elle nash is an electrifying writer based in glasgow, scotland

this is about her book 'deliver me' - 

At a meatpacking facility in the Missouri Ozarks, Dee-Dee and her co-workers kill and butcher 40,000 chickens in a single shift.

The work is repetitive and brutal, with each stab and cut a punishment to her hands and joints, but Dee-Dee’s more concerned with what is happening inside her body. After a series of devastating miscarriages, Dee-Dee has found herself pregnant, and she is determined to carry this child to term.

Dee-Dee fled the Pentecostal church years ago, but judgment follows her in the form of regular calls from her mother, whose raspy voice urges Dee-Dee to quit living in sin and marry her boyfriend Daddy, an underemployed ex-con with an insect fetish. With a child on the way, at long last Dee-Dee can bask in her mother’s and boyfriend’s newfound parturient attention. She will matter. She will be loved. She will be complete.

When her charismatic friend Sloane reappears after a twenty-year absence, feeding her insecurities and awakening suppressed desires, Dee-Dee fears she will go back to living in the shadows. Neither the ultimate indignity of yet another miscarriage nor Sloane’s own pregnancy deters her: she must prepare for the baby’s arrival.

Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast

Vanessa Stockard recently visited the podcast for the 3rd time!

Vanessa Stockard was born in 1975 in Sydney and spent her formative years in a small country town in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.  At 12 she returned to Sydney as a boarder at Abbotsleigh.  After graduating from the College of Fine Arts (COFA) Sydney in 1998 with a BFA, Stockard launched head first into the avant-garde art scene in the bohemian village of Glebe.

Stockard is one of the most dangerous artists on the Australian, and by extension, international scene.  Her ethereal works of art are a window into the soul of a talented and complex artist, one whose legacy is bound to resonate well past her generation.  The existential nature of her painting viscerally questions our concepts of social relationships and reality.

Twenty years of introspection and experimentation, ranging over a number of media, have forged Vanessa’s style and vulcanised her craft, enabling her to reveal complex misdemeanours, while simultaneously demanding the viewer’s self-reflection.  She deals with isolation and sadness with intimate care and attention.

Vanessa is unhindered by failure, always continuing the discovery of things previously unseen, revealing work that is fresh, unlaboured and penetrating.  The deceptive everyday nature of her subject matter belies hidden depths of relationship, feeling and emotion.  One could describe her process as absence of thought, a freedom of construct, not unlike the stream of consciousness associated with authors such as Hemmingway and Thomas Wolfe.

If light and shade were students, she would be their master.  This skill, combined with a naturally deft hand and a determined use of perspective, imbue her subjects with gravitas.  The artist refers to set design elements that often alter and morph as her piece progresses.  She has said she feels grounded from her ability to draw from the benign surrounds of familiar life, infusing these images with a meaning that yields a meditative satisfaction.

Stockard’s oeuvre features many pieces developed without any direct visual reference but rather from memory, often incorporating domestic pets such as cats and dogs.  Juxtaposing the anthropomorphic nature these animals are given by our society, she infuses the personification of virtue and vice into the everyday canine and feline status quo of our pets.  Cats with their fluffy comical exteriors glint with an instinctive urge to kill and cruelly torment their prey, dogs with their providence of happiness, loyalty and friendship are flung back onto Churchill’s menacing metaphor for depression.

The Kafkaesque mindset behind such works is reminiscent of the existentialist authors like Sartre and Camus.  Absurdism appears with cake imagery and its relation to a childlike nostalgia for happiness which may never be real, but rather imaginary, unattainable and unachievable.  It’s been said “pain is inexhaustible, it’s only people who get exhausted…”

One can never “have it all”, to be both the artist and patron.  To intrinsically understand those things around us that others overlook is what we want from our artists, our creatives.  They give voice to the profound mystery of the world around us, surrounded as we are with consumerism, pointless greed, deceit and dissatisfaction.  There’s no pretension here in these paintings, just spontaneous insight and beauty.  Some art is said to speak volumes, but these works are more like innocent and delicate poems, whispering untold truths with an economy of words.

Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast

Shelia Knox awakes from a two week coma to find her life torn apart.

Her children have been savagely murdered. Her husband is missing. Her hand completely mangled and her throat slit to within inches of her jugular…Leaving her with nothing left to live for.

So, when the men responsible for taking her and her family, come after her to try and finish the job, they unwittingly let loose an Angel of Death, hell-bent on hunting down those responsible and making them all pay.

From the creative team of Keenan Marshall Keller (writer/co-creator of The HUMANS from IMAGE Comics) and Alex Delaney (creator of The Derelict and The Other Side of Town) comes VENGEANCE Is For The LIVING; A 4 issue mini-series overflowing with gritty exploitation action about the power of anger/loss and the clearness of vision that VENGEANCE can provide.

SRTN Website

Victoria Astuto is an actress, musician, and educator based in New York.  She is most known for her roles in Some Time Soon and Trusted Hands.  In addition to acting, she also plays Clarinet with the Brooklyn Wind Symphony and is a Band Director in the Hudson Valley.

Matthew Kyle Levine is a filmmaker based in New York City. His short films have won awards and played at numerous film festivals throughout North America, including the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival and the Canada Shorts Film Festival.

Watch 'Some Time Soon' and Levine's other films here: 

MKL VIMEO

SRTN WEBSITE

Lauren Bright Pacheco is 3-time Emmy Award-winning Producer, Podcast Host, Media Writer and Storyteller.

