''West Coast Live'' is a weekly two-hour radio variety show hosted by Sedge Thomson. The unscripted program features interviews with world-renowned authors and cultural figures along with performances by musicians, comedians and other entertainers. It is broadcast live-to-satellite each Saturday morning in front of a theater audience from one of several San Francisco Bay area venues. The show is carried on NPR stations from coast-to-coast, and in Paris, France until 2018. Occasionally, the show will travel to various theaters, music festivals and film festivals throughout the northwest. The Biospherical Digital-Optical Aquaphone is the trademarked signature of Sedge Thomson.
Past guests
Writers include: Diane Ackerman, Maya Angelou, Julian Barnes, T.C. Boyle, Ray Bradbury, A.S. Byatt, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Julia Child, Billy Collins, Junot Diaz, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jonathan Safran Foer, William Gibson, Allen Ginsberg, Daniel Handler, Robert Hass, John Irving, Jamaica Kincaid, Anne Lamott, Gregory Maguire, Greil Marcus, Armistead Maupin, Michael McClure, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Susan Orlean, P.J. O'Rourke, Raj Patel, Michael Pollan, Tom Robbins, Salman Rushdie, David Sedaris, Eric Schlosser, Zadie Smith, Gary Snyder, Calvin Trillin, Chris Van Allsburg, Tobias Wolff, Alice Walker, Alice Waters, Irvine Welsh, Edmund White, Jacqueline Winspear, Jeanette Winterson, Naomi Wolf, Tobias Wolff, Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Musicians include: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Greensky Bluegrass, Tim Bluhm, Billy Bragg, The Neville Brothers, Greg Brown (folk musician), Greg Brown, Sam Bush, David Byrne, Bruce Cockburn, Judy Collins, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Tommy Emmanuel, Michael Franti, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, David Grisman, Arlo Guthrie, Ben Harper, Richie Havens, Sean Hayes (musician), Sean Hayes, Dan Hicks (singer), Dan Hicks, Jolie Holland, Zakir Hussain (musician), Zakir Hussain, The String Cheese Incident, Leo Kottke, Taj Mahal (musician), Taj Mahal, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ray Manzarek, Country Joe McDonald, Tuck & Patti, U. Utah Phillips, Kronos Quartet, Jonathan Richman, Peter Rowan, Blame Sally, Pharoah Sanders, Merl Saunders, John Sebastian, Chris Smither, Allen Toussaint, Charlie Hunter Trio, Trance Mission, Hot Tuna, McCoy Tyner, The Devil Makes Three (band), The Devil Makes Three, Vetiver, Loudon Wainwright III.
Actors include: Carrie Fisher, Peter Gallagher, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Larry Hankin, Bill Irwin, Eddie Izzard, Terry Jones, Rita Moreno, Adam Savage & Jamie Hyneman, Richard Lewis (comedian), Richard Lewis, Robin Williams, Debra Winger,
Geoff Bolt, Michael O'Brien
Others include: Andre Agassi, Jerry Brown, Roger Ebert, Wavy Gravy, Spalding Gray, Guerrilla Girls, Garrison Keillor, Craig Newmark, Peter Sellars, Steve Wozniak.
2015
Nick Papadopoulous, CropMobster - December 19, 2015Steve Silberman, ''NeuroTribes'' - October 3, 2015
2014
A. Scott Berg, ''Wilson'' - September 27, 2014Eric Schlosser, ''Command and Control'' - September 27, 2014Charles Saumarez Smith, Royal Academy of Arts - February 1, 2014
2013
Dave Barry, ''Insane City'' - February 9, 2013Mo Willems - February 9, 2013
2012
Claire Peaslee - December 22, 2012Anne Lamott, ''Help Thanks Wow'' - December 15, 2012 Raymond Offenheiser, Oxfam America - July 21, 2012Raj Patel, ''Stuffed and Starved'' - July 21, 2012Alice Waters, Owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant - July 21, 2012Raj Patel, Raymond Offenheiser & Alice Waters - July 21, 2012Howard Rheingold, ''Netsmart: How to Thrive Online'' - June 16, 2012Dhaya Lakshminarayanan - June 16, 2012Juliet Bell (aka Sylvia Brownrigg), ''Keplers Dream'' - May 12, 2012Edmund White, ''Jack Holmes and His Friend'' - February 4, 2012Barbara Babcock, ''Woman Lawyer'' - February 4, 2012Maira Kalman, ''Why We Broke Up'' - February 4, 2012Ellis Avery, ''The Last Nude'' - January 14, 2012Nicholas de Monchaux, ''Fashioning Apollo'' - January 14, 2012Julia Flynn Siler, ''Lost Kingdom'' - January 7, 2012
