Tea with sg

Orson @orsonowitz and I went to Emerson College together. We both basically hated it, feeling like it was a buncha industry talk and comedy bs and no real art thinking. Attribute all that to me no him just in case. He's now made 3 films in about 3 years. And he's just making stuff. Whatever elements come together, with whatever resources...attach a point of view...and make a movie. He talks about actors being his closest collaborators on set, and I reference how he's gotten the best performances out of some of my fav actors. He also DP's his own films, while shooting for hire elsewhere. Queen of Hollywood Boulevard is on Amazon Prime, Trespassers is on IFC, and his new one The Five Rules of Success is playing festivals like @fantasiafestival currently. If you're in LA, he'll be doing drive-ins. http://www.orson-oblowitz.com

Ben @benhozie just premiered @fantasiafestival his new film PVT Chat starring Uncut Gems' @juliafox and @petervackofficial. People who asked what's Julia gonna be in next...this is it. It's a very NYC movie. Internet folk in NYC movie. Bc that's what we are. Made by a bunch of NYC people, namely Ben, who fronts one of the last fresh and relevant actual NYC based indie rock bands. They're like The Strokes, but Ben sings about today's existence on the internet. I told him I felt like his songs are like essays that could go on Medium, but since he's more tasteful than those Medium ranters, he makes music that drives the feelings and points so much deeper. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTtUjKAGHqU 

Justine's Sibyl releases Friday Sept 11 via FIlm at Lincoln Center, my fav. I watched the film last year at NYFF and loved it. I talk to Justine about contemporary films about adults living adult lives, dealing with adult thoughts. We get them from France, but rarely United States. She has such a wonderful cast because she creates such major roles. Every single role in the film is nuanced, a look into a three dimensional person. There are no thin secondary characters, she does each one relatable justice, and simply spends more time with some than others. Sibyl is alive and dynamic, a real person I could know. The second collaboration with Virgenie Efira, it's the kind of role American actresses just don't get to perform. Efira takes advantage. Watch Friday @filmlinc https://www.filmlinc.org/films/sibyl/

Eve @evebarlow has a conflict. A few actually. Most people know her as a music journalist writing for @guardian @GQ @latimes @nymag @pitchfork @billboard @tabletmag @nmemagazine @playboy. Lately, she's been a really loud Jew. Will her music people remain interested when Judaism is the topic? Will the massive influx of new followers via Judaism read her music writing? Can she be a music journalist who is also an activist around Judaism? What about Zionism? What about the conversation around Israel as a state? Antisemitism? Anti-Judaism? Anti-Israel? Anti-Zionism? Where does racism come into play? What about intersectionality? Right and left? Right and wrong? Shortly after George Floyd was killed, I spoke out that this was not a moment for Jews to make any noise, that this was a moment specifically about oppression against people with black skin. Eve and others like her friend @benmfreeman made me come to the opinion that that rhetoric was repeated often enough and spun enough to create a real moment of Antisemitism. We get into it.

Ryan @aryankrugerthing is filmmaker behind @friedbarrymovie playing now @fantasiafestival. It's a gonzo trip movie where he pulls out all the tricks he never got to use on his many music videos or commercials. It's heroin gonzo meets alien gonzo. I don't know if it really matters if we're watching Barry under the influence of heroin or an alien possession, but just everything happens. What I loved most about talking to Ryan is hearing how much he loves his movie. He made exactly the film he wanted to make, and is fully satisfied with it. It's such a hard place to get to, where either technical or creative or circumstantial aspects often get in the way of filmmakers being content with even well-received work. Watch Fried Barry now at www.fantasiafestival.com

Julia @reel.jss stars in Come True, premiering TONIGHT @fantasiafestival. It's Anthony Scott Burns' soph film, and I learned from Julia they had eight people on set. Very cool. It makes sense. Burns requires serious emotional openness and evolution from Julia, where her internal shifts in her subconscious and unconscious fully drive the narrative. It's Julia's show. Her face is the star of the movie. And she's got one of those faces. It's a classic you don't forget. Added iconic short blonde hair. Julia's young but already a serious veteran a decade into her career. Loved talking craft with her and getting inside what she brought us in Come True. Check it out, like right now, at www.fantasiafestival.com

Chino premieres Undergods, his feature debut, this weekend @fantasticfestival. It's pitch black in cool blue, a dystopian future, a crumbled Europe, a sinkhole of a narrative carved into chapters channeling this despair into stories of broken intimacy. Broken organization, broken communication, broken masculinity. Everything broken and fragmented. As we discuss though, this isn't to leave you hopeless. It's to open your eyes and demand something else when you exit that theater (or turn off your laptop screen). I particularly enjoyed the threads we took on generational decay as well as the phenomenon of creatives finding a sweet spot of inspo with work made in the six surrounding years of their birth. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2NQjAHZyc0 and watch the full film at www.fantasiafestival.com

Isabel @isabelpeppard77 is co-director of Morgana @morganadocumentary, which is showing @fantasiafestival right now, after its premiere at Melbourne Film Festival. Her co-director Josie Hess @yosiesaurus couldn't join us just bc lotsa time zones. Morgana is an emotional story of a woman making a courageous shift in her circumstances and taking control of her life and narrative.  At the end of her rope, lost in her standard housewife/mother life, Morgana decided to break her 12 year celibacy and hire a prostitute, then kill herself. That experience instead inspired her to memorialize the experience in a pornographic film. Many films later, she is considered the pornographer's pornographer and won many awards. I'll leave the rest of the movie. There's a lot. Isabel and I specifically talk a lot of the analogue to intimacy and touch in a pandemic time. Watch it now www.fantasiafestival.com www.josieiscool.com www.isabelpeppard.com www.permission4pleasure.com www.morganadocumentary.com

I'll write a better description later but I wanted to upload this immediately because @theblockislandsound premieres like right now @fantasiafestival. I have a bunch of episodes in a row focused on films there. Will be rolling them out through the weekend and next week. Funny I didn't even know they went to Emerson College with me. Fun episode. Great film, GO WATCH IT! www.fantasiafestival.com 

George @georgeguttridgesmith of @obubuteafarms (Wazuka, Japan) is officially my longest episode! And we could have kept going easily. If you go back to my episode with Elyse Petersen of Tealet, you heard us talking about Obubu's internship program. Elyse started that, and George was a participant in 2018, never left Wazuka. Well, he left and came back, but you know what I mean. Obubu is a leader in the field. Beyond internships, there's a wonderful tour business, videos, classes, trips, and great great tea. We talked lots of ideas about the future of tea. Get into the last half of it for me really riffing on where I want things to go. linktr.ee/obubuteafarms

Kathryn @klfbiz3, founder of @biz3publicity is IMHO one of the most important people in the music industry. I didn't say 'women.' She's touched more angles than most I know. We started by talking about her ex-husband's new record (www.agrapedope.com), formerly of peak cool indie rock band Tortoise. We barely talked about her cofounding OWSLA with Skrillex and Tim Smith. We talked some about her generic publicity and management empire. We touched on hip hop artists she works with like Killer Mike, J. Cole. Talked a little about her client Colin Kaepernick. Talked a lot about her more recent addition/transition to life coaching. She's great.

