Past Programs 2014

A winter special featuring:

THE EASY LEAVES, Sonoma County's fresh acoustic folk band (a segment fresh from last week, never aired!)

GARY SNYDER, mountain-man, poet, author of Mountains and Rivers Without End.

THE CHRISTMAS JUG BAND featuring Dan Hicks, with traditional jolly Holiday fare.

PETER ROWAN and the Rowan Brothers' Reggaebilly Christmas Band.

KARL & CARL comedians bring us their Tips On Travel for the Holiday Season.

JOHN WESLEY HARDING brings us a humorous musical take on the season.

ILEEN WEISS, featuring songs from her recording A Weiss Christmas.

NEW CENTURY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA adds their timeless festive flair. And More!

From May 5, 2001, when Sedge welcomed:

P.D. JAMES, (Aug 3, 1920 – Nov 27, 2014) aka “the Queen of Crime”, British mystery author of 18 complex crime novels including the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh stories and Death in Holy Orders. 

DORIS HADDOCK, (Jan 24, 1910 – Mar 9, 2010) political activist who walked across the continental United States at age 90 to advocate for campaign finance reform. Author of Granny D: Walking Across America in My 90th Year.

ALASDAIR FRASER, Renowned fiddler and his crew of Scottish musical anarchists.

GINI WILSON as house pianist.

Tune in for a special encore presentation. And join us next week live from the Healdsburg SHED!

Live from the Healdsburg SHED in Sonoma County. Tickets for this show are sold out. Sedge welcomes:

DALE DOUGHERTY, the man behind Make Magazine and Maker Faire, serving as a catalyst for the worldwide Maker Movement that is transforming innovation in industry and hands-on learning in education.

WILL DURST comedian "for people who read or know someone who does" will give us a taste of his annual Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show, including the Top Ten Comedic News Stories of 2014.

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE, legendary electric blues harmonica player who emerged from the Mississippi Delta to worldwide acclaim in the early 1960s.

THE EASY LEAVES, Sonoma County's fresh acoustic folk band stops in before their Winter Western Formal at the Great American Music Hall January 3rd.

MIKE GREENSILL, piano-man... and more!

Live from Sonoma County! Join us at the Healdsburg SHED, a market, cafe, and community gathering space at 25 North Street in Healdsburg. Tickets for this show are sold out. Sedge welcomes:

DEBORAH KOONS GARCIA, filmmaker of renowned documentary The Future of Food, here with her new film Symphony of the Soil, exploring the complex and dynamic resource below our feet.

STUART ROJSTACZER, the geophysicist-turned-fiction-writer-and-musician with his delightful debut novel The Mathematician's Shiva, about family dynamics, the immigrant experience and the elegance of mathematics.

CLAIRE PEASLEE, naturalist from Point Reyes brings us a preview of the winter solstice.

DAVID LUNING and his band bring us insight and musicianship well beyond their years, blurring the lines of Americana, Country, Rock and Blues.

MIKE GREENSILL Bay Area composer who we're lucky to call our house pianist...and more!

Napa Thanksgiving Special! Bring the whole family to Silo's at 530 Main Street in downtown Napa. Sedge welcomes:

Artist

PATRICIAN CURTAN

illustrator, designer, and printmaker, notably of Chez Panisse menus and cookbooks.

Cooks

TWIN CHEFS

pint-sized chefs Lilly and Audrey bring us their new cookbook We Heart Cooking: Totally Tasty Food For Kids.

Comedians

KARL & CARL

our itinerant comedians bring us a holiday edition of their hilarious Tips On Travel.

Musicians

LIA ROSE

San Francisco's Indie songstress and her band bring us their dreamy and refreshing blend of vocals and strings.

Musicians

WESLA WHITFIELD & MIKE GREENSILL

jazz and cabaret maestros, veterans of the Silo's stage.

Join us live from Silo's at 530 Main Street in downtown Napa! Sedge welcomes:

CARINE McCANDLESS finally speaks out about what really drove her legendary brother Christopher "Into The Wild" in her new memoir The Wild Truth.

ERIK TARLOFF, author of the national bestseller Face-Time, here with his new novel All Our Yesterdays, following a small group of Berkeley friends and lovers from 1968 to present.

RACHEL SAUNDERS, proprietor of Blue Chair Fruit and author of Blue Chair Cooks with Jam & Mamalade brings us some foodie wisdom for the holiday season.

THE LADY CROONERS, a trio of siblings and their band bring us their raucous, sophisticated, down-home music.

MIKE GREENSILL, veteran of the Silo's piano...And More!

An encore presentation from 2006, when Sedge welcomed:

HARRY SHEARER, actor, comedian, voice artist, known for his long-running roles on The Simpsons, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show.

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT, one of America's legendary foundations of folk music, with over 40 albums under his belt.

THE KITCHEN SISTERS Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva, radio producers of the award-winning Hidden Kitchens series.

JAMES CROMWELL, actor in such notable films as LA Confidential and The Artist, and narrator of the documentary King Leopold's Ghost.

ADAM HOCHSCHILD, author of King Leopold's Ghost, tracing the legacy of the Congo's colonial past on the nation's present-day travails.

And of course MIKE GREENSILL, pianoman.

Journey with us to the Stage Door Theater, Mt. Shasta, CA, 2008, as Sedge welcomes:

PERRY SIMS, Mt. Shasta historian.

MARIA ELENA FERNANDEZ and SAUNDRA AMA LEBBY, poets.

KAZANGO JAZZ, gypsyjazz marvels.

JAMIE LAVAL Celtic Fiddle Champion.

STUART ARCHER COHEN, author of the novel, The Army of the Republic.

CAROL MOWAT, of Mowat Apiaries, whose honey is renowned amongst the bees and toast-eaters of the West.

