Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to musician James Yorkston. Originally from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife in Scotland, James has been playing music since he was young, and was an integral early member of the Fence Collective, a collaborative group of musicians that included groups like The Beta Band. James spent years honing his craft was eventually championed by John Peel and John Martyn after he sent them tapes of his music. This led to him being signed by Domino who have subsequently released most of his albums including 2019's critically acclaimed The Route to the Harmonium and his latest album with the Second Hand Orchestra The Wide, Wide River, which is already one of the best albums of the year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician James Yorkston. Originally from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife in Scotland, James has been playing music since he was young, and was an integral early member of the Fence Collective, a collaborative group of musicians that included groups like The Beta Band. James spent years honing his craft was eventually championed by John Peel and John Martyn after he sent them tapes of his music. This led to him being signed by Domino who have subsequently released most of his albums including 2019's critically acclaimed The Route to the Harmonium and his latest album with the Second Hand Orchestra The Wide, Wide River, which is already one of the best albums of the year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to solo artist and principal songwriter of the band Hop Along, Frances Quinlan. Growing up in Boyertown, PA, Frances recorded their first album as Hop Along during their freshman year of college at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Hop Along soon became a full band and with their third album Painted Shut, the group signed to Saddle Creek. Their fourth album Bark Your Head Off, Dog was met with near-universal acclaim, and just one year ago right before the pandemic, the label released Frances' solo album Likewise, which is just wonderful! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Mark Little. Originally from New Westminster, British Columbia, Mark has been writing and performing comedy for almost two decades. His sketch group Picnicface gained some acclaim during the heyday of internet videos, leading to their own series, which was executive-produced by Mark McKinney. He's also known for the popular shows Mr. D, Gary and His Demons, and one of my favorites Cavendish, a show Mark co-created that is easily one of the funniest things of the last few years. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Richard Dawson. Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, avant-garde folk musician Richard Dawson has been performing and releasing albums for over a decade, each one released to great critical acclaim. Starting with 2014's Nothing Important, Domino began releasing his music, and his latest album 2020, which was released in 2019, is absolutely one of the best albums of the last few years. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Ian MacKaye. Originally from Washington DC, Ian is a guitarist and singer who founded Dischord Records as a teenager in 1980 with Jeff Nelson. Ian and Jeff went on to form the defining DC hardcore band Minor Threat, and in 1986, Ian then formed Fugazi with Joe Lally, Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto. Over 20+ years the band has released seven albums and toured the world extensively covering all fifty United States, Europe, Australia, South America, Japan and many points in between. Ian has also played with a number of other bands including Teen Idles, Egghunt and Embrace, and since 2001, he's played in The Evens, a duo with Amy Farina, and most recently the trio Coriky, whose first album was released just last summer. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Mary Timony. Originally from Washington DC, Mary began playing in bands in the early '90s, first with Autoclave, and after they broke up, with Helium. Between 1992 and 1997, they released two full-length albums, three EPs and several singles on Matador Records. After Helium split up, she released a number of solo albums, as well as albums with two other bands Wild Flag and Ex Hex, both of which were released on Merge. On January 15th, Matador will be re-releasing her first solo album Mountains!  This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to comics writer Si Spurrier. Raised just outside London, Si had a number of different jobs before he began writing for comics. He started with the British small press, after which, he created a number of series for the beloved UK cult comic 2000AD. This success led to work in the American mainstream, which includes runs on Hellblazer, X-Men: Legacy, X-Force, The Dreaming, and the GLAAD award-winning Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. It also led to the opportunity to write a great deal of creator-owned work here, such as The Spire, Coda, Alienated, Six-Gun Gorilla and much more - all of which are well worth your time. Recently, it was announced that Si would be writing a new book as part of Jonathan Hickman's revamped X-Men line! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer Chris Hedges. Chris is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. In addition, he writes a weekly column for the online magazine Scheerpost and is host of the Emmy Award­–winning RT America show On Contact. Hedges, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists, Days of Destruction­, Days of Revolt, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto and currently teaches college credit courses in the New Jersey prison system. (His column that we discuss in this episode can be found here!) This is the website for Begin

