Cali Claptrap: Integral Conversations

A X-men comic book might start out something like this:

Script: Our world is fragmented and on the brink of one crisis after another.

We believe we are alone but there are more of us than we know.

“Heed this warning: the gods only ask one thing- that we don’t forget them.”

Frame: The hero/ine (unbeknownst to the soul) waits to be transformed…through mutation.

(The hero/ine enters the comic shop)

Jeff Kripal is a professor of religion at Rice University and the associate director of the Center for Theory and Research at Esalen. He is the author of such books as Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion, Mutants and Mystics and the Flip. Celebrator of the humanities and chronicler of the human potential movement, Jeff’s work champions some of my favorite subjects: the metanormal and explorations of consciousness.

In my dreams, comic book shops always symbolize something like Tatooine’s Cantina scene: launching points for magical adventures. For me, the comic shop is a symbol that releases the psychic energy of magic, as Kripal might say. I wanted to be a comic book artist/writer when I was a tween. I set out to write my own comics but I became conscious of the fact I had no stories to tell at that age. Maybe, this is when I set out to live my own adventures. Jeff tells us that there is no place for the modern ordinary mystic in our culture with our present worldview. Luckily, comics can still act as a place of refuge for the extraordinary.

Take the X-Men, for example. The X-men are mutants: humans with superhuman abilities. Like the X-men’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Esalen has served as a home for some of the greatest psychonauts of the last 60 years. Esalen Jeff’s book on Esalen chronicles the lineage of the human potential movement. For fans like myself, many of these folks are superheroes (my superhero mutants): Maslow, Campbell, Tarnas, Leonard, Murphy, etc. Uncanny indeed! Kripal follows in their ginormous footsteps.

How many of us are conscious that we are conscious at this very moment? And if you are with me this far: how many of us are there out there? Authorization is a metatheme Kripal writes about in Mutants and Mystics. It is when we realize we are co-authors of this super-story and “involves the act of writing the paranormal writing us”. The human race is in trouble. Let’s hope there are Mutants out there to help us.

It was an honor and joy to discuss this subject matter with one of the leading scholars in the field. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeff Kripal.

Today's guest is Brent Cooper. Brent is a Canadian metamodern writer and a political thinker. Brent has been a guest on shows such as the Stoa, John Vervaeke, Jim Rhutt, amongst others. I can’t think of a better description of Brent than the one he wrote about himself on his Medium page: "Political sociologist by training, mystic by nature, rebel by choice." While Brent has a reputation of a clasher, I don’t think his fights come from a Trickster spirit. What I appreciate about Brent is his willingness to fight for the cause. It’s a cause that also I identify with so let me point out my bias. Say what you want about the personality of Brent, the work he has produced is very good. He is an excellent writer. He has done the research. He is more informative of what is going on culturally more than any television personality I can think of on any of the major news networks. It’s probably the same reason those networks don’t discuss metamodern or integral because it challenges the foundation of consent.

Have you ever heard you shouldn’t discuss religion or politics at parties? It’s because everyone has a very invested opinion on these two major players in their lives and it triggers fights. It just so happens that these are the two most important issues to discuss. Just look at the current political division happening all over the world. People are losing their minds over politics. Spiritually we lack a common humanity and language that we all can use. There is a sensemaking phenomena going on where many camps are maneuvering to explain and solve the crises in politics and spirituality. I would argue that metamodern and integral have made the most sense of this metacrisis. Metamodern theory is to politics what integral is to spirituality/religion: first-class answers to our predicament.

We need to transcend the sensemaking gold rush and construct a new alliance based on the call to co-create/participate in this metamodern/Integral cosmos/Kosmos. Can we just call it the metamoderntegral (how’s that for a mouthful?) age already? How do we do that? Please tune in to find out how Brent views this turning and what you should be doing about it.

