A Man Impossible to Classify: photo: r. whittaker One of my first experiences in San Francisco was of being flagged down by a stranger as I drove toward the intersection of Frederick and Stanyan Streets at the edge of Golden Gate Park. My friend Malcolm Hall and I, both college students, had driven up the coast highway from Los Angeles in my 1953 Plymouth. The year was 1965. We were headed toward the Haight-Ashbury.        Maybe forty yards short of the intersection, I saw him standing on the curb, a disheveled young man, not quite in the hippie mold. He was looking ... Dec 21, 2007, 750674 reads

Interview with Bill Douglass - Jimbo's Bop City and Other Tales: At the time I'd first gotten to know the widely respected jazz musician Bill Douglass, he lived in Albany in the East Bay. From time to time, we'd get together for lunch or dinner following one of his engagements at Yoshi's or some other Bay Area venue devoted to jazz. These get togethers were always a great pleasure. I looked forward to the lively conversation and Douglass' considerable warmth. It wasn't until over a year after Douglass and his wife, musician Nora Nusbaum, moved from the Bay Area into the Sierras near Nevada City that we finally ... Mar 22, 2002, 372122 reads

Greeting the Light: An Interview with James Turrell It was thanks to artist Walter Gabrielson that I was able to get in touch with James Turrell. Gabrielson was an old friend of Turrell’s from Pasadena and, like Turrell, also a pilot. The prospect of meeting this remarkable artist was exciting and arranging it took some persistence. Michael Bond, who managed Turrell’s projects around the world, was encouraging, but he suggested some homework. I should go to Los Angeles to experience one of the artist’s pieces in a private collection there, The Second Meeting. Although I was already familiar with ... Mar 22, 2001, 337198 reads

Interview: Gail Needleman: Music Is Something You Do Gail Needleman taught music at Holy Names University in Oakland, California. Her work as a writer and teacher addressed the essential role of music in the moral and spiritual development of children. She received a Parsons Fellowship from the Library of Congress for research in American folk music, and is the co-creator of the American Folk Song Collection website, a pioneering online resource of American folk songs for teaching music to children. We met at her home in Oakland to talk about music...   Richard Whittaker:  How did music enter your life? What were ... Apr 16, 2012, 197525 reads

The Dumpster: by Meredith Sabini       “We can’t use these. They look like heirlooms!” Gina, a guest at my holiday gathering, holds up one of the elaborately embroidered napkins from the buffet table. “Where’d you get them?”      “Out of a dumpster. The tablecloth and those candleholders were in there, too.”      “You can’t be serious! Why would they be in a dumpster?” The shock in her voice carried across the room, and others looked up.      It’s common that women ask ... Dec 5, 2007, 163191 reads

Interview: Stephen De Staebler: John Toki encouraged me to interview his old friend and mentor, sculptor Stephen De Staebler. The following conversation is distilled from three meetings with the artist at his home and studio.        Stepping through the high redwood gate at his home, I found myself in another world. Several of De Staebler's ceramic figures stood around his pool, along a walkway to his studio and scattered in the landscaping as if waiting to be placed in more considered alignments. It seemed I'd stumbled upon an archeological site full of ... Jun 2, 2009, 159493 reads

Radical Love and Holy Play: Conversation with Charles Howard When he speaks, you can sense a depth of earnest care in his voice. When you hear his stories, you know you're in the presence of a sacred soul. And it sort of sneaks up on you that he's served in hospices and with the homeless, that he spends his days mentoring college students as UPenn's University Chaplain. From gentle stories about his daughters to lessons from his "knucklehead punk" youth days, and revolutionary New Year's resolutions, Rev. Charles Howard--or Chaz, as he is lovingly known--shared insights along the valleys and peaks of his service journey, ... Apr 28, 2012, 156148 reads

Advocate of the Unwatched Life: A Conversation with Squeak Carnwath photo - r. whittaker Squeak Carnwath is one of the Bay Area's best known artists. Her work has been widely exhibited and she has received numerous awards and grants. At the time of this interview, first published in 1993, Carnwath was a member of the art faculty at the University of California at Davis. In 1998, she moved to the art faculty at UC Berkeley. She is now retired from teaching. Her work can be seen at the Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco or the Dorothy Goldeen Gallery in Los Angeles.—Richard Whittaker, 2007 works:  There are so ... Apr 2, 2004, 142861 reads

Interview: Judy Pfaff: The Interior Landscape Judy Pfaff’s work has been exhibited world-wide in major museums and galleries including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Whitney Museum. A professor of art at Bard College in New York, she received her MFA from Yale.         I visited Pfaff in Pasadena where she was spending a month creating an installation for the Art Center. Our lively conversation began over a lunch break and continued during a dinner break from the intense work in progress. The interview is one of the artist's favorites. Judy Pfaff taking a ... Aug 5, 2002, 140190 reads

Alive in the World: A Conversation with Audrey Lin April 2009, Oakland, California I first met Audrey Lin at the Mehta home in Santa Clara where each Wednesday evening the Mehtas host an hour of meditation followed by a circle of sharing. Afterwards everyone partakes in a vegetarian dinner in silence. It's always a powerful experience and no two Wednesdays are the same since the mix of guests is always changing along with the thoughts and stories that come to life there. At the time of this interview, the Mehtas had been hosting these evenings for eleven years.      Whenever I attended, I would ... Apr 28, 2009, 133347 reads