STARK REALITY with James Dier aka $mall ¢hange

Episode 37 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's features the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with NYC nightlife photographer KENNY RODRIGUEZ Kenny Rodriguez has been documenting classic parties like Tiki Disco, The Rub, Freedom, etc for decades, and more recently House Of Yes.  Jim and Kenny talk about (of course) photography, techniques in shooting night l...

Episode 35 of STARK REALITY features Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's exclusive Stark Reality interview with DR. ASATAR BAIR Dr. Asatar Bair is a professor of economics based in Riverside California. He identifies as a communist, which is pretty rare to see in academia in the US. Throughout this in-depth interview, Jim and Dr. Bair talk about background growing up, his recent viral tweets a...

Episode 33 of STARK REALITY, recorded 7/6/21, features Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's exclusive Stark Reality interview with LEIGH BUTLER. Leigh Butler is good ppls. Met him few years back at Movement through mutual friends, he is an old school techno head, music head really, been clubbing for many many years, UK, Germany, Detroit, Chicago, NYC, etc etc. He occasionally spins out but most...

Episode 31 of STARK REALITY, recorded 6/22/21, features Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's exclusive Stark Reality interview with Lucien Samaha, a DJ, photographer, and someone Jim has known for many years in NYC. Born in Lebanon, he was a flight attendant since he was 20, and traveled all over the world taking pictures. He has over a million, plus collects tons of vintage photography from fl...

Episode 29 of STARK REALITY, recorded 5/18/21, features Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange's exclusive Stark Reality interview with DJ ZHAO .  Born in Beijing and based in Berlin (plus spending some time in LA, NYC and Houston in btw), Dj Zhao is a musicologist and rhythm ambassador, applying historical materialist analysis to the evolution of social music, and bringing a poly-cultural und...

This time around, for Episode 27, STARK REALITY rolls out the red carpet all the way to Alabama, to talk to gospel radio DJ and folklife archivist KEVIN NUTT. His Sinner's Crossroads show on WFMU is the real deal. Amazing gospel show running for a decade and then some. Kevin also does a long running Friday evening weekly at local watering hole Leroy Lounge .  Jim and Kevin talk about taking r...

Episode 26 of STARK REALITY features features the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange and his guest, sports media pro and justice journalist CHUCK MODIANO, recorded April 2021. Chuck Modiano is a writer, lecturer, and trainer dedicated to promoting equity in sports media coverage. A justice journalist, frequently at various protests around the coun...

Episode 24 of STARK REALITY features the exclusive in-depth Stark Reality interview with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange and his guest Bolivian-based DJ/record collector and dealer and top ppls SONIDO MARTINES, recorded in early February 2021.   Originally from Argentina and living in La Paz, Bolivia for many years, SONIDO MARTINES (aka Xavier) talks to Jim about chewing on coca leaves,...

On Episode 23 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange chats at length with independent journalist, podcaster and Soapbox producer RANIA KHALEK.  Rania Khalek, known for her international reporting on the underclass, is a producer, writer, host at Soapbox, and host of a few podcasts, including Unauthorized Disclosure , and the newer Left Bitches (Who Are Right) . Rania has a ve...

Episode 21 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange features the exclusive long-form interview with special guest GIOVANNI GALVESTON.  Gio is a longtime DJ, builds custom sound systems, and runs the Festival DMT Community Sound System in DC.  A homegrown loudspeaker system that helps event organizers and community events have proper sound. He also works the company Voc...

Episode 19 of STARK REALITY with Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange features the long-form exclusive interview with special guest TONY CONQUERRAH, a DJ in New York City for over 15 years. In this episode of Stark Reality, recorded on 10/19/20, Tony talks to Jim about being accused of being a Russian bot (lol!) by centrist trolls, his musical journey from hip hop and punk into reggae and beyond,...

On STARK REALITY Episode 17, host Jim Dier aka $mall ¢hange interviews guest BETTY JACKSON KING.  Betty Jackson King has always been a dancer, from her teenage years in NJ and Detroit (where she was a dancer on the local Detroit show 'The Scene'), to following the roller skating scene in the 2000s, and lately with hula hooping and fire spinning. She also just hosted her first radio show...

On STARK REALITY Episode 15, Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange goes deep with over two hours with Nathaniel (aka Nate) Wallace, currently a public school educator in Jersey City, a former college athlete (football), labor organizer and social justice activist, and president of the detested (by the Israel lobby) Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Florida State University in 2013...

On Episode 13 of STARK REALITY, host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange interviews Colleen Vincent, VP of a Community for the James Beard Foundation and a vocal champion for diverse leadership in all sectors of the hospitality industry. She is also the co-founder of Black Food Folks , a fellowship of Black folks working in food and drink promoting and supporting each other for mutual success, and is...

On the latest installment of STARK REALITY, host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange interviews Geoffrey Wilson aka DJ Reverend Robert Sinewave If you know Geoffrey; you’d know that he’s a good friend, a good ally, and a staunch believer in equality, visibility, and diversity in the hospitality industry. He’s also a talented and creative bartender. Having spent close to a decade wor...

On Episode 9 of STARK REALITY, Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange interviews vinyl DJ/record collector/political activist Jason Villani aka DJ Lord Lewis the Velvet Knight, host of the long-running Rumpus Room radio show on WESU since 2002.  Based in Connecticut, Jason works as a Librarian and has been a longtime activist as well as a deep music head, following leftist issues especially on...

In this episode of Stark Reality Host James Dier aka $mall ¢hange interviews guest JULIE TURLEY, a NYC based rock n roller, librarian, researcher, mother, and all around bad ass. For the last five years she has been working on an oral history of the Salt Lake City punk scene from the 80s (in which she came of age). She is also conducting a survey called 'Rock and Metal Music Mothering: The Ro...

For this installment of Stark Reality, we interview Belinda Becker, who was one of the first women DJs in NYC, starting at Area in the mid 80s, residencies at classic spots like Nell's in the 90s, and still very active. Besides selecting records Belinda is a writer, dancer, actor, and being in NYC, has many stories...hanging out with Basquiat back in the day to shazaming songs from her neighbor's...

For the premiere installment of STARK REALITY, Host Jim Dier aka $mall ¢hange, interviews a true OG San Francisco DJ, Sake One aka Stefan Goldstone.  He shares a lot of great stories on learning how to mix, gentrification, his brother and fellow DJ Adam Goldstone (RIP), being on the same trip to Israel as Rachael Corrie, and other bay area activists that have inspired him. He's pretty hi...

For the 2nd installment of Stark Reality, Host JIM DIER aka SMALL CHANGE turned again to the west coast for one of LA's best (and best dressed) DJs, DJ Clifton aka Clifton James Weaver III. Jim and Clifton talk about the old school LA mod scene, vintage clothes, bad cop tv shows and police brutality, and the blues song that inspired the reggae classic No No No (You Don't Love Me). Good peoples and...