WNYC & BAM Announce RadioLoveFest

RadioLoveFest
BAM and WNYC’s celebration of an always engaging and ever evolving medium
returns May 5—10

Wide-ranging program highlights include An Evening with Terry Gross, Radiolab Live, and NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!® live, indie music fiesta Mexrrissey: Mexico Loves Morrissey, Speed Dating for Mom Friends with The Longest Shortest Time, and special events with WNYC and WQXR hosts Leonard Lopate, Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Terrance McKnight, and more…

Guests and hosts include Jad Abumrad, Jonathan Adler, Maria Bamford, Ishmael Beah, W. Kamau Bell, Mike Daisey, Tavi Gevinson, Luscious Jackson, Molly Ringwald, Peter Sagal, Aisha Tyler, with many others to be announced…

BAM and WNYC present

RadioLoveFest                                                      

Produced by BAM and WNYC

May 5—10

BAM (multiple venues)

Tickets on sale Mar 9 to BAM and WNYC members

Tickets on sale Mar 16 to the general public

Brooklyn, NY/Mar 3, 2015—Following a smashingly successful inaugural year, WNYC takes-up residence at BAM venues once again to reimagine some of public radio’s most beloved programs and podcasts live on stage for the second RadioLoveFest. The line-up is a vibrant cross-section of genres and formats—from storytelling and music to comedy and conversation—featuring public radio favorites on stage with  Radiolab Live!, An Evening with Terry Gross, and NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!®; live iterations of new shows and podcasts including Bullseye Comedy Night presenting an A-list all female  lineup, The Moth and Radio Diaries’ co-production Don’t Look Back: Stories from the Teenage Years featuring former and current teen queens Tavi Gevinson and Molly Ringwald, and Death, Sex & Money’s conversation with couples Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler and W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell. Special music events include Mexrrissey: Mexico Loves Morrissey, an evening of members of Mexico’s finest bands reinventing and paying homage to Morrissey’s songs and It’s All About Richard Rodgers with Jonathan Schwartz. Additionally, there will be BAMcinématek screenings curated by WNYC hosts including Brooke Gladstone, Brian Lehrer, and Arun Venugopal, and BAMcafé Live performances curated by Terrance McKnight. Nearly all shows during RadioLoveFest will be taped for broadcast on WNYC and on-demand listening on WNYC.org.  Additional guests to be confirmed. Check BAM.org for updates. 

For press information, contact Adriana Leshko at 718.724.8021 or aleshko@BAM.org

Radiolab Live

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 5 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35, $55, $75

Radiolab is WNYC’s innovative, Peabody Award-winning cult sensation about wonder, discovery, and big ideas. Co-hosted by veteran science reporter Robert Krulwich and MacArthur “Genius” Jad Abumrad, the show tackles topics as diverse as why Kenyans win marathons, what is time, and why left-handedness persists. Airing weekly on more than 450 stations around the country, Radiolab also consistently ranks in the top five podcasts on iTunes.

An Evening with Terry Gross

In conversation with TBA

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 6 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35, $55, $85

Combine an intelligent interviewer with a roster of guests that, according to the Chicago Tribune, would be prized by any talk-show host, and you’re bound to get an interesting conversation. Fresh Air’s inter­views, though, are in a category by them­selves, distinguished by host and executive producer Terry Gross’ unique approach. “A remarkable blend of empathy and warmth, genuine curiosity and sharp intelligence,” the San Francisco Chronicle says. For Terry Gross’ BAM debut the tables will be turned as a very special guest (to be announced at a later date) interviews one of the most iconic interviewers on the cultural landscape.

Don’t Look Back: Stories from the Teenage Years

The Moth & Radio Diaries

Hosted by Molly Ringwald

Storytellers: Tavi Gevinson, Ishmael Beah, and more TBC

BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)

May 6 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35, $50

Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented more than ten thousand stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded nearly 25 million times a year, and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour airs weekly on radio stations nationwide. Since 1996, Radio Diaries has been telling the extraordinary stories of ordinary life by giving people tape recorders and working with them to report on their own lives and histories, with the results broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered, This American Life, BBC, and on The Radio Diaries Podcast. For RadioLoveFest, The Moth and Radio Diaries present “Don’t Look Back: Stories from the Teenage Years” which will focus on the exquisite anguish of the adolescent experience. Actor and author Molly Ringwald will host the event; guests include actor and Rookie founder Tavi Gevinson, Sierra Leonean writer Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and others to be announced.

Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!®

NPR®

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 7 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35, $55, $75, $105

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! ® is NPR's weekly hour-long news quiz program hosted by Peter Sagal. Along with human scoreboard Bill Kurtis, Sagal will challenge panelists Mike Birbiglia, Jessi Klein, and Peter Grosz—as well as the BAM audience—to distinguish what's real news and what's made up. Sagal’s varied career extends beyond Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!®, which he began hosting in 1998.  He’s also pursued projects as a playwright, screenwriter, stage director, actor, extra in a Michael Jackson video, travel writer, essayist, ghostwriter, and staff writer for a motorcycle magazine, and was recently named by Newsweek as one of their top picks to host The Oscars. The Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!® show recorded at BAM will air the following Saturday on WNYC at 11am and on public radio stations across the country that weekend. The show will also be available to stream on demand as a podcast and at npr.org/waitwait.

Speed Dating for Mom Friends with The Longest Shortest Time

BAMcafé (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 7 at 7pm

Tickets: $25

The Longest Shortest Time, WNYC’s judgment-free parenting podcast, provides a safe forum for parents to share stories and find support. Host and creator Hillary Frank knows firsthand how hard it can be to make friends when you’re a busy mom.  Frank brings her wildly successful matchmaking for moms event to RadioLoveFest, giving New York moms a chance to connect and meet future friends.The event is for adults only and for mothers of children of all ages. A free drink is included in the ticket price.

Snap Judgment

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 8 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35

NPR's hit storytelling show Snap Judgment comes to the BAM stage with a show on the theme of transitions. Host Glynn Washington will spotlight raw, intimate, and musical performances from some of the world's finest storytellers—including the return of monologist Mike Daisey. 

Death, Sex & Money

BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)

May 8 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $20, 25

Death, Sex & Money is a show about the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation. Host Anna Sale—dubbed “the Queen of the Awkward Pause” by Fast Company—talks to people about relationships, money, family and work. At the Harvey, the show will explore the realities of life and marriage with two couples: comedian W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell, Ph.D, and fashion tastemaker Simon Doonan and home décor guru Jonathan Adler. Luscious Jackson will bring the beats as Death, Sex & Money’s house band for the night.

Bullseye Comedy Night

Hosted by Jesse Thorn

Featuring Aisha Tyler, Maria Bamford, Aparna Nancherla, Ali Wong

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 9 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $25, $30, $35, $45

Every week on Bullseye host Jesse Thorn cuts through the weeds of pop culture with irreverent comedy, in-depth interviews, and a keen eye for what’s worth knowing about. For one night only, the comedy portion of that lineup takes center stage as Thorn hosts an A-list roster of female comics live on the BAM Opera House Stage.

Mexrrissey: Mexico Loves Morrissey

Hosted by John Schaefer

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 10 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $35, $45, $55, $65

“Nothing the world holds could match the love waiting for me in Mexico City” —Morrissey

WNYC’s John Schaefer hosts an evening of songs by Morrissey – both from his solo career and his years with The Smiths – arranged and played by some of Mexico’s finest musicians, including Camilo Lara’s hit electronic music project Mexican Institute of Sound. Morrissey has mentioned Mexico in several songs, and the love affair goes both ways.  Perhaps this is because several generations of Mexicans, facing economic challenges, connect with the way Morrissey’s songs reflect the depression of Manchester during the 1980s. Whatever the reason, Morrissey’s songs of love, loss, and longing have found a huge audience south of the border. Featuring arrangements by Sergio Mendoza (Orkesta Mendoza/Calexico), this all-star band sounds like a brass- and accordion-led combo from the smallest village with the biggest bleeding heart.

