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,

Come along with Andy and his friend Brooks Collins of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) as they search the hills near San Francisco International Airport for the wreckage of Flying Tiger Airlines flight 282, which crashed there in 1964, right near the spot where Gaspar de Portola's 1769 expedition became the first Europeans to behold San Francisco Bay. Brooks is a great conversationalist and he’s knowledgeable in an astonishing number of topics, so our conversation ranges from air wreck adventuring and archeology to particle physics, mirages, Nike missile bases, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, tunnel boring, raptors, and many other topics. Andy, as usual, asks a lot of questions and makes quirky attempts to be amusing. Check-six.com page for this crash: http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Flying_Tiger_282.htm Lockheed Constellation: Wreckage from flight 282: Brooks Collins:

What to do during the COVID era when it's problematic interviewing 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

In the last episode, number 23, we heard from visionary ethnobotanist, mystic and writer Terence McKenna, and from Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Science. This episode, number 24, is a continuation on the same topic, the increasing use of consciousness-expanding substances, also called psychedelics or hallucinogens, for health and personal growth. People around the world are using LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and a whole range of other psychedelic substances to treat conditions ranging from allergies and anxiety to substance abuse and alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other problems. Some people use these substances in tiny doses to enhance their everyday life, work, and play. Some use them in higher doses for more profound experiences. This topic has been getting 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 Cons

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 rec

Come along with me on a personal tour of the Writers Guild Foundation's Shavelson-Webb Library, the only library in the world focused entirely on screenwriting. Our guide will be Head Librarian Karen Pedersen. This library is a Los Angeles institution, stocked with printed matter that is literally “the stuff that Hollywood dreams are made of,” and it hosts many public events with screenwriters. My sincere thanks to Karen for her generosity in letting us know all about this important library. She’s a consummate professional, and a smart, thoughtful, delightful person to know. And speaking of smart, thoughtful, delightful people, I’m asking you smart, thoughtful and delightful people to please help me out by sharing my podcast online, and by leaving comments on iTunes and on this website. Also feel free to peruse my videos on YouTube. Thank you very, very much!

An interview with Hugh King (also known as "Chopper King.") 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 near Fort Dix, New Jersey; and 3) The emergence of Hugh's "Chopper King" character from the TV shows Biker Build-off and Motorcycle Mania. This episode is 35 minutes long. Here's Hugh in 2019 at the controls of a deactivated Titan II missile in its silo outside Tucson Arizona. Please leave a review of my show on iTunes!

This episode of Andy’s Treasure Trove features two great fans of my podcast, Peter and Kath Hart of London. When my family and I were in London a few years ago, we spent a very pleasant day with them, I presented them with some Andy’s Treasure Trove t-shirts, and recorded a short interview with Peter about things that he had mentioned during the day, including stories about his grandfather’s experiences in the British film industry, and the small village of South Ascot where he grew up. He also tells us about some British condiments that you might want to seek out and try. Kath chimes in at the end, and we parted company with warmth in our hearts and some insights into England that only real Brits could provide. Photo by Jack Walsh Keywords and links for Episode 20: It Ain't Half Hot Mum, The Ladykillers, Whiskey Galore, Lavender Hill Mob, London Belongs To Me, In Which We Serve, Austin 12 motorcar, Alan Ladd, South Ascot, Sgt. Adams, Scrumping, Gavin Fairfax Ltd., Walton-on-Thame

This is my homage to my favorite band, Sparks, and the core of Sparks, brothers Ron & 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 the music of Sparks called "All You Ever Think About Is Sparks" that can be found at https://sparkspodcast.podbean.com if you'd like an even deeper dive into the music of Sparks. Check it out!

Interviews from the April 30, 2016 "Join the Green Rush" cannabis job fair in San Francisco, plus an interview with Mario Furloni about his and Kate McLean's documentary Pot Country and the feature film, Freeland, that it inspired.

A salute to the pioneering comedy team of Bob & Ray, featuring a new interview with Bob Elliott, many excerpts from Bob & Ray recordings, and some recent appreciative comments by another comedy great Tom Lehrer. Host Andy Moore is “mighty grateful” to know Bob Elliott & Tom Lehrer, and wishes he had met Ray Goulding. All Bob & Ray recordings are available on Amazon.com. Call the listener call-in line to leave a message for Andy and/or his audience: 415-508-4084 When you call, please say “This is [your name] and I’m on Andy’s Treasure Trove!” Listen & Subscribe to this podcast (it’s free!) via iTunes: click HERE Also GooglePlay: click HERE Keywords for Episode 17: Bob & 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 & Ray, Jack Headstrong, Grit, Smurge, Whiff, Einbinder Flypaper, NBC, Aunt Penny’s Sunlit Kitchen, Hard Luck Stories, The Word Wizard, Gari

