Episoder
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On this episode, I’m talking with musician and reproductive rights activist A.J. Haynes of the band Seratones.
We talk about making space for peace in our lives, how sexuality is kind of like dessert, the ways capitalism & white supremacy effect everything from reproductive rights to children’s music, and the exploring the depths of ourselves through reflection and art. It’s a beautiful conversation that left my heart so full.
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I’m talking with chef, restaurant consultant, and menu developer Jamie Davis.
Jamie is the chef of The Hackney, a restaurant and distillery in the small waterfront town of Washington, NC. There he uses locally sourced, seasonal ingredients to create Modern British/American cuisine in an area not typically known as a food destination. Jamie has plans to change that and help put North Carolina on the map.
We talk about his love of seafood, how the pandemic shifted his focus, where he draws inspiration from, and our shared love of Eastern North Carolina BBQ.
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I’m hanging out with musician, producer, and drum tech extraordinaire Ashwin Deepankar.
Ashwin and I met about 7 years ago when we worked together at Chicago Music Exchange. In 2015, Ashwin left CME to go on tour with the band Wilco as their drummer Glenn Kotche’s tech.
Ashwin is a sonically creative person with a generous heart and he shares stories that I think perfectly showcase how those qualities make him excel in is career. Life on the road is always an adventure and he shares what it was like being on tour when the world shut down last year. 16 months was a long time to be off the road and he shares how he created a space for creativity in his home and how he needed . -
I’m talking with British indie rock musician and critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Katie Malco.
We talked about releasing her debut album "Failures" in the middle of a pandemic, how she's getting her voice back after having Covid-19, the vulnerability of writing such deeply personal songs, and the ways we betray our own needs to be loved.
This conversation is as intimate as her music and as hilarious as her Instagram stories. You won't want to miss this.
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I’m talking with Grammy nominated Producer, Songwriter & Mixer Warren Huart.
I discovered Warren a few years ago through his acclaimed YouTube channel Produce Like A Pro where he works to demystify the recording process. For Warren it’s all about bringing people together as equals and he’s built a community of musicians, engineers, and producers around that very idea.
Warren is passionate about gear, music, and great players, and that’s so clear when you hear him tell stories about meeting some of his heroes. It’s that genuine love of music and people that is possibly the most important component of his job.
We also talk about how staying calm is an essential skill and he tells a couple incredible stories about times he’s gotten through a session without the artist having any idea something had gone wrong.
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I’m talking with artist and writer David Hayward aka Nakedpastor. David is a naturally creative person who uses his art to challenge the status quo, deconstruct dogma, and offer hope he says to those who struggle and suffer under that dogma.
He didn’t become a full time artist until after spending 30 years in the ministry. He tells the story of the epiphany he had that broke him through a false belief that he was trapped in a life he didn’t want. He talks about how one of the biggest shifts he had to make when deciding to become a full time artist what he says was his shitty attitude towards money.
It often takes a big spark to make a life change like that. I was curious what lit the fire that led David on this journey. He shares the beautiful story about the drawing that would become his Sophia book and how she changed his life by helping him to understand himself.
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I’m talking with spiritual mentor and jewelry maker Christine Love-MacLeod. Christine is partners in life and in business with past-life psychic Ainslie MacLeod. It felt like such a treat to hear the story of them meeting and what she thought when she found out this guy she was into was a psychic.
The work they do is focused around helping people get a deeper understanding of themselves. As she puts it, the more you understand how you're wired and embrace that, the more you’ll be able to feel a deep soul level purpose in life.
Authenticity is something deeply important to Christine, whether that’s in her work or just breaking the ice with a stranger. She makes the point that if someone isn’t accepting your authenticity maybe they're people you don't want in your sphere.
There’s just so much great stuff in this episode including some stories about how she became a jewelry maker and started following the Grateful Dead. I’m telling you, no one brings the big sister Mama Love vibes like Christine does so without any further ado allow me to introduce you to Christine Love-MacLeod.