It’s All About Richard Rodgers with Jonathan Schwartz

Music director: Tedd Firth

Performers: Cyrille Aimée, Karrin Allyson and Freddy Cole

BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)

May 10 at 3pm

Tickets: $35, $50

Jonathan Schwartz is the host of “The Jonathan Channel,” WNYC’s 24/7 online music stream devoted to the Great American Songbook. The channel provides an unparalleled showcase for this timeless music, presented by its strongest advocate, Schwartz, in his intimate, insightful, and utterly original approach that combines impeccable taste with countless personal tales, colorful anecdotes, and encyclopedic knowledge. Listeners can tune in anytime to hear the sounds of Sinatra, Nelson Riddle, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, as well as the next generation of American standards performers, including Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, Michael Feinstein, Jane Monheit, and Nancy LaMott, among many others. Jonathan also hosts two radio shows on WNYC highlighting the American Songbook, on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon on 93.9 FM.

This afternoon event celebrates the life and music of an American giant of popular song, Richard Rodgers. Schwartz will host the event in his uniquely personal and spontaneous way, featuring performances and conversation with with music director Tedd Firth and performers Cyrille Aimée, Karrin Allyson, and Freddy Cole.

Leonard Lopate & Locavores: Brooklyn as a Brand

BAMcafé (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 10 at 3pm

Tickets: $35

Leonard Lopate—WNYC radio host, avowed foodie, and repatriated Brooklynite (after 30 years in the Manhattan wilderness)—hosts an afternoon of conversation, cooking demonstrations, and tastings with the founders of three of the brands that have put Brooklyn on the culinary map: Scott Bridi of Brooklyn Cured, Angela & John Fout of Sohha Savory Yoghurt, and Brooklyn Brewery President Steve Hindy.

BAMcafé Live curated by Terrance McKnight

WQXR’s weeknight host Terrance McKnight is also the host of the Saturday evening program All Ears with Terrance McKnight, a show about musical discovery, which was honored with an ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award in 2010. He brings that spirit of curiosity to his role as the emcee of the “Battle of the Boroughs”—The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC and WQXR’s annual competition to find New York City’s best undiscovered musical talent. As part of the RadioLoveFest, McKnight curates two nights of music for BAMcafé, featuring WNYC “Battle of the Boroughs” winners Royal KhaoZ and 5J Barrow.

Royal KhaoZ 

BAMcafé (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 8th at 9pm

Free

5J Barrow

BAMcafé (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 9th at 9pm

Free

BAMcinématek screenings curated by WNYC hosts

Brooke Gladstone, David Garland, John Schaefer, Arun Venugopal, and Brian Lehrer

BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave)

May 5—9 at 7:30pm

For these special screenings, WNYC hosts tap their inner movie buff, choosing and discussing film favorites with special guests.

Galaxy Quest (1999) 102min – 35mm print

Host: Brooke Gladstone

Tue, May 5 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $16 public/$11 BAM Cinema Club

Directed by Dean Parisot. With Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman.

On the Media’s Brooke Gladstone, an avowed Star Trek fan, returns for another RadioLoveFest with this irresistibly goofball satire. When a beleaguered alien race mistakes a group of washed-up TV space-opera actors (Allen, Weaver, and Rickman) for real life astronauts, they whisk away the trio of has-beens on a galactic adventure. The one-liners come nonstop in this send-up of Star Trek and its nerd fan culture, which has gained a cult following of its own. Tony Shalhoub and Sam Rockwell lend scene-stealing support.

Naked Lunch (1991) 115min – 35mm print

Host: David Garland

Guest: Howard Shore

Wed, May 6 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $16 public/$11 BAM Cinema Club

Directed by David Cronenberg. With Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm.

Movies on the Radio and Spinning On Air host David Garland will host both a screening and conversation with three-time Academy Award-winning film composer Howard Shore, who wrote the music—featuring jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman—for this brilliant mind-melter. A writer and cockroach exterminator (Weller) gets hooked on his own insecticide, accidentally kills his wife, and winds up in the frighteningly surreal Interzone, where typewriters transform into giant talking bugs and shadowy agents peddle a drug called The Black Meat. William S. Burroughs’ bizarro Beat novel finds its perfect interpreter in David Cronenberg, who brings it to the screen with all its weirdness and melancholy fully intact. Cronenberg and Shore have collaborated on nearly all of the director's films.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) 139min – DCP

Host: John Schaefer

Guest: Simon Critchley

May 7th at 7:30pm

Tickets: $16 public/$11 BAM Cinema Club

Directed by Nicolas Roeg. With David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark.