MIKE GREENSILL, nimble house pianist.

Live from the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse at 2020 Addison St in downtown Berkeley, Sedge welcomes:

Author

ANNE LAMOTT

with her new collection of wise and irreverent essays on hope, joy, and faith, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace.

Author

WILLIAM GIBSON

the renowned speculative fiction writer who coined the term "cyberspace" in his 1984 classic Neuromancer, here with his latest report from the future in The Peripheral.

Musicians

EMMA HILL

and guitarist Bryan Daste bring us songs from the north country, exuding that wild, adventurous style that only true Alaskans can.

Musicians

KATHY KALLICK BAND

the Grammy-award winning bluegrass troubadour brings us her soulful, intergenerational band.

House Pianist

MIKE GREENSILL

one of Planet Earth's premier jazz and cabaret piano players.  And More!

We present to you a special October Halloween / Election Season show. Sedge welcomes:

Economist

ROBERT REICH

former Secretary of Labor and author of Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life, a true supertitle. ('07)

Columnist

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

columnist, biographer, founder of Huffington Post with her book On Becoming Fearless...In Love, Work and Life. ('06).

Illustrator

LISA BROWN

author and illustrator of the Halloween tale Vampire Boy's Good Night. ('10)

Musicians

ALBINO!

A Halloween-inspired performance by the East Bay's own Afrobeat band. ('10)

Musician

JERRY HANNAN

songwriter best known for penning the song Society from the film Into the Wild. ('07,'14)

Tune in for a fresh show taped Tuesday evening at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley. Sedge welcomes:

ADAM MANSBACH, the man behind the hilarious satirical children's-books-for-adults Go the (FCC-bleep) to Sleep, and the new You Have To (bleep-ing) Eat.

WENDY MACNAUGHTON, the San Francisco based illustrator and a graphic journalist with her new book Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them.

MANDY AFTEL, world famous perfumer will bring us stories and aromas from her fascinating new book Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent.

CONSPIRACY OF BEARDS the male a capella choir performing the songs of the legendary poet, novelist and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

S.E. WILLIS, the blues and boogie piano man with his new album Turtle Dove Bounce. Our house pianist today!

Show from February 2012, with Zilpha's segment from April 2004. Sedge welcomes:

Late Great Author

ZILPHA KEATLEY SNYDER

(5/11/1927 - 10/8/2014) Three-time Newbury Award winning author of young adult books including The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Unseen. Banned in some libraries in US, her books deal with the supernatural and magic, and have inspired many writers from Lemony Snickett to J.K. Rowliing.

Author

DANIEL HANDLER

aka Lemony Snicket, with his debut young-adult novel Why We Broke Up, the story of Min Green and how she and Ed Slaterton met at a party, saw a movie, followed an old woman, shared a hotel room, and broke each other's hearts.

Author

ADAM JOHNSON

author of the epic novel set in North Korea, The Orphan Master's Son, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2013.

Farmer

CHARLIE SOWELL

pasture-raised egg producer from Rolling Oaks Ranch.

Musicians

TOMMY EMMANUEL

legendary Austrailian guitarist best known for his complex fingerpicking style, along with renowned guitarists FRANK VIGNOLA and VINNY RANIOLO.

Maestro

JOSHUA RAOUL BRODY

our piano man today.

Tune in for a wild audio ride from February 20, 2010. And stay tuned for our future pop-ups... Sedge welcomes:

Author

T.C. BOYLE

novelist and chronicler of American foibles and curiosities and twisted genius. His new book is a collection of stories, Wild Child.

Illustrator

MO WILLEMS

the children's book author who includes Knuffle Bunny in his oeuvre.

Singer

ANGELIQUE KIJDO

Grammy Award-winning Benin singer, whose new recording OYO, transports us to her West African landscape.

Musicians

MARTIN HAYES & DENNIS CAHILL

the Irish fiddler and the American guitarist make bridges, ferry tunes, and transport us with their music.

Soprano

PASCAL TOUSSAINT

male soprano from Paris, introduced to us by writer Amy Tan.

Farmer

NORMAN GUNSELL

from Mountain Ranch Organically Grown tells us about their certified organic, pasture raised, air chilled chicken, turkey and beef.

Join us for two hours of conversation, music & play from the beautiful Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse at 2020 Addison St in downtown Berkeley. Sedge welcomes:

Journalist

ERIC SCHLOSSER

investigative journalist who has penned such bestsellers as Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness, here with his new Pulitzer finalist, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.

Author

A. SCOTT BERG

Pulitzer Prize winning author of Wilson, acclaimed biography of the 28th President of the United States; the result of a decade of research and writing informed by two new troves of documents to which Berg was the first biographer allowed access.

Publisher

MALCOLM MARGOLIN

founder of Heyday Press, the independent nonprofit publisher and cultural institution in Berkeley, and the subject of the new book The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin: The Damn Good Times of a Fiercely Independent Publisher.

Musicians

MEKLIT

the Ethiopian-born, San Francisco-based singer and her band bring us their soulful performing style that combines jazz, folk, and East African influences.

News Source

BERKELEYSIDE

Berkeley's independently owned local news site celebrates five years of reporting on the extraordinary diversity of people, issues, events, food and environment in our city on the Bay.

The Master

MIKE GREENSILL

San Francisco's coolest Jazz and Cabaret piano maestro and our house pianist.

Join us for two hours of conversation, music & play from the beautiful Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse at 2020 Addison St in downtown Berkeley. Sedge welcomes:

Author

KRISTIN NEWMAN

TV writer for hit shows like How I Met Your Mother and That ‘70s Show, here with her hilarious new travel memoir What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, tales of romance, self-discovery, and sowing her wild oats on adventures abroad.

