Interviews
Michael Shapiro has interviewed music legends, film visionaries, and renowned authors. He’s also been interviewed by national TV and radio networks. Following are audio and video clips of his interviews as well as stories from some of his most memorable conversations; many of these appear in full in Shapiro’s book, The Creative Spark.
Michael Shapiro on KNBR with Murph and Mac
Dec. 17, 2019: I was on San Francisco’s KNBR-AM radio with Murph and Mac talking about The Creative Spark. We spoke about SF Giants announcer Mike Krukow who is profiled in the book as well as Smokey Robinson. It was just 5 minutes – the time flew by – fun to be on with Murph and Mac, the high-spirited hosts of the SF Bay Area’s top morning sports talk show.
Michael on KNBR - Murph and Mac
Shapiro's BookTV panel discussion with Isabel Allende, Tim Cahill, Jan Morris and Jeff Greenwald
Shapiro's BookTV panel discussion with Isabel Allende, Tim Cahill, Jan Morris and Jeff GreenwaldMorris spoke about why, in spite of and because of the fact that she is a travel writer, she always returns home to her native Wales. She also spoke about her experience as a reporter covering the first expedition to successfully climb Mt. Everest.
Allende spoke about her experience as a forced traveler and how her life as an emigrant shaped the way she has defined home. Forced to flee the military coup in Chile in which her father was killed, Allende discussed how her memory and concept of home has been centered on people rather than places and objects.
Cahill described his home in Montana and jokingly attributed his continued residence there to the fact that “they don’t have any warrants for my arrest.” He spoke about how the wisdom derived from travel is only gained through reflection afterward.
Greenwald talked about his love for his hometown of Oakland as well as his adoptive home in Katmandu. He spoke about how his travel writing has changed as he began to publish his work on the Internet rather than in print.
Why Time Flies: An inquiry into why time feels like it accelerates as we get older, Saturday Evening Post, Jan-Feb 2025
We all feel it, whether we're 30 or 60 or 90: Time feels like it's speeding up each year. As the Grateful Dead sing in "The Music Never Stopped" ... "Lord the band kept us so busy. We forgot about the time." Yes, time flies when we're...
Climber with colon cancer seeks to summit Half Dome to raise awareness for screening, Press Democrat, Aug. 1, 2024
I met Kirk Keeler in the mid-90s through friends and though we've only seen one another occasionally over the years I've been impressed by his spirit and commitment to his goals. He's a dedicated cyclist (we share that) and a talented...
Lukas Nelson: Don’t ask him about his famous father, Press Democrat, Feb 2024
Most stories about Lukas Nelson start with referencing his popular pop, Willie. So when I interviewed Lukas in advance of his Santa Rosa appearance in early 2024, I made a point to ask a series of questions about his own work, then later...
Old Crow Medicine Show’s catalog goes deeper than ‘Wagon Wheel’ – Press Democrat, July 8, 2022
Most editors don't mind if you write a bit longer than assigned. I was asked to write 900 to 1,000 words about Old Crow Medicine Show for The Press Democrat, so it would have been fine, for example, to submit 1,100 words. Yet my interview...
Fran Lebowitz doesn’t care what you think, Press Democrat, Feb. 10, 2022
As I prepared to interview Fran Lebowitz, my friend and colleague Tim Cahill told me that she'd appeared on the cover of Outside magazine. This surprised me so I did a bit of digging and ended up writing this sidebar to accompany my story...
Press Democrat, Feb. 3, 2022, Actor Peter Coyote explores Zen wisdom and self-criticism in new book
I may not have chosen a lucrative career but there's no one better than Peter Coyote to help me see that there are far more valuable riches than money. Bottom line: I didn't earn much for this story but got to spend nearly three hours...
National Geographic, September 2021: Jane Goodall joins campaign to plant a trillion trees by 2030
In 2021, a colleague asked if I’d like to interview Goodall about her Trees for Jane initiative and I leapt at the chance. The best part of this interview may have been hearing about a tree Jane loved when she was a child. She spoke to me...
Bluesman Robert Cray says ‘goodbye old friend’ to Eric Clapton, Press Democrat, Dec. 3, 2021
After a decade of honing his craft and playing gritty clubs, Robert Cray burst onto the blues scene in the mid-1980s and became a global sensation. None other than B.B. King anointed him as the great blues hope who could carry the torch...
Giant Among Giants: Mike Krukow, Alaska Beyond, August 2019
San Francisco Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow is one of baseball's best announcers, but for years has been battling a debilitating muscle disease. Yet he never complains, and for Giants fans he remains a treasure of knowledge and...
A Farming Renaissance in Puerto Rico, Inspirato magazine, Winter 2019
Last September, a year after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, I was sent to the island to report a story about how some farmers were shifting from export crops to growing food for local people. I met some...
Interview: Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, The Sun, July 2018
Dr. Sylvia Earle has been one of my heroes since I saw the 2014 documentary "Mission Blue" about her tireless work on behalf of the oceans that sustain us. I had the privilege of interviewing her for my Saturday Evening Post story,...
