Thursday, July 31, 2014

Author Luke Nichter Nixon Tapes

Is it a piece of history ever American should keep or is it just another form of invading a past Presidents life? From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with author Luke Nichter with Nixon Tapes. The famous -- and infamous -- Nixon White House tapes that reveal for the first time President Richard Nixon uncensored, unfiltered, and in his own words. President Nixon's voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David -- 3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than 5 percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to professor Luke Nichter's massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history. The Nixon Tapes offers a selection of fascinating scenes from the year Nixon opened relations with China, negotiated the SALT I arms agreement with the Soviet Union, and won a landslide reelection victory. All the while, the growing shadow of Watergate and Nixon's political downfall crept ever closer. The Nixon Tapes provides a never-before-seen glimpse into a flawed president's hubris, paranoia, and political genius.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Songwriter Brian Sullivan Platinum Road

What is songwriting? Some would call it poetry while the masters of modern day success have named it words-man-ship. The art of being alive is having the opportunity to document it. The scale wasn't designed for judgment but rather the weight of how much of our soul we allow ourselves to pour into the dreams that keep us awake late at night. I've done radio for 35 years. Not because I've got the passion to become a disc jockey. I write. Words. Words that need a place to be displayed. You think I'm alone? You're crazy. Julia Cameron says it best, "We were all born to write." Which is the reason why I love bumping into creative hearts connected to vividly energetic minds. It takes a lot of guts to take a calling and turn it into sight, sound and smell. Even if one person touches it... Job well done.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Marc Meyer - Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America

Fleeing the Chinese Cultural Revolution to New York in the 1960's, Uncle Kuo, a T'ai Chi Master rumored to have once been the bodyguard of Madame Chiang Kai Sheck, finds himself in a vortex of adventures in the new novel by Marc Meyer, Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America (Booklocker.com). Once Kuo is reunited with his Asian-American family, he opens a T'ai Chi school and teaches T'ai Chi principles and techniques. Surprised by the social unrest and violence he encounters, Kuo takes his nephews under his wing as students, teaching them life lessons through T'ai Chi principles. "We learn about Kuo and his journey through the eyes of his eldest nephew,” says author Marc Meyer. "He provides us a glimpse into the hidden world of yesteryear's martial arts, practiced only in small enclaves of America's Chinatowns.” Kuo captures the true essence of a Master in the quiet way he approaches life's challenges, as well as the colorful words used to inspire his students. His nephew recollects, "Remember!” my uncle would call out as we watched him lead a class. "Upper body like a butterfly's wings, legs like steel.” Author Marc Meyer's talents are many. He is a professional pianist and works with prominent jazz and pop musicians. In addition, he is a T'ai Chi instructor as well as a writer. Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America is his first book. His experience in T'ai Chi provides a truth in his writing that is symbolic of a memoir.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Film Maker John Waters Returns

Absolutely one of the best in sharing American adventures. Film Maker John Waters returned to the I Heart Radio Studio. Unplugged and Totally Uncut Returning to Unplugged and Totally Uncut is filmmaker, writer, director John Waters who unveils the scenes of the book as they were happening. He really did thumb his way across America! In an age of RV's and motorcycles blasting gas fumes through the atmosphere. The real story isn't on the asphalt unless you're willing to walk a few thousand miles in a pair of shoes that have no clue which city you'll be sleeping in tonight. John Waters is putting his life on the line. Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads “I’m Not Psycho,” he hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash? Before he leaves for this bizarre adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer hands over piles of cash to finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver makes a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a gun-toting drunk terrorizes and holds him hostage, and a Kansas vice squad entraps and throws him in jail. So what really happens when this cult legend sticks out his thumb and faces the open road? His real-life rides include a gentle eighty-one-year-old farmer who is convinced Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and the perverse filmmaker’s unexpected hero: a young, sandy-haired Republican in a Corvette. Laced with subversive humor and warm intelligence, Carsick is an unforgettable vacation with a wickedly funny companion—and a celebration of America’s weird, astonishing, and generous citizenry.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Beatriz Wiliams The Secret Life Of Violet Grant