You should know her spellbinding work on:

Happy Face Presents

Murder in Oregon

The Murders at White House Farm 

Murder in Illinois

And as the producer of:

Speed of Sound with Steve Greenberg 

Wholly Human with LeAnn Rimes.

SRTN WEBSITE

Chloe Niclas is an illustrator from Baltimore, MD. She is fascinated by the unexplainable and bizarre aspects of the world, often executing the otherworldly and impossible to feel within reach of existence. Her work has been recognized by American Illustration and the Art Director’s Club, and has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, Politico Europe, and others.

https://www.chloeniclas.com/

Follow on Instagram @chloe.niclas

SRTN WEBSITE

Susan Tomorrow is a film programmer from Austin Texas, specializing in cult, horror, and Golden Age Hollywood cinema. 

“As Co-Owner/Programmer of the Clinton Street Theater I am thrilled to be helping to bring back that William Castle MAGIC.”

Clinton Street Theater

SRTN WEBSITE

Lauren Redniss is an artist, author, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Her books include Radioactive, a finalist for the National Book Award, Thunder & Lightning, winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West, called "astonishing" and "virtuosic" by the New York Times. She has been a Guggenheim fellow, a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars & Writers, the New America Foundation, and Artist-in-Residence at the American Museum of Natural History. She teaches at the Parsons School of Design in New York City

https://www.laurenredniss.com

SRTN WEBSITE

Michael Conley writes murder ballads, jukebox romances, and love songs in between.

Conley was in from Nashville and the SRTN hosted  a magical set + interview from Warbling Creek Studios in Eugene, OR.  This is something special. 

Follow Michael on Instagram @isleepinmyjeans

Nothing Risked EP out now on all streaming platforms.

SRTN WEBSITE

Melissa Oliveri has been an artist her entire life. As an only child, she would spend hours entertaining herself by writing and illustrating stories, playing music, drawing, writing plays, making puppets and other crafts. This has translated into adulthood in the form of one person wearing many creative hats.

As a musician, Melissa goes by the stage name Cannelle. She composes original songs in a variety of styles, often compared to Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, or Kate Bush. She also writes original music for her Podcast, The Skylark Bell. She likes to take a creative approach to songwriting, often including her audience in the task. An example of this are her "Post-It Project" songs, for which she requests people assign her a set number of words that she will build the song around. The topics she covers are also varied and can range from a dedication to a lost loved one, to a song about a salt shaker or a silly song about her disdain for the long winters she has known her whole life.

After years of sitting on a series of unpublished books, a friend suggested Melissa turn one of her stories into a podcast. Being unfamiliar with podcasting, Melissa was hesitant, but the thought of composing original music for the podcast, including sound effects, and finally getting the story out to the world eventually won her over, and The Skylark Bell podcast was born. The podcast has not only proven to be a great success, it has inspired Melissa to imagine expanding The Skylark show beyond all dreams!

https://melissaoliveri.com/about

Follow on Instagram @cannelle.music

Link Tree with all the things: https://linktr.ee/theskylarkbell

We highly recommend you listen to the Skylark Bell Podcast

SRTN WEBSITE

Sascha Stronach (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka Ki Puketeraki) is an author based in Pōneke, Aotearoa. 

His debut novel The Dawnhounds is a mind-bending fungal murder mystery described as 'Discworld Elysium'. If you encounter Sascha Stronach in the woods, shout and wave your arms to seem to bigger – this will intimidate the author.

Publisher:  https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Sascha-Stronach/184950774

Twitter: https://twitter.com/understatesmen?lang=en

Website: https://www.theunderstatesmen.com/

SRTN WEBSITE

Justin C.M. Brown is a visual artist, musician, writer, cook, and student in the Sociology Department at UCLA.

He was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and currently calls Los Angeles home.

Most recently, he donated 3 pieces of his art to his alma mater, Santa Monica College, where they are on display in the library.

He is also currently in Part XII of his year-long artistic effort "Inspired By True Events".

His work can be found at JCMBmade.com, EmperorSteve.com, and ZodiacWaning.com, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok at “@jcmbmade”.

SRTN WEBSITE

Zainab Imran is a poet, tutor, zine-maker and English Literature student of British Pakistani heritage based in Manchester, England. She writes on a multitude of racial and queer issues, with a particular focus on ethnic diaspora and the hidden stories of women in the colonial struggle. They currently run the poetry collective, 'Poets for Partition'. In 2022, she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature and Sky Arts Award for Poetry as an emerging writer of colour, through which she is now being mentored by Jay Bernard and is also currently working towards her first poetry pamphlet.

This episode is a typical Iliad, poetry, Manchester, Industrial Revolution, Marx, History, What is Art?, Kirchner type of episode.

Zainab Imran website: https://zainabthepoet.co.uk/

Follow on Instagram @dark.academia.zainab and on Twitter @darkacademiazen

SRTN WEBSITE

Samn Johnson (he/they, b. 1991) is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and historical linguist. Their work often harnesses research on acoustics and historical phonology to set texts in ancient languages like Latin, Old English, Hittite, and Gothic. Samn has written for a range of performers including Chromic Duo, Righteous GIRLS, JACK Quartet, and harpsichordist Nathan Mondry. His latest work is the song cycle Consolation, setting Latin poetry from Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy for vocalist Tis Kaoru Zamler-Carhart. It is out on innova Recordings, June 28, 2024. The two preceding recordings, both self-released, are Ageless Sea (2022), for chamber choir, chamber orchestra, electronics, and rock band, and First Book for Piano (2022), performing his own piano works.

