A Coney Island of the mind / written and read by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Date Broadcast on: Oct. 6, 1956. And an interview with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Dennis Bernstein of Flashpoints on Felinghetti’s time in Nagasaki after a few weeks after the dropping of the atomic bomb.
Discussion of Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat to a white man and the resulting bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The interview was conducted by Sidney Rogers with Rosa Parks in 1956. Date Recorded on: April 1956. Date Broadcast on: KPFA, 20 Dec. 1962.
Panel discussion on the issues surrounding the obscenity trial caused when Pacifica aired a reading of Alan Ginsberg’s poem ‘Howl.’|PANEL ON “HOWL” Lewis Hill, Pacifica’s first president, moderates a panel discussing the issues surrounding the obsenity trial precipitated by Allen Ginsberg’s controversial poem, “Howl”, one of the classics of the early beat generation. Participating in … Continued
Paul Robeson, noted actor and political activist, relates his personal history and views in this interview with Elsa Knight Thompson, KPFA, and Harold Winkler, then president of Pacifica Foundation. Discussion of his life as the son of a former slave, his life as an expatriate during the 1930s, his involvement in the civil rights movement, … Continued
Langston Hughes speaks to a live audience, interspersing stories from his life, including his childhood, family life, and how he got started writing, with readings of his poems. Recorded at the University of California December 10, 1958.
Alan Watts talks on the influence of Eastern philosophy on western culture,1960.
Complete testimony of KPFA host and Sovietologist William Mandel before the House Un-American Activities Committee, San Francisco City Hall, May 13, 1960. William Marx “Bill” Mandel was a long-time KPFA broadcaster, political activist and author, best known as a Soviet expert. His books, including “Soviet Women,” and the latest, his autobiography, “Saying No to Power … Continued
Pauline Kael (1919 – 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. Known for her “witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused” reviews. Kael broadcast many of her early reviews on KPFA. She married Edward Landberg, the owner of the Berkeley Cinema-Guild and Studio. Though their marriage soon ended in … Continued
Elsa Knight Thompson and John Leonard, Director of literature and drama, talk with the James Baldwin. Baldwin discusses what comes after Birmingham in the civil rights movement, and why the critics attacked his novel “Another country.” May 7th, 1963.
Phil Elwood interviews Louis Armstrong after a 1963 concert at the Fairmont in San Francisco, CA.
