COP TALK
PIERSON TO PERSON
BILL DUKE is a retired sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. He spent 32 years "on the job" protecting and serving the citizens of LA -- a job that both fed his soul and satisfied the adrenaline junkie in him. Climb into the back seat of Bill's car as he drives Brent around Hollywood, DTLA and Chinatown and talks about his life on the beat.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
PIERSON TO PERSON
JOHN T. LANG, Ph.D. is the chair of the Department of Sociology at Occidental College. Professor Lang devotes much of his academic research to the exploration of social relations surrounding the production and consumption of food. (EXTENDED EPISODE: 1hr 14min) EPISODE NOTES: Thanksgiving week is here and food takes center stage in America. So, too, on an extended episode of PIERSON TO PERSON as I talk with JOHN T. LANG, Ph.D. Professor Lang chairs the Department of Sociology at Occidental College and devotes much of his academic research to the exploration of social relations...
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ORION THE ARTIST
PIERSON TO PERSON
ANDY GINER kept his passion for rapping under wraps for several years before finding the courage to step forward as his hip-hop alter ego, ORION THE ARTIST. Andy is serious about finding a place for himself in the competitive rap world -- not for fame and fortune, but for a higher purpose. (44:13) EXPLICIT EPISODE NOTES: ANDY GINER is one of the best production sound engineers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. I’d always seen Andy as a mild-mannered guy. Quiet and unassuming, but friendly. Then we became Facebook friends and I discovered, to my surprise, that...
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MENSCHES and MENTORS and BABY BEARS, OH MY!
PIERSON TO PERSON
DAN ARDEN is a veteran non-fiction television producer with a reputation of being a very nice guy to work for – some say too nice. But for Dan, creating a positive and enriching experience for his production team is equally rewarding, sometimes even more so, than producing the show itself. (43:37) EPISODE NOTES: I’ve known and worked with a lot of nice and conscientious TV producers over the years, but DAN ARDEN is hands down the nicest and most conscientious. It’s just who Dan is, and reflective of the way he leads his life. For nearly 40 years, Dan has belonged to Soka...
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GOTTA HAVE FAITH
PIERSON TO PERSON
FAITH PRINCE won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1992 Broadway revival of “Guys and Dolls.” And while Faith was honored to be recognized for her performance, she says the baggage that came with the win messed her up for five years. (48:04) EXPLICIT EPISODE NOTES: And the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical goes to … FAITH PRINCE. The year was 1992. The show was “Guys and Dolls.” The role was Miss Adelaide. And while Faith was honored to be recognized for her performance, she did not expect the baggage...
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MINDBODY AND SOUL
PIERSON TO PERSON
BLAKE BELTRAM is co-founder of MINDBODY, the largest provider of cloud-based business management software to the boutique, beauty, health and wellness industry. The publicly traded company serves clients in over 130 countries worldwide. (52:42) EPISODE NOTES: It’s been 20 years since BLAKE BELTRAM sat in my living room tinkering with a software program that he had recently created to help yoga and pilates studios manage their daily business. I should have paid more attention. Turns out, Blake’s nascent software was the seed that grew into a mighty oak called MINDBODY. The...
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WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
PIERSON TO PERSON
JEFF COPELAND is an author, screenwriter and non-fiction television producer whose close friendship with Andy Warhol superstar HOLLY WOODLAWN (immortalized in Lou Reed's biggest hit song "Walk On the Wild Side") dramatically impacted his professional and personal life in ways he never expected. (46:40) EXPLICIT EPISODE NOTES: Andy Warhol made her famous. Lou Reed immortalized her in song. And JEFF COPELAND wrote the book that chronicles the extraordinary journey of a 15-year-old runaway who, as Reed croons, “shaved her legs and then he was a she.” As Jeff tells me in his...
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#ELIZABETHTOO
PIERSON TO PERSON
ELIZABETH COOPER SMOKLER has spent 40 years working as a Hollywood makeup artist, primarily on TV sitcoms such as Roseanne, The Ellen Show, Reba, Blossom, The Larry Sanders Show and Who’s the Boss? It’s been a wonderful career – except, that is, for all the sexual harassment she’s had to deal with in the process. (50:53) EPISODE NOTES: Not long before allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein jump-started an ongoing dialogue on sexual harassment in Hollywood, I talked with veteran TV makeup artist ELIZABETH COOPER SMOKLER about her experience working with lecherous...