Samn is also half of the synth pop duo Acraea, together with Leora Mandel. Samn holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and NYU, studied composition at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and has taken courses in Indo-European historical linguistics at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

SRTN website

Corinne Halbert is a psychedelic horror artist with an extensive book collection. Her work is heavily influenced by an avid obsession with 1970s cult films and vintage comics. She's the creator of Acid Nun.

Unedited production note from host Ken Volante “Whoa. What a ride. Zines, horror movies, found footage, dealing with tough things, Steven Seagal, old magazines, Electric Wizard, ACID NUN and more."

Acid Nun is available here, or inquire at your local bookstore.

Check out her website: https://corinnehalbert.com/

Follow on instagram @corinnehalbert

SRTN WEBSITE

Daniel Kern means so much to me and my learning. We met at Marquette University and he is responsible for my deeper interest in quantum physics, cosmology, Jesus Christ, and deeply humane ways of looking at philosophical questions.

Dan and I chat and catch up on Episode 180 of Something (rather than nothing ) Podcast.

We talk about his excellent book ‘A Reasonable Christian Faith.’ I told Dan about the surreal aspect of hearing his ‘voice’ in his book and feeling like he was chatting with me as l read it. Isn’t that grand?

This podcast is in the top 5% of podcasts in the world. It is free and open. It is populist. It celebrates all creativity. It is liberationist and is arts-organizing in practice.

SRTN WEBSITE

T Edward Bak is a cartoonist and illustrator exploring the crossroads of culture and the natural environment.

We talked about art, service industry work, Alaska, graphic novels, Buddhism, Shunryu Suzuki, energy, ecology Saint Nagarjuna, Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac and more . . .

Follow on Instagram @t.edward.bak

Check out T Edward Bak's Website 

T Edward Bak Tumblr

Support on Patreon

Purchase his comics through Floating World Comics

Paypal quick links:

(please contact for International)

SEA OF TIME #1

https://www.paypal.com/instantcommerce/checkout/6VMA7CGLMQDLQ

NOT A PLACE TO VISIT

https://www.paypal.com/instantcommerce/checkout/AB95GGGS7EZC2

BAK BOOK BATCH

https://www.paypal.com/instantcommerce/checkout/BMLJK9TCGUJTS

SRTN WEBSITE

Illustrator Nicholas Friesen lives in Winnipeg, Canada with his wife and dog. He likes drawing sad robots, people wearing headphones, and robots wearing headphones.

He creeated Olivia Sea. Who lives in music and comics.

Follow all the links at https://linktr.ee/nicholastronaut

Olivia Sea "I Choo Choo Choose You" video

Nicholas Friesen on Instagram @Nicholastronaut

Check out Nicolas and Oliva Sea at Toronto Comic Arts Festival April 29-30

SRTN WEBSITE

Thick layers of oil paint encrust the canvases of Cape Cod-based painter Susan Carr, which reach out into the third dimension like small sculptural objects. Looking back toward artists like Phillip Guston, Willem De Kooning, and Robert Ryman, Carr works by applying paint to the canvas with a brush or trowel, working quickly (wet on wet) and determining the composition as she goes along. Though the works are abstract, shapes, symbols, or symbolic colors often emerge to elicit a reaction from the viewer, or more simply to guide the eye across the canvas. The works are meditations on musicality and the rhythms of language, Carr has said: “I write poetry so you could say, my paintings are poems without words. Poems dripping in color."

"My eyes get hungry. I always want to feel the paint with my eyes."  ~Susan Carr

Susan Carr on Instagram @susancarr88

SRTN WEBSITE

B.L. BLANCHARD

Her novel The Peacekeeper: 

"Against the backdrop of a never-colonized North America, a broken Ojibwe detective embarks on an emotional and twisting journey toward solving two murders, rediscovering family, and finding himself.

North America was never colonized. The United States and Canada don’t exist. The Great Lakes are surrounded by an independent Ojibwe nation. And in the village of Baawitigong, a Peacekeeper confronts his devastating past.

Twenty years ago to the day, Chibenashi’s mother was murdered and his father confessed. Ever since, caring for his still-traumatized younger sister has been Chibenashi’s privilege and penance. Now, on the same night of the Manoomin harvest, another woman is slain. His mother’s best friend. This leads to a seemingly impossible connection that takes Chibenashi far from the only world he’s ever known.

The major city of Shikaakwa is home to the victim’s cruelly estranged family—and to two people Chibenashi never wanted to see again: his imprisoned father and the lover who broke his heart. As the questions mount, the answers will change his and his sister’s lives forever. Because Chibenashi is about to discover that everything about their lives has been a lie."

 About the author:

'I am originally from Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but I have lived in California for so long that I can no longer handle cold weather.

I am an author, a mother, and an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a federally-recognized tribe.

I graduated from UC Davis’s inaugural undergraduate Creative Writing Honors Program in 2006 and was a Writing Fellow at Boston University School of Law. I can stare at maps all day and am obsessed with figure skating. I am constantly planning my next trip abroad. I will watch any documentary about space and space exploration you put in front of me. I’m always looking for new podcasts and shows about true crime.'

https://blblanchard.com/

BL Blanchard on Twitter:@blblanchard

On Instagram: @blblanchard_wrties

SRTN WEBSITE

Organically gripping and raw, Hayley Lynn’s sultry timbres extend through the various depths of her vocal range as she is soft-spoken but packs a punch when her lyrical motifs drop.