Author

ALIX CHRISTIE

the writer and journalist brings us her fascinating debut novel, Gutenberg's Apprentice, evoking one of the most momentous events in history: the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal.

Musicians

ELVIN BISHOP BAND

legendary blues guitarist and friends stop by in celebration of the release of his new album, Can't Even Do Wrong Right.

Musician

CATIE CURTIS

brings us thoughtful, intuitive storytelling in folk rock form; touring in support of her new CD Flying Dream.

Comedians

KARL & CARL

our itinerant comedians bring us a back-to-school edition of their hilarious Tips On Travel.

Get your tickets now for our shows live from the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on September 20 & 27!

This week, Sedge takes us back to August 12th 2006 from the Point Arena Theater in bucolic downtown Point Arena, on the MENDOCINO COAST CA, when we welcomed:

CAROLYN COOKE, short story writer and humorist.

JASON ROBERTS , whose account of how a blind man, James Holman, became history's greatest traveler - I see better with my feet -, A Sense of the World, takes us on extraordinary sea voyages. 

THE REDUCED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, members Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor of the rollicking troupe who make Bill's plays brief and comic, even the tragedies....

LESLIE DAHLOFF, Mayor of Point Arena, MITCH MCFARLAND, Harbormaster, STEVE OLIFF, Point Arena Historian

SITA MILCHEV, Soprano, accompanied by DON KRIEGER

TEXAS JON and his BAND

LINDSEY SMITH Mendocino coast resident and California High School Poet Laureate in 2005

MIKE GREENSILL, the north coast gets to see his playing first hand, and second hand, too....

We are proud to present the exclusive premier of Meklit's new video We Are Alive. Check out her new video here, directed by Kevin Gordon at Sub64 Films:

A favorite from the archives. Get your tickets now for our shows live from the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on September 20 & 27. Great guests including Eric Schlosser, Malcolm Margolin, A. Scott Berg, Kristin Newman, Elvin Bishop, Catie Curtis, Meklit, Karl & Carl, founders of Berkeleyside and more!

From from April 17, 2004 at The 12 Galaxies, Sedge welcomed:

ROGER McGUINN, lead singer and lead guitarist of The Byrds, here with his jingle-jangle 12-string guitar.

SURF COASTERS, the Japanese surf band, started by Shigeo Naka, whom Dick Dale refers to as "Prince of the Surf Guitar"

DAVID SANGER & JOHN HART, authors, San Francisco Bay a journey back through the bay's history, introducing its native cultures, describing its ecology, and tracing its urban and industrial development.

LEO KOTTKE, acclaimed guitarist known for a fingerpicking style full of syncopated, polyphonic melodies. (January 2004)

RUTH OZEKI, Canadian-American novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest.

And a bit of new material from our friends MISNER & SMITH, performing tonight at the Freight & Salvage (September 2014).

Live from the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse at 2020 Addison St in downtown Berkeley, Sedge welcomes:

Author

AMY TAN

author of such bestselling novels as The Joy Luck Club and now The Valley of Amazement, both dealing with powerful mother-daughter relationships partially set in China.

Author

NOVELLA CARPENTER

urban farmer and memoirist with Gone Feral: Tracking My Dad Though the Wild, in which she tries to make sense of her father's life and disappearance while becoming a parent herself.

Naturalist

CLAIRE PEASLEE

naturalist from the Point Reyes Observatory brings us her observations of fall phenomena looming into our latitudes.

Musicians

ENSEMBLE MIK NAWOOJ

a hip hop orchestra led by composer JooWan Kim, featuring a 7-piece chamber orchestra, 2 MCs and an opera singer. Here celebrating the release of their new self-titled album.

Musicians

MISNER & SMITH

bring us the folky goodness from Seven Hour Storm, an album of vivid, poetic songwriting, and some of the finest harmony singing around.

The Lively

MIKE GREENSILL

Bay Area composer who we're lucky to call our house pianist.

This week, we step back in time to September 1997, when Sedge welcomed:

EDMUND WHITE, novelist and memoirist on literary and social topics with his semi-autobiographical novel The Farewell Symphony.

HARLAN ELLISON, the revered and prolific author of speculative fiction, here with his collection of short stories Slippage.

THE NAKED BARBIES the hard-to-categorize roots-rock band from Berkeley bring us sounds to swing to.

WHISTLEAIRES bring us their innovative bodily sounds.

ROBIN WILLIAMS the late comedian and actor who called into the show in 1994 to give us a brief report on the short story he prompted Harlan Ellison to write in The Booksmith's store window.

A favorite from December 2010. Get your tickets now for a very special live show from the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on August 30th!

JUDY CHICAGO, artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose influential career now spans four decades, with Frida Kahlo: Face to Face (1979 piece Dinner Party shown above).

ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, with Mary Ann in Autumn, the eighth in the bestselling Tales of the City series.

COLEMAN BARKS, author of numerous Rumi translations and a student of Sufism since 1977, with his newest Rumi the Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship

ELIZABETH ROSNER conveys the engrossing story of an artist and a model who must both overcome the past in order to create a future in her new book Blue Nude

SARK, artist and author, with her brand-new book that glows with color and positivity Glad No Matter What

CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO with a career spanning 16 years and almost 20 albums, Hunter is widely considered the authority on the seven- and eight-string guitar. He will dazzle you with his melodic leads and swinging rhythms.

THE POETIC MIKE GREENSILL

Enjoy this spectacular show from November 16, 2013. And get your tickets now for a very special live show from the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on August 30th!

Humorists

SIMON RICH & FARLEY KATZ

a former SNL writer and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker bring us their hilarious new picture book for adults The Married Kama Sutra: The World's Least Erotic Sex Manual.

