This is a special episode with SRTN Producer and Editor Peter Bauer!This episode is quite the happening. It was recorded live at Warbling Creek Studios in the storied lands of Eugene, Oregon. Peter and I talked about the podcast, about music and philosophy. We reflect on the show, where it came from and where it is going. Peter is a painter, an adventurer, a musical talent, a producer and editor. Listen to this all the way through!!! Peter's musical projects Blazar, Blotter Paper, and Detour can be found here - http://bit.ly/warblingcreekThe episode features two amazing exclusive tracks to this episode!!! The first track is LoFi Beat 2 (unnamed loFi project). The final face-melting extended track features the sonic journey called Blazar. The song  *Cubensie* will take you towards the Vanishing Point and when the track ends it will drop you off on Exit 42 - otherwise known as the nexus between Something and Nothing. 

Randy J Byrd was a toddler in his playpen comfortably snuggled between two 15-inch subs that blasted the likes of Ozzy, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. Randy’s mother loved heavy music and never said he could not listen to something.Thus a Metalhead was brought into being.Randy is a photographer for the fantastic doom/metal service Doomed and Stoned which serves the varied local worldwide doom and stoner metal scenes. Randy’s images of the Metal Scene are striking and demonstrate the vibrant images in many local metal scenes.Randy is a talented musician and has delved into metal, hip-hop, and punk. We held a lively discussion about the famous Richmond, Virginia music scene which will make you very excited for some live music. We also talked about nothing, something, and being.Enjoy the music.Metal Horns up in the air.https://www.instagram.com/rivercitydoomconsulate/

Buddy Nestor is an abstract painter who strikes a strange new chord with portraiture. Using photographs he takes of beautiful women, he creates grotesque, distorted creatures, their features uncomfortably recognizable within the melting forms, slashes and swirls of Buddy’s abstraction.“These physical and psychological images are my attempt to capture the true nature of humanity. They are spiritual X-Rays. The models that I use in my work are all beautiful women. However, there is nothing beautiful about the portraits I create.”Mr. Nestor was born and raised in Collingswood, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, PA. As an only child “Latch Key Kid”, he spent endless hours in front of the television, watching movies and drawing and gravitating toward strange cult and horror films. In 1999, he traveled around the world on an aircraft carrier, and painted everyday. He received his B.A in Fine Arts shortly after his return to the States.https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/the-art-of-buddy-nestor/ 

Metra Mitchell received her early training at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY where she earned her Bachelor's of Fine Art in Painting and Minor in Art History on a full art scholarship in 2006. She later was awarded a teaching assistant ship from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, MO where she pursued her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2008.Metra's works have been exhibited in many galleries including: Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, PhD Gallery in St. Louis, MO, St. Louis Artist Guild, Art St. Louis Gallery, Cinema Gallery in Urbana, IL and The Foundry Art Center in St. Charles, MO. Institutions that have exhibited her paintings include University of Alaska- Anchorage, Susquehanna University, Northern Kentucky University, University of South Alabama, Western Kentucky University, Fontbonne University, World Trade Center in St. Louis and The Regional Commerce and Growth Association of St. Louis. She has also exhibited internationally in Eme' Exposition Internationale at the Centre Culturel et de la Vie Associative Villeurbanne in Lyon, France.In an exhibition entitled "Master PiecesMetra's works were highlighted by Cincinnati's cultural magazine City Beat as "exploring the nude figure while relishing the paint in rich colors and bold strokes. The subject's gaze- or in one decapitated instance, lack of one- and the inclusion of a single object create a haunting effect."She has given lectures on her work and process at several events including PhD Gallery's One Year Anniversary, Opening Night of Gunther Van Hagan's Bodyworlds at St. Louis Science Center and St. Louis Community College at Forest Park's annual City Art Speak. Metra has taught Figure Drawing II/III at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, Drawing I at St. Charles Community College and Drawing I/II at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. She is currently teaching Drawing II, III, Advanced Drawing, and Design I at Forest Park along with Art Appreciation at St. Charles and Maryville University. Her role as teacher has opened up a new vein in her work, something that she is just beginning to explore.https://metramitchell.com/

For this episode of Something (rather than nothing) we engage with the talented music artist and activist Laura Hopkins. Hopkins discusses her classical piano training, writing songs, growing up around music, playing guitar and creating some ‘louder’ music.Hopkins exquisite work with the band Death Parade straddles wide emotional terrain and floats into space only to be brought back in and grounded in our beautiful and strange world.We grapple with life, death, something and nothing. The soundtrack to this episode includes the music tracks Ghostworld and women of the internet (woti)https://deathparadepdx.bandcamp.com/album/it-was-worth-it-to-love-though-it-hurt-so-bad

Ghost Frog are four humanoids from planet Earth who started to make strange sounds together in the winter of star date 2013 in Portland, OR, USA. This interstellar transmission captured the words of Humanoids Quinn Schwartz and Karl Beheim.They play heavy psychedelic stoner grunge that combines doomy riffs with punk energy and otherworldly melodies while exploring themes derived from sci-fi/ horror film and literature, as well as all things spacey and/ or spooky. The result is what they call “paranormal stoner punk,” a retrofuturistic brand of nebulous noise rock that sounds like it was made by angry aliens on acid.https://ghostfrog.bandcamp.com/album/astral-arcade

Ever since she was a little kid drawing ghosts and graveyards at her desk in her parents’ basement, MELISSA ALFORD wanted to be an artist. Always a fan of the weird and the macabre, she discovered her love of sequential art through artists like Gary Larson and Charles Addams. Melissa went on to get her BFA in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and has worked as a freelance illustrator and comic artist ever since. Working primarily in pen and ink, her work focuses on themes of finding beauty in the darkness, of working through challenging emotions with art, and of course, not forgetting her artistic roots, the occasional homage to vintage horror. Melissa was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and after having lived away for several years, has once again settled in The City of Roses.https://www.melliferaarts.com/

