Friends & Neighbors

In this rebroadcast of "Better Humans" Author Janeane Bernstein's KUCI-FM radio show, "Get The Funk Out," we share our experiences with mental health, and discuss the imperative of supportive relationships and meaningful community, the path toward wellness – and what it all looks like in the real world.

When the high school I graduated from asked me to speak with students and parents, I decided to go for broke. I addressed the artificiality of contemporary Western culture. And I bookended the speech with a radical piece of audience participation. What happened next may surprise you.

As I fly to Des Moines to screen my new film this week, I revisit my interview with singer/songwriter, music therapist, trauma counselor, and "Friends & Neighbors" helper, Kelli Rae Powell, two years later.

In this live episode recorded after the premiere of "Friends & Neighbors," Opera Delaware's Kerriann Otaño moderates Q&A with director Benjamin Wagner, plus "helpers" Alonna Berry, Logan Herring, Sarah McBride, Lauren Scott, and Matthew Tousignant. Together, the panel digs deeper into the root causes of and potential solutions to our current mental health epidemic. Watch Friends & Neighbors through May 31 at www.friendsandneighbors.mov.

She rehearsed with Pearl Jam, flew private with Korn, sparred with J Lo, and fled the out-of-control, nu-metal-fueled arson of Woodstock ‘99. We talk mic flags, mult boxes, and pd-150s; junkets, red carpets, and festivals; plus Chris, Kurt, and Tabitha. We dodge stereotypes in the studio with Raekwan, and rubber bullets at the RNC with Rage Against The Machine. Keep your hands on the wheel, and your eyes on the 605, this is Liane Su.

One-Time VP & EP of MTV News, and The All-Time King of VO, Jim Fraenkel, takes us from the driver's seat of his Picasso Pizza delivery days and his stint at the legendary Geffen Record (where he was nearly cast in Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video), to his nearly two-decade run at MTV News. We'll travel with Jim from interviewing NSYNC in Orland, Florida, to covering Matthew Shepard's murder in Laramie, Wyoming, and get lost in Harlem at 3am with a very-pregnant Sandra Bernhard. We'll listen to R.E.M. rehearse, watch Kurt and Courtney cuddle, and feel all the feels at a private dinner with His Royal Badness.

Music and Fashion Writer and Editor turned Rupaul co-star, Merle Ginsberg, talks about sharing a scene with Laurie Anderson, Twyla Tharp, and Eric Bogosian, catching The Clash, Television, and Glenn Branca at Danceteria, Mudd Club, and The Ritz, and parlaying Downtown Avant-garde Art into Midtown Corporate Music Media Business at a then-nascent MTV.

Legendary MTV News Senior Writer, Rhonda Markowitz, takes us on a wild, star-studded, forgotten New York ride from Bayside, Queens (alongside her childhood friend, a certain Loser's mom, Bibbe Hanson) to her first concert (yup, The Beatles at Shea Stadium) to her stints at A&M and Polygram Records, and, eventually, the MTV newsroom. We'll hear about befriending INXS' Michael Hutchence, Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett, and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe; and tag along at the Concert for Bangladesh, MUSE's “No Nukes” benefits, and Live AID. And Rhonda walks us step-by-step through her reportage of Kurt Cobain's final days.

This week, onetime MTV News intern-turned-senior producer Darin Byrne takes us into the studio with Beyonce, on-tour with WuTang Clan, on-stage with Biohazard, backstage with Matchbox 20, and on-set at 1515 Broadway. He talks about sharing an office with Sway, the impact of digital video on the newsroom, and a certain 2002 quadruple-bill at CBGBs, Newsapalooza.

This week, an MTV News Legend behind iconic shows like The Week In Rock, The Big Picture and House of Style, prosocial coverage like Choose or Lose, and fundamentals like the news cube, on-air graphics, and one-sheet, former Senior Vice President of MTV News & Specials, Linda Corradina. From the Rock & Wrestling Connection with Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou and shoots with Hall & Oates, R.E.M., The Replacements, and David Bowie, to the Moscow Music & Peace Festival to Kurt Loder's audition, this is origin story stuff from a true original.

Buckle up, Dear Listener, as Writer, Producer, Director, Showrunner, and one-time MTV News Senior Writer Corey Moss regales us with tales of interviewing rock icons Green Day, The Pixies, and Weezer. He takes us to Neverland Ranch sans Michael Jackson, onto the set of the Dukes of Hazzard with Jessica Simpson, and in the studio with the former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline. And he tells us what it was like to be holding the mic for one of Kanye's most well-documented rants.

