted TV and radio shows for over two decades and she conducted the original 2006 O.J. Simpson interview that was shown for the first time on FOX TV’s ‘O.J. SIMPSON: THE LOST CONFESSION’ in March 2018.
Episode #37
Antony is the Co-CEO & Founder of Planet Home whose vision is to create a world where peoaple live in equilibrium with the planet: where each of us makes conscious decisions today to create a better tomorrow. Antony has deep expertise in multidisciplinary content and live event/concert/festival direction and production and has overseen multimedia events at the largest scale, working with artists: Jay Z, Beyoncé Knowles, Coldplay, The Weeknd and Rihanna as well as Fortune 500 brands and TV shows like the Grammys.
Episode #36
Comedian, writer, producer, actor appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Adult Swim and My Name is Earl; supporting roles in films with Arnold Schwarzenegger (End of Days), Eddie Murphy (The Adventures of Pluto Nash); directed four features which include Charlie Murphy-helmed Twisted Fortune and indie Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film!; writer for Marvel Comics, Vice, Salon; co-authored a screenplay with comics legend Stan Lee; comics created by Victor have appeared in The New Yorker and MAD Magazine.
Episode #35
Preston and Katha Cato are the Artistic Director and Executive Director of the Queens World Film Festival. With films coming from 87 nations, this ten-year-old festival screens and runs workshops at the Museum of the Moving Image and at the historic Kaufman Astoria Studios. Preston’s films have screened at venues and festivals like Anthology Film Archives, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and Lincoln Center. Katha is a MAC Award (Manhattan Association of Cabarets) winner for Best Comedy and has won two Backstage Magazine Bistro Awards for Best Director and Best Comedy.
Episode #34
Wally Green is a celebrity table tennis pro/entertainer and co founder of SPiN, New York's premiere social ping pong club. Wally grew up in the Marlboro Projects in Brooklyn, where gangs and violence were a huge part of his life. Today his life is completely changed by the sport of table tennis. He has represented the US in numerous International competitions across the globe including North Korea, where he was the only westerner who dared to participate! His very own historical "Ping Pong Diplomacy!” He is the only table tennis player featured in ESPN magazine, and is one of two main characters of an award winning documentary picked up by National Geographic titled 'The Tables”.
Episode #33
Sean Pica found himself in prison at the age of 16, staring down a 24-year sentence for murder. Young, shy, and ashamed of what he’d done, Sean kept his head down, stayed quiet, and just tried to survive one day at a time. Fast forward 30 years later, and Sean Pica has three college degrees (one of which is a master’s degree in social work) and he is now the executive director of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, an organization committed to providing life skills, college education, and re-entry support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women. His story is one of redemption, hope, and community.
Episode #32
Brent Morgan is an American singer songwriter musician who produces music for many YouTube celebrities and recently signed with Charlie Stettler, a producer known for his work with artists like Dr. Dre and Joseph “Run” Simmons of Run DMC. With a successful career writing jingles for many national brands, Brent has formed a craft of writing catchy melodies and hooks with ease and he now broadcasts his music daily on YouNow.com and is one of the top broadcasters on the platform. Brent is a rising new talent whose charisma and live streaming cred, and following, give him a leg up as his music career takes shape.
Episode #31
In the 1960s he exhorted students at Columbia University to burn their college to the ground. Sentenced to more than 12 years in Leavenworth Prison (where he earned 3 college degrees) and 4 decades later, he is head of the graduate screen and television writing program of Columbia’s School of Arts Film Division. Jamal was the youngest member of the “Panther 21” and one of the leaders of the NY Black Panther Party. His personal odyssey—from the streets of Harlem to Riker’s Island and Leavenworth to the halls of Columbia—is as gripping as it is inspiring. Jamal Joseph helps us understand what it meant to be a soldier inside the militant Black Panther movement and what it means today, in the era of #blacklivesmatter.