Author

DANIEL ALARCON

the acclaimed young novelist and founder of Radio Ambulante, a Spanish language cognate to This American Life, here with his new novel At Night We Walk in Circles.

Cooking teacher

MARY RISLEY

founder of Tante Marie's Cooking School and recipient of a James Beard Foundation's "Humanitarian of the Year" award for her efforts to help alleviate hunger through Food Runners.

Musician

MASON JENNINGS

the brilliant singer-songwriter praised for his catchy melodies, intimate lyrics and distinctive voice brings us a taste of his new album Always Been.

Musicians

PATCHY SANDERS

the seven-piece band from Ashland, Oregon conjures up a fabulously folky tapestry of sound, drawing upon Celtic, Appalachian, Medieval and Bluegrass musical traditions. With Poet Pistachio.

Acoustic Trio

The Devil Makes Three

bring us their punky perspective on vintage American blues. from 2011

From July 31, 2010 at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, when Sedge welcomed:

ROBERT HASS, poet and author of Song of Myself and other Poems , with the poetry of Walt Whitman.

MARY ROACH, the science writer whose engaging books include the three monosyllabic explorations Stiff, Spook and Bonk offers now Packing for Mars about the curious science of life in the void. Mary fills us in.

VENDELA VIDA, whose third novel, The Lovers , is set in Turkey. She co-edits The Believer magazine.

STEPHEN KENT, didgeridoo virtuoso, accompanied by some worldly companions.

DEVINE JUG BAND, Pete Devine's assembled multitude jugs along with verve.

MIKE GREENSILL, piano, whose been known to play past midnight into the new month.

Listen this Saturday to the wonderful show taped July 16, 2011 at the Avery Theatre in Etna, CA (in synchronicity with the 7th annual Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival)

SEDGE THOMSON welcomed:

Historical Novelist

GAIL JENNER

author of Black Bart: The Poet Bandit and Across The Sweet Grass Hills.

Author

MURRY TAYLOR

Veteran forest-fire fighter and author of Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfires and The Rhythm of The Leaves.

Farmer

WILLIS THOMPSON

of Cal Stevia, bee keeper and stevia farmer.

Musicians

MARK PHILLIPS & IIIrd GENERATION BLUEGRASS BAND

award-winning, hard-driving traditional bluegrass and bluegrass-gospel music out of Norman, Oklahoma.

Musicians

TAPWATER

a live "World Twang" experience out of Portland, OR bringing musical inspiration from around the world right back home to your front porch.

The Wonderful

MADELEINE AYRES

of the Avery Theatre.

Live 10am-noon from the second floor of the SF Ferry Building, overlooking the Bay! Sedge welcomes:

Authors

CHRIS COLIN & ROB BAEDEKER

offer useful and hilarious insight in What to Talk About: On a Plane, At a Cocktail Party, In a Tiny Elevator with Your Boss's Boss.

Author

ANGELA PNEUMAN

brings us her marvelous dark and comic debut novel Lay It On My Heart, the story of one unforgettable month in a Kentucky girl's thirteenth year.

Musicians

WE PLAYERS

the alternative theatre troupe brings us a taste of their special one-night show Canciones del Mar: Songs of the Sea, aboard the historic ship Balclutha.

Musician

JERRY HANNAN

the Irish-American songwriter and entertainer, perhaps best known for penning the song Society from the film Into the Wild.

Director

MARCY COBURN

the new Executive Director for CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture), operator of the acclaimed Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

The Something

MIKE GREENSILL

composer, house pianist and author of Playing for Singers: The Mike Greensill Method.

Live 10am-noon from the second floor of the SF Ferry Building, overlooking the Bay! Sedge welcomes:

SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALLSTARS who have risen out of the ashes of war and inspired fans across the globe with their uplifting songs of hope, faith and joy.

LINDSAY LOU & THE FLATBELLYS, the Michigan bluegrass band share their true-life tales of bank-robbing aunties, moonshinin' grandpas, celebrations of love, life, & nature.

JAMES NESTOR takes us out to sea with his fascinating new book Deep: Freedivng, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves.

JACQUELINE WINSPEAR with The Care and Management of Lies, a lyrical and historically nuanced tale of love and friendship during the Great War.

KARL & CARL our itinerant comedians bring us a summer edition of their hilarious Tips On Travel.

RYAN FARR, classically trained chef who founded 4505 Meats, an artisan butchery that urges you to "keep it real and always follow your stomach".

MIKE GREENSILL, our worldly house pianist!

A special holiday weekend broadcast, not to be missed! From November 2011, SEDGE welcomes:

Author

GREGORY MAGUIRE

The world of Oz comes full circle in Gregory Maguire's fourth and final novel in the New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years.

Author

CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG  AKA HARRIS BURDICK

author and illustrator of the best-selling children's classics Polar Express, Jumanji, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and many more.

Artist

JUSTIN BUA

whose well known "Distorted Urban Realism" style combines elements of graffiti with classical art training, here with his new book The Legends of Hip Hop.

Musicians

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS

the fine five piece string band from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who Rolling Stone assures is "representing the genre for a whole new generation."

The Superb

MIKE GREENSILL

on piano. Catch us live next weekend at the SF Ferry Building!

Bits from November 9th of 2009 & 2012 from our shows at the Bowmer Theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in Ashland. SEDGE THOMSON welcomes:

Author

JONATHAN EVISON

author of the bestselling novel West of Here, brings us his latest, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, a bighearted novel that ponders life's terrible surprises as well as the heart's uncanny capacity to mend.

Musician

CRAIG CHAQUICO

former lead guitarist for the Jefferson Starship and Ashland local brings us a taste of his Grammy-nominated solo album.

