Authors

Photographer Kyle Cassidy

May 2, 2020 Artist, Authors, Writers 00:48:36

West-Philly photographer Kyle Cassidy, who is currently working on photo-documenting essential workers and first responders during COVID-19, joins us for a LIVE BLUNTCAST. Our live Bluntcasts air regularly on Friday evenings via our Facebook page.

Kyle has authored numerous photo books and photo essays documenting the lives of roller derby players, gun owners, librarians, those will military tattoos, Occupy Wall St. protesters, and now the essential workers of Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current project has him photographing folks like Philly sanitation workers, doctors, and nurses.

He joins us to talk about what motivates him, how he came to his latest project, and his thoughts about a post COVID-19 world. 

Kyle’s work has been featured in national publications and sites such as the New York Times, Barron’s, Slate.com and HuffPost. He has photographed countless artists, actors, and musical acts. He also collaborated with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer on the book Who Killed Amanda Palmer.

LINK: 
kylecassidy.com

Jerry Blavat: Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Geator with the Heater, Boss with the Hot Sauce

December 19, 2019 Authors, Entertainment, Music, TV/Radio 1:07:43

Philadelphia is not a city of celebrities. It’s a city of legends. And we were lucky enough to sit down with one of the biggest legends of all. Jerry Blavat grew up in South Philly, and by age 13 he was a star dancer on the original (pre Dick Clark) American Bandstand. A few years later, while still in high school, he was valeting for Don Rickles. His story only gets wilder from there, and features appearances from Sammy Davis Jr., Chuck Berry, and Angelo Bruno. 

In 1960, he started working in radio. With a show still on WXPN, he’ll be starting his 60th year on radio in 2020. While on radio in the 60s, he gave himself the nickname “The Geator with the Heater, the Boss With the Hot Sauce”. The nickname Geator has stuck, and it rings out all over Philadelphia. Older Philadelphians know him from his legendary dance parties, where kids from all over Philadelphia came together to get down. Millenials know him from the parties he puts on at Memories at Margate, where he still keeps the crowd dancing every Friday and Saturday night. 
 
At age 79, the tireless Geator is working as hard as ever. As we were setting up for the interview, he was on the phone, discussing with his business partner what songs Peaches and Herb were going to be singing at his big Disco, Rock n Roll, and Soul show at the Kimmel Center on January 25th. He’s got the weekly show on WXPN. He’s got the summer gig at Memories. He makes appearances at the Thanksgiving Parade each year, as well as at the Mummers Parade. He’s part of an annual Malt Shop Cruise. I asked him if he ever thought about retiring, and he told me that his followers would get too mad at him, so he can’t. Think about that for a second: at age 79, Blavat still has enough diehard fans that he simply can’t retire. 
 
This is a highly entertaining and far ranging interview. He discussed his friendship with Sammy Davis, an INSANE story about Chuck Berry, and how he and Dick Clark started as adversaries but became good friends. What an honor it was for us to sit down with a true Philly legend, and to hear some of the best stories we’ve ever heard on the show. Whether you’re a fan of the Geator, or just a fan of great music, or just like to hear great stories, you’re going to enjoy this one, guaranteed. 
 
LINKS:
Jerry Blavat: www/Facebook/Book
O’neal’s Pub: www/Facebook/Twitter

Ben Franklin – Philly’s Most Famous Citizen

August 12, 2019 Authors, History 37:36

This is Ben Franklin like you’ve never heard him, obviously. As part of the Philadelphia Podcast Festival, we sat down with Philly most famous and accomplished resident at the National Liberty Museum for our first-ever recording in front of a live audience.

Don’t be afraid. This isn’t a boring history lesson. This is Benjamin Franklin talking dirt on John Adams, discussing the use of your own children in dangerous experiments to avoid lawsuits, farting, public nudity, and why he advised young men in selecting older mistresses. He drank a beer and survived the Philly Blunt segment like a true Revolutionary, even letting us know what he’d be getting into on a typical Friday night.

You are guaranteed to learn something new about Ben and have an entirely new appreciation for him.

History should always be this fun.

