Liz Canfield: Professor

Liz Canfield is a sound artist, zine maker, teacher, and community organizer here in Richmond, Virginia. She teaches as an assistant professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, at Virginia Commonwealth University. One of her main focuses has been working with people incarcerated in the Richmond City Jail. It was great to sit down with Liz and talk about some of the projects she has been working on inside the jail, how that process works, and why she feels these projects are important.

Chris Boarts Larson: Slug and Lettuce Zine / Photographer

Todays interview is with Chris Boarts Larson. Chris is an artist, a photographer, who, with her zine ‘Slug and Lettuce’, doccumented hardcore punk in New York City and Richmond, Virginia, building something of a community through the zine throughout the 90s. Today she is working on a new photo project. It was exciting to talk with Chris and find out her opinions on things happening today, as well as looking back at parts of her life.

Noah Scalin: Artist / Musician

Todays’ interview is with Noah Scalin. Noah is a an artist whose work requires him to wear many hats. He’s a professor at VCU teaching future graphic designers how to find their own ethical voice, He runs the design agency Another Limited Rebellion, he’s written and published a few books on some of his art projects, perhaps most notably his book ‘Skulls’ and his ‘Skull-A-Day’ project, and on top of all of this, takes his creativity and ethics to music with the group ‘League Of Space Pirates’.

Ben Snakepit: Comic Artist / Musician

Todays episode is with Ben Snakepit. Ben is a musician and artist. As a musician he has played with the bands Shit Creek, Shanghai River, MODOK and J Church, currently playing with the band Ghost Knife. And as an artist, has created six books of his comic series, “Snakepit”, the latest of which is titled “SnakePit Gets Old”. He also does a column in Razorcake. I first met Ben years ago when he lived in Richmond, and had much fun catching up with him over the phone from his home in Austin, Tx.

Greta Brinkman: Bassist / Craftsperson

Todays episode is with Greta Brinkman. Greta got started playing music in the early punk and hardcore scenes of Pennsylvania and Richmond, playing with bands such as 2000 Maniacs and Unseen Force. She then went on to become a touring musician, playing bass with the Debbie Harry Band, and Moby, as well as working as a studio musician in NYC. She now lives back in Richmond, and plays with the band DRUGLORD, and makes beautiful wooden picture frames from reclaimed wood, through her company, Frames by Greta. It was a pleasure to talk with Greta, and I hope you enjoy listening.

Jeff Grant: Musician / Co-founder Houseplant Records

Today’s interview is with Jeff Grant. Jeff got started playing in bands in the mid 90’s as the drummer for the Richmond punk band Target For Agression. He then went on to play with a continual assortment of bands, including taking up guitar and vocals to play with the band Pink Razors, the band Food, and now his most recent projects, The Sands and Full Sun. Along the way, he moved to Bloomington Indiana, and started the record label, Houseplant Records, with his wife, Erin Tobey, an artist and musician herself. I met Jeff when we were in our early teens, and so it was great to catch up with him and what he has been working on.

We did a follow-up interview with Jeff in 2018, located here

Ben FM: Emcee / Artist

Today’s interview is with Ben FM. Ben is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, was the co-founder of the Hip-Hop duo Luggage, and since I met him in both of our early teens, a very bright and confident person that likes to make other people think with his art. In addition to new solo music he has planned to release, he also is working with others to bring a united banner to the Richmond Hip-Hop culture with the founding of the Richmond Renegades, a hip-hop collective of sorts. You can get music from Ben by sending an email to benfmrva@gmail.com .

Andrew Necci: Editor at RVA Mag / Zine author

Todays Episode is with Andrew Necci. As long as I’ve known Andrew, he has been writing, whether in his zine “Nothing Is Cool”, lyrics for his band Tri-State Killing Spree, or currently, as the Editor-In-Chief of RVA Magazine. In fact, his writing is how I got to know him, when he interviewed my 15 or 16 year old self for a zine he was doing, back in 1995 or 96. So when I started doing these interviews, I knew I wanted to interview him. Enjoy!

Craig Lewis: Peer Recovery Worker

Today’s episode is with Boston Punk Rocker and ‘Recovery Worker’, Craig Lewis. Craig grew up in the punk scene in Boston, and in his early teens, began being diagnosed with various mental health disorders and put on drugs to treat them. But it wasn’t till much later in life that Craig got with a good therapist and realized, He had none of them. That in fact, much of the anguish he was suffering was from the treatment itself, and the alienation that comes with being told by a professional that you have a mental illness. Since then Craig has made it his mission to help others that may be in a similar position. He is a ‘Certified Peer Specialist’, but he prefers the term ‘Recovery Worker’. And he has set out around the country sharing his story in his talk, “punk rock, mental illness, and recovery’, and his book, ‘You’re Crazy’, which you can find Here, as well as with his coping skills workbook, ‘Better Days: A Mental Health Recovery Workbook’, availalble at betterdaysrecovery.com.

Ed Edge: Activist Businessman / Paramedic

Ed Edge is a community activist and paramedic in Richmond, Virginia whom dedicates his time to running a variety of non-profit organizations designed to help the economically poor people of the City Of Richmond. He has funded these works through his own pay as a paramedic and living simply, as well as through for-profit business he has also run, such as Cafe Verde, a series of food carts, and the RVA Vegan Food Truck, and past ventures such as the bicycle manufacturing company called, Cute Bikes, which he recently sold. In this Interview, Ed provides us a fascinating look into the thoughts and ethics that go behind the good deeds he does, and that we can all apply this ‘do something’ attitude to our own lives as well.