Lynn's first body of work “Bring on the Flames,” co-created with producer Kyle Devine, was performed to several sold out shows across the Northwest as well as placement in the Netflix Original shows “The Pier” and “Money Heist.” Since then, Lynn’s music has been placed on ABC, the 700 Club, and Big Ten Network, expanding Lynn’s reach to international audiences.  In addition to being a hometown favorite, Lynn is back on the road with breakthrough performances at festivals and venues such as Northwest Folklife, Oregon Country Fair, Winningstad Theater, Bloodworks Live Studio, Mississippi Studios, The Old Church Concert Hall, and touring through the U.S and Canada.

Recently,  Lynn released her first solo debut album ‘Horizon’.  Many of the songs came as a means to heal. The pandemic was especially hard on artists and Lynn’s method of survival was to dive deep into the layers of her life, the feelings that arose and the distractions she used to cope. The result is a velvet voice wrapped in an ocean of sound that is cathartic to lose ourselves in.

https://www.hayleylynnmusic.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ustZQSFU19uRveWdTUeAd

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/hayley-lynn/1374681637

https://www.tiktok.com/@hayleylynnmusic?lang=en

https://www.instagram.com/hayley_lynn_music/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqIuebsBOUfG6Kk-yeAtwIA

https://www.facebook.com/HayleyLynnMusic/

SRTN WEBSITE

"We're all living in a haunted house, and we're all being haunted by it."

Breanna Cee Martins paints the mirage of an America that never existed, for people like her and entire swaths of the population of this country.  The artist’s watercolor paintings fall away from the viewer like a half-remembered dream; images of ghostly and phantom children, coming together to explode in kaleidoscopic colors.  

Working from found black and white photos, the images metamorphose into Technicolor nightmares, the old made new.  Children dressed up as monsters, and monsters dressed up as children; these monochromatic visions glow with infernal light, watching the viewer, watch them.  Posed family photos capture the conflicts raging beneath the surface; the pause or unease creating narrative tension, a rift between what is expected and what’s seen, and better left unsaid.  They are images captured from the afterglow of a fading star, an apparition of our world growing dimmer amidst the passage of time.  

These paintings confront you with pleading eyes, asking the viewer to delve deeper into the question, does this familial imagery have personal meaning to you?

Or, is it evocative of an emotional scene you might have remembered, yet never experienced?

https://www.breannamartins.com/

SRTN WEBSITE

faetooth is a four-piece doom metal band based in Los Angeles, California. They officially formed in 2019, with Ashla Chavez Razzano (she/her) on guitar & vox, Jenna Garcia (she/they) on bass & vox, Ari May (they/them) on guitar & vox, and Rah Kanan (they/them) on drums. The quartet had already been friends for several years before the band's inception, instilling the confidence necessary to navigate personal vulnerability and vast musical experimentation.

faetooth possesses the ability to bewitch listeners through trance-inducing riffs, alluring melodies, and rich lyricism that ranges from mysterious to diaristic. faetooth’s music is about the nature of the self, the natural world, and all of its enchanting mysteries.

faetooth's Remnants of the Vessel  was named 2022 Heavy Metal Album of the Year by Spin Magazine

Special co-host Aidan 'Ace' Volante. Aidan (they/them) is an artist-musician who lives in Oregon and is currently a vocalist-in-training.

Host: Ken Volante (he/him). Ken loves doom metal.

Band members in episode: Ash, Ari, Jenna

faetooth is available on Bandcamp, and all streaming services.

Follow @faetooth on your favorite social media, including Instagram and their  YouTube channel

For a full list of links check out https://linktr.ee/faetooth

SRTN WEBSITE

How to be an Ethical Slut is the award-winning solo by Brooke McCarthy. Experience the ride of your life as an unethical slut penetrates lies, STDs, triads, orgies, and love in her musical journey to becoming an Ethical Slut. 

Lead performer and solo daredevil - Brooke McCarthy is an actor, singer, dancer, content creator (YouTube: Bartender Brookie), playwright, and teaching artist. She holds her MFA in Acting from the University of Georgia. She's originally from NJ and currently resides in Charlotte, NC.

Part solo show, part cabaret, the play covers the life of an unethical slut named Blake Valentini as she struggles between dating the socially acceptable way - monogamy - or daring to open her mind to unusual relationship pleasures and tribulations. This bold, sexy, and vulnerable story touches upon topics that are often unseen onstage such as sexual health and nonconventional relationship styles. Everyone, including Blake, may learn a thing or two about honesty and sexuality throughout this wild ride.

The limited run in NYC 2023, plays February 18 - 27 at UNDER St. Marks in the East Village. How to be an Ethical Slut is directed by Robyn Accetta and has played to packed houses and won numerous awards in 2022 including the “Spirit of the Fringe” (St. Lou Fringe Festival), “Philly Fringie” Audience Choice Award (Philly Fringe), and the "Best of Fest" (Hartford Fringe Festival).

Brooke McCarthy discussed what inspired her to write the show, “I wanted to share my personal journey with polyamory and all of the hard lessons it taught me about honesty, relationships, and owning our unique identities. Not only is non-monogamy not the norm in our society, but it was also something I did not talk about openly in my personal life nor is it something that appears often in a positive light on stage. I was inspired to use parts of my own life to craft a story that inspires honesty in our relationships while empowering us to embrace the unconventional ways that people may love each other. After all, love is love.” She went on to share, “Whether my audience identifies as polyamorous, monogamous, or polycurious, I hope they absorb a new perspective on life and love.