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DEMON DRUMMER FROM EAST LA
PIERSON TO PERSON
MACEO HERNANDEZ is a professional Taiko drummer whose passion for the ancient Japanese form of percussion began in the 7th grade. Despite having no rhythm or musical experience, young Maceo was determined to play Taiko, leading him on a life-changing journey to Japan and inspiring a documentary film. (51:11) EPISODE NOTES: MACEO HERNANDEZ was in the 7th grade when he experienced an epiphany while listening to a Japanese Taiko group performing at a family friend’s wedding. MACEO: “You could really feel the impact and the vibration of these Taiko drums. And it just blew...
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YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
PIERSON TO PERSON
LLOYD GORDON is one of the top estate liquidators in Los Angeles. Nearly 30 years in the business, Lloyd stages and presides over estate sales in some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. He says just because an item is valuable doesn’t mean it will sell. (50:26) EPISODE NOTES: Next year LLOYD GORDON will celebrate his 30th anniversary working as an estate liquidator in Los Angeles. It’s not something the exuberant song and dance man set out to do. But a funny thing happened to Lloyd on the way to a musical theater career – he made a real name for himself...
info_outlineJEFF COPELAND is an author, screenwriter and non-fiction television producer whose close friendship with Andy Warhol superstar HOLLY WOODLAWN (immortalized in Lou Reed's biggest hit song "Walk On the Wild Side") dramatically impacted his professional and personal life in ways he never expected. (46:40) EXPLICIT
EPISODE NOTES:
Andy Warhol made her famous. Lou Reed immortalized her in song. And JEFF COPELAND wrote the book that chronicles the extraordinary journey of a 15-year-old runaway who, as Reed croons, “shaved her legs and then he was a she.”
As Jeff tells me in his PIERSON TO PERSON episode WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, he distinctly remembers the first time he laid eyes on the drag queen who would so dramatically impact his professional and personal life.
JEFF: “I spotted this androgynous being, and I couldn’t figure out if this was a man or a woman. I turned to my friend and asked, ‘Who is that?’ And he said, ‘Oh, that’s Holly Woodlawn. She’s an Andy Warhol superstar. Don’t bother with her. She’s a mess!’ And I was intrigued. That night, as I tried to sleep, I couldn’t get Holly Woodlawn out of my mind. She just haunted me.”
Jeff was a 25-year-old aspiring screenwriter at the time, and his fascination with Holly Woodlawn quickly turned into action. He found Holly, then 42, listed in the phone book, called her up and said he was writing a movie that she’d be perfect for. He invited her to dinner and the two hit it off immediately. (Jeff would later move into the apartment next to Holly’s.)
JEFF: “We were extremely close. She told me her secrets. I told her mine. We shared the same insecurities. We were both misfits trying to fit in.”
Jeff finished his script and started shopping it around with Holly Woodlawn attached. Nobody was interested. However, an intern at a literary agency fished the script out of the trashcan it had been thrown into – along with some biographical information and photos of Holly that Jeff had also submitted – and thought her story would make for a good book. The intern’s intuition proved to be right.
A LOW LIFE IN HIGH HEELS: THE HOLLY WOODLAWN STORY was published in 1991 – a collaboration between Holly and Jeff, with Jeff doing the heavy lifting. Although Jeff didn’t really want to write a book, he agreed to do it with the understanding that if the movie rights were sold, he would write the screenplay.
CUT TO: A year later, Jeff reads in Liz Smith’s gossip column that Madonna is going to star in a film based on Holly Woodlawn’s book and that actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein is going to write the screenplay.
JEFF: “It was devastating. It was such a painful experience for me to have my best friend turn on me like that. She, essentially, stabbed me in the back. But I ended up thinking, ‘You know, Holly Woodlawn has only one story. Jeff Copeland has a million he can whip up. So, Holly, you take your story and go with Harvey Fierstein. Go with Columbia Pictures.’ I wasn’t going to stand in the way.”
Eventually, the Madonna/Fierstein/Columbia deal fell through. And, despite the script being optioned a few more times by other producers, no movie about the life of Holly Woodlawn was ever made. But Holly never gave up hope that one day it would be – even on her deathbed.
JEFF: “Holly was like Norma Desmond, clinging to that dream. And it was very tragic. Holly was an alcoholic and she just spiraled out of control. It really bothered me to see her decline physically because of her alcoholism. And when I saw her last, she was living in a convalescent home and I actually brought her some gingerbread from Starbucks, and tried to make peace. I never stopped caring about Holly or her wellbeing.”
Holly Woodlawn died on December 6, 2015 at the age of 69. Jeff Copeland is now writing a new book about his many wild experiences with her called: Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn.
A LOW LIFE IN HIGH HEELS: THE HOLLY WOODLAWN STORY is available on Amazon:
Many thanks to Poddington Bear for the opening music featured in this episode royalty free through Creative Commons licensing:
"On a Wing" by Poddington Bear - soundofpicture.com