Episode 83: Tilted World & the Economy of Words

Bart Solarczyk is a Pittsburgh poet whose ability to capture a moment in time with very few words fills me with envy and admiration. His new book Tilted World is out on Low Ghost Press, and in this podcast Bart reads extensively from the book (Hey, they’re short poems!), and we talk poetics, de-industrialization, and the inherently surreal nature of Lunchables.

You can get all of Bart Solarczyk’s books (including Tilted World, Walt Whitman’s Watching, Right Direction, and Vicodin and the Christian Broadcasting Network) directly from him at a reading or hit him up via email at bsolarczyk[at]comcast[dot]net if you’re not local. However, the best thing to do is to hit him up at the Tilted World Book Launch Party on Saturday February 22, 2020, where you can also say goodbye to the Coffee Buddha.

As always, there’s light but pleasant swearing.

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Episode 82: Playing Alone, with Others

Erica Moulinier and Aaron Grey run the small post-punk label Play Alone Records. Play Alone‘s expanding roster of bands includes: Shadow Age, Silent Age, Silence, Empty Beings, Death Instinct, Wisteria, and Ky Voss. We talk about all these bands as well as the importance of stewardship, how to run an independent label in the age where recorded music has no monetary value, and how fun it would be to time travel back to the first show The Cure ever played.

You should check out The Official Play Alone Records Website to sample all these great bands and stay on top of upcoming releases.

And would you believe we almost forgot to swear?

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Episode 81: Appalachian Gothic

Bonnie and the Mere Mortals stop by to discuss the blending of goth and country. During the course of our conversation, I say “interregnum” a lot (again); we discuss what it means to play American music in a time of weirdo nationalism; I prod them about the ins and outs of collaborative song writing; we profess our love for Dan Bell videos; we share an admiration for West Virginia; and surprise surprise, the goth band decides it would rather live in eternal darkness.

You should check out Bonnie and the Mere Mortals excellent EP Tennessee on Bandcamp or one of those streaming services everyone seems to care about. Find out about upcoming shows through the Bonnie and the Mere Mortals Facebook Page, and if you want to book them they have an old fashioned web page.

I honestly don’t remember if anyone swears, but hey, the explicit tag feels comfy.

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Episode 80: The Hardest Working Man in Hardcore

Adam Thomas is in 6 bands. Yes, you read that correctly. You might be in a band with Adam Thomas right now and not even know it. In this episode, we talk about every damn one of them, from Concealed Blade to Empty Beings, S.L.I.P. to Chronic Abuse, from No Time to Heavy Discipline, and we even give a shout out to Blood Pressure, may that band rest in peace.

During our candid conversation, we discuss that very special moment when punk divides a young person’s life in two. Adam tells stories from his recent European tour with Chronic Abuse, we get into how much smarts it takes to sound as stupid as Concealed Blade, I might have accidentally ruined S.L.I.P., and we reminisce about life in Carrolltown, PA.

Every single band Adam is in is quite good, and has a unique sound. Check out the Heavy Discipline 7″, the Empty Beings Dead and Pathetic LP, S.L.I.P.’s Slippy when Wet LP, No Time’s great album You’ll Get Yours, Concealed Blade’s self-titled LP, Chronic Abuse’s transatlantic debut, and if you don’t have Blood Pressure’s Need to Control, you’re seriously wasting your time on Earth.

And of course, we swear.

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Episode 79: We Have 12 Years, Maybe Less

In this episode, we talk with Dusty Hanna and Damon Di Ciccio about the new Silence album The Countdown’s Begun and all the apocalyptic feelings that inspired it. This is one of our “close reading” episodes where we take an artistic work and examine it like we’re in a graduate seminar.

This is a long episode, but how often does a band get to do a 33 1/3 type examination of their own album? More importantly, if you’re listening to this podcast, The Countdown’s Begun probably captures a lot of what you’re thinking and feeling at this moment in history. You can and should buy The Countdown’s Begun through Profane Existence, or you can snag it on the Play Alone Records website. Downloads can be had at the Silence Bandcamp Page, and last but not least, folks in Pittsburgh can get the LP at Skull Records or Cruel Noise Records.

In the process of talking in depth about every song on the album, we listen to the song “Soundtrack to the Picture of the Same Name”, we speculate about how the world can go on, and of course I swear a lot.