Soundcheck host John Schaefer joins philosopher Simon Critchley (author of the recently published book Bowie) for a conversation about the film that made David Bowie a screen icon. A human-like alien (played by alien-like human Bowie) crash lands on Earth to retrieve water for his planet, but instead discovers pain, loneliness, and the sick soul of American society. Nicolas Roeg’s science-fiction mind-bender is a provocative parable about diseased capitalism in a television-obsessed culture told in a swirl of hallucinatory imagery.

I Vitelloni (1953) 103min – 35mm print

Host: Arun Venugopal

May 8th at 7:30pm

Tickets: $16 public/$11 BAM Cinema Club

Directed by Federico Fellini. With Alberto Sordi, Franco Fabrizi, Franco Interlenghi. Micropolis creator Arun Venugopal presents an early-career triumph by one of his favorite filmmakers, Italian cinema legend Federico Fellini. This bittersweet buddy film follows five aimless young men dreaming, scheming, and chasing girls in a small seaside village. Featuring music by Nino Rota, this semi-autobiographical character study is full of Fellini’s robust humor and poetic touches, all cloaked in a poignant haze of nostalgia. “It's my favorite Fellini film, possibly his most personal effort and by far his funniest.” —Andrew Sarris

The Last Waltz (1978) 117min – 35mm print

Host: Brian Lehrer

May 9th at 7:30pm

Tickets: $16 public/$11 BAM Cinema Club

Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Following his smash hit curated screening of Stop Making Sense at last year’s RadioLoveFest, Brian Lehrer returns to BAM to present another favorite iconic concert film. Set on Thanksgiving Day, 1976, at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, Scorsese’s documentary captures rock legends The Band as they say goodbye with a farewell performance for the ages, featuring a who’s who of rock star royalty, including Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, The Staples Singers, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, and more. Shot by cinematographers extraordinaire Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, this beloved elegy for the classic rock era is the ultimate concert film.

About BAM:

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is recognized internationally for its innovative programming of dance, music, theater, music-theater, opera, and film. Its mission is to be the home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas. BAM presents leading national and international artists and companies in its annual Spring Season and highlights groundbreaking, contemporary work in the performing arts with its Next Wave Festival each fall. Founded in 1983, the Next Wave is one of the world's most important festivals of contemporary performing arts. BAM Rose Cinemas features new, independent film releases and BAMcinématek—a curated, daily repertory film program. In 2012, BAM added the Richard B. Fisher Building to its campus, providing an intimate and flexible 250-seat performance venue—the Fishman Space—as well as the Hillman Studio, a rehearsal and performance space.

BAM serves New York City's diverse population through a weekend concert series in BAMcafé, community events, literary series, and a wide variety of educational and family programs. BAM, America's oldest performing arts center, has presented performances since 1861, and attracts an audience of more than 700,000 people each year. The institution is led by President Karen Brooks Hopkins and Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo—each of whom has been associated with BAM for more than thirty years. Visit BAM.org.

About New York Public Radio:

New York Public Radio is New York’s premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC, WQXR, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and New Jersey Public Radio as well as www.wnyc.org, www.wqxr.org, www.thegreenespace.org and www.njpublicradio.org. As America's most listened-to AM/FM news and talk public radio stations, WNYC extends New York City's cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks NPR, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WQXR is New York City's sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and Carnegie Hall, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city's rich musical life.  In addition to its audio content, WNYC and WQXR produce content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station's street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space.  New Jersey Public Radio extends WNYC’s reach and service more deeply into New Jersey.  For more information about New York Public Radio, visit www.nypublicradio.org.

Credits

Delta is the Official Airline of RadioLoveFest.

American Express is the lead sponsor of RadioLoveFest.

Forest City Ratner Companies is a major sponsor of RadioLoveFest.

Major support for RadioLoveFest provided by Charles & Valerie Diker.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Santander is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.

Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Bill de Blasio; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras, Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo; and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.

General Information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a dinner menu prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway:           2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey

Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue

Train:                Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center

Bus:                 B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM

Car:                  Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.