On today's show, Sun Ra Arkestra guitarist DM Hotep. Philadelphia-born DM Hotep has been a part of the Sun Ra Arkestra for over 25 years. The musical group was originally formed in the 1950s by the keyboardist known as Sun Ra. Ra's all-encompassing imagination claimed his origins were from the planet Saturn, and with light shows, flamboyant costumes and group chants and a musical palette elaborately versed in both the earthly and celestial, the Arkestra were forerunners of the concept of “Afrofuturism,” contributing to the African diaspora's interaction with culture, technology, astronomy and sci-fi themes. “Space is the Place” was one of Sun Ra's main credos, with interstellar exploration and space reoccurring as a regular motif. Sun Ra's band the Arkestra has continued on since his passing in 1993, today led by the 101 year old longtime Arkestra saxophonist Marshall Allen. We talk to DM about his fascination with the guitar, how he got pulled into the reestablished Arkestra's orbit and how he found his musical place amongst the sometimes 20-plus conglomeration. DM's musical adventures go beyond the Arkestra, he also performs and records with his partner, Arkestra vocalist Tara Middleton in Jupiter Blue, in Kevin Diehl's collaborative Airlft while also curating the residency of Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, regularly bringing brave musicians from around the world to perform and be conducted by the legendary Marshall Allen. We'll hear samples of DM's work, including some of his film scoring, throughout the conversation. We also discuss DM's upcoming performance at The Rotunda in Philadelphia, 4014 Walnut Street. At 7pm on Thursday July 10th, DM will be perform a solo ambient set, followed by a screening of Jerome Bixby's THE MAN FROM EARTH, a speculative sci-fi feature, presented by Bright Bulb Screenings.

On today's show, the pianist and composer, Digba Ogunbiyi. Digba is originally from Lagos, Nigeria and came to the states to pursue his dream of a career playing jazz piano. His diligence has earned him a doctorate in musical studies and a position at Syracuse University as an instructor of jazz piano. Digba currently resides in Philadelphia, where a chance meeting at a neighborhood cafe led to our discussion  presented here.  Digba's story makes for an unusually moving episode of Fun 2 Know, telling of how his love for piano led him to jazz music, a genre that does not have much of a following in his native Nigeria. This led to his journey to the U.S., where his talent was recognized and nurtured.  Talking to Digba and listening to his music reinforces the suspicion that him and his talent are on the cusp of big things.    Stick around for the end to hear info on Digba's upcoming gigs, including one at Philly's Chris' Jazz Cafe in July.

On today's show, the saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis joins us for a spirited conversation. James Brandon Lewis has become a prominent figure in the world of modern creative music, showing himself to be prolific both as a band leader and as a player on a number of others' projects, building a thrilling body of work, and personally, some of the most-played in my collection over the past five years. His album 2021 release JESUP WAGON with the Red Lily Quintet, a tribute to George Washington Carver seemed to heighten interest in Lewis, winning the Downbeat album poll and his 2023 release FOR MAHALIA, WITH LOVE would win the Best Album from the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. He has also recorded with his own trios and in collaboration with the D.C. rock group The Messthetics, all showing a different side of his musical personality and talent. In early June I met with James at 8:30 am, the morning after his sold out gig at Solar Myth in Philadelphia. The conversation came easy, we talked about his family and his roots in Buffalo, we talked about his extensive schooling, which took James from Buffalo to D.C., to Colorado and Los Angeles, and finally to New York City, with James just recently receiving his doctorate. We discuss his pursuit of his own sound, the community of family, musicians and teachers that inspired and supported him along the way, the film “Mr. Holland's Opus,” audience assumptions, where he's heading next and how he sees his place in the jazz firmament.

