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An interview with Paul Levison, Author - Media Pundit - PhD - Music producer and all around great guy.
I'll be re-posting interviews here from my main site - if you are interested in being interviewed or having your work showcased here and/or on my main site please leave me a note.
I hope you enjoy these interviews as much as I did, below is the link to my site where the interviews can be found along with others:
http://www.fictionwritersgroup.com
Hello and welcome to 10 Quick Questions with Dave, I am your host Dave Tallman the founder of Fictionwritersgroup.com and in this my first Q&A installment to this newest feature on the site I will be chatting with the best man for the job of going first; none other than the guru of all things Media, Mr. Paul Levinson!
Paul’s resume is so long and amazing that it would take half a day just to copy it all down so I’ll just give you the highlights of his career. Look him up on Wikipeda sometime, really jaw dropping stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Levinson
He holds a Phd in Media Ecology (which he will explain in the interview) and is a professor of both Communications and Media Studies at a prestigious New York university, which is only one of the many universities that he has taught at – the list reads like a who’s who of the Ivy League envious. He is an Author who has been published multiple times in both fiction and nonfiction, and has been interviewed on 60 minutes and well just about every TV or Radio Station that needed an expert to give a sound bite about how the Media affects us in our daily lives.
I was honored to have him as my inaugural interview for this site and was, to put it frankly, more than a little intimidated by his reputation, but Paul was a great sport and actually complemented me on my Q&A questions – this from a guy who has been on 60 minutes!
Like I said, he’s a really nice guy, and I hope to follow up with him again later on to see how his latest project is coming.
Okay enough of my jabbering, let’s get to the interview:
Me:
First of all let me just say thank for doing this interview with me, I am reviewing your Bio on Wikipeda as we speak and all I can say is WOW!
You hold a Phd in Media Ecology, are a professor of both Communications and Media Studies over at Fordham University in New York, not to mention a world renowned Novelist whose work has been translated into how many languages now – 12 if this data base is up to date and have also Authored numerous non-fiction books as well as being the go to guy for just about every TV and radio station in the US when the topic of media in the future crops up.
So I guess question one is, do you ever sleep?
Paul:
Sure, and I love to sleep – it’s one of the most enjoyable activities in life. But the key, for a writer or anyone who wants to be productive on his or her own time, is not to let sleep get in the way of your work. So I sometimes stay up, writing, until 6 in the morning. The fact that my day job is being a professor, and I never have any morning classes, definitely helps.
Me:
Even superman took time out in his fortress of solitude, how do you cope with your schedule, that is to say there must be a tremendous amount of stress involved in your daily routine how do you deal with that, how do you unwind?
Paul:
Actually, my creative work – writing mainly, but also podcasting, sometimes making a little music – is the way I unwind. I love teaching, also. Going to a boring meeting, which I used to do a lot, when I was Chair of my Department, was not the greatest, but it didn’t really cause much stress, either. When I’m not writing or teaching, my favorite activities are going out to a fine Japanese or Italian restaurant for dinner with my wife, and kids (who are now adults), going for long walks, and gardening.
Me:
I’m looking at this incredible list of Universities that you have taught at, and if any of my members haven’t gone to check your Bio out yet, now is the time to do so because this list is utterly amazing. You have taught at the best of the best. Did you know from an early age that you would become an educator? And what exactly is Media Ecology?
Paul:
No, I didn’t know I would become a teacher until I walked into a classroom – at St. John’s University in Queens, NY – in the mid-1970s, and taught my first course, “Creative Journalism”. I saw how much I liked it, in my very first class, and knew then I would become a college professor.
Media ecology is the study of how media and communications make a difference in every aspect of our lives. This can range from how the printing press led to the Age of Discovery (because Columbus's son wrote a pamphlet about his father's voyage, which became a bestseller in 1490s Europe) to how the Web is making producers out of consumers, which means everyone. I explain this in much more detail in my books, especially The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution.
Me:
I see here that you were also a songwriter, and a music producer. How has the industry changed, in your opinion?
Paul:
Main difference is that in the 1960s and 1970s getting your records played on radio was essential to success. Nowadays the key is getting your music talked about in blogs, MySpace, all over the Web. My 1972 Twice Upon a Rhyme album was just re-issued, with three bonus tracks, as a mini-album on CD by Big Pink/Beatball Records in Korea – this came about because they saw people talking about my music on rateyourmusic.com and other sites.
Me:
Now we start getting into the meat of things, being the media guru that you are, do you see a tie in between the recent increases in adolescent violence and the media?
