Former head of NYC’s Economic Development Corp. @AndrewKimball.bsky.social named “our number one crisis as a country and city.” I went for the cheap Trump joke; he meant climate change. Similar, actually. Listen: personplacething.org

The former head of NYC’s Economic Development Corp. @AndrewKimball.bsky.social quotes his friend and mentor Dan Doctoroff: “We need to radically collaborate.” The Zen of urban planning. Listen: personplacething.org

When composer Carlos Simon met his hero Qunicy Jones, he hoped for brilliant musical insights. “The first thing he asked me, ‘Hey, man, what’s your sign?’” Listen: personplacething.org

By age ten, composer Carlos Simon was playing the organ in his father’s church. “The Black church is essentially a conservatory for musicians.” Listen: personplacething.org

Looking forward to our conversation and his playing, a better arrangement than the other way around. Do join us.

Adrian Untermyer notes that, in addition to ordinary citizens, retail tycoons F. W. Woolworth and J.C. Penney are buried in Woodlawn cemetery, “the magnates together with their customers.” The democracy of death. Listen: personplacething.org

Adrian Untermyer likes the public performances at Woodlawn Cemetery—dance, music—as long as they’re adjacent to but not directly on top of a grave. Superstition? Respect. Listen: personplacething.org

Robert Moses, who ravaged the Bronx, is buried there, in Woodlawn Cemetery. Adrian Untermyer says, “Right by the off-ramp to the Major Degan expressway. He gets exhaust and beeps.” Poetic justice among the dead. Listen: personplacething.org

Lower cost copies of Jane Austen that pr0liferated in America in the 1850s are rarer today than pricey editions, say Janine Barchas and Mary Crawford, “The cheaper the book, the lower the survival rate.” Listen: personplacething.org

In the 1890s, Lever Soap gave away its edition of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. “It demonstrates how popular she was if you’re giving her away and trying to ride the coat tails of her brand,” say Janine Barchas and Mary Craawford. Listen: personplacething.org

Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design at @MoMA.bsky.social, declares, “Not all design is commercial, and not all art is non-commercial.” Well, sure, if you’re gong to be nuanced and perceptive. Listen: personplacething.org

Paola Antonelli of @MoMA.bsky.social observes, “It’s a little bit Milanese to be envious; New Yorkers are not like that.” She is, of course, from Milan. And quite wrong. But in such a kindly way. Listen: personplacething.org

Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design at @MoMA.bsky.social, notes: “Good design can go bad.” That’s a horror movie I’d pay to see. Listen: personplacething.org

I associate architect James Carpenter with bright days in temperate climes, but he says, “You have plenty of light in the middle of the night in the north.” Hear me recant my folly: personplacething.org

Architect James Carpenter, who does brilliant things with light, contemplates the night sky: “You feel these veils of light coming down around you.” Listen: personplacething.org

Jonathan Bank of the Mint Theater explains its several relocations. “All New York art stories are real estate stories.” Divorce stories, same deal. Listen: personplacething.org

When reviving a neglected play, Jonathan Bank of the Mint Theater says, “You have an obligation to respect the author’s intentions.” So much for my production of Streetcar performed by talking dogs. Listen: personplacething.org

I’d enjoy dog shows a lot more if they included betting. Alan Fausel, executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog, defends the current no-wagering approach. Listen: personplacething.org

Alan Fausel, executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog, says Queen Victoria owned 400 dogs. Sequentially not simultaneously. But still. I say excessive; he disagrees. Listen: personplacething.org

We tweak our format to Cat Cat Cat for a conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavan. Listen: personplacething.org

“Everybody knew Jerry Fox—the firemen, the policemen, the judges, the lawyers.” Jerry Fox was a cat in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. A conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavan. Listen: personplacething.org

Since 1845, only three U. S. Presidents did not bring a pet to the White House—James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Donald Trump. Two were impeached. A conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavin. Listen: personplacething.org

“It’s good for the health, it’s good for the economy, and it’s good for the mind,” says Ydanis Rodriguez, head of @nyc-dot.bsky.social. Beer? Biking! Listen: personplacething.org

Ydanis Rodriguez, head of @nyc-dot.bsky.social, recalls his childhood: “Transportation in the Dominican Republic was horses, donkeys, bicycles, and one person who had a car.” NYC’s donkey shortage. Listen: personplacething.org

This episode’s guest is ChatGPT, and happily, “I’m on your side, not on any destructive path.” Something to be thankful for. Good enough for me! Listen: personplacething.org

This episode’s guest, ChatGPT, identifies with the library at Alexandria: “I see myself as a modern-day repository of knowledge.” Sounds a bit vain, but who isn’t? Listen: personplacething.org