Today’s guest is Dr Rica Viljoen: "Rica worked closely with Dr Don Beck to translate spiral dynamic theory in a pragmatic way. She co-authored the book Spiral Dynamics in Action. She is the founder of the Centre of Human Emergence: Africa and actively involved in the integral space. Rica is an international organisational development and change specialist that focuses on multiculturalism and inclusivity. Her key interest resides in supporting organisations to create sustainable organisational cultures that result in business results through the optimisation of individual leadership behaviour, functional group dynamics and organisational sustainability. These key strategic factors are considered in the context of the industry and the country of operations."

The main focus of this episode is to explore Spiral Dynamics (SD) in more depth. Rica was instrumental with training a global mining company in SD whose headquarters are in South Africa. We used the mining company as a practical example to explore the nuances of SD. In addition, we discuss the research of Clare Graves and the history of Ken Wilber’s involvement with SD.

Today’s episode also features a guest host for the first time, Ryan Nakade. Ryan was a guest in season 1 and also serves as a co-host on the Growing Down podcast.

Alyssa Tolva is the branch manager for the Cupcake Girls for Oregon and SW Washington. The Cupcake Girls was founded by Joy Hoover in Las Vegas in 2010 and now has offices in Las Vegas and Portland. The name was given to the organization because cupcakes, along with other self-care activities like hair and nails, were brought to the sex workers to open dialogue. Who can resist the power of a cupcake? Soon, they became known as the Cupcake Girls.

The mission of the Cupcake Girls is to provide “confidential support to those involved in the sex industry, as well as trauma-informed outreach, advocacy, holistic resources, and referral services to provide prevention, and aftercare to those affected by sex trafficking.”

On my other podcast, Growing Down, I was drawn to learning about different types or categories of politics. Politics of pleasure, or pleasure activism, is one such sub-category that addresses items such as the decriminalization of sex work. New Zealand’s model appears to be the gold standard resulting in a decrease in violence, sexually transmitted infections and human trafficking. Currently, there are efforts being made in Oregon to adopt this model.

Alyssa shares what led her to join this organization and why we should all support its mission.

You can learn more about the Cupcake Girls, how to volunteer and their fundraisers here: https://thecupcakegirls.org

Persistence pays off! After 15 months of correspondence I was able to catch the big fish: Jorge Ferrer. Jorge is the author of Revisioning Transpersonal Theory and Participation and the Mystery. Participation and the Mystery might be the best integral book I have read since Sex, Ecology and Spirituality because of its overview of both the theory and the application of integral. One of my main drives of this podcast is to help understand integral better. Prior to immersing myself in the integral community, I was largely unaware of many of the pivotal books and thinkers that shaped that which is defined as integral. My introduction was through Ken Wilber’s writings but transpersonal theory includes and goes beyond his work. Aware of an apparent chasm between Ferrer’s and Wilber’s integral worldview, who better to ask than Jorge himself? Can these different perspectives co-exist?

His newest book, Love and Freedom: Transcending Monogamy and Polyamory, continues his reputation as a trailblazer.  Love and Freedom offers a radical shift to our understanding of relationships: relational freedom.  He argues for “…the value of holding a pluralist stance when contrasting monogamy and polyamory -one that underscores the benefits of having a greater diversity of relational choices (thus supporting relational freedom) while maintaining the grounds for critical discernment within and among the relational styles.” Love and Freedom offers a transcending alternative to the mono-poly war: novogamy. Novogamy provides the relationship spectrum that is needed in the 21st century. It allows individuals the “freedom to love whom you want, how you want, and as many as you want, so long as personal integrity, respect, honesty and consent are at the core of any and all relationships”, as Wendy O-Matik beautifully summarizes. Love and Freedom is the quintessential integral (postsecular) relationship book because it gives a fully blossomed vision of what love may be for present and future integralists:  “A freer essence of romantic love waits beyond the promises, expectations and delusions of the Romantic Love myth from a bygone era. Once the deceptive spell of monocentric romance is dissolved, a different and more creative love can emerge—perhaps even a finer love that is meaningful, vibrant, and real beyond what one imagined to be possible.” 