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Episode 78: The Better Angels of Our Nature

Every time Jason Baldinger writes a new book, it’s his best book, and so for this new podcast we have a hard time, because Jason is here to talk about two new books: The Better Angels of our Nature and Everyone’s Alone Tonight, co-written with the great Kansas City poet James Benger.

In the course of our conversation Jason and I talk about our long state of national emergency, the importance of travel for poetics, why Jack Kerouac kinda sucks even though he’s important to us both, and American mythology. Jason’s new books The Better Angels of our Nature and Everyone’s Alone Tonight can be bought from a big (but not the biggest) internet book retailer, at independent books stores, or just find Jason on Facebook. He is also going to be going on a reading tour starting with the dual book launch party on October 2nd at The White Whale Bookstore in Pittsburgh at 7PM. Look him up on Facebook to find the other tour dates.

As always, I swear.

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Episode 77: Enter the Skullcast 11

For the last 11 years, mutants have been invading Pittsburgh at the end of August, and we’re talking to two of the people responsible, Dusty Hanna and Erica Moulinier. In this podcast, we look behind the scenes and into the inner workings of Skull Fest. Actually, most of the time we just sit around and geek out over bands we want to see at Skull Fest 11 on August 15th to the 18th in 2019. However, making Skull Fest is an educational experience. Dusty and Erica know all about the kind of guitar pedals legendary British Postpunk bands need to get their signature sound, and last year they learned all about the Cro-Mags’ dining habits. We also explain nicely but forcefully why you shouldn’t move to Pittsburgh if you haven’t already.

Come to Skull Fest! Dusty and Erica discuss this year’s lineup of bands in depth, and while weekend passes have been sold out, tickets to individual shows are available on the Skull Fest Website. Added bonus, if you go to Skull Fest you can see me wearing cargo shorts and maybe I’ll give you a bottled water out of the trunk of my car.

This is yet another podcast where I swear gratuitously as I explain to a guest they are allowed to swear.

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Episode 76: You’ve Known Me Your Entire Life

For this episode, we’re taking a different approach. Instead of an artist promoting a new creation, I sit down with Noah Gainer, someone I’ve known since he was 5, and we have an in-depth conversation about what it means now that he has joined me in adulthood.

In the process, we resist nostalgia. We talk about some very real things that happened to both of us as children, but also the horror of being in one’s early 20’s, and I bust out unlimited quantities of unsolicited old man advice.

As always, I swear. He does too.

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Episode 75: She Will Never be Quelled

Barbara Barrow is a professor and novelist. In this episode we discuss her wonderful new novel The Quelling at length, and her academic monograph Science, Language, and Reform in Victorian Poetry briefly. Along the way, we extend this podcast’s already extended conversation about human dignity, we also touch upon the potential monstrosity of medicine, the meaning of classroom spaces, and Barbara’s sentimentality for Legionnaire’s Disease.

Folks who dare to listen to this podcast will want to buy The Quelling from Lanternfish Press. Sure you can buy it from the online monopoly that ruins everything, but buy it from the Lanternfish Press website, or if you are in Pittsburgh, you can find it at independent bookstores like White Whale and City Books, or you can do what I did and have the nice folks at the Mystery Lover’s Bookshop in Oakmont order you a copy.

For those folks looking for a deep dive, check out Barbara Barrow’s book Science, Language, and Reform in Victorian Poetry from Routledge, and be sure to stay up with her Facebook Page and her website barbarabarrow.com.

I swear because I always do.

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Episode 74: Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series

For the last 45 years, Hemingway’s has been the host of a summer poetry series. Founded by the late Jimmy Cvetic, the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series has been a place where academics have met street poets and shared their voices, and the series has become a foundation of the Pittsburgh literary community.

Joan E. Bauer and Kristofer Collins stop by to discuss the legacy of Jimmy Cvetic, what it takes to keep a series running for 45 years, we make a damn good case for why poetry is for everyone, and they even offer sage advice to those of you who really should start your own damn reading series (seriously, you really should). Step 1 is you should sign up for Joan E. Bauer’s email blast by sending an email to JBauer103w [AT] aol.com.

The Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series can be found at Hemingway’s at 3911 Forbes Avenue , in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The series runs every year from the first Tuesday in May to the last Tuesday in July. You can find out more from the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series Facebook, and a photo and audio archive from the last 8 years can be found on the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series Blogspot Page.

I don’t remember if we swear or not, but I think I did.

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