Paul:
Not really. Media can give people specific ideas about violence – like cyberbullying – but the sad truth is that bullying and human violence predates all known media. A grave site was discovered in the Midwest a few decades ago. It carbon-dated from about 1400 AD – before Columbus. The bodies had been horribly mutilated – the victims had been massacred. The impulse to violence unfortunately comes from troubled human psyches.
Me:
Do you think things like MTV and the prevalence of Videogames has had an affect on the youth of America, more so than say the programming of the 60’s and 70’s?
Paul:
Absolutely not. I had a debate with Jack Thompson, an anti-video game crusader, on CNBC a few years. I tried to explain to him the difference between correlation (kids who engage in violence play violent video games) and causation (kids who engage in violence do this because they play video games). There’s no evidence whatsoever that playing video games engenders violence in the real world. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of kids who play violent video games have peaceful lives.
Me:
Ok back to writing, when you write, where do you find your inspirations?
Paul:
From living. My mind is like Velcro when it comes to what I think, see, feel, experience – not that everything sticks, but some things do. It could be someone I pass on the street, the food I see in a restaurant, a car on the highway, and of course conversations with everyone. Some of the things not only stick, but ring a bell. It could be for just a phrase in a novel or nonfiction book, or an entire book. I got the idea for The Plot to Save Socrates way back in the 1960s, when I was sitting in a Philosophy class at the City College of New York, and I couldn’t believe that Socrates would have taken the poisonous hemlock, when his friend Crito had given him a chance to escape. I got the idea for Cellphone: The Story of the World’s Most Mobile Medium one of the myriad times that I called my wife on my cell phone.
Me:
What can you tell us about Phil D’Amato, where did he come from?
Paul:
When my then 12-year old daughter was reading a draft of The Silk Code, in which Phil D’Amato first appeared in a novel, she said, “Daddy, Phil’s just like you!” And she was right – Phil thinks and sees the world the way I do, or would, if I were a forensic detective. I got the name from two places: I have a friend, someone I’ve known for years, who retired as a lieutenant with the NYPD a few years ago. His first name is Phil. The second name came from Al D’Amato, who was Senator from New York. I figured by using the name D’Amato, every time the media mentioned Al, that would give my character free publicity. But Al lost the next election. I do also like the fact the Phil D’Amato means love (Greek) love (Latin).
Me:
In your latest release The Plot to Save Socrates you delve into the fascinating possibility of Time Travel, how far away do think that is in reality? And how big of a role did research play in your creative process for this story?
Paul:
One of the reasons I find time travel so much fun to write about is that I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. If I travel to the past, and do something, accidentally or whatever, that prevents my grandparents from meeting, how did I travel to the past in the first place? You can hypothesize that every time I travel to the past, every nano-second I’m there, I cause a new universe to come into being, different from the universe or timeline in which I first traveled back. But this alternate universe hypothesis is even more bizarre than time travel. And travel to the future gets in the way of our free will: if I travel a week into the future, and see you are wearing a blue shirt, does that mean you have no choice but to wear it? I wrote a blog post about this, “The Enjoyable Trouble with Time Travel,” on my InfiniteRegress.tv blog.
I did more research for The Plot to Save Socrates than any of my other novels. I wanted to get the Greek history – that we know, at least – exactly right. A 1954 Encyclopedia Britannica, a visit to the British Museum in London, the Walsh Library at Fordham University, and, of course, the Web, were some of my many sources.
Me:
Finally, what is next for Paul Levinson? What is there that you would love to do but haven’t had the chance to do yet?
Paul:
I’m currently putting the finishing touches on New New Media, my next nonfiction book, which will be published by Allyn & Bacon later this year. I’m writing the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates – Unburning Alexandria. I just wrote a script and treatment for a new science fiction television series, the Genesis Virus, with Chuck Sterin and Tina Vozick – I’d love to see a pilot and eventual series made from that. I have a great interest in seeing the First Amendment respected, and making sure the FCC does not strangle broadcasters with unconstitutional fines and regulations – if Barack Obama wanted to appoint me to the FCC, I’d seriously consider that.