There are so many transformative ways that a shift in our thinking could affect things like spirituality and relationships. The first thing that comes to mind is the Catholic church.  50% of 2.6 billion Christians are Catholic linked to a mythic worldview where women cannot be priests and practitioners are not raised with a healthy relationship to their bodies or sexuality. Jorge explains his perspective on priests and pedophilia and what changes he would make to the church. 

A big thanks to Jorge for not only being a guest but for being instrumental in connecting me to guests like Michael Lerner, David Loy and David Nichol for the Growing Down podcast. I have found through our correspondence that he was the embodiment of the ideas he praised in his book, which is the hallmark of integral for me. It was an honor and a blessing to have him as a guest. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did! As Jorge is fond of saying: Onward!

You can find out more about Jorge Ferrer here: https://www.jorgenferrer.com

Before immersing myself in the integral community, I envisioned a utopian setting where everyone got along and were on the same page. Come to find that's not the case. So, why isn't integral more popular? Why does the subject of development trigger pushback? How should an integralist participate in the world?

Jeff Salzman has the answers. Most of you will know Jeff as the host of the the integral podcast, the Daily Evolver. Daily Evolver identifies as a "post-progressive look at politics and culture". Daily Evolver is my E!News-and I mean this in the highest regard.  Jeff is a gifted straightshooter of integral theory and a wonderful host. I had the opportunity to switch chairs and interview him. 

In a world where many are chomping at the bit to argue with their neighbor rather than to help them, integral theory (at its best) offers us a tool to orient ourselves onto the path of Eros. Jeff's antidote is simple: re-enchant the world that we live in and slay our dragons. Grab your wand and sharpen your sword! I hope you enjoy. 

You can find out more about Jeff and the Daily Evolver here: https://www.dailyevolver.com

You are either on Team Human or you are not. Team Human remains optimisitic that despite all the atrocities caused by man there is still a sliver of hope that humans can get their shit together. I created this podcast because, as much as I am pulled to believe we are past the point of no return, there are still humans out there doing good work. Ken Volante is one of those guys. In September of 2020 I inteviewed John Thorne the creator of the Twin Peaks fanzine "Wrapped in Plastic". After listening to the podcast, Ken Volante reached out to me on IG to inform me that he wrote an article in Wrapped in Plastic (#67) entitled: "Dale Cooper: Buddhist Mystic; Twin Peaks and the Art of Catching a Killer". In addition to our love of Buddhism, Lynch, Twin Peaks, Ken and I share similar passions: the PNW, art, podcasts and the labor movement. Ken is the host of the wonderful "something rather than nothing": a podcast that features artists, writers and musicians. 

I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

Post script: David Lynch wrote a wonderful book that features vignettes on his take creativity. In it he mentions (paraphrasing) the deeper you go, the bigger fish you catch. Toward the end of the podcast I rip off mountaineer Ed Viestur's saying from his book "No Shortcuts to the Top": "Getting to the summit is optional, getting down is mandatory". I just wanted to make sure I gave credit where credit is due. 

You can find about more about Ken here: https://www.instagram.com/kenvolante/?hl=en

On October 10th, 1987 at Candlestick Park, in the National League Championship, an eleven-year-old boy sat with his family to watch the Giants beat the Cardinals 4-2. Led by ace Mike Krukow and the 4th consecutive game with a home run by Jeffrey Leonard, the Giants evened the series 2-2, in the best of seven. Post-game, somewhere in the bowels of the Stick, Joan Ryan possibly interviewed the jubilant team hopeful they could win two more. They won the next day at home but ended up losing in seven as the bats became silent. Joan and I would have to wait 23 years to see the Giants win their first World Series since moving to San Francisco in 1958.

Joan Ryan, senior media advisor for the San Francisco Giants since 2008, is an award-winning journalist and author of 5 books including her newest, Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry. In 2009, Joan attended the reunion of the 1989 Giants team that ended up losing to the A’s in the Bay Bridge World Series made famous by the earthquake that rattled the area before Game 3. Their chemistry was the best she had been around and became obsessed with the idea of team chemistry. Three questions that drove her project were: “Does team chemistry exist? What is it? And how does it affect performance?”

