I Couldn’t Throw It Out

You heard how I smashed violins as kid (in a previous episode). Hear how I saved one as an adult. ----- These days, we all could use a story with a happy ending, right? Well, here's one that answers the question: What ever happened to a family heirloom I inherited from my father? When last we spoke of my father's treasured violin (previous episode: Listen up! A Violin Lesson with Strings Attached), I was headed off – once again – to learn how to play it. Did I find a way to make music that wo...

1991 flashback: Hear candid talk about female rappers, obscenity, sexism, and more with Salt-N-Pepa, 2025's newest members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ----------- When I interviewed Salt-N-Pepa for my 1992 book Break It Down, they were among the most successful rappers on the planet. One platinum album and another coming soon. Sell-out concerts around the world. But did I include them on my list of the top 5 hip-hop groups? Nope. Oops. That was a mistake. Now t...

The director and cast of the TV series Waack Girls (Amazon Prime) explain why saving stuff is so common in India, and around the world -------------- If you ever suspected that an obsession with saving things is a mostly American habit, here's proof that it ain't so. Sooni Taraporevala -- who wrote the screenplays for Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, Yeh Ballet, and other movies -- recently told me that she's been saving treasures in Mumbai, India since she was 5. Not only t...

Treasures saved from past jobs spark memories of a scientist, a porn star, The Pet Shop Boys, The Partridge Family, and long-lost websites ------------------------------- Man, do we ever spend a lot of time at work. That's one reason why I felt compelled to save things from the places I worked, to remind me how I spent so much of my time. I always suspected that I wasn't the only one who did this. And now, I have proof. Four friends -- who worked at various offices with me -- agre...

Nic Cage delivers another explosive performance in the new movie "The Surfer." But the actor I interviewed was somebody else. ---------- When I talked with Nicolas Cage on the phone for an hour in 1994, he already had a bit of a reputation for going ballistic in movies. Just the crazed cockroach-eating scene in Vampire's Kiss was enough to give a guy a reputation. But lo and behold, he told me a lot of things I didn't expect. For starters, he's very shy off-screen and he felt like...