Episode #30
Abby Ellin is an award-winning journalist, podcaster, screenwriter, former NY Times columnist, and author. Her book,"Duped: Double Lives, False Identities and the Con Man I Almost Married," was published in January 2019. She's also the author of the book "Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help." Other than that: her greatest accomplishments have been learning he cello as an adult, summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro with a broken wrist (and her arm in a cast), and naming "Karamel Sutra" icecream for Ben and Jerry's.
Episode #29
NeverAgainTech is a cohort of 200 data scientists, policymakers, researchers, and business execs developing technological innovations to address the USA’s mass shooting epidemic; most recently exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the future of mass shootings. Shreya Nallapati is the 19-year-old Founder and Executive Director of NeverAgainTech, an organization using AI and machine learning to prevent mass shootings. Monte-Angel Richardson is a violence researcher and social worker at the University of New Mexico. She has partnered with NeverAgainTech to use data science and predictive analytics to provide solutions to the mass violence epidemic. Both of these young women are survivors of mass shootings.
Episode #28
Kathy has worked as a teacher, journalist, author and film and television producer in England, Africa and the United States. In 1998 she launched Creative Visions, inspired by the life of her son, Dan Eldon. Since 2004, the organization, recognized as a UN NGO (non-governmental organization), has impacted more than 100 million people. Kathy founded Creative Visions Productions to produce entertaining, impactful films that would ignite action. She is the author of 17 books, including her memoir "In the Heart of Life", published by HarperOne. A popular speaker, has been featured on countless television programs, including several appearances on Oprah.
Episode #27
Reverend Billy and his Earthalujah choir are in a daily fight with the imperialism of dreams that is marketed so brutally by corporations like Disney and continues with: Starbucks, Walmart and climate villains JPMorgan Chase and Monsanto. The good Reverend has been arrested over fifty times as he stages rituals and concerts inside these stores demanding change and action in 4 broad categories: Earth Justice, First Amendment & Neighborhood Defense, Stop Shopping, and Everything Else.
Episode #26
Entrepreneur, investor, Tony award winning producer (“Peter and the Star Catcher”, “Vanja, Sonja, Masha and Spike”); producer of CBS Radio’s “The It Factor” hosted by business partner Alycia Kaback; Co-Founder VIP Talent Connect, an national entertainment company; and Michael has worked with and booked superstar talent including Brandon Steiner, Riddick Bowe, Chris Copeland, and more.
#fearlessrebel
Episode #25
Producer/Director Marc Levin has won four Emmys, four duPont-Columbia awards, the Peabody Award, the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance & the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; most recently Marc directed
I Promise, chronicling the first year of the Akron public school created by LeBron James, & I Promise was selected to World Premiere at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; Marc also reunited with Bill Moyers on Rikers:
An American Jail, winning the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award for Media Advocacy; Levin & Mark Benjamin, also teamed up with Robert Redford & Paul Allen to Executive Produce the Animal Planet series Ocean Warriors, which won the 2017 Jackson Hole Wild Life Film Festival Award, for Best Limited Series.
Episode #24
Best known as "Boom Boom" Ray, is a former world champion boxer who held the WBA Lightweight title for two years and in 2015 was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. “Boom Boom” had classic matches with great fighters: Hector “Macho” Camacho, Livingston Bramble, Bobby Chacon, and Alexis Arguello (the Arguello fight was selected by ESPN and The Ring as one of the most spectacular fights of the 1980s). Ray is an actor and sports commentator and he proudly hails from the fighting town of Youngstown Ohio.
Episode #23
Ondi has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice for her documentaries, DIG! and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. Both films were acquired by MoMA NY’s permanent collection; currently she is completing a feature documentary about the opioid crisis titled COMING CLEAN; she created and produced the critically-acclaimed 10-hour nonfiction series JUNGLETOWN for Viceland; Ondi wrote, directed, produced and edited her first scripted film, MAPPLETHORPE, starring Matt Smith which won an audience award at nearly every festival it played, including Tribeca, and was distributed theatrically in 2019.