Jonah @bitterleafteas originates in Canada, but married into tea life. He and his wife moved to Kunming, in China's Yunnan province (arguably the birthplace of tea, home of Pu Erh), where she was raised. They've built a great brand exporting really high quality Chinese tea, teaware and education. Their site, tea club, and newsletter are a really beautiful starting or immersion point for any tea novice or lover. It's very cool getting Jonah's perspective, because we're raised in similar places, at similar times, and he's committed to this entirely different life. Watching the generations of Chinese tea farmers develop and integrating into them is a journey I am happy to hear about firsthand. www.bitterleafteas.com

Andreea @amagdalina started @shesaidso pre-#MeToo. It's been a cool transition watching her work from before it was, woah, as weird as this is to type, I don't think it can be disputed, trendy. It was an afterthought. I didn't even take it too seriously tbh. We co-hosted events, but I wasn't too involved. I felt the work really important, but I had no idea what to do about it, and felt like nobody really cared. Now everyone cares soooo much. And while the kind of work SheSaidSo does is not top priority at all the big companies, we're faced with new challenges. This felt like a nice time for a check in. Post-#MeToo peak craziness, now that we've settled into pandemic life, and right in between the George Floyd protests and November's election. https://www.shesaid.so 

Season 2 premiere. Back in NYC. Release day today for really my first song. I've made some other music, but it was more just fun stuff while DJing. This is important. Third Son @thirdsonmusic my producer and I talk about it and lotsa stuff. Check www.bandcamp.com/seanglass for the song download and merch. Streaming everywhere. More merch @smalldifference www.smalldifference.co www.linktr.ee/sdotglass

I left Mexico two days ago. I recorded this while watching my final sunset with the person I spoke to most during my five months of isolation in Careyes. Bianca and I dated a while ago but reconnected when I was sick earlier this year, because she was always good to me when I was sick. In general, I get really annoyed talking to a lot of people for this time in my life, because there's all of this attachment put on me that I'm no longer ok with. I left what I saw as my world or the world a few years ago, and have insulated myself to do the work I felt I needed to do, and only let in certain people who fit into that energy. My birthday is Saturday (August 1st, obviously you already know this), and I'm not only physically returned to the world (back in NYC), but I'll be releasing everything I've been working on now, marking my return in that sense. What I realized was that I didn't want to live any longer without building my own universe. I didn't want to have conversations with people dictated by the rules and conventions set by others. As goes with artistic form, one cannot just tell another how one wants things to be, one must build it and transfer the understanding in a more powerful and nuanced way. So I removed myself until I could do that, and now I can. The music, the clothes, the films, the show, everything is coming out now. And I can talk to people again, because I'm building this world around me and through me that works on terms I'm ok with. Bianca helped a lot with that in so many ways. So talking the last few months through with her felt like the perfect way to end this. Next will be Season Two: NYC!!!

Second to last episode of season one. Day before I leave Careyes, Mexico, where I spent five months in actual isolation for quar. It was wild. Some of my feelings toward the end, as I prepare to reenter civilization. Mark Rothko The Artist Reality Head to @teawithsg Instagram for videos, now uploading daily since I'm in NYC with strong WiFi finally.

Stephanie @stephanielacava and I share so many artistic references and influences, we can talk forever. This one is a two parter, as her computer died mid recording and we were chatting anyway so just continued it a few days later until her son needed her. Stephanie's new book The Superrationals is a tight and dense 189 pages. The first thing I said to her after reading a few pages was the you have to live a lot to write that direct. That is, there's lives between the words. We're both major students of Alain Robbe-Grillet, and she even references he and Marguerite Duras in the book. It's a very cool formal exercise read, as it takes a little while to learn how to read her. Her voice is different than many of her peers, I think about Chris Kraus (founder of her publisher Semiotext(e), same as Natasha Stagg, previously on show) and Eileen Miles in through lines other writers merely reference academically. The Robbe-Grillet and Duras ideas surrounding New Roman and Objective Description are truly visible here in a form that exhibits the 60 years past. I read Robbe-Grillet's The Voyeur right before Superrationals, so there are moments I got really excited when I got confused if a word is intended as double entendre, or if a passage of time had occurred or not. It's cool to drift while reading, not elsewhere, but within the narrative. I found myself dabbling back and forth between understandings as I read, but not doubling back to check, just continuing in the flow. Oh she also has her on publishing arm @Small_Press! She's the coolest.

Hazkel aka @homosinner makes some of my favorite looks. Between his makeup and styling, he has the ability to really build characters in singular images. He's built up a motif around his Homosinner persona, and regularly collaborates with my favorite, and IMHO most influential image makers out there right now, such as @zah and @gypsysport. Diet Prada could open up a new account just for this NYC set and all the brands who copy them. Hazkel's originally from Costa Rica, but has been in NYC for a long time. We're a generation apart, but a lot of our worlds cross over in the sense that while embodying entirely different scenes, I feel we've looked for the same things in them. There's a few people in my life who I really trust as a barometer for how creative culture is going, so talking to him is like food for me; you can sense my enthusiasm. 

Pete Lawrie-Winfield @petelawriewinfield is has gone through the whole music machine and spun it into new ways of living and creating. His band Until the Ribbon Breaks did all the things, signed with the biggest label in the world, toured with Lorde at her peak, had features from all the cool kids. And he tells of it being pretty incredible, but a lot more, and a lot less. He's recently launched a new label with Vero @verotruesocial, as Vero Music, with their first release Thunder Jackson. It's funny to have this episode air at the end of what I'm calling 'Season One,' because the show started with questions about what the new models are going to be. This is one. It incorporates many of the principles I wrote about: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/make-your-imagination-real-now-is-the-time/ We'll do follow up episodes with more pieces of the puzzle on this project. The last hour of the episode is all Vero talk, we go super granular into production, label internal workings, and distribution. 60 episodes!!!