Musicians

EIGHT DOLLAR MOUNTAIN

the Southern Oregon Bluegrass band brings us some of the brilliant harmony arrangements and whitewater-fast rhythms from their new album Riverboat Gambler.

Musicians

HAMFIST

We'll talk with and hear from this unique Ashland Americana band composed entirely of Oregon Shakespeare Festival technicians and artisans.

Actress

VILMA SILVA

leading and supporting actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, whose Shakespeare is both brushed up and polished iambs.

Maestro

MIKE GREENSILL

San Francisco's premier Jazz and Cabaret piano player has assembled a local house band, featuring Joe Cohoon on bass and Ed Dunsavage on guitar.

From February 2008 at Joe's Pub in New York City, SEDGE welcomed:

ALI ESKANDARIAN, Iranian-born singer-songwriter who thrilled us with his music and vibrancy. He, along with his roommates in the indie band the Yellow Dogs, was murdered last November at his home in Brooklyn.

JUDY COLLINS, direct from the Village folk music scene!

EDITH GROSSMAN, foremost translator of Spanish literature into English, from Garcia Marquez to Cervantes.

ROY BLOUNT, JR, president of Authors Guild and he has a new book Long Time Leaving.

JAMES McBRIDE, sax player and author of Color of Water and Song Yet Sung.

THE HOLMES BROTHERS cook up some soulful music.

From July 11 & October 31, 2009, when SEDGE welcomed:

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO, the phenomenal South African acapella choir come in from their Yoshi's appearances to make some modern art.

GLEN DAVID GOLD, author of Sunnyside and Carter Beats the Devil, both comic novels.

KAREN JOY FOWLER, whose books include Wit's End and The Jane Austen Book Club.

DAVE BARRY & RIDLEY PEARSON, whose collaborations include the book Peter and the Star Catchers and the band Rock Bottom Remainders.

MIKE GREENSILL on piano.

From our Summer in Alaska series from 1998. Recorded August 8 of that year at the Gold Pan Theater in Skagway, Alaska. SEDGE welcomed:

PETER ROWAN, Grammy-award winning chameleon of musical genres.

SHEILA NICKERSON, writer and poet, former Poet Laureate of Alaska

DAVE SMITH, author, naturalist, and bear specialist, author of Backcountry Bear Basics: The Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters.

HEATHER LENDE, author and columnist for the Chilkat Valley News.

BUDDY TAYLOR, folksinger.

DAVE AUSTIN on cello and DONNA AUSTIN on piano, playing the music of Charlie Chaplin.

ART JOHNS and KEVIN BARR Canadian country western singers - "The Singing Grandpas".

CHRIS ISHEE as house pianist.

A tribute to Maya Angelou, who passed away this week (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014). From October 2004 and November 2008, when Sedge talked with:

MAYA ANGELOU, a literary voice revered globally for her poetic command and her commitment to civil rights, best known for her series of seven autobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. 

GUY JOHNSON, Maya's son and an acclaimed author in his own right, having published such works as Standing at the Scratch Line and Echoes of a Distant Summer.

TONI MORRISON, dear friend of Maya's and author of Beloved, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, here with her latest, A Mercy.

BÉLA FLECK & VICTOR WOOTEN, banjo virtuoso whose film Throw Down Your Heart tracks the banjo's roots back to Africa, and bassist extraordinaire. 

KA EHU KAI, the fresh four piece Hawaiian band featuring ukulele, 6-string guitar, bass guitar and keyboards will life your spirits with the power of mele (music/song).

From the second floor of the SF Ferry Building, guest-host CASE CONOVER welcomes:

PHILIPPE PETIT, the French tight-wire walker whose 1974 high-wire walk between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers was the subject of the 2008 documentary Man on Wire. Here with his new book Creativity: The Perfect Crime.

SAM KEAN brings us forgotten stories and incisive wit in The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery.

CLAIRE PEASLEE, naturalist from the Point Reyes Observatory just back from a Southwest sojourn where she befriended a large moth that acts and sounds like a hummingbird!

PEPPINO D'AGOSTINO, world renowned acoustic guitarist brings us a taste of his new solo album Penumbra.

QUINN DEVEAUX whose modern soul songs will take you there, wherever you've got to go.

HUMPHREY SLOCOMBE co-owner Jake Godby stops by to give us a sample of San Francisco's "Best New Ice Cream Store" (SF Weekly), with flavors such as chili-lime sorbet and prosciutto.

MIKE GREENSILL our Jazz and Cabaret house pianist.

Tune in for a special never-before-re-broadcast show, from June 29th, 2002 at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival in Laytonville, California. SEDGE welcomed:

Musician

U. UTAH PHILLIPS

the late great story teller, union organizer, rail rider, and songsmith (1935-2008).

Musician

GREG BROWN

one of America's best loved folk and blues musicians.

Musician

ROSALIE SORRELS

a.k.a. Rosa Bizarrio, the famous outlaw Queen.

Musician

ARLO GUTHRIE

folk singer who, like his late father, Woody, is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice.

Musician

BRUCE COCKBURN

one of North America's great political songwriters.

Musicians

THE WAYBACKS

performers of a bluegrass offshoot self-described as "crabgrass", as our house band.

Recorded in Berkeley on April 30th, Sedge welcomes:

Author

KATHRYN MA

the Iowa Short Fiction Award winning writer brings us her widely-praised debut novel The Year She Left Us.

Conservationist

MICHAEL STOCKER

acoustician and naturalist, Executive Director of Ocean Conservation Research and author of Hear Where We Are: Sound, Ecology, and Sense of Place.

Musician

SCOTT KINNEBREW

steps away from his band Truth & Salvage Co. to share some of his soulful solo songs from that dusty Americana road.

Musicians

STEEP RAVINE

conjure up an authentic slice of Northern California spirit, combining the energy of bluegrass with the heart and soul of folk and roots music.

The Delightful

MIKE GREENSILL & WESLA WHITFIELD

Jazz and Cabaret pianist and singer -- best in the west!.

Sedge welcomes:

BRUCE VILANCH, six-time Emmy-award winning comedy writer and actor and longtime head writer for the Oscars, now performing in Cole Porter's Du Barry Was A Lady.

ARLO CRAWFORD recounts growing up on an organic farm in his new memoir A Farm Dies Once A Year.

DANA FALCONBERRY the acclaimed Austin-based singer and her band stop by on their West Coast tour.

DEVIL'S GULCH RANCH owner Mark Pasternak will enlighten us on his production of rabbits, pigs, sheep, wine grapes and asparagus in Marin County.

MIKE GREENSILL, originally San Francisco's premier Jazz and Cabaret piano player, and our House Pianist.

And More!

Join us LIVE from the Port Commission Hearing Room in the San Francisco Ferry Building for two hours of conversation, music & play! SEDGE welcomes:

WES JACKSON, farmer, philosopher and author of several landmark books on sustainable agriculture, Wes is founder and current president of The Land Institute and a member of the World Future Council.

GREENHORNS, Severine von Tscharner Fleming, farmer, activist, organizer and director of The Greenhorns, a documentary film and grassroots organization working to recruit, promote and support the growing tribe of new agrarians.

JUSTIN GO with his mesmerizing debut novel The Steady Running of the Hour, following a young man's discovery that he may be heir to the unclaimed estate of an alpinist who died attempting to summit Mt. Everest.

MARIAH PARKER'S INDO LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE get us grooving on a world of musical influences, from Havana to Kolkata.

AIMEE EIGUREN will shed light on the partnership between the Ferry Building's gluten free Mariposa Bakery and the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center.

MIKE GREENSILL, originally trained at Leeds College of Music in England, Mike is now one of San Francisco's premier Jazz and Cabaret piano players.

We present a special show all about FARMING & FOOD!

Dig in to the earth with us, from past shows when Sedge welcomed:

MICHAEL POLLAN, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

NOVELLA CARPENTER, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.

LISA HAMLITON, whose book Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness, depicts growers as stewards of the land and their pace of life.

JANE S. SMITH, author of The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants. 

DAVID MAS MASUMOTO farmer, author, Heirlooms: Letters from a Peach Farmer

JESSICA PRENTICE, author of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection

HOT BUTTERED RUM the five piece progressive bluegrass band carry us to the mountains and back with their stunning instrumental and vocal virtuosity. 

A special show celebrating the OCEAN, that vast blue landscape composing the majority of Earth's surface, full of mystery, life and adventure.

Join us on a journey out at sea through segments from past shows, when Sedge welcomed:

SUSAN CASEY author of The Wave, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out.

HOWARD ULRICH, Alaskan fisherman who survived the 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami, largest in recorded history at 1720 feet tall.

DICK DALE & THE DELTONES, known as King of the Surf Guitar, he pioneered surf music in the 1950s, drawing on Eastern musical scales and experimenting with reverberation.

BOB WISE, designer of Wise Surfboards teaches Sedge to catch a wave!

WALT KEALE & LT SMOOTH with Chris Lau and Bill Griffin bring us soothing music from the shores of Hawaii.

DANIEL LENIHAN surfaces from the Bay for just long enough to be interviewed about his book Submerged: Adventures of America's Most Elite and Extreme Underwater Archeology Team.

DONOVAN HOHN, author of Moby Duck: the True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea.

SUSAN FREINKEL, author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, taking us through history, science and the global economy to assess the real impact of plastic in our lives.

Recorded March 15th at a pub in London, England!

Sedge welcomed:

PHILIP KERR, author of Bernie Gunther series of historical thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War.

DAVE GOULSON, one of the UK's most respected conservationists, founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, here with his new book A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees.

OLIVIA CHANEY, fast-rising English singer, pianist, guitarist, harmonium player who is currently collaborating with the Kronos Quartet.

LICENSE TO CEILIDH, London's top Ceilidh band, the energetic traditional music of the Gaelic barn dances and highland flings.

MIKE GREENSILL, originally trained at Leeds College of Music in England, Mike is now one of San Francisco's premier Jazz and Cabaret piano players.

A special show recorded at Café Universel jazz club in Paris, France! We're now on the air on World Radio Paris, the new English radio station in the French Capital.

Taped March 19th, when Sedge welcomed:

DIANE JOHNSON the American-born satirical novelist with her new memoir Flyover Lives, a dazzling meditation on how our her midwest upbringing in Moline, Illinois shaped her.

KATHERINE PANCOL, one of France’s most popular bestselling authors brings us her the new English translation of The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles about a charmingly discordant Parisian family.

LISA LINDSLEY, sultry singer of timeless jazz standards from the 40’s and 50’s, she has been described as a glass of Champagne -- cool, refreshing and mildly intoxicating.

TERRANCE GELENTER, "your American friend in Paris" author of Paris par Hasard: from Bagels to Brioches and Terrance's 50 Favorite Bistros & Restos.

PIERRE BENSUSAN, French-Algerian guitarist, singer and composer, recognized as one of the most eloquent and diverse world musicians of our time.

And More!

From April 27, 2013 at The Chapel, when we welcomed:

Author

MARY ROACH

the ever-curious bestselling author brings us Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, a journey into the invisible realm we carry around inside.

Author

BRIAN KIMBERLING

a hilarious new voice in fiction brings us Snapper, the poignant recollections of an affable bird researcher in backwater Indiana.

