Tub Talks by Secular Sabbath

This week we soak with RY X, a multidisciplinary artist who creates from a place of raw vulnerability and reverence. Over the last decade, his music has traversed folk, electronic, orchestral, and ambient worlds—infused always with heart and soul. In the bath, he reflects on the early days in Berlin’s underground club scene, where he helped humanize electronic music by introducing soul and vocals...

Jacqueline Suskin is a writer, poet and educator now based in Detroit, Michigan. She has released many poetry books, two artistic creation books, and is now teaching young people in Detroit at the intersection of art and nature.  Yet the move to Detroit is recent. Only a little bit ago, she was stewarding art and a farm in northern California. Before that, Jacqueline was based in Los Angeles, wher...

Michael Milosh (RHYE) is a lifelong musician from Toronto, Canada. He learned to play cello at 3 years old, having had a father who dedicated his life to teaching and playing music. RHYE is the musical project of Mike’s that has garnered the most worldwide success, but as I reveal in this bath, I have been listening to his music since I was 18, when I first heard his song ‘The City’ under the moni...

In this Tub Talks, I get to soak in the unique wisdom of Chantel Jeffries. Chantel is known in the world for seemingly disparate things: being a DJ, investor, entrepreneur, and social media creator. She is simultaneously a mystery. However, this bathtub conversation is a treasure chest of knowledge that I’ve never heard her share before.   As we learn more about Chantel, we learn more about how in...

At 18 years old, Raquelle Stevens came to Los Angeles on a whim. Her family was moving from Chicago, and she felt called to take the risk alongside them, understanding that what is beyond our comfort zone is often what is good for us.  Raquelle’s story is one of following the signs. It begins with a good side-of-the-road car cry on Highland, in which she prayed, “God, if this is where I am meant t...

Carlo Montagnese, known in the music industry as Illangelo, has been exploring his musical landscape since childhood. He is best known for his work with the Weeknd in creating The Trilogy, and songs like “The Hills” which has accrued billions of streams. Hitting major mainstream professional success relatively young, Carlo moved to LA from Canada to continue collaborating with interesting artists....

Today we're diving into the remarkable journey of Orville Peck, who is best known as a one-of-a-kind country artist who's been captivating hearts with his soulful music and creative, inclusive spirit. Our story with Orville begins with an unexpected connection that occurred during the heart of the pandemic. He and Genevieve met via Diplo at Joshua Tree Acres, where Secular Sabbath holds the annual...

In this podcast episode, Pablo and I dive into his history with Esalen Institute and beyond. Pablo Piekar came to Esalen Institute in the late 1980’s for what was supposed-to-be a Gestalt workscholar month. He ended up staying there for 16 years, working as a Esalen Massage Therapist and workshop facilitator. Back in Argentina, he was a licensed psychotherapist at 22 years old. But when he arrived...

For our season finale of Tub Talks, we soak with my first friend ever in life, Nitsa Citrine. Nitsa and I became friends upon her birth, 9 days after mine. Our parents all met at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, and created us there, with her mother famously even sharing her breast milk with me from time to time. We have been fostering friendship for over 30 years; allowing Nitsa and me to share our e...

Soaking in an indoor bath on the cliffs of Big Sur with Emily Birmingham brings me into deep nostalgia and remembrance of the history of our home. Emily’s family has been calling Big Sur home for the past 4 generations, starting with her great grandparents migrating to Northern California before Highway 1 was even a road. Emily and I have known each other since we were children, growing up adjacen...

This week we sit in a hot tub for the first time with musical composer and artist, Aska Matsumiya. Aska is at the end of her third trimester of pregnancy as we bathe. Her belly is full and ripe, and the baby is ready to come out any day. Aska shares her experience on approaching early motherhood for a second time, 20 years after the birth of her first and only daughter, Bebel. Immigrating from Jap...

This week we soak with musician and newly inspired home ‘landscaper,’ Austin Bisnow. Austin and I have connected over taking walks with our dogs in the mountains. Today we spend time in the bath, where he shares his path to creating his band, Magic Giant and the magical story of meeting his life partner.  Austin grew up in Washington D.C. and now lives in Los Angeles. He made stops in New York and...