Episode #22
Award winning war photographer, writer, anthropologist Teun Voeten never shies away from covering global events at the height of their urgency: The wars in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Libya, Colombia. He also visited North Korea, the Arab Spring in Syria, the front lines with ISIS in Iraq. He was nearly killed by child soldiers in Sierra Leone. For 5 months, he lived with the underground homeless in Manhattan and wrote ‘Tunnel People.’ Last year, he obtained a PhD on Mexican Drug Violence. Teun continues to document and research social/cultural conflicts worldwide.
Episode #21
Perhaps best known as the co-founder of the Tetris Company,
Henk Rogers has dedicated the past
decade of his career to the research, development, and implementation
of renewable energy sources in his adopted home of Hawaii. He founded Blue Planet Foundation, which paved the way for the nation’s first 100% renewable energy mandate, and Blue Planet Energy, one of the leading providers of energy storage systems.
Episode #20
In 2019 Jodi landed the gig of her dreams performing with Pop Icon Cher on her “Here We Go Again” tour, rocking North America, Canada & Europe! She is a singer & dancer with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, recipient of 2 RIAA Gold Records; background singer for Miley Cyrus; headliner with US tour of Kidz Bop World Live & her vocal talent has landed her on “America’s Got Talent”, “The Martha Stewart Show”, “Good Morning America”, “LIVE! With Regis and Kelly” & at New York City’s Met Gala.
Episode #19
Independent Spirit Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor (SubUrbia); featured in the films Office Space, Pi, Bad Santa, Requiem for a Dream; guest star roles on: The Sopranos, The West Wing, Bored to Death; plays
with Theatre Complicite; and performs with the musical group, Bhom Shankar.
Episode #18
Environmental advocate, human rights lawyer currently known for leading an unrelenting (24 years & counting) legal battle against Chevron Corp. related to contamination of Ecuadorian rainforests. Donziger’s “herculean tenacity” is often credited with keeping the case on track for 18 years until his clients prevailed and won $9.5 billion in damages. Donziger is currently on house arrest, now for over 200 days, for a dubious contempt of court charge.
Episode #17
Winner ‘Best Actress’ African American Film Critics Association; nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series by NAACP Image Awards; star/feature in film and TV: American Violet, Bones, Sleepy Hollow, Black Mirror, The Good
Wife, Law & Order SVU and more!
Episode #16
“Shabaka” is an NAACP Image Award winner and most recently appeared in the hit Oscar-nominated film A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Starring TV Roles: CBS’s “Bob Hearts Abishola”, ABC’s Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Perhaps the biggest testament to Henley’s talent is his professional collaboration with Michael Mann on; “Ali”, “Collateral”, “Miami Vice” as well as HBO’s “Luck” with Dustin Hoffman.
Episode #15
An American criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio and TV commentator, notable clients include: Hells Angels, the Gambino Crime Family, Darrell Cabey, el Sayyid Mosair, QubilahShabazz and many more. Kuby is devoted to opposing the federal and state government as they come up with creative new ways to disproportionately punish people living outside of the law because of their political beliefs, race, class, immigration status, creative impulses and perceived deviance.
Episode #14
Tony Award Nominee for Actor in a Featured Role (Fences on Broadway); Winner Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Featured Performance; has appeared in five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Fences, Lincoln, Manchester by the Sea, Lady Bird and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
Episode #13
Founder Glass Eye Pix, writer/director of: Wendigo, Habit, Depraved, The Last Winter,
(in permanent collection of the MOMA) featured actor in: The Dead Don’t Die, The Brave One, Broken Flowers, I Sell The Dead; winner of the Independent Spirit Award ‘Someone to Watch Award’; winner SlamdanceSpecial Jury Mention for best Performance; inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame.
Episode #3
Billy is an American writer, actor, and film director. He is best known for his autobiographical book Midnight Express about his experiences in and escape from a Turkish prison after being convicted of smuggling hashish. The film stars Brad Davis and was directed by Alan Parker with a screenplay by Oliver Stone. Hayes tells his version of the full story about being sent to the infamous Turkish Sağmalcilar prison, eventually escaping from the Marmara Sea prison on Imrali island.
