i'm ken paulson, the executive director of the first amendment center. our guest once described rap as "america's black radio station." if that's the case, we're joined today by the program director of an entire movement. please welcome the founder of public enemy, chuck d. [applause] you're a man of opinions. what i didn't know until reading a bit more about you was that your folks were both activists, that you grew up in a household of opinions. did that shape the way you look at the world? yup, 'cause my parents kind of, like, raised me to be independent and have independent thoughts, not so much as follow my peers, and to challenge information. so, i mean, to be an activist just means that they were conscious of certain facts that were circulating. and in the '60s, they were in their 20s, late 20s, so that was a time where you had a conscious movement where people were actually looking into themselves, finding out about themselves, and trying to do something to better themselves. and my parents encouraged me to do so myself. i understand that a kind

i'm ken paulson. we're joined today by a singer with a great heart and a great voice: judy collins. [applause] (collins) thanks, ken. nice to see you. good to see you. thank you. i say "a great heart," because you are probably as well-known for your commitment to social causes as your singing career. and you've been pretty successful at both. how many times have you been arrested? [light laughter] i've actually been arrested three times, and two of them were for my civil rights. i was protesting the war in vietnam. i was arrested on the steps of the capitol, and i went to jail for that. and there was another incident there in a protest against the war in vietnam. i was also arrested on an airplane for using a cell phone, but we won't talk about that. that was a terrible shock. i considered it, in a sense, a freedom of expression issue, but i don't think that they did. but i have had incidents where i've protested, where i've been involved with large protests ever since i was a kid. my father was in the radio business, and i'm not sure how he got away with saying a lot of the things t

i'm ken paulson. orson welles once called eartha kitt the most exciting woman on earth, and you know what? she spent her entire life proving that. it's our pleasure to introduce our guest, eartha kitt. (applause) ek: thank you. q: what an incredible compliment, and yet what a burden to be labeled as the most exciting woman on earth by orson welles at the very beginning of your career. how did you react to that? ek: i believed everything he said. (laughter) q: what was it like to work with orson welles? he . he gave you a big break in your career early on. ek: yes, he did, as an actress. it was very frightening, working with orson welles, because being as physically huge as he was and having to . well, at that time i was very, very small, like in my teens still. and to work with him was not always the most exciting thing in the world in the manner in which you would think this is, "oh my goodness, this is so exciting. " but it was very scary. and at . at the same time, it was very exciting because i wa

i'm ken paulson. our guest today has written challenging and provocative plays over the past four decades, earning three pulitzer prizes, two tonys, and a reputation for art with an impact. please welcome edward albee. [applause] i was struck by the number of times people have objected to your work. and yet, i've sat here with people whose careers have been marked by censorship and challenges. i'm not sure i've ever met anyone whose very first work at age 12 was censored by his adoptive mother. what was that about? well, you see, i started writing poetry when i was about eight, and she didn't read poetry. but when she found out that i'd written a three-act sex farce... [laughter] at the age of 12, or to be fair about it, probably 12 1/2, though still i didn't know very much about farce and practically nothing about sex at that time-- or at least, my knowledge of sex was singular-- [laughter] i wrote this three-act sex farce. very short acts. each act was about eight or ten minutes. and i'd like to thi

[applause] i'm ken paulson. back next week with another conversation about free expression, the arts, and america. i hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the first amendment center, funded by the freedom forum. captioning by tate at captionmax www.captionmax.com

i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center, and we're pleased to inaugurate a new series called whitney dialogues at the first amendment center. the cohost for this series is the director of the whitney museum of american art, max anderson. we're delighted to be working with the first amendment center on an exciting and important series of conversations with american artists. with this series, we'll have an opportunity to talk with the people who push the boundaries that society often sets for itself in the arts. our special guest today is an artist who came to prominence in the late 1980s with "fluid abstractions," a series of works that lit a bonfire in the u.s. congress and subsequently was decried and defended worldwide, a man who has continued to explore topics that others may see as off limits, andres serrano. thank you. that had to be a difficult period for you, a piece of art you created that involved a crucifix immersed in your own urine. i've heard observers say that if you did not know the content, you would think it was a very respectful piece of ar

i'm ken paulson, back next week with another conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture. i hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com >> welcome to "culturewire." for the past year, the arts commission has been participating in the city's effort to revitalize the central market street corridor. in addition to the thursday arts market and are in store front, the art commission recently launched the artery project. for the next year, the artery project will bring energy and excitement to market street, recalling the st.'s heyday as san francisco's vibrant and bustling theater district. >> un.n plaza during business hours seize hundreds of passing office workers and students, but the activity winds down at 5:00 every day. theater productions bring some but traffic, but central market is more of a thoroughfare than a destination after the sun goes down. on december 9, the artery project's launch brought a party atmosphere to market street, led by mayor gavi

i'm ken paulson. today we'll look at the history of comic book censorship.ur guests today include wendy pini of elfquest, joe quesada of marvel comics, and carmine infantino, the former publisher and president of d.c. comics. welcome to you all. (man) thank you. [applause] well, what a great lineup, and we've got folks with every possible perspective on comic books here. just by way of background, there is something called the comics code that is on comic books, most of the comic books i grew up reading-- many of which were illustrated by carmine-- had the comics code authority approval on it, which basically said this comic book has been sanitized for your protection. every comic book we read as kids was censored in some way for our own good so we would not grow up warped in any way, and all of this was inspired by a guy named dr. fredric wertham, who wrote a really influential book called seduction of the innocent in 1954, and he suggested, among other things, that comic books were a negative-- had a negative impact on kids,