Links to just a few of Paul’s many exciting projects:
The Plot to Save Socrates
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0765311976/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
The Silk Code
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0812567757/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
The Soft Edge
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0415197724/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium
http://www. amazon. com/dp/1403960410/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress blog
http://InfiniteRegress. tv
Paul Levinson's podcasts
http://paulpodcastjuke. blogspot. com/
Paul Levinson's music
http://paullevinson. blogspot. com/2007/11/little-taste-of-my-music. html
Paul Levinson's YouTube videos
http://www. youtube. com/user/PLev20062006
I hope you enjoy these interviews as much as I did, below is the link to my site where the interviews can be found along with others:
http://www.fictionwritersgroup.com
Hello and welcome to 10 Quick Questions with Dave, I am your host Dave Tallman the founder of Fictionwritersgroup.com and in this my first Q&A installment to this newest feature on the site I will be chatting with the best man for the job of going first; none other than the guru of all things Media, Mr. Paul Levinson!
Paul’s resume is so long and amazing that it would take half a day just to copy it all down so I’ll just give you the highlights of his career. Look him up on Wikipeda sometime, really jaw dropping stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Levinson
He holds a Phd in Media Ecology (which he will explain in the interview) and is a professor of both Communications and Media Studies at a prestigious New York university, which is only one of the many universities that he has taught at – the list reads like a who’s who of the Ivy League envious. He is an Author who has been published multiple times in both fiction and nonfiction, and has been interviewed on 60 minutes and well just about every TV or Radio Station that needed an expert to give a sound bite about how the Media affects us in our daily lives.
I was honored to have him as my inaugural interview for this site and was, to put it frankly, more than a little intimidated by his reputation, but Paul was a great sport and actually complemented me on my Q&A questions – this from a guy who has been on 60 minutes!
Like I said, he’s a really nice guy, and I hope to follow up with him again later on to see how his latest project is coming.
Okay enough of my jabbering, let’s get to the interview:
Me:
First of all let me just say thank for doing this interview with me, I am reviewing your Bio on Wikipeda as we speak and all I can say is WOW!
You hold a Phd in Media Ecology, are a professor of both Communications and Media Studies over at Fordham University in New York, not to mention a world renowned Novelist whose work has been translated into how many languages now – 12 if this data base is up to date and have also Authored numerous non-fiction books as well as being the go to guy for just about every TV and radio station in the US when the topic of media in the future crops up.
So I guess question one is, do you ever sleep?
Paul:
Sure, and I love to sleep – it’s one of the most enjoyable activities in life. But the key, for a writer or anyone who wants to be productive on his or her own time, is not to let sleep get in the way of your work. So I sometimes stay up, writing, until 6 in the morning. The fact that my day job is being a professor, and I never have any morning classes, definitely helps.
Me:
Even superman took time out in his fortress of solitude, how do you cope with your schedule, that is to say there must be a tremendous amount of stress involved in your daily routine how do you deal with that, how do you unwind?
Paul:
Actually, my creative work – writing mainly, but also podcasting, sometimes making a little music – is the way I unwind. I love teaching, also. Going to a boring meeting, which I used to do a lot, when I was Chair of my Department, was not the greatest, but it didn’t really cause much stress, either. When I’m not writing or teaching, my favorite activities are going out to a fine Japanese or Italian restaurant for dinner with my wife, and kids (who are now adults), going for long walks, and gardening.
Me:
I’m looking at this incredible list of Universities that you have taught at, and if any of my members haven’t gone to check your Bio out yet, now is the time to do so because this list is utterly amazing. You have taught at the best of the best. Did you know from an early age that you would become an educator? And what exactly is Media Ecology?
Paul:
No, I didn’t know I would become a teacher until I walked into a classroom – at St. John’s University in Queens, NY – in the mid-1970s, and taught my first course, “Creative Journalism”. I saw how much I liked it, in my very first class, and knew then I would become a college professor.
Media ecology is the study of how media and communications make a difference in every aspect of our lives. This can range from how the printing press led to the Age of Discovery (because Columbus's son wrote a pamphlet about his father's voyage, which became a bestseller in 1490s Europe) to how the Web is making producers out of consumers, which means everyone. I explain this in much more detail in my books, especially The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution.
Me:
I see here that you were also a songwriter, and a music producer. How has the industry changed, in your opinion?
Paul:
Main difference is that in the 1960s and 1970s getting your records played on radio was essential to success. Nowadays the key is getting your music talked about in blogs, MySpace, all over the Web. My 1972 Twice Upon a Rhyme album was just re-issued, with three bonus tracks, as a mini-album on CD by Big Pink/Beatball Records in Korea – this came about because they saw people talking about my music on rateyourmusic.com and other sites.
Me:
Now we start getting into the meat of things, being the media guru that you are, do you see a tie in between the recent increases in adolescent violence and the media?