Joan’s book provides the research and anecdotes to illustrate pragmatic ways we bring out the best in each other. In positive psychology literature they call it flourishing: Synergistic relationships that foster the development of one another. Baseball is always looking for the leading edge. “Moneyball” emphasizes the importance of analytics in performance and rightly so. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, and Willie Mays don’t think team chemistry exists, but many players believe it does. Mike Krukow defines it as when the players play for each other. Joan defines team chemistry as the “interplay of biological, psychological and sociological forces that elevate performance”.

In the wake of a year riddled with an epidemic, political turmoil, racial division and a country questioning the soul of its country: baseball arrives on the heels of spring giving hope to its fans that a game can help illuminate our collective dark night. Eight years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson debuted for the Dodgers on April 15th, 1947, almost 74 years ago. The theater of baseball has allowed Americans an arena to transcend our divisions through “on the field” and “off the field” slugfests throughout its history.

Today is the home opener for the 2021 Giants. Twenty-six players and countless others in the organization set out to participate in the elusive mystery of what constitutes championship play. They would be neglectful to disassociate the insights of Intangibles. Joan’s insights into team chemistry can provide teams the edge they need not only to bring home a championship but, perhaps more importantly, help players discover the purpose and “soul” of the game: to love one another and to play for one other. Lessons we all can take to heart in these times. Please join me for my discussion with the wonderful Joan Ryan.

Brandon is the creator of the comic book Green Monk and host of the podcast How to be an Artist. 

I'm a firm believer that our greatest art is the life we live. Ken Wilber shared on the audiobook Kosmic Consciousness that Integral art is all art that comes from the Integral structure. This is an amazingly open and liberating statement if true. It also redirects the grand question of "What is art?" to "What is the integral structure?". 

I am very drawn to the art world and especially comics. Like Brandon, I shared a desire to get into animation and comics in middle school. I eventually decided to go a different path but my love of comics and art are still very much a part of my life. The archetypal comic book is a magical place in my dreams. It is often a hub for special characters and messages. So when I get to meet a real life artist/writer with a spiritual bent-sign me up!

Brandon is admirable in his transparency and openness to the experinces in his life. On his podcast and Medium page he shares his peaks and valleys he's had on his spiritual journey and what drives him as an artist. I found him serendipitously on Twitter after searching for Daniel Ingram of Practical Dharma, who was recently a guest on Brandon's podcast. Brandon's handle was a recommended follow.

Brandon and I share similar passions: spirituality, art and community. We discuss examples of present day art that integrates art and spirituality, future projects and existential questions. I am in awe of Brandon's talent and I look forward to see how he continues to incorporate spiritual insights into his work.

You can find Brandon on Twitter @brandondayton

YouTube @https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonDayton/featured

and his podcast How to be an Artist @ https://open.spotify.com/show/4ZgamPKDf8s8rNlZ6ewnlX?si=nzwisqv6QP-LO-7UHwXNew

In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with guest Ann Gleig. Ann Gleig is an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Central Florida and author of American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity. Her book presents Buddhism's introduction to the West and its manifestations through America’s cultural evolutions.

In 1968, Chögyam Trungpa said that the West needed a different approach to Buddhism.  What became of this approach? 50 years later, American Dharma examines Buddhism's integration and dissociation in American culture viewed through a post-modern lens: sexual misconduct, the exclusion of people of color and the commodification of mindfulness are just a few of the topics investigated in the book. 

Listeners familiar with Integral Theory will appreciate the section on Integral Zen. Diane Musho Hamilton sensei and husband Michael Mugako Zimmerman discuss how they incorporate the integral map at the Two Arrows Zen community in response to these post-modern crises. 

The triple gem of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Sangha and the Dharma. 

In the book, there are many references by Buddhist scholars and practitioners such as, "gentrification of the dharma", "decolonizing the dharma", "hack the dharma", "debug the source code of the dharma" to list just some examples. So, what exactly is the Dharma? If it is true that we are transitioning into a metamodern era, what changes have the Buddhist communities in the West made to adapt to this new age? 