On today's episode I talk to TV writer and showrunner Steve Conrad. Originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Steve has been writing screenplays for over two decades, with his notable films including The Weather Man, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Secret Life of Walter MItty and Wonder. In 2015, he started developing one of the first shows on Amazon Prime, Patriot. Though it only lasted two seasons, it is easily one of the best series of the last decade. His latest series Perpetual Grace, LTD debuted on Epix last year. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Chad Clark. Originally from Harlem, Chad moved to DC as a teenager, where he eventually became part of the DC punk scene. He formed his first band Smart Went Crazy while still in high school, eventually releasing two albums on Dischord, the second of which - Con Art - was named by Pitchfork as one of the best albums of the 1990s. After Smart Went Crazy broke up, Chad formed Beauty Pill in 2001. Since then, they've released a number of EPs and albums, and their latest, 2015's Beauty Pill Describes Things as They Are, garnered accolades from NPR, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and numerous other publications. Their latest single "Instant Night" was released at the end of October, and it might well be the best song released in 2020! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to journalist David Sirota. In David's long career, he has done a great deal of work both inside politics and outside, reporting on politics. In the early aughts, he worked as a political strategist and campaign advisor on a number of progressive campaigns, soon after transitioning to journalism, which included everything from a nationally syndicated newspaper column to investigative reporting. His work has garnered him a number of awards including the prestigious Izzy Award for Journalism, and he has written three books, two of which are New York Times Bestsellers. This last year has been a busy one for David, not only did he serve as the speechwriter for Bernie Sanders' primary campaign, but in addition, he is the publisher of The Daily Poster, an editor at large at Jacobin Magazine and a columnist at The Guardian. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Diane Cluck. Originally from Lancaster, PA, Diane began playing music in grade school. She started to perform publicly in New York in the early 2000s, in the same LES folk scene that included Jeffrey Lewis, Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson, and since then has recorded and released over a dozen albums and compilations. Her latest Common Wealth was just released in June, and it's just wonderful! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Thurston Moore. Originally from Coral Gables, Florida, Thurston eventually ended up in New York in the late-70s, just as a vibrant musical scene was exploding, which included post-punk, new wave, no wave, jazz and numerous other styles. After playing in a few different bands, he met Kim Gordon and they eventually formed Sonic Youth in 1981. Over the next three decades, Sonic Youth released 15 amazing albums and became one of the most well-known indie rock bands. Outside of Sonic Youth, Thurston founded and runs the Ecstatic Peace! record label, has collaborated with everyone from Glenn Branca to Yoko Ono, and started the band Chelsea Light Moving in 2012. In addition to all this, Thurston has recorded a number of albums under his own name, and his latest By the Fire was just released at the end of September as part of the Daydream Library Series. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer and director Silas Howard. Silas is an award winning director and writer whose recent work includes executive producing and directing on FX’s Emmy-nominated series Pose. Other TV credits include directing on multiple seasons of Amazon’s Emmy award-winning Transparent, NBC’s This Is Us, HBO’s High Maintenance, Netflix’s Tales of the City, Apple TV's Dickinson, as well as the new Josh Thomas show Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. In addition to all of his directing work, Silas was a founding member of the seminal queer punk band Tribe 8 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Owen Pallett. Since the age of three, Owen has been playing violin, and as a young teenager, he composed his first piece. This started him on the path to making music for a living. On his own, he's written and recorded a number of great albums both as Final Fantasy and under his own name. Additionally, Owen's written for and toured with a number of great bands including Jim Guthrie, The Hidden Cameras, Beirut and perhaps most notably Arcade Fire for their albums Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs. Back at the end of May, Domino released Owen's fifth album Island, and it's absolutely wonderful! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Smith. From 1999 to 2012, Tim was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for the indie rock band Midlake. During his tenure, the band recorded a number of EPs and three highly-regarded albums Bamnan and Slivercork, The Trials of Van Occupanther, and The Courage of Others. In 2012 though, Tim left the band to pursue his own projects, and since then has been recording under the name Harp. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to rapper Psalm One AKA Cristalle Bowen AKA Hologram Kizzie. Originally from the Southside of Chicago, Cristalle was set to be a chemist before creating a hip hop album for her junior Creative Writing project. That album led to some meetings, and eventually she signed with Minneapolis indie hip hop label Rhymesayers. They released her album The Death of Frequent Flyer in 2006, but after a number of years, Cristalle parted ways with them. She started releasing music on her own under a few different monikers, and her latest as Psalm One, Flight of the Wig, is one of the best of her entire career. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Brian Gallivan. Originally from the Boston area, Brian was a middle school language arts teacher before taking a risk to perform and write for a living, starting first with Boston's Improv Asylum and then, after moving to Chicago, with Second City. Since moving to Los Angeles, Brian has written for a number of shows including Happy Endings, Future Man, Splitting Up Together and created the CBS series The McCarthys. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Shirley Collins MBE (Yes, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire!). Shirley is an English folk singer, song collector and perhaps the greatest living embodiment of the musical threads that connect England with its history. In 1959, she assisted Alan Lomax on his famous folk song collecting trip in the Southern US, and as a significant presence during the Second English Folk Revival in the 1960s, Shirley formed a duo with her sister Dolly, who accompanied Shirley's raw and direct voice on piano and portative organ; together they recorded the startling Anthems In Eden and Love, Death & The Lady. After almost four decades of silence though, Shirley started recording and releasing material again, starting with 2016's Lodestar and her latest Heart's Ease, which was just released on Domino in July! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.