Episode #11
Tony Award for ‘Actress in a Musical’ in Broadway’s Me and My Girl. Also featured/starring roles in film & TV: Brooklyn Lobster, Little Women,
House of Cards, The Gabriels, MAD, Manifest, The Good Wife, Blue Valentine, The Squid and the Whale and much more.
Episode #10
Special Assignment Scout for the New England Patriots (Super Bowl winning season), tight ends coach St. Louis Rams, assistant head coach, tight ends Coach Boston College, 36 years in college/pro coaching, super soulful
recruiter and mentor.
Episode #9
Drama Desk Award Nominee, Agnes Gund’s prestigious Art for Justice Fund recipient, featured in Ava Duvernay’s, “The 13th”, consultant on Bill Moyer’s doc, “Rikers”, critically acclaimed performer and writer of the one woman show “The Peculiar Patriot”.
Episode #8
Lower East Side outlaw artist, rebel, photographer, infamous documentarist of riots, anarchists, squatters, graffiti and tattoo artists, skaters, poets, punks, leathered rock’n’rollers, skinheads, Santeria priests and the ignored, abused, and broken.
Episode #7
Chad is an American actress best known for her voice-over work on Adit’s Swim’s Robot Chicken series, where she performs the voices of celebrities. in addition to appearing the hit Fox series House, M.D., Morgan has appeared on television series including The Guardian, Cold Case, Family Guy and all three shows in the CSI franchise. She had a recurring role on the series The District throughout its four-year run, and has appeared in feature films, most notably playing a role in the Pearl Harbor.
Episode #6
Actor/Producer known for: The Taking of Pelham 123, Edge of Darkness, The Savages, and on TV; The Wire, The Deuce, Nurse Jackie, Damages, The Good Wife; also Broadway's To Kill a Mockingbird; and Winner American Black Film Festival ‘Audience Award’; founder of Liberated People, a socially conscious activist clothing brand.
Episode #5
Keith Shocklee AKA Wizard K-Jee: Inductee Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and National Museum of African American History and Culture; founding member Public Enemy; named by Rolling Stone Magazine “one of the greatest producers in hip hop.”
Episode #4
Sundance Grand Jury prize winner and the Camera d'Or at Cannes, Stratton also recently directed and executive produced the doc series: “Gotti: Godfather and Son”. From the mid-60s to the early-80s Stratton moved thousands of pounds of weed and hashish by boat and plane over international waters and he quickly became known as a leader in the "Hippie Mafia" and as one of the country's largest importers of top-notch hash and bud. He ultimately spent 9 years in federal prison for transporting this harmless plant.
Episode #3
In 2010 Lin found herself in the blockbuster hit “Insidious” directed by James Wan, which led to “Insidious Chapter 2, “Insidious: Chapter 3,” and the blockbuster hit "Insidious: The Last Key" in which she now had become according to James Wan: “the name of the franchise.” Shaye has a solid resume in television as well with guest appearances which include "American Gothic", and "Still the King" on CMT. She will next have a recurring role in Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful” series.
Episode #2
In 2010 Lin found herself in the blockbuster hit “Insidious” directed by James Wan, which led to “Insidious Chapter 2, “Insidious: Chapter 3,” and the blockbuster hit "Insidious: The Last Key" in which she now had become according to James Wan: “the name of the franchise.” Shaye has a solid resume in television as well with guest appearances which include "American Gothic", and "Still the King" on CMT. She will next have a recurring role in Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful” series.
Episode #1
Jay O. Sanders most recently appeared at the Public Theater in a trilogy of new plays written and directed by Richard Nelson called The Gabriels; Election Year in the Life of One Family. A passionate Shakespearian, Sanders has been seen in King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others, as well as portraying George W. Bush in David Hare’s Stuff Happens at the Public and Alfred Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Roundabout on Broadway. His long list of film credits includes JFK, The Day After Tomorrow, Glory, Tumbleweeds, Half Nelson, Edge of Darkness, and Revolutionary Road. Recent Television includes Sneaky Pete, True Detective, Blindspot, The Good Wife, American Odyssey, and Person of Interest.