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I’m talking with electro-pop artist SuperKnova. SuperKnova is a one-woman band created by multi-instrumentalist Ellie Kim who writes, produces, and records all her own music.
Ellie shares how she honed her guitar skills studying jazz in college, but always loved the accessibility of pop music to reach a wider audience. While her music has a strong queer focus she says its message is for everyone because we all deserve to live our authentic lives and be treated with respect.
Respect is something so many of us seek in life. Ellie shares how she got her medical degree as a way to prove she had value in the world and how it took working through her own internalized transphobia, racism, generational trauma for her to fully embrace herself.
This conversation was so powerful for me and honestly helped me embrace different parts of myself in a new way. I hope you find something beautiful in it too.
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I’m talking with artist Ashley Mishler. I met Ashley a few years ago at a show I was playing with her now husband Silas Mishler who you met on episode 2.
Ashley is multi-faceted creative and we discuss her journey with music, art and writing and how playing drums let’s us express the loud, brash sides of ourselves that women are generally discouraged from showing.
Along with painting, Ashley makes wearable art by customizing and upcycling clothes and accessories. That sparks a conversation around how it’s common these days for artists only feel valuable when they’re monetizing the things they make versus just letting art exist for the sake of art.
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I’m sitting down with Chicago bluesman Toronzo Cannon. I’ve known Toronzo for over a decade and he’s honestly one of the coolest most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. Toronzo spent years as a city bus driver and he shares how it unexpectedly helped his music career and also the revelation that led him to retiring early amidst the pandemic.
He tells the story of getting into reggae before he started playing blues. We get the exclusive on what he said the first time he ever listened Bob Marley and lemme tell ya… it’s not what I expected. Toronzo and I share how music allowed us to see places and perspective we never would have dreamed of growing up. He believes that you have to set your ego aside and listen if you’re going to advance in your career and he shares stories of some of the people he learned from before becoming a bandleader himself.
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I’m hanging with bassist Zac Watson. We got to talk about a few things we share in common like how we both were heavily influenced by progressive rock bands in our early 20s and eventually came around to playing in a way that served the song instead of our egos.
We talk about the shame that he felt as a musician because having a day job seemed like a sign that he wasn’t good enough. Zac sees no shame in the day job game these days because he sees it allows him to make the music he really wants to make.
We cover a lot of ground in these 80 minutes talking about how Australia’s lockdown policy differs from ours in the States and how important it was to shift the way we both used social media to support our mental health. One other thing Zac touches on that I loved is how essential it is to focus in on who your audience is and making sure they are your focus.
So my beautiful audience, please allow me to introduce you to Zac Watson.
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I’m talking with chef and restaurateur Lucas Owens. I know Lucas from when he was a high school kid playing in a band at the bar that I used to manage in North Carolina. These days he’s living and working in Greenville, NC where he is opening his restaurant, Native. We draw some parallels between music and food and how it really all comes down to good story telling.
For Lucas, opening a restaurant isn’t just about the food. It’s about the entire community of people involved from purveyors to staff to allowing his guests the opportunity to taste something they’ve never had.
We talk about all of that and how for Lucas it all comes down to being a decent human and being able to grow and adapt. The restaurant industry is one that’s been forced to make changes over the last year and a half. Lucas gives me his take on what he thinks helped keep things going. He also shares his thoughts on how folks are raising their awareness around the abuses and mental health struggles that happen within the restaurant industry.
Lucas brings so much intention to his life. It’s in how he designs his menus and works with other chefs to make updates to theirs and it’s in the way he’s staffing his restaurant to create opportunities for chefs to grow and flourish in his city. It’s an enlightening and inspiring conversation and he even drops a tip on how to properly use green tomatoes. So sit back and allow me to introduce you to Lucas Owens.
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I’m talking with Bev Rage, the singer & guitarist of the queer garage-pop band Bev Rage & The Drinks.