Merck @merck_mercuriadis is founder of @hipgnosissongs, a three year old music IP investment company, amongst other things like artist management stemming from Merck's prior history as CEO of Sanctuary for 20 years, personal manager of Nile Rodgers, Morrissey and many others. Merck uses the phrase 'song management' to describe what others would simply call a publishing company. It speaks to the active nature of his approach compared to the traditionally passive way the majors let songs reap whatever they reap. We get granular on a lot of how this works, and also talk a lot about artist careers we're both familiar with, and where we want to see that go. Hipgnosis has spent $1bb on songs so far, Merck wants to double that. It's an example of 'disruption' that, whether it proves sustainable or not, is certainly a productive kind of shake up to a side of the industry that has very, very rarely adjusted it's inarguably unfair economics. This pushes the issue and capitalizes the other side of the argument, the songwriters. https://www.hipgnosissongs.com/about

Leigh @leighstein is really smart. She nailed the whole entrepreneur - influencer mythology, and according to Leigh, she had no personal experience nor access to any of the models. I have, and this is a funny conversation, where I ended up talking way more than I expected, but I needed to tell her how on point her book is. It's called 'dark satire,' but I would argue that label is misleading, because these characters are REAL! I love the book, and I love her other writing. Check out her recent Medium piece as a primer for the new book. Also her most recent IG post is genius. Great listen for any type of creator thinking about the distribution and business model of their work. www.leighstein.com

Carolina @carolevymx runs @soytemx, as far as I know, the highest quality tea company in Mexico, my adopted home. She partners with @teadrunk, previously featured with guest Shunan Teng. I had one of her roasted oolongs after this episode, and it warmed me in really lovely ways. Aftertaste coated back of throat, and it really filled my chest, the mark of a good oolong. Caro is very knowledgeable about tea. She tells of her education on this episode, it's a really good story for anyone interested in learning. She understands clearly what was important and what was a waste of time. I love the convergence of indigenous Mexican and South American culture with Eastern Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese ideas and techniques. Enjoy!

Daniel @danielaskill is editing his first narrative feature! I learned this on the episode, so excited for him. He's a director I've known for a while, you've seen lots of his work. Most notably the Sia 'Chandelier' video. I'm not gonna link it who cares, you know it, you can find it. Anyone incapable of that isn't listening to this podcast, let's be real. Westworld ripped off his short film Universal Machine last year. His cinema is obsessed with bodies. You can trace his style from the beginning w this similar view of the lines on bodies and the lines bodies make. Take the crease of his own back in his debut short film from 2003, or the line that three surfboards create riding one wave in his latest work, a collaboration with Cinematographer Natasha Braier and surfer Steph Gilmore, amongst many more.  Notable for me because it was Braier's return to shooting bodies in water after her Lynne Ramsey short film Swimmer, a classic. Go watch all this stuff. After you listen. Enjoy. Sorry for technical difficulties. You'll be ok. www.danielaskill.com

Patrice @patrice_baumel is an electronic music producer from Germany currently based out of Amsterdam. We connected thanks to Scuba and had here what could have been a much longer conversation. Love talking about how electronic and dance music has evolved over the last few decades, getting lots of detailed insight into scenes I was only on the periphery of. We talk about finding balance in producing for audiences and what comes fully natural in a vacuum. Lots of ideas and philosophy talk. Enjoy.

Elyse @tealettea is different from the other tea world guests I've had so far. She's focused on wholesale, starting by opening up relationships with farms in the east, all the way to her network of worldwide retailers. She uses the term 'cultural bestowment' to replace a lot of buzz words we hear, to describe a mission of bringing quality tea to the world, with consciousness around all that occurs from field to cup. She's invested in education and connection around the tea world, from novices looking for their first exposure, to experts interested in learning secrets of single origin sources. Here are some links: www.tealet.com https://teaanditspeople.com/ https://teaanditspeople.com/blogs/virtual-tea-party - Posted past live education sessions elyse@tealet.com

Wrekmeister Harmonies @wrekmeisterharmonies JR Robinson and Ester Shaw released my album of the year in February. It's funny that during the episode I thought it was released last year, but time is a flat circle. It's a huge literary transcendental work. Really has a beginning middle and end, it's incredibly emotional. We talk about the ideas at work, and how many with minimal exposure to these kinds of sounds can mistake it for being 'dark.' This is a good episode if you want some 101 exposure to why people get inspired by music like this, why we consider it shining the brightest light. Their collaboration in life and work is beautifully inspiring as well, and I appreciate so much how open and illuminating they are about it. Loved talking to them. www.wrekmeisterharmonies.net

Zuri @zuriwithafringeontop is spokesperson for @blackatdalton, an account shining light on racism at the school we both graduated from. It's part of a lot of emerging accounts, starting with @blackatbrearley. I support what they are doing and hope to bridge gaps in conversation given my position, which I go into in the episode. More info from Zuri: Zuri Washington is a Dalton School Alumni (Class of ‘09) who normally graces stages across the country as an actress and singer, but in these COVID-times, she finds herself called to activism’s front door as both a playwright and spokesperson for the “Black at Dalton“ movement. Black at Dalton was inspired the by the national reaction to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent reckoning of how America has handled racism in it’s near and distant past. The “Black At” movement aims to highlight the traumas of the black populations of our schools and come to the institutions in question with demands and plans of action that seek to crack foundation of these overwhelmingly white institutions and create spaces that allow for current black students to feel cared for and looked after as more than just another notch on a diversity checklist” belt. Black at Dalton aims to seek out and destroy pervasive anti-black mentalities that have harmed Dalton’s student body, past and present. We “Go Forth Unafraid” and seek to lend our voice to the community at large as best we can. This is just the beginning.  NBC News interview: https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/black-private-school-students-share-racism-experiences-86991429712 Taylor Lorenz piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/style/blm-accounts-social-media-high-school.amp.html Syracuse student Editor piece: https://medium.com/@jaycoaxum/unheard-and-unseen-black-students-and-faculty-take-to-instagram-to-voice-experiences-at-pwis-4b97fb3cf31d

Antoine @antoinewagnerstudio and I met ten years ago when he was filming his documentary on Phoenix during the album and tour cycle of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. That was quite the time. One of the best albums of all time period. We watched them go from a respected act with a core fanbase playing venues like Music Hall of Williamsburg (600 capacity), to Madison Square Garden (20,000 cap), that legendary set with Daft Punk, to headlining Coachella (remember when R. Kelly came out to perform the mashup?). This was all in one album cycle. What a special time. All captured in Antoine's film. We talked mostly about his great great grandfather Richard Wagner though, because I've become a big opera head, specifically Wagnerian. There's an awesome documentary Antoine did where he returned to the Swiss locations Wagner wrote Das Rheingold and many more masterpieces. Listening to the Valkyries in the Alps where they supposedly flew, conjuring the transcendental feelings of Richard Wagner, it's beautiful. Antoine is currently in Geneva for a new exhibition. We talk about it all, and here are links you can find everything: The artist Antoine Wagner discusses his multidisciplinary practice, quarantine, collaborative work, the impossible forest, Opera in 2020, the Phoenix Doc FROM A MESS TO THE MASSES and his first Virtual Reality work UMSTELLUNG opening at Galerie Untitled 1983 in Geneva this month.  @antoinewagnerstudio www.antoinewagner.com www.impossibleforest.com @untitled1983