Washington Post: Dylan Thomas’s Wales
I've long felt a kinship with Wales, perhaps because it's where one of my favorite writers, Jan Morris, lives. Recently I had the chance to stay overnight and tour Dylan Thomas's boyhood home in Swansea. Then I visited his other homes in...
Man stricken with ALS finds new voice in singing partner; June 12, 2018
Sometimes a story comes along that breaks your heart before you start interviewing. And then when you get to know the subjects it becomes even more wrenching yet at the same time uplifting. The story of aspiring musician Bernie Dalton,...
Portland: A food tour, Virtuoso, April 2018
There's nothing better than an editor asking you to go to a city you love and find the best places for food, wine, beer and chocolate. I traveled there last year, stopped briefly (for 2 hours, which is fast) at Powell's City of Books,...
SingleThread restaurant shines in Healdsburg, Spring 2018
Last fall I had the pleasure of spending 90 minutes with SingleThread chef and owner Kyle Connaughton at the outstanding Healdsburg restaurant he and his wife Katina Connaughton opened just over a year ago. Three weeks after the...
Oceans on the Edge, Saturday Evening Post, Jan-Feb, 2018
The opportunity to write for the oldest magazine in the USA about a topic I'm passionate about came together in the following story about the state of our oceans. Appallingly we treat as oceans mostly as sources of food, transport and...
Tuscany tastes better, a food tour with Frances Mayes, Inspirato, Summer 2017
I first interviewed Frances Mayes at her home in Tuscany in 2003 for my book of interviews with travel writers, A Sense of Place. It was a pleasure to speak with Mayes again in autumn 2016 for a story about the cuisine of this region of...
Turning junk into the art of the possible, Sierra magazine, August 2017
It's been about 16 years since Patrick Amiot began transforming his street, and eventually much of Sebastopol, into an outdoor art gallery. About a decade ago we became neighbors and we'd hang out on his porch talking about life, art and...
Napa Valley’s most unlikely grape spirit
In Napa's Oxbow Public Market, near the Napa River, we came upon the tasting room for the Napa Valley Distillery. I'd heard good things about their spirits, but what first caught my eye was the table crowded with hundred of little bottles...
Shapiro wins 2016 Explore Canada Award of Excellence for fish story
My story about sustainable seafood in Vancouver won the 2016 Explore Canada Award of Excellence last fall which was gratifying because it was one of those stories I did in hopes of making a difference. Our oceans have been overhunted and...
Tracking elusive pumas in Patagonia, Summer 2016
Typically when traveling overseas I like to stay a while. But when an editor emailed and asked if I'd be willilng to travel to Patagonia to track pumas for a week in the dead of the southern hemisphere's winter, I leapt at the chance even...
Vancouver leads Canada’s sustainable seafood movement, Spring 2016
Though most of humanity doesn't realize it, our survival depends on our oceans. During the past couple of centuries we overfished and polluted oceans to the point where many species are on the verge of collapse. But most of us love wild...
Global Soul: Chilean author Isabel Allende at home in SF Bay Area, 2016
Ever since I read The House of the Spirits in the 1980s I've adored Isabel Allende. She's a natural-born storyteller, warm-hearted and insightful with a wicked sense of fun. I had the opportunity to interview her for my 2004 book of...
Good Call: Las Vegas with Antonio Esfandiari, Inspirato, Winter 2016
In 2012, the World Series of Poker held its most expensive tournament ever: it cost $1 million to buy into it and the top prize was more than $18 million. Antonio Esfandiari, who emigrated from Iran to the U.S. when he was a boy, finished...
Esalen: Retreat on Big Sur Coast, Press Democrat, Jan. 2016
After failing to get through the gates to paradise years ago, I finally made it to Esalen. To see the story on The Press Democrat's site with some pictures, click here. By MICHAEL SHAPIRO I couldn’t wait to get to Esalen on the Big...
Winged Wonders: Great migrations of sandhill cranes, Horizons, March 2014
One of the most remarkable migrations on our planet is the journey of the sandhill cranes. Some fly all the way from Siberia to Texas. And they're remarkable for all sorts of other reasons. This is one of the stories I most enjoyed...
Yosemite with Ansel Adams, Press Democrat (Aug. 2015)
Went to Yosemite in July with my wife to visit a photographer friend who introduced me to Evan Russel, the curator of the Ansel Adams gallery. Our visit with Russel and the gallery became the centerpiece of my story about Yosemite's 125th...
The Art of the Interview, Book Passage, Aug. 2016
Easy Listening: The Interviewer’s Art By Michael Shapiro Introduction: Interviewing is something most writers do, yet doing it well is challenging. A successful interview combines thoughtful questions, rapt attention, and deft...
Paul Theroux’s Cape Cod, Inspirato, Summer 2015
I first interviewed Paul Theroux in 2004 for my book, A Sense of Place, a collection of interviews with the world's leading travel writers. Though some consider him brusque, blunt and -- this irritates him the most -- curmudgeonly, I...
Sweet home Chicago: Blues, baseball and barbecue, Inspirato, Summer 2015
Sometimes, if you've worked with an editor for a while, she approaches you with an assignment. And occasionally she opens the door to your dream story. When my editor at Inspirato suddenly had an opening for a feature and asked me to...