"New perspectives can spring up from within the most insignificant everyday moments. A private photograph, a newspaper article or even a still frame of a movie can be the medium for another dimension. All these are raw materials for me, which I gradually release from any unnecessary feature that traps them into the optically compatible world. My aim is for my images to have a universality that goes beyond the context of a particular place, time or person." Kiki Kolympari was born 1974 in Nuremberg where she lived and worked for many years. She studied Visual Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Athens from 2012 to 2017.
During her studies she also completed the following courses:  Byzantine Iconography, Fresco painting, Encaustic, Ceramic sculpturing and Art Theory. She graduated with an MFA Honours Degree. She currently lives and works in Athens.https://kikikolympari.wixsite.com/kikikolympari

Jainam Jhaveri is a graduate in business management and degreed in software programming. Jainam started working when he was fifteen years old and worked in multiple corporate companies in fields like content writing, marketing and sales, software programming, administration work. In 2015, his father passed away and he took over the family business. Jainam says:"Somehow I randomly came to know about Astrology and it was very intriguing, though I did not believe in it first - but by studying it and applying it - I realized how accurate it is. Then came the love of my life and that is Philosophy. I started studying Vedanta, Buddhism and Jainism."Join 'Philosopher Jay' from Mumbai, India and host Ken Volante to learn about philosophical traditions of India and their commentaries on something, nothing, nonduality and the nature of being and becoming.https://www.instagram.com/philosopherjay/

Turkish artist, İlay Karabay Solaklı graduated from economics and spent her former years working in corporate companies and government institutions. Realizing that this lifestyle isn't satisfactory enough for her she decided to follow her childhood passion, which is painting.   The self-taught artist mostly uses acrylic and nail polish in her paintings. She believes that paintings should give people positive and calm energy, thoughts, and feelings therefore she states that color composition is the most important aspect.   Started from drawing doodles and comics, eventually, she ended up doing abstract paintings. “It’s more freeing and limitless, you can use any type of medium and draw what's inside your mind and heart without any limit,” says the artist.She also believes that talent itself is not enough to achieve your goals in the art industry. You need dedication, hard work, and most importantly creativity, so you can be original and stand out from the rest. "Basically, I paint my feelings. :)  All of them. All the time. And i like to share them with everyone. Enjoy."https://www.arteilay.com/

Vincente DiSanti Founder / Producer / Director WOMP STOMP filmsVincente DiSanti moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and has since worked in several aspects of the film industry including live-action, feature animation, story development, voice acting, visual FX, commercials, and much more. A jack of all trades, Vincente is best known for his directorial work on Never Hike Alone (2017), Never Hike in the Snow (2020), Imagine (2018), The Red Room (2015), and starring as Michael Myers in The Spirit of Haddonfield (2018). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5719786/

Ken Volante has been asking questions of SRTN guests for awhile. In this special episode, Rachel Lally, podcast host of Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other returns to ask the SRTN host the baffling questions he usually advantages himself of.  Ken Volante is a labor activist. Volante is originally from Pawtucket, RI which is known as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. He has worked on behalf of working people for a quarter century and was involved in the beginning stages of The Wisconsin Revolt. He holds degrees in English literature and Philosophy from The University of Rhode Island, an M.A. in Philosophy from Marquette University, a M.S. in Labor Studies from The University of Massachusetts - Amherst.  He has worked as a grocery clerk, a bookstore clerk, a University Professor and a union representative.  His creative endeavors include hosting the podcast 'Something (rather than nothing)', painting in an abstract style, writing short pieces and he has recently started doing short documentaries.  Volante is influenced by the following artists: Kathy Acker, Nikolai Gogol, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Jesus Christ, Stanley Kubrick, Polly Jean Harvey Andrei Tarkovsky, The Buddha, William Faulkner, David Lynch, Taylor Swift, The Cure, Neurosis, Neutral Milk Hotel, Weedeater. (((Remember, every list you write will be incomplete)))  This episode is dedicated to my lovely parents Kenny Sr. and Patricia :-)

Geoff Finan was the Writer in Residence for Dublin City Council for the Dublin North West area in the summer of 2018 and again in 2019 and is currently lecturing in the National College of Art and Design on the module ‘Voices From The Margins’. Last year he had the honour of writing the 100 year commemorative poem celebrating the first Dáil in Ireland, titled ‘January 1919’. Geoff was recently commissioned as part of the First Fortnight Festival to write his most recent piece ‘Gloke’ after working with The Traveling Community for four months. Geoff has also been commissioned by the DCC’s Culture Connects project to write for the Local Heroes initiative and his poem 'A Letter To Leo' was chosen as the flagship piece for the My Name Is campaign, fighting against child homelessness in Ireland.Geoff has written and performed a poem for the documentary Baristas, which has gone to number 1 in 8 countries, top 10 in the US and top 5 in Canada and the UK, in the documentary charts and is now streaming on Amazon Prime. He was also recently shortlisted for writing and performing in the short film ‘Taboo’. Geoff been featured on RTÉ, TV3, Today Fm, 98 FM, FM104 and Newstalk and in The Sunday Business Post, The Times, The Irish Times and The New York Times.https://www.instagram.com/thepoetgeoff/

