Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to musician Chris Leo. Originally from New Jersey, Chris started playing music in the early 1990s with his brother Danny in the groundbreaking hardcore band Native Nod. When they broke up, Chris formed the post-rock band The Van Pelt, whose two albums - Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves and Sultans Of Sentiment - were released by NJ indie record label Gern Blandsten. Chris then formed The Lapse with Van Pelt member Toko Yasuda (also of Enon and Blonde Redhead) and then the Vague Angels. A few years ago, La Castanya released a Van Pelt rarities album called Imaginary Third. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to comedian Ronny Chieng. Born in Malaysia, Ronny was raised in New Hampshire and Singapore and graduated from the University of Melbourne in Australia with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce. That same year, he started performing stand-up, and since then he has toured four sold out global stand up comedy theater tours in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Canada and London and recorded four award winning comedy specials. In Australia, Ronny has written and acted in multiple television shows which include Problems, Legally Brown, It’s a Date and more. He also co-created and starred in his own pilot International Student. Ronny is currently a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central and was recently named one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Grammy Award winning cabaret artist and actor Nathan Lee Graham. Originally from St. Louis, Nathan's notable film roles include Todd in Zoolander and Zoolander 2, Frederick Montana in Sweet Home Alabama and Geoff in Hitch and on TV has appeared as Peter in The Comeback, and had guest starring roles on Scrubs, Absolutely Fabulous and Law & Order SVU. His stage appearances include Phil D'Armano in the original Broadway cast of the Tony and Grammy Award nominated The Wild Party and as Miss Understanding in the original Broadway cast of the Tony nominated Priscilla Queen of the Desert. He received a Drama League Award nomination for the role of Rey Rey in the off-Broadway production of Wig Out! and won an Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Feature Performer in a Musical in The Wild Party LA Premiere in 2006. More recently, he has appeared in the role of Carson in Hit the Wall at the Barrow Street Theatre. He earned a 2005 Best Classical Album Grammy Award for Songs of

On today's episode I talk to writer, comedian and podcast host Negin Farsad. Originally from Palm Springs by-way-of Virginia, Negin is highly accomplished in many domains. She's the director, writer and star of the romantic comedy 3rd Street Blackout, which starred Janeane Garofalo, Ed Weeks, and John Hodgman, as well as the director and producer of the feature film The Muslims Are Coming! which starred Jon Stewart and David Cross. Negin is also the host of a political comedy round-table podcast called Fake the Nation, which is on the Earwolf Network, and most recently is the author of author of a memoir-meets-social-justice-comedy manifesto entitled How to Make White People Laugh, which was published by Grand Central/Hachette. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Emmy nominated comedy writer Caissie St. Onge. Originally from Fitchberg, MA, Caissie is a prolific comedy writer. She’s worked for The Late Show with David Letterman, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, VH1’s Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins, The Grammy Awards, The Tony Awards, and regularly wrote material for Joan Rivers. She's also a YA author having penned the novel Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever. and is currently a Supervising Producer on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to actor and comedian Amy Hoggart. Amy grew up in the suburbs of London, and though she received an advanced degree in clinical psychology, she ended up pursuing a career in comedy. She started in the famous Cambridge sketch group The Footlights and the London stand-up scene, and in 2014 was cast in the BBC America show Almost Royal. And in 2016, Amy became a correspondent on the weekly late night show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

Every so often I do these "bonus episodes" where I talk to a showbiz professional about the actual nuts and bolts of different topics in the Entertainment Industry in an attempt to demystify these things. And on today's episode, I talk to the love of my life Naomi Ekperigin (former writer for Broad City, you may have heard her on 2 Dope Queens or on her own Comedy Central Half Hour), and we talk today about a topic that's been bothering me for a while: The Myth of the Meritocracy. I pose the question: Is Showbiz merit-based?, and we using that as a launching point to get in deep about this profession that we're in. Non-cynical networking, social connections and more on this week's episode! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Kasher. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Tim has been playing music since he was young. One of Tim's first bands, Slowdown Virginia was shortlived though they inspired other bands to form like The Faint and Bright Eyes, and Lumberjack Records, the record label that put out their one album, became Saddle Creek, one of the biggest indie labels around. In 1995, Tim formed Cursive, which in their 20 years together have released numerous EPs and seven albums, including their 2003 breakthrough LP The Ugly Organ. In 2000, Tim started a solo project called The Good Life, though this quickly grew into a full fledged band, leaving Tim to record albums on his own. Those solo works include The Game of Monogamy in 2010 and his latest No Resolutions, which was released earlier this year on 15 Passenger Records, a label Tim formed with some of his Cursive bandmates. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Jason Balla and Mikey Wells of the indie rock band NE-HI. Based in Chicago, NE-HI originally formed in 2013 to score a friend's film. But when the four of them realized they had a lot of chemistry together, they decided to make the band official. Their first self-titled album was released on Manic Static in 2014 and their latest album Offers was released earlier this year on Grand Jury Music. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Jason Narducy. Jason began his rock career at the age of ten when he co-founded the band Verböten – one of the seminal acts in the Chicago punk scene. He then went on to become frontman/songwriter/guitarist for Verbow, another beloved Windy City outfit who signed a major-label deal with Epic/Sony during the ‘90s alt-rock bubble and followed that up with an ongoing, nearly decade-long run as indie-rock’s secret weapon – serving as bassist and backing vocalist for indie-underground icons like Bob Mould, Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices, Telekinesis and Superchunk. In 2011, Jason started writing his own music again as Split Single, with Spoon's Britt Daniel and Superchunk's Jon Wurster as his backing band. He's released two albums as Split Single, Fragmented World in 2014 and his latest Metal Frames, which is just lovely. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to violinist David Harrington. Originally from Seattle, David is the founder of the renowned contemporary classical group Kronos Quartet. The group was established in 1973, and since then, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 50 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world's most intriguing and accomplished composers and performers - which include people like Terry Riley and Steve Reich - and commissioning more than 850 works and arrangements for string quartet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given to musicians. The group’s numerous awards also include a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance in 2004. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer and actor Mara Wilson. Mara started off in showbiz as a child actor in such films as Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street and Matilda. After her mother passed away when she was 8 though, she lost some of her passion for acting, and eventually left that side of the business. While she infrequently acts now, appearing on shows like Broad City or BoJack Horseman, Mara is much more of a writer and storyteller. Her first book, Where Am I Now?, was just published last year by Penguin Books. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