Cherie @cheriehu42 @water_and_music is a music journalist focused on the industry side. Her work helps a huge problem with the music industry, the exchange of information and learning. It's been historically difficult for anyone, but particularly the non-white and connected individuals, to learn how the music industry works. Writers like Cherie make this available to everyone. When I was a kid, it was Hits Magazine and Hitmakers, but only the already in the industry read it. Bob Lefsetz branched out with his email newsletter. UK started to fix things with Music Week, which inspired Billboard to pivot to Billboard Biz, and brought us Tim Ingham's Music Business Worldwide, which lead to Rolling Stone including this type of journalism. We have more like Mark Mulligan. It's getting a lot better. Cherie is the only non-white male I can think of doing writing at this level. Check out her Patreon, I highly recommend subscribing if you're an artist or industry member. https://www.cheriehu.com https://www.patreon.com/m/waterandmusic

Luke @mrlukejenner of The Rapture and I recorded this day of his new release on his brand new label @manonorecords. It's really good. Long journey emotional spectrum full of ideas. We'd connected here and there over the years DJing or DFA adjacent hangs but never really talked proper. This was very cool to just go all in on ideas and feelings. We examine ourselves and the life of making stuff in similar ways and end up agreeing on a bunch of the explorations. We also connect on the need for full commitment to abstract thinking, that is to say your own thinking, not that of the playbook that's out there. I suspect that's why my music (forthcoming) shares similar qualities to his in the sorta act breaks, where the track goes in big new directions. I've always felt those free journeys are what elevates Rapture music. He's got 4 ongoing projects releasing new music, kinda like Kanye's June 2018. I'm excited to hear all of it. Support from Genusee eyewear. www.genusee.com code TEAWITHSG for discount.

Lauren @lapresmidi is New York based Editor of the Business of Fashion @bof, IMHO the most important fashion industry publication. I've been reading/following Lauren for a while. She was really influential and informative when I put my brand together. The sharing of information is so important. Fashion and music have forever been industries where skills, language, codes, processes, the whole system, gets hidden behind walls, only shared with those that people in special positions deem special. Lauren's work demystifies that and shares it with all. So without going to Central Saint Martins, you can learn the trade. I love the merging of art and craft in her writing, such that we can really understand the full spectrum of what goes into the clothes we love. I always like to speak about 'fashion' as clothes. When reading Vogue, it's fashion. On BoF, it's clothes. Fashion is a part of clothes, sure. But the clothes are the focus. What comes of them, what they do, is studied, but always in respect to the backtracking that someone made them. I love that. Sponsored by @genusee_official get 20% off with code TEAWITHSG www.genusee.com

Mac Rebennack invented the Dr. John persona after a famous New Orleans character we'd now probably call an herbalist or homeopath, but they'd call a doctor. He was a long time New Orleans blues and rock musician who came up with the idea to invoke this persona and make an album of gris-gris (voodoo/hoodoo) music. The persona stuck, only parts of the gris-gris stuck, and the music evolved and transcended repeatedly until his death last year. I read this chapter because it evokes some learning I apply to today's confusion. Spirituality and practicality, civic responsibility, community...concepts we may lose perspective on. New Orleans has some knowledge for us.

Chloe @c.a.r.music is one of my favs. She's been in every dj set I've played for a while. She finds this beautiful balance btw a harder edge than house music but not past the techno line where it's only enjoyable in certain circumstances. It's rock music really. That happens to tap into dance music. She's a welcome salve on dance music vox that all sound the same. I hate dance music vox. I'd encourage you to start with her new LP. Then the remixes (new ones Friday). Then go back to Battant and all the way through her catalog. Also check her feature on the new Third Son album "20 Days". https://c-a-r.bandcamp.com/

Nischal @nepalteallc and I met at Little Tokyo's LA Tea Festival 5 years ago I'd guess. https://nepalteallc.com His tea story is richer than most, you can talk about it in the same paradigm we talk about any tea story, the generational development, but there's the unique geography of Nepal that adds to it. So we can talk religion, border conflicts, education, so much. This could be a follow up episode another time, ideally in person in the new world, because in 2 hours we just kinda gloss over all of these topics. Lots more we could have gone into. Order the sampler packs on his website, they're great ways to learn different teas.

The context of why I connected Sara Gran @sara_gran is wild. I tell the story here. Also see previous episode with Sara on as guest. Thanks to Soho Press, buy the book to read the rest! https://www.amazon.com/Come-Closer-Sara-Gran-ebook/dp/B004HYHAT4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Sara+gran+come+closer&qid=1592785073&sr=8-1

Continuing from yesterday's episode with Ash Carter, I start to read Ash's book about a half hour in. Otherwise I just talk about stuff. But listen to whole thing because I ramble but it all heads toward context for the reading. You can also totally just listen to the reading and enjoy it on its own.

Ash (not on social media bc) and I go back to college, but both grew up in NYC, and our parents who ran in similar circles, had weekend houses in same tiny town nobody else knew about until the last few years. Ash is one of the few friends I have whom can speak fluently on a Manhattan that is pretty much gone, or left to really old people. He's been writing and editing for a great list of magazines over the last few years, and published his first book last year on filmmaker, playwright, comedian, etc. Mike Nichols. https://www.amazon.com/Life-Isnt-Everything-Nichols-Remembered-ebook/dp/B07MMLT51Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4PLD2444UHOA&dchild=1&keywords=mike+nichols+life+isn%27t+everything&qid=1592580308&sprefix=mike+nichols%2Caps%2C287&sr=8-1 He's an editor at https://airmail.news, which speaks to a segment of culture that does not give a shit what is trending on the internet, and enjoys picking up physical paper stained with ink. It's a smart venture, weekly wrap up of what's going on, with in depth articles on stuff we might care about, and Cazzie David. The best part is the arts calendar. You can search a city and get listings of all the high brow stuff going on. Once I woke up to a burst pipe in my apartment, looked at https://airmail.news/arts-intel, and got on a plane to the place with the most art I wanted to see that week. We're due for a dinner uptown in the new world. I first typed post-quar, but then realized that is not a thing.

Jason and I met at a tea festival in LA in 2015. You can hear me recall the three teas his brand was offering for tasting that day. Jason was a big part of my education in tea, where he and a few others would come by on weekends early and we'd just sit there for hours and get tea drunk. Jason and I keep this tradition up whenever we're both in LA, but he's been spending more and more time in Taiwan lately, working on both his family business and a new tea venture. I'll hopefully get to see him out there and go on the trip we speak of here. 

