The Trace

What does freedom mean to you?  Is freedom connected to responsibility?  Does freedom mean that you can do anything you want regardless of how it effects others?  How does my freedom and your freedom relate to each other? On this episode Andrew is joined by The Trace Radio's co-host Kat Summers.  We each pick 5 songs related to this theme of freedom and talk about what they mean to us.  Style, gen...

On this episode of The Trace Podcast I talk with Professor Clare Carlisle of King's College.   She is the author of six books, most recently "On Habit, Spinoza's Religion: A New Reading of the Ethics" and "Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard" which we will be focused on in this talk.   Clare Carlisle teaches in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Kings...

Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a Los Angeles based novelist, screenwriter and journalist. His debut novel, YES, DADDY, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on May 18, 2021. Amazon Studios is currently adapting the book for television . His writing has been widely published in such outlets as VICE, Slate, OUT Magazine, W Magazine, Atlas Obscura, Elle and Medium. He has lectured on journalism an...

Devin Fei-Fan Tau is the director of "Who's On Top?" which is a feature-length documentary that shines a spotlight on a diverse group of the LGBTQ+ community to challenge stereotypes about gender and sexuality in outdoor recreation. Historically excluded and ostracized as not belonging to the adventurer community, the climbers tackle not only a mountain, but assumptions about who they are and how...

This week on The Trace I am very proud to have Tye Reed as a guest.   Tye is a mutual aid organizer in Seattle, Washington.   We talk mutual aid, how we can all support each other, and the movies. Tye tells us about the good work of mutual aid and how YOU can get involved.   Then we get into some movies and how they relate to our need to take care of each other.   We discuss "Little Monsters", "28...

Todd Brown from Screen Anarchy and XYZ Films is my guest this week.   Todd and I talk about his life of writing about movies and music, producing films, and the movies that have shaped him. Todd has been a producer on films like "Mandy", "The Raid", "Vivarium", and much more.   He generously shares stories about the making of "The Raid", Panos Casmotos, and Nicolas Cage.   We also get into his ear...

Low is one of the great bands of the last 25+ years.   Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker have been making transcendent, challenging, beautiful music consistently since they started Low. Alan Sparhawk is my guest this week on The Trace.   We talk about his childhood and how he fell in love with music.   We dive into specific Low songs plus talk Neil Young, Robert Plant, and even Spike Lee.   We touch o...

It was just over a year ago that quarantine started.   Before then I was managing/bartending at a Seattle bar.   Suddenly I was home and trying to figure out how to use the time.   I wanted to take advantage of this bittersweet opportunity.   I gave myself over to doing interviews, study, writing - and the movies!   This is a talk about what the movies meant to me in 2020.   How did they help me g...

About a year ago I woke up in the morning and saw a man in my mind.   His name was Terry.   I knew that Terry loved 80's Christian rock and that he managed a Christian bookstore in the mid-90's.   I wanted to know more about this person.   I sat down and this story came to me.   "The Bright Light of the Christian Bookstore" Maybe you went to these places back in the day.   Maybe you worked at one....

Illustrator, designer, musician, instructor, and letterpress printer Demian Johnston spent his formative years playing bass in legendary hardcore band Undertow before moving to guitar to form Nineironspitfire and later join hardcore icons Kiss It Goodbye.   He currently plays with Great Falls whose most recent album is "A Sense of Rest". We talk about the beauty of metal, fear of death, the straig...

Do you know that phrase "get behind me, Satan"?   What's that about?   On this episode of The Trace I break down what is going on with this strange expression.   Surprise!   It's more political than you think. I use clips from "Nomadland", "Magnolia", and "Borat" while looking at this famous expression and Bible story.   Are you seeing things in this world through the lense of collective responsib...

Rabbi Mark Sameth is the author of The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God.   His essays include " Our Father, Who Art Our Mother" which you can read on Religion Dispatches , and the Op-Ed "Is God Transgender" which appeared in The New York Times.  Mark and I talk about his book which includes wonderful insights into gender, feminism, affirming LGBTQ people, and intersectional...

