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Private Notes
“It’s almost like if Scorsese directed Hee Haw.” Richard Metzger interviews Julien Nitzberg, director of the amazing new documentary film, “The Wild Whites of West Virginia.” Shot over the course of eighteen months, the film follows the often comical, sometimes tragic antics of the hell-raising hillbilly White family of Boone County, WV. Surely the state’s most notorious clan since the days of the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Whites engage in a mind-blowing array of anti-social and criminal activities with barely concealed glee. Produced by “Jackass” maestros Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine through their Dickhouse production company and MTV Films, “The Wild Whites of West Virginia” takes no prisoners and it doesn’t tell you what to think about the Whites. Local law enforcement hate them, but for the most part—barring a several day armed seige one younger White puts them through—but tend to want to stay out of their insane shenanigans. When one of the Whites gives birth and then snorts up ground painkillers in her hospital room while her infant sleeps nearby, the camera was there, okay? It’s intimate! Unlike anything you are likely to see unless you live in Boone County, WV. An incredible documentary. Highly recommended.
Richard Metzger speaks with author and environmental activist Derrick Jensen via Skype from his home in Northern California. Derrick is the author of thirteen books including “Endgame” and “How Shall I Live My Life.” From the interview: “The industrial economy is killing the planet and we need to shut down the industrial economy using any means necessary because the most important thing is a living planet. The people who come after are not going to care if we voted, they are not going to care if we were violent or non-violent, they’re not going to care if we were nice people, they’re not going to care if we recycled. They’re not going to care if we wrote books or whether we did interview programs, what they are going to care about is the health of the planet. What they are going to care about is whether they can breathe the air and drink the water, because we can all have some great fantasy about how we want things to be in the future, but if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water, it doesn’t matter.”
What happens when a journalist runs afoul of shrill Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly and his marauding army of right wing viewers? Rick Perlstein found out when Newsweek published his think piece on Sarah Palin’s future in the Republican Party. Even before O’Reilly’s show ended that night, Rick’s inbox filled up with hateful and ignorant emails. Rick’s original piece is here and his post-Factor essay on the results is here. Rick Perlstein is the author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America.
Satirist, counter culture icon and all around iconoclast, Paul Krassner, author of the new collection, Who’s to Say What’s Obscene?: Politics, Culture, and Comedy in America Today. Topics include the definition of obscenity in today’s America, the Obama presidency and what it means for political satire, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show’s influence on younger people, the state of the “underground press” today and a lot more. Recorded at Mahalo Studios, special thanks to Jason Calacanis and Alex Miller. Cut live by Alex Miller and edited by Bradley Novicoff. Floor manager Darren Dodge. Produced by Bradley Novicoff and Tara McGinley
Richard Metzger interviews Ondi Timoner, two time Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning director of DiG! and the new doc We Live in Public about Josh Harris, “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.” A dotcom millionaire known for throwing wild parties, Harris had a desire for ever more elaborate social engineering events, culminating in Quiet: We Live in Public, a month long party held in December of 1999. Quiet saw more than 100 artists and weirdos under one roof in lower Manhattan in a Japanese style capsule hotel and captured the results with over 100 cameras. Nothing was off limits, not showers, not the bathroom, not sex, nothing. The participants also had to submit to fascistic psychological interrogations. Fun! After this, Harris and his girlfriend did a similar experiment which saw them webcasting their lives 24/7, ending the relationship and resulting in Harris’ nervous breakdown. Shot at Mahalo Studios, special thanks to Jason Calacanis and Alex Miller. Cut live by Alex Miller. Edited by Bradley Novicoff. Produced by Bradley Novicoff and Tara McGinley.
Richard Metzger interviews Joe Bageant, author of the (excellent!) book, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War. Joe offers insight into American redneck culture and tries to explain Birthers, tea baggers and how Republicans have become so infernally adept at convincing working class Americans to vote against their own self-interest, like now, with the health care debate. Do not miss this one. Furthermore do not miss Deer Hunting with Jesus, it’s essential reading if you want to understand the deeply ingrained psychological complexities that make up modern America, whether you are American yourself or not.
The Process was the apocalyptic shadow side of the flower-powered 60s and perhaps the most notorious cult of modern times. Timothy Wyllie was the first member and the art director of the cult’s magazine. The group’s apocalyptic theology brought on accusations of sinister conspiracies as scores of black-cloaked devotees swept the streets of London, NY, New Orleans and other cities selling magazines with titles likes Love, Fear, Sex and Death. Timothy Wyllie is the author of Love, Sex, Fear, Death published by Feral House.
(Part I) In which P&B announce the upcoming Firesign shows in LA (buy tickets here), Richard reveals himself to be a “baby of the Firesign Theatre” (it’s true!), Phil tells how the Firesign Theatre were the original computer hackers and we discover why Surrealism makes you smarter. As Peter says near the end, “You either never heard of us, or you have us memorized.” I fall into the latter camp and this one is for all my fellow Bozos on this Bus. I have done hundreds of interviews in my career and this one is in my top five favorites. Hopefully, schedules permitting, I’ll be speaking to all four Firesign Theatre members next month. Stayed tuned for Part II next week. (You can listen to David Ossman and Phil Austin on Air America recently here)
In which Philip, Peter and Richard discuss the upcoming Firesign Theatre shows in Los Angeles (buy tickets here), the future, conspiracy theories and why everything you know is wrong, the health care debate and why the birthers are actually right about one thing: Obama IS an alien (from outer space. Peter’s got the proof).
