Fritter Hollow

In this episode, Derek and Dan talk about the “podcast industrial complex,” how advertising and standardized formats can flatten creative work, and why audiences can usually sense when someone is holding back. That leads into a larger conversation about honesty, memoir, people’s inner worlds, and the strange appeal of getting a glimpse inside someone else’s life. They also discuss the gap between...

This week on Fritter Hollow, Derek and Dan catch up on the progress they’ve been making, from organizing ideas in Obsidian to recording music, finishing creative projects, and why actually making things matters more than endlessly planning them. Along the way they revisit the idea of promoting local creators, wonder if mailing lists are due for a comeback, explore ways to make podcasts and stories...

This week on Fritter Hollow, Derek and Dan try to answer a deceptively simple question: are we building a bunker or planning a journey? What starts as a conversation about podcast guests quickly spirals into creativity, long-term projects, old photographs, bookmaking, cardboard collections, memoirs, local art, and the difference between pleasure and fulfillment. Along the way they explore why some...

Our first guest episode didn’t quite happen, but the conversation did. This week, Derek and Dan use a last-minute cancellation to talk through what Fritter Hollow actually is becoming: a weekly creative anchor, a place to mine for ideas, and maybe something a little like church, if church meant showing up, talking honestly, and leaving with something new to think about. Along the way, they get int...

This week, Derek and Dan wander through a conversation about creativity, community, AI, live experiences, and the kinds of ideas that keep pulling people back to the table. Along the way they explore interview techniques, local identity, jazz, volunteer-driven organizations, and the challenge of building meaningful things in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and automation. Somewhere in th...

This week, Derek and Dan celebrate getting Fritter Hollow out into the world. Fresh off launching the website and podcast, they talk about vibe-coding, AI, learning new skills, and what happens when decades of experience collide with rapidly changing technology. Along the way, the conversation drifts into memoir writing, documenting your life, letting go of old projects and archives, and the stran...

Episode 4 of Fritter Hollow starts with a numbering problem and somehow ends up in documentary ethics, privacy, AI, release forms, jazz improvisation, story mining, podcast music, prairie winters, homesteaders, and homelessness. Derek and Dan talk through what happened when their surprise guest plan did not quite land, what it means to record people honestly, and why the Hollow might be less of a...

Episode 3 of Fritter Hollow was not supposed to happen, which is probably why it feels useful. Derek and Dan meet again the day after the last episode and start poking at the actual room, where the gear goes, where a performer might stand, what microphones make sense, whether the HVAC is a villain, and how much polish a scrappy little production needs before it stops being honest. They also wander...

Episode 2 of Fritter Hollow finds Derek and Dan realizing the website exists, the podcast exists, and now they have to figure out what the thing actually is. They talk work, third places, churches, small business headaches, insurance, flaky people, local weirdos, podcast hosting, AI content, mini shows, live events, and the strange value of recording the idea while it is still half built. It’s par...

Fritter Hollow begins with two guys in a small room trying to figure out whether they accidentally started a podcast, a promotions company, a community arts thing, or some weird little machine for getting unfinished ideas moving. Derek and Dan talk through fly on the wall recordings, local events, weird speakers, singer songwriters, websites, podcast hosting, AI slop, liability, legacy, and the wi...