Michael Wilkinson is one of the founders of Washington, DC-based pizza restaurant company Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza. Back in 2009, he let me into Pete’s Columbia Heights restaurant to learn all about how he got involved in the business — and I even got to try my hand a…
Interview 67: Brobson’s Big Easy
Brobson Lutz moved to New Orleans decades ago to study medicine at Tulane University, and has stayed ever since. For years he’s lived in the French Quarter, enjoying the sights, sounds, and tastes of everything that the Big Easy has to offer. With a Southern drawl and an easygoing charm,…
Black & Gold: Encore
New Orleans-based t-shirt company Storyville is taking entries through Nov. 23 for its latest monthly contest to design a tee. November’s theme is “Black & Gold: Encore” — a second chance to craft a t-shirt dedicated to the primary colors of the city’s football team the Saints. I interviewed Storyville’s…
Interview 66: Storytelling With Stephen Tobolowsky
Click here or on the picture below for part two of my two-part interview with character actor and storytelling writer Stephen Tobolowsky, which took place at a diner in Los Angeles. In the first part, Stephen shared anecdotes about his extensive acting career. In the second part, he describes how…
Interview 66: Stephen Tobolowsky’s Adventures
Stephen Tobolowsky knows how to tell a story. And he’s got many of them to share. The character actor — perhaps best known for his role as overbearing insurance salesman Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day — was happy to talk during a lengthy breakfast last month in Los Angeles. In…
Interview 65: Meeting Michael Hitchcock
If you’ve seen the television show Glee, or any of Christopher Guest’s fake documentary comedies, or pretty much any big TV show or movie in the last few decades, then you’ve seen Michael Hitchcock’s work as an actor and writer. Michael, who lives in Los Angeles, is currently hard at…
Interview 64: Gaining Their Religion
The elaborate question mark tattoos below belong to Jesse Smith, who struggled for a long time with doubts about his Christian upbringing. The uncertainties were so great that they almost drove him to suicide — until he discovered the hallucinogen DMT. Although a widely banned substance, one church in Santa…
Rest In Peace Richard Kiel
“Well, here’s to us.” — Jaws in Moonraker Sad to read tonight that Richard Kiel, perhaps best known as the villainous Jaws in two Roger Moore 007 movies, died this afternoon. He was my 51st dinner interviewee. We met in Washington, DC, last November while he was taking part in…
Interview 63: A Night On The (Old) Town
Living in Washington, DC, means it’s only a short subway or car ride to Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s a nice place to visit and has a host of wonderful restaurants serving everything from soul food to fine dining. But I don’t get there enough. So I was glad…
Tales Of The Crescent City
New Orleans is an amazing city. Outstanding food, some of the best cocktails in the States, great live music, beautiful architecture, friendly people — these are just a handful of its many perks. I first visited the Crescent City in May 2004, more than a year before Hurricane Katrina hit…