On today's show, it's the Baltimore-based pianist, composer, and bandleader Lafayette Gilchrist. Lafayette is an extravagantly-gifted instrumentalist and composer, the type of pianist often described as a “two-handed player” for the strong rhythms of his left hand and his nimble melodicism of his right. His deep understanding of the music's history find him schooled in piano styles that go back at least a century, as well as having a modern spirit that places him in conversation with the piano's contemporary improvising explorers. Born in D.C., Lafayette could be seen as an example of great tradition of the area's musical talent, players that had to be versed in the ideas and the styles of the North while containing the soulful feel of Southern sounds. Since his debut THE ART IS LIFE from 1993, Lafayette has produced over a dozen releases, playing solo, in duos, in trios and with often his septet, The New Volcanoes. He has also toured and recorded with saxophone legend David Murray and his music is heard in the HBO series', THE WIRE, THE DEUCE and TREME. His most-recent release UNDAUNTED drew wider attention to Lafayette's talent, and when I met up with him it early August in was just before a sold out show appearing at Chris Jazz Cafe in Philly. We talk about Lafayette discovery of the piano, finding mentors in area jazz greats Grachan Moncur III and saxophonist Carl Grubbs. We talk about records that inspired him, his philosophy in leading a band, his musical work with children and even our mutual love of cats. Lafayette was gracious enough to conclude the interview post-gig, so we'll get a rare pre-and-post gig conversation on this latest episode.

Here's the part where I give a brief introduction to this episode's guest, something particularly difficult with a guest as extravagantly talented as Steven Erdman. He might be best described as a one-man production company, having skills as a graphic artists with hand-illustrating skills, a songwriter and producer, an animator and filmmaker, and set designer and creator and over the last thirty odd years has worked on projects at Nickelodeon and MTV, contributed artwork to numerous publications and gave birth to the weirdo rock sounds of Lard Dog & The Band of Shy, known for their surreal theatrical performances. Erdman has rubbed shoulders and collaborated with a cavalcade of well-known talents, over the course of the episode we'll hear anecdote about everyone from James Brown, Van Morrison, Natasha Lyonne, Clarence Reid aka Blowfly, The Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen, one-time bandmate Norah Jones, and more. It all makes for a decidedly epic and entertaining conversation, as Erd discusses his many setback and drive to keep creative, or as he proclaims, to “Yam On!”

On today's show saxophonist, flautist, composer, poet, Elliott Levin. Levin is a Philadelphia-born talent, who has traveled far and wide in his career, establishing himself as an iron man of music, ubiquitous across the city of Philadelphia since the 1970s, playing countless gigs across numerous styles.  Soon after picking up the saxophone, Elliott fell under the spell galvanizing jazz pianist Cecil Taylor while Taylor taught at New Jersey's Glassboro State College. Levin first found acclaim touring around the world with Philly International giants Harold Melvin & The Blues Notes for over a decade and his career in jazz and improvised music has seen him performing and recording with The Sun Ra Arkestra's Tyrone Hill & Marshall Allen, Mother of Invention keyboardist Don Preston, Sonic Liberation Front, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, The West Philadelphia Orchestra and Odean Pope's Saxophone Choir and his poetry has been published in The L.A. Weekly.  I'd been wanting to get Elliott in front of a microphone for sometime, and our conversation didn't disappoint. When I spoke to Elliott has was just back from a tour of Mexico and earlier this month he celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in Philadelphia, leading a band featuring 99 year-old Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen. We discuss his upbringing in West Philly, college in the turbulent early seventies, touring the world with The Blue Notes, his collaborations with Marshall Allen, poetry, his friendship with hippie legend Buzzy Linhart, a saxophonist's life during quarantine and more, as well as hearing a bit of the music Elliott has recorded over his career.

