by Michael Shapiro | Mar 3, 2012 | Blog, Books, Stories
Ballistics evidence suggests the bullets that killed NFL-player-turned-soldier Pat Tillman were fired from just 10 yards away. We know it was friendly fire — his mother believes it may not have been an accident. Here’s a review I wrote for the SF Chronicle...
by Michael Shapiro | Feb 28, 2012 | Blog, Stories
Sometimes dream assignments get even dreamier. After asking “if I’d be willing” to go to Peru and take a cruise down the Amazon, my editor said something like: As long as you’ll be in Lima, try a few top restaurants and we’ll run a...
by Michael Shapiro | Feb 27, 2012 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
I recently interviewed a founding member of the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo who told me the band started as a dream – see excerpt below. The band plays March 2 at Napa’s Uptown Theater – here’s the excerpt: Mambazo’s...
by Michael Shapiro | Feb 27, 2012 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
Leo Kottke is a quirky and genuine as you’d guess from his music – here’s an excerpt from our interview which ends with him talking about music being a type of home for him: Renowned acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke says the guitar didn’t just...
by Michael Shapiro | Aug 22, 2011 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
I spoke with the genius behind the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, in August 2011. The man who penned hits such as “California Girls” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” has suffered terribly from mental illness but is back on the road and performing...
by Michael Shapiro | Mar 3, 2011 | Blog, Stories
The football star–turned–soldier became the Pentagon’s poster boy, and when he was shot dead by U.S. Army Rangers, the military said he was killed by enemy fire. The deception, it turns out, was not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern of keeping the...
