In the premiere episode, we talk with Josh Alan Friedman, one of the only writers covering the beat of Times Square for Screw Magazine during the late 1970s and 1980s -- a mob run time in New York city’s past where peep shows and Burlesque were the main attractions lining 42nd street.
VICE meets Chris Pape, a renowned artist known for his graffiti work in the “Freedom Tunnel”. The tunnel runs under Riverside Park in Manhattan and was used for freight trains until its closure in the 1980s. Once closed, a community of homeless people began to flourish. Chris Pape talks about his experience with this community and the art he practiced there until the tunnel completely shuttered a decade later.
In this episode of “I Was There”, a series that highlights personal experiences in historical moments, VICE meets with Chino. Chino, a Puerto Rican-Cuban activist, was part of a pivotal demonstration in which the Statue of Liberty was taken over. Chino shares this experience during his youth and its consequences on his community, as well as his own journey as an activist.
In 2016, indigenous water protectors and their allies gathered at Standing Rock to oppose the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Great Sioux Nation and Lead Counsel for the Lakota People's Law Project, was one of those water protectors. Through his personal testimony and supporting protest footage, Chase recounts his experience at Standing Rock and its lasting legacy.
Deep in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador lies the "Amazon Chernobyl", a 1,700-square-mile environmental disaster brought on by oil extraction and production. After a visit to Ecuador in 1993, human rights lawyer Steven Donziger and other attorneys brought a class-action lawsuit against Texaco (later Chevron) on behalf of over 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people from this Amazon region who were affected by this disaster. Through his personal testimony and supporting footage, Steven recounts his experience advocating on behalf of the environment and affected communities and the personal toll this work has had on his life.
VICE meets with Ramona Africa, one of the only survivors of the police bombing in a residential neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1985. The bombing was a result of a conflict between the Philadelphia police department and the MOVE organization, the black liberation group in which Ramona belonged. The targeted house was the headquarters of the MOVE group, which had garnered complaints from their neighbors in the predominantly Black neighborhood.
One of the world's worst industrial disasters befell the residents living near this US chemical plant in Central India. Thousands were killed instantly and thousands more in the years that followed. Veteran photojournalist Raghu Rai photographed its aftermath.
In this episode of "I Was There", VICE meets with Byron Sage, a retired FBI agent, who was one of the lead negotiators during the Waco siege of 1993.
Most people are aware of the tragedy that unfolded on September 11, 2001, in New York City and the swift action by first responders to the scene. A lesser-known rescue effort is the historic maritime evacuation that took place that day - one that was greater even than Dunkirk. In this episode of "I Was There" VICE meets civilian mariner Pete Johansen who assisted with the world's largest boat lift that rescued half a million people stranded on the seawalls of Lower Manhattan.
Tsang Yu-Hung was an 11th-grade student during Hong Kong's bloodiest period of social unrest, which ended with him serving a one-year prison sentence for illegal assembly. In 1967, the former British Colony saw a labor dispute at an artificial flower factory balloon into unrest that enveloped the city. With the pro-communists and sympathizers on one side, and the colonial authorities on the other, the riots embroiled the city for over a year, eventually leading to a wave of reforms that transformed Hong Kong. Yu-Hung looks back at the city's most violent era of unrest, why he took part, and the echoes of this history in today's protest movement in Hong Kong.
The Sidoarjo Mud Flow is an eruption of the world’s largest mud volcano in Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia. This on-going disaster has been spewing toxic mud since May 2006, displacing thousands of people from their homes, as well as an alarming increase in serious health issues among residents. The cause of the mudflow has been widely contested with two leading theories. Some believe it was caused by PT Lapindo, a gas & oil company drilling in the region. Others believe it was caused by an earthquake that occurred at the same time as the eruption.
Almost two decades before cell phone video cameras came into widespread use, the violent actions of N.Y.P.D. officers during the Tompkins Square Park riot in 1988 were caught on a hand-held video camera by local Lower East Side resident and artist Clayton Patterson (@claytonles). In this episode of I Was There, Clayton recounts the wild and free era of the L.E.S. in the 80s and the events that led up to the riot and its aftermath, which included the indictment of several police officers and a jail sentence for Clayton for refusing to turn over his footage to authorities.
Marco Collins is a radio DJ credited with putting Seattle on the map in the 1990’s by breaking bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam during his time as Music Director at Seattle’s 107.7 ‘The End.’ Marco has been called the mad conductor behind the 90's grunge explosion and his contributions to music history even landed him a spot in The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. In this episode of I Was There, Marco talks about how his passion for supporting Seattle's underground music scene led to the international stardom of music's biggest rock stars like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder.
Paul Tomita was taken prisoner at age three to an American concentration camp in Idaho. Eighty years later, as one of the few living survivors, he speaks about what it was like to fight for his life as a Japanese American citizen forced into incarceration during WWII. To learn more about Paul's current advocacy work, check out tsuruforsolidarity.org - a nonviolent, direct-action project of Japanese American social justice advocates working to end detention sites.
Through the stories and words of his sisters Lisane Basquiat & Jeanine Heriveaux, along with supporting archival imagery and some never-before-seen works of art, VICE gets a unique look into the life and times of famed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The most publicized wrestling rivalry of all time, Andy Kaufman vs Jerry “The King” Lawler, left many wondering where the line between reality and fantasy blurred. Wrestling Historian & Personality Jim Cornette takes us through it all, from Kaufman demanding that women get “back in the kitchen”, Kaufman's public demise at the hands of Foxy, Lawler’s illegal piledriver move that sends Kaufman to the hospital, and coffee thrown across the desk of David Letterman. This abridged tour of the biggest public farce of all time will leave you with a new understanding of the real meaning of wrestling.
In VICE's latest installment of 'I Was There', photojournalist Lou Dematteis recounts photographing the capture of U.S. mercenary Eugene Hasenfus after his cargo plane was shot down in the Nicaraguan countryside. Lou's photograph, along with reporting from his colleagues on the ground, exposed how the American government, including the CIA, was illegally using funds made from selling arms to Iran to secretly fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. This became known as the Iran-Contra affair and the resulting scandal led to the conviction and resignation of several Reagan Administration officials, most notably Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.
In the 1990s, The Gold Club in Atlanta was the place to be. A mix of Vegas meets Studio 54, The Gold Club provided its guests with bottle service and a plethora of beautiful, fully nude women to look at. In this episode of I Was There, Jacklyn “Diva” Cook recounts her wild and crazy time working at The Gold Club during its heyday in the 90s, making upwards of $5k an hour, until it all came to a screeching halt when the club was raided by the FBI.
In this episode of I Was There, Ferrel exposes what working inside California's new prison model is really like, including the shocking events that led to his early retirement, and CDCR's attempt to both silence him, and discredit his story.
Before indie sleaze, before nu-metal mania, there was Buddyhead. Back in the days of LimeWire and landlines, the website was the best place on the internet.