Every so often I do these "bonus episodes" where I talk to a showbiz professional about the actual nuts and bolts of different topics in the Entertainment Industry in an attempt to demystify these things. And on today's episode, I have a wide-ranging and frank talk about comedy journalism with Vulture.com Senior Editor and host of the new Good One Podcast Jesse David Fox. The conversation starts out with how his new podcast is really about the phenomenology of stand-up, and from there we get into the tangled friend/business relationships that make up showbiz, how they're difficult to navigate for neurotics like us, and how comedy journalism fits in to the "business" part of showbiz. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Kinsella. Originally from Chicago, Tim has been part of some of the best indie rock bands of the last quarter-century. In 1989, he formed Cap'n Jazz along with his brother Mike, who would go on to become a frequent collaborator with Tim and a well-know artist in his own right in bands like American Football and Owen. Even though Cap'n Jazz only put out one album - and later an anthology on Jade Tree Records - they became a cult band and helped define a kind of post-hardcore art-rock. After Cap'n Jazz broke up, Tim formed the even-more-experimental band Joan of Arc, which has been his main project since 1995. Since their first album A Portable Model of..., they've put out over 30 albums and 7"es. Tim's also played in many other memorable bands including Owls, Friend/Enemy and Make Believe, and that's just naming a few. Joan of Arc's latest He’s Got The Whole This Land Is Your Land In His Hands was just released by Joyful Noise. This is the website for Beginnings, subs

On today's episode I talk to violist Nadia Sirota. Based in New York, Nadia is a Juilliard-trained violist best known for her singular sound and expressive execution and she's worked with a number of amazing contemporary composers like Nico Muhly, Judd Greenstein, and Missy Mazzoli. Her debut album First Things First was released in 2009 on New Amsterdam Records and was cited as a record of the year by The New York Times. In addition to her work as a soloist, Nadia is a member of yMusic, ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and Alarm Will Sound, and has lent her viola to recording and concert projects by artists such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Anohni and Arcade Fire. In 2015, she won a Peabody Award for her podcast Meet the Composer.  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to rapper and academic Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo AKA Sammus. Originally from upstate New York, Enongo currently lives in Ithaca where she is attending Cornell to pursue her PhD in Science and Technology Studies. Parallel to her academic work, Enongo is a rising star in the indie hip hop scene. She released her first EP Fly Nerd in 2010, and since then has released numerous albums and EPs, some on her own, some through the NuBlack Music Group and her latest Pieces in Space was released last year by Don Giovanni records. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer Chris Claremont. Born in London, Chris' family moved to the States when he was a child, and though he originally studied acting and political theory, he eventually started writing comics after taking a job as a gofer/editorial assistant at Marvel while in college. Chris was originally given the low-selling series X-Men to write, which he did for the next 16 years, turning it into both a groundbreaking and best-selling series and revolutionizing the ways stories in comics were told. Not only did he create many beloved characters including Rogue, Psylocke, Kitty Pryde, Mystique, Emma Frost, Sabretooth, Strong Guy, Mister Sinister, Captain Britain, and Gambit, but he also scripted some of the most iconic stories of the X-Men's entire existence including "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past". Besides his work on the X-Men, Chris wrote the spin-offs The New Mutants and Excalibur, and has written for almost every character in the Marvel Universe. His relaunch of X-Men

On today's episode I talk to stand-up and writer Joel Kim Booster. Originally from South Korea, Joel was adopted at a young age and moved to the southwest suburbs of Chicago. He's written for Billy on the Street and Moshe Kasher's new Comedy Central show, and was one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Festival last year. He's also performed on Comedy Knockout, The Meltdown, and Conan, and recently sold a show to Fox based on his life called Birthright! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Matt Pond. Originally from New Hampshire, Matt began writing and releasing music in 1998 as Matt Pond PA. Debuting with the album Deer Apartments, the band quickly gained momentum after claiming top honors in an unsigned bands competition sponsored by CDNOW. Since then, Matt - along with a rotating cast of musical collaborators - has released almost two dozen albums and EPs on labels like Polyvinyl and BMG. His latest, Winter Lives, was just released late last year on Matt's new indie label 131 Records. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer and performer Amber Ruffin. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Amber began her comedy career studying at iO in Chicago. From there she moved to Amsterdam, where she performed with Boom Chicago all over Europe, eventually ending up at the Second City Mainstage back in the States. In 2014, she became a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers - the first black, female writer in late night history - and she often performs on the show, most notably in the recurring segment "Jokes Seth Can't Tell".  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.