Beginnings

On today's episode, I talk to historian and journalist Daniel Bessner. Danny is a true renaissance man, but not in the Danny DeVito sense. As an academic, he is the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is also the author of two books, Democracy in Exile and Imperialist Realism and the co-editor of a number of anthologies, including Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency, which just came out in January. As a podcaster, Danny is the co-host with Derek Davison of the fantastic U.S. foreign policy and global affairs podcast American Prestige, which packs more news and analysis into every second than most other political podcasts pack into their entire run.

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On today's episode, I talk to musician and academic Matthew S. Originally from Fresno, CA, Matthew founded the sample-based label Illegal Art in 1998 and ran it under the pseudonym Philo T. Farnsworth for 15 years. In that time, Illegal Art released music from Touch People, Junk Culture and perhaps the most acclaimed of the roster Girl Talk. In 2012, Matthew shut the label down to concentrate on his own music and work as a college professor, but this year he has decided to bring it back, and the first release is his own project Myth Math. Their debut EP Tongues just came out last week, and it is excellent!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician and writer Jonathan Meiburg. Born in Baltimore, MD, Jonathan started playing music in the early 1990s in Austin and towards the end of the decade began playing keyboards in Okkervil River. A year later, he formed the band Shearwater with Okkervil's Will Sheff as an outlet for their quieter songs, though by their fourth album Palo Santo, it became primarily Jonathan's group. Since 1999, Shearwater has released almost two dozen albums and EPs on labels like Misra, Matador and Sub Pop. In addition to his musical pursuits, Jonathan has also had an impressive writing career, contributing to publications like The Believer and Talkhouse, and his book A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey was published in 2021 by Knopf. Shearwater's latest album The New World will be released by Polyborus Records at the end of July, and it is wonderful!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician Jeff Mueller. Originally from Louisville, KY, Jeff formed the band Rodan in 1992 with his friend Jason Noble, releasing the seminal album Rusty two years later on Quarterstick Records. After Rodan broke up, Jeff formed June of 44, and they put out almost an album a year until they stopped playing together in 1999. Rodan's break-up also blossomed into a new band for Jeff and Jason, Shipping News. Shipping News released numerous albums over the next fifteen years, many of them on Quarterstick, until Jason's death in 2012. Most recently, Solid Brass Records released Jeff and Jason's first high school group King G & the J Krew, which is somewhere in-between Rodan and the Beastie Boys, and it is a delight!

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On today's episode, I talk to cartoonist Ron Regé Jr. Raised in Plymouth, MA, Ron began making minicomics in the late 1980s, and about a decade later, his first book Skibber Bee Bye was published by Highwater Books. For the next decade, he released comics and graphic novels through Drawn & Quarterly, but a frustration with comics changed his aesthetic focus, and starting with his next book The Cartoon Utopia, Ron began to be published by Fantagraphics. His most recent comic It's Over came out late last year on Parsifal Press.

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On today's episode, I talk to musician Dusty Reske of the band Rocketship. Born in San Francisco, CA, Dusty moved around a bit as a child before ending up in Sacramento where he formed Rocketship in 1993. Their first album A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness came out a few years later on Slumberland followed by Garden of Delights on 1999, Here Comes... Rocketship in 2006 and Thanks to You in 2019. This year is the 30th anniversary of A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness, and folks, it's just as good as the day it came out!

(Photo by Gail O’Hara)

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On today's episode, I talk to journalist and writer Michael Edison Hayden. Originally from Port Washington, Long Island, Michael started out his career as a playwright before transitioning to journalism during a trip to India. This led to becoming one of the few reporters at ABC News covering far-right extremism, and eventually Michael became a Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson for Southern Poverty Law Center, a position he held until 2023. With Jared Holt, he hosts the political podcast Posting Through It, and most recently, his book Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town was published by Bold Type/Hachette, and it is excellent!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician Doug Gillard. Born in Sandusky, Ohio, Doug performed in a number of punk groups in high school, and in the early '80s joined the Cleveland rock band Death of Samantha. After their breakup in 1990, Doug became one of the original members of Cobra Verde, who then became Bob Pollard's backing band on Mag Earwhig! . This led to Doug joining Guided by Voices, who he performed with from 1997 to 2004 and then from 2016 to the present. This, of course, is just a small sampling of Doug's musical CV. On his own, Doug has been making albums since the mid-'80s, and his most recent album Parallel Stride just came out a few weeks ago on Dromedary Records, and it's fantastic!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician Felicia Douglass. Originally from New York City, Felicia studied ballet for a long time before deciding that wasn't the path for her. Some of her old school chums had formed the band Ava Luna, and she eventually joined them. In the twenty years they've been together, Ava Luna has released over a dozen albums and EPs, and their latest self-titled album came out on Western Vinyl just last year. In 2018, Felicia became a member of Dirty Projectors, performing as part of the Song of the Earth ensemble, and few years earlier, she and producer/multi-instrumentalist Erik Gundel formed the band Gemma. Their latest album Be About It is out today, and folks, it is wonderful!