The Reverend Jennifer Butler is the founding Executive Director of Faith in Public Life and author of "Who Stole My Bible?:   Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny".   Reverend Butler also wrote "Born Again: The Christian Right Globalized." We talk about her wonderful new book and how to resist empire within inter-faith dialogue and activism.   Have you heard about the horrific...

Crystal Cheatham is the creator of Our Bible App and the host of Lord Have Mercy, a podcast about God, sex and the Bible. As a writer and social justice warrior she has been featured in Essence Magazine, TeenVogue and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Find out more about her work at ChrystalCheatham.com. We talk about Crystal's upbringing in the Seventh Day Adventist church, coming out, and deconstructin...

Erin Green is an affirming biblical scholar and LGBTQ+ activist.   Erin's passion is helping those excluded by the church to heal from spiritual abuse and trauma by navigating the biblical text in restorative ways. In this talk Erin and I discuss queer Christianity and possibilities for public life after Covid.  We are both hopeful about the good things that are possible when we can all gather tog...

Brett Bashaw and I have been friends since high school.   We traveled together in parts of the USA and Mexico in our late teens and early 20's.   I have always known Brett to be a sincere searcher for meaning and love.   He is someone who has overcome profoundly difficult circumstances and practiced forgiveness towards others.   He and his wife, Natashaw Lawyer, published the book "Tin Can Homeste...

Tim and Jay Winterstein are programmers of the Newport Beach Film Festival and host a podcast called Saints and Cinema.   Their show is about movies and religion.   This (of course) caught my attention because these are two of my greatest passions. This episode is a crossover for both of our shows where we discuss movies that disturbed and disrupted us in positive ways.   Some of these films are l...

Wendi Cervantes is a singer, songwriter, and musician from San Bernardino, California who is now based out of Seattle.  She does all kinds of styles and does them all well.  Her newest single is a collaboration with the producer Nez and it's called "Lemons".  It's a glorious synth-pop jam that is sure to pick you up.   Wendi does music under Cervantes and also with her former band Enamity.  She is...

Jason Anderson and Jeremy Krommendyk are music lovers who fully identified with the same music scene as myself.  We were fully invested in 90's underground Christian bands like Starflyer 59, Roadside Monument, Pedro the Lion, MxPx, Luxury, and Zao.  We talk about what it was like then and where we are now with music and Christianity in America. This is an opportunity to talk about music, religion,...

Jennifer Buck teaches at Azusa Pacific University and wrote  Reframing the House: Constructive Feminist Global Ecclesiology for the Western Evangelical Church.   Jennifer has wonderful insights on Christian feminism, pacifism, and the activist tradition of Quakers.  This is a theological and political conversation that I hope feels open to all listeners. I'm honored to start season 3 of The Trace...

A few weeks before election results feels like the right time to end season 2 of The Trace.  It's been a fantastic 34 episodes and I am so grateful to every guest for being a part of this with me. I end season 2 with some words of hope and encouragement in these unpredictable times.  We need to support and love each other big time during this next month.  Make sure you have a plan and support grou...

David Llama is a filmmaker and friend who grew up in Mexico City and now lives in Seattle.  He has wonderful insights about all kinds of things in life.  In this episode we talk about the transition from Mexico to the USA and how that has changed during the Trump years. Lots of talk in here about music, movies, and culture from both Mexico and the USA.  David reminds us that we are all connected i...

I am so fortunate to have Johnathon Ford as my guest.  Johnathon is an incredible musician known for his work with Unwed Sailor, Roadside Monument, and many other bands.  We talk about going all in with music and staying true to the artistic dream.  Johnathon is very open and gracious as he tells stories about life on the road and songwriting.  

Odie Henderson writes for Rogerebert.com, Slant, and Big Door Vandalism.   He has been published in The Village Voice, Vulture, and much more.   He is one of my very favorite film critics writing today.  He is totally open and honest in such a refreshing way.  We talk about falling in love with movies, growing up in Jersey, Martin Scorsese, "women's pictures", horror movies, and more.  Check out h...

Isaac Marion is the author of "The Warm Bodies Series" with the most recent and final being "The Living".  We talk about writing, scary stories, facing the darkness, homeschooling, and the future of art after the pandemic.