I was curious how Bev was born and she tells me how it was a way to combine her love of music and drag and amplify what’s she’s good at. Amplifying a community through art is something we’re both passionate about. I was intrigued to learn that one of her first shows as a band was opening for some of her queer heroes and how that relationship evolved as they became contemporaries.
One of Bev’s other passions is the environment. She talks about how being a kid in the country sparked an appreciation for the natural world and even influenced what she studied in college. Bev shares how for her gardening is not just to have a great way to fresh food a few steps out her door, but is also a meditative practice of caring for the plants.
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I sit down with musician, writer, and self proclaimed horror nerd Alex Nicole Windsor. She tells the story of doing what she knew was the right thing at work and how that ended up being the catalyst for her move to Los Angeles. Growing up in the rural Midwest is pretty much the opposite of LA so I was curious to hear from Alex what she thought was the biggest differences were and also how the music scene differs out there. Alex is committed to creating a community that fosters a presence for women in music and we talk about how doing that work begins with recognizing our own sexist beliefs that we’ve been conditioned with and how as we address systemic issues across society it’s about not just having a seat at the table, but a voice.
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I’m chatting with bassist and luthier, Wick Wickline. I’ve known Wick my entire adult life and we’ve done just about every bit of humaning two friends can do. We talk about figuring out how to be a rock band when we were fresh out of high school and the life choices we made that took us places we never imagined we’d go. Wick shares what it was like rebuilding his life after his family lost everything during Hurricane Florence and how that experience changed him. We also talk about the importance of spending your money with companies that align with your values, how shame plays into restrictive political policies, and also how the world is evolving as our generation is starting to become the grown ups in the world. There’s some serious moments, but a whole lots of laughs, and even a few mildly embarrassing stories.
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I’m talking with singer/songwriter Lou Heneise. She’s a woman whose thoughtful strong-willed honesty I’ve always respected. We’re talking about her new EP “Trial & Error and how if she can find the courage to share something that’s true for her it helps melt away her shame and maybe that will help someone else feel less alone. I love the way that Lou talks about how life is half suck and half great and we’re just kind of figuring it all out and how our kids teach us more about who we are because we’re constantly having to look in the mirror and check ourselves in the moment. It’s really just a great conversation just like so many of the conversations I have with Lou and I hope you enjoy it too.
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I’m sitting down with Sophie Brochu of the dream pop band Fauvely to discuss their record Beautiful Places that was released on April 2nd, their AudioTree performance and the beautiful music video for the album’s title track. We talk also discuss how she and her husband ended up leaving Chicago to move back to their hometown of Savannah Georgia. No matter how beautiful our art is, many of us have dark thoughts that live in our mind and Sophie shares four dark stories that have taken up residence in her brain. Inspiration comes from so many places and we talk about doing the work while also being open to the little sparks magic that find you.
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Artist CJ Dates and I talk about how life and even the algorithms of social media operate through the law of attraction to bring us exactly what we’re focused on, how important it is as an artist to get into a state of flow and how when we do, we allow the magic to happen through us. We also talk about how cultivating compassion through awareness helps to heal us and how this journey of life is really about remembering what we already know in the deepest parts of ourselves. I hope this one inspires you as much as it does me.
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I’m talking with my friend, beat maker, fitness expert, and dad joke lover, John Winogrocki. We talk abut how his new record, preparing for becoming a dad, how we both got practice being isolated long before quarantine happened and how we worked at improving our mental health along that journey. How developing a new language is so incredibly important along the journey. 2020 put a spotlight on the differences many of us share with various family members. John shares the transformative way he dealt with that including how he owned his own part in the dynamic.
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I’m sitting down with Javier Sinobas of Sinobas Amplification. We talk about how he influenced the creation of this show, how we met our wives, the deepest losses and how they change us and sometimes inspire us, and the ways we show up for one another.
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