Did you ever have a really interesting conversation at a bar -- sharing ideas over a couple of martinis -- and wish you could've bottled it? That's Bar Crawl Radio . Rebecca McKean and Alan Winson invite amazing people to bars all over the word -- make a toast -- and then talk about about whatever inspires them -- makes their lives worth living. We talk to all sorts of interesting people doing important work for their community at a neighborhood bar -- composers -- actors -- musicians -- medical…
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For this edition of BCR's Park Bench Chat, Rebecca and I sat down to talk with good friends -- Maria and Barry Kessler -- and our neighbors strolling in Riverside Park's "You've Got Mail" garden -- about the state of our U.S. American democracy. We handed out bags of chips to anyone who could answer a trivia question about the US government. Our focus gravitated to a consideration of the three…
Politics on the UWS is in a liminal place where a new reality is aborning. Of course, this nation exists in "between" places where possible versions of democracy are tried and then abandoned. This week the social democratic version has gained a foothold in our Upper West Side neighborhood – and maybe American politics. Eli Northrup – Bronx Public Defender and justice policy wonk -- was elected the…
Columbia University’s “College Walk” -- on West 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue -- became part of the University’s campus in 1953 with the understanding that "College Walk" would remain available to pedestrians. Massive iron gates, put up in 1967, were designed as an ornamental decoration which would not be used to restrict access. But the gated closed on Oct. 12, 2023, when the…
In Elon Musk’s “dark MAGA” there is no truth.—which for historian Jill Lepore creates a fear that everything might collapse because everything is so fragile and so fake , so untrustworthy -- and so -- unreal . For Lepore -- it is a fear created by the “Artificial State.” Back in January of this year – 2026 -- BCR hosts spoke with William Hartung about his political stand-up routine and his recent…
Throughout human history the political dissident has been imprisoned, tortured, murdered. Today’s dissident opposing the U.S. war machine is silenced by corporate media and punished by U.S. courts. And mostly – unseen. Why do they do it – when there is no chance of success? BCR podcast has been asking American dissidents that question for years. For BCR #273, we asked Gal Beckerman of The Atlantic…
This BCR conversation with Carl Dix was recorded at Gebhards Beer Culture Bar on the UWS. Mr. Dix is a leader of the RevCom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity. Our conversation focused on his his experiences with the U.S. military when our country was at war North Vietnam. In a recent email, Mr. Dix wrote me: “My experience with the US military was an important part of what formed my political…
For many of us, our country is walking a tightrope between democracy and autocracy. I am a US American civilian. I avoided serving in the US military during the Vietnam War. My father and son were in the military – one in WWII – the other a never-deployed Marine. Despite these secondary contact with our armed forces, I do not understand the US military mind and culture. I do know it is the most…
I spoke with Steven Fechter about his newest novel -- "The Big Breeze" -- the story of Joseph Bye a phenom baseball pitcher who at the peak of his career was hit by a car and crippled. Eventually, he became a painter of baseball pitchers. Many years after the accident, he learned that he was run-over intentionally. In part this is the story of what Breeze will he do about it. But I did not want to…
Rebecca McKean and I started this program asking why so many U.S. Americans call Mayor Mamdani a "communist" and then explore the humanist idea that we all live in individual "landscapes" that form our perspectives and emotions -- and that those landscapes can be re-considered. We recorded at 5 Napkin Burger on Broadway and 84th Street in Manhattan -- speaking with David Andersson, the…
A conversation with three men who recently traveled to Palestine to witness the state of Palestinian Christian communities living in Israel-occupied West Bank. What they experiences was horrific and hopeful. Horrific in the brutality of the young Israeli settler gangs and hopeful in the readiness of the Palestinian Christians to be accepted into a peaceful, co-existence with their Israeli…