This week we soak in the tub with Elena Stonaker, a long-time collaborator and multi-disciplinary artist whose artwork you may recognize from many of our Secular Sabbath environments, such as our giant green snake and larger-than-life mushrooms. Elena is a full-time ethereal artist, living in her whimsical inner landscape. A lot of her art is born out of her bedroom. In this episode, Elena and I r...

This week on Tub Talks, we soak in with one of my Esalen and Big Sur elders, Vicki Topp. Vicki has practiced bodywork for many decades alongside our first Tub Talks guest, Deborah Anne Medow. Vicki shares her journey of landing in Big Sur, as well as her immersion into the world of bodywork (massage therapy and other practices). She even demonstrates her skill set on my body during the bath!  In t...

This week we soak in the bath with Lindsey Ross, the modern-day woman behind the lens of the 19th-century wet plate photography: The Alchemistress. Over the last few years, you may have encountered her unique style of photography at a few of our events where she is typically covered in her classic overalls with her mobile darkroom van parked nearby and her unique pop-up portrait studio within reac...

This week, we sit in the tub with Mars: Secular Sabbath collaborator, folk herbalist and earth lover. Mars inspires us by outlining the path she went through on her journey in coming back to herself and her culture through herbal healing. As she went on to help others heal themselves through her Dose of Diosa community, she guides people through remembering , a term which carries bespoke meaning f...

This week we sit in the tub with George Augusto, co-founder of fashion brand: STAUD, and Los Angeles restaurant and cafe: Kitchen Mouse. He met his two co-founders in the midst of a multitude of other ventures. Ventures that eventually failed, and whose failure led him to where he is today. George discusses how these experiences of failure gave him moments to discover his gifts and strong suits. F...

This week we soak in the bath with our close friend and co-founder of FriendsWithYou, Sam Borkson. He started the art project FriendsWithYou with Tury many years ago, in order to help people open their creative channels. He shares about how they use elements of fine art to bring cuteness and a smile to people’s faces. He sees art as a unifier: a way to impact others through storytelling. He create...

This week on Tub Talks we revisit some of the most insightful conversations that we’ve had in the baths. Listen to our best moments with our first 11 guests as we look back on our favorite talks with Mia Moretti , Sophie Hawley-Weld , Austyn Weiner , B. Hayes , Loria Stern , Scout LaRue Willis , Krotchy , Mia Maestro , Kassia Meador , Niia Rocco , and my own mother Deborah Medow . Enjoy these litt...

This week we are joined under the oak tree for a soak with DJ and artist, Mia Moretti. A Bay Area native, Mia grew up in an alternative household in Northern California where creativity flowed. Her childhood was colored by her parents’ culture of freedom and exploration, encouraging Mia to follow her dreams of moving in the big city rhythm. In her childhood home, there was always music and jamming...

This week we warm up in the tubs with our new friend Sophie Hawley-Weld. One-half of energetic and colorful duo Sofi Tukker, she’s a creative mind who interweaves culture, identity, and fun into her musical journey. On today’s episode, we dive in deep about our connection to community, mental health and rituals on the road, and the development that happens behind the scenes within her music projec...

This week we cozy up in the bath with Austyn Weiner, who we finally had the pleasure of hosting at her first Secular Sabbath earlier this summer. Austyn found herself fully immersed in our sensory soundscape on Shabbat. Now, she’s back for a more intimate conversation where we get to know her: a deep-thinking, witty-humored, large-scale oil painter. We dive into her thoughts on art, philosophy, an...

This week we squeeze into the bath with Hayes Bradley, known musically as B. Hayes, to discuss his new ambient record “1-9”, his journey into his musical career, and the intimate moments in between it all. Growing up in the Palisades in Los Angeles with his mother and three brothers, music has always had an influence on his life. Hayes is the first in his lineage to actually work in music. He shar...

This week on the Tub Talks podcast, the innovative chef/baker Loria Stern joins us in a thoughtful soak. Synthesizing her talents in the world of aesthetics, culinary arts, and nature, Loria explains her journey into forging her own career path over the last eight years. We get into the nuances of growing up as children of the hippie generation, the impact of that generation on their offspring, an...

This week on the Tub Talks podcast, I soak within the creativity of artist Scout LaRue Willis. Scout just released her first musical album and went on her first tour. Growing into ourselves is at the heart of our conversation, an art that many spend decades trying to decode. Scout has found that while the journey is never easy, the path to self-acceptance and growth lies in pushing through the dis...