Photo of Eddie Pepitone at the Brooklyn Bell House; submitted photo.
Eddie Pepitone at the Brooklyn Bell House; submitted photo.

THE TOP LEFT CORNER — 2021/09/23

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Top Left Corner

Listen and comment LIVE Thursdays from 9 – 11 a.m. Eastern, on Radio Free Berkshires

Get in touch by e-mail at [email protected]


Become a patron of, and subscribe to, the show on your favorite platform!

Become a Patrom of this show at Patreon.comSubscribe to this show in Apple PodcastsSubscribe to this show in Google PodcastsSubscribe to this show on Spotify

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused weekly live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

— Jay

OUR GUESTS THIS WEEK

Eddie Pepitone

(from his website) “They call him the Bitter Buddha, comedian Eddie Pepitone is a master of the dark art of comedy. Hailed as a modern day cross between Jackie Gleason, Don Rickles and Eckart Tolle.


Eddie Pepitone


September 29, 2021; 8:00 p.m.
HiLo North Adams
55 Union Street, North Adams, Mass.

In addition to Eddie, the show will include featured comedian JT Habersaat
(Comedy Central, Stand Up! Records), a host, a a guest comedian.
Lineup subject to change without notice.

Be sure to listen to our exclusive interview with Eddie on the Top Left Corner,
LIVE every Thursday from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. !


poster for the comedian Eddie Pepitone's 2021 tour, "Pandora's Box."
Eddie Pepitone is scheduled to bring down the house at HiLo North Adams on Wednesday, September 29. Tickets are limited.

“Eddie is a force of nature on stage, switching between social rage and self-doubt. His shows are an energetic combo of calm and chaos, blue-collar angst and sardonic enlightenment. Few comedians working today channel the power of the rant better than Eddie Pepitone.

In addition to his regular stand-up shows, Eddie is stand-out comic/character actor. Beginning in New York City’s improv/sketch scene (where he quickly became a regular face), and continuing on to recurring roles on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Eddie has also appeared on numerous comedy TV shows, including The Life and Times of Tim, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Sarah Silverman Program, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Comic Standing, Chappelle’s Show, appearances on Bob’s Burgers, and he’s a regular on Adult Swim’s Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell. Fans also might recognize Pepitone from his role in the hit comedy Old School or from his multiple award-winning short, Runyon: Just Above Sunset, co-written by his wife Karen Simmons.

Nowadays Eddie can frequently be found on his must-follow Twitter & Instagram, hosting the popular comedy podcast Pep Talks, and writing/appearing in the hit web series: Puddin’.”


Mike Kelly — author of Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town and journalist at the Bergen Record
DeWitt Lacy — civil rights attorney in LA
Walter Richardson — Teaneck , NJ native and producer of podcast

AnnMaire Belair; photo by Jay Velázquez.

Color Lines: From Phillip to Floyd

Listen to the limited-run podcast.

Just for a moment, imagine your community became another Ferguson. Or Minneapolis.

Or Louisville. Or any American community where police killed African Americans under questionable circumstances.

How would you react? How would your city react? How would your government react?

These are the questions that we will explore in Color Lines: From Phillip to Floyd – A Podcast Exploring the American Tragedy of Race, Police Shootings & the Search for Justice.

Subscribe for updates and listen on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Audible, and Podbean.

In 1990, the town of Teaneck, New Jersey – a community renowned as a national model of racial unity and peace – became embroiled in a confrontation over race and dignity and fairness after a white police officer shot and killed a Black teenager. In this interview series with journalist and COLOR LINES book author Mike Kelly, the podcast investigates Teaneck’s history and what the shooting exposed about the racial dilemma that America faced then and continues to face today.


Mike Kelly is a veteran journalist and book author who has told stories from many corners of life — from the sands of Iraq to the streets of Ramallah, Belfast and Havana and desolate tenements, dingy
courtrooms and the countless homes of ordinary people who struggle from day to day to hold on to the American Dream.

His first book, COLOR LINES: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town was called “American journalism at its best” by The Washington Post. His most recent book, The Bus on Jaffa Road, which chronicles the search for justice after a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem, was praised by Bob Simon of 60 Minutes for delving “deep below the rhetoric on the war on terror.” Kelly is an award-winning columnist for The Bergen Record and for the USA Today Network. To learn more, visit www.mikekellywriter.com.


DeWitt Lacy; submitted photo.