Andrew @awhyit is founder/CEO of Cala @thisiscala. They provide all the backend a clothing designer needs to focus on solely creative. I've talked a lot lately around how the music industry works on systems and practices that are only learned when passed person to person, so it becomes very difficult to learn how to do things "professionally" if you're not granted access. Fashion is even worse, because there's these even deeper ego issues. I experienced this myself, where it took me a long time to learn how to design, source fabrics, cut and sew, get solid rates, learn timelines and calendars, what deliverables were necessary when and to whom...I'm just talking manufacturing there. So much. Cala provides access to quality versions of each step, such that you don't need to learn, but their team can also educate you wherever necessary. Recorded on 6/4/20, so I referred to Smriti's episode with the mice.

Boyfriend @rapcabaret has so many aspects to her life and artistic persona. She's a New Orleans rapper by way of Nashville, but this is such a tiny fragment of how we can describe her. This conversation starts about skin, goes into lots of talk on our positions as creatives and people. One of those episodes where I barely looked at my notes nor got into any of the topics, we had so much to talk about. It's a great listen for artists to think about how they find their position independently. What's important to understand is she did not set out to be an independent artist, she just wanted to make her art, and as she grew, the decisions progressively steered her away from the centralized industry machine and more toward building her own. Which she has now. 

Elia @eliaeinhorn was someone I immediately knew I wanted on the show. My exploration at this moment is all around communication. How should we communicate. So pre-quar, I was already thinking about podcasts...what should they be? We've clearly crossed the line where they've gone mainstream, but now it's a lot of noise. So how do we do it well? And what's making stuff going to be like in the new either post-quar or continuous semi-quar world? How are we going to integrate these finally firm lines that have been drawn on inequality? So much. I trust Elia to distill this as much as anyone. He's a learner, a listener. He's very sensitive, empathetic. Really knows how to talk to someone in such a way as to draw the beautiful ideas out of them. So he's a friend. And I wanted to ask him these questions on the show, work it out live. If you want my Kanye feelings, this is a good episode to listen to. Check out Elia on Pitchfork, Talkhouse, Sonos Radio and more.

Nathan @nathanmicay is a music producer and DJ based in Berlin, originally from Toronto. I love his last two albums that took his sound to a soaring cinematic quality beyond dance music. I got must into the balance we talked about. Nathan has a really cool head on his shoulders when it comes to DJs. We talked perspective of touring, getting caught up comparing ourselves to peers, travel and healthy lifestyle. It's awesome how more and more are starting to think this way. He keeps his body in great shape as a top priority, and actually trains other DJs. Check out the latest The World I'm Going to Hell For on LuckyMe https://luckyme.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-im-going-to-hell-for

Shunan @teadrunk founded NY's Tea Drunk in 2013 on my favorite block 7th St. + Ave. A. It was already my favorite block before she arrived, so adding arguably NY's best Chinese tea house means I can just spend entire days or weeks on the street in full bliss. Shunan is important in the tea world for lots of reasons. Her shop extends well beyond its four walls, which is so so so important to mainstreaming quality tea culture. She created a brilliant pop up at Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her Tea Ed video is a great intro to the real history of tea. She hosts tea clubs, classes, festivals, lately zoom conferences with talks about beautiful museum quality tea ware. Her tea club comes with literature on all the teas, with stories and directions that can make anyone an expert fast. https://www.ted.com/talks/shunan_teng_the_history_of_tea/transcript?language=en 

Ani's @animakesmovies second feature film The Short History of the Long Road comes out today in drive-ins across the US. Monday is the digital premiere with a live Q+A. Tuesday it's streaming everywhere. We talk releasing a film in this context, the landscape of diversity initiatives, working with Sabina Carpenter, a major celebrity playing against type, and the contemporary pathways for filmmakers. It was cool being able to capture this moment for Ani, as releasing a film is emotional always, but right now is unprecedented. She's remarkably cool and calm. I suspect this has something to do with running a commercial production company responsible for over 300 spots over the last 8 years. Check out where to watch her film @shorthistorylongroad https://www.shorthistorylongroad.com 

Natasha @natasha_stagg was on E029. Here's me discussing her work a little bit, and reading a few chapters from her recent essay collection Sleeveless, out now on Semiotext(e) https://mitpress.mit.edu/contributors/natasha-stagg.

David (read his books http://davidnmeyer.com) played a huge part in my figuring things out in my life. I hated high school bc nobody cared about the life I had in the arts, it was taken as a distraction. Went to film school in Boston thinking I'd meet my people, and nobody really knew movies there. Emerson was full of sketch comedy kids who thought Stella (Kids in the Hall) was Kubrick. I thought I was alone. I thought I cared and knew more than anyone. But also had no idea how to do anything because I hated myself and the world so much, didn't see the point. I left Boston, came back to NY, and took a Japanese Cinema class at New School while I figured things out. First day I came in late, sat down next to Paul Dano. David lectured on Throne of Blood. It was all over my head. And I was surrounded by students young and old in fierce debate about Kurosawa, vocabulary I could not follow. David had this scene around him, so there were working directors and journalists who would come to the class just for David, so the room was incredible energy. And yeah. This was it. I found my people. Got my ass kicked. David gave me an A- on the Throne of Blood paper I wrote that week, I talked to him after class about it. Told him how confused I was and asked how I could have deserved this grade. He understood the thread I was thinking along, and even though I wasn't at the level the rest of them were on, he was steering my thinking. 15 years later, David is the first person I send my scripts to. He and Bianca are the ones who told me when I finally cracked my code a couple years ago, with the first script that really said what I was trying to say. I did make that film actually, but never showed anyone. David's not even seen it, only read the script. Anyway, this episode just has us talking movies and stuff. Read David's books on Gram Parsons, The Bee Gees, and Film Noir. And tell him you want him to publish the Miami Noir novel, it's really good.

Sara @sara_gran wrote a book that possessed me. I read Come Closer in January when I was really sick. I traveled to Oaxaca in February, and I thought I was healthy, then I don't really know what happened, but I had this crazy freak out where I lost my short term memory and kept resetting. Felt like I was waking up, I'd forget what was going on, relearn it, and then be able to commit to thought or physical action before I reset again. I Facetime'd a friend during, to be safe, and for about an hour apparently, I was possessed by the demon from Sarah's book. My friend did not know about the book, so could not tell what was happening. But I played out the entire possession, unaware that I was doing so until much later. I remember talking myself out of it, once I became aware of what was happening. It was wild. Anyway, I got in touch with Sara, and just like this is what makes the internet and the world so cool, that we get to talk about this. I loved this talk, also amazing nuggets about early days Williamsburg that I did not know. 