Jennifer Weiner: Philly’s NY Times #1 Bestselling Author: Part 1

June 4, 2019 Authors 33:52

She’s sold over 13 MILLION BOOKS. She’s had a book turned into a movie starring Cameron Diaz. She has championed for women authors to receive the same attention as their male counterparts, and she’s stood for her beliefs, almost to the detriment of her young career. She is the New York Times #1 Bestselling Author Jennifer Weiner.

Jen came to Philly via a stop in central Pennsylvania, where she worked as a local journalist before getting a job at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She’s never left Philly since arriving and has no plans of doing so.

We sat with Jen at Queen Village’s Hungry Pigeon restaurant. In our time with her, she provided fabulous insight into her life, her thoughts about the world around her, the world of publishing, as well as her loves and struggles with social media. She shares a story of hating a cover of one her books because it looks like a “douche ad,” but because buyers at a retail outlet loved the cover they stuck with it. It went on to become her first #1 Bestseller.

Jen’s new book, Mrs. Everything, come out on June 11th. The book chronicles the lives of two sisters over the span of seventy years. She discussed the inspiration for the ambitious project and the historical research that went into the project.

In The Philly Blunt round, we learn Jen’s musical aspirations, her spitting pet peeve, and her favorite Hooters song, among other interesting tidbits.

Jen is a woman who is comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to speak her mind. That’s what makes this such a good interview. It’s so good we had to break it up into two parts.

With Reef still on tour in Europe, Danya Henninger sat in with us as a guest host. 

We hope you enjoy Part 1.

LINKS:
Jennifer Weiner: FB/Twitter/Instagram

Hungry Pigeon: FB/Twitter/Instagram

Jennifer Weiner: Philly’s NY Times #1 Bestselling Author: Part 2

June 4, 2019 Authors, Entertainment 32:22

She’s sold over 13 MILLION BOOKS. She’s had a book turned into a movie starring Cameron Diaz. She has championed for women authors to receive the same attention as their male counterparts, and she’s stood for her beliefs, almost to the detriment of her young career. She is the New York Times #1 Bestselling Author Jennifer Weiner.

Jen came to Philly via a stop in central Pennsylvania, where she worked as a local journalist before getting a job at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She’s never left Philly since arriving and has no plans of doing so.

We sat with Jen at Queen Village’s Hungry Pigeon restaurant. In our time with her, she provided fabulous insight into her life, her thoughts about the world around her, the world of publishing, as well as her loves and struggles with social media. She shares a story of hating a cover of one her books because it looks like a “douche ad,” but because buyers at a retail outlet loved the cover they stuck with it. It went on to become her first #1 Bestseller.

Jen’s new book, Mrs. Everything, come out on June 11th. The book chronicles the lives of two sisters over the span of seventy years. She discussed the inspiration for the ambitious project and the historical research that went into the project.

In The Philly Blunt round, we learn Jen’s musical aspirations, her spitting pet peeve, and her favorite Hooters song, among other interesting tidbits.

Jen is a woman who is comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to speak her mind. That’s what makes this such a good interview. It’s so good we had to break it up into two parts.

With Reef still on tour in Europe, Danya Henninger sat in with us as a guest host. 

We hope you enjoy Part 2.

LINKS:
Jennifer Weiner: FB/Twitter/Instagram

Hungry Pigeon: FB/Twitter/Instagram

Maleek Jackson: An extraordinary Tale of Incarceration to Inspiration

February 20, 2019 Authors, Business, Inspiration 46:19

The 5th of 13 kids in a family that had no adult guidance, Maleek Jackson found himself in trouble early and often. Drug dealing, burglary, B&E, as he says, “I did it all except rape and murder.” At age 16, he was tried as an adult and sent to prison on an 8 to 16 year sentence. Inspired by a friend in prison who kept asking him, “What’s your plan when you get out?”, Maleek started to think more and more about that plan. He decided to get his GED, then started boxing and leading workouts for fellow prisoners.

Released after 10 years, he had an encounter with Bernard Hopkins, who hired a trainer to work with him. When Maleek’s trainer, boxing manager Danny Davis, had to leave the city for bouts, he left Maleek in charge of the gym. Gaining confidence through experience, Maleek discovered that he had a knack for personal training. He began to pick up his own clients, and within a few years, he decided to strike out on his own.

