some wheres to wander: a listener's digest (Patreon)

In regards to personal projects, I’ve been in a bit of a private incubative space for a while now—(maybe all of this year)—listening to music, and podcasts, and reading, fiction and non-fiction (the two genders of books), gathering bits from the aether for the *next thing*. There are a lot of *next thing*s, seen in photos over the past few months, which is, I’ve made peace with, a critical “striving outward” component of the incubation.

In the public sphere, I just finished a 12-show run of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (which has probably had a more profound impact on me than I am able to grasp so close to putting it to rest), and have been doing little performance-y gigs here and there: open mic, & the state fair. Keeping my whistle whetted. Or you know, whatever.

In the private sphere, I’ve been crocheting, embroidering, going through magazines and junk mail for bits, collecting inspired trash, & getting stoned and playing guitar on Mondays with a friend.

In the nuts-and-bolts sphere, I have been working longer hours at my job, equal parts fantasizing about spending that time creating something I have authorship over and trying to feel glad for the stability and privilege of having a lucrative day job with people I like. Following the news. Wondering how to actionably-do-anything about anything-as-massive as our collective present and near future.

To share a little taste of the flavor of my mind, I’ve gathered a kind of “digest” of podcasts I’ve been consuming regularly. We are what we eat, they say. And the “media diet” is as much of a meal for the soul as the chuck we run through our guts day after day to survive. (who wants to unpack this linguistically entrenched gastric metaphor with me)

All of these podcasts are still active, and links provided are to the most recent episodes as of 08.05.2022. In no particular order:

Creative Pep Talk by Andy J. Pizza

Creative Self Help Podcast--the host is passionate and easily distracted. This is the podcast I've been listening to the longest on this list. It's changed and developed a lot over the years, but the core of it has always been "how to make art that is true to your self and feel successful." He gives you thoughtful little assignments you can do right away and that's just nice.

(on Spotify)

Ghost of a Podcast by Jessica Lanyadoo

Astrology Podcast—every Saturday Jessica does about a 45min reading with somebody and then goes over the upcoming transits of the week. This one has become more radical and involved recently. I treat this one a little bit like the weekly weather report.

(on Spotify)

Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields

Story-telling Interview Podcast--this one is for feel-goods

(on Spotify)

Akimbo by Seth Godin

Marketing/Creative Identity Podcast for Capitalists--I'm pretty sure I am not Seth Godin's target audience, but somewhat adjacent, in that world. Listening to this podcast feels a little bit like going to somebody else's church. It's short and pointed. Easy to listen to & provocative.

(on Spotify)

Media Roots Radio by Robbie Martin

High Concept Observational Social Pattern Historical & Current Events Podcast--strap in for this one. Probably my favorite on this list. I've been working through his series on the Freemasonic history of the American Revolution most recently. It's deep cuts all the way down.

(on SoundCloud)

Empire Files by Abby Martin & Mike Prysner

Independent Journalist/Documentary Filmmaker News Podcast--these guys do incredible work & are worth following.

(on SoundCloud; full episodes on their Patreon)

Dosed by Abby Martin & Mike Prysner

Interview Podcast with chat & live call-in component by the creators of Empire Files--this one is cool, I've caught a couple episodes live. Haven't called in yet, but I've had some good exchanges with other listeners in the chat.

(on Callin)

Government Secrets by Graham Elwood & Lee Camp

Dudebro Conspiracy Podcast with 2 comedians who luv 2 riff--Lee and Graham come with their own government conspiracy rabbit trail research each week and educate themselves & the listeners about something reprehensible the US govt. has done. This seems to be a bottomless well of content. The vibe is definitely a couple of dudes talking about stuff. They get distracted being funny for each other and have a lot of inside jokes. If you catch them live on rokfin or rumble there is a chat component too.

(on Spotify; can also be found on YouTube if you prefer video streams)

Lee Camp 

Comedian whose content has become increasingly radicalized over the past 8 months; He had a podcast called Moment of Clarity that he’s moved away from since it was removed from Spotify. Now he just produces a ton of political content (I think 5 livestreams/wk including Government Secrets and Project Censored with Eleanor Goldfield +a new show with Mint Press news) & uses Locals & Rumble as his primary platforms

(on Locals)

And a couple of podcasts that are not currently producing episodes, but that I’ve spent many hours listening to over the past couple of years. The back-episodes are worth listening to:

Start With This by Jeffrey Cranor & Joseph Fink

In a similar genre to Creative Pep Talk, started during lockdown by the creators of Welcome to Nightvale, stopped shortly after one of the hosts' kid was born

Dare to Lead / Unlocking Us by Brene Brown

Extension of self-identified vulnerability researcher Brene Brown’s work--lots of insightful interviews and introspections, oddly stopped producing content with a sort of public gesture of solidarity with Joe Rogan when his show was briefly removed from Spotify

I hope you find something to love on this here list. Let me know in the comments if you learn anything neat, and/or if you'd like me to add any media content to the slurry of my mind.

Talk to you again soon.