Celebrate Brooklyn is back, baby! After moving to an exclusively online format last year, Celebrate Brooklyn! is back and the Bandshell in Prospect Park with a full line up of artists ready to blow the roof off of the thing. One of these artists is KAMAUU. KAMAUU's music is packed with electrifying and rambunctious melodies, while at the same time …

Meet Damon Davis, a post-disciplinary artist from St. Louis. A prolific creator, Davis has a solo show open at Detroit MOCA right now titled Filling in the Cracks. Textured and profound, Cracks is an exploration of grief where Davis has cast concrete busts of himself, broken them open and filled the vacant space with beauty. Mackenzie and Davis tal…

Hi there! Glitter & Doom is off this week, so while we fish MacKenzie out from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Movement based performance artist, mayfield brooks spoke to us on Jan. 2020 about their love of Marsha P Johnson, their 2020 project Viewing Hours, and "improvising while Black." Tod…

It’s not often you hear the expression, “quilting world flash bang” but that’s exactly how we would describe Michael C Thorpe. An outlier in the quilting world, Thorpe has made a splash in the medium by weaving in his identity as a black man, his dreams about his family and his own manner of painting with fabric and thread. He and MacKenzie talk ab…

Emily Spivack, producer of Worn Stories (a Netflix series based on her book of the same name) has spent years collecting the stories people attach to their clothes. Whether it's the onesie you came home in, to the crushed velvet Mary Janes you wore to your 8th grade graduation – the clothes you put on your back soak up something about you and the m…

Welcome to Glitter & Doom, a show that believes that the hardest times yield the greatest art. Join your host, MacKenzie Fegan, every other Wednesday to explore a new featured artist.By BRIC RADIO

Meet new media artist, Mina Cheon and her North Korean alter ego, Kim Il Soon. While Mina Cheon is busy being a professor at Baltimore's MICA, and laying out 100,000 Chocopies to promote a unified Korea, Kim Il Soon is teaching art history to North Koreans via smuggled USB sticks and SD cards. Wait, you don't know about Chocopie? Christina Chaey fr…

Torrey Peters is the author of Detransition, Baby, a whipsmart novel about three women – trans and cis – trying to have a baby. One of the first novels written by a transwoman published by a Big Five publisher, Detransition, Baby imparts a textured, multi-demensional, and at times incredibly funny exploration of gender, parenthood and sex. Torrey P…

A "talking circle" is, historically, a way for a community to come together to hash out difficult issues in a respectful fashion. But in Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby's Talking Circles – a work in progress at the New York Theatre Workshop – it also speaks to the spiral of history where 102 years after a global pandemic and protests over the murde…

Maria Chavez never wanted to be an artist, but her life led her to become an abstract turntablist who has reinvented the playback arts by mixing broken records with broken needles. Her art is almost like listening to real-time sculptures, where the vinyl’s grooves are the topography. But how did we end up talking about owls?…

What is theatre? Is it a group of people watching actors on a stage? Is it a magical transportive experience that can only be experienced live? Does it need a crowd? Lines? Snarky will-call folks who can't spell your name? MacKenzie talks to Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, the duo that make up 600 Highwaymen – a theatre company "at the inte…

It's season three of Glitter & Doom, and this time around, we're tackling the theme of reinvention. With the concert series Celebrate Brooklyn! moved online this year, the programmers at BRIC had a decision to make: what would they do with the concert venue? They tapped artists Oasa DuVerney and Mildred Beltré, together known as the Brooklyn Hi-Art…

After the Red River War in 1874, drawing was one of the few sanctioned ways that the prisoners of Fort Marion were able to keep their cultural traditions alive. Back home on the Plains, they would have commemorated a successful battle by depicting it on a buffalo hide, but in Florida, where they had been shipped off and stripped of their communitie…

In all of literature, Robinson Crusoe is certainly among the most isolated of characters. Dude was stranded on an island for 28 years. For most of that time he is entirely alone except for his pets and God, who is a notoriously bad conversationalist. But was Crusoe *lonely*? MacKenzie speaks to scholars about Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and how…

There's been a massive outpouring of support or Brooklyn's bail funds and, thankfully, pro bono representation is popping up everywhere. However, that doesn't mean other parts of the country don't need your support. Here are a few places where you can help: Black Lives Matter Birmingham Bail Support - https://cash.app/$STARROBB Freedom Fighter Bail…

Nelly Toll was eight or nine when she painted, “A Trip With Father: A Present for Good Behavior," in 1943. At the time she painted it, Nelly hadn’t been outside in probably a year. She was Jewish, and she and her mother were in hiding in Lwów, Poland. Today, Dr. Toll is self-isolating like the rest of us, and speaks to MacKenzie about her childhood…