i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. holly hughes is a widely respected performance artist who is known both for her thoughtful work and as a member of the n.e.a. four. her fight for free expression took her all the way to the u.s. supreme court. she's here today to share her thoughts about that battle and about free expression in america. welcome, holly. thank you, ken. now, a membership in the n.e.a. four-- that's not exactly like joining the kiwanis club. no, it's not. it was kind of an honor-- dishonor sort of imposed on us by the national council of the arts when they took away our funding that had been recommended. it sort of sounds like a bad band, you know, that-- or we were later referred to as karen finley and the three homosexuals, which sounds like a really bad band. i've seen them play. [laughs] and yet this has been a battle. your status as a member of the n.e.a. four has been a decade long, really. yes, it all started in 1990, when the four of us were recommended for funding by peer panels in the n.e.a. an

i'm ken paulson.ince the founding of jefferson airplane in 1965, our guest has produced an extraordinary body of music, sometimes popular, sometimes provocative, sometimes both. we're delighted to welcome rock and roll hall of fame member paul kantner. [applause] not long ago, paul, the washington post called you "the political conscience and space cadet of the jefferson airplane." do you plead guilty as charged? oh, and more. were you really the political force behind a very political band? no, no, we're a very apolitical band, if you really analyze it. and--we have the luxury of coming from san francisco, which is very nutritious for off-the-beam, off-the-normal-beam kind of people and nurtures them, really, in its own way. and we, in contrast to, say, berkeley, for example, in the '60s or the s.d.s. or the weathermen, chose and got away with creating our own alternate quantum, if you will, universe: this type of place where we-- rather than going up against city hall and fighting city hall, like i'

[applause] i'm ken paulson. back next week with another conversation about free expression, the arts, and america. i hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the first amendment center, funded by the freedom forum. captioning by tate at captionmax www.captionmax.com >> mayor for the city and county of san francisco. >> tonight, san francisco has a new interim mayor. >> a few minutes ago, city administrator now interim mayor ed lee, emerged happy but humble. >> in 2011, a temporary or interim mayor was selected by the board of supervisors, what is an interim mayor? why do we need one? is it the mayor's supposed to be elected by san francisco voters? how did this happen? let's rewind the story a little and look at the people and complicated process that led to this historic transition. the last time san francisco had an interim mayor was 30 years ago, when, in 1978, george mosconi, was assassinated by supervisor dan white. >> both to grow rather mosconi and harvey milk have been shot a

i'm ken paulson. we're joined today by a talented and topical comic and actress, janeane garofalo. welcome. thank you. [chortles] i'm talented and topical. that's wonderful. well, you know. if you prefer another bio-- no, no, no, that's fine. i like alliteration in an intro. talented, topical, terrific. tanned. what's the best description we should have? i mean, if we'd gone through your people, what would we have said about you? my people? yeah, your people. um, what would they have said about me? they would use different letters for their alliteration. they'd say persnickety, passive-aggressive, punctual, and--and pernicious. okay, we'll look forward to all of that. i think you are the first guest on speaking freely who has also done space ghost. i am. i mean, i wouldn't know that, but i just was watching the space ghost marathon last night, and i did my space ghost so long ago, it's never even in the reruns. you know, i was struck by seeing that you seem to do things just 'cause it looks like fun. um, well, yeah, there's a lot of-- you know, a lot of that. i do things that i wan

i'm ken paulson. our guest today has been both a pioneer and a driving force behind hip-hop. he's the founder of def jam records, chairman of rush communications. he's russell simmons. thanks for joining us here today. thank you for having me. i read very recently-- i think it was salon that described you as "not the inventor of rap but the man most responsible for its success." guilty as charged? well, i would say that i have been part of a process, that i don't--i don't believe it would have been a problem for it to spread without my input, but i was a part of the process, and it was--it's been an amazing ride over the last 20-some-odd years, and i've watched it evolve. you've got a fascinating new book called life and death: sex, drugs, money, and god, which covers pretty much everything there, and it tells the story-- not necessarily in that order. well, it tells the story of your career, including the first moment you heard hip-hop and your reaction to it. could you talk about that? i was in a club on 125th street, charles gallery, and i walked in, and there was this guy

i'm ken paulson. our guest today is a highly respected actress, activist, and citizen; susan sarandon, welcome. thank you. i know you've spent your entire career, your entire life balancing art and activism. when was the first hint that you would some day be the kind of woman who was arrested for her beliefs? well, i was--i was just lucky to come of age at a time when your, i think, natural sense of need for justice and need for equality and all those things had issues that were very clear. i mean, there was the war. there was, you know, the rise of women wanting equal pay. there was voter registration in the south, desegregation. and there wasn't quite as much ability-- at that time, the media wasn't owned by just a handful of people, and so you were getting a lot of views, and they hadn't yet figured out not to allow the press in. so you had pictures. you had-- part of being young and being idealistic meant, you know, looking for a better way around the violence, looking for a better way for everybo

ken. steve paulson is also here. how's the weather, steven? >>> pamela, it's fine. ken, good morning. we have a lot of fog, low clouds and fog, coastal fog and inland fog double whammy. 50s and 60s. sometimes that fog just doesn't want to burn off until about noon. if that's the case upper 50s. but be careful. some of the visibility's really bad. here's sal. >>> steve, right now westbound highway 4 looks pretty good getting up to the willow pass grade. it's very clear here which is unusual because last week we had such thick fog here we could never show you -- not never but we didn't last week. look at 280 san jose that traffic moving along very nicely. now let's go back to the desk. >>> thank you, sal. in southern santa clara county police in morgan hill are warning everyone to be especially careful after a rash of burglaries. ktvu's live to tell us homes, businesses and cars are all being targeted. christian. >> reporter: well, ken, take a look. you can see that the morgan hill police department lobby doesn't even open for another two and a half hours, but they say this is the time