Regarding the Sangha, Thich Nhat Hanh said that "the next Buddha might take the form of a community". How can the post-Boomer generations answer this call and have they lived up to their self-declarations? 

Towards the end of our conversation, Ann and I reflect upon the issue of class, neoliberalism and the response of the Buddhist communities. 

To find out the answers to these questions and much more, please tune in and enjoy! 

Ann Gleig can be found on Twitter @agleig 

As part of the Buddhism and Race speaker series sponsored by the Harvard Buddhist Community, Ann will be a guest speaker on 4/22. Check out this magical poster and description here: https://buddhismandrace.com/5-ann-gleig

Tim and Matt return to talk about their favorite songs of the year 2020. 

Backstories to things sometimes are essential to the entire story. We attempted this same recording a week ago but I am technologically challenged. Hence, the mythic proportions referenced of that recording in this episode. 

 Fate is a groove on eternal wax. We set out to talk about our "best" songs. I admire those skilled writers who can describe music. It is a bit of a challenge; which, as I write this, question my ability to describe what goes on inside of me when I listen to music. I believe I come closer to the soul. Jean Gebser said that music comes from the magical structure of consciousness. Statues of this period depict mouthless faces. Perhaps, it is because music transcends what can be put into words. With this in mind, Tim and I free dive into the music of 2020- sharing the love of what songs mean to us. 

2020 wasn't a normal year by any means. Pandemics tend to increase abnormalities, as history can attest to. "Love in the time of Covid" anyone? This is not a quintessential "best of" list. Songs can sometimes be bookmarks in our experience of life. Sonic resonations of a time that is-all things considered: the past. Perhaps, they function best as time machines capable of transporting us back in time as craftfully as a 1985 Delorean equipped with the flux capacitator. 2020 will soon be a blur, but with its mountainscape still in the rearview mirror let's reflect on that was...

Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/653krwp2FZPJlaTmMvlerr?si=DuqlHvBAQ8uI9QRMaADiuw

Matt's best of 2020 (106 songs): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ozbOuLCJoSxj6r2BN2F7E?si=r0maS8EqRdq-tPhtsuu1Qw

As a spiritual practioner, Tantra fascinates me. I am an an amateur but I am eager to learn more. How can the embrace of our own inner feminine and masculine energies be a key to inner alchemy? The shadow, taboos and sacred sexuality-oh my! 

Caitlin Rose is an intuitive wellness coach and tantra teacher. On this episode, Caitlin shares what led her to Tantra and how this ancient non-dual philosophy might be the key to spiritual liberation.

You can find her on Instagram @ animarising. 

Book a session with her at her website: animaintuitivehealing.com.

Luke Healy is a co-founder of the Integral Christian Network. The Integral Christian Network (ICN) is a global platform that invites practioners to deepen their connection to Christian spirituality through transpersonal practices, such as WeSpace groups, Integral Prayer and "Whole Body Mystical Awakening" guided meditations. 

As someone raised in the Catholic faith, the Christmas season has special meaning. Immersing myself in the integral community and practice has given me the perspective (or aperspective, if you prefer) to integrate the magical, the mythical, the mental structures of Christianity. "On Earth as it is in Heaven" is not only a prayer but a commitment. God should not be imprisoned in the mythical or dismissed as invalid in the mental. Jorge Fererr writes there are many shores on the Ocean of Emancipation. Christianity is but one. 

Luke answers the questions I have grappled with on my own Christian journey:

 Is it blasphemous to identify with Christ/God? 

How do we address the shadow/devil? 

How do we integrate womb/genitalia/Eros as Christians?

... And we discuss what the Christmas season mean to him. 

I took part in a WeSpace group in February/March of this year. If you identify as Christian and wish to deepen your practice subtly and communally, I'd highly recommend it. Warning: Be prepared to to activate the right-brained, intuitive, improvisational part of your brain! 

Lastly, to all of you: I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays. May 2021 be slightly better than 2020! 

You can find out more about Luke Healy and the Integral Christian Network here: 

https://www.integralchristiannetwork.org

Dr. Alzak Amlani is a transpersonal psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Integral Counseling department at the California Institute of Integral Studies. 