Grateful Dead documentary: North Bay has starring role (May 2015)
Martin Scorsese is the executive producer of a forthcoming doc about the Dead, but it may not be released for a while. To read the story on the Press Democrat's site, click here. BY MICHAEL SHAPIRO FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT If you...
Guess who’s slicing your sturgeon, NYC’s ethnic food, Inspirato, Spring 2015
It's no secret that many of the cooks making New York City's best ethnic food didn't grow up eating smoked salmon or corned beef sandwiches. On the upper east side I found two Chinese brothers selling fantastic sturgeon and the guys...
Patrick Amiot’s magical carousel, Sonoma magazine, July-Aug. 2014
Patrick Amiot's carousel in Sebastopol, Calif., where he built it in during late 2013 and early 2014. He recently dismantled it for shipping to a suburb of Toronto. Photo courtesy of Sonoma magazine.[/caption] I met Patrick Amiot in 2002,...
Islands magazine: Last of the Moken, June 2014
En route to Thailand last year, I saw a short video about the Moken, a Polynesian who traditionally have drifted among the islands and coasts of Thailand and Burma. Inspired to see them, we found a group that arranged visits and provided...
Art collector Jack Leissring: Eyes need to see this stuff
One thing I love about my job is that sometimes I have no idea where my day will lead. In early 2014 an editor emailed me on a chilly morning and that afternoon I was surrounded by the spirit-lifting art-filled warehouse of collector Jack...
Pete Seeger: 3 stories you’ve never heard
By Michael Shapiro Was sad to hear about the death of folk legend Pete Seeger today - here are three stories you won't read in his obits. 1. Decades ago, Warren Hellman, then a NY investment banker (he was head of Lehman Bros.), asked...
Barbara Kingsolver interview, Press Democrat
I love interviewing authors because they have so much to say. I learned that the easy way when I put together my first literary book, "A Sense of Place" -- a collection of conversations with travel writers. Last fall I spoke with a hero...
The Bird Men of Mazatlan: Cliff divers wait for tide to come in, Mariner
In the fall of 2009, Mariner magazine asked if I'd go to Mazatlan to write about the cliff divers there. I'd watched cliff divers in Acapulco during the '70s on ABC's Wide World of Sports but didn't know they were still plunging into the...
Cowboy Junkies keep it fresh
In the early 1990s, Cowboy Junkies lead vocalist Margo Timmins performed just for me. I sat about 30 feet away from her and she sang one of her favorites, "Misguided Angel" to an audience of one. But I'm not sure she even noticed me. I...
Somewhere Beyond Time: Jan Morris’s Wales in National Geographic Traveler
Michael Shapiro first met Jan Morris in 1992 at a travel writing seminar near San Francisco. “When I first met Jan she seemed like a visitor from another time,” Shapiro says. He interviewed Morris in Llanystumdwy for his book A Sense of...
Frank Lloyd Wright’s humble experiment in Scottsdale, Ariz.
After seeing what FLW did with the Guggenheim, I expected his desert home to be outrageous and astonishing. Of course it wasn't - the low-slung building fit perfectly with their desert surroundings. Following is my story on the witty and...
Anne Lamott on her baby having a baby
When my book A Sense of Place came out a few years ago I got compliments about being a good interviewer. But here's the secret: I interviewed people -- the world's leading travel writers -- who had something to say. I had a similarly...
Lily Tomlin rocks the house
These days Lily Tomlin’s character Ernestine, the gossipy telephone operator who used to parody the AT&T monopoly, works for an insurance firm, “denying health care to everybody.” She told me this during a phone interview in March,...
Heavenly voices: How Ladysmith Black Mambazo went from dream to fame
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...
Leo Kottke: How the guitar saved my life
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...
Video: Yellowstone with Tim Cahill
A few years ago a producer asked Tim Cahill and me to record an interview at Yellowstone. Here's the 10-minute pilot that came from that weekend in the snow.
Joan Rivers: Let’s tawk
Can we talk? I must admit I've never been drawn to Joan Rivers as I have to comics like George Carlin or Richard Pryor. But after interviewing, I came to appreciate her fierce honesty and incisive comments. I work with disabled people but...
Interview with Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson
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...
Jane Goodall interview
In 2007 I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Jane Goodall. Excerpts from that interview have appeared O (Oprah's magazine), The Explorer's Journal and Earth Island Journal. Here's the Goodall interview from EIJ, click to read it or see...
David Sedaris’ subversive charm
David Sedaris is not a rock star. He's an author, radio contributor, humorist, playwright, and essayist. Yet when he walks onstage Saturday night , October 30, at the Wells Fargo Center, he'll be greeted with as much effusive enthusiasm...
Lucinda Williams’ latest a blessing for all, Press Democrat
The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa June 17, 2011 Lucinda Williams' music a blessing for all By Michael Shapiro Lucinda Williams has struck a nerve. The title track of her new album “Blessed,” has sparked a movement of people wanting to share...
Get in touch
Please drop me a line. Whether you’re interested in "The Creative Spark" or booking an event, or are a long-lost friend, I’d enjoy hearing from you.