Elina @floating.mountain is owner of Floating Mountain, the last tea house I visited before the world collapsed. I had a lovely afternoon of Rendezvous with French Film at Film at Lincoln Center, cookies at Levain Bakery, bought some records at Westsider Records, then had two oolongs over a couple hours at Floating Mountain. Wow. Feels like a lifetime ago. But it was a pleasure to connect via Zoom with Elina, and learn sooo much more about her practice and philosophy. The last part is really valuable for novices and experts, she breaks down tea recommendations for mood, energy, health need, lots. It's really beautiful.

George @bigleemarvinfan is the first Twin Peaks cast member I have on here on purpose. His story bridges the gap between the beautiful world of the makers and the beautiful world of the fans. Because he started as a fan and ended up playing a huge role on the show. We talk through his early career up through his really, really great feature film From the Head. Into the amazing story of how he connected with David Lynch. Into the shooting of Twin Peaks: The Return and everything since.

Natasha @natasha_stagg writes on topics close to my heart, that few build enough perspective on, that even fewer write things I like. Most of the writing on the fashion world, post-Sex and the City New York, is either industry or celebrity focused. Natasha is all human experience. Her voice is the draw. It's not a catchy headline or trending topic. We talk about how some of my favorite pieces of hers are just about a time she sat in a restaurant and observed. Few dare to put themselves out there like her also. She goes nitty gritty about the process that is her life, the balance that is her creative work. I'm happy she exists and getting to go in on ideas with her is one of those reasons why I do a show like this. Check out her latest essay collection from 2001 to today, Sleeveless...and her 2016 novel Surveys, both on the best of the best small press Semiotext(e).

Dave @nickcaveandthebadmemes @sadpeaks is a memer turned other thingser. We love a lot of the same things, so we became internet friends. He's got a new podcast coming soon in collaboration with like the most obvious collaborator ever once you know what Dave cares about. The podcast comes off the back of Dave becoming this kind of modern world therapist or Dr. Drew on his IG. He posts each night something like "What's on your mind?" and...yo...I mean...like hundreds or thousands of people tell him. And he answers so many of them. You can watch any day. He's very very good at it. People like him a lot. This episode was recorded last week, and we talked a lot about mental health in pandemic times. Dave and I talked offline some, but this episode doesn't include the craziness going on with the protests. I think the kind of patience, empathy and perspective Dave provides is going to be really important in the new world.

Smriti @kesharis and I met at Sundance just before her film and experience The Bomb premiered. I thought of her over the last few days because her film, focused on nuclear arms, ends with the words "our silence is a form of consent." Given what's going on right now, I was excited to connect with her about where she sees these ideas evolving. We touch on her other films The Selfish Gene and The Goal, a Leonard Cohen piece released around his post-humous 2019 album. We connect deeply on the ideas of DJing as applied to other forms.

Daouda @daoudaleonard is founder of Createsafe https://createsafe.io/ He manages artists like Grimes and Bloodpop. Grimes just released her new LP Miss Anthropocene and her first art exhibition "Selling Out" https://www.maccarone.io Bloodpop executive produced the new Lady Gaga album Chromatica, which features work by other artists Daouda works with like Tchami. It represents the biggest mainstream commitment to dance music since the EDM boom. We talk more about the world right now, the protests, blackout Tuesday, barely even getting to the fact that we're still amidst a pandemic. 

Robb @beatport is CEO of Beatport, who just pledged to donate 100% of Tuesday's music industry blackout day proceeds. Dance music is black music, and there's no way forward without acknowledging and taking direct actions to support that. Beatport is a platform for DJ's to download music. There was a time where corporate interests confused that, but Beatport is doing all the right things now since Robb took the reins with new investor backing. All the tech features are there, cloud storage DJ sets, livestreams during quar, stems, all supporting the core of independent and underground dance music labels and DJs. Beatport does only 5% volume from majors. Playlists are not a thing, it's handmade DJ charts. Nothing sits on their sales charts for long either, everything is fresh, and driven by the culture. As Robb says, nobody wants to play the same music as everyone else, so the ecosystem remains active and lean-in. It's a totally different kind of consumer behavior than what we criticize in the mainstream currently.

Kansas @kansasbowling first got on my radar via her appearance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Afterwards, I did some digging on all the Manson girls. They're all super cool. But she is the coolest. She's more obsessed with horror movies than I am. Not just horror movies, but as we talked about, really anything. She made her first film with her own money (not rich people money, like waited tables money) at 17 years old. She tracked down her dream distributor and convinced them to put it out. She tracked down QT and convinced him to put her in OUATIH. And her forthcoming second feature, I'm confident, will top both of those. We talk a lot about Neil Breen too. Do a dive. http://neilbreen-5films.com And watch all the music videos on Kansas' website. http://kansas-bowling.com/musicvideos/ Especially "The Resort Beyond the Resort."

Marshall Jefferson @marshall_jefferson is one of the foundational figures in House music. "Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem)" is actually universally accepted as the House music anthem. There's no other genre that actually has a universally accepted anthem. Marshall's big contribution to the story was those keys. His musicality. There were DJ's making stuff of the clubs, but he has always combined that energy with beautiful melodies and songwriting. Everything melodic in dance music at some point can be traced from those keys. We talk about lots of things, but I'm most excited for the new Ten City LP, Marshall's collab with Byron Stingily. 

Isabel @isabelvsandoval and I met at Venice Film Fest immediately following her Lingua Franca world premiere. It was fun diving into it, comparing her austerity and restraint within a topic so obviously exploited by so many pieces of 'content' over the last few years, I won't even say films. Isabel is so so smart. I love diving deep into our artistic connections, we're both major students of film. I'm honored to have worked with Isabel recently on a film of my own, that perhapsssss people will see sometime soon. I break from my edit session to write this intro, and the next email I expect in my inbox should be a link to picture lock. I held this episode a week because there's some announcements that are coming shortly before this will air, really exciting stuff. Isabel has been furiously touring the globe with Lingua Franca, at all of the most amazing festivals, and she's about to launch her next project, building an amazing support system of international partners. I'm very excited to see what's next, because it feels like the first fully free piece she will make. She goes into that a lot on this episode.

Jeff Weiss @passionweiss and I met a few years ago in Israel. I'm weird in groups so I don't think we talked much. Sounds like I'm kidding but I'm totally serious. I'm still very very uncomfortable with new groups of people, whether they know each other or not. So somehow with years of my reading Jeff's writing and actually knowing him for a while now, we'd never really chopped it up. So this convo went on for 2.5 hours apparently, but I felt like I was uncomfortably cutting us off when we ended. We could chat all day. Jeff started out as an LA rap music aficionado and has become this kinda go-to LA culture historian. Like he's the dude who wrote THE Kobe piece. There were lots. But the one everyone shared after the 60 point night, and his recent tragic death--Jeff put the words to what we felt. Recently he's put out a lot of good ones on Eminem, RZA, Kendrick, Los Angeles, Britney, check his feed for more. I was hyperlinking these posts for a while but realized it only works on Anchor and nobody really looks at that, so just go on Jeff's instagram and he links everything there. We talk about everything. This won't be his last visit I hope.

