interviews

From his early days interviewing national leaders on C-SPAN, Brian has spent four decades interviewing artists, activists, public intellectuals, political leaders, and everyday folks on six continents. Each interview is an exploration of the essential truths and “real stories” behind surface narratives. With Electric Memories, Brian complements his ongoing publishing of extraordinary stories with a process for documenting and bringing to life your defining moments and passages. 

Sample some of Brian’s favorite  interview moments here, 
then imagine what he could do with yours.

London, England

Jazz Musician, Ron Carter

 

“When Bill plays with a trio, or quartet – me, Herbie and him, or Donald Harrison, him and I – he uses a smaller drum set. I admire him for realizing his normal kit is not necessary for this trio gig. Don’t need that stuff for certain size ensembles.”


KYIV, UKRAINE

 

Event impresario, Sergii Kharchuk

 

 

“We lost the Ukrainian state in 1712 when Ukrainian Cossacks and the Swedish army lost against Peter the First at the famous Battle of Poltava. For almost 300 years, we were culturally and militarily occupied by Russia.”

 

TUNIS, TUNISIA​

Activist, Tasnim Kotti

 

“I went down into the street, especially when there were real threats of a backlash around women’s rights. It was urgent to be there. When the constitution was rewritten they wanted to omit certain codes, we felt we had to go into the streets, thousands of women saying so many times, ‘no, No, NO!!!’”

Standing Rock

Lakota Historian, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard

“I’m not a frontline person. Before the camps, I was doing historic tours, lectures about the history of Sitting Bull, about all the chiefs, about our culture, our way of life. When the camp started, I contacted everybody I knew from all parts of the world that, “Hey, this is happening.”

London, England

Jazz Musician Billy Cobham

“Living on love does not work. We wanted to do better, bringing up children, but we didn’t know how, only knew we wanted to. I couldn’t work, couldn’t get a job, my wife had no idea where we went from there, I was just supposed to take care of everything….we were just reliving that nightmare from the generation before us.”

Erbil, Iraq

Iraq Translator and Driver, Samir Barznjy

Samir is in a jovial mood. “We are now past the last Peshmerga checkpoint,” he smiles, adding, “We thought we would bring you as a small gift for ISIS.” Funny.

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