On today's show, it's the second appearance of writer Mike DeCapite (previously on F2N Ep. 20), whose latest novel, JACKET WEATHER was published in late 2021 by Soft Skull Press, home to works from everyone from Dennis Cooper to Noam Chomsky. DeCapite is originally from Cleveland and the son of novelist Raymond DeCapite, a novelist whose well-reviewed work was first published in 1960. Mike DeCapite moved from Clevleand to Brooklyn in 1987 and moved in the circle around fellow Clevelanders Pere Ubu, the seminal art punk group. DeCapite's poetic fiction would be appear in various publications over the years and his naturalistic slices of life have always revealed a deep connection to music and has made fans of an impressive range artists of various backgrounds; JACKET WEATHER includes blurbs from filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Sonic Youth bassist Lee Ranaldo and writer Lucy Sante. DeCapite's 1998 novel THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD drew raves for Mike's story of kicking around with small time gamblers in the city of Cleveland, an excerpt from Mike's unpublished follow-up RUINED FOR LIFE would appear along with his father's work in Harper's THE ITALIAN AMERICAN READER, and now JACKET WEATHER arrives, further refining DeCapite's anecdotal storytelling to a fine point. The novel centers around a relationship DeCapite begins with June, a figure of romantic interest DeCapite had known casually back in the 1980s where she was doing P.R. for Pere Ubu. Now decades later, DeCapite is taken a back by the strong attraction he feels to a woman extracting herself from a curdled relationship. With the lightest of touches across bite-sized chapters, DeCapite casts an alluring story of unsentimental optimism in the just-dimming light of middle-age. Publishers Weekly said: "Spare and lyrical . . . DeCapite has a poet’s eye for the city’s majestic details, and illustrates how his characters come to see the same things differently over the years . . . A worthwhile meditation." — from Kirkus Reviews: "So very real . . . A sad but sweet song about the uncertainty of middle age and how funny it is when time slips away." We try an keep things loose and casual of these Fun 2 Know interviews, so much so people often think I'm just interviewing friends, but here I actually AM interviewing one of my closest friends, although it has been decades since I hung with Mike after work every Monday in San Francisco, where Mike would serve some ambitious entrees and we'd talk movies, music and writing. The last time I talked to Mike was just before pandemic restrictions hit in 2020, now, three years later, Mike was in Philly to do a reading with Warhol biographer Victor Bockriss and we sat down at the kitchen table the following day to record this interview where we talk about JACKET WEATHER, seasonal memories, '90s Dylan, middle-aged love, writing about sex and divining renewed inspiration.

It is the interview I conducted with director Sean Baker that planted the seed for today's episode, which is the long-delayed fiftieth episode of Fun 2 Know. It was three years ago that Rob Burson was in pre-production for his debut film HELL OF A HEARTACHE when he stumbled across the Fun 2 Know interview with Sean Baker, whose films PRINCE OF BROADWAY and THE FLORIDA PROJECT were inspirational as examples of vivid, compelling character studies made on a strict budget. Rob “friended” me on Facebook after hearing the interview and we would occasionally discuss film on-line while I was vaguely aware he was shooting a modestly-budgeted feature with a small crew near his home in Arizona. Then almost a year ago, just before X-mas, Rob asked me if I'd like to take a look at his feature, humbly asking me to keep my expectations low. Knowing the difficulties of such a limited budget I was prepared to look at the film with a forgiving eye but instead was a bit dumbstruck at the captivating, sure-footing telling of washed-up country star Bobbie Thompson and his unexpected saddling with a thirteen year old girl who may be his daughter. While the story of this pairs' relationship is humorous and engaging enough to sustain the film, HELL OF A HEARTACHE also reverberates with other ideas and themes, including modern masculinity and the lingering effects of violence against women throughout our society. Sharing the film with friends and family I'd become convinced HELL OF A HEARTACHE was a little miracle of a film, a masterful and very affecting work that somehow seemed to arrive out of nowhere with Burson, not only writing and directing with great feeling and subtly but delivering a performance any seasoned actor would be proud of. Yet, Burson hadn't acted since high school and his turn to filmmaking didn't come until he was in his late forties. We'll unravel just how this film got made in our interview, but I should first mention that all this led to the upcoming East Coast premiere of HELL OF A HEARTACHE on Thursday, December 8th at the Rotunda, on the 40th block of Walnut Street in Philadelphia, as part of the Bright Bulb screening series. Not only will we see HELL OF A HEARTACHE, currently unavailable through your favorite streaming service, but it will be followed by a Q&A with Rob, on his first trip to the East Coast. The screening is free and included is a second feature, from Australian director Gillian Armstrong, director of MY BRILLIANT CAREER and STARSTRUCK, we'll be seeing her nearly-lost 1987 feature HIGH TIDE, starring Judy Davis which also tells the story of a performer uniting with her abandoned daughter.

