Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to actor and musician Josh Radnor. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Josh got his start in New York theater before being cast as the lead in the wildly-successful CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2005. He has written and/or directed two films, Happythankyoumoreplease and Liberal Arts, and starred in two series since How I Met Your Mother ended: Mercy Street and Rise, and...

On today's episode I talk to musician Mac McCaughan. Mac is a singer, songwriter and the co-founder of Merge Records, one of the most influential labels in indie rock. As a performer, he's the lead singer and guitarist of the genre-defining indie rock group Superchunk, who have released 11 albums since 1989, including the most recent 2018's What a Time to Be Alive. On his own, he's released numero...

On today's episode I talk to musician Sabrina Ellis. Originally from Houston, Sabrina has been a mainstay of Austin indie rock for years. In 2008, they formed the indie rock band A Giant Dog, and since then, the band has released five albums, including a full-length cover of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. Sabrina also co-founded the bands Heart Bones, with Har Mar Superstar, and Sweet Spirit. Sweet Spi...

On today's episode I talk to musician Andrew Becker. Andrew began his musical career with the post-Faraquet Dischord Records band Medications, drumming on their first few records before moving to New York to form the band Screens. But it was with his move to Los Angeles that Andrew began recording mostly on his own under the moniker Human Potential. He's released four albums under this name. I'm G...

On today's episode I talk to musician Sam Prekop. Sam grew up in Chicago and while he went to art school, forming the band Shrimp Boat sent him off in a completely different direction. When the band broke up in the early '90s, he formed The Sea and Cake with Archer Prewitt of The Coctails and Tortoise's John McEntire, and over the last two and a half decades, they've released 11 albums, the most r...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jason Williamson. Originally from Grantham, Lincolnshire, Jason spent several years pursuing music unsuccessfully both with various groups and as a solo singer-songwriter and working as a session musician with a number of bands including Spiritualized. It was when Jason met Andrew Fearn though and they formed Sleaford Mods that things started to take off. Sinc...

On today's episode I talk to writer Dave Hill. Dave is originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he was raised in a family of carnies, gamblers, hell-raisers and story-tellers. He spent over a decade traveling the United States and Canada as a union organizer before settling down in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and three children. He was a regular contributor to Grantland and a writer for t...

On today's episode I talk to musician Shamir Bailey. Originally from North Las Vegas, Shamir's music career took off relatively quickly after signing to XL Recordings at the age of 19. The push and pull between what Shamir wanted to do and what the label wanted him to do though eventually ended with them dropping him a few years later. After a psychiatric hospitalization, Shamir began making the m...

On today's episode I talk to musician, producer, composer and founding member of Deerhoof, Greg Saunier. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1991, Greg formed the band Nitre Pit, which a few years later became Deerhoof, and in the last 25 years, the band has released 15 albums on labels like Kill Rock Stars and Joyful Noise. Outside of Deerhoof, Greg has played with many ban...

On today's episode I talk to cartoonist Ben Passmore. Originally from Massachusetts, Ben has been writing and illustrating comics since he was a child. He's created comics like Daygloayhole, the Eisner Award-nominated and Ignatz Award-winning comic collection Your Black Friend, and BTTM FDRS with Ezra Claytan Daniels, which was published by Fantagraphics last year. In addition, he is a regular con...

On today's episode I talk to writer and stand-up Dan Levy. Originally from Stamford, CT, Dan has been performing comedy since he was nine years old, and while in college, performed stand-up as much as possible. This lead to him winning "Funniest College Comedian in America" at the 2001 Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which jumpstarted his career. He's hosted shows on MTV, has his own Comedy Centr...

On today's episode I talk to musician Thao Nguyen. Originally from Falls Church, VA, Thao began playing music as a young teenager, but it was with the release of her first album Like the Linen in 2005 that her actual career began. Her next album We Brave Bee Stings and All, her first with the Get Down Stay Down, was released on Kill Rock Stars to general acclaim, and since then, her albums, whethe...

