John Bredin

08/18/2024

I'm sharing this lovely artifact from our NSP conference in Manhattan a dozen years ago. NSP stands for "Network of Spiritual Progressives." The organization is dedicated to nurturing a more just, loving, and peaceful world by bringing together politics with the best spiritual traditions in the world.

08/17/2024

Artist Richard La Rovere is a cultural hero on the Bohemian "Left Bank" of the Hudson River. His drawings capture the magic and beauty of Jersey City and Hoboken, two urban wonderlands located close to NYC. Richard is also a social and regenerative presence in the community. He likes to walk the streets, have friendly chats with neighbors, and engage in civic activism to improve the local quality of life. In addition to being an artist, Richard is also a "cultural historian." The video was filmed at the Jersey City public library...where Richard's works are on permanent display...and includes library director John Beekman. A must see for lovers of Hudson County history, in particular the Jersey City cultural scene.

Artist Richard La Rovere is a cultural hero in Hudson County, NJ. His work as a visual cultural historian captures the magic and beauty of cities like Jersey...

03/20/2019

Born and raised on the Lower East Side, Blanche Walsh rose to the pinnacle of the American stage. Then, in 1912, she created the prototype for a "movie star" in a film version of Tolstoy's great novel about love and social justice called "Resurrection." Widespread knowledge of this forgotten chapter of Hollywood's birth could radically alter the nature of movies today--paving the way for what I call a Hollywood for the Greater Good. In a great act of empathy on the stage of her real life, the childless Walsh rescued my grandmother from a London orphanage and brought her to live in NYC--looking after her like a second mother. This is the magic, forgotten Love Story of Hollywood's origin. I've been asked to have this story written up as a screenplay by a major Broadway producer.

03/15/2019

My dialogue with Jonas Mekas. He was known as the "Godfather of avant-garde cinema." In 2016 Claudia and I filmed an hour long conversation with Jonas in his wonderful Brooklyn studio. We aired it as an episode of our nonprofit TV show Public Voice Salon. Jonas died this January at the age of 96, but the magic of his legacy lives on. If you're not familiar with his life and work, this is a good place to start. Who knows, it just may inspire you to start making your own experimental films! Watch it as a You Tube video, or listen to it as a Podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6OTVsvVYjQ

03/09/2019

Stanley Aronowitz is one of the smartest people on the planet. That's why you never see him on corporate media. The powers that be would rather you NOT know what's really going on. His critique of education is especially needed now, given that our public schools no longer educate citizens for a democracy but train obedient workers to passively follow orders. And you wonder why Trump was elected. Out with imagination, critical thinking, and empathy, and in with a narrow, business-centric curriculum. Thinkers like Aronowtiz, who taught Cornel West at Columbia (West called Stanley the most enchanting public intellectual he's ever met) offer a way out of the current educational, political, and cultural crisis. Though the corporate media shuns him (as they also shun Noam Chomsky) Stanley appeared as a guest on Public Voice Salon in 2012. You may also listen to it as a Podcast. And please consider supporting our nonprofit TV show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9TIlMPubuU

03/05/2019

Check out our show with Harold Bloom. Now in his 88th year, Harold may be the most important literary critic in the known galaxy. If you care about literature, you owe it to yourself to watch (or listen to as a Podcast) this You Tube. Never one to mince words, Harold claims the war to save literature is now lost, and it's time to "gather a saving remnant." We see our dialogue with Bloom as a clarion wake-up call to SAVE literature from a corporate-dominated academy that views education not as a force of civic and humanistic good, but as a narrow form of "job training." We follow up our talk with Harold, filmed at his home in New Haven, Connecticut--where we enjoyed tea and cookies with the great professor and his wife!--with a spontaneous dialogue on literature with two enthusiastic Yale students. If you care about substantive, humanistic programs like this, please consider helping fund our nonprofit TV show. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCeIvt9CDlI

02/05/2019