On today's show: Austin, Texas musician and thereminist, Aileen Adler. I first met Aileen back in the late '80s during the halcyon days of Tower Records, when we both worked at store #173 on South Street in Philadelphia. I moved to Alaska and then San Francisco in the early '90s, around the same time when Aileen moved to another artist's hub, Austin, Texas. We lost touch with each other for a couple decades after that, finally meeting up again in the Facebook era. From there it was that sort of half-awareness you got from social media, I'd see pictures of Aileen looking striking in theatrical clothing, entertaining at events, but what it was she was actually doing was somehow lost on me. Reading that she was back in Philly for a visit, I thought it would be a perfect time to crack the mystery of Aileen Adler. Aileen was always a dynamic character, and I wasn't disappointed. We discuss her early years arriving in the Philly, her move to Austin, singing and adopting the electronic instrument the theremin, visiting Morocco, blacksmithing and collaborating of John “Drumbo” French from Capt, Beefheart's legendary Magic Band. We'll also hear some samples of Aileen's music, with the group the Temple of Ape Collective, joined by the didgeridoo from her album, THEREMIN FOR THE MASSES, which you can discover at thereminforthemasses.com as well as Aileen's theremin joined by the pianist and composer Catherine Davis.

Our guest today, guitarist Nick Millevoi. To quote his bio, “Nick Millevoi is a guitarist and composer whose music searches for the sonic cracks between jazz, rock and roll, noise, and modern composition.” Nick has performed with Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the duo Archer Spade with trombonist Dan Blacksberg as well as making five full-length albums with the trio Many Arms. Since 2016, Nick's main vehicle is The Desertion Trio, featuring Johnny deBlase on bass and Kevin Shea on drums. Their first two records also featured Jamie Saft on organ and their third, the just-released TWILIGHT TIME on the Long Song label features guest stars Ron Stabinsky on organ and Sun Ra Arkestra vocalist Tara Middleton. It's a collection of radically reworked tunes from the oldies era and has already won notice from Rolling Stone magazine, who listed the new record's title cut as a “Song You Need to Know” in their May issue. Nick has drawn a lot of press over the years, he also writes for a number of guitar magazines, but I never really read his origin story On today's interview we talk about Millevoi's earliest music loves, playing his 8th grade graduation party, confronting the jazz curriculum in college, deflecting law school, touring with Many Arms, the music of Neil Young, Nirvana and Dick Dale, the inspirational Wildwood New Jersey, making the new record and future records he is destined to make.

Today, bassist extraordinaire, Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Jamaaladeen was our guest back in Episode 11 of the podcast, where we talked about growing up in Philly, his discovering the bass in his teen years, his joining Ornette Coleman's electric Prime Time band while still a young man, as well as his world travels and his love of fashion. A few months back I had him back as a guest on my show on WPRB-Princeton, at the time promoting his annual Outsiders Festival, where he's brought a number of improvised music line-ups for some incredible shows in Philadelphia. The 2018 edition brought back Ornette's Prime Time Band, now led by Coleman's son Denardo. I've edited the promotional conversation, but that still left much of interest. We discuss Jamaaladeen's recent TONIGHT SHOW appearance, his friendship with the band The Roots, the return of Prime Time, winning the Benny Golson award, working with the kid's rock sensations The Wiggles, Jamaaladeen's Red Carpet Room boutique, having kids, saxophonist Keir Neuringer and the Japanese sci-fi classic THE MYSTERIANS.

