Have Interviews, Will Profile

I’ve had the good fortune to conduct scads of insightful, thought-provoking interviews, some of which have changed my core beliefs. I’ve written articles based on many of these interviews, but there’s so much more I’d like to share about these stimulating conversations. If you’re a publisher who wants a profile of any of the following people, I’d be delighted to write it for you!

[This page is in progress. Pardon the incompleteness.]

Architects

Note: When it comes to the first three architects in this category, I’ve given speeches about them, I’ve written good chunks of an unpublished book about them, and I included small pieces of our conversations in my initial column for Builder/Architect.

Malcolm Wells
This Cape Cod–based pioneer of underground architecture feels that I know more about him than any other researcher. What a pleasure it was to interview him for days on end and to have corresponded with him for years about scads of topics.

Eugene Tsui
I’ve spent days interviewing this Northern California–based architect, who finds most buildings expressionless and colorless, the uniform blandness leading to spiritual suffocation. Believing that architecture should have a buoyant vitality, he uses rich colors and bold, swooping forms based on natural shapes. I interviewed Tsui as part of a forthcoming documentary by Laurent LeGall. I’ve written an East Bay Monthly piece about Tsui’s desire to build the world’s largest structure in downtown Oakland. But I have so much more to say about this fascinating man.

Dan Liebermann
I filled eighteen sides of audiotape in conversation with this Berkeley architect. After thirteen sides or so, he said, “I haven’t told you my philosophies yet!” He’s quite a talker, and that’s because there’s so much going on in his head. Long before conservationist ideas became mainstream, Liebermann developed strong beliefs about responsibly restrained living. Inspired by Native American and Shaker structures, his response involves circular houses with dramatically soaring central columns that support parasol-shaped roofs. I profiled him on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Home & Garden” section, along with a sidebar about a colony Liebermann has built. And I’ve written several forthcoming Builder/Architect columns about him.

David Trachtenberg
I’ve conducted a few short interviews with this Berkeley architect about his adaptive reuse projects, including Rose Street Townhouses, which blow me away every time I see them. I’ve written about them in my December 2006 Builder/Architect column, and have discussed more of Trachtenberg’s work in my January 2007 column on warehouse conversion. But I remain intrigued, as many of my favorite buildings have the Trachtenberg stamp on them, including Berkeley Bowl, Grasshopper in Oakland, Saul’s in Berkeley. How does he do it again and again? I’d love to find the answer and write about it.

Bart Jones
I’ve written several forthcoming Builder/Architect columns about this affable architect in Kensington, California, who brings charm and ingenuity to spaces, particularly those on strangely shaped lots. Some have called his work cubist-modernist. I see strong Wrightian influences, particularly in the way he makes his houses disappear into the landscape.

Kava Massih
I’ve written two Builder/Architect columns about this prolific architect with offices in San Francisco, Berkeley, and New York. I’m particularly taken with his adaptive reuse but would like to interview him further about how he conceives of places such as Pyramid Brewery, T-Rex, and Elephant Pharmacy, to name just a few of his dynamic Berkeley sites.

Hiroshi Morimoto
I love the Japanese influences in the work of this Berkeley architect. I have written about one of his projects (the new Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley), and I would jump at the chance to interview him in depth.

Nader Khalili
I have never interviewed this Iranian-born architect based in Hesperia, California. But I greatly admire the dome-like houses he builds from clay, tree-free structures that can quickly provide durable shelter at little cost. And I very much enjoyed his book Racing Alone: Fire & Earth & a Visionary Architect’s Passionate Quest. He is the epitome of what I look for when I think of profiling someone, as he has it all: deep commitment and clarity about his purpose, a radical and unique vision, a long-term struggle to realize this vision, and the intent to use his dream to help others.

Artists and Entertainers

Jon Nakamatsu
In a San Francisco Chronicle piece about the Pro Art Symphony Orchestra, I wrote a small amount about this ultratalented, Van Cliburn Award–winning pianist who has performed at the White House. But I’ve never had the chance to write about the salient aspects of our most-interesting conversation.

Tom Snyders
He’s known as the bicycling comedian, because he decided in 1987 that he would forevermore bicycle to all his stand-up comedy appearances. And there have been many: more than two hundred comedy clubs, as well as ten national television appearances (including Good Morning America, LIVE with Regis and Kathie Lee (three times), Comedy Central, and ESPN). That means a lot of miles: more than 137,000 miles in all fifty states, plus several foreign countries. I attended one of his shows in Key West, Florida. He shows slides of funny road signs from the back roads of America. Afterward, I did a phone interview with him. A very committed guy, someone who deserves more exposure.

Clare Goddard
With a background in textiles and sculpture, this British artist makes all her art out of recycled materials, usually teabags! She lectures and teaches workshops throughout England and manages the Compost Gallery in Helsinki, Finland, which promotes art and design incorporating recycled materials. Her art is included in public and private collections in Europe, Japan and the United States. I did a phone interview with her, and she was nice enough to pay for the call from Finland to the United States!

Linda Lemon
In the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote about how this papermaker lets randomness control her artistic process, how her son has affected her art, and her role as the midwife of people’s potential. But I have lots more to say about Lemon’s art and philosophies.

John Phillips
I wrote a small piece about this harpsichord maker for the East Bay Monthly, but there’s so much more to share about his fascinating approach to work and life.

Logan and Noah Miller
These identical twin brothers left minor league baseball and have become committed filmmakers. Winston, their debut effort, is now in progress and was inspired by their lives with an alcoholic father. I interviewed them by phone and would love to write about their ambitious efforts to write, direct, and star in this quintessentially indie film.

Activists

Joe Murphy
He goes by the nickname “Joe Peace,” and he displays astounding resolve as he creates one clay piece after another, each inscribed with peace in a different language. He charges nothing for these pieces, which can serve as pendants and which he creates in an effort to promote world peace. When he displays them at crafts fairs and at rallies or protests, he merely requests a donation in exchange. People chip in enough to help him eke out a living. That is to say, he survives on an enormous leap of faith—and a lot of hard work. I had a great interview with him several years ago, and he worked on the pendants the entire time we spoke, as he didn’t want to fall behind on his daily quota.

Mark Baldridge
Director of the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival in Berkeley, he goes all out to raise environmental awareness in a fun, poetic, and wholly original way. He has worked his tail off to daylight a creek in downtown Berkeley, which would change the character of the area 100 percent for the better. During our interview, his passionate words on the subject made a convert out of me. I regret that I’ve only written a little about him in an article on festival founders.

Richard Register
He’s in the same camp as Baldridge. I’ve never interviewed Register, but I heard him speak at a conference and enjoyed chatting with him afterward. A recent, well-done profile on him in the San Francisco Chronicle made me wish that I’d profiled him myself.

Passionate Entrepreneurs

Mike Hannigan

Priya Haji

Gregoire Jacquet
I’ve never interviewed restaurateur Jacquet, but I adore his cooking and his ingenuity (creating Gregoire’s, a thriving Berkeley eatery out of a hole in the wall!). I’ve known him for years and believe he would give a good interview.

Heidi Hill
I’ve never interviewed Hill, but I have abundant admiration for Holistic Hound, her idealistic and successful natural pet products store. She says she would be happy to interview with me.