Correspondent Kim Stolz takes us on her unexpected journey from studying foreign policy to becoming a contestant on America's Top Model and, eventually, landing her gig at MTV News. She talks about spending a day on-camera with a very young Taylor Swift, making trouble with Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson at the height of their “Twilight” heyday, and sitting down with Rihanna, Obama, and her lifelong dream interview, Stevie Nicks.

In the '90s and early aughts, Matt Anderson parlayed an MTV News internship into a role as Supervising Producer, and eventually, Executive Producer of Series & Development. This week, Matt talks about producing Week in Rock & House of Style, meeting Madonna and Whitney, shopping with Cindy and Sheryl, and what it was like on set when Tabitha Soren famously went toe-to-toe with Mariah's publicist.

As an MTV News Correspondent from 2001-2010, SuChin Pak interviewed everyone from Mariah Carey to Mary J. Blige, helmed daily news on TRL and ten to the hour, hosted Video Music and Movie Award Pre-Shows, and her docuseries, My Life (Translated). This week, SuChin shares her journey from a born-again Baptist household to anchoring the VMAs alongside Kurt and Sway, covering 9/11, and interviewing her hero, ​​Gwen Stefani. And she opens up about the challenges of live television, and witnessing some of the century's most significant stories.

Onetime Supervising Producer and West Coast Bureau Lead Shari Scorca remembers going on tour with 50 Cent; speeding through Yonkers with Jadakiss; and catching an impromptu, unplugged performance from Thom Yorke and David Crosby. She talks about covering the Michael Jackson trial with John Norris and floor producing the VMAs with Kurt Loder, plus backstage moments with Madonna, Bono, Dave Grohl, and more.

MTV News' first Assignment Editor, Nina Justman, recalls growing up in Greenwich Village, her stint as a CBS page, her early days at a fledgling MTV News; meeting her teenage dream, David Cassidy, escorting NSYNC to the Rockefeller Center tree-lighting, championing an underappreciated Dave Matthews; dinner with George Michael, that time Will I Am asked her out, Madonna and Britney, Mick Jagger, Elton John, and more.

Before he launched The Daily Show, Chappelle's Show and South Park, and before her oversaw MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central simultaneously, Doug Herzog was MTV's first News Director. This week, the Broadcasting & Cable Hall Of Famer shares stories about almost turning down the offer from MTV co-founders, John Sykes and Bob Pittman; branding ten-to-the-hour-every-hour news briefs; hiring Kurt Loder; launching the Week in Rock; and generally transforming the fledgling network's news operation from VJ-hosted rip and reads to prime time, enterprise journalism. Along the way, Doug recalls bum-rushing Lionel Ritchie at Live Aid, office visits from the then-teenage Beastie Boys, and an unforgettable photo op with Bruce Springsteen.

Longtime MTV News Editorial Director Michael Shore shares stories about the days Kurt Cobain died and Courtney Love crashed Madonna's VMA pre-show; Tabitha Soren's Choose or Lose audition; office visits from Axl Rose and Jay-Zl; interviewing heroes Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, and Miles Davis; Live Aid, Woodstock; and much more.

These days, Elon Johnson leads development for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. But in 1999, Elon was one of a handful of MTV News Writers tasked with writing and producing daily news briefs and packages. This week, Elon breaks down day-to-day operations in the MTV Newsroom and recalls bumping into Busta Rhymes, getting tight with Christina Aguilera, championing Alicia Keys, and fanning out on Cyndi Lauper.

As Senior Hip-Hop Editor, Rob Markman led some of the cultures' most vital conversations, from MTV News' weekly RapFix Live show, to the most debated list in all of music, Hottest MCs. This week, Rob traces his journey from Flatbush, Brooklyn, to a Queens mailroom, all the way to MTV's Times Square Studios, and drops gems on Drake's beef, Kayne's TV,  Killer Mike's mad props, Pusha T's career advice, and much much more.

For over a decade, Josh Horowitz has been foisting the MTV mic flag into movie stars' faces, asking questions sacred and profane, substantive and sometimes just plain silly. On this week's star-studded episode, Josh regales us with his MTV News origin story, plus hilarious tales about hanging out with Meryl Streep, dishing with Leonardo DiCaprio, vacationing with Jason Bateman, rubbing knees with John Travolta, yelling at Chris Pratt, and much, much more.

For nearly a decade in the early aughts, On-Air Correspondent Christina Garibaldi lived her teenage dream, interviewing everyone from Britney and Selena to Backstreet and ‘NSYNC. This week, Christina remembers Taylor's first interview, Arianna's tears, Avril's cold pricklies, and dealing with very, um, distracted Justin Bieber.