Performer

REVEREND BILLY

with some comedy and wisdom from his new book The End of The World, along with Gospel singers from the Church of Stop Shopping.

Musicians

BLAME SALLY

San Francisco's beloved group of female singer-songwriters, on tour with their new CD, Live at KVIE Studios.

Singers

CONSPIRACY OF VENUS

the Women's a cappella choir that sings original arrangements of contemporary music, from Joni Mitchell to Tom Waits to Bjork.

Singers

CONSPIRACY OF BEARDS

the male a capella choir performing the songs of the legendary poet, novelist and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. from October 19, 2013

From September 7, 2013 when we welcomed:

Author

JAMES McBRIDE

jazz musician and author of The Color of Water brings us a fascinating new mix of history and mystery in The Good Lord Bird, about a young slave living in Kansas Territory in 1857.

Botanist

AMY STEWART

award-winning author of six books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world with her latest, The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks.

Musicians

ARANN HARRIS & THE FARM BAND

a high-energy and highly entertaining mix of old time blues, jazz, folk, mountain music, funk and campfire songs unlike any you’ve ever heard.

Musicians

T SISTERS

a genuine sister singing group whose unique yet classic sound draws upon blues, folk, bluegrass, Americana, gospel, country, jazz and more.

The International

MIKE GREENSILL

our house pianist.

Special live show from March 8, 2003, celebrating International Women's Day, when SEDGE welcomed:

GURINDER CHADA, director of "Bend it Like Beckham", the opening film of San Francisco's Asian American Film Festival. "Bend it Like Beckham" tells the story of a teenage girl forced to choose between her dreams of soccer stardom and her traditional Sikh family in this rousing British comedy full of cultural mix and female kicks. With her will be husband and co-screenwriter, Paul Mayeda Burges.

BLAME SALLY, juggling influences that range from flamenco to traditional folk, jazz to straight ahead rock, country to urban funk.

DEBORAH PARDES, singer songwriter and founder of Artists for Literacy, a program that among other endeavors, will be releasing a second CD of music performed by first-rate musicians, inspired by great writing.

VIVIANA GUZMAN, flute virtuoso with piano accompaniment by Lisa Spector.

LYNN FREED, author of "House of Women".

LISA SPECKTOR as the house pianist.

PATCHY SANDERS the seven-piece band from Ashland, Oregon conjures up a fabulously folky tapestry of sound, drawing upon Celtic, Appalachian, Medieval and Bluegrass musical traditions. from November 2013

From September 22, 2012 at the Upstage at the Port Townsend Film Festival in Washington, SEDGE welcomed:

Actor

BRUCE DERN

the award-winning actor who has appeared in over 80 feature films, best known playing unstable and villainous characters. He was the guest of honor at the 2012 PT Film Festival. Nominated for Best Actor at the 2014 Academy Awards for his role in Nebraska.

Author

MARIA SEMPLE

the screenwriter for such shows as Arrested Development and Mad About You, who has reinvented herself as a novelist. She published one of the hottest books of the summer, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, a hilarious look at life in Seattle.

Project Manager

SONYA SENKOWSKY

of Day in Our Bay, a community-based digital storytelling project, giving voice to Native people living in the beautiful and remote Bristol Bay region of Alaska -- such as PETLA NODEN, who will also be joining us.

Musicians

CROW QUILL NIGHT OWLS

will wake up mighty early to bring us their fine jug band, jazz, and string band music of the 1920's and 1930's.

House Pianist

BARNEY McCLURE

who has played with a lot of the greats, has been featured in such films as An Officer and a Gentleman and Mr Holland's Opus and was the Mayor of Port Townsend in the '70s!

...

And More!

From the 13th Annual Port Townsend Film Festival.

SEDGE welcomes:

Author

ANNA QUINDLEN

Pulitzer-prize winning novelist with her latest, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, a deeply moving and very funny journey into the life of a woman who finds unexpected love.

Author

MICHELLE RICHMOND

author of The Year of Fog with her new novel Golden State, a story of two sisters, set on the day Californians are voting on whether or not to secede from the United States.

Musicians

ENSEMBLE MIK NAWOOJ

a hip hop orchestra that performs the innovative music of Taoist composer/pianist JooWan Kim, featuring a 7-piece chamber orchestra, 2 MCs and an opera singer.

Musicians

ERIC & ERICA

Eric Kuhn and Erica Fink bring us their emotional pop music complete with strong vocals layered in rich harmonies, electric beats and harpsichord riffs.

The Dynamic

MIKE GREENSILL

house pianist extraordinaire!

Join us at the SF Ferry Building for two hours of conversation, music & play... SEDGE welcomes:

Author

CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE

with her new novel Orphan Train, a novel about the search for family that illuminates a fascinating and forgotten chapter of American history.

Author

RABIH ALAMEDDINE

with An Unnecessary Woman, a heartrending novel that celebrates the singular life of an obsessive introvert, revealing Beirut’s beauties and horrors along the way.

Musician

PAULA WEST

the Jazz and Cabaret singer known for her rich, powerful contralto voice and for her sensitive interpretations of an extraordinarily eclectic selection of songs.

Musicians

GHOST & GALE

Brodie Jenkins and David Luning bring us their lush and harmoniously styled ballads that you might call dreamfolk.

The folks behind

PEPPLES DONUTS

the Bay Area's first vegan "donut farm" -- a radically green company that uses no paper cups, provides health care for its employees, and is 100% organic!

House Pianist

MIKE GREENSIL

house pianist extraordinaire.

Join us live at the SF Ferry Building for a broadcast from San Francisco and London. We attempt via aquaphone the first ever transworld live broadcast, with Mike, Case and guests in SF and Sedge in London. We welcome:

Author

WENDY LESSER

editor of one of the most distinguished literary magazines in the country, The Threepenny Review, with her new book Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books.