Paul:
Not really. Media can give people specific ideas about violence – like cyberbullying – but the sad truth is that bullying and human violence predates all known media. A grave site was discovered in the Midwest a few decades ago. It carbon-dated from about 1400 AD – before Columbus. The bodies had been horribly mutilated – the victims had been massacred. The impulse to violence unfortunately comes from troubled human psyches.
Me:
Do you think things like MTV and the prevalence of Videogames has had an affect on the youth of America, more so than say the programming of the 60’s and 70’s?
Paul:
Absolutely not. I had a debate with Jack Thompson, an anti-video game crusader, on CNBC a few years. I tried to explain to him the difference between correlation (kids who engage in violence play violent video games) and causation (kids who engage in violence do this because they play video games). There’s no evidence whatsoever that playing video games engenders violence in the real world. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of kids who play violent video games have peaceful lives.
Me:
Ok back to writing, when you write, where do you find your inspirations?
Paul:
From living. My mind is like Velcro when it comes to what I think, see, feel, experience – not that everything sticks, but some things do. It could be someone I pass on the street, the food I see in a restaurant, a car on the highway, and of course conversations with everyone. Some of the things not only stick, but ring a bell. It could be for just a phrase in a novel or nonfiction book, or an entire book. I got the idea for The Plot to Save Socrates way back in the 1960s, when I was sitting in a Philosophy class at the City College of New York, and I couldn’t believe that Socrates would have taken the poisonous hemlock, when his friend Crito had given him a chance to escape. I got the idea for Cellphone: The Story of the World’s Most Mobile Medium one of the myriad times that I called my wife on my cell phone.
Me:
What can you tell us about Phil D’Amato, where did he come from?
Paul:
When my then 12-year old daughter was reading a draft of The Silk Code, in which Phil D’Amato first appeared in a novel, she said, “Daddy, Phil’s just like you!” And she was right – Phil thinks and sees the world the way I do, or would, if I were a forensic detective. I got the name from two places: I have a friend, someone I’ve known for years, who retired as a lieutenant with the NYPD a few years ago. His first name is Phil. The second name came from Al D’Amato, who was Senator from New York. I figured by using the name D’Amato, every time the media mentioned Al, that would give my character free publicity. But Al lost the next election. I do also like the fact the Phil D’Amato means love (Greek) love (Latin).
Me:
In your latest release The Plot to Save Socrates you delve into the fascinating possibility of Time Travel, how far away do think that is in reality? And how big of a role did research play in your creative process for this story?
Paul:
One of the reasons I find time travel so much fun to write about is that I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. If I travel to the past, and do something, accidentally or whatever, that prevents my grandparents from meeting, how did I travel to the past in the first place? You can hypothesize that every time I travel to the past, every nano-second I’m there, I cause a new universe to come into being, different from the universe or timeline in which I first traveled back. But this alternate universe hypothesis is even more bizarre than time travel. And travel to the future gets in the way of our free will: if I travel a week into the future, and see you are wearing a blue shirt, does that mean you have no choice but to wear it? I wrote a blog post about this, “The Enjoyable Trouble with Time Travel,” on my InfiniteRegress.tv blog.
I did more research for The Plot to Save Socrates than any of my other novels. I wanted to get the Greek history – that we know, at least – exactly right. A 1954 Encyclopedia Britannica, a visit to the British Museum in London, the Walsh Library at Fordham University, and, of course, the Web, were some of my many sources.
Me:
Finally, what is next for Paul Levinson? What is there that you would love to do but haven’t had the chance to do yet?
Paul:
I’m currently putting the finishing touches on New New Media, my next nonfiction book, which will be published by Allyn & Bacon later this year. I’m writing the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates – Unburning Alexandria. I just wrote a script and treatment for a new science fiction television series, the Genesis Virus, with Chuck Sterin and Tina Vozick – I’d love to see a pilot and eventual series made from that. I have a great interest in seeing the First Amendment respected, and making sure the FCC does not strangle broadcasters with unconstitutional fines and regulations – if Barack Obama wanted to appoint me to the FCC, I’d seriously consider that.
Links to just a few of Paul’s many exciting projects:
The Plot to Save Socrates
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0765311976/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
The Silk Code
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0812567757/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
The Soft Edge
http://www. amazon. com/dp/0415197724/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium
http://www. amazon. com/dp/1403960410/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20
Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress blog
http://InfiniteRegress. tv
Paul Levinson's podcasts
http://paulpodcastjuke. blogspot. com/
Paul Levinson's music
http://paullevinson. blogspot. com/2007/11/little-taste-of-my-music. html
Paul Levinson's YouTube videos
http://www. youtube. com/user/PLev20062006
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