Matt Werner, writer & editor
Matt Werner’s first book of short stories, Papers for the Suppression of Reality, co-authored with Dr. Shaka Freeman will hit bookstores on March 1, 2011. The book is being published by Thought Publishing. You can pre-order a copy of the book here: http://thoughtpublishing.org/purchase/
My interview with Oakland poet and playwright Chinaka Hodge was published on the literary website the Rumpus today. Click here for the interview.
Chinaka is known for her Def Poetry Jam appearances and play Mirrors in Every Corner. But her writing and artistic talents are wide-ranging, and include some pretty dope tracks with the Getback Crew:
Talib Kweli Interview
with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative
http://freshair.org.uk, http://mattswriting.com
Phone interview recorded on March 3, 2009, show aired on March 10, 2009.
The full hour-long interview and feature can be downloaded here.
A PDF of this interview transcript can be downloaded here.
DJ MATT WERNER: This is DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative. We’re coming at you from Edinburgh, Scotland, and we have Talib Kweli with us on a phone interview. And so Talib, you’ve been very active this last year, and I’ve read most of the interviews you’ve conducted this last year online: on everything from your song about Lauren Hill, J Dilla, MCEO, and other projects, so I don’t want to repeat questions that’ve already been asked in these other interviews. But my listeners here in Scotland have had two main questions for you. One is on…
TALIB KWELI: Black Star?
DJ MATT WERNER: Yeah, Black Star.
TALIB KWELI: [laughs]
Saul Williams Interview
with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative
http://freshair.org.uk, http://mattswriting.com
Phone interview recorded on November 21, 2008, show aired on December 9, 2008.
Transcript by Korin McGinty, edited by DJ Matt Werner
This transcript can be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here
The audio of DJ Matt Werner’s interview with Saul Williams can be found here
DJ MATT WERNER: Saul, I was wondering if you could come on the line now and discuss a little bit about your latest album Niggy Tardust.
SAUL WILLIAMS: Sure, well the name of the album is The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! And it’s a concept album where I am essentially exploring the idea and reality of liberation, of freedom, and what it means in the face of, or under the context of our existing definition of race, and how that relates to music and identity, and what have you.
It’s essentially a very danceable dialogue, you know, self-exploration, and the need to step beyond the boundaries imposed by society as far as what people come to expect of someone when they assume that they’re from a particular place or look a particular way or talk a particular way, or what have you. So yeah it’s basically me finding the freedom to just break out of my shell and make the music that I want to make regardless of the executive who says, “Well this doesn’t actually fit the formulaic mold of what we’re expecting from you, of what we would need in order to get this to these people over here.” It’s about just breaking those boundaries.
DJ MATT WERNER: How was it collaborating with Trent Reznor on the album?
DJ Matt Werner’s Site is currently under construction. This is the future home of DJ Matt Werner’s artistic endeavors.
In the future, this site will host podcasts of DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interviews on Fresh Air: The Alternative with a great array of artists, ranging from hip hop artists Ise Lyfe and Talib Kweli, to rock artist Dave Smallen, spoken-word artists George Watsky and Dahlak Brathwaite, beatboxer Kid Beyond, and modern symphony composer Fr. Bruno Clifton.