You can find Maleek now at Maleek Jackson Gym in Northern Liberties, where he trains people such as rapper Meek Mill, chef Mike Solomonov (Zahav, Federal Donuts), and NFL quarterback Joe Flacco. As remarkable of a personal narrative as you will ever hear, this is the most inspiring interview we’ve done yet.

Thanks to El Camino Real for being a most gracious host.

If you enjoy it, do us a solid and give us a 5 star review and even better, a short review. Thanks for listening! 

LINKS:
Maleek Jackson: Instagram/Twitter/Gym

El Camino Real: Instagram/Twitter/Facebook

Danya Henninger: Billy Penn, Beers, and the Future of the Press

February 4, 2019 Authors, Food & Drink 34:27

Danya Henninger is a rarity. She’s from NYC, but considers herself a Philadelphian. She dropped out of an Ivy League university. And, more importantly, she holds a position that few women in the news industry attain—Editor-in-Chief. Danya is the Editor-in-Chief of the Philly news site BillyPenn.com.

Billy Penn is unique in the way it delivers news. They have a staff of full-time reporters that work on original and fascinating news stories affecting all regions of Philly, but they also curate and share stories from social media and other news outlets that they believe are important for their readers. This novel approach to presenting news to readers and Danya’s extensive history of writing about Philly made her an obvious choice for an episode of The Philly Blunt.

Danya arrived in Philadelphia in 2008 and has taken the city by storm. She started out doing food and drink writing. She went on to win a Pen & Pencil local news award for her freelance reporting. She then became culture editor at Billy Penn before becoming the Editor-in-Chief.

We sat with Danya at Brauhaus Schmitz on South Street. She told us about her beginnings in New York City, her short-lived time at Brown University, and how she considers herself a true Philadelphian. Danya is also working with a coalition of Philly news agencies to put forth a more collaborative effort in investigating stories pertinent to Philly and in delivering these stories to all segments of Philadelphia’s population.

Our interview with Danya also contains one of the better Philly Blunt segments to date. For her last meal, she picks a Philly Pizza joint. Which one? You’ll have to listen to find out.

LINKS:
Danya Henninger: Twitter/Instagram
Billy Penn (Twitter/Facebook/Instagram)
Brauhaus Schmitz: Twitter/Facebook/Instagram

Timaree Leigh: Philly’s Sexuality Queen talks Polyamory, Burlesque, and more.

November 26, 2018 Artist, Authors, Entertainment, Writers 37:17

Timaree is Philly’s sex expert. When she’s not educating, talking, or writing about sex, she’s dancing throughout Philly at various burlesque events. She is Philly’s reigning queen of sexuality. 

Growing up in Western Nebraska, Timaree always knew she wanted to live in a big city, and she landed in Philly after discovering that nearby Widener had a world class sexuality program. She received her PhD in Human Sexuality from Widener, then began her insanely busy professional career: she works as a sex therapist, podcaster, writer, and a fitness instructor. 

She spoke with us about knowing early in her life that she was queer, and how that affected her career and her lifestyle. She also talked about being polyamorous, and whether or not it’s difficult to juggle multiple relationships at once. 

Timaree gives the key for those in long-term monogamous relationships and discusses the difficulties when orgasms are constantly the end goal in sexual play. We discuss the weirdness of Philly, Gritty, and burlesque etiquette for guys in attendance.

Ever hear of skin hunger? Neither did we, but Timaree educated us on the topic. This has to be heard.

We recorded at Frankie Bradley’s and with good reason: before it became Bradley’s the venue was the home Sisters, and was where Timaree started her burlesque career. And Bradley’s is a place where she still hosts several of her many monthly shows. She talked to us a bit about the history of burlesque, what separates it from stripping, and how it’s changed in Philly over the past decade. 

We want to thank Franky Bradley’s for having us, and Timaree for taking time out of her busy schedule to sit down with us. We think the result is a damn good interview.

LINKS:
Dr. Timaree Leigh: Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Web

Franky Bradley’s: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Web