STARK REALITY with James Dier aka $mall ¢hange

For Episode 85 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls out the tattered red carpet to the Great White North aka Canada, and talks to special guest SINA RAHMANI . Sina is the creator and host of The East is a Podcast , a show that focuses a critical lens on the history of the present of the modern Middle East and North Africa, featuring interviews with experts and archival...

For Episode 84 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet out to Ridgewood, Queens to interview his friend Selam aka DJ Miss Hap Selam has been slaying it around Brooklyn and NYC for a decade; great DJ and digger who has deep crates in reggae, disco, soul, and a number of genres. And of course has excellent politics which is why she has been someone he...

For Episode 83 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange presents a special edition and keeps it semi local to roll the tattered red carpet out to NYC for a 2nd conversation with radio veteran, promoter and activist REGGIE JOHNSON. This episode is part of a promo for an event that Jim and Reggie are throwing January 24th at Starr Bar in Brooklyn , a benefit for Electronic Intifada...

For Episode 81 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet out to New Orleans to check back in with GEOFFREY WILSON aka DJ REVEREND ROBERT SINEWAVE, Part 2.  Since our last conversation several years ago (hard to believe, time flies), Geoffrey has escaped from White Wakanda (aka Portland) and moved to NOLA. We bounce around talking about a number o...

For Episode 79 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet out to Brooklyn and talks to special guest JULIA POPESCU. She is a multi-disciplinary artist who shows under the moniker and brand Snakes for Hair , her Tarot and candle company. Her work references ‘90s analog media and the occult, with a punk twist. Her spiritual practice is based on mag...

For Episode 77 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet out to Toronto for an in-depth interview with DJ CATO, aka Congri. Cato was born in Germany and moved to the states as a kid. Skateboarding and music were his refuge and he acquired his first set of Technics 1200’s and Realistic mixer when he was a teenager. In the 90s Cato moved to NYC, b...

For this installment of STARK REALITY, Episode 75, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet to Northern Spain to have a chat with selector and 45 digger NANCY YAHIRO . She is a native of Southern California and first started DJing punk and soul at her college’s radio station (KUCI) in 1985. Nancy became increasingly obsessed with soul 45s and started selling dup...

For Episode 74 of Stark Reality, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the tattered red carpet out to the Bay Area and welcomes visual artist/DJ/producer EZRA LI EISMONT. Ezra is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working on the Mendocino coast in Northern California, with primary emphasis on painting and sound. Born in North Carolina 1974, he moved with his family to NYC 1977 and was...

STARK REALITY Host JAMES DIER aka DJ $mall ¢hange is back for Episode 71/72!Aight party ppl another Stark Reality coming your way. This time we don't have to roll the red carpet too far aka downstairs to Jim's neighbor and noted record digger CHRIS BISHOP. He started the 60s music research site GarageHangover.com  in 2004, which is a crazy resource on obscure garage rock records and more...

STARK REALITY Host JAMES DIER aka DJ $mall ¢hange is back for Episode 69/70! "Hi party ppl, been a minute but managed to record another podcast, this time rolling the tattered red carpet out to LaLa Land to interview special guest, producer and advocate SHIRLEY BRAHA. An ex-New Yorker now living in LA, Shirley is a Queer Syrian-Jew who is against Imperialism and Zionism.  She was also th...

For Episode 67 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls out the tattered red carpet to the East Village to talk to DANIEL EFRAM , a multifaceted NYC-based photographer, journalist, producer, curator, and art publisher focusing on culture and social justice. With a robust background in music, film and TV production, Efram has recently produced projects as "The Elephant 6 Recordin...

On Episode 65 of Stark Reality, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the red carpet out to middle Jersey and talks to DJ COMRADE, an excellent DJ and producer and a great dude who shares a lot of his politics, especially on apartheid Israel. While Jim looks at this podcast as a collection of interviews with like minded friends and artists, and not necessarily a time sensitive/breaking news so...

For this episode of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the red carpet out to Berlin and talk to CANDICE HOLMES. She is a native New Yorker in exile, living in Germany since 2015 and based in the Peter Pan capital of Europe for the past 6.5 years. She spends her days working in Marketing and nights out and about in the Berlin club and bar scene. She has plenty of opinions abou...

