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.
SAN FRANCISCO, USA
Computer scientist & internet entrepreneur, Brewster Kahle
“I think the ‘Eureka!’, the broader realization, was that the Internet is so important to us, not just as a cable TV replacement, it is the way that we live our lives. And those trying to seek control over the Internet ran into a strongly held belief that we have to keep this thing open, rather than letting it be shut down or controlled by large corporations and the government that works for them.”
Jorge Fuentes, Congressman
“The conditions of the time of Jacobo Árbenz are the same now. I understand that the North American government is the leader of the world. The world needs a leader. It’s a good leader. It has a philosophy of human rights. But the people in the CIA, the State Department, the embassies, their history is not good. ”
Activist and Adbusters co-founder, Kalle Lasn
“It was the time of the Arab Spring and we decided that the moment was right for something to happen in America as well. A special moment after the 2008–2009 financial troubles. Young people were really disillusioned. They had their university degrees and were still getting nowhere. They felt the future doesn’t compute for them. So, Occupy was a very special sort of one off-kind of an event. It was just something for people to get excited about.”
Founder and head of The Documentation Centre of Cambodia and a survivor of the killing fields, Youk Chhang
“Genocide is a political issue, a political act. There has been no genocide prevented since World War I. The UN convention on genocide was signed in 1949 and only in 2005 did the UN began to realize that education is a means to prevention, creating the remembrance of holocaust survivors”
Moksha co-founder, Warren Buttery
“Yoga is the basis of everything that I do. It’s the philosophy. Asana, the daily practice that we have, is the hook that gets you into the door for advanced training. For me, because I love teaching the philosophy, these are incredible tools of how to understand self and the practice is actually a very small part of yogic philosophy. I like to ground myself in the philosophy first and to make my decisions based on that.”
Lonely Planet’s longtime guide author, Joe Cummings
“It was the first series for those who traveled on a budget and off the beaten track. You could use any guide and figure out a way to make it, but this was going to obscure places, not the main tourist routes, and closer to local cultures.”
koh phangan, thailand
Sanctuary Owner & Founder, Gill Beddows
“It was utopia when we first found Haad Rin. There was nothing. I drove up from England to Nepal. Yeah, so I was part of that trail. Me and my partner, early ’80s. I did exactly what you’re talking about. We ended up in Kathmandu. There was obviously no Internet.”
Leading Islamic scholar and mullah, Dr. Ayaz Niazi
“You started our conversation by asking me about Islam. Islam totally differs from what these Muslims are doing today. Those Taliban, radical groups, they have their personal ideas. You should ask them why are they doing such things. Is what they are doing in the holy Quran, did Allah say so, to kill people, to murder non-Muslims?”
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.
Brooklyn, New York
He was hired by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb to be the pioneering cable network’s first head of marketing, where he hosted two live national call-in shows each week with politically prominent guests such as John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, and Cesar Chavez.