Rhythm Nation

Michelle DePass is the current chair of the Portland school board who is currently focused on the unenviable task of re-opening public schools during the onset of the delta variant. It’s an incredibly tough job given that she has to weigh our constantly changing scientific understanding of delta against the varying opinions of thousands of concerned parents. In the episode, we talk through the tho...

Megan Andricos, also known as DJ Sappho, is a queer event producer and musical artist based out of Portland, Oregon. She’s a founding member of Rhythm Nation and has been a huge inspiration for me. She’s inspired me musically through our studio collaborations and from her blowing my mind many times listening to her DJ. But deeper than that, Megan has shown me through leading by example how to thro...

Deena Barnwell is a DJ and stalwart purveyor of great music in the ever-changing Portland music scene. She worked at local community radio station KBOO 90.7 as the station’s Urban Music Director from 1998-2018. On the show, we talk about what brought her to hip hop, what's she's learned as a woman working in the music industry and the collective moments through music that have the power to transfo...

Eric Ward (@BulldogShadow) is the Executive Director of the Western States Center, a social change organization that works to strengthen inclusive democracy. He’s also a former member of the band Sublime and has firsthand experience with racism and violence in the 1980’s LA punk scene. On the show, we talk about how songwriting is a form of “courageous conversation”, which Eric firmly believes is...

Sara Kenigsberg was the supervising producer on both the Biden-Harris campaign and the Bernie Sanders campaign for president. Before that she helped start up a video team at MoveOn in June 2016 and was an early producer at both NowThis and HuffPost. She continues to work as a producer and digital strategist for a number of media and advocacy groups. On the show, we talk about the craft of politica...

On Earth Day 2021, Rhythm Nation held a Green New Deal Party with a panel of climate experts and musical performances from @maarquii, @cay-horiuchi and Cee White (in that order) This is a recording of the entire event that was livestreamed from Holocene. The Green New Deal is both a specific piece of legislation, but also a framework for dealing with climate change through bold and equitable inves...

Eli Goldstein is one half of the DJ and production duo @soulclap, which has built an international reputation for their dance music over the past 20 years. Throughout his music career, Eli has played key roles on music activism projects, including DJs for Climate Action and more recently “Rave the Vote”. On the show, Eli and I talk about how his experience as a DJ, producer and record label owner...

The 20th episode of Rhythm Nation drops today! This 60 minute party mix weaves together the best jams selected by my podcast guests so far along with jams that have been getting me through these strange last 12 months. Rhythm Nation has been a really gratifying project for me during these strange last six months. I’m so thankful for all the guests and other folks who have taken time to be involved...

On February 20th, Rhythm Nation hosted a “Medicare for All Rave” at Holocene featuring a panel of Medicare for All leaders from across the state to discuss the current strategy to make Oregon the first state to implement a single-payer system. Following that was live musical performances streamed from Holocene, including one from @theoryhazitofficial included in this podcast. Over 500 people joine...

On January 20th, we celebrated the end of the Trump era, the end of the majority leader McConnell era and the passing of Oregon's landmark ballot measures by chatting with the leaders who made them happen. We talked about the importance of staying involved and how to do so, then celebrated with a dance party live streamed from Holocene. It was a truly special event that included a cameo from @bern...

Drake Hunt is a college activist and a rising leader of the Sunrise Movement, the nation’s leading youth activism organization centered around climate justice. On the episode, we talk about the Drake's upbringing in Georgia, the upcoming Senate runoff and Sunrise Movement's youth organizing taking place in the state. We also go through a playlist of jams that inspired Drake's activism. For links t...

Tyler Evans was the lead designer of the Bernie 2020 campaign and continues to play that role in the Friends of Bernie Sanders PAC. On the show we talk about how much of the work he’s produced for Bernie has been directly inspired by album art. We also dive through an eclectic playlist of mostly metal bands that inspired his activism journey. For links and images of tyler's work as well as playlis...

