Ira’s Everything Bagel | US Arts and Culture Podcasts

This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with New York Times bestselling author Phyllis Karas to explore the powerful and deeply personal story behind her book, "Curse of the Blumenthals."
Wearing the title “cousin” as a badge of honor, Phyllis shares why she felt compelled—after years of waiting—to finally confront her family’s past. What began as a personal journey evolved into a four-year investigation involving genealogists, librarians, family letters, and long-buried photographs.
At the heart of the story are two defining events—an accident and a murder—that cast a long shadow over generations of the Blumenthal family. Phyllis discusses the emotional weight of revisiting painful memories, including visiting a cousin in prison as a child, and the difficult choices she faced in deciding what to include in the book.
Blending her journalistic instincts with intimate family knowledge, Phyllis peels back layers of secrecy to reveal how trauma shaped the lives of fifteen cousins—and how understanding the past may offer a path toward healing.
This is a conversation about truth, legacy, and the courage it takes to face “the elephant in the room”—because every family has a story… and some stories demand to be told.

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BRETT HELLINGS TAKES A “CHANCE ON LOVE” — AND TEAMS UP WITH ROCK LEGENDS

Singer-songwriter Brett Hellings joins Ira for a lively and insightful conversation about music, creativity, and the power of taking risks.
In this episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Brett discusses why he chose to remain an independent artist and why the freedom of the indie path has been such an incredible experience for him. He shares how technology has empowered artists to create and release music on their own terms—and why he encourages fellow musicians to “go find yourself” creatively.
The conversation also dives into Brett’s energetic party anthem “Here to Have a Good Time,” which gained attention on the syndicated radio show hosted by rock legend Alice Cooper, and how a surprising collaboration helped shape his latest work.
Brett’s new single “Chance on Love” features an extraordinary lineup of musicians, including guitarist Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses, bassist Darryl Jones of The Rolling Stones, legendary drummer and bassist Charley Drayton, and acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Carey Frank.
The result is a soulful power ballad about love, connection, and the life-changing possibilities that come when we take a chance on someone else—and ourselves.
Along the way, Brett reflects on why he still isn’t jaded after decades in the music business, how gratitude shapes his outlook, and how fatherhood helps him slow down and appreciate the creative process. For Brett, songwriting is a lifelong calling—one where the goal is simple: don’t let the ego get in the way of the music.
Photo by Michael Halsband
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FROM REFUGEE LETTERS TO A POWERFUL FAMILY STORY

A box of forgotten letters. A family history waiting decades to be uncovered.

This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with Charlie Scheidt, co-author (with Kat Rohrer) of "Inheritance: Love, Loss, and the Legacy of the Holocaust, "for a deeply personal conversation about family memory, trauma, and the responsibility of telling difficult stories.
Charlie recounts the moment in 1988 when his mother revealed the existence of a trove of family papers and letters written by relatives fleeing Nazi persecution during the the Holocaust. For decades, the documents sat largely untouched as he grappled with their emo-tional weight.
Everything changed during a 2009 trip to Frankfurt, when Charlie realized the time had come to confront the past—not only for his own family, but for future generations.
In this episode, Charlie discusses:
The powerful first-person letters written by refugees escaping Nazi Europe
Why many survivor families avoided talking about the past
His surprising collaboration with filmmaker Kat Rohrer—whose grandfather had been a committed Nazi
Their research trips beginning in 2016 to uncover missing pieces of family history
The emotional challenges of confronting generational trauma
How different branches of his family coped with exile and identity
The reactions of relatives when he began writing the book
And what he hopes readers will ultimately take away from these stories
Charlie also reflects on growing up in a tight-knit German-Jewish refugee community in New York and leading Roland Foods—the company founded by his parents—for nearly five decades before dedicating his time to supporting refugee advocacy and humanitarian causes.
This is a moving conversation about memory, resilience, and why preserving personal histories matters now more than ever.
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From National Security Insider to Thriller Author: Chad Boudreaux on Writing 'Mob Justice'

On this episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with thriller author and national security insider Chad Boudreaux, whose latest novel, "Mob Justice," pulls readers deep into the evolving world of organized crime.
Chad discusses how he manages to write gripping thrillers despite a demanding career, and how his first novel, "Scavenger Hunt," launched a series that blends authentic national security insights with fast-paced storytelling. Although Mob Justice is a sequel, Chad ex-plains why it works perfectly as a stand-alone novel.
The conversation explores how the modern mob has evolved from the days of Al Capone into something far more sophisticated—more corporate, more strategic, and still very dan-gerous. One of the novel’s central themes is the tension between the old-school mob cul-ture and a new generation that operates more like savvy business executives than street-level gangsters.
Chad also reveals how his characters developed while writing. His protagonist, Blake Hudson—a lawyer working for the United States Department of Justice—is suddenly thrust into the dangerous world of organized crime. Meanwhile, Enzo Renzi emerges as a complex mob insider with an Ivy League intellect and a conscience buried beneath loyalty to the organization.
The episode also explores how the legendary “The Godfather” series influenced real-life gangsters, the surprising ways characters can sometimes take control of a story, and the delicate balance between real-life legal insight and editorial storytelling demands.
Chad’s path to writing thrillers is anything but conventional. Those experiences profoundly shaped his worldview—and now fuel the authenticity of his thrillers. In this engaging conversation, he shares how real-world security challenges, moral dilemmas, and the idea of protagonists who are always “honest and brave” influence the stories he tells.
The result is fiction that feels startlingly real—and a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how power, loyalty, and justice collide in both government and the underworld.
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