Ebony is the better half of Lost Under Heaven (LUH), where we had Ellery on last week. Ebony and Ellery are my favorite couple. They live a life I really marvel at, with love and creation all together and flowing one to the other fluidly. I have so much to learn from her. Spent much of this episode asking her questions about how to conduct energy, how to connect mine to that of others, reading theirs, funneling it all into my art. Ebony and Ellery are figuring out how to make art in the new world. We've talked a lot about lateral movement into different forms, and focusing on the micro fanbases, patronage, building our own ecosystems. Ebony has already evolved significantly and fast, where the original narrative of LUH was around her adding a visual component to Ellery's music, the second album featured her sharing equal vocal and songwriting duties. She's powerful. 20 episodes already!

Banoffee / Martha and I met a long time ago, like almost ten years ago I'd say, when I was cool. I was super cool for a minute, she acknowledges on the show. She's way cooler these days. I remember catching up with her in LA a few years ago and her sunbathing by my pool w her armpit hair and thinking oh she became really cool now. And so her debut album came out right before the rona on Cascine Records (featured on the previous Jeff Bratton episode). We talk about how it doesn't matter. Because something happened for Martha in the last few years, and she's in front now. Everyone she's friends with and working with are the most progressive creatives on earth. And her album is really really good pop music. So we're gonna look for music in the new world. And she's going to be making it.

Jeff @jeffbratton is founder of Cascine Records. I'm gonna call it New York's Cascine Records. Because in my mind, Cascine's ten years moving through and shaping NYC's independent music community will dictate their next chapter, even if it's in East LA where all the cool kids seem to be today. Jeff is part of what I'd consider the first kinda label collective. Not formal in any way. But we talk about it, there's a squad of indie labels that came out of NYC around the same time that all helped each other out. This wasn't a time marked by competition in signings, as he tells one story, it was actually the opposite, where labels would suggest projects for each other. These labels all just kinda have their flavor, and the infrastructure takes shape around that. And when you're in it, you understand that artists fit how they fit. It's very different from the music industry that people hear about. So this was a pleasure to go deep. Next episode is one of Jeff's artists also.

Justin introduced himself to me when we first met. It was very strange and uncomfortable for me. You know those moments you remember every detail of, like you can replay and feel the entire thing in your mind? I was DJing every night at this point, but it was early days of my becoming some version of a respectable dance music DJ. I know what club it was, but I don't know which iteration of it, like one of those spaces in Meatpacking that changed names every year. I was hanging, and went to the DJ booth to drop my bag, which was just kinda DJ etiquette that one DJ would watch another DJ's gear. And so I kinda abruptly went to the booth and dropped it without interrupting the guy. But Justin turned and introduced himself, and I felt like such a fucking jackass entering his booth like that. He'd never remember this nor describe it this way, but I really hated myself at that moment. It just wasn't the way I wanted to meet someone I looked up to. I called Eli Escobar the preeminent NYC DJ, but Justin Strauss is singular in his position. His first residency was at the Mudd Club in the early 80s, and he's DJ'd NYC consistently, and on the highest level, since then. He's the DJ's DJ. He's like the guy we all look at to do right by. I remember when I got to book Justin at my parties was a cool surprising moment. It seems obvious that I'd eventually play with him, but it was validating to me. I always thought of him as someone far off, like cooler and more credible than me. Getting to know him over the years has taught me a lot, his humility and sincerity. I love looking at how much he loves what he does. It makes me love it more. On another less sentimental level, the music he releases is always just the perfect dance floor tone. Right now, he's got Each Other, Extra Credit and Trading Places. That's in addition to Whatever/Whatever, A/JUS/TED, Milk & Cookies and man, I don't even know, he's got a lot of music to dive into. Honored to have him on here.

Eli is NYC's preeminent DJ. Period. For dance music that is, of course there may be other genres other people I've never met care about. There's been others in the past, but it's been him for a minute now. I think Francoise K and Danny Krivit had times. I see my next guest, Justin Strauss, in this other category, he's always been someone I look up to as creating the situation I've enjoyed, but it's like Justin never required the attention. Eli doesn't ask for any attention either, but he gets it. He tells us the story of Tiki Disco, humble random beginnings turned into NYC's best known party really of the decade. He's got his long desired Eli all night long residency now at House of Yes. Welcome addition to NYC dance music calendar after Francoise's Monday Cielo ending. I planned to actually post Eli as my first DJ episode, born and raised NYC DJ, but I wanted to wait until Sunday, so I swapped with Scuba. Sunday, May 24...if I were in NYC. I'd be at Tiki Disco. So cue up one of his mixes after you listen, and pretend for a bit.

Scuba @scubaofficial has always been an artist project that stood out to me. Since early days of listening, I've been aware of the artist as an actual person, who runs a label (Hot Flush), and uses Twitter to share perspective and info on the life of a DJ, industry goings on, general ideas. I've related to him from afar in many ways--shifting musical genres over time...dedication to club life while also managing real life stuff...and speaking his mind openly despite controversy. I've seen all of that as fearless and active, it made Paul someone I've looked up to and respected for a long time. Getting to talk in depth with him was a treat, especially when I got to share some tea knowledge with him at the end. I encourage you to sample different eras of Scuba's music. The tasteful dubstep. The hard and fast. The club anthems. The house-y. Lots more. UPDATE: Great thread by Paul: https://twitter.com/ScubaOfficial/status/1264111038041120768 

Mariana es una revolución! Tambien ustedes quien vieron su película Ema saben que Ema es un revolución, pero Mariana es un GRAN revolución real! Mariana is the star of Pablo Larrain's latest Venice Film Fest premiered, recent Mubi (shout Mubi Library debut today) quar treat previewed film Ema. I watched it and told everyone it was non-linear. It's not. It's completely chronological. I just got that swept up in Ema's revolución (check link for full dance music video, Nico Jaar did the film's music). There's really never been an on screen character like the one Mariana and Pablo created. I can't wait for y'all to see it. I say the real life Mariana is more than Ema because, as we speak of, she's a leader not only in Chilean cinema, but she's a legit on the ground activist. Her activism reminds me of the best on the ground Ferguson reporting. Mariana is often the one taking those viral videos of the subway protests. She then goes on IG stories and explains what's going on. Writes eloquently on the situation. Connects her community around the causes. Larrain wrote Ema as the metaphorical sun of her cinematic universe, and I see Mariana similarly in real life. You'll see her energy here. I kept her laugh in the beginning because her speech is such a vibe. Major thanks to @biancallen for joining us and helping me not butcher Mariana's beautiful Chilean Spanish.