Upcoming Performances of How to Be an Ethical Slut

Frontera Festival in Austin, TX Jan 29, 30, Feb 4

Frigid Fest NYC Feb 18-27

Visit Brooke's homepage at http://www.howtobeanethicalslut.com/

Follow Brooke on Instagram @howtobeanethicalslut and Tik Tok @howtobeanethicalslut

SRTN WEBSITE

Frederick Livingston lives in the liminal space between experiential education, sustainable agriculture, and peacebuilding. His work has appeared in numerous literary and scientific journals, public parks, and bathroom stalls.

SRTN podcast

Rebecca Mills is an artist and arts professional who has  independently curated exhibits, facilitated events, wrote a successful one act play, and is a creative writer as well. She freelances as a teaching artist and arts educator, having taught youth and young adults through workshops, special programs, and as an adjunct professor. Her primary medium is oil painting with mixed media such as glitter, sequins, found objects, and very feminine materials. Rebecca's work is directly influenced by transcendentalism; involving science, philosophy, history, and discussions based on cultures, religions, and the ancient past. She is an activist for cow protection, veganism, and environmental preservation / restoration.

https://www.ultraplasticgalaxy.com/

SRTN WEBSITE

This land runs through Katherine Paul’s blood. And it called to her. In dreams she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home. When the land calls, you listen. And KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In 2020 she made the journey from Portland back to the Skagit River, back to the cedar trees that stand tall and shrouded in fog, back to the tide flats and the mountains, back to Swinomish.

It is a powerful thing to return to our ancestral lands and often times the journey is not easy. Like the salmon through the currents, like the tide as it crawls to shore this is a story of return. It is the call and response. It is the outstretched arms of the people who came before, welcoming her home. The Land, The Water, The Sky is a celebration of lineage and strength. Even in its deepest moments of loneliness and grief, of frustration over a world wrought with colonial violence and pain, the songs remind us that if we slow down, if we listen to the waves and the wind through the trees, we will remember to breathe.

There is a throughline of story in every song, a remembrance of knowledge and teachings, a gratitude of wisdom passed down and carried. There is a reimagining of Sedna who was offered to the sea, and a beautiful rumination on sacrifice and humanity, and what it means to hold the stories that work to teach us something. . .

Special thanks to co-host Bonita Randklev.

https://www.blackbelteaglescout.com/

SRTN WEBSITE

Show creators Ken Volante (Creator and Host) and Peter Bauer (Editor and Producer) have a fun conversation that will let you know what THINGS you will see in 2023!

We hope you enjoy this conversation and that some of the bigger ideas inspire you in your ART and LIFE.

ONE LOVE!

Check out Peter's work

Flaming Bison- Freeform Cosmic Groove: https://flamingbison.bandcamp.com/

 https://youtu.be/NJGdcKfgyp8

High Cascade Lakes- Guided Meditations: https://highcascadelakes.bandcamp.com/album/anicca

Something (rather than nothing) thanks you.

SRTN WEBSITE

SRTN's visiting Philosopher, Jakub Ferencik is back!

We first heard from Jakub Ferencik in Episode 60. Then Jakub wrote another book (!) entitled Beyond Reason: Why We Fail at Understanding Each Other.  Jakub and host Ken Volante discusssed that work in SRTN Episode 130.

For this episode, Ferencik helps engage complicated topics such as censorhsip, hate speech, and free speech with attention to the complicated engine of  modern social media. 

Enjoy this conversation and help formulate the conceptual backdrop for these important conversations.

SRTN WEBSITE

Shara Nova has released five albums under the moniker My Brightest Diamond and has composed works for The Crossing, Conspirare, Cantus Domus, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Roomful of Teeth, many community choirs, as well as yMusic, Brooklyn Rider, violist Nadia Sirota, Aarhus Symfoni, North Carolina Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, among others.

In 2019, she composed for over 600 community musicians and the Cincinnati Symphony in celebration of their 125th season, a piece entitled "Look Around," with director Mark DeChiazza. Her baroque chamber p’opera “You Us We All” premiered in the US in October 2015 at BAM Next Wave Festival. With co-composer and performer Helga Davis, Nova created a four-screen film entitled “Ocean Body,” along with director Mark DeChiazza, which premiered at The Momentary in August 2021, shortly followed by the premiere of “Infinite Movement,” her baroque masque for 100 musicians, set to text by artist Matthew Ritchie, which premiered at The University of North Texas in November 2021.

Ms. Nova is the featured singer on “The Blue Hour” with the string orchestra A Far Cry and co-composers Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Caroline Shaw on Nonesuch Records (Sept ‘22).  A collection of songs by Nico Muhly with Detroit’s acclaimed wind ensemble Akropolis Quintet also features Ms. Nova’s voice entitled Hymns for Private Use (Oct ‘22). A number of music composers, including Sarah Kirkland Snider, Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Steve Mackey and David Lang have created works specifically for her voice. She has collaborated with Matthew Barney, The Decemberists, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, and many others.

Shara has a couple different branches to her life:

Singer and Composer Branch: https://shara-nova.com/

Pop Music Branch: https://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/

Instagram: @mybrightestdiamond

Twitter: @MyBrightestDmnd

Writing on Substack: https://substack.com/profile/91251132-shara-nova

SRTN WEBSITE

Check out her website for calendar update and merch blairborax.com

Follow Blair on Instagram and TikTok @blairartthou

Her music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and wherever you listen to music.

https://www.blairborax.com/

SRTN WEBSITE

Taubnernaut was formed several months before the first pandemic lockdown with the intention of creating a power trio with the improvisational intensity of Jimi Hendrix and the darkness and heaviness of Black Sabbath. In the end, what you have is heavy psych with a variety of influences and always a hunger for improvisation. 

Taubnernaut is Guitar-Vinny Taubner, Bass-Nathan Crumpler, Drums-Mike Land.

https://taubnernaut.bandcamp.com/music

SRTN WEBSITE

Shea Glasheen is an innovative, musical craftsman from Long Island. His artistic work includes sound design and film production as well as musical work with CRONIES and The Real Codington Factory

Matthew Kyle Levine is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in New York City.  His short films have won awards and played at numerous film festivals throughout North America, including the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival and the Canada Shorts Film Festival, most notably for his short film “Miss Freelance”.

Daddy's Wallet was recently screened at the Bowery Film Festival in NYC.

Watch Trusted Hands (clip played at the top of the episode) and other short films on Mathew Kyle Levine's Vimeo: 

MKL Vimeo

SRTN Website

Elyse Kelly is an award-winning director based in Washington DC. Her strength and passion is storytelling through an animated lens, and leading teams of world-class artists to create content that entertains, challenges and changes the hearts and minds of audiences. Elyse runs a full-service animation studio, Neon Zoo, that specializes in content for documentaries, brands, and NGOs.In 2020,  Elyse was animation director on the feature documentary, In the Dark of the Valley. The film won a number of awards in festivals and was released in 2021 by MSNBC Films. In 2022 it received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.In 2017, Elyse co-directed Fired Up, an animated short that depicts the origins of President Obama’s “fired up, ready to go” chant. Released on the final day of the Obama presidency, the film was featured by The Atlantic and has been viewed more than 8 million times.Elyse Kelly  over 15 years of experience in animation and film, working for clients such as Netflix, the ACLU, The Atlantic, Sesame Workshop, Sony Music, the United Nations Foundation, and Disney Research. Her films have won awards and been exhibited in festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Tribeca, Annecy, Zagreb, and OIAF.

Check out Elyse's work in:

Smart Justice

Emmy nominated In the Dark of the Valley

Speech Wars

Miss Americana

Visit the Neon Zoo Animation Studio homepage and follow Elyse on @e.l.y.s.e.k.e.l.l.y

Neon Zoo

SRTN Website

Born in Latrobe Pennsylvania, Kenneth Nicholson received his AFA from Westmoreland County Community College in 2010, BFA from Seton Hill University in 2014, and MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2016.  He currently teaches as an adjunct instructor at University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Seton Hill University, and Westmoreland County Community College.  His work has been exhibited in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Ohio, Washington DC, New Jersey, and New York.

Follow Kenneth's works in progress on Instagram @grosssferatu

Check out the finished pieces at https://kennethnicholsonart.com

SRTN Website

Multi Media Artist Shannon Kringen grew up in San Diego California and Whidbey Island Washington. She is a self taught photographer with a background in Graphic Design. She has worked as a figure model in Seattle since 1992. She completed her BA degree in Arts and Literature from Antioch University in 2013. She sees her creative expression as a tool to connect with community and a way of increasing self awareness and tap into a deeper wisdom within.

We talked about Hundertwasser

Music! 

SRTN Website

Sammy Westervelt of the Death Valley Girls and Egg Drop Soup is back on the show following her Portland streetcast (Episode 155)!   "I feel as though I'm a conscious being, and I'm almost certain that I'm observing things around me, and those things are somethings thinging."    Check out the SRTN streetcast with Death Valley Girls in Episode 155 Watch I Got Us Journals   Check out the puppet action in the OR Durves Video Follow on Instagram: Egg Drop Soup, Death Valley Girls, Sour Party Movie Listen on Spotify, Apple Music Merch available on Bandcamp and Suicide Squeeze

Something Rather Than Nothing Website

Enjoy this wonderful conversation with the amazing painter and artist Robyn Tsinnajinnie. Robyn is a Native artist based in the New Mexico.

Robyn and I spoke about the Southwest, representations of Indigeneity, native shows & art & fashion, philosophy, color and Art School, and so much more!

Her paintings are to be adored and loved.

Find her at sanftmutig_one on Instagram

SRTN Website

I’m Jonathan Case - a cartoonist from the great Pacific Northwest. I love to make art, to write stories, and to go on adventures with loved ones - especially if there’s a hammock involved. Daddy’s sleepy.

Stuff I’ve done:

My 2015 graphic novel, The New Deal (author/artist, Dark Horse), was a nominee for the Reuben, Harvey, and Oregon Book awards for best graphic album. In 2012 I snagged an Eisner award for Green River Killer, A True Detective Story (Dark Horse). My other books include Dear Creature (author/artist, Dark Horse), Batman ’66 (artist, DC), Superman: American Alien (artist, DC), and Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria and Over the Garden Wall: Circus Friends (author, BOOM!). I’m currently working on a new graphic novel, Little Monarchs (author/artist, Holiday House), which is a sort of a joyful post-apocalyptic adventure book for kids.

In addition to comics I paint murals, create book covers, and illustrate for print. You can find some of that up on walls around Portland, Oregon (our current home base).

My chief adventuring partners are my wife, Sarah, and our two daughters, Dorothy and Miriam. Our son Otis, who we lost in 2016, tags along in spirit.

https://jonathancase.net/

SRTN Website

While Jeri Shepherd is new to the world of fiction, the author behind the Fault Lines Series has been in the writing industry for decades in playwriting, children's books, sportswriting, biography, leadership, ministry, and more. She wrote under the name Reji Laberje as a solo author and as a co-author alongside celebrities, athletes, and leaders of industry. 

