#anna mcclellan

8/25/23.

What a pleasure to come across "The Lost Tapes" - a collection of demos that chronicle the only output of the band Mad Anthony. Read the entire write-up on Bandcamp to get all the details - but essentially Mad Anthony member John Schwab's son, Ben, (himself a member of Drugdealer and Sylvie) convinced his Dad and other members to let these recordings be heard publicly 40 years after they were made.

The songs sound like the bands they covered when they started out in Ohio: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Jackson Browne. I can't help but also think of Randy Newman. This recording was made in the San Fernando Valley (Southern California).

And finally, this made me think of an album I was listening to and enjoying but couldn't post because there is no physical release: Anna McClellan's "off my chest: 2012-2021".

I just finished editing together Issue 18! I'm so elated to finally be able to share this new issue with the world today, on a day that happens to be my birthday, no less! More than many of the past issues, I feel like #18 is a fully formed document of the three months it took to put together all 336 of its pages, highlighting many of the incredible people who helped make it possible. Since the release of the last issue in October I co-curated Comic Arts Brooklyn with the incredible Gabe Fowler of Desert Island, hosted a month long gallery show called CURRENTS,  published a few new zines, and moved into a studio with two of my favorite illustrators (Ariel Davis and Leesh Adamerovish). It's been a whirlwind of work and excitement, but with this issue finished, I'm looking forward to slowing down and planning for the next year of the magazine. This issue truly wouldn't have been possible with out the patience and support of so many people (my former intern Lukas, my roommate Zeke, Rachel and Erik from Secret Project Robot, my studio mates Leesh and Ariel, etc...) so I tried to sprinkle them and their influence through out it. I'm so thrilled with all of the stunning submissions I got to include in this issue, and it's been amazing to have the opportunity to interview some of my biggest artistic heroes for it as well! 

GO READ IT ONLINE HERE

It's time for Beginnings, the podcast where writer and performer Andy Beckerman talks to the comedians, writers, filmmakers and musicians he admires about their earliest creative experiences and the numerous ways in which a creative life can unfold.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Anna McClellan began performing original songs in her hometown of Omaha, NE at the age of seventeen and has been actively recording and touring ever since. Her debut, Fire Flames, earned her an opening slot on a Frankie Cosmos tour. Through the doors that tour opened, McClellan eventually met Father/Daughter Records which led to the release of her second full-length record, Yes and No, in 2018. After a stint in NYC, several subsequent tours and meandering, Anna returned to Omaha and recorded I saw first light, her latest effort for Father/Daughter.

I'm on Twitter here and you can get the show with: