Beginnings

On today's episode, I talk to musician Patrick Shiroishi. For years, Los Angeles-based saxophonist and composer Patrick Shiroishi has been playing music in numerous bands and ensembles crossing a number of different genres. These include groups such as Corima, Upsilon Acrux, Nakata, In the Womb, Oort Smog, as well as many others. Patrick also records solo under his own name, and this includes his latest, Hidemi, a solo multilayered woodwind journey, about his grandfather's personal experience after getting out of the Japanese-American concentration camps. And it is easily one of the best albums of the year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician and actor Katelyn Tarver. After getting her start performing in prestigious talent competitions as a child in Glennville, Georgia, Katelyn moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She promptly made her TV debut with a recurring role on Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush, then began independently releasing her music while penning songs for other artists. In 2014 she experienced a major breakthrough when “Crazy Stupid Love” (a song she’d co-written for British pop star Cheryl) shot to #1 on the UK Singles Chart. Since then, Katelyn's released a number of singles and EPs, recurred on shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Ballers, and her latest album Subject to Change will be released very soon, in early November! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Buzz Osborne. Originally from Morton, WA, Buzz founded the rock band Melvins in the early '80s, and in 1986, C/Z Records released their first EP Six Songs. Since then, they've released over 40 more albums, EPs and compilations on record labels like Alternative Tentacles, Sub Pop and Ipecac Recordings, and while never achieving mainstream success - if that's even something they sought - the band is both sustainable and hugely influential, influencing everyone from Nirvana and Soundgarden to Helmet, Tool, Mastodon and many others. Their latest album, Five Legged Dog, a 36-song acoustic reimagining of their discography, is out now! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to cartoonist Keith "Keef" Knight. Starting with his K Chronicles in the early '90s, Keith has been a professional cartoonist for almost three decades. In that time, he's started two other series - (th)ink and the Knight Life - and written almost 20 books of cartoons. Keith has been syndicated everywhere, won awards like the Harvey Award and was named one of 2015's History Makers by the NAACP. In addition to all of this, he co-created the TV show Woke, which is partially based on his life, and whose second season debuts on Hulu later this year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician David Thomas. Raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, David is one of the founders of the short-lived but influential punk band Rocket from the Tombs, who split up after about a year, with some members going off to form the Dead Boys, while David founded Pere Ubu. While David would record on and off with the self-described avant-garage Pere Ubu over the next 40 years, he has also recorded with a number of different collaborators under a number of different names, such as David Thomas & the Pedestrians, David Thomas & the Wooden Birds and David Thomas & Two Pale Boys. Earlier in September, Fire Records reissued two classic Pere Ubu albums Pennsylvania and St Arkansas! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Indigo De Souza. Originally from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and later based in Asheville, Indigo recorded her first EP, Boys, in a friend's garage in 2016. Following another short-form release, she delivered her debut album, I Love My Mom, in 2018. She then signed with Saddle Creek, which reissued the debut just weeks before releasing the tempestuous Any Shape You Take at the end of August. And it's one of my favorite things released this year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's special 500th episode, I talk to BAFTA Award-winning comedy writer Arthur Mathews. Originally from Navan, Co Meath, Ireland, Arthur was originally on the path to become a graphic designer until his writing partner suggested they go to London to try their hand at professional comedy writing. Since that day, Arthur has co-created the seminal comedy Father Ted, wrote on some of the best UK comedies of the early 2000s, including Jam, Brass Eye and Black Books, co-created the Simon Pegg-starring sketch show Big Train, and later, with Matt Berry, created Toast of London. And just creating any one of those would have put him in a rarefied pantheon, let alone Father Ted, Big Train AND Toast of London! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician/poet/actor McKenzie Chinn. Originally from Fort Washington, McKenzie is a true triple threat. As an actor, she has appeared on Fox's Empire and The Big Leap, is a 2021 fellow in the  Sundance Directors Lab, and wrote, produced and acted in the film Olympia, which made its debut at the 2018 LA Film Festival. As a poet, her work has appeared in numerous publications and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and as a musician, she is part of the Growing Concerns Poetry Collective, whose second album BIG DARK BRIGHT FUTURES was released last fall. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Ramona Gonzalez AKA NIte Jewel. Born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, Ramona studied philosophy at Occidental College. She remained involved in music throughout her studies, playing in a series of rock bands with her then husband, and eventually starting her solo career as Nite Jewel. After a self-released six-song CD-R titled My CD, which caught the ear of New York's taste-making Other Records, Nite Jewel issued the full-length Good Evening through Human Ear Music. Since then, Ramona has released over a dozen albums, EPs and singles on record labels like Mexican Summer and Secretly Canadian, and her most recent album No Sun was released just last week on her own label Gloriette, and it's great! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer Bill Oakley. Originally from Union Bridge, Maryland, Bill attended Harvard where he spent most of his time writing for the Harvard Lampoon. After graduating, Bill took on a number of different jobs until he and his longtime friend and writing partner Josh Weinstein were eventually hired to work on The Simpsons. Together, the two wrote some of the most classic episodes of the show including "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" and "22 Short Films About Springfield", and were subsequently promoted to executive producer and showrunner during the seventh and eighth seasons. Since then, Bill co-created Mission Hill, wrote for Futurama, Portlandia and Disenchanted, and currently is the showrunner for the delightful HBO Max series Close Enough! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Kath Myers. Originally from Ohio, Kath had a roundabout route into making music that took her from the world of high finance in New York all the way to living the "artist's way" in Los Angeles. Her first album under her own name, Sensitive Groups, was just released in June, and it's fantastic! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to modern composer Terry Riley. Originally from Colfax, CA, Terry began studying composition and performing solo piano in the 1950s. He befriended and collaborated with composer La Monte Young, and through the '60s further refined his sound. Terry's 1964 revolutionary composition "In C" essentially launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement. The piece's interlocking repetitive patterns changed the course of 20th century music, and its influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, as well as in the music of rock groups such as The Who and Soft Machine, as well as in collaborations with everyone from John Cale to Pauline Oliveros to Kronos Quartet. Since the '60s, Terry hasn't slowed down a moment, and he continues to compose and perform, and his latest recording is 2019's The Lion's Throne, a collaboration with singer Amelia Cuni. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to comedy writer Robert Popper. Robert Popper is a multiple award-winning writer, producer and performer. He’s the creator, writer and producer of Channel 4’s six-series Friday Night Dinner, he co-created and starred in BBC 2’s Look Around You with Peter Serafinowicz, produced the Bafta-winning Peep Show, wrote on season 14 of South Park, script-edited The Inbetweeners, The IT Crowd, and Him & Her, and co-wrote several episodes of Channel 4’s Stath Lets Flats, with Jamie Demetriou. Robert also wrote the massive bestselling The Timewaster Letters books under his pseudonym, Robin Cooper, and most recently, created The Timewaster Letters Compendium on Audible! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Joe Jack Talcum. Originally from Wagontown, PA, Joe Genaro AKA Joe Jack Talcum is the guitarist and co-lead singer of the seminal punk band The Dead Milkmen. Formed out of his home recording project dating back to the late '70s, the group didn't really coalesce until Joe went to college at Temple University. Starting with 1985's Big Lizard in My Backyard, they recorded dozens of albums and EPs, and though they broke up in 1995, they've reunited a number of times since for various shows. Outside of The Dead Milkmen, Joe is prolific, recording a number of albums on his own and with groups like The Low Budgets. His latest album Joe Jack Talcum sings Railroad Bill and Other Songs was just released late last year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

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. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to writer Steve Aylett. Born in Bromley, Steve is the author of over a dozen novels, comics and collections of short fiction. He started to get acclaim for his writing with his third novel Slaughtermatic, which was shortlisted for the 1998 Philip K. Dick Award. Slaughtermatic was part of his Beerlight series, and this, along with the Accomplice series, make up the bulk of his most well-known work, although one of his best works, Lint - a satirical, Zelig-like biography of a Philip K. Dick/Hunter S. Thompson/Ken Kesey pastiche - stands relatively alone. His latest comic, Hyperthick, will be released at the end of July by Floating World Comics. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Lou Barlow. Originally from Ohio, Lou formed his first band Deep Wound in 1982, while attending high school in western Massachusetts. Deep Wound's drummer was J Mascis, and when that band broke up, Lou and J formed Dinosaur, later to become Dinosaur Jr. The early years of the band were acclaimed but tumultuous, and after their third album, he was asked to leave the band. Lou then turned his attention to his other band Sebadoh, his side project Sentridoh, and later his other group Folk Implosion. Throughout the years, these projects - including Dinosaur Jr. - have all waxed and waned, but most recently, Lou recorded songs for Dinosaur Jr.'s latest album Sweep It Into Space, which was released in April, and his own solo album, Reason to Live, which was released at the end of May on Joyful Noise! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to actress and comedian Michaela Watkins. Originally from Syracuse, NY, Michaela's career really began when she moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, where she joined the Groundlings. She was cast on SNL for the 2008 season, and while she only stayed a year, this led to many other incredible roles on shows like New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened, Trophy Wife, New Girl, Veep, Wet Hot American Summer, Catastrophe, Get Shorty, Transparent, Search Party, The Unicorn and many other programs. In 2014, Michaela created the show Benched, and while it only lasted one season, it was a delight. And from 2015 to 2018, Michaela starred in the brilliant dramedy Casual, which is easily one of the best shows of the last decade and the spiritual successor to Six Feet Under. Most recently, Michaela co-stars in (friend of the show, friend IRL) Josh Ruben's latest film Werewolves Within.  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to bass guitarist and record producer Melvin Gibbs. A native of Brooklyn, He has been called "the greatest bassist in the world" by Time Out New York magazine and was last year's winner of JazzTimes Magazine's Critics Poll in the Electric Bass category. Melvin's wide-ranging musical resume includes membership in bands ranging from the no-wave of Defunkt to the avant-jazz of the Decoding Society, to Power Tools with Bill Frisell & Ronald Shannon Jackson, Rollins Band (where he was nominated for a Grammy), Socialybrium with Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Bernie Worrell, and the Zig Zag Power Trio with Vernon Reid and Will Calhoun of the band Living Colour. As a bassist and producer, he has worked with Femi Kuti, Caetano Veloso, dead prez,  David Byrne, Arto Lindsay, and Sonny Sharrock. He is currently a member of the band Harriet Tubman, who The New York Times twice called "The Best Jazz Performance" of the year, and his latest album is 4 + 1 equals 5 for May 25, an EP he r

On today's episode, I talk to musician Isobel Campbell. Originally from Glasgow, Isobel's musical career began with the acclaimed indie rock group Belle and Sebastian. She played cello, keyboards and sang in the group, and after five hit albums, she left the band to pursue a solo career as The Gentle Waves. She kept The Gentle Waves moniker for a few albums, afterward deciding to record music under her given name. Between 2006 and 2013, Isobel also made three albums with Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan, and her most recent album There Is No Other, was released on Rough Trade right before the pandemic crushed society for a year!  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.