Mary Cappello is the author of six books of literary nonfiction, including Awkward: A Detour (a Los Angeles Times bestseller); Swallow, based on the Chevalier Jackson Foreign Body Collection in Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum; and, most recently, Life Breaks In: A Mood Almanack. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Salon.com, The Huffington Post, on NPR, in guest author blogs for Powells Books, and on six separate occasions as Notable Essay of the Year in Best American Essays. A Guggenheim and Berlin Prize Fellow, a recipient of The Bechtel Prize for Educating the Imagination, and the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, Cappello is a former Fulbright Lecturer at the Gorky Literary Institute (Moscow), and currently Professor of English and creative writing at the University of Rhode Island. Lecture appeared in Fall 2020 as the inaugural title in Transit Books Undelivered Lecture Series.https://marycappello.com/bio-full/

NIKKI LYNETTE is a performer, writer, and visual artist whose individual style is equal parts hip hop, alternative, and pop. A Chicago native, she fuses mental health activism into her performances and has created a lane for her music that is uniquely her own. A proud independent artist, her self-produced tunes are currently featured in popular shows on Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and more. Lynette’s success in music licensing has earned its own accolades, including a prominent feature in Billboard Magazine and being invited to speak on a panel at South By Southwest. After a hiatus from releasing new music, Nikki Lynette returned to the public eye with a confession: she’d secretly been battling mental health issues. She began writing articles about depression and suicide for prominent sites like BlackDoctor, Afropunk and AllHipHop. A newly appointed ambassador for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Nikki’s mental health documentary Happy Songs About Unhappy Things is also currently in production. Nikki has opened for Lion Babe and Leikeli47, and recently in Chicago, headlined her own sold-out show in the Foundation Room at the House of Blues. After a sold-out run in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s LookOut Series, Nikki’s autobiographical musical Get Out Alive was in conversation with multiple theaters to produce an extended run of the play. Get Our Alive continues to captivate audiences!http://nikkilynette.com/

Holly Campbell is a life-long, self-taught artist born and raised in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Primarily using acrylic, ink, and watercolor, her work is often described as whimsical - with a focus on feminine energies, body positivity, and "dream-scapes". Since 2016, she has worn a multitude of different hats as an artist. She has spent many hours volunteering for local art organizations such as the Corvallis Arts Center, the Corvallis Arts Walk and Chintimini Wildlife Center. These connections eventually led Holly to join a co-op gallery named Voices (now called The Nest). Voices is where Holly really stepped into her identity as an artist and collaborator. Between designing/painting two downtown murals with the group and founding Voices' annual young artist exhibit, Holly met her friend/business partner, Sharon.  Holly and Sharon joined forces in 2017 to open The Hold Studio and that partnership kept The Hold running for almost three years before Covid changed their trajectory. The Hold has since closed its physical location, but Holly and Sharon still run their gallery virtually. In the meantime, Holly has found solace in painting and collaborating from her home studio and you can often find her work on display at local restaurants, shops and, of course, on Instagram (@hollycampbellart). https://www.hollycampbellart.com/

Ben Westhoff is an award-winning investigative journalist who writes about culture, drugs, and poverty. His books are taught around the country and have been translated into languages all over the world.His new book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic is the highly-acclaimed, bombshell first book about fentanyl, which is causing the worst drug crisis in American history. It has received glowing reviews and was included on many year-end best lists. Westhoff was interviewed about the book for Fresh Air and Joe Rogan, and published an excerpt in The Atlantic. Since the book’s publication, Westhoff has advised top government officials on the fentanyl crisis, including from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and the U.S. State Department.His previous book Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap is one of the best-selling hip-hop books of all time. It received raves from Rolling Stone and People, and a starred review in Kirkus. S. Leigh Savidge, Academy Award nominee and co-writer of Straight Outta Compton said it "may be the best book ever written about the hip hop world."Westhoff's work has appeared in the Library of Congress, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Forbes, Playboy, Vice, Oxford American, Pitchfork, and others. He's been honored by the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Entertainment Journalism Awards, Religion Newswriters Association, Best Music Writing, Best of Southern Food Writing, L.A. Press Club, and the Missouri Press Association.He has been interviewed as an expert commentator for CNN, BET, A&E, and ITV, and is the former L.A. Weekly music editor and Voice Media Group Senior music editor. He's a contributor to the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, and his 2011 book on southern hip-hop, Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop was a Library Journal best seller.https://www.benwesthoff.com/

Alicia Angel is a New York City based songwriter, singer, visual artist, and activist. She has co-written over 35 songs for Emmy nominated and award winning hit preschool shows including Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer" and "Dora and Friends: Into the City" as well as songs for “Sesame Street,” Sesame Studios, and Universal Kids’ “Snug’s House.” She has written songs for artists in China and Taiwan via Universal Music Publishing Group, including the song “Girls” performed by Rainie Yang and Cyndi Wang.  Alicia's paintings have been exhibited in NYC art galleries. She’s used her music and art to raise awareness of, and money for, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, Myasthenia Gravis, and COVID-19. 

S.A. Lawrence-Welch  (she/her/hers|they/them/theirs) S.A. is a Métis / Néhiyaw (Plains Cree) Indigenous Advocate, Organizer, Speaker, Activist, Artist & Writer. Their main focus of work has been on the lasting damage the Residential School System, Indian Boarding Schools & The 60’s Scoop left on First Nations people. They are an advocate for community gathering and cultural connection as a form of healing trauma. S.A.’s goal is to see Indigenous representation and leadership in historically and presently non-Indigenous spaces.https://www.instagram.com/lawrencewelchnw/

HARDLINERAY makes smart, high energy art of a noticeably singular and unique hand. Ray is of noteworthy talent. I loved doing this episode. To learn about Ray check out these words from his Folks Press (Portland) feature:"When all is said and done, however, what keeps Ray sane is comics. Comics, comics, comics. In part, the sanity comes from being skilled. A fellow illustrator had this to say about Ray from Chi City. 'Even though I've seen a lot people do comics—that was like my first love—you can tell when somebody has a unique angle. Even in a very common job—some people do backgrounds, some do ink, some do coloring—you can tell when someone is just trying to do their own thing. That's what caught my attention about Ray.'" https://www.instagram.com/hardlineray/