We’re back! Welcome to the second season of Glitter & Doom, where we’ll be exploring artists in isolation. If you’re on Twitter, you might remember a meme-storm in early March after Roseanne Cash tweeted: “Just a reminder that when Shakespeare was quarantined because of the plague, he wrote King Lear.” With the help of Andrew Dickson, author of The…

What do Trump rallies, German interior décor and the Village People have to do with author, Dave Eggers? Does satire still have a role to play when reality reads like an Onion article? Dave Eggers says yes. His new book, The Captain and the Glory, follows the grim misadventures of a narcissistic, incompetent sea captain steering a cruise ship calle…

What do microaggressions, sea captains and spam email have to do with artist, Liana Finck? As a shy person who struggled with social interactions, illustrator and cartoonist, Liana Finck made notes and drawings as a way to figure out how to fit in. “Passing for Human” is the title of one of her three books. But at a certain point, she started wonde…

What do killer robots, psychedelics and a woman named Susan Bennett have to do with artist, Stephanie Dinkins? When we talk about robots, the conversation is likely to be negative, if not downright dystopian. If you type “robots are” into google, the predictive text—which is itself a form of artificial intelligence—suggests “robots are taking over,…

What do peanut recipes, mysterious photographs and compost have to do with artist mayfield brooks? In their upcoming performance, “Viewing Hours,” mayfield brooks embraces the tradition of artists putting their bodies on the line for the sake of their practice. Upon entry, audiences are met with the sight of mayfield lying naked and prone under 40 …

What do Janelle Monae, Yelp reviews of plantations and Russian Dixies have to do with artist, Dread Scott? Dread Scott wants us to remember that history is not so far from our present. His work often looks to the past in order to imagine a more just future, and perhaps no project embodies that more as his recent "Slave Rebellion Reenactment." In th…

What do the Zodiac and a spiritual entity named Seth have to do with filmmaker, Caveh Zahedi? Zahedi has been making documentaries for almost three decades, and before we booked him on the show, the only things MacKenzie knew about him were gleaned through season one of his autobiographical “The Show about the Show” and a New York Times Magazine pr…

It's a virtual certainty that you've seen Edel Rodiguez's illustrations. A prolific artist and political cartoonist, he's gained recent notoriety for his depiction of Donald Trump's face. Always the same, featureless, except for a screaming mouth melting into a puddle; Trump painting himself into an orange corner; Trump with arms aloft holding a bl…

Jami Attenberg has written seven novels, and has not wasted a single one of them on a male antihero. Her latest book, a humorous and empathetic family drama, does feature a Tony Soprano-like character as the patriarch of the family, but Attenberg puts him in a coma on the very first page. MacKenzie sat down with Attenberg on the release date of "Al…

For more information on the Creative Time Summit, visit creativetime.org/summitBy BRIC RADIO

For almost 40 years, Pope.L has challenged his audience both, to look deep into the eyes of American society, and question the very nature of art. Best known for enacting provocative performances in public spaces, Pope.L addresses issues from language to gender, to race to the struggles we face in this late capitalism. His work ranges from performa…

The Anthropocene is posited to be the geological era that we are presently inhabiting, an age where the indelible mark of humanity cannot be extracted from the fossil record. In Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, filmmakers Nicholas de Pencier, Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky set out to travel the globe to document the impact humans have made on…

We're back with episode #2 and this week we are talking about borders. Filmmakers Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim join MacKenzie in the studio to talk about their latest film, Midnight Traveler. Midnight Traveler is a documentary where Afghan director Hassan Fazili is forced to flee the country when the Taliban puts a bounty on his head. We go in deep …

It's our first episode and we've pulled out all the stops. Prolific writer and novelist, Walter Mosley is in the studio and he and MacKenzie talk about writing black male heroes, freedom of speech and his cousin Alberta. Further in the episode we pay an auditory visit to Etheridge Knight (courtesy of the Lakawana Valley Digital Archives and the Scr…

Brooklyn is known for its small batch artisanal products, from hand-macramed hanging succulent planters to mayonnaise artfully blended with eggs from the freest of free-range chickens. And then, there's small batch artisanal erotica. MacKenzie speaks to a publisher and an author of racy lesbian love stories.…

The play currently mounted at the Theater for a New Audience has been getting lots of attention. It won playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury a Pulitzer Prize. It's been playing for packed audiences, extended and extended again and all upcoming performances are nearly sold out. To talk about her role in the play is award-winning actor, Heather Alisha Si…

Lisa Garbus’ two-part documentary, Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, outlines the series of events that led to a murder, a wrongful arrest and the police cover-up that almost took a man’s life. In the studio is his lawyer, Mani TK.By BRIC RADIO