Ryan Kroft recounts his remarkable rise from Intern to Senior Vice President of Specials & Events across MTV, VH1 & Logo in which he did it all, from Executive Producing dozens of Video Music and Movie Awards Pre-Shows, to live coverage of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston's deaths, to shows like “A Conversation With President Obama,” “When I Was 17,” “Detox with Jim Cantiello” and “MTV First.”

For a hot minute there in the late 90s, Robert Mancini and I were the first two staffers into the MTV News offices every morning. Robert wrote years of daily news articles, on-air briefs, and VMA pre-shows and specials, and ultimately oversaw daily news across all media. Here, Mancini plays straight man to Diamond David Lee Roth, talks golf with Pantera's Vinnie Paul, gets a private show from Pink Floyd, plus more hilarity featuring Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, and Chewbacca.

As a writer, reporter, and producer for "The Week in Rock" and a wide range of documentaries including "Gangsta Rap: An MTV News Special Report," Abbie Kearse sat down with some of rock and hip-hop's biggest legends and tackled some of the most important social issues of the day. This week, Abbie recounts interviewing a sleepy Joe Perry, tracking down an errant Rakim, covering Snoop and Tupac's respective trials, hanging with Kurt Loder and Mick Jagger – and you won't believe who turns up to perform at one of MTV's infamous company parties.

Few MTV News staffers had a run like Michael Alex. From producing "The Week in Rock" and "Choose or Loose," to launching MTV News Dot Com, Michael did it all. Buckle up and ride shotgun with Michael and Paul McCartney, Kieth Richards, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Sinéad O'Connor, Bootsy Collins, and many, many more.

In his more than two-decade tenure, MTV News Correspondent John Norris interviewed everyone from Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to U.S. Senator John McCain and Vice President Al Gore. In this broad, deep, and thoughtful conversation with the self-described "retrophobe," we trace the arc of his career, hitting the club with Madonna, going to court with Michael Jackson, walking the VMA Red Carpet with Green Day, and much, much more.

My Nantucket neighbor whose father appears in Mister Rogers & Me, discusses his New York Times Best Seller, Look For Me There, and lessons learned when a few months of travel became a three-year, six-continent odyssey to discover the world, process grief, and find himself.  

As Founder of Headlines Network, Hannah Storm is at the forefront of creating connections and driving conversations toward improving journalists' mental health. From her home north of London, Hannah discusses her early career at BBC, Reuters and Channel 4, her experience with journalism safety and wellness, and her own healing journey.

Coach, Community Builder and CoMuse CEO, LJ Malberg goes deep on cultivating compassion, finding connection, getting uncomfortable, and letting go.

Delaware First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney and Trauma Matters Delaware Chairperson Dr. Julius Mullen discuss their pioneering work in recognizing and responding to childhood trauma.

Singer/songwriter and alt-rock frontman John Faye's “The Yin and the Yang of It All: Rock'n'Roll Memories from the Cusp,” takes us for a ride into the belly of a dream. In the new memoir, Faye beautifully renders his healing journey from an alienated and grief-stricken teen and major label frontman to a fiftysomething father, mentor and champion of the middle-class musician.

In which I find out how my long-time music marketing and singer/songwriter friend, Elisa Peimer, made a mid-life pivot to become a psychotherapist – and how the 80s band Styx and Broadway musical, Annie, connects us.

I was recording "In The End" in Muscle Shoals just a week after demo'ing it, when bandleader Will McFarlane, asked, “Should we go full Otis on this one?” Otis Redding recorded his posthumous hit, “(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay,” in that very room on those very keyboards just months before dying in a plane crash in 1967. "Absolutely," I responded. The story behind Constellations' fifth and final song and Kyiv-penned music video, this week on Friends & Neighbors.

Prior to becoming CEO of Center for Public Integrity, Paul Cheung put in three decades at America's most prestigious journalism institutions including The Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Associated Press, and the Knight Foundation. This week, Paul travels back to his childhood in Hong Kong and immigration to Manhattan's Lower East Side, adolescence in suburban New Jersey, and storied career at the intersection of journalism, technology and social justice.

In this audio companion to my recently premiered documentary short, I trace my road trip from Memphis to Muscle Shoals writing and recording my tenth album, "Constellations," and reveal how a Texan waitress, Mexican tailor, and Tupelo pop icon's secrets helped inspire my path towards recovery.