On today's episode I talk to Eisner-Award winning comics creator Rob Guillory. Born, raised and currently based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guillory is most known for his eight-year run on Image Comics' Chew. The book went on to achieve much success, winning two Harvey Awards (including Best New Talent for Guillory), two Eisner Awards, and has been translated into a dozen or so languages. Rob is curr...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jimmy Flemion. Jimmy and his brother Dennis began playing music together in the late '70s in a number of different groups, eventually forming the band The Frogs in 1980. Since then, the band has vacillated between cult status and mainstream success, championed by such musicians as Billy Corgan, Kurt Cobain, Beck and Eddie Vedder, and releasing albums on labels...

On today's episode I talk to playwright and composer Michael R. Jackson. Originally from Detroit, Michael holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musicals White Girl In Danger and A Strange Loop, which received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in 2019. A Strange Loop be...

On today's episode I talk to musician Dennis Callaci. Raised in Upland, California, Dennis has bounced around Southern California his entire life.  He runs the legendary indie record label Shrimper, noted for bringing forth the earliest recordings from Amps For Christ, Woods, Franklin Bruno, Lou Barlow's Sentridoh, The Mountain Goats, Dump, and a few hundred other releases over the course of the l...

On today's episode I talk to musician Anna Burch. Originally from St. Joseph, Michigan, Anna began touring with her band Frontier Ruckus at the age of 18, and eventually went on to play in the Ann Arbor-based Failed Flowers. But it wasn't until she was almost 30 that she started to write and record her own music. Her first album as herself, Quit the Curse, was released by Polyvinyl in 2018, and he...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jeff Parker. Originally from Hampton, Virginia, Jeff has been playing music since he was 8-years-old. Eventually ending up in Chicago, he became a member of the experimental post-rock group Tortoise in 1996 and also co-founded Isotope 217 and The Chicago Underground Trio. He's worked with everyone from Meshell Ndegeocello to Smog, and has released six solo alb...

On today's episode I talk to Nika Nemirovsky AKA NIIKA. Born in Uzbekistan in the wake of the USSR's dissolution, Nika and her family immigrated to Chicago when she was very young. Her music reflects being at the nexus of a number of different cultures, both on her 2017 EP Honest Dancing and her debut album Close But Not Too Close will be out May 15th. This is  the website  for  Beginnings ,  subs...

  On today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Larry Hankin. Originally from Long Island, Larry got his start doing stand-up in Greenwich Village as a contemporary of Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen. After moving to Chicago and joining Second City, he and a number of other improvisers formed The Committee in San Francisco. Larry is one of the most well-known character actors in Hollywood, and tryin...

On today's episode I talk to actress Sarah Bolger. Originally from Dublin, Sarah started acting at a young age, and since then has been in many films and television shows. Early in her career, she starred in Jim Sheridan's Academy Award nominated film In America and she received a number of critics association nominations as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role. Other films...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jamie Drake. Based in Los Angeles, Jamie has been making music for a long time, though only released her first album When I Was Yours in 2010. She's performed in the Off-Broadway folk musical Lonesome Traveler and collaborated with everyone from Ed Helms to Moby to Tim Robbins. Her latest album Everything's Fine was released late last year, and it's great! Thi...

On today's special 10th anniversary episode, I talk to musician Stephin Merritt. Stephin is the founder and primary songwriter behind the band The Magnetic Fields. Started in 1991 in Boston, the band has released 11 albums including the three-volume 69 Love Songs and his most recent 5-LP collection 50 Song Memoir. In addition to The Magnetic Fields, Stephin also performs in The 6ths, The Gothic Ar...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Josh Siegal. Originally from Niskayuna, New York, Josh took a non-traditional route into TV writing, but that route led to some amazing jobs on shows like Viva Variety, the original UCB sketch show, Crossballs, Monk, 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Great News and currently The Good Place, which is in the middle of finishing up its final season on NBC. Thi...

On today's episode I talk to musician Alexandra Levy AKA Ada Lea. Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Alexandra was on the path to become a professional competitive skater, but the end of her skating career led to an artistic one as a painter, visual artist and musician. Her debut album what we say in private was released last summer on Saddle Creek, and it is incredible! This is  the website  for ...