DIRTY PRINCESS is a mischievous alchemy of Francesca, Mikayla , and JewlzThese women appear as a dark obscurity that rose into the spotlight in early 2018.Dirty Princess have encapsulated crowds with fuzz guitars, banshee-like vocals, and stand up drums. Their music is a field of energy you can feel starting at your toes and ending in the tips of your hairs.Wild and Alive rock n' roll will NEVER die!!!https://www.instagram.com/pcp3k/

Claire Peaceful Deer Lady Zwicker is an Anishinaabe woman from Lake Simcoe Territory / Williams Treaty Territory in Ontario, Canada. "I am currently writing my thesis for my Masters of Education around Indigenous Survival, Revitalization & Self-Determination. I am a big advocate for Indigenous Youth and believe they are the future. I am also a beginning educator and have worked in Vietnam, my home community, and will be working at a First Nations school in the city. Beadwork and art have been my medicine and I love sharing it with the world and our youth as it was something I did not learn until I was an adult."https://www.instagram.com/peacefuldeerlady/

Cathy Camper is the author of Lowriders in Space, Lowriders to the Center of the Earth and Lowriders Blast from the Past, with a fourth volume in the works, Lowriders to the Rescue, all from Chronicle Books. She has a forthcoming picture book, Ten Ways to Hear Snow (Dial/Penguin), release October 13, 2020, and also wrote Bugs Before Time: Prehistoric Insects and Their Relatives (Simon & Schuster). Her zines include Sugar Needle and The Lou Reeder, and she’s a founding member of the Portland Women of Color zine collective. A graduate of VONA/Voices writing workshops for people of color in Berkeley, California, Cathy worked as a librarian in Portland, Oregon, where she did outreach to schools and kids in grades K-12.https://cathycamper.com/media/

Joëlle Jones is an Eisner nominated artist currently living and working in Portland, Oregon. Since attending PNCA in Portland, OR, she has contributed to a wide range of projects and has most recently has worked on Batman for DC comics. She also wrote and drew the series, Lady Killer, published by Dark Horse comics. Jones has also provided the art for fashion designer Prada, and various projects for Marvel, Boom, Vertigo, Oni Press and The New York Times.  Joëlle currently has projects with DC comics as well as continuing her Series Lady Killer.https://www.joellejones.com/

Originally from Istanbul, Özlem Sorlu Thompson now paints in the flat where Piet Mondrian made his art studio in Belsize Park. Her influences include the great expressionist artist Kandinsky and the abstract surrealist Joan Miró.  Özlem’s works have already made their way into the homes of renowned celebrities such as actress Anita Dobson and her husband Brian May, musical theatre star Maria Friedman, actor Andy Nyman, and several private collectors. With degrees in biology and botany, and an in-depth knowledge of exotic plants and a keen interest in physics, Özlem strives in her work to create synaesthesia in the experience, the process and the result, with a visionary energy that generates an extemporaneous flow of strong colours and shapes.  Painting without preparation or planning, she merges intellectual concepts with visual ideas, mixing real and imagined organic structures with one another, while dream-like worlds and creatures all converge to create a vivid explosion of the real and fantastic.  As a result, positivity and joy invariably manifest strongly in the viewer. https://ozlemsorluthompson.com/

Kait Matthews' formal art training began several years ago, and include The Art Center in Pasadena and The Laguna College of Art and Design, in Laguna Beach, California, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a degree in Fine Art. "In my art I enjoy exploring the universal emotions and feelings that are innate in all of us. We are connected when we can look into the eyes of others and see a little bit of ourselves reflecting back. I am inspired by the philosophy of Pablo Picasso who once said, 'The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.' When someone asks, how long did it take you to create that painting? 'The sum of a life’s worth of experiences' is really the true answer. Malcolm T. Liepke, a contemporary artist, believes 'painting is useless without humanity.'It is only through emotion that we connect. My goal is to be able to convey, to share, and to connect through art and through feeling. It is the kaleidoscope of emotions that tie us together, that make us whole. As I learn more about my own indigenous culture and as an artist of aboriginal native descent growing up in a white world, I wish to further explore emotion on canvas from this unique point of view."https://www.kaitmatthews.com/

Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts. It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once. As a heavy band, their songs aren’t anchored to riffs, but rather riffs come and go in waves that surface throughout the band’s meditative, entrancing songs. It’s a hypnotic sound, with orchestral structures that often build tension and intrigue before turning the song on its head — not by simply getting louder or heavier, nor by just layering elements. They expertly subvert the implied heaviness of a part, dissecting it and splaying the songs guts out to seep across the sonic spectrum. Now, having toured together extensively following the band’s wildly-successful breakout self- titled debut in 2018, Blackwater Holylight has honed their sound and identity to a powerfully captivating beast. Their live set is all about the slow build, seeming to combine the melodic tension of early Sonic Youth crossed with the laconic fever-dream blues of the first Black Sabbath album, and wiry experimentation of post-punk and krautrock. The lineup on the most recent album is Allison (Sunny) Faris (bass/vocals), Laura Hopkins (guitar/vocals) and Sarah McKenna (synths), with new guitarist Mikayla Mayhew and drummer Eliese Dorsay fleshing out their sound in exciting ways. “The process of this album was vastly different from our first record,” says Faris. “One, because we recorded it over the course of a few weeks, whereas the first record was over the course of about a year. And two, this album was a true collaboration between the five of us. Each of us had extremely equal parts in writing and producing, we all bounced ideas off each together, and we all had a say in what was going on during every part of the process.” “One of our favorite things about this album is that because it was so collaborative, we didn't compartmentalize ourselves into one vibe.” She continues. “It’s heavy, psychedelic, pop, shoegaze, doom, grunge, melodic and more. The whole process was extremely organic and natural for us, we were just being ourselves.” Veils of Winter opens with fuzzed-drenched, drop-tuned bass and baritone guitar leading a dirge riff on “Seeping Secrets.” Faris’ lilting and funereal vocals drop in, adding to the mournful atmosphere until a short turnaround progression hints at changes to come, as Faris and Hopkins harmonize eerily and the tune suddenly turns into a krautrock charge. “Motorcycle” kicks off deceptively with a heavy grunge riff building up for about 40-seconds before the song abruptly shifts gears into a synth-led post-punk harmony, sounding something like Lush meets Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. “Death Realms” is perhaps the poppiest track, based around soaring shoegaze guitars and interwoven light vocal harmonies. Soft piano notes, occasional woozy whammy bar dives and a driving tom-tom beat solidify its hooks. “Spiders” is a creepy- crawly guitar riff and counterpoint keys, while “Moonlit” explores prog-structures with a shredding guitar solo crescendo. The penultimate track, “Lullaby” is exactly that, a lulling, expansive tune exemplifying Blackwater Holylight’s genre smashing sound as it subtly moves across a vast sonic landscape atop a hypnotic 6/8 beat and repetitive 3-note motif. Throughout the album, their songs shirk traditional verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of fluid, serpentine compositions that move with commanding grace. https://www.blackwaterholylight.com/

Episode 50 is distinguished by the world-adored Australian painter and happiness-peddlar (as well as our first ever return guest . . . ) Vanessa Stockard! Vanessa was featured in Episode 20 wherein she self-effacingly clarified her stance on particular theoretical issues. For this episode, we chat about painting metallic balloons, the use of color, her feature in Hi-Fructose magazine, and Kevin the Cat’s prancing animation.  We also had a strange conversation about licorice before veering towards Vanessa's important support for 'The Torch Project' which, in part, supports art-healing to reduce recidivism rates for the Indigenous prison population in Australia.Welcome back Vanessa!

HAWKINS balances energetic Rock and Roll mixed with infectious hooky Pop sophistication. The band embraces an ever-more genre-bending Pop Rock aesthetic as they continue to captivate their audience with musical virtuosity in a manner that is reminiscent of their Rock and Roll predecessors.They have performed on countless major stages across the East Coast. Notable performances include Mohegan Sun Casino, The Bitter End, Foxwoods Casino, and The Pleasantville New York Music Festival. In Pleasantville, they shared the stage with illustrious acts such as  Blues Traveler, Suzanne Vega, and Living Colour.Within only their first year of establishing themselves, they have gained an astonishing number of followers. Their talent has been praised by music legends like Eddie Money, Noel E. Monk (former manager of The Sex Pistols and Van Halen), and Michael Caplan (former VP of Sony Music). Their debut single "Lights Off" has been written and produced by the band themselves and mastered by the two-time Grammy award winner industry giant, Nathan Dantzler.https://hawkinstheband.com/

Boston-based artist, Olivia MacDonald is best known for her ink drawings she has been creating every day since the winter of 2018. She holds an extensive collection of thought-provoking and unconventionally playful black and white designs, metaphors for her daily experiences and thoughts. Self-taught, Olivia began creating art as a means of expression and experimentation ever since she was a child. After receiving her BFA in creative writing with a minor in illustration in 2020, she now works as a full-time artist and entrepreneur.Her commission work ranges from custom tattoo designs to music album covers, gig posters, logos, and product labels for worldwide clients like Hilko Guitars and Brahmin designer handbags. She is a featured artist with Strathmore Artist Papers and Sakura of America and her work has been exhibited in local establishments and art fairs.https://inkbyolivia.com/pages/about

”My name is Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel. I am Kul Wicasa Lakota and a citizen of Kul Wicasa Oyate/Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota. I am also Diné (Navajo). I am passionate about many things. However, I want to connect two of those passions that really make life worthwhile: running and activism.I was born to run, but I rejected it for quite some time. My Lala (grandfather) Nyal Brings was a long-distance runner for the University of South Dakota and was inducted into the USD Hall of Fame for his running accomplishments. Friendly rivals, Lala Billy Mills and Lala Nyal competed in the mile a few times, with Lala Nyal taking a victory over Billy. In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Lala Billy would go on to win a gold medal in the 10K. My Lala Nyal took me on my first run and it ended with a half-mile uphill that ultimately led me to not like running. I didn't find it fun at all. My Ina (mother) was a sprinter and my Lala was her coach, with a sure plan to get her to the 1988 Olympic Trials. However, her path led her to become an incredible pediatric, dialysis and oncology nurse. My Até (dad) really helped me develop a mental toughness for running — something I'll never forget.I grew from tolerating running to really falling in love with the sport. I started with the 5K and 10K my freshman and sophomore years of college, then moved down to shorter distances. However, after college, I moved back to longer distances, then half marathons and eventually marathons. After college, Lala Billy's organization, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, had asked me to join their team for the 2016 Boston Marathon. At the time, I was working with tribes to implement programs, some specifically for Native youth in Washington D.C., and I was glad to help Running Strong raise funds. I suffered an injury while preparing for that marathon but somehow got myself to the starting line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.My coach got me into the first wave and corral, so to experience that while fan-girling over my idols gave me the adrenaline to run through the pain. When the gun went off, all I could think about was my Lala Nyal, my Ina, Lala Billy and my entire tiospaye (extended family) back in Lower Brule and Indian Country. I was running Boston, something I never would've dreamed possible. Alongside me, others were running to get a best time or running for a cause, all while running with other Indigenous relatives. I had a lot to reflect on. I got to the finish, feeling happy and emotional. I was in pain, but the joy I felt upon completing that race wasn't for me, it was for Indian Country. The possibilities for Indigenous Peoples are endless and to share that with everyone was beautiful.That experience led me to use running as a way to change the narrative around how people see or think about Indigenous Peoples. The protests in Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline really inspired me. While I was working full-time and training, I was also organizing events, rallies and marches to raise awareness about environmental, social and economic issues where running could serve as another platform. The Standing Rock youth who ran 2,200 miles from North Dakota to D.C. to hand deliver a petition opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline to protect water — our first medicine (mni wiconi translates to water is life) — was a great motivator for me, and an example of how I thought I could connect running with activism. https://www.jordanmariedaniel.com