On today's show: music historian Elijah Wald. I was just hanging out in my South Philly neighborhood when I happened to get introduced to Elijah, a music historian who has written over a dozen books, mainly on the subject of roots music but also on subjects as diverse as hitchhiking, the cultural phenomenon known as “the Dozens” and the genetics industry. Elijah won a Grammy for his liner notes in 2002, had the book he co-authored with Dave Van Ronk adapted for the Coen Bros. 2013 film, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as well as making the scene as a guitarist rooted in the folk blues tradition. It's just one of Elijah's books that we focused on in this episode, the 2009 publication, “How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music” from the Oxford University Press. The Beatles don't actually appear until near the book's climax, the book's main focus is as a corrective to past musical tomes that distort 20th century history by focusing on the canon of artistically “important artists” at the expense of minimizing many of the commercially dominant artists of their day. It's a rich and challenging book, impeccably researched as well as being highly-readable. We'll dive into the books many ideas, along the way discussing, Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, Tom Waits and Ricky Nelson, as well as The Stones, The Beatles, Dylan and the Three Degrees as well as examining how gender biases cloud the story of 20th century music. You can find out more about Elijah at elijahwald–dot-com

Early on in the show's history I had Monnette on the short list of Philly-area musicians with which I wanted to interview. I'd long been a fan of the records she recorded in the mid-1970s for the prestigious Steeplechase label, a Danish label who continues today to make important records for artists who have gone slept-upon back here in the states, artists including Archie Shepp, Chet Baker, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill and more. Monnette was spotted at the Newport Jazz Festival playing in Sam Rivers band by staff at the label who would go on to produce a trio of Monnette records starting in 1976 with TIME FOR A CHANGE then LIVE IN EUROPE and BRIGHTER DAYS FOR YOU. Ms. Sudler has continued to record regularly, playing over the years with the late drum great Sunny Murray, Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, and many more and has a plethora of awards she has collected across her active career. Monnette talks about her beginnings in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, her collaborations with vibraphonist Khan Jamal, her teaching and poetry and at the end, talks candidly about some of the personal and physical obstacles she's faced along the way, including her experiences at Muncie State Penitentiary. It's makes for one of the more moving conversations I've captured here at Fun 2 Know and I want to thank Monnette for sharing her story.

F2K Episode 44: The enduring musician, Kenn Kweder It's the show's proud third appearance from our most popular guest, musician Kenn Kweder. Kweder (who appeared previously in Ep. Six, Ep. Seven, and Ep. 30 of the FUN 2 KNOW podcast) has been a beloved fixture of the Philadelphia music scene since rising up from the Philly streets in the mid-seventies with his band, The Secret Kidds. In his first interview here we talked about his near-brush with national attention and its comedown but Kenn's real triumph is his unwavering dedication to live performance, playing a hundred-plus gigs every year for decades and being one of the free-est souls you'll ever meet. On this latest show we talk about Ken's influences and legends like Capt. Beefheart, The Stones and Bob Dylan whose performances he has witnessed over the decades. We also talk about what still drives him at sixty-five, hear near-unbelievable stories from a lifetime spent singing in bars, pay tribute to the drug Propofol, discuss the era of Trump, the MeToo movement, modern audiences and the glory of dying while on-stage. The ridiculously entertaining conversation with Kenn began as I was still setting up the mics, and Kweder went into the story of opening up for Patti Smith in 1975...

Kenn Kweder talks about his 1975 gig with Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. From the soon forthcoming episode 44 of The Fun 2 Know podcast...