Earlier this month registered sex offender former Dalton teacher and incredibly wealthy degenerate Jeffrey Epstein was rearrested back in 2008. He was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. This time the accusation was sex trafficking. But what exactly is sex trafficking and why is it such a rampant problem in the United States? We are …

The U.S. women's soccer team is the best in the world by a lot. And the men's team also exists. You would think the players on one of these teams will be paid a lot more than the other. Well you'd be right but not in the way that makes sense. Here to discuss gender pay equity in sports are Natalie Weiner, a staff writer at SB Nation and Lauren Bett…

This year, Oklahoma! galloped back into broadway and straight back into our hearts. Tony Award Winner and Producer, Caleb Hammons joins MacKenzie to talk about the gritty reboot and serving chilli on stage.By BRIC RADIO

Break-ups are rough, ask anyone. That stability you once felt, that comfort you once had, that reliable plus one, all gone in one fell swoop. But what about the aftermath? What’s the right way to break up? Are you really going to eat that clam pasta for breakfast? Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s column “For Your Consideration" on Autostraddle.com really w…

Okay ladies, now let's get information...about Beyonce's place in the canon of black feminism. Author, Kevin Allred is in the studio to talk about his new book, Ain't I a Diva? Beyoncé and the Power of Pop Culture Pedagogy. Plus, Beyonce's Lemonade featured a Nigerian body-painter who tapped into the traditions of the Yoruba. We'll talk to local bo…

It’s summer here in Brooklyn, and you know what that means: time to put your phone down, your beach umbrella up and get your read on. Today on the show we are talking to author Helen Phillips about her new book The Need, breastfeeding, existential doubt, viscera, and howling elk. Then, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Books stops by…

Fifteen cyclists have been killed by motorists this year - a 50% increase over last year's totals. Vision Zero, a top-down approach to street safety, was supposed to make conditions better, but are they actually getting worse? MacKenzie talks to the editor-in-chief of StreetsBlog, and a safe-streets advocate about Mayor De Blasio's signature "accom…

Did you ever witness an event and say to yourself, “this is going to be a pivotal couple of minutes. History will remember this. Let’s take some pictures.” If you answered yes, you’re a psychic and a liar. We talk to The Museum of the City of New York's lead curator, Sara Seidman, who talks about the Stonewall and the photographic legacy of Fred W.…

Coming up, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, and Emma Stone join us to talk about Asian American representation in comedy.By BRIC RADIO

We avoided the L-pocalypse, but now we have a BQEmergency on our hands. Carlo Scissura, head of the BQE panel, joins MacKenzie to talk about much-needed fixes for what might be the most loathed stretch of roadway in the country. And then, a new documentary highlights the city’s extremely dedicated cat-lovers who care for our feline friends living i…

City Limits' executive editor Jarrett Murphy joins MacKenzie to talk about the unprecedented legislative session in Albany, where the newly minted Democratic majority passed a slew of transformative laws. And then they're joined by a police reform advocate who says, despite the progressive victories, the Blue Wave fell well short of addressing the …

If you’re young and queer, you know that intergenerational relationships with your queer elders are sometimes hard to come by. For one, many gay people of a certain generation were deep in the closet their whole lives, many others were wiped out by the AIDS epidemic, not to mention that trans women of color are less likely to make it to an advanced…

Buckle up, because we're talking fashion. We rip the seams on how fashion's four-lines-a year fuck-it-lets-do-it-live warp speed style is combining with misguided efforts to take inspiration from other cultures. But is appropriation more complicated than the discourse gives it credit for? We try to find the beauty in cultural appropriation with Ref…

Since the days of the Brothers Grimm, princesses and queens have featured prominently in children's stories. Just look at Disney, which has built an entire empire on the back of (often problematic, traditionally gendered) femininity. Yet, some folks in Gerritsen Beach Brooklyn were protesting a children's story hour at the local branch of the Brook…

What happens when a film role you play as a child defines you before you've defined yourself? We talk to Brian Falduto, who played 'Fancy Pants' on Richard Linklater's "School of Rock," about navigating his gay identity at the age of 11. And then, the Crew talks about flicks portraying youth that defined their youths.…

Sibling bonds are both rekindled and tested in the feature debut from Diana Peralta. Rita (Sasha Merci) and Carolina (Darlene Demorizi), two high-spirited sisters raised in New York, travel to the Dominican Republic to reunite with their estranged brother Dante (Héctor Aníbal) and to clean out their grandparents’ old home before it is sold and knoc…

"Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters," Ernest Hemingway wrote in the Sun Also Rises. When penning that line, he might have been thinking of his friend, the celebrated American matador Sidney Franklin. Hemingway once wrote of Franklin, "He is a better, more scientific, more intelligent, and more finished matador than all…