With ancestral roots in the Lheidli T’enneh, Cree and Secwépemc Nations, KYM GOUCHIE is fostering change through her music and art. Her music brings awareness to First Nations and women’s issues, promoting reconciliation and community building while reminding us that we are all in this together. Her stories are a testament to the human spirit, weaving together threads of her own journey from personal tragedy to triumph. Kym’s traditional hand drum, clean, crisp acoustic guitar and full-bodied voice make her a powerful solo artist. She also performs as a duo, trio and full band, adding in vocal harmonies, keyboard, electric guitar, mandolin, banjo and cello by talented accompanists. Traditional First Nations, folk, and country tones alongside poignant and inspirational lyrics capture the hearts of young and old — her genuine and heartfelt performances have a profound and sometimes emotional impact on their audience. A respected elder-in-training of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation, also known as Prince George, BC, Kym is sought after to perform and speak at traditional welcoming ceremonies, cultural gatherings, schools, and conferences.https://kymgouchie.com/

Jessica McDiarmid is a Canadian journalist who has worked across North America and Africa, writing for publications such as the Toronto Star, the Associated Press, Maisonneuve, Canadian Business and the Harvard Review. Highway of Tears is her first book. She lives in British Columbia. For decades, Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been found murdered along an isolated stretch of highway in northwestern British Columbia. The highway is known as the Highway of Tears, and it has come to symbolize a national crisis. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid meticulously investigates the devastating effect these tragedies have had on the families of the victims and their communities, and how systemic racism and indifference has created a climate where Indigenous women and girls are over-policed, yet under-protected. Through interviews with those closest to the victims–mothers and fathers, siblings and friends –McDiarmid provides an intimate, first-hand account of their loss and unflagging fight for justice. Examining the historically fraught social and cultural tensions between settlers and Indigenous peoples in the region, McDiarmid links these cases to others across Canada–now estimated to number up to 4,000–contextualizing them within a broader examination of the undervaluing of Indigenous lives in the country. Highway of Tears is a piercing exploration of our ongoing failure to provide justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and testament to their families and communities’ unwavering determination to find it.http://jessicamcdiarmid.com/

Benjamin Gorman is the author of The Sum of Our Gods (2013, Not a Pipe Publishing), Corporate High School (2015, Not a Pipe Publishing), and The Digital Storm: A Science Fiction Reimagining of William Shakespeare's The Tempest (2017, Not a Pipe Publishing), and Don’t Read This Book (2019, Not a Pipe Publishing). Corporate High School became an Amazon bestseller in 2016, and The Digital Storm was named a “Top Five Book Pick” by the San Diego Union Tribune. Benjamin is a high school English teacher. He lives in Independence, Oregon with his son, Noah. Benjamin believes in human beings and the power of their stories. He places his confidence in his students and the world they will choose to create if given the chance.Benjamin was born in Michigan, grew up in Illinois, California, and Ohio, and graduated with a BA from Whitworth University in Washington before moving to Oregon to get an MAT at George Fox University. He teaches at Central High School and loves his job. He’s passionate about the classes he teaches, like Creative Writing and Science Fiction Literature, but he enjoys the students even more than the content. He is a strong advocate for public education and for elevating and honoring the profession of teaching, so he served as the president of his local teachers’ union and now serves on the board of the Oregon Education Association. He has also been named to the National Writing Project's Writer's Council. Meanwhile, he writes every chance he gets. In 2013, he decided to start his own publishing company, Not a Pipe Publishing, and venture into the exciting and growing independent publishing industry.  “I’m luckier than a lot of writers who slog their way through day jobs they hate. I get to work on my craft with the help of my students at a job I love, and as we learn together, I get better. I hope that shows in The Sum of Our Gods, Corporate High School, The Digital Storm, and Don’t Read This Book. Like much of the union work I’ve done at the bargaining table, the meaning of a novel is a negotiation between the reader and the writer. I hope I’ve brought my readers a fair offer, something they’ll be pleased to accept.”http://www.notapipepublishing.com/benjamin-gorman

 Interdisciplinary artist avery r. young is a 3Arts Award winning teaching artist, composer and producer with work that spans the genres of music, performance, visual arts and literature.  Examining and celebrating Black American history and culture, his work also focuses in the areas of social justice, equity, queer identity, misogyny, and body consciousness. As a writer, this Cave Canem alum has work featured in The Breakbeat Poets, Coon Bidness, to be left with the body, and Make Magazine. He has also written curriculum and essays on arts education that appear in the Teaching Artist Journal and A.I.M. Print. Dubbed “sunday mornin jook joint,” his performance and work in sound design merges spiritual and secular aesthetics with dramatic and comedic sensibilities. He has performed at the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Wordstock, and Lollapalooza. He has recorded with house producers Anthony Nicholson and Charlie Dark, and is featured on recordings such as New World Reveal-A-Solution, Audio Truism, Catfish Haven’s Devastator, and New Skool Poetiks. His new full-length release, booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid, features songs and other sound designed created during his artist residency with the University of Chicago's Arts + Public Life initiative.  It was during this residency that he worked on sound design and poems called "cullud sign(s)."Through voice, sound, visual art, and performance, young is constantly exploring the forms and spaces in which poetry can exist. Most recently, he is the vocalist on flutist Nicole Mitchell’s Mandorla Awakening (FPE Records) and his poetry is featured in photographer and fellow 3Arts awardee Cecil McDonald Jr.’s debut book, In the Company of Black (Candor Arts).Young’s first book neckbone (Northwestern University Press) is out on the shelves now. He is currently one of four directors for the Floating Museum and touring with his band, avery r. young & de deacon board. New album Tubman. is available via all major musical outlets.https://www.averyryoung.com/