As Reji Laberje, Jeri has 12 #1 bestsellers in her 60+ books and plays, as well as another 17 #1 bestsellers amongst those books for which she was a contributing editor; ultimately, her pen was on 29 #1 bestsellers and she has been nominated for prestigious awards in playwriting and fiction. Jeri has combined print book sales of half a million copies across all of her works, in addition to sales in both audio and e-books. 

She's led more than 85 book projects in multiple roles including: author, co-writer, editor, designer, publisher, consultant, coach, and marketer; in that last role, she's led 80 different authors to #1 bestselling titles on lists with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, USA Today, and others. In addition, she consulted with and wrote for independent and traditional authors and publishers who then created entire new lines and book businesses as a result. Hundreds of stories have been told, published, and sold through her professional gifts and services.

https://www.jerishepherdbooks.com/

SRTN Website

Marc J Palm is an artist you definitely need to know. He is an Eisner Award nominated cartoonist with Mad Magazine. He makes amazing ART. 

He is the self-publisher of The Fang, Punch to Kill, Dune mini comics and Intruder comix newspaper.

Listen here for a great conversation with Marc as we cover comix, music, life, bananafishbones (jk), the universe and everything.

Get his ART here https://www.etsy.com/shop/swellzombie

SRTN Website

Susie deVille is on a mission to show entrepreneurs the power of trusting themselves. Work lighter while making higher profits. Eliminate self-doubt. To stop trying to overachieve one’s way into a sense of self, but rather lean into the surprising power of innate creativity. Her new book, Buoyant: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Becoming Wildly Successful, Creative, and Free, shows you how.

In this transformational book, Susie shares the tools and exercises you need to tap into creativity, cultivate inspiration, and become your best, truest self.

Buoyant helps you shed the belief that being an entrepreneur means prioritizing productivity at all costs. Instead, Susie invites you to embrace an easier path to success and freedom. She provides all the knowledge you need to end burnout and live an artful life of joy.

Buoyant is The Artist’s Way for entrepreneurs. The way to creativity is to be wild, bold. Unapologetically yourself. Your voice and vision matter. You can positively impact the world, one idea, one person at a time.

https://innovationandcreativityinstitute.com/book/

SRTN Website

A delirious time with Bonnie Bloomgarden and Sammy Westervelt of the Death Valley Girls

Stay on after the fun chat for the exclusive live cut of Abre Camino

Your day will be made more smiley by this experience.

Check out their Podcast - available on all major platforms! 

Support their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Deathvalleygirls?utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan

Check out their bandcamp here:

https://deathvalleygirls.bandcamp.com/

Big ups to these heroes!

SRTN Website

I was visiting the ocean. The ocean always transforms me.

I went to the market and faire. There I saw such fantastickal ART. 

I saw animal-people and people-animals-both. 

They were all the creations of someone named Holly who is Wildness by Design.

So, Something (rather than nothing) is happy to present Holly!

https://www.wildnessbydesign.com/about-holly/

SRTN Website

Pamela Valfer still has my mind reeling on questions of space, time, art, philosophy and history. Check this episode out. Bonus: a lovely Kitty Craft song at the end.

Valfer's statement:

 "In my creative work I am interested in the politics of Space. I use a multidisciplinary approach (performance, installation, video and drawing) to reveal constructions of post-truth and our unconscious participation in mediated spaces. I actively draw upon historical moments to allow the viewer to unlock historical ideas, conflate them with similar political propositions being propagated today, and question their own role within these systems."

https://pamelavalfer.com/home.html

SRTN Website

Saroya Tinker is currently a professional women's ice hockey player for the PHF's Toronto Six. She previously graduated from Yale University with her Bachelors of Arts in The History of Science, Medicine and Public Health. In addition to her studies she played on the Yale Varsity Women's Ice Hockey team. Since graduating, Saroya has found a passion for educating others and using her social media platforms to encourage and provide resources for others. By doing so, Saroya has decided to provide a mentorship program for young women of color. 

She feels confident in her abilities to educate and provide a positive role model-like figure for our worlds up and coming BIPOC women.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/saroya-tinker-black-girl-hockey-club-nwhl

SRTN Website

Aranea Push is a digital illustrator and comic artist living in the PNW. Aranea blends rich illustration with sharp attitude, creating a style she lovingly refers to as ‘Effin’ Adorable’. In 2023, she published her first graphic novel “Coffee & Wine” which you can read in its entirety here!\

SRTN Website

Browser's Bookstore

Popular Culture and Philosophy Series

Originally from Austin Texas, Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist Kym Priess is a pure pioneerwoman, fierce frontwoman, adventurous musician, writer and actor.  As of late, she has specialized in creating conceptual whimsical performance art mixed with immersive, interactive rock n’ roll experiences under the name STUNTDRIVER. 

The debut concept album “Saga” was released last September on Rock Hand Records and has been described as “Very Peaches / Karen O feel to the vocals, edgy and full of fire,” by blog Analogue Trash.  This project initially debuted as a full immersive production in LA to a sold-out pair of wild, multi-media shows.  Spectacle concerts have started up again as a full band whose members include Kym, John Avila (Oingo Boingo), Anton Söder and Sean Burgess (Boneacre, Nightjacket.) In fact, Kym just returned from a solo tour to Seattle and back and audiences are loving the interactive elements (like crawling through a human tunnel) especially after lacking live entertainment for so long.  

