WELCOME.

The Avocado Jungle is a source for current events, politics, arts and culture on the web. Editor In Chief David P. Kronmiller, along with a talented staff and guests, bring you news, commentary, analysis, interviews, humor, music, art and more. Our deeper mission is to seek truth in understanding, offering current events, arts and culture as paths to that understanding. We value and promote creative thought, intelligent dialogue, elevated debate, and informed action. If you see something that interests you on the site, please take the time to leave a thoughtful comment. Thanks for visiting.

Jungle Writers

David P. Kronmiller, Editor-In-Chief
Notes from the Jungle
Matthew Tullman, Current Events Editor
On current events.
Joyce Chen Blogging from New York.
Tharuna Devchand Blogging from South Africa.
J Lampinen
Our resident comic strip, Congo & Steve
Joanna Lord
Blogging on life, art and spirituality.
Jeremy Olsen
Director of Development emeritus and occasional commentator.
Dan Rickabus
On things musical.
Nicky Schildkraut
On poetry.

Plus guest writers and past staff, including Zach Fehst, Amy Reynolds, Aaron Vaccaro, Jae Day, Sarah Jawaid, Scott Martin, and Bronson Picket.
July 23, 2010, at 12:07 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | Interviews | Music / / / / / / / / /

An interview with Dana Castaldo of Red Light Go

"Aldo Sings", photograph by Angela Richelle. From the Red Light Go recording session at PRS in Pasadena March 12, 2010.Dana “Aldo” Castaldo, the founder and the musical heart of Los Angeles rock band Red Light Go, talked to our music blogger Dan Rickabus about his music. And don’t miss his recent performance with his wife, Claudia, on Music In Our House!

July 20, 2010, at 5:24 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | audio podcast | Interviews | Music / / / /

An interview with singer-songwriter Adjoa Skinner

Adjoa Skinner, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and Summer 2010 Avocado Jungle Artist In Residence.Some people just radiate energy and life. It seems those who have it might just have been born with it. Our music blogger, Dan Rickabus, had a great interview with one of those people: singer-songwriter (and Avocado Jungle Artist In Residence) Adjoa Skinner.

July 19, 2010, at 5:00 am — Audio | audio interview | Blogs | Interviews / / / / / / / / / / / /

An interview with Roni Segoly of Combatants For Peace

Roni Segoly, of the unique and inspiring Middle East peace group Combatants For Peace, shares his observations and feelings about the media, success, and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

July 14, 2010, at 12:28 pm — Audio | audio interview | Blogs | Interviews / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

An interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary

Bear McCreary, best known for his scores for television’s Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Eureka, shares some thoughts on success—success at a young age, success in a highly competitive field, and success in life.

April 15, 2010, at 6:38 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | Interviews | Music / / / / / / / /

An interview with concert pianist Derek Polischuk: PART 2

I had the pleasure of an interview with concert pianist, educator, and great guy Derek Polischuk. This is the second part of two. Listen to part two of the interview. Or go to part one.

April 10, 2010, at 9:00 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | Interviews | Music / / / / / / / /

An interview with concert pianist Derek Polischuk: PART 1

Teaching at Michigan State University’s College of Music in East Lansing is an incredible pianist and teacher with a sharp mind and an infectiously positive outlook, Derek Polischuk. I had the pleasure of an interview with him. This is part 1 of 2. Listen to the interview.

March 12, 2010, at 6:35 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | Interviews | Music / / / / / / / /

An interview with Dan Rickabus

I recently had the pleasure of an interview with our new music blogger, Dan Rickabus. This young man from Michigan has a happy perspective on life, a strong yet smokey rock’n'roll voice and a weird way of making ukelele work in his catchy alt-rock songs. Podcast only.

October 14, 2009, at 11:21 pm — Blogs | Interviews | video interview | Videos / / / /

BREAKING BREAD OVER RELIGION

We’re pleased to announce the premiere of our new series/segment “Breaking Bread” where I sit down over a meal with a guest and discuss a topic about which we don’t fundamentally see eye to eye and hope that by the end of the meal we’ll find some common ground. And to kick things off we tackled that unifying of all topics – Religion.

May 26, 2009, at 12:53 pm — Art | Arts and Culture | Audio | audio interview | Interviews / / /

The art of Joe Vaux

"Flood" by Joe Vaux; 12" x 16"; acrylic on wood.Jeremy Olsen of The Avocado Jungle conducts an interview with Joe Vaux, whose acrylics on wood surfaces simultaneously evoke both children’s nightmares and dark metaphors for very grown-up truths.

April 20, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Audio | audio interview | Blogs | Interviews / / / / / /

Finding the Role Model in All of Us: an interview with Brian Center, Executive Director of A Better L.A.

I interview Brian Center, executive director of A Better L.A., a community improvement group whose mission is to transform communities that struggle with violence, and whose approach is to identify the important players and resources, bring them all to the table to talk and plan, and then teach people within a troubled community to make use of these resources for themselves and change their own situations for the better. I recommend listening to this inspiring interview about people accomplishing incredible things simply because they hold the belief that it can be done. If you only have time for highlights, I’ve transcribed some of my favorite excerpts and added a little commentary.