Rachel Lally is an actor, writer, model, director, street theatre performer, poet and drama facilitator who trained with Crooked House Theatre Company and Kildare Youth Theatre before going on to obtain her MA in Theatre from The Gaiety School of Acting and NUI Maynooth. Rachel has toured as an actor (and briefly, folk metal singer with Cruachan) both nationally and internationally as well as appearing in a number of films, theatre productions, music videos and TV commercials over the years. She is passionate about accessibility to the arts for people of all ages. Most recently she has performed her poetry in the Axis Theatre, performed with Giant Wolf Theatre (of which she is a member) in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, toured Ireland with the Moat Theatre production of 'Push Up' as well as directing a number of community and youth productions and is currently developing a new piece of work for stage. Rachel Lally is the voice of SRTN.https://youtube.com/@rachellally

Great chat this episode with two gifted creators - Paige Henderson and Nicole Murray. Their most recent joint project is the YouTube webseries - Dead Friends.https://youtu.be/LYoeOUXbEioPaige Henderson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature: Cinema Studies from the University of Washington. Even amongst various film production jobs she spent a year travelling the world.Upon her return to the U.S. she set her focus on acting. She starred in the feature film “Vellai Pookal”, she also directed and produced her short “To Build a Forest."After moving to Los Angeles, she frequented short film sets as actress, producer, director and art department. Paige co-founded Svelte Dog Productions, where she wrote and produced short films “Nacken” and “Josie’s Song.”Nicole Murray has a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from the University of Washington. She has years of research experience between an addiction and an individual differences laboratory and she has continued research after graduation. Throughout her schooling Nicole quenched her passion for acting through plays and making films with friends.Nicole began pursuing film acting in tandem with research in Seattle, starring in shorts and a pilot entitled “Vashon." She moved down to Los Angeles, to hit her dream full-force, where she starred in various short films alongside producing, directing and writing. She co-founded Svelte Dog Productions and currently works at the renewable fuels facility - World Energy.But, wait, wait, wait! How did they meet???While both ladies were pursuing acting in Seattle, they met on a short film set. Both already had plans to move to Los Angeles, but now, within hours of meeting each other… they decided to do it together.They struggled through the difficulty of finding housing together, eventually finding a place in Highland Park. After settling in to their new home and enduring the initial crisis of “why did I move here??” they took to creating their own content. After co-creating Svelte Dog Productions and filming a couple of shorts together, they began writing “Dead Friends”, which inspired them to expand this world into a full-blown film production.

New episode of the ‘Something (rather than nothing)’ podcast with Opera Singer Mackenzie RogersI had a most stimulating conversation with Mackenzie about art’s role in a pandemic, art's role in challenging white supremacy, opera, van Gogh, painting, Cabaret, philosophy and what it feels like to be painted into a painting.Ms. Rogers is a talented actress and performer whose recent credits include Nancy in Albert Herring, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, the Forrester's Wife in The Cunning Little Vixen, Betty in Over Here!, and the Announcer in Gallantry, A Soap Opera. In 2017, she also joined the ensembles of Portland Opera's production of La Bohème and Broadway Rose Theatre's rendition of the popular musical The Addams Family, the latter of which received the Drammy Award for Best Ensemble and the PAMTA Awards for Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Revival.https://www.mackenzierogerssoprano.com/ 

Mishka Shubaly is writer, musician, runner, comedian, teacher and thinker. We got to chat all about that stuff as well as drinking and not-drinking, art, creation, nothingness and somethingness. His books 'Cold Turkey', 'The Long Run', 'Of Mice and Me', and 'Beat the Devil' and 'Shipwrecked' are intense, raw and honest reads.I deeply appreciated Mishka's talents and his ability to range on some really tough topics. Importantly, he has a lot of practical advice to get off the sauce. It is a practical, adapt-what-you-can approach that can help save a life from addiction.His writing and music is available on all major and minor outlets. His newest book ‘Cold Turkey’ was a May title available to Audible subscribers. http://www.mishkashubaly.com/

Great new episode with Indigenous artist and musician Sara Billdt!!!We chatted about her music, her graphic art, and her traditional bead work. It was exciting to learn more about her philosophy, her experiences in the heavy metal scene, and finding her remarkable voice.Sara has been involved in the music scene of Eugene, Oregon for over a decade. Starting out as a solo artist, she went on to found and front Sara B3 and the 45RPM Soul Revue, as well as the heavy power trio, Coyote.Influenced by both cultural and natural forces, she has continued to create music and artwork that reflect her position in a world that has gone awry.https://eugeneweekly.com/2016/10/27/sara-billdt/