Teffannie J. Hale is a strategic leader for the underserved and underrepresented. She’s the CEO of The Community And Parents (CAP) Projects, which examines and leads conversations and initiatives to eradicate implicit biases in underserved at-risk schools with predominantly African American students. On the episode, we discuss the interdependent relationship between activism and parenting as well...

Shasti Conrad is a versatile strategist and thought leader with a broad range of political, policy and operations experience within government at all levels. On the show she tells several amazing stories about music that inspired her journey as an adopted kid growing up in rural Oregon, as a staffer in the Obama White House, to a leader on the Bernie campaigns, to Washington state politics where s...

Throughout history and across the globe, music has been used as a tool for activism. Josh MacPhe is a designer, artist, archivist and author of a wonderful book called An Encyclopedia of Political Record Labels, chronicling the vinyl produced by leftist organizations in America, South America, Europe and Africa. In the latest episode of Rhythm Nation, we talk about the motivation and crate-digging...

Senator Nina Turner came into the national spotlight as one of the leading faces of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns, where she was a national surrogate and co-chair. She's established herself as a national leader in her own right through media appearances, her podcast Hello Somebody and her leadership of Our Revolution. However, she started her career in local politics as a state senator...

The tech industry is perhaps the most polarizing aspect of American capitalism. It’s changed the world many times over, but the impacts of that change are grossly unequal. In her book Abolish Silicon Valley, former believer turned critic Wendy Liu challenges the myths of the tech industry, and offers a galvanizing argument for why and how we must reclaim technology’s potential for the public good....

Oregon ranks nearly last of all states in access to basic drug addiction treatment. Measure 110 is an ambitious drug treatment and rehabilitation program that would be the first decriminalization initiative passed in America. I talk with longtime criminal justice law reform advocate Anthony Johnson, who’s a chief petitioner for the Measure 110 campaign to talk about how this could impact the state...

Oregon has a mental health crisis that has only worsened with the pandemic. There are very few new options in the pipeline to treat depression, anxiety, addiction and other mental health challenges. Oregon Measure 109 directly addresses this challenge by establishing a regulated Psilocybin Therapy system. On this episode, I chat with campaign manager Sam Chapman about the legislation and how we on...

Universal Preschool For All (Measure 26-214) provides free preschool to all 3 and 4 years olds in in Multnomah County with an income tax on the top 5% of earners while providing quality paying jobs to educators. I chat with one of the brains behind the program, Sahar Muranovic, about the details of this policy and the intersectional issues it confronts. Later in the show I bring on my longtime fri...

They're not gonna do our town like this. We can't sit back and let Portland be the punching bag of the GOP. Not with vitally important measures on our ballots that can transform the way our community is policed, our kids are educated and the balance of corporate power in our state government. Join the Rhythm Nation Organizing Team to educate your friends and family members about this critical elec...

Misty Rebik is a lifelong organizer who led the Bernie Sanders campaign to a popular vote victory in this year’s Iowa caucus. She is now Executive Director of the Friends of Bernie Sanders PAC, the organization tasked with continuing the momentum of Bernie’s movement. We talk about her history of dance and why dance parties are essential for building movements for the long-haul. For a playlist of...

Shabd Singh is a political organizer as well as the host and producer of The One, a podcast exploring Sikh history, philosophy and culture. Prior to this episode I really didn’t know much about Sikhism other than that they’re known for showing up and supporting fights for justice. On the show, I learned how Sikhism and a love of music put Shabd on a course to the Bernie Sanders campaign. We also c...

Mia Fermindoza is a media director with a passion for producing political content that stops your scroll. She'd come from producing original live shows for social platforms at NowThis before joining the Bernie 2020 campaign to lead and support its video operation. On this episode, we talk about Bernie’s vision for music on the campaign, particularly in the livestreamed events Mia continues to dire...

Anne Marks is the Executive Director of Youth Alive, an Oakland-based non-profit that believes that urban youth have the capacity to stop the violence plaguing our communities. We talk about what it means to be an ally and discuss her recent op ed in The Guardian about the role of police before diving into music. Anne is my cousin and basically my big sister. She’s someone I’ve looked up to my ent...