DeWitt Lacy is a lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Quis blandit turpis cursus in hac habitasse. Mauris in aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt. Urna id volutpat lacus laoreet. Et tortor at risus viverra adipiscing at in. Fermentum iaculis eu non diam phasellus vestibulum lorem sed. Nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget velit aliquet sagittis. Lacinia quis vel eros donec ac odio tempor. Nec tincidunt praesent semper feugiat nibh sed. Sed elementum tempus egestas sed sed risus. Convallis posuere morbi leo urna molestie. Nisl condimentum id venenatis a condimentum vitae. Vitae elementum curabitur vitae nunc sed velit dignissim. Nullam vehicula ipsum a arcu cursus vitae congue mauris. Ac auctor augue mauris augue neque gravida in fermentum. Dolor purus non enim praesent elementum facilisis leo vel. Tincidunt arcu non sodales neque sodales ut etiam. Posuere ac ut consequat semper. Tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac. Facilisis magna etiam tempor orci eu lobortis.

Tortor id aliquet lectus proin nibh nisl condimentum id venenatis. Cras fermentum odio eu feugiat pretium nibh. Interdum velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat duis ultricies. Magna eget est lorem ipsum dolor sit. Facilisis gravida neque convallis a cras semper. Neque egestas congue quisque egestas. Amet volutpat consequat mauris nunc congue nisi. Tempor commodo ullamcorper a lacus vestibulum sed arcu non. Sagittis purus sit amet volutpat consequat mauris nunc. Eget mi proin sed libero enim sed faucibus turpis. Vulputate odio ut enim blandit volutpat maecenas volutpat. Montes nascetur ridiculus mus mauris vitae ultricies leo.


photo of Walter Richardson; submitted photo.
Walter Richardson; submitted photo.

Walter Richardson is a lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Quis blandit turpis cursus in hac habitasse. Mauris in aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt. Urna id volutpat lacus laoreet. Et tortor at risus viverra adipiscing at in. Fermentum iaculis eu non diam phasellus vestibulum lorem sed. Nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget velit aliquet sagittis. Lacinia quis vel eros donec ac odio tempor. Nec tincidunt praesent semper feugiat nibh sed. Sed elementum tempus egestas sed sed risus. Convallis posuere morbi leo urna molestie. Nisl condimentum id venenatis a condimentum vitae. Vitae elementum curabitur vitae nunc sed velit dignissim. Nullam vehicula ipsum a arcu cursus vitae congue mauris. Ac auctor augue mauris augue neque gravida in fermentum. Dolor purus non enim praesent elementum facilisis leo vel. Tincidunt arcu non sodales neque sodales ut etiam. Posuere ac ut consequat semper. Tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac. Facilisis magna etiam tempor orci eu lobortis.

Tortor id aliquet lectus proin nibh nisl condimentum id venenatis. Cras fermentum odio eu feugiat pretium nibh. Interdum velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat duis ultricies. Magna eget est lorem ipsum dolor sit. Facilisis gravida neque convallis a cras semper. Neque egestas congue quisque egestas. Amet volutpat consequat mauris nunc congue nisi. Tempor commodo ullamcorper a lacus vestibulum sed arcu non. Sagittis purus sit amet volutpat consequat mauris nunc. Eget mi proin sed libero enim sed faucibus turpis. Vulputate odio ut enim blandit volutpat maecenas volutpat. Montes nascetur ridiculus mus mauris vitae ultricies leo.



FOR STARTERS

Stuff we might touch on during our opening banter.

No Starters this week.


LOCAL

Can you turn and point to where Mt. Greylock is, generally? Then we’re talkin’ ’bout you.

No Local News this week.


COMMONWEALTH

From our border with Pownal to the Race Point Lighthouse

No News of the Commonwealth this week.


NATION

Sometimes Canada. Maybe Mexico. Probably Greenland if we can annex it.

No National stories this week.

WORLD

Also the Moon and nearby planets in the Sol System

News of the world? Not hardly.


Homeless Resources

Some resources re: the situation in Massachusetts and our area: 

https://bcrha.com/i-amwill-be-homeless/

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/financial-assistance-during-the-covid-19-crisis

https://www.westernmasshousingfirst.org/need-help/

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/emergency-rental-assistance-program

https://theberkshireedge.com/homeless-in-the-berkshires-one-year-later/

https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/05/17/coronavirus-emergency-order-baker-legislators-measures

Jason Velázquez

Jason Velázquez has worked in print and digital journalism and publishing for two decades.
Phone: (413) 776-5125

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