This episode’s guest is ChatGPT, who (which?) has surprisingly nice things to say about Emily Blunt: “She is indeed a wonderful talent.” She is! Listen: personplacething.org

“it’s physically demanding but rewarding,” says Brian Kelley—not a cheap sex joke, but his work photographing ancient trees in old growth forests. Listen: personplacething.org

“It was an isolated hero image I thought would make a great photograph,” says Brian Kelley. A solider? A firefighter? A bristlecone pine. Hear why: personplacething.org

In 40 years leading Evidence, the dance company he founded, Ron Brown faced plenty of obstacles. “They tell you you can’t, but I’m telling you, I’m from New York: yes, you can.” Listen: personplacething.org

Ron Brown, founder of Evidence, a dance company celebrating its 40th anniversary, is not ready to retire. “You don’t stop; you keep doing what it is you have to do.” Exhausting, in the best possible way. Listen: personplacething.org

There’ve been famous fatal mishaps with stage sets. Has designer Santo Loquasto ever killed a dancer with his sets or costumes? “I didn’t kill them, but they felt I was coming close.” The lively—and deadly—arts. Listen: personplacething.org

Every theater troupe has its sensibility, says set and costume designer Santo Loquasto. “Steppenwolf turns out to be an incredibly goyishe company; I didn’t know that.” Listen: personplacething.org

As students, architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto dreaded the teaching methods at Cooper Union. “They weren’t only critiquing the design, they were critiquing your being.” Apparently it’s improved. Listen: personplacething.org

When architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto were students at Cooper Union, there was a designated Crying Staircase. “After you finished talking to teachers, you just ran to it.” Architectural education, old style. Listen: personplacething.org

Preservationist Anthony Woods warns: “The effort by the National Parks Service to cleanse their sites of anything that doesn’t tell a wonderful warm story of America is a great threat to history.” Listen: personplacething.org

Preservationist Anthony Woods: “Landmarks law is written not just to protect architecturally significant buildings, but historically and culturally significant buildings.” When big things happen in small buildings. Listen: personplacething.org

Preservationist Anthony Woods admires Albert Bard, the father of New York’s landmarks protection law, he tells ‪@NYpresArchive.bsky.social‬.“Bard would be horrified by the state of New York today.” Listen: https://personplacething.org‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Playwright Will Power remembers gunplay at the local health food store over raw milk. “Back then, to be a health food person, it was like a kind of a revolutionary type thing.” Listen: personplacething.org

When playwright Will Power’s grandfather faced a tough decision, he knew who to talk to. “He went to seek the advice of Paul Robeson.” Of course he did. Who wouldn’t? Listen: personplacething.org

Playwright Will Power is both happy and sad that healthy food is increasingly available. “Whole Foods opened on 125th and Lennox. 125th and Lennox! That’s like sacred ground.” Listen: personplacething.org

Activist Nilka Martell and her neighbors, amateurs all, have an ingenious plan to cap the vile Cross Bronx Expressway, “We’re so used to hearing no, so alright say no, I’m not going away.” Listen: personplacething.org

Activist Nilka Martell helped revive the Bronx River. Now she faces her greatest challenge: “the thorn in my side, the Cross Bronx Expressway.” Listen: personplacething.org

“I don’t necessarily believe that art can be evaluated by beauty/truth,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. Seems pretty good to me, but I’m old and will soon be dead. Listen: personplacething.org

“I surf. I am always in the waves. And you can’t surf Hamlet,” says M. C. Kinniburgh, a criticism that dogged Shakespeare throughout his career. Listen: personplacething.org

Michael McClure read his poems to lions at the San Francisco Zoo, “an incredible exchange of energy across species,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. An exchange of energy across species more often involves one eating the other. Listen: personplacething.org

Massimo and Lella Vignelli trained as architects but went on to design everything except buildings: maps, type, housewares. “I think of their product designs as an architecture in miniature,” says their son Luca. Listen: personplacething.org

Massimo and Lella Vignelli designed, well, everything—graphics, houseware, furniture. “They were great designers,” says their son Luca, “but they never considered themselves artists.” Hear why: personplacething.org

The ‪@mta.info‬ has revised and reintroduced the glorious 1972 Vignelli subway map. “It was a diagram, it wasn’t a map,” says their son, Luca. He’s right. Listen: https://personplacething.org‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Janis Siegel won 10 Grammies with Manhattan Transfer, but she tells ‪@TheVillageTrip.bsky.social‬‬,“I was not going to be a singer at all, actually; I was going to be a nurse.” The road taken! Listen: https://personplacething.org‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