In THE SECRET LIFE OF VIOLET GRANT, Williams deftly merges history, political intrigue, and dual romances that unfold decades apart. She cleverly alternates between the complex politics of Europe on the brink of the FIRST WORLD WAR and a modern woman’s daring choices in mid-sixties Manhattan, and it all begins with a fifty-year-old errant valise carrying a lifetime of secrets. Living in a ramshackle Greenwich Village walk-up, recent Bryn Mawr graduate Vivian Schuyler has defied her posh Park Avenue family to pursue a Mad Men-world career at Metropolitan magazine. But when a battered old suitcase arrives in the mail, it hands her a provocative mystery as it serendipitously introduces a man who seems to good to be true, a man who might just be the love of her life. With a reporter’s determination to trace the musty valise’s origins, Vivian learns that it once belonged to a great aunt she’s never heard of—Violet Schuyler Grant. Vivian has never heard the name because it has been virtually erased from her family history amid rumors of a crime of passion committed while Violet lived and worked abroad. Vivian hopes to solve the mystery and boost her career with a splashy Metropolitan article on the subject, but she gets more than she bargained for when she is inexorably drawn into her family’s past. Instead Vivian is stunned by the startling world of Violet Grant, specifically Violet’s brilliant career as a physicist, her unhappy marriage to a cruel and philandering mentor, her unwitting affair with a British soldier-turned-spy, and a perilous escape to Switzerland as Germany closed its borders. Branded a murderess and an adulteress, Violet dropped out of sight and was presumed dead in the Great War that ensued, but now the valise contents propel her great-niece on a mission with startling revelations. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The daughter of a British national, author Beatriz Williams has always been fascinated by stories of England’s Great War and the intrepid soldiers who marched out of its trenches and into oblivion. In fact her affinity for the period’s heroic values sparked a manuscript idea that won awards even before it was published. Williams’s evocative 2012 debut Overseas paid homage to those values in an engrossing and unconventional love story. The following year she published another international bestseller, A Hundred Summers, an unforgettable novel of desire and betrayal set against the real-life 1938 hurricane that devastated the lives and landscape of southern New England. A Stanford University honors graduate with an MBA in finance from Columbia, Beatriz Williams lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband and children. She is the author of the international bestsellers Overseas and A Hundred Summers

Dance Coach Abby Lee Miller

Guess whose written a book? If your kids are in dance, martial arts, soccer or any other sport. They need this coach!!! From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with Abby Lee Miller "This book will be an inspirational, tough love book for people who want to succeed without getting in their own way. It’s for people who want to get to the next level in their own lives – whether you’re a 14-year-old budding ballerina, a serious soccer star, or the parent of one or both! Sure, there’s a lot of common sense involved, but I’ve found that most people are short on all the survival skills that go into building a successful career, from basic etiquette, to projecting confidence from the moment you enter a room, to pushing through fear to make things happen. I’ll help get you on track for the brightest possible future. Because I’m Abby Lee Miller And that’s what I do. I make stars." – ABBY LEE MILLER

Monday, July 14, 2014

Debbie Matenopoulos Its All Greek To Me

Is it Greek to you or just bad eating? From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with TV's Debbie Matenopoulos Debbie Matenopoulos grew up in a traditional Greek household, eating delicious, authentic Greek cooking that her family had passed down for generations. When Debbie started her television career in New York on The View, she began eating a standard American diet. Despite carefully limiting how much she ate, she found herself gaining weight and losing energy. Debbie moved on to anchor and special correspondent positions at E! News and TV Guide Channel, then to many other roles that had her on the go all the time. It was only when she returned to her traditional Greek diet that she found herself easily—and healthily—realizing her natural weight and regaining the stamina she had as a teenager. In It’s All Greek to Me: Transform Your Health the Mediterranean Way with My Family’s Century-Old Recipes, Debbie shares 120 of her family’s traditional Greek recipes and adds her own touch to make them even healthier and easier to prepare. After tasting Debbie’s dishes, such as her mouthwatering version of Spanakopita and her take on Fasolatha, you’ll be amazed that these delicious foods are good for you. Debbie even includes tips on how to adapt her recipes to meet any dietary needs, so all readers can enjoy her hearty meals. With a foreword by Dr. Michael Ozner, one of the nation’s leading cardiologists, the recipes in It’s All Greek to Me adhere to the healthiest diet on the planet: the traditional Mediterranean Diet. Modern science is catching up to what Greeks have known for millennia: health comes from eating natural, whole-food ingredients that haven’t been processed or pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, or preservatives. Let It’s All Greek to Me bring your friends and family together to share in the experience of a Greek meal and way of life. Opa!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Scribbles That Could Be Vocal Words

No matter what you do daily. You're probably going to put on a mask. You're hiding your true self from the world. I'm very shy! I hide behind a radio station microphone. I hide behind my writing instrument. I surround myself with people that understand my weird shy personality using them to help open conversations that I can participate with. And what do you do? Write on Twitter? Face Book? Drink?