I chatted with JASON MAYOH, author/director of ‘Tales of Rocky Point Park.’ It was an inspiring and delightful conversation that covered horror, childhood, comics, philosophy, the pandemic, the creative process, Rocky Point and more!!!Many Americans enjoyed amusement parks in their childhood and in non-pandemic summertimes. Rhode Islanders and Southern New Englanders had Rocky Point park with its joys and fun and clam cakes and urban legends and weird accidents and horrors.The legend of Rocky Point’s cursed FLUME Log Number 13 haunts Rhode Islanders to this very day. The same fear resonates in visions of the great VIKING who stood to protect (?) or attack (?) those who dared visit the HOUSE OF HORRORS. Did you jump off the SKYLINE and live to tell about it?This is a Rhode Island story but it is also a story of Summers of Yore. https://johnstonsunrise.net/stories/cranston-native-exposes-haunted-ri-,62453 

WOW! An interview with GINA GLEASON lead guitarist for the incredible metal band BARONESS.Gina Gleason, a product of Philly, began playing guitar at fourteen and has had a wild journey through Rock&Roll, playing for Misstallica (all female Metallica tribute band) as well as Queen Diamond (all female King Diamond tribute band). She performed as the character 'The Muse' in the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil production of Michael Jackson: One playing many of those famous rock/funk guitar licks.After this stint she moved into an outsized vacancy  in Baroness by replacing their guitarist Pete Adams.This is where her badassness presently resides.Enjoy this listen as we chat with Gina about life, art, guitar lessons, creation, something, nothing, metal, and more . . . https://guitar.com/features/interviews/baroness-gina-gleason/

BRAD BALUKJIAN hit the sweet spot of the baseball in his new book WAX PACK. The book is a joy for baseball freaks but also serves as a fantastic memoir on relationships and life. The LA Times Bestselling book is a road trip journey of history and the psyche. Built on the randomness of a fifteen pack of baseball cards with a crisp stick of tongue cutting gum, Brad builds a 10,000 mile adventure into the strange character of American baseball. Brad is a Ph.D., a fighter for the underdog and the working stiff, a writer and a Rhode Islander who now lives on The Best Coast.Brad tells a bit about himself here:"Brad Balukjian is a doctor, but not one who can write you a prescription (unless you're a sick insect). He hated school when he was little, but now loves it so much that after graduating from the 23rd grade, he has moved to the other side of the desk to teach natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He has strong opinions about the value of education, exposure to nature, and utility infielders from the 1980s, and is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun. He chose this path because he never wants to stop learning and apparently has a strong aversion to money. This is his first time writing in the third-person."https://www.bradbalukjian.com/books/

Michael Burns is a university teacher, writing coach, film director, labor activist, editor, and storyteller. He has a B.A. from Georgetown University, an M.S. from University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and holds a Ph.D. in documentary film history from the University of Birmingham in the UK. Burns directed five films for international television and his work has been seen in over twenty countries. He is the founder, director, and curator of Tall Tales, India’s longest-running, true storytelling event series that features live performances and writing workshops of all kinds. He lives in the United States of America for six months each year and the other six in India. I was so happy to catch up with Michael from Mumbai, India for an incredible chat and exploration. Enjoy.https://www.michaelpburns.com/bio

Allison C. Meier is an Oklahoma-born, Brooklyn-based writer focused on visual culture, architecture, and overlooked history: she believes in writing about the arts and heritage of our world in an accessible, engaging way. We talked about her recent, haunting Fall 2019 article on the Spanish Flu and the depiction of disease by painters in a Pandemic.I am still thinking about the many topics we discussed including - forgotten history, disease, death, cemetery tours, painting, philosophy, history, Spirit photography, symbols, ghosts and so much more . . . I hope you enjoy the journey.Allison 

Such an enjoyable conversation with New York Yankees hitting coach RACHEL BALKOVEC!Rachel is a deep thinker whose ability to both challenge norms and seek deeper truths have served to forge her path. She notes that "by trade I'm a hitting coach, but in reality, I'm a student, athlete, minimalist, feminist and nomad.  Those are things that I resonated with long before my career and will be with me long after my career in sports is over."Rachel and I explore the art and science of hitting a baseball by exploring both the mental and physical aspects that drive a complicated passion. The conversation covered a diverse range of topics that include the importance of mentorship (especially for young women), the complicated history of the American National Pastime, her podcast 'Theta Wave" explorations and the meaning of making history.Rachel manages the Tampa minor league affiliate of The New York Yankees.Rachel Ball

This episode is pure sci-fi/science geek heaven. Join the Tattooed Scottish-American N7 Slytherin Rebel from Starfleet - Dr. Erin Macdonald.Dr. Macdonald is an astrophysicist, science fiction consultant (currently for the Star Trek franchise), and host of the online series "Dr Erin Explains the Universe". Her specialty is in general relativity, having previously worked in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration searching for gravitational waves. She has since found her home in science fiction, consulting with writers, teaching STEM through popular culture, and fulfilling her life goal of becoming a warp drive expert while living in Los Angeles.Dr. Erin

BUELL THOMAS - master on trumpet, vocals and philosophy ---Buell began playing the trumpet at 9 years young. The Marriage between the two, like any other, has had its peaks and valleys throughout but every musician has his soul instrument. Mr. Thomas has used his to be able to share the gift of expression with many others over his Career.His first Band was SUPERBUG, in South County, Rhode Island. Superbug went on to enjoy local success in Southern New England, culminating with a first place finish in the then prestigious 1994 95.5 WBRU Rock Hunt. The group recorded three albums together, most notably, the 12 song PRIZED. The group disbanded in 1995 and Thomas left for New York City where he continued writing while also spending one year studying at the City College Of New York.As a trumpet player, Buell was able to contribute to many live and recorded performances. In 2007, upon meeting TJ Swan (Joe Carter), he recorded his first solo album, 'In The Air.' 'In The Air' was recorded at Velvet Swan Studios in 100% analog format, and was pressed to 500 vinyl albums.Thomas continues to release great music under his newest project WELL BRED MONGRELS with a new album soon in the offing . . .