Kym’s work pushes boundaries, forms and comfort levels yet maintains a fun-loving, absurd and curious tone and has been seen in music venues, galleries, theaters, non-traditional locations and federal prisons in New York, LA, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Honolulu and Austin since the 1990s. 

Kym’s hybrid creations are highly influenced by the Wizard of Oz, the art of drag and disguise, clown, Cindy Sherman, Grace Jones, Karen Finley, David Bowie, alter-egos, elaborate costuming and makeup, 80s/90s music videos, fairy tales, old superhero stories, and human interaction.  

Recipient of multiple artist residencies including Laura Escude’s Transmute Retreat and The Field, this discipline bender’s career took root in the NYC/NYU experimental theater world prompting many theatrical, comedic and musical works including her first rock opera that was awarded “Best of the Fringe” (SF Fringe Festival 2005).  Kym has fronted and formed multiple bands, written 300 songs (many of which can be heard on Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules), shared stages with Exene Cervenka and Fishbone and her voice can be heard on William Shatner’s Spirit in the Sky.

In addition to playing live shows again, Kym recently shot a comedy for Amazon, and is returning to the pen writing new songs and a darkly comedic pilot along with creating a multi-sensory side project named after her late great bronco-riding father, Ryland. 

Kym loves tubing down a river more than anything else.

https://www.stuntdrivermusic.com/stuntdrivermusic

Bonus link: BLAZAR opened up for Stuntdriver in Eugene, OR recently - here is a link to the face-melting sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHaJ8lluw5s

STDR:

https://youtu.be/_bq0LpFKQH4

SRTN Website

For the 150th Episode of the show we have the fabulous April March!

In a former life April March must have been a rockier fairy than Tinker Bell and like a cat, she has already had several lives. An animator trained by Disney, she has animated for Pee-wee Herman, Ren & Stimpy, Madonna, worked on Archie Comics, assisted Spiderman creator Steve Ditko and even assisted the legendary Harry Smith who occasionally brought Allen Ginsberg in tow to mentor her. She entered the NYC music scene with her garage girl-group The Pussywillows, which Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes, promptly hired to record and perform with her. A year into her music career, she landed on stage with Ronnie Spector at a completely sold out Madison Square Garden. Over a large plate of chicken back stage, Bo Diddley said to her, “Welcome to Rock and Roll.”

Next she joined The Shitbirds and The Haves, finally settling into the driver’s seat as April March. A Francophile from a tender age, she re-introduced an international audience to the French pop heritage of Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Dani, Gillian Hills and many others. She cut her teeth in self production on a slew of popular to very obscure covers and adaptations of songs the French themselves had forgotten. Quentin Tarantino plucked “Chick Habit,” her adaptation of Gainsbourg’s “Laisse Tomber Les Filles,” to feature in his film “Death Proof.” She recorded “Chick Habit” with the help of Andy Paley who introduced her to Brian Wilson. This began a nice stretch of recording on and off with Brian for the next couple of years subsequently giving her a priceless education in both arrangement and production. So when Alexander Payne couldn’t reach Brigitte Bardot on the phone he hired April instead to write and produce her own Bardotesque song for his film “Election.” Next she met the modern day French Phil Spector — Bertrand Burgalat (just as talented, but a lot less dangerous). She made two albums with Burgalat, the first of which “Chrominance Decoder,” was chosen as one of the top ten albums of the year by The New Yorker and in the top 100 of all time by the seminal French magazine Rock et Folk. Burgalat introduced her to the great Aquaserge which led to an album and two films directed by Marie Losier landing her performances at The Centre Pompidou, MOMA and PS1.

April March has recorded with Ronnie Spector, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Richman, R.L. Burnside, Andy Paley, Bertand Burgalat, Tony Allen, Yo La Tengo, LL Cool J, Alain Chamfort, Darlene Love, The Dust Brothers, Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), Maya Rudolph, Sean OHagan, and Aquaserge. After such a list of credits, certain artists would have rested on their laurels to the strains of “The Afternoon of a Faun,” but this Franco-American ringleader is a horse of a different color, preferring to go forward rather than look over her shoulder, which brings us to the latest. She has just been cast alongside Gerard Depardieu and Vanessa Paradis in a feature film. After having published a children’s book with Jack White called “We Are Going To Be Friends,” she’s recorded an E.P. with Olivia Jean in his private studio which he released March 5th with a Video following on March 17th on Third Man Records. She’s releasing a new album with the amazing Fugu featuring Tony Allen of Fela and Gorillaz as well as Marilyn Wilson of The Beach Boys and American Spring on July 17th with Record Store Day. The cherry on top? It’s another new album with the dazzling duo Staplin who, according to Radio France,“compose with talent music where pop sunshine melodies of the sixties dance on trip hop beats, psyche rock rubs shoulders with cosmic flights of evanescent synths, and repetitive orchestral music stretches to festive groove storms.” 

https://www.aprilmarch.com/

SRTN Website

Episode 149 is a conversation with Renée Barasch about tattooes, art, environment, Oregon and what is important in life.

"Tattooer, adventure prone, simple moments, glorious mess”   

Renée was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. 

She began tattooing in 2016.  

Her studio in Astoria, Simply Human Art, opened summer of 2019.  

Renée also tattoos with Hidden Rose tattoo in Northwest Portland.

For look at Renée’s work and to inquire about booking, visit her website 

www.simplyhumanart.com 

SRTN Website