For more than a decade, David Smydra has been at the forefront of assuring that tech platforms deliver personalized, high quality news by leading “humans in the loop,” journalists who bridge the gaps between editorial quality, product and audience development, and algorithmic design. This week, the former Google and Twitter curation lead and Online News Organization Board President shares his journey from Detroit to Palo Alto and Back East, as well as his firsthand experience of what it was like when when Elon Musk showed up at his place of now former employ.

It has been an outstanding and occasionally excruciating year. Through it all, I've found hope and healing in the shared wisdom of my friends and neighbors. This week, we listen back to some of those insights, inspirations and lessons learned from Senator Sarah McBride, Author Tim Madigan, Music Therapist Kelli Rae Powell and more.

I Remember Everything, the penultimate track on my new album, Constellations, began as another in a long list of "disaster songs" but evolved into something noticeably different, deeply instructive and profoundly transformative. This week, I explore how the song helped me understand the biology, psychology and neurology of somatic memory, and how the body keeps the score.

Cellist Patrick Riley has performed string arrangements on albums by Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, and The Envy Corps, played live alongside The Eagles and Father John Misty, scored big-time Hollywood films – and graced every one of my albums since 2010's “Forever Young.”  

In the 90s, the CDC made the correlation between adverse childhood experiences like divorce, violence, substance abuse and mental illness and adult outcomes like anxiety, depression, addiction and many of the leading causes of death. It's just that, well, no one told most of us. 

When what I thought was anxiety and depression was diagnosed as PTSD last fall, I suddenly saw trauma and its impact all around. Since April, I've been quietly crisscrossing the country, examining the roots of my own trauma, and the trauma and chronic stress that affect us all. I've been seeking insights, solutions, and strategies to help heal the anxious and uncertain communities around us. And now, I'm seeking your help.

As outgoing CEO of the world's largest membership organization of digital journalists, Online News Association, Irving Washington has led programming and fundraising initiatives for journalists, media professionals, and students worldwide. This week, in the fourth of a series of Media Transformation Challenge-sponsored episodes, MTC Journeys, Irving shares how MTC helped accelerate the organization's transformation, and how a childhood passion for re-creating mainstream media through the lens of representation connects his career of service at RTDNA, NABJ and ONA.

Whether as a touring guitarist for the avant-garde rockers, Psychic TV, or producer for artists like Boy George, Lenny Kaye, and Pharoahe Monch, Jeff Berner makes a safe, creative space for those around him to make great art. This week, we trace Jeff's life from first falling for “Sunshine of Your Love,” to building his studio career, performing in Russia with punk legend Genesis P-Orridge – and producing, performing on and brilliantly wedging an electric bouzouki into my new album, Constellations.

The fourth single, final track and thesis statement of my new album, Constellations, began as an expression of darkness and sadness but with time and telling, transformed into something altogether different.

Philly singer/songwriter Lily McKown & Wilmington psyche rocker, Hayden Chance (a/k/a Chvnce) have both graduated to national stages but are close enough to rock 'n roll's rickety attics and ratty basements to remember the stale smell of beer and sharp shock of an ungrounded microphone. This week, we discuss early influences, song craft and what it feels like to finally arrive.

From a chance meeting with Nashville waitress with a profoundly personal and deeply universal story to a lushly realized FAME Studios recording, then Brooklyn-mixed and mastered masterpiece, this is the story of one song's journey to your ears.

When the Associated Press' Noreen Gillespie walked through doors of the Media Transformation Challenge at Poynter Institute in 2019, she was tasked with evolving the AP domestic news operations amidst a rapidly changing ecosystem. Three years later, the AP's approach to U.S. news is wholly transformed, and Noreen's applying everything she learned to coverage of the rest of the planet.

Sound Mind Live Executive Director Chris Bullard talks about growing up in L.A., sharing a mic with Kris Kristofferson, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and his mission to end the stigma that surrounds mental health through the power of music.

We all have secrets, truths that gnaw at us, crush our spirit, and kill us from the inside out. The second single from my forthcoming album, Constellations, is that moment of realization and transformation made manifest. On this week's episode, I share the journey of writing and recording of "The Secret Song," from inception to release, and explore how it came to help me, as Fred Rogers often said, “make the mentionable manageable.”

As Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Alberto Mendoza transformed the organization's mission and drove record-breaking membership. In the second in our MTC Journeys series sponsored by the Media Transformation Challenge at the Poynter Institute, the Managing Director for the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University shares his path from high school journalist to non-profit entrepreneur and goes deep into how personal and professional experiences informed the launch of Palabra, an innovative media platform designed to represent and advocate for NAHJ journalists, and how his MTC fellowship helped catalyze its success.