Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to actor and musician Josh Radnor. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Josh got his start in New York theater before being cast as the lead in the wildly-successful CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2005. He has written and/or directed two films, Happythankyoumoreplease and Liberal Arts, and starred in two series since How I Met Your Mother ended: Mercy Street and Rise, and is currently part of the ensemble cast of Amazon's new show Hunters. In addition to all of this, Josh has been writing music with Australian indie rocker Ben Lee for a number of years. Their first album as Radnor and Lee was released in 2017, and their latest, Golden State, was just released in May on Flower Moon Records! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Mac McCaughan. Mac is a singer, songwriter and the co-founder of Merge Records, one of the most influential labels in indie rock. As a performer, he's the lead singer and guitarist of the genre-defining indie rock group Superchunk, who have released 11 albums since 1989, including the most recent 2018's What a Time to Be Alive. On his own, he's released numerous albums as both Portastatic and under his own name, and in addition to all of this, he also scores films. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Sabrina Ellis. Originally from Houston, Sabrina has been a mainstay of Austin indie rock for years. In 2008, they formed the indie rock band A Giant Dog, and since then, the band has released five albums, including a full-length cover of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. Sabrina also co-founded the bands Heart Bones, with Har Mar Superstar, and Sweet Spirit. Sweet Spirit have released three albums, and their latest, Trinidad, was just released on Merge a few months ago. And it's fantastic! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Andrew Becker. Andrew began his musical career with the post-Faraquet Dischord Records band Medications, drumming on their first few records before moving to New York to form the band Screens. But it was with his move to Los Angeles that Andrew began recording mostly on his own under the moniker Human Potential. He's released four albums under this name. I'm Glad You're Alive, his most recent, produced by Woods' Jarvis Taveniere, was just released earlier this year on What Delicate Recordings! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Sam Prekop. Sam grew up in Chicago and while he went to art school, forming the band Shrimp Boat sent him off in a completely different direction. When the band broke up in the early '90s, he formed The Sea and Cake with Archer Prewitt of The Coctails and Tortoise's John McEntire, and over the last two and a half decades, they've released 11 albums, the most recent being 2018's Any Day. As a solo artist, Sam has released four albums, all on Thrill Jockey, and his latest Comma will be out this September! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Jason Williamson. Originally from Grantham, Lincolnshire, Jason spent several years pursuing music unsuccessfully both with various groups and as a solo singer-songwriter and working as a session musician with a number of bands including Spiritualized. It was when Jason met Andrew Fearn though and they formed Sleaford Mods that things started to take off. Since 2007, they've released ten albums to much acclaim, and their latest All That Glue (a collection of crowd pleasers, B sides and rarities) was just released in May on Rough Trade. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer Dave Hill. Dave is originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he was raised in a family of carnies, gamblers, hell-raisers and story-tellers. He spent over a decade traveling the United States and Canada as a union organizer before settling down in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and three children. He was a regular contributor to Grantland and a writer for the UCB Theater in New York City, and his work has been featured on This American Life, in New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, McSweeneys, and many more. David's first book, "The Vapors", a hybrid memoir/history of Hot Springs was just published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and I can't recommend it more! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Shamir Bailey. Originally from North Las Vegas, Shamir's music career took off relatively quickly after signing to XL Recordings at the age of 19. The push and pull between what Shamir wanted to do and what the label wanted him to do though eventually ended with them dropping him a few years later. After a psychiatric hospitalization, Shamir began making the music he wanted to make, and his latest album Cataclysm, just released in March, is incredible. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician, producer, composer and founding member of Deerhoof, Greg Saunier. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1991, Greg formed the band Nitre Pit, which a few years later became Deerhoof, and in the last 25 years, the band has released 15 albums on labels like Kill Rock Stars and Joyful Noise. Outside of Deerhoof, Greg has played with many bands, including Nervous Cop with Zach Hill and Joanna Newsom, and Rolling Stone called Greg, Zach and Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale "a generation of trailblazing 21st-century avant-rock percussionists". Deerhoof's latest album Future Teenage Cave Artists was just released at the end of May. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to cartoonist Ben Passmore. Originally from Massachusetts, Ben has been writing and illustrating comics since he was a child. He's created comics like Daygloayhole, the Eisner Award-nominated and Ignatz Award-winning comic collection Your Black Friend, and BTTM FDRS with Ezra Claytan Daniels, which was published by Fantagraphics last year. In addition, he is a regular contributor to the daily satirical publication The Nib.. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to writer and stand-up Dan Levy. Originally from Stamford, CT, Dan has been performing comedy since he was nine years old, and while in college, performed stand-up as much as possible. This lead to him winning "Funniest College Comedian in America" at the 2001 Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which jumpstarted his career. He's hosted shows on MTV, has his own Comedy Central Presents special, and has written for numerous shows including Whitney, Mulaney, and The Goldbergs. This all culminated in the creation of his own show Indebted, based on his relationship with his parents, which is now streaming on Hulu. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Thao Nguyen. Originally from Falls Church, VA, Thao began playing music as a young teenager, but it was with the release of her first album Like the Linen in 2005 that her actual career began. Her next album We Brave Bee Stings and All, her first with the Get Down Stay Down, was released on Kill Rock Stars to general acclaim, and since then, her albums, whether with the Get Down Stay Down or collaborations with musicians like Mirah, are all fantastic and well worth your time. Her latest, Temple, was just released in May by Ribbon Music. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Eisner-Award winning comics creator Rob Guillory. Born, raised and currently based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guillory is most known for his eight-year run on Image Comics’ Chew. The book went on to achieve much success, winning two Harvey Awards (including Best New Talent for Guillory), two Eisner Awards, and has been translated into a dozen or so languages. Rob is currently the writer & artist on his hit creator-owned series Farmhand from Image Comics. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Jimmy Flemion. Jimmy and his brother Dennis began playing music together in the late '70s in a number of different groups, eventually forming the band The Frogs in 1980. Since then, the band has vacillated between cult status and mainstream success, championed by such musicians as Billy Corgan, Kurt Cobain, Beck and Eddie Vedder, and releasing albums on labels like Matador and Scratchie. Though Dennis passed away in 2012, Jimmy continues to write and record music, recently touring backed by Even Dando of The Lemonheads. At the beginning of April, The End of All Music released The Frogs' previously-unreleased very first studio album 1st. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to playwright and composer Michael R. Jackson. Originally from Detroit, Michael holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musicals White Girl In Danger and A Strange Loop, which received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in 2019. A Strange Loop became an off-Broadway hit garnering Michael a number of nominations including the Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards among many others. For his work Michael has also received a Whiting Award for drama, a Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, and most recently, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Dennis Callaci. Raised in Upland, California, Dennis has bounced around Southern California his entire life.  He runs the legendary indie record label Shrimper, noted for bringing forth the earliest recordings from Amps For Christ, Woods, Franklin Bruno, Lou Barlow's Sentridoh, The Mountain Goats, Dump, and a few hundred other releases over the course of the last thirty years.  He is also in the band Refrigerator who have released twelve records over those thirty years, as well as solo records by Callaci & collaborations with John Davis, The Debts, and Simon Joyner. Dennis' latest project, 100 Cassettes, which is a quasi-memoir based on his installation at the dA Center for The Arts, was just published in February by Pelekinesis. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Anna Burch. Originally from St. Joseph, Michigan, Anna began touring with her band Frontier Ruckus at the age of 18, and eventually went on to play in the Ann Arbor-based Failed Flowers. But it wasn't until she was almost 30 that she started to write and record her own music. Her first album as herself, Quit the Curse, was released by Polyvinyl in 2018, and her latest If You’re Dreaming, was just released at the beginning of April. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to musician Jeff Parker. Originally from Hampton, Virginia, Jeff has been playing music since he was 8-years-old. Eventually ending up in Chicago, he became a member of the experimental post-rock group Tortoise in 1996 and also co-founded Isotope 217 and The Chicago Underground Trio. He's worked with everyone from Meshell Ndegeocello to Smog, and has released six solo albums. His latest, Suite for Max Brown, was released earlier this year on the Nonesuch imprint International Anthem. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode I talk to Nika Nemirovsky AKA NIIKA. Born in Uzbekistan in the wake of the USSR's dissolution, Nika and her family immigrated to Chicago when she was very young. Her music reflects being at the nexus of a number of different cultures, both on her 2017 EP Honest Dancing and her debut album Close But Not Too Close will be out May 15th. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

  On today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Larry Hankin. Originally from Long Island, Larry got his start doing stand-up in Greenwich Village as a contemporary of Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen. After moving to Chicago and joining Second City, he and a number of other improvisers formed The Committee in San Francisco. Larry is one of the most well-known character actors in Hollywood, and trying to list his numerous credits is nigh impossible, but a few of the more well-known ones are Escape from Alcatraz, Friends, Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, Barry, Billy Madison, Star Trek: Voyager, Laverne & Shirley and over a hundred other roles. In addition, The Loopholes Dossier, a number of writings based on characters he created on stage, was released late last year by BookBaby! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.