4-30-20 Interview
Shortly after I wrote The Sweet Single Life, I moved in with the man I would marry. He’s a musician and shortly after I moved in he went on the road – a yearlong national and international tour with Tom Waits. When I got home from seeing him off at LAX I wrote – Travelin man – click the link to listen – of course you can no longer “stand at the gate to wave goodbye.”
These songs are all on my CD “I Won’t go With a Whimper” which was produced by the ridiculously talented Michele Brourman, who also arranged the songs and played all the keyboards. Michele is a brilliant singer/songwriter/performer/composer/musical director and producer. Check her out at Michelebrourman.com

6-24-19 Interview

2-18-19 Interview
2-18-19 Syreeeta Banks was born with a to die for voice, but her natural shyness and commitment to “adulting´ caused her to major in Electrical Engineering in college and spend several years pursuing her determination to be an adult; working at straight jobs, buying a condo, being self-supporting. Luckily she has now turned her talent and energy to pursing what she should always have been – a performer. Come see her star in The Amen Corner currently running at the West Coast Black Theater Troupe

3-7-17 Interview

3-14-17 Choreographer Donald Frison never had a dance class. Dancing from the moment he could move, Donald says that he was simply” born to dance.” Listen to the way he used his dancing to crash his older sibling’s parties and how he explained to the dance company who’d hired him that he didn’t know any dance terminology – but if shown he could do whatever they wanted him to– and he did. Now the resident choreographer at the West Coast Black Theater Troupe for which he has choreographed as many at 7 shows and appeared in any number of them. Come see his electrifying work with the four extraordinary singers in the current West Coast production of Girl Groups of the 60’s

8-2-16 Interview

10-18-16 Earley Dean, has played many and varied roles in West Coast Black Theater Troupe productions. Now he is taking the WBTT stage for one performance, Monday night 10/30, with his original piece Happy Birthday Jethro Jenkins. The Church and school Earley attended encouraged and nurtured his natural talent, but his easy accomplishments lead him to believe he could be successful without much effort, Listen to him describe what it took for him to realize his passion for, not only performing, but for the work it takes to make a great performance. And come and see this serious performer rock the night away with songs by Teddy Pendergrass

10-27-2015 Audio Interview Part 2

In Part 2 of my interview with James Harkness, he tells the remarkable story of how he wound up on Broadway, before he really understood what a big deal it was In it he also talks at length about The Color Purple, explaining why he believes it such an important piece. And listen to more of the wonderful music from The Color Purple.

10-20-2015 Audio Interview

Part I James Harkness is currently appearing on Broadway in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. He took a leave of absence in order to make his directorial debut for the WBTT production of The Color Purple in which he performed and choreographed the Broadway debut in 2005 – and will return after the show opens. He recently performed alongside Betty Buckley in Grey Gardens The Musical. His stage credits include Aida, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, Dreamgirls and Smokey Joe’s Café. Film credits include The Maid’s Room and The Mend. He has earned numerous creative credits as a choreographer. Listen to this charming, delightful, spontaneous man tell the story of the ways in which life conspired to help him embrace the dancer he has always been, and to discover the choreographer and director he was always meant to be.. And listen to music from The Color Purple.

3-11-14 Audio Interview
Until he saw Wirlie Morris (who produces for Charlie Wilson) play the bass Jay Dodge thought he was going to be a baseball player. But there was something so mesmerizing about the way Wirlie played that Jay immediately picked up a bass and started to fool around with it. Then a miraculous thing happened; listen to Jay describe how his pastor laid hands on him and pronounced that he would play the bass. The rest is history – well baseball was history anyway. As he progressed on the bass Jay knew for sure that he had found his destiny. Listen to him tell the story of how, although he had never musical directed, he became the Musical Director of the West Coast Black Theater Troupe in Sarasota Florida. Today he is also the company’s Project Manager. Currently Jay is Musical Directing the WBBT production of Harry and Lena. Listen to this gentle, thoughtful, optimistic man talk about his life and his relationship to music.

5-1-12 – Interview

Emmy Award winning, Peabody Award winning, Tony Nominated playwright, screenwriter, lyricist Sherman Yellen thought he was going to be a painter. An asthmatic child he spent a lot of time in bed drawing and listening to his mothers stories about her life and the lives of her extended family; stories like the one about Cousin Ida the whore of Minsk. Sherman absorbed it all. He attended the High School of Music and Art certain he would be a fine artist but he had very high standards for his work and believed that although a “natural artist” and a “fine draftsman” he would never ” break the barrier” and become a fine artist. He began to write stories, not surprisingly about his family, and discovered what he really is – a writer. Hear the story of his introduction to writing for TV (a play he wrote with Peter Stone who would go on to write many movies including Charade and the Musical 1776 and which starred an outrageous scene stealing Jack Lord who went on to star in Hawaii five-0. Listen to Sherman talk about the way he experiences the act of writing, the “losing of oneself,” and hear a songs from Blackbird – the story of Josephine Baker, a musical for which he wrote both book and lyrics, and which is the West Coast Black Theater Troupe’s current production.