Author

MEGHAN LASLOCKY

explores the cultural and social history of love’s smoldering ruins in The Little Book of Heartbreak: Love Gone Wrong Through the Ages.

Author

ART PETERSON

brings us Why Is That Bridge Orange?: San Francisco for the Curious, a guide and love letter to the city from an amusing and witty observer of 80 years.

Chocolatier

MICHAEL RECCHIUTI

offers a glimpse behind the scenes at Recchiuti Confections, San Francisco's beloved chocolate company... just in time for Valentine's Day!

Musicians

SUPERMULE

raids America’s musical pantry to concoct a tasty blend of fresh, rootsy ingredients -- a hybrid music that is simultaneously traditional and revolutionary.

The Raindancing

MIKE GREENSILL

house pianist extraordinaire.

A special pre-recorded show from London featuring some never-before interviews. SEDGE welcomes:

Author

SARA WHEELER

follows in the footsteps of six 19th-century women who left England and reinvented themselves in the United States in her new book O My America!: Six Women and Their Second Acts in a New World.

Historian

CHARLES SAUMAREZ SMITH

the British art historian, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, current Director of the Royal Academy with his new book The Company Of Artists: The Origins of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Explorer

BRADLEY GARRETT

the "Place Hacker" who has completed a PhD in Urban Exploration, and who recently gained fame for scaling The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union.

Musicians

MOLOTOV JUKEBOX

fronted by accordion player and Harry Potter actress Natalia Tena, this high-energy ensemble combines elements of gypsy, funk, ska, dubstep and more to create a new genre they call "Gypstep".

Musicians

JAMES RILEY

the London-born bluegrass 'n' soul troubadour stops by with some friends to bring us his hymn-like ballads of love and life..

Taped January 18th 10am-noon at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley. Guest hosts CASE CONOVER and MIKE GREENSILL welcomed:

Author

ARMISTEAD MAUPIN

author of the beloved Tales of The City series that has delighted readers for four decades and brought gay life into the mainstream with his ninth and final volume The Days of Anna Madrigal.

Author

ISHMAEL BEAH

former Sierra Leonean child soldier and author of the best-selling memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, here with his first novel, Radiance of Tomorrow, in which he imagines a shattered community struggling to rebuild itself after war.

Author

SAM WASSON

sheds light on the complex life of the iconic American entertainer Fosse, the only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year. Bob Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment, yet no accomplishment ever seemed to satisfy him.

Comedian

MARGA GOMEZ

brings us a taste of her new solo play LOVEBIRDS, in which she portrays a crew of incurable romantics as they chase their hearts' desires – into the night, through decades, and to insane lengths.

Musicians

FRONT COUNTRY

winners of the prestigious RockyGrass band competition, this new Bay Area bluegrass powerhouse is releasing their first EP This is Front Country at the Great American Music Hall February 7th.

Taped January 12th at The Marsh, to be aired January 18. SEDGE welcomes:

GLYNN WASHINGTON, host and executive producer of the popular NPR program Snap Judgment, the storytelling show about the decisions people make that change EVERYTHING. It's storytelling...with a beat.

DON REED, the comedian who opens up for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno brings us a taste of his current one-man show Can You Dig It? The 60’s Back Down East 14th, about growing up in 1960's Oakland.

WILL BUTLER, Oakland journalist and producer of a new podcast about beginnings, How to Start.

MONICA PASQUAL & THE HANDSOME BRUNETTES, a new project from Blame Sally's keyboard player. Some call her music acoustic international folk while others call it dreamy pop.

MIKE GREENSILL house pianist extraordinaire. And More!

Join us for a 20th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! Big thanks to our home station KALW, the oldest FM station west of the Mississippi! Live from the second floor of the San Francisco Ferry Building, SEDGE welcomes:

CHANG-RAE LEE, author of Native Speaker and The Surrendered brings us On Such A Full Sea, a highly provocative, deeply affecting story of one woman's legendary quest in a shocking, future America.

WES "SCOOP" NISKER, the famed author, radio commentator, comedian, and Buddhist meditation instructor with wisdom from his new comedic monologue How To Be An Earthling.

BRUCE COCKBURN, the veteran Canadian folk/rock guitarist brings us his blend of folk, blues, jazz and rock with songwriting that reveals a passion for human rights and political activism.

ANCIENT FUTURE, the first and longest running musical organization dedicated exclusively to the mission of creating world fusion music.

THE WEST COAST LIVE ORCHESTRA, featuring our longstanding house pianist Mike Greensill, who will also interview Sedge!

Don't wait to get your tickets...this show will likely reach capacity!

Tune in for a special from January 7, 2012, when SEDGE welcomed:

Musician

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT

One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, Ramblin' Jack Elliott is considered one of the country's legendary foundations of folk music.

Author

JULIA FLYNN SILER

the bestselling author brings us her fascinating new account of Hawaii's turbulent history in Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure.

Environmentalist

JASON RAINEY

Executive Director of International Rivers, a water rights advocacy group working to support river protection and economic justice movements throughout the global South.

Musicians

BUXTER HOOT'N

the San Francisco-based band whose Americana roots, Rolling Stones swagger, pop sensibilities and truthful lyricism are all on display.

Bicycle Builders

CRAIG CALFEE & LARS JACOBSEN

Craig is the founder of Calfee Design, specializing in carbon fiber bicycle frames, and Bamboosero, training and supporting bike building in developing countries using local bamboo. Lars is co-founder and lead fabricator for Stalk Bicycles, Oakland's sustainable bamboo bike company.

Maestro

MIKE GREENSILL

house pianist extraordinaire.