Frederick Wiseman, T. Boone Pickens, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Edward O. Wilson, Roy Haynes, Carmen Herrera, Ginette Bedard, Tony Bennett, Ellsworth Kelly, Christopher Plummer, R.O. Blechman, Carl Reiner, Frank Gehry, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Betty White. From author to politician, from Supreme Court justice to painter, all of these people are at the top of their game after the age of 80.
See photos and read a series of brief, insightful interviews here.
Tune in to Experience Talks, our “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener.” Saturdays 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! You can also enjoy hearing all of our previous shows on the Listen Page of our Experience Talks website.
NICK JAMESON began his performing career as a rock musician and producer while living in Greece. After a move back home to the states, he worked as a producer, engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist with an intriguing smorgasbord of artists that includes Bonnie Raitt, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield, Orleans, Todd Rundgren, and Maria Muldaur, in addition to recording three solo albums, including “One,” a collaboration with author Richard Bach. He also produced the classic gold and platinum albums of the British blues-rock band Foghat (for whom he was also a bass player for a year), including the chart-topping, multi-platinum “Foghat Live” and “Fool for the City,” which contained the smash single and rock classic, “Slow Ride,” featured in the film “Dazed and Confused.”
After the music business lost its appeal, Nick decided to try acting. He made a bold move to Los Angeles at the age of forty, and it paid off. His first job was a guest role on “Golden Girls.” Although he has subsequently landed some juicy roles on screen, including Australian Richard Malkin in “Lost” and Russian President Yuri Suvarov in “24,” it was voice-over work that captured his attention. He’s had a steady stream of work with numerous credits in popular video games such as “Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII,” and in animation, especially for television.
Most notably and appropriately for our Halloween show, in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series,” Nick voiced Morbius, the Living Vampire.
And for his next chapter, Nick has made a surprising decision which he’ll reveal in this interview!
SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Experience Talks Host John Semper Jr. will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” with a star-studded voice-over panel at Stan Lee’s COMIKAZE EXPO this weekend. John was producer and head writer of the popular 65 episode series. The panel will include Christopher Daniel Barnes (“Spider-Man”), Saratoga Ballantine (“Mary Jane Watson”), Jennifer Hale (“Felicia Hardy”) Gary Imhoff (“Harry Osborne”), Rodney Saulsberry (“Robbie Robertson”), Gregg Berger (“Mysterio”), and Patrick Labyorteaux (“Flash Thompson”). Moderating will be writer/actor Pat Jankiewicz (“Chastity Bites!”). This special event is set for Saturday, November 1st, at 1:30pm, Room 308AB at the LA Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St. in downtown Los Angeles. Stop by and say hello! You can also listen to podcasts and see special posts related to the making of the show at www.cartoonspiderman.com.
Art critic Dave Hickey is fed up with the world of contemporary art. From The Guardian:
“One of America’s foremost art critics has launched a fierce attack on the contemporary art world, saying anyone who has ‘read a Batman comic’ would qualify for a career in the industry.
“Dave Hickey, a curator, professor and author known for a passionate defence of beauty in his collection of essays The Invisible Dragon and his wide-ranging cultural criticism, is walking away from a world he says is calcified, self-reverential and a hostage to rich collectors who have no respect for what they are doing.
“‘They’re in the hedge fund business, so they drop their windfall profits into art. It’s just not serious,’ he told the Observer. ‘Art editors and critics – people like me – have become a courtier class. All we do is wander around the palace and advise very rich people. It’s not worth my time.”‘
Read more in The Guardian, and read in Hyperallergic about his appearance at a pop-up event held by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LA MoCA) in January, part of his book tour for the recently released Pirates and Farmers: Essays on Taste.
Do you have a favorite writing or drawing instrument — something that makes you feel more creative, more connected to your work, or is just more fun to use? The New York Times asked for the favorite choices of eight talented and successful creative people, including Milton Glaser, the graphic designer who has created book covers, corporate logos, magazines and, most recently, the “Mad Men” campaign. His choice? The Koh-I-Noor multi-colored Magic Pencil. Read more here.
“No one in Orange County decorates a house for Halloween quite like the creative minds behind the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland. It has been 14 years since the seasonal ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’- themed overlay was launched at the classic Haunted Mansion, and the ghoulish meets quirky meets elegant design continues to evolve as the designers tweak or add new features for a three-month run.” Read more and get a sneak preview of the mansion in a slide show here.
From the late 1970’s until the late 1980’s, NASA employed “Star Trek” actor Nichelle Nichols to recruit new astronaut candidates. Many of her new recruits were women or members of racial and ethnic minorities. And now, she’s back with NASA again, narrating a new video introducing the Orion spacecraft. More here and here.
“Worth Repeating” is a weekly feature on the EngAGE Blog that will bring you previous posts that we think are still timely, interesting, or just plain fun! From 10/23/13:
“Suzan Shown Harjo still becomes tense when she recalls the only Washington Redskins home game she attended, nearly 40 years ago. After she moved to Washington, she and her husband were given tickets. Fans sitting nearby, apparently amused that American Indians were in their midst, pawed their hair and poked them, “not in an unfriendly way, but in a scary way,” Ms. Harjo said. . . Since the 1960s, Ms. Harjo has been at the center of efforts to persuade schools, colleges and professional sports teams to drop American Indian names and mascots that some consider derogatory.” Read more here.