Ellery is one of those artists who as soon as I learned about him I just wanted to know. I'm really happy to say he (along with his partner Ebony Hoorn whom will be featured next week) has become friend. I've had the pleasure of sharing tea, meals, drinks, shows. Ideas. The guy is full of them. Every aspect of his existence if felt and thought out. He really. lives by doctrine I respect and follow, of examining the day, and making it exactly what you choose it to be. His experience as an artist has touched more aspects than most, his perspective as broad as his tastes. This is a cool follow up to Preservation Hall episode, because his band Lost Under Heaven are pivoting to a patronage model. We get deep into that. He tells stories from his artistic beginnings with WU LYF, to blockchain collabs, to everything coming next.

I met John Thorne exactly three years ago (yesterday, but I had another Twin Peaks episode ahead of it) at the Twin Peaks: The Return world premiere in LA. It was possibly the best night of my life. In 1993, John, along with Craig Miller, cofounded Wrapped in Plastic, the first (and IMHO best) TV fan zine ever, on Twin Peaks. I was an avid reader of that and John's compendium book. Apart from letting me pick his brain regularly, John introduced me to the Reber family, current occupants of Laura Palmer's house. Visiting there was one of the most special experiences of my life, especially learning how wonderful the family is. No spoilers, but they play a legendary role in the series. "She's dead. Wrapped in plastic."

Bob and Laura Antone are actually named Bob and Laura and actually from North Bend, the shooting location of Twin Peaks. I was lucky to meet them in the Summer of 2017 when I visited the site weeks before the finale. I met them by chance, they asked me what I was doing there, I told them, and that moment I was lucky to have met THE local authority on all things Twin Peaks since the beginning. Die hard that I was, I never knew all of the local legend that paralleled the narrative and themes of the work. Laura, being indigenous, goes deep into her family history, how the land and people have evolved over time and how conflict has shaped them. These are really rich, beautiful stories I'm so happy to receive first hand. Read their book to learn much, much more.

You probably know him as Mike Nervous, I know him as Uncle Michael. Nervous Records is an institution. 20+ years of consistent dance music releases and club nights, hasn't slowed down once. We talk about what that looks like today, what's going to happen next. We talk about the need for flexibility, how he can keep Nervous going, keep employees paid, because when club nights go away, there's increased streaming, and t-shirts, and more. Everyone has to think about this now. https://www.nervousnyc.com

Don Mei is the most charismatic person in the tea world. IMHO. Check his YouTube videos (after this episode of course), they are engaging and informative, both a wonderful introduction into the tea world and not only the detailed in depth knowledge, but explorations you don't see elsewhere like his trip to Tongmu (which we talk a lot about). Find everything on www.meileaf.com Also, order from their site and use code 'glass20' for 20% off! I recommend the new Long Jing green, and the two custom roasts we speak of on the episode.

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura. Weekend reading. My favorite intro to the world of tea. I love learning of the symbiosis of ideology and practice. This is how we decide how to live.

Ben Jaffe is creative director, second generation owner, and band leader of Preservation Hall New Orleans. Hallowed ground. One of, if not the single, most important physical space for music (and so many things), in one of, if not the, most important music city in the world. It's a beautiful place I've had the pleasure of spending lots of time in, there's nothing like it. We talk about many things, but most importantly, we dive into the foundation that started out of Katrina. Weathering that literal storm has brought Preservation Hall to a rare position of preparedness to weather the current Covid-19 storm. We think about the aspect of patronage and where artists in general are headed, how they can integrate these strategies. How the understandings of Preservation Hall (5 shows a night), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (touring worldwide since 1960s), and new ventures like Krewe du Kanaval (partnered with Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire) can apply to the entire world of music. This isn't just a pleasure for me to rap with Ben, a good friend I've shared so many meaningful moments with, but I see this episode as an actual suggestion of a way forward for art and artists. Please support and find lots of info at www.preservationhall.com

Twin Peaks deep dive, my first of three this week and many more in future I'm sure. The Twin Peaks community is unlike any other. The fans and stars are often great friends and collaborators. Wrapped in Plastic was the first of its kind in 1992, a dedicated fan made magazine that ran for 13 years, founded by John Thorne (this weekend) and Craig Miller. There was nothing like this, and it's hugely influential. 25 years later, when season three was announced, Scott Ryan took up this huge responsibility, and founded Blue Rose Magazine. Scott and I met at the premiere of season three in 2017, and I've followed all of his work since. He's become a huge proponent of one of the most important elements of my life. We speak of how beautiful the Summer of 2017 was, during the airing of Twin Peaks: The Return, and all of Scott's output since, which is vast. Find everything on:  https://www.bluerosemag.com We'll have him back in the Fall to talk about Courtney Stallings' new Laura Palmer book that is very close to my heart.

In my Music Business Worldwide article, I highlighted a lot of my favorite things from quar. Listen to me talk about em. If you can't find anything, ask me. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/make-your-imagination-real-now-is-the-time/ 

I wrote an article for Tim Ingham's Music Business Worldwide. Here's me reading it. Check text on: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/make-your-imagination-real-now-is-the-time/

Mike Ortiz of @sipjojo based out of Miami, Florida. Mike won Tea Masters Cup 2019. He'd be defending it next month if not for the rona. Mike got into tea via meditation and Qi Gong practices. Contra to me, body practice came first, then tea practice. I discovered tea and learned about everything it pertained to once I got hooked. So there's a lot I learned here, how tea and its practice can parallel internal and external in ways I hadn't thought of. If you haven't noticed yet, this show is just an excuse for me to get access to the people I wanna learn stuff from. www.sipjojo.com 

I think about what this should be. I don't want to just do interviews and ramble and all that. I want this to be expressionist. I want to show raw ideas in a way that this medium is best capable. Something happened right after I recorded episode one. And I felt like telling the story to someone. I realized this is actually the perfect way to get it out. It's a two part episode, I recorded right after the event, and then the next morning after talking with a relative of, well, you'll see. Fyi, this isn't a fun episode, something horrible happened and this is me narrating what I witnessed. The event is more gory and upsetting than I could make up, but I don't go into detail about it. Love to everyone I speak of here.

First episode! Shauna (9 mins in, @sparkedheart Head of Brand Partnerships at @thefader) and I talk about how creative industries will be affected by the virus. I angle most of the conversation to creatives (particularly musicians) and the gatekeepers like Shauna. How do creatives approach editors and marketing consultants, and how do those editors and marketing consultants responsibly manage the flow of resources? Notes + transcript www.sean.glass Video www.instagram.com/sdotglass