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On today's episode, I talk to filmmaker Josh Margolin. Originally from Los Angeles, Josh always aimed his life in the direction of acting and filmmaking. He majored in theater, did improv, including performing in "One Night Stand: An Improvised Musical", which toured all over including an Edinburgh Fringe run, but since he was a kid, filmmaking seemed to be the thing. While Josh has written a number of shorts, webseries and a feature-length horror-comedy, his first film as writer and director, Thelma, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and it is easily one of the best films of 2024!

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On today's episode, I talk to musicians Stefanie Drootin and Chris Senseney of Big Harp. Originally from the San Fernando Valley and the Sandhills of Nebraska respectively, Stefanie and Chris met two decades ago, when they became both romantic and creative partners, getting married, having two children and performing together as Big Harp. In 2011, they released their first album White Hat, followed by Chain Letters in 2013 and now thirteen years later, they've released their third record Runs to Blue on Saddle Creek, and it is fantastic!

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On today's episode, I talk to John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants. Originally from Lexington, MA, John met John Linnell in high school, and they formed They Might Be Giants years later in 1982 after both moving to New York City. Trying to do justice to the breadth and depth of TMBG's CV in a short bio is unfeasible, but a few highlights of their 44-year career are their 24 albums, including five children's albums, their numerous Tony and Grammy nominations and two Grammy wins, Dial-A-Song and a million other things. On his own, John has released albums as Mono Puff, directed music videos for bands like Frank Black and Ben Folds Five, and even appeared as a voice on Xavier: Renegade Angel. They Might Be Giants latest album The World Is to Dig will be released next week on Idlewild Recordings, and folks, it is an absolute delight!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician and producer John McEntire. Originally from Portland, OR, John started playing drums as a preteen and eventually went to school at The Oberlin Conservatory to study music. At Oberlin, John started playing in David Grubbs post-Squirrel Bait band Bastro. The group then moved to Chicago, and Bastro morphed into the first incarnation of Gastr Del Sol. After their debut album The Serpentine Similar was released in 1993, John left to co-found Tortoise, who he's played with ever since. John also performs in The Sea and Cake and Red Krayola, and as a producer and engineer has worked with everyone from Stereolab to Broken Social Scene to Yo La Tengo, and of course, this is just scraping the surface of John's accomplishments. Most recently, Tortoise released their eighth album Touch through International Anthem and Nonesuch Records, and folks, like everything else they've done, it's wonderful!

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On today's episode, I talk to writers and directors Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey Max of Fatal Farm. Zach and Jeffrey grew up in Dallas, TX and became interested in film in high school. Eventually moving to LA, the two began to make videos together in the early days of YouTube, calling themselves Fatal Farm. Their work included the live-action Garfield series Lasagna Cat, as well as Infinite Solutions and Alternate TV Intros. Besides being incredibly funny, Fatal Farm also has a technical expertise that was missing from a lot of internet videos - then and now - and this allowed them to build a name for themselves as in-demand commercial and sketch comedy producers, working with everyone from The Lonely Island to Key & Peele, Adult Swim, I Think You Should Leave and many others!

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On today's episode, I talk to musician Connor Armbruster. Originally from Bethlehem, NY, Connor has been playing fiddle since he was young. While he's written and recorded music for over half a decade, his first professional album as Armbruster was 2022's Masses, which was released on Dear Life Records. This was followed by the brilliant Can I Sit Here two years later and a number of wonderful EPs and live recordings in the years since. His latest, Half My House, just came out at the end of February, and folks, it's great!

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On today's episode, I talk to Julia Steiner of the band Ratboys. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Julia started Ratboys in college at Notre Dame with Dave Sagan. In 2015, they relocated to Chicago and released their first album AOID on Topshelf Records. And since then, the band has accomplished everything you want to happen to a good band: international tours, critical and commercial success and releasing numerous albums and EPs of great music. Their latest, Singin' to an Empty Chair, was just released in early February, and folks, it's fantastic!

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On today's episode, I talk to Amelia Fletcher of the band Heavenly. Raised in Oxford, Amelia started playing in bands in the mid-1980s. Her first major group was Talulah Gosh, which she formed with Elizabeth Price, and they released a number of singles before Amelia left and formed Heavenly in 1989. Heavenly released four albums on Sarah and K Records, but after a tragic event, retired the name, and since then, Amelia has performed in a number of notable groups including Marine Research, Tender Trap and The Catenary Wires. Alongside her musical career, Amelia became a respected economist and academic, whose accolades are too numerous to mention in a short biography, though one major point is that her work has been used to curb Tech power in the UK, and due to her decades of service, she was appointed OBE in 2014 and CBE in 2020. Most recently, Heavenly has returned after their 30-year hiatus with Highway to Heavenly, which was just released last week on Skep Wax, and regardless of the intervening decades, is as good as anything they've ever done!

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