Dr. Lisa Gives A Sh*t

Kosmo Vinyl is currently an artist completely driven by his work which is terrific and funny: https://kosmovinyl.com/ Kosmo is famous for having managed the Clash but very humble about all that —we had a meaningful conversation about his growing up-very British blue collar-he was lured at a young age by his love of American blues and jazz. His life experiences are very much book-worthy, but as a "therapist" I wanted to understand why someone in the middle of an incredible rock and roll life would settle down to be a devoted father and husband. Let's just say - Kosmo had good values-he seems like a happy man who has great relationships with his young men sons and wife. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmo_Vinyl #art #music #theClash #therapy

I really connected with Sharon Spell. Sharon is a comedian and podcast host of https://www.facebook.com/TheSharonSpellShow I had that rare feeling of a new best friend - brought down by the reality that we're all too busy to hang out anymore. Sharon spoke honestly and directly about drinking, divorce and how great things are now after all she's been through. Her guy she's with now is a keeper! #comedy #divorce #drinking #therapy

I invited comedian Casey James Salengo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StE2tnXqaU8 Montreal Fresh Faces-and a Comedy Central 1/2hr to come - tres talented and funny. He's also good-looking. I put it out there that the ladies should call in for a blind date and with him.... and well, I spent most of the time digging into his history and personality. He turned out to be a lot more substantial and mature than I was prepared for! #comedy #therapy #art

How does a juvenile deliquent become highly educated? The hard way! Owner of the tattoo parlor DO OR DIE, Pete Dutro talks about his twisted journey through life so far. Among other things, Pete was finance manager of #OccupyWallSt. I learn that a man with cancer can get laid. A LOT. Pete's healthy now. And that's what counts. https://www.facebook.com/DoOrDieTattoo/ #art #psychotherapy #tattoo Shout-out to Paul D'Agostino, http://centotto.com/ (ep.1633), artist, curator, potential brain surgeon for setting this up and the call-in prompting a beautiful story about Peter and his 10-yr old daughter.

I introduce two lovely, single, young people, Erose and James to each other. They are both musicians, so I start off their date with them listening to each other's music. BOTH VERY TALENTED. We talk awkwardness (not really) attachment types, she's secure, he's ambivalent, and then we evaluate their Tinder profiles. Also, by digging in, we find that James may have some past that needs cleanup. Is this a match? Music HERE: https://soundcloud.com/eroseaziza http://www.jamesdelano.com/ #audioboom #music #art #blinddate

Two women from Bushwick take their verteran artist organizing skills and put them to use to take women on a trip to the Womens March in Washington on Saturday, Jan 21. What's it like getting on a bus at 4am? Where did you go to the bathroom. We discuss details like that and much more important issues. Like the effect the Trump election has on men. And the feeling of joy in being part of a united front brings to these women is infectious!

DR. LISA’S LEVY, S.P. (Self-Proclaimed) REPORT: Nathan Leigh Nathan was a bright, open, confident and appealing young man. His music career is genuinely happening – he is making a living from commissions of his work. He’s had a few struggles including severe man-handling by the NYPD and somewhat recent broken relationship which can be traced back to his mother to some degree. Nathan genuinely seems to be able to help himself through his creativity. I was amazed at how connected his music that he played in the studio echoed his experiences COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: (How I felt about this interview.) Nathan had his publicist set this whole thing up so I didn’t get much sense of him until we met. He was much more open than I expected since I started out suspicious due to the whole hiding behind his publicist scenario that I had imagined in my neurotic head, MORE INFO ABOUT NATHAN LEIGH: Excerpt from a note from Nathan’s publicist: Hope you are doing well! I wanted to reach out about indie-folk/folk-punk singer

DR. LISA’S LEVY, S.P. (Self-Proclaimed) REPORT: Artist Jim Torok After seeing Jim’s new work at his show opening I knew I had to have him on because his big read painting was about his anxiety. GREAT SHOW btw, at Pierogi 155 Suffolk St. – check it out: http://www.pierogi2000.com/2016/12/jim-torok-at-pierogi-3/ Up till Feb. 12, 2017! After I tell Jim that he can’t read his 10-page self-report on the air, we settle in to uncovering why and how he can seriously pursue two distinct styles of art making. Jim grew up in South Bend, Indiana in a very normal environment and turns out he was a disrupter (euphemism). His dad was an artist but worked a normal job so Jim and his family could eat. But Jim threw that all away by becoming a serious artist. Jim made art so he didn’t get beat up by the other kids, trading drawings for protection. COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: (How I felt about this interview.) I knew I would feel comfortable with Jim because he’s relaxed in that neurotic way that I identify with. The one thing I w

DR. LISA’S LEVY, S.P. (Self-Proclaimed) REPORT: Took is amazing—she is so creative and unafraid, plus smart. I learned a bit about where Took get’s her staunch freedom and activism from; her mother was overbearing, it seems as if she may have had some trauma herself. Took was extremely rebellious in adolescence, yet currently enjoys a good relationship with both parents who remain married. It was fascinating to hear Took’s stories of participation in the Occupy Wall Street Movement (she lived there in a tent) and subsequent stays on communes. Currently Took has her own RFB show, https://audioboom.com/channel/what-would-save-the-world and performs and creates regularly. As Took knows, I am very impressed with her talents and her achievements. She is a roaring fountain of ideas and I would recommend she work towards harnessing her energy at some point (she’s only 24!) in more specific ways so she can achieve everything she wants. COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: (How I felt about this interview.) As I told Took, I wa