Episode 16 features an interview from 2009 with the noted writer Sarah Schulman, the author of After Dolores, Shimmer, People in Trouble, Rat Bohemia, Stagestruck, and many others. Andy chats with Sarah about, among other things, her keen interest in Wilhelm Reich, her self-admitted graphomania, the film festival she co-directs every year in New York with Jim Hubbard, and the documentary that she and Jim made about the activist organization ACTUP called United in Anger, a History of Act Up. Appearing in some of Sarah’s anecdotes are Woody Allen, Richard Nixon, James Baldwin and Alexander Kerensky. Who was Alexander Kerensky? Listen and find out. Call the listener call-in line to leave a message for Andy and/or his audience: 415-508-4084 When you call, please say “This is [your name] and I’m on Andy’s Treasure Trove!” Listen & Subscribe to this podcast (it’s free!) via iTunes: click HERE Also GooglePlay: click HERE Keywords and links: Sarah Schulman, After Dolores, Shimmer, Peopl

Episode 15 begins with a mammoth roll of thunder recorded here in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. Then there’s a 2.5 min. interview with Becky Haycox (winner of the recent iPod contest) about the “science quilts” 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—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’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

Episode 14 is a very short episode. We’re going to hear from Orson Welles as he struggles to record some TV commercials. But first I will announce the winner of the contest for the Apple iPod that was based on the name of Manny Roth’s home-made bread from Episode 12. Remember fartbread? The Orson Welles recording was sent to me by a listener who got it from a friend. You may laugh, you may cry, but you’ll never forget Orson’s sonorous intonations about peas, beef and cod. And now, imagine that you are a fly on the wall of a recording studio where filmmaking genius Orson Welles is recording narration for TV commercials, and not having a very easy time of it…

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 & 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…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 “This is [your name] and I’m on Andy’s Tre

Episode 12 starts with music from the new album Honeymoon for One by Candace Roberts. Then Andy interviews Manny Roth, who ran the famous Cafe Wha? in New York City, presenting up-and-coming entertainers like Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, Peter, Paul & Mary, Richard Pryor, Jimi Hendrix and many others. Manny tells us about his childhood in Indiana, his stint as a flyer and as a USO show coordinator in WWII, and then about his arrival in Greenwich Village and the start of his cafe and night club empire. This episode has a contest/drawing, and the prize is a brand new Apple iPod Shuffle (I know I say “Nano” in the show but it’s only a Shuffle). Andy’s listener call-in phone line — for comments, questions, contest entries and your audio contributions to the show: Call 415-508-4084 Cafe Wha? Photos by Michael Zucker Keywords and Links: Candace Roberts, Honeymoon for One, Manny Roth, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Jimi Hendrix, Kiev, Russia, Vilna, Poland, Newcastl

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

Episode 10 is dedicated to Andy's favorite film festival in San Francisco, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. You’ll hear his conversations with noted film critic and TV personality Leonard Maltin of Entertainment Tonight fame. There's a conversation with Suzanne Lloyd, the Granddaughter of cinematic genius Harold Lloyd. Andy chats and chews with Canadian director Guy Maddin, and talks to pipe organ wizards Edward Stout and Clark Wilson. You'll hear live performances of the musical scores from some of the films at the Festival, just as they were intended to be performed back in the late 1920’s when the silent film era was at its zenith. You'll also hear lots of laughter from the 2,000 people at the festival. Add in a couple of impromptu lobby discussions with other festival-goers, and you've got a great podcast episode! Enjoy! Keywords and links for this episode: San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Castro Theatre, silent films, live music, Wurlitzer theater pipe organs, Leonard

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 #8 begins with the announcement of our very first contest! Then we talk to John Killacky of the San Francisco Foundation about his new documentary concert film Janis Ian, Live From Grand Center, and a lot about Janis Ian herself. We’ll also learn about two other projects of John’s: a film about 541 Broadway in New York, a nexus of postmodern dance history, and John’s new passion for Shetland pony showing and pony cart driving. Then we’ll hear Janis Ian herself singing We’re Married in London, her wry take on marriage inequality, accompanied by her own great guitar playing and much laughter from the live audience. Please scroll down to view the photos of Janis Ian and John Killacky, and to find links to videos of John’s life as a pony handler. Keywords and links for this episode: John Killacky, San Francisco Foundation, Janis Ian, “Janis Ian, Live From Grand Center” , “At Seventeen” , “At 17” , “Society’s Child” , “Jesse” , Roberta Flack, Shadow Morton, Leonard Bernstein, “Ins