On today's show, with trumpeter and composer Jaimie Branch. I'd seen Jaimie's name in the credits of releases by bassist Jason Ajemian, in the large band of Keefe Jackson, with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and saxophonist Jarrett Gilmore but she didn't really capture my attention until her stunning debut with her band Fly or Die arrived on the International Anthem label in early 2017. This rock-solid quartet featuring former Fun 2 Know guest Tomeka Reid on cello, newly-minted Philadelphian Chad Taylor on drums and Jason Ajemian on bass provide a spacious landscape for the propulsive trumpet and compositions of Ms Branch, over a beautifully-paced record that pulls you through it like a great record should. Branch has collected plenty of accolades for the record, including winning Top Debut in the NPR 2017 Jazz Poll (she topped my ballot as well) Jaimie was listed in the June 2017 Rolling Stone as “10 New Artists You Need to Know” and the Village Voice called Branch “fearless” and described her album as “eerily beautiful.” Jaimie and her band Fly or Die rolled into town in late January, sharing a bill at The Rotunda on the University of Pennsylvania campus with improvisational group Sirius Juju. I'd hoped to get there early and interview Jaimie backstage but I've worked with enough band to know that traveling from town-to-town with five or six people is an inexact science so instead of having an hour to unwind into conversation we had about twenty minutes before the band downstairs began to dominate the scene with a wonderful set of music. This makes for a nice, concise episode of Fun 2 Know, where we enjoy a few cuts from Jaimie's “Fly or Die” debut, a snippet from her recordings with the trio Princess Princess, an previously undistributed date she was selling at the show as vinyl in a plain paper sleeve, plus hear Jaimie talk about how ten years of gigging has made her an “overnight sensation.”

On today's show, Matt Prigge. Matt has written about film since the late 1990s, originally at The Philadelphia Weekly, then for four years as the film editor at The Metro, the free commuter paper that has editions in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia. Matt is a particularly engaging writer with an unusually firm grasp on a wide range of cinema, finding what is worth celebrating in everything from low-grade action films to finessing the metaphors in the work of Lars Von Trier. We get rolling on a tangent-rich conversation but also chart and mourn the decline of independent weekly newspapers, that served the variety of cultural function for city dwellers until the new millennium when many of their services could be transferred easily to the internet. Across the country those papers have withered and died since the internet's rise and lost is the paper's role as a magnet that brought journalists and artists under one roof to share ideas and energy. Along the way we also discuss growing up in Mechanicsburg PA, Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom,” Richard Lester, The Beatles “Help!” Fellini meets Michael Jackson, Stanley Donen. Woody Allen, the cinema of Calista Flockhart. The politics of “Die Hard,” TheArchers - Powell and Pressburger, the late films of Billy Wilder, John Huston, the key to Tarantino. the late Alan Rickman, “listicals,” “Smokey & The Bandit,” writing about The Marvel Universe. “Twin Peaks: The Return,” Steven Soderburgh, Frederic Wiseman and Matt's new job teaching at NYU.

On today's show, Heather Henderson and Emery Emery, who together host both the award-winning Ardent Atheist podcast as well as the podcast, Skeptically Yours. I've known Heather since back in the early 2000s, when she was part of the Philly-based burlesque troupe The Peek-a-Boo Revue, who specialized comedy and satire along with classic strip routines. Heather was a memorable performer with the troop, but I knew that her experiences as a performer went back to the 90s, with a stint as a dancer on the very popular locally-produced shows Dancing on Air and Dance Party U.S.A., which like their Philly-launched forerunner American Bandstand featured teens dancing in a studio set to the latest pop and dance hits. Heather also acted, appearing in Mannequin 2 and Annapolis as well as singing with the r&b group Soulamite. In 2010, Heather relocated to Los Angeles where she continued as a burlesque performer and also met her partner comedian Emery Emery, who toured extensively as a stand-up and has worked as an editor and producer of many stand-up projects, including editing the hit stand-up doc, The Aristocrats. Together they launched the Ardent Atheist podcast in 2011 and soon after Skeptically Yours. Heather is also a member of Penn Jillette's No God band, and is currently studying film production at the Art Institute in Los Angeles. I caught up with Heather and Emery on their trip back east as they were attending the Pennsylvania State Atheist/Humanist Conference where they recorded an episode of The Ardent Atheist and caught up with old friends. Over the course of our talk we discuss Heather's growing up in Camden, her “baby Heather” phase, Philly pungency, L.A. sun, Jews for Jesus, Mother Theresa, modern attention spans, Penn Jillette, the death of Prince and more.