Artist Thedra Cullar-Ledford is super out-there and fabulous as is her work, but I'll bet she wasn't prepared to elaborate on her sex life in front of her 15-year old son, Sage. Check out Thedra's work: http://www.independenceartstudios.com/thedra/ which is explicit and you'll get a taste of why this mother/son relationship is not like the ones you see on TV. #art #breasts #mother #son #psychology #ContemporaryMuseumofArtHouston

Eric Doeringer comes by for a session before his opening. He's already gotten the thumbs up in person from art critics Jerry Saltz NY Mag) and Roberta Smith (NY Times) so I'm not feeling too much pressure to keep Eric from nerves which he keeps in check no matter what. Eric explains his work which has multiple and amusing layers while fielding my questions about what he was going to wear tonight and confirming that he had recently gotten his hair cut. I asked Eric to send me his version of the part of the session centering on his work-thanks Eric! "Return guest Eric Doeringer and I discuss his exhibition “Matson Jones & Co.” at Mulherin New York, which features Eric’s recreations of artworks by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Often described as “close friends” or “neighbors”, Johns and Rauschenberg were also lovers from 1954 to 1961- a relationship they kept secret at the time. This was a pivotal period for both: the era when Rauschenberg made his first Combines and Johns painted his first American fl

Have you heard Emily's music? It's wonderful!! https://soundcloud.com/emilyfrembgen I developed an earworm of the good kind after hearing her new song, Butterfly, live on the show. It touches stuff. I really enjoyed having her on. You will wind up playing it over and over like I did. She plays other great songs after we therapize for a bit-so listen through. My take is that Emily is a very self-contained no bullshit lady. I think that comes from being brought up by her single mom, who also very independent. She has made her own way truly on her own a lot and has come out with some excellent music as a result. From New York, LA, Denver, 9/11 (as a teen!) I get Emily tell me her journey. Stories of acting and singing since childhood. Home schooling. I got the feeling she doesn't look to spill unless she's asked. I also mangle her name a buncha times-it's hard-not enough vowels! #EmilyFrembgen #music #comedy #singersongwriter #art #psychotherapy

Editors NOTE: Leslie had a CRAZY childhood! It involves alcohol, speaking in tongues and a family illness. All of which Leslie has triumphed. Although we sum it up nicely in this session, for more detail, please listen to our previous therapy session from a BAM project here: http://www.bam.org/visualart/2014/what-makes-you-so-special As Leslie says: "This was such a fun interview to do and it was an honor to be the guest on Lisa Levy's Radio Free Brooklyn show, "Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh*t!" We talk music, Hairspray, piano karaoke, comedy, booze, church, and bad therapists." We also discuss all the creative roads Leslie has to go down and what an embarrassment of riches can be like. Leslie Goshko (Huffington Post Comedy) is the host and creator of the monthly storytelling series, Sideshow Goshko, which has been hailed as a Time Out New York and New York Times “Critics’ Pick”, and also noted as “a well-programmed night” by the New York Times.Sideshow Goshkohas been featured on TruTV’sImpractical Jokers, NPR’sSnap Ju

Lindsay Smilow is getting a masters degree in art history in comedy and she comes in to interview me as a subject for her thesis. In this case, she is more interested in my visual art work, what I think is funny, and who my favorite comedians are. We agree on 2 of my previous "patients", Jo Firestone and Julio Torres. Lindsay gets me to talk about how I got started making art and what I was trying to communicate without sounding art-bull-shitty. Ironically enough, I originally met Lindsay when I was giving out awards on the street and I gave her one for "Carrying the conversation," which she did beautifully here. Lindsay Smilow is an artist, educator, arts administrator and project manager. She has spent the majority of her career managing education programs at New York City institutions, namely, The Queens Museum and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. http://www.micacuratorial.org/lindsay-smilow.html #art #comedy #psychotherapy

http://markdeanveca.com/home.html Mark Dean Veca is an incredible artist who combines pop art, comics and magic to make work that is exhibited world wide. Mark and I became good friends in the late 90's when we were part of the Artists in the Marketplace at the Bronx Museum along with a bunch of other great artists. Here's a review of our exhibition in the New York TImes. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/01/arts/a-flock-of-fledglings-testing-their-wings.html Mark is unusual in that he has created and maintained a lovely and nourishing family life with his wife and son. We unearth some of the mystery behind how an artist achieves such a stable and lovely home life. Hint: Marry and awesome person-Lauren!

I had a great session with one of our Radio Free Brooklyn hosts, Thomas Bekhazi—and afterwards he asked me not to post it here because he wants to keep what he said PRIVATE of all things. So if you missed it on the air, you missed it. I don't like doing this and haven't been asked to do this before believe it or not, but he's a RFB bro so I respect. The recording that you hear is simply David Letterman saying, "Is there a doctor in the house?" In order to make up for this I will post an old video of me with my hamster-bowling-on David Letterman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0mqrJNsWio #TrippinBeats

Auggie Lutz is from a normal family, churchgoers, his dad was a cop, etc. and we try to square how a guy like Auggie winds up as a comedian in Bushwick. Also he has an awesome girlfriend—are they ready to live together? Also—Auggie freaks me out because his impression of me is as being drunk in Pine Box!?

I got all jealous listening to young Christine rattle off her accomplishments (ok with my urging) and her idyllic icing-on-the-cake marriage. When you hear her talk about her mother from El Salvatore and Christine's upbringing—our perspective changes. We also get deep about her challenges as such a realized young women to have friends her age who are age-appropriately still finding themselves and don't always share the same experiences.