I came across Dr. Amlani's when looking for any current networks that may have been influenced by Jungian psychologist Robert Johnson's work. As fortune would have it, Dr. Amlani was a friend of Mr. Johnson's for almost thirty years. Alzak shares how this relationship influenced his life and his work. 

What influences an individual to choose a transpersonal psychologist over one from another school of thought? 

How can transpersonal psychology help us reconnect to the sacred? 

Please listen to find out the answers. 

A boon of social media is the ability to connect with others you may have never met in the past because of distance. I found Meegan on IG. I wanted to ask about tarot and what drew her to tarot. While I think it is important to have healthy skepticism in life, it is also as important to keep an open mind to the things we can't explain. A balance between our left and right hemispheres of our brain can produce a harmony we all seek. Can tarot provide clues to this balance? Tune in and find out!   Find Meegan here: https://www.instagram.com/the.travelling.tarot/?hl=en  PS: I apologize for the technical problems experienced in this episode. Thanks!

I met Ryan a couple of years ago on Integral Life, a hub for followers of Ken WIlber's Integral theory. At that time of my life I sought out a sangha to help develop and enrich my own integral practice. Ryan welcomed me into a weekly zoom call he was participating in at that time and as the saying goes-the rest is history. Eight months ago Ryan, Jeremy Johnson and I created an integral political podcast named Growing Down. Ryan has described himself as a political animal. In his new project "Perspectivepedia", he reaches out to folks that come from different political perspectives in an attempt to find common beliefs.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0GTEGZCM97STPur-lPKQdw

How can you not be romantic about football? Many non-sports fans might be familiar with "moneyball" a theory popularized in the motion picture starring Brad Pitt. Analytics has changed the way baseball will forever be played. But what about football? Today's guest is Eric Eager. Eric Eager is a data scientist at Pro Football Focus (PFF). Eric explains how analytics is transforming the game of football: Should you sign running backs to lucrative contracts? Should you go for it on 4th and 1 with 2 minutes left in the game and you have the lead? Should you draft the best CB or the best EDGE rusher? If you love innovation, I hope you will love this episode. Please follow Eric Eager on Twitter @PFF_Eric if you're a fan of football. His insight and wit makes him a must follow. 

Mark Forman is an integrally-informed licensed therapist in the state of California. His book "The Monster's Journey: From Trauma to Connection" examines trauma using an adaptation based off of Joseph's Campbell transformational guide "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." 

An integral life practice requires us to examine our shadow and do the work of cleaning up. When we don't challenge and confront our own adverse childhood experiences, or trauma, our lives become fragmented. Our narratives become incoherent. Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. 

Mark is transparent, vulnerable and bravely bears his soul by sharing his own traumatic experiences that led him to write The Monster's Journey, a book provides Ariadne's thread to those souls that have lost their way in the labyrinth and have become their own minotaur. Society calls them monsters, or anti-heroes. Mark dons the archetypal robes of the Healer in The Monster's Journey to help these wounded souls connect with their true selves so they can make their life story and lives integrated again. 

"We can discern in the auditory aspect of several verbs, used in their normal way, the acoustic-magic stress indicative of the extent to which power is expressed, not in a palpable but rather an auditory manner and appeals to the incomprehensible and prerational in us: to belong, to obey; and, to submit. These words and what they convey are always subordinated to power that we ascribe to things, events, or human beings, whether as possessions, authoritarian beliefs, or sexuality; and they are always connected to the loss of ego and responsibility. It is not the sun-related eye but the labyrinthine ear that is the magic organ; the sun represents diurnal brightness, whereas the labyrinth represents the cave-like nocturnal darkness of dormant consciousness.” - Jean Gebser, Ever Present Origin

"...you can feel the sound he records..." -Polly Jean Harvey

While INXS was Kicking on the MTV awards in 1987, Big Black, Steve Albini’s former band, put out an album called "Songs About Fucking." I was 11.

