James Menefee: River City High, Long Arms, Fun Size
Today’s interview is with musician, James Menefee. James started playing punk rock in the early 90’s as the bassist for the band Fun Size, and over the course of that decade, took the band, from a band that self-released their own recordings, and played locally, to one that was on a label, and had toured the country. And later, formed River City High, a band that left off where Fun Size ended, and allowed James to explore a wider sense of musical influence, as well as became signed to MCA records. To me though, James was someone who, being older than my 14 year old self, and having gotten into punk and playing shows a few years before me, He was someone I looked up to in the 1990s southside Richmond scene. And at that early age, watching the way his band did things, inspired me, and folks like me, to try and do our own things as well.
Jason Bayless: Activist, Creator of Radical-Guide.com
Today’s interview is with Jason Bayless. For the past few decades, Jason has worked as an activist working towards radical change, with an emphasis on decreasing the exploitation and suffering of all living beings. From working with PETA to uncover abuse in Ringling Brother’s circus, to working to extend the voice of the Zapatista community to his own, Jason’s work has centered around tapping into both community, as well as the better elements of people, to try and elevate the standards by which we all live, to a more humane and respectful level. And for the past five years, Jason has operated the Radical Guide website, providing folks with a directory of spaces, and places of importance, that are part of the history of radical struggles the world over, places that may not appear on your local google map. And most recently, Jason has begun to catalog the personal stories of how and where, folks became attuned, and radicalized, to this persistent stream of struggles, giving personal narrative and history, to some of the places in the guide.
Some links to resources mentioned in the episode.
Jason’s Website, Radical-Guide.com
Videos from investigating the abuses by Circus’: Video 1, Video 2
PETA’s list of violations against Ringling Brother’s Circus
A video Jason helped put together from the Chiapas Support Committee
Bookchin’s Social Ecology
An article on Zapatista Women
A Kid, Pt 2
Talking about art, earliest memories, Roblox, Youtube, etc. Bonus interview with a cat.
Cody Jones: Musician, Teacher, Toy Lair
Today’s interview is with Cody Jones. Cody grew up with a love for two things: DC Hardcore, and toys. And after pursuing a career in education, decided to leave a comfortable career to open his own toy store, the Toy Lair, here in Richmond, VA. Now a year in, Cody and his friends are bringing the worlds of underground art, and toys together in a really awesome way, from curating a selection of new and vintage items, to bringing new ones to life through their own production work.
You can check out the Toy Lair on Instagram
Oura Sananikone: Artist, Toy Lair
Today’s interview is with a visual artist many here in Richmond simply know as Oura, or Mister Oura. For the past few decades, Oura Sananikone’s illustrative and graphic art an d characters have been a fixture in the Richmond, VA art scene, working across mediums from everything from zines to toys. And recently, with friend Cody, opened the Toy Lair shop in Carytown, here in Richmond, VA. So it was exciting to get to talk to Oura, and get insight into the person behind the art, how working across mediums comes into practice, and the way one structures their life to be a working artist, while maintaining personal balance and health.
You can check out links to all of Oura’s stuff here
Jason Boyer: Tattooist, Musician (Nerve City, Service Learner)
Today’s interview is with Jason Boyer. Jason began playing music in hardcore bands, and tattooing, while still just in his teens. By the time i met him, he had developed into an amazing tattooist, and also had started on the musical path that he continues to this day, forgoing the more traditional band approach, to make his own music, on his own, first under the name, Nerve City. Today, His musical work has continued on that path and developed into a self-recorded, self-directed process that now includes the hand manufacturing of the release format, usually cassette, as a seamless part of the production process, with as much attention paid to the graphics and pressing production, as to the writing and recording, each done in a separate room of his home. His current work is being released under the moniker, Service Learner, where much of the audio he produces, are studies of what he is learning in the studio. And when it’s not a musical day, maybe he produces a zine instead. Its a fucking fascinating process. So getting to talk to Jason, and learn how this all works, was quite awesome to me. Note: When Jason agreed to do this interview, he had been up all night, kinda ramped up off adrenaline, after having to deal with some drama in his neighborhood. So I greatly appreciate him taking to the time to put that aside, and get into explaining what his creative world looks like. And so here we are, my interview with Jason Boyer.
Link: Steal From Me (Instagram)
Episode 50: Dave Brown
Today, to celebrate my 50th episode, we are interviewing my friend Dave Brown, who we had our first podcast with 10 years ago when I started this. Dave was my first guest, because, when I looked around the folks in my life, my world, he has consistently been a person that inspires me, and who I respect a lot. And since the time I interviewed Dave, he has gone through some big life changes, that took him from being a person that was already so awesome to me, to him being in an even more awesome place, both personally and professionally. From changing places in his career to a more rewarding job, to having his fourth son and being able to be in a position to really absorb and experience that, and all the changes that come from these kind of things happening in your life, a very awesome thing to share. So being able to share that here, makes me really happy.
Yourbrozo: Polkadotrabbit Podcast, Author, Musician
Todays interview, is with my friend, Zo, who you may know as yourbro, zo, host of the polkadotrabbit podcast, or from where I initially met him, as the singer of the 1990s Richmond hardcore band, indypendant. for years, zo has been a person in my life, that has met me with a deep energy, a focus on truth, that has resonated, and challenged my conceptions of the spiritual realms, and the physical world around me. And in that process, has awoken parts of myself to things inside myself, and changed the way I conceptualize and view my own life. And it is with that understanding, and a great respect for him, that I share our interview today.
Some of the stuff we speak about, will challenge a person’s conceptions, of what we know of and conceptualize of the world around us. Its a thing you may have to listen to twice, once to get past the preconceptions, and second, to hear what he is actually saying. But unlike a lot of what challenges the mainstream today, these concepts come from a place of love, and not fear. In a day where conspiracy runs rampant to protect the institutions of white supremacy, understandings like the ones zo shares, I believe are crucial to understanding the cognitive dissonance most humans feel when confronted with the differences between the world they observe, and what they are told of it to be.
Adam Nathanson: Musician, (young) Pioneers, Born Against
Today’s episode is with Adam Nathanson. Adam grew up in New Jersey, and in the 1980s began playing in Hardcore punk bands around New York City, first with bands Mister Softee, and Trauma, then with life’s blood, and band that ultimately led to the band Born Against. After Born Against, Adam went on to form an even more musically interesting band, called the Young Pioneers. In this conversation we discuss his path in music, the stories of these bands, and also, the politics, from the political climates during some of the bands, to the one we are living in now.
Tim Towslee: Ex-Teacher, Education Consultant
Today’s guest is Tim Towslee. We last talked to Tim back in 2017, about his experiences working as a teacher, teaching high school students, a job he had been working for over a decade. But in the last five years, some things had changed. Tim had become demoralized by the roles he was being expected to fill, and deeply effected, like any human being would be, by the issues he was witnessing among the students he was tasked with instructing, And it took a personal toll on Tim, resulting, as many situations lead to, with him turning to alternate ways to cope with both the stress and emotional toll of the work, in his case, by turning to alcohol. Tim’s story today is one of being one of those teachers tasked with making up for the multiple failures of the system around us and feeling those personal effects, and his struggle, and success, in gaining back his own life, and mental health.