For Episode 61 of STARK REALITY, we roll the red carpet out to Harlem and chat with Logan Grendel. A dog guru, photographer, activist, urban gardener, magick practitioner, artist, musician, and Nonbinary Black leftist rabblerouser, Logan Grendel describes himself accurately as seven people all at once. His podcast Focused on Infinity covers 'everything from politics to sex and religion, always wit...

For Episode 59 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange welcomes veteran New York City DJ, radio producer and party promoter REGGIE JOHNSON. Reggie Johnson is an audio engineer, radio show host, party promoter and all around good ppls. He's been working as an engineer behind the boards at WBAI Pacifica for a few decades, and co-hosting Jeanie Hopper's Liquid Sound Lounge since '98. His o...

For Episode 57 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka DJ $mall ¢hange rolls the red carpet out to Queens and rapps with Stephen Barr aka DJ HUGGY BEAR. Stephen is a native NYer who grew up in South Ozone Park, when NYC was a slightly different place then it is today. Besides music of course we talk about his collection of vintage toys from cartoons he grew up on in the '80s, working as a bouncer fo...

For Episode 55 of STARK REALITY Host James Dier rolls out the red carpet out to Brooklyn (via the Bay Area) for reporter, editor and author JESSICA LIPSKY.  She covers culture, politics and music, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Salon, Billboard, Wax Poetics, LA Weekly, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Chronicle etc etc etc. Currently she is the seni...

For Episode 53 of STARK REALITY Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange rolls out the tattered red carpet to Hells Kitchen / Dublin and catches up with his old friend Desmond O'Byrne aka Des aka DJ Repoman. Jim met Des in the mid 90s running around underground parties in NYC, both resident DJs at the afterhours spot Rubulad. Throughout this in-depth conversation, they talk digging in various flea markets...

For Episode 51 of STARK REALITY Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange welcomes special guest KATHLEEN SCHAAF, owner of Meow Vintage in Long Beach California since 1986.  Kathleen has been hunting deadstock vintage since the late 70s. She's known as the 'Queen of Vintage', and her store on 4th Street was the first vintage shop on a street that is now known as 'Retro Row'.   Jim and Kathleen talk about d...

For Episode 49 of STARK REALITY Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange welcomes Maga Bo, an internationally known DJ and producer who has released music and remixes on a number of the world's finest labels, Tru Thoughts, Ninja Tune, Cumbancha, Soot, Soundway, and his own Karfundo and Kaxambu.  Originally from Seattle, he's been based in Rio de Janeiro for over 20 years, and keeps very busy, touring and...

On Episode 47 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange, this time around the tattered red carpet gets rolled out to Philly for special guest DIRTY SOUTH JOE.  He is 3 decades deep in the game, has thrown a number of different parties in different styles, from yacht rock to dubstep to his Drake themed night which gets thousands of heads. We talk about him starting out DJing...

Episode 45 of STARK REALITY features James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's in-depth interview with Honeychild Coleman, a longtime friend in NYC we met in the mid 90s at a loft party in Williamsburg.  She is an OG afro punk, rude girl, DJ, musician, an original. One of those ppl that keeps New York still New York, despite the yuppification of this town. Forward thinking politics and dope fashion....

Episode 43 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange rolls out the red carpet to Venezuela for the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with Caracas-based writer and editor RICARDO VAZ, recorded 2/23/22. Ricardo Vaz works for independent media outlet Venezuelanalysis and he is also a member of Venezuelan collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix .  Ricardo grew up in Mozambique...

Episode 41 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange features the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with filmmaker, artist and DJ/vinyl enthusiast DARCY TRUNZO Darcy Trunzo is a coalminer’s daughter, artist and producer living outside of Pittsburgh - who is using art, music and film as a method of inquiry, explores culture and its weird relationships to history and...

Episode 39 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange features the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with musician, journalist, filmmaker and writer BEN NORTON. Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker, and founder/editor of the independent news site MULTIPOLARISTA where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish, with many articles and videos up at T...