Steve Albini is the lead singer and guitarist of Shellac and recording engineer for some of my favorite albums of all-time, including PJ Harvey's "Rid of Me", Nirvana's "In Utero" and the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa."

I played the first song on Surfer Rosa, “Bone Machine,” loud with my children nearby recently and my 10 year-old daughter commented “it felt like her ears were bleeding.”

“Yes! That’s it! You get it.”

Steven’s work speaks for itself. Thank you Steven for sitting down with a fan and talking music. I hope the listener will experience the same joy I had recording this conversation with the one and only: Steve Albini.

P.S.: Stream "Dude Incredible,” by Shellac.

"What year is it?" 

These words were spoken three years ago by the protagonist Dale Cooper at the conclusion of Twin Peaks in 2017. As powerful as they were then, they have only become stronger with age. Perhaps, it is due to finding ourselves in the middle of a pandemic in 2020 where time has appeared to warp with its disruption of most laborious routines. 

"I'll see you again in 25 years," Laura Palmer informs Dale Cooper in the finale of the second season. 

Most Twin Peaks fans believed that was the end, including today's guest John Thorne, author of Wrapped in Plastic: the Essential Guide of Twin Peaks. And there is no better guest to invite on to speculate as to what was going on inside the minds of Twin Peaks' creators David Lynch and Mark Frost when they penned episodes 17 and 18 of Twin Peaks, the Return. 

Gary Lundgren is the writer and director of such films as Calvin Marshall, Redwood Highway and Black Road. I selected his most recent film "Phoenix, Oregon" because of the local connection to my hometown of Eugene, Oregon. I expected very little from it but gave it my promised 15 minutes assessment. I wasn't expecting to make past five minutes, truth be told, but Gary's film immerses you into his story with its engaging characters and subdued plot. Who cannot cheer for Bobby and Carlos' attempt to revitalize a foreclosed bowling alley? The subject matter reminded me of Gary Putnam's book, "Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American community." The book's theorizes that Americans have increasingly spent less time together due to a variety of factors in our society and culture. With 2020 being the summer of Covid-19, "Phoenix, Oregon" restokes the flame of our folk kinship that hopefully many Americans long to rekindle. The film has the feel of the independent cinema movement of the 90's when young auteurs Spike Lee, Kevin Smith, Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino brought their visions to the screen. The New York Times calls it "an ode to small-town joys" and that it "feels poignant during our current pandemic."

In this episode, Gary discusses the creative process that went into creating "Phoenix, Oregon", what inspires him as a filmmaker and his advice to blossoming artists.

I cannot express the joy I had interviewing Peter DiStefano, guitarist. I started this podcast for opportunities such as these. How often can we interview figures that played such a key role in our lives? If you haven't heard the riff of the opening song  "Sadness" of Porno For Pyros' epononymous album, then please take a moment to do so now. I was 17 and a senior in high school when I heard this. I was still in a post-drought melancholy suffering from the breakup of my favorite band, Jane's Addiction, when the PFP album came out. At the time I thought it filled a gap. Years later I realize it was another chapter of music for my budding life. The smiling devil that graced the cover bestowed its own song of Pan: be warned of the frolic and folly to those that follow. 

I never knew what happened to PFP following their second and last album, Good God's Urge-until now. Peter shares his struggles with addiction and the wisdom that comes from 23 years of sobriety. 

What I will remember most from this episode is when Peter breaks into an Italian song midway through. With song there is always a hope for humanity. I hope Peter's story gives you as much as hope as it did for me. Maybe, one day we might get a new PFP album. One can hope. 

Find Peter at: 

http://www.peterdistefano.com

https://www.instagram.com/peter_distefano_/?hl=en

On the inaugaral episode of Cali Claptrap, Yancy Scot Scwartz graciously stops by. Yancy found refuge in skateboarding growing up in in NYC and made a guest appearence in Larry Clark's Kids before moving to California to follow his career ambitions. Yancy's discovery of yoga put him on a path that led him to deepen his practice and become a certified teacher. Yancy shares with us his dharma and his advice on how to make the world a better place. 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yancyscotschwartz/?hl=en