Tag: interview

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Get Schooled and Common Surprise Grant High in LA

The Get Schooled 2010 Challenge dropped in on L.A. on Friday, surprising the students at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Valley Village with a one-hour assembly hosted by MTV’s Sway and featuring Common.

“…I know y’all fresher than North Hollywood,” Common freestyled from a stage set up in the Grant High Lancers’ gym.

Los Angeles was the ninth stop on Get Schooled’s National Challenge and Tour, a program funded in part by MTV and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In each city, a top school is chosen by the district but the details and location of the school are kept under wraps to maximize the surprise. In L.A. Get Schooled is encouraging students to not just stay in school but to be proactive and take advantage of LAUSD programs such as City of Angels, to help those who are still a few credits shy of a diploma and the Green Dot Public Schools. The comprehensive website is loaded with resources and tips for students of all ages as well as volunteer opportunities, such as City Year. Everyone is encouraged to step up!

We caught up with Common and Sway to discuss the importance of programs such as Get Schooled. Watch the videos below!

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Interview with Common at Get Schooled Event in LA – 11/12/2010

I was lucky to get a couple minutes with Common following the filming of Get Schooled for MTV at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Valley Village. We spoke briefly about the event, education, and the ability of social media to empower him and his peers to create change.

Common at Grant High 11/12/10 [ 1:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Silver Jews: Brought Down by The Man? And a Look Back at my Interview With David Berman

Earlier this week, David Berman, primary tentacle of Silver Jews, posted what amounted to a disturbing (if true) revelation to his many fans and admirers: His “…gravest secret. Worse than suicide, worse than crack addiction — his father, Robert Berman, aka Dr. Evil. This followed a post announcing the end of Silver Jews and Berman’s career as a songwriter… moving on to other means, perhaps screenwriting, as he also alluded to in our interview.

“This winter I decided that the SJ’s were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he [Richard Berman] has caused,” Berman wrote. A Jan. 31 show at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tenn., will be the last of the Joos. Either way, the records left behind are nothing short of legendary and I feel fortunate to have seen the Silver Jews on each of their two tours. Read the thread at Drag City and see some other reactions here and here.

Republished below is an e-mail interview I conducted with David Berman last September, for LAist.

david berman of silver jews. the joos perform at echoplex tonight

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Interview With Wired’s Chris Anderson

My interview with Chris Anderson is finally live on the Mercury News Web site. Check it out here.

I discussed Anderson’s next book — the follow up to The Long Tail — titled “Free” at the Tools of Change conference, shortly after his keynote (see my notes here).

It took so long to produce this thanks to technical difficulties — otherwise known as our main videocamera not functioning. This was meant to be a video podcast with two cameras, and Chris and I were both miked with lavalier mics connected to the main camera. Therefore, the audio is from the onboard mic of a roving camcorder, so it sounds like we’re in a tunnel.

Thanks to David Barreda for “shooting” this.

photo by James Duncan Davidson via flickr.

Chris Anderson Interview [ 7:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download