On today's show, our guests are Michelle MF Ausman and Kimberly Vice of the musical duo Hestina. Named after a genus of butterflies, the duo's 2016 nine-song release, BLOSSOM TALK is a tour-de-force of harmony vocals, literate lyrics and rhythmically-propelled melodies that haunt long after they hit their climax. With the easy accessibility of modern music, favorite songs can come and go fast but Hestina's music lingered with me and got replayed regularly over the last year and a half. Visiting their website at hestinamusic dot com a few weeks back I had discovered that the duo have moved recently from New Orleans and relocated in the Fun 2 Know Podcast's hometown of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. A few Facebook messages later, like magic we were talking in our kitchen and even knocking out a few beautiful tunes live. What an ingratiating pair, we talked about about New Orleans vs. Philly, early mix-CD revelations, religion, singing harmony, pleasing your parents, bars that never close, Jeff Buckley the modern grind and more. We'll also hear a few cuts from their release BLOSSOM TALK, available at iTunes and other on-line outlets.

On today's show: Film director Sean Baker and film critic Piers Marchant. First, a very recent conversation I had with filmmaker Sean Baker. I was so taken with Sean Baker's 2015 film TANGERINE, famously and beautifully shot from an Apple iPhone, that I started tracking down his earlier work, four fascinating films, including two brilliantly-executed micro-budget indies, 2004's TAKE OUT set in the world of NYC Chinese food delivery, and 2008's PRINCE OF BROADWAY, about an African immigrant selling knock-off designer bags who is unexpectedly left alone with a baby that might be his son. Baker's 2012 film STARLET centered around a friendship between an elderly widow and a sweet up-and-coming adult film star, played by Muriel Hemingway's daughter, Dree. But it was the 2015 film TANGERINE that was Baker's breakthrough, hitting the zeitgeist right as transgender issues were making big news and following two streetwalkers on a wild and unapologetic 24-hour tour through the Hollywood strip, and featuring incredible performances from first-time actresses Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. The pair were later part of the first Academy Award campaigns for openly transgender actresses. Now Baker follows-up TANGERINE with THE FLORIDA PROJECT, a fascinating ramble around the world of budget motels in Kissimmee, Florida. The film is mostly seen from the perspective of six year old Moonee, played by newcomer Brooklyn Prince and through her eyes, the rundown, kitschy motels and gaudy tourist traps seem just as enchanted as Disney's Magic Kingdom one town over. Her mother is played by Bria Vinaite who gives a downright feral performance as Moonee's loving but distracted mom and Willem Defoe exercises his compassionate side as the diplomatic motel manager Bobby. It's a film that vibrates with real life and its episodic quality allows the tightening dynamics of the plot to escape notice until its emotionally-tumultuous finale. It's also a film that captures childhood more vividly than any film in recent history as well as further exploring the themes of work, morality and people on society's fringes that is the hallmark of Baker's ever-more impressive filmography. I was given a chance to talk to Baker just before THE FLORIDA PROJECT screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival and when I saw the schedule I realized I was given 20 minutes just before Baker was due to walk on the festival's red carpet for a Saturday evening featured screening. I found Baker to be completely direct and unpretentious and would have loved to have him on for a more leisurely interview but as it was I was able to squeeze a few more minutes out of him for a half-hour of conversation. We talk about Baker's New Jersey roots, discovering Cassavetes, Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers, working with first-time actors, 70s Hollywood film, The Our Gang series, shooting on video and film and knowing how the movie is going to end. After the interview we'll go to an even more recent discussion with film critic Piers Marchant from PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE and The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Piers and I get into a much more leisurely conversation, discussing Baker and THE FLORIDA PROJECT but also, BLADE RUNNER 2049, The Coen Brothers, George Lucas, the state of modern Hollywood and some of our favorite films of the 2017.