2011
Thomas Steinbeck, ''The Silver Lotus'' - December 10, 2011Mark Bowden, ''Worm: The First Digital World War'' - October 22, 2011Courtney E Smith, ''Record Collecting for Girls'' - September 10, 2011Rita Moreno, ''Life WIthout Makeup'' - September 10, 2011Adam Hochschild, ''To End All Wars'' - April 30, 2011Eric Greitens, ''The Heart and The Fist'' - April 30, 2011Daniel Clowes - April 23, 2011Donovan Hohn, ''Moby Duck'' & Susan Freinkel, ''Plastic'' - April 23, 2011Jacques dAmboise, ''I Was a Dancer ''- April 9, 2011Joyce Carol Oates, ''A Widows Story'' - April 2, 2011
2010
Judy Chicago, ''Frida Kahlo: Face to Face'' - December 11, 2010Coleman Barks, ''Rumi the Big Red Book'' - December 11, 2010Armistead Maupin, Mary Ann in Autumn - December 11, 2010Daniel Handler AKA Lemony Snicket, ''13 Words'' - November 13, 2010Terry McMillan, ''Getting to Happy'' - November 13, 2010Alice Walker, ''Hard Times Require Furious Dancing''- October 30, 2010Alexander McCall Smith, ''The Lost Art of Gratitude'' - October 23, 2010Julia Butterfly Hill, ''The Legacy of Luna'' - April 17, 2010Zachary Mason, ''The Lost Books of Odysseus'' - March 6, 2010TC Boyle, ''Wild Child'' - February 20, 2010
2009
Andre Agassi, ''Open: An Autobiography'' - November 21, 2009Jonathan Safran Foer, ''Eating Animals'' - November 7, 2009John Irving, ''Last Night in Twisted River'' - November 7, 2009Ben Fong Torres - August 8, 2009Ruth Reichl, ''Not Becoming my Mother'' - May 9, 2009Geoffrey Masson - May 2, 2009Jane E Smith - May 2, 2009Jane Vandenburgh - April 25, 2009Lynn Freed - April 25, 2009Alva Noe - April 11, 2009Brenda Webster - April 11, 2009RuthReichl_2009_05_09Alan Boss - March 14, 2009Zoe Heller, ''The Believers'' - March 7, 2009Barry Jenkins, ''Medicine for Melancholy'' - March 7, 2009Joe Gores, ''Spade and Archer'' - February 28, 2009Jacqueline Winspear, ''Among the Mad'' - February 28 2009
Stacey DErasmo, ''The Sky Below'' - January 17, 2009Robert Roper, ''Now'' the Drum of War - January 17, 2009Wes Nisker - January 10, 2009
2008
Spain Rodriguez, ''CHE, A Graphic Biography ''- December 13, 2008Maxine Hong Kingston - November 29, 2008Toni Morrison, ''A Mercy'' - November 22, 2008Eoin Colfer, ''The Worst Boy in the World'' - May 24, 2008Sylvia Brownrigg
''Morality Tale'' - May 10, 2008Rabih Alameddine, ''Hakawati'' - May 10, 2008Robert Bly and Eavan Boland - May 3, 2008Elizabeth McKenzie, ''McGregor Tells the World'' - May 3, 2008Richard Price, ''Lush Life'' - March 29, 2008Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan, ''Wake of the Perdido Star'' - February 16, 2008James McBride, ''Song Yet Sung ''- February 9, 2008Roy Blount Jr, ''Long Time Leaving'' - February 2, 2008Calvin Trillin - February 2, 2008Ricki Lake & Abby Epstein, ''The Business of Being Born'' - January 19, 2008Michael Pollan, ''In Defense of Food'' - January 19, 2008
2007
Robert Hass, ''Time and Materials'' - December 8, 2007Alice Waters, ''The Art of Simple Food'' - November 24, 2007Bill Pullman - September 8, 2007Michael Chabon - June 16, 2007Josh Waitzkin, ''Searching for Bobby Fisher'' - June 16, 2007Mal Sharpe - May 26, 2007Helen Simpson, ''In the Drivers Seat ''- May 26, 2007Julia Whitty - May 26, 2007Bill Bryson - May 12, 2007
2006
Craig Newmark - November 4, 2006Mark Childress, ''One Mississippi ''- August 19, 2006Carolyn Cooke - August 12, 2006Sylvia Brownrigg, ''The Delivery Room'' - July 8, 2006Ben Fong Torres, ''Almost Famous'' - June 10, 2006Gary Shteyngart, ''Absurdistan'' - May 13, 2006John Baxter, ''Well Always Have Paris'' - April 1, 2006Julian Barnes, ''Arthur and George ''- February 11, 2006Mary Roach, ''Spook''- February 4, 2006Ayelet Waldman, ''Love and Other Impossible Pursuits'' - February 4, 2006Allan Zweibel, ''The Other Shulman'' - February 4, 2006Matthew and Terces Anglehart, ''The Abounding River'' - January 28, 2006
2005
Doris Kearns Goodwin, ''Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln'' - December 3, 2005Michael Recchiuti and Fran Gage - November 26, 2005Will Durst - October 22, 2005Howard Junker, ''Zyzzyva'' - October 15, 2005Gus Lee, ''China Boy'' - October 15, 2005Terry McMillan, ''The Interruption of Everything'' - August 20, 2005Melissa Bank, ''The Wonder Spot'' - June 11, 2005David Sedaris, ''Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim'' - June 11, 2005Robert Bly - May 14, 2005Marc Ian Barasch, ''Field Notes on the Compassionate Life ''- May 7, 2005SARK, ''Sarks New Creative Companion: Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit'' - May 7, 2005Les Barker - February 19, 2005Irvin Yalom - February 19, 2005
2004
Nigella Lawson, ''Feast: Food to Celebrate'' - November 20, 2004Maya Angelou - October 16, 2004Guy Johnson- October 16, 2004Carl and Karl- October 2, 2004Annie Somerville, Greens Restaurant Chef - August 28, 2004David Sedaris - June 19, 2004Isabel Allende, Adventure Stories, ''My Invented Country: A Memoir ''- May 15, 2004Lang Lang, pianist and raconteur - Nov. 13, 2004
2003
Amy Tan - December 13, 2003Kathy Kamen Goldmark - August 9, 2003Sarah Jones - May 17, 2003Paul Disco - May 3, 2003Norman Fisher - May 3, 2003Noah Levine - May 3, 2003Paul Collins - April 12, 2003Po Bronson - February 8, 2003William Gibson - February 8, 2003Sarah Jones - February 1, 2003AS Byatt - January 25, 2003
2002
Salman Rushdie - September 28, 2002Alan Bennett- August 8, 2002Margaret Cho - July 13, 2002Anne Packer - July 13, 2002Eric Schlosser - January 26, 2002Steve Wozniak - January 26, 2002Lily Tomlin - January 12, 2002Rebecca Walker - January 12, 2002
2001
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - October 13, 2001Dave Eggers & Zadie Smith - July 21, 2001Doris Haddock "Granny D" - May 5, 2001
2000
David Sedaris - June 17, 2000Eddie Izzard - June 10, 2000
1999
Spalding Gray - January 2, 1999
1998
Joe Quirk - March 28, 1998
1997
Alice Walker - May 10, 1997Francesco Rosi - May 3, 1997Marilyn Yalom - March 1, 1997Oliver Sacks - February 22, 1997Dean Koontz - February 22, 1997Robert Girardi - February 8, 1997Diane Johnson - February 8, 1997Diane Ackerman - February 8, 1997Rigo97 - February 8, 1997
1996
Gary Snyder - December 14, 1996Julia Child - November 16, 1996Hettie Jones - October 10, 1996Dennis Hopper - October 5, 1996Ruth Weiss - October 12, 1996Charles Schultz - September 7, 1996Jennifer Egan - May 9, 1996Gus Lee - March 30, 1996Jamaica Kincaid - February 10, 1996Anne Lamott - January 6, 1996
1995
Tobias Wolff - November 11, 1995Gregory Maguire - October 14, 1995David Byrne - October 7, 1995John Berendt - September 23, 1995Anne Lamott - June 3, 1995Ray Bradbury & Robert Watson - June 3, 1995Paulo Coelho - May 27, 1995Thomas Keneally - May 6, 1995Oliver Sacks - March 4, 1995Helen Palmer - January 21, 1995
1994
Sylvia Earl - December 12, 1994Anne Lamott - December 12, 1994Karl and Carl - December 12, 1994Meredith Tromble - December 12, 1994Ian Frazier - December 3, 1994Lucy Grealy - December 3, 1994Howard Rheingold - December 10, 1994Josh Kornbluth - October 15, 1994Naa Kahidi - October 15, 1994Terry Jones - October 22, 1994George Takei, ''To the Stars'' - September 24, 1994Allen Ginsberg - September 17, 1994Michael McClure - August 6, 1994James Houston - July 9, 1994Bill Barich - July 2, 1994Whitfield Diffie - July 2, 1994Paul Theroux - March 19, 1994
1991
Sedge Thomson, Total Solar Eclipse, Baja California - July 11, 1991
Venues
* The Freight and Salvage
* Yoshi's (jazz club)
* San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
* San Francisco Ferry Building
* 142 Throckmorton Theatre
* The Chapel
* The Empire Plush Room
* Cowell Theater at Fort Mason
* Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel
* Oregon Shakespeare Festival
* High Sierra Music Festival
* Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival
References
External links
''West Coast Live'' official webpagewhere to hear ''West Coast Live''
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American public radio programs
American talk radio programs
1992 radio programme debuts