BZ Listening

I'm giving away two tickets to see Curtis in Cleveland on Saturday, July 15th at the Wizbang Circus School and Theater. To enter, just share this episode and follow Curtis on social media and send a link to your post or a screenshot to bzlistening@gmail.com. All Patreon supporters will automatically be entered. The winner will be announced on July 12th.

Links to follow and support Curtis Eller:

https://www.curtiseller.com/

https://curtiseller.bandcamp.com/

https://www.patreon.com/curtiseller

https://twitter.com/CurtisEller

Songs used in this episode:

1. "Sweatshop Fire" (Fireside Chat no. 13)
2. "Busby Berkeley Funeral" (NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2015)
3. "Poison Melody" (Official Video)
4. "Conscientious Objector" (NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2022)
5. "After the Soil Fails" (Barn Session)
6. "Save Me Joe Louis" (Live at The Ferret, Preston UK, 2019)

P2Chill Links: https://linktr.ee/ProgrammedtoChill

Unedited episode available to Patreon supporters: https://www.patreon.com/bzdouglas

In part 2 of my interview with Philip Fairbanks we discuss Walking the Wire,  a new podcast series releasing in April that will re-examine  David Simon's groundbreaking series, "The Wire", episode by episode.  This Friday at 9pm EST Philip will be joining me for a livestream Q&A on YouTube, Facebook, or via Twitter Spaces.

Follow Walking The Wire on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/walkingwirepod

Q&A Livestream Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8WjQH5Zq4M
https://www.facebook.com/236989935076585/posts/333705115405066
https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1vAGRkbkWPyJl?s=20

If you're a Patreon supporter, a PDF copy of Fairbanks book is available for you at https://www.patreon.com/bzdouglas. 

FOOTNOTES:

• https://philfairbanks.com/
• Fairbanks' recent "Reverse Madoff" story
• Pedogate Primer: The Politics of Pedophilia
• CIA Memo on "Conspiracy Theory"
• Lance deHaven-Smith on State Crimes Against Democracy

Original Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swh9G2qxlsc

*** PANELISTS ***

Contraband
https://www.thecontrabandwagon.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoqBnhnfqzB6GFPdode6pbg

Progressive American
https://progressive-american.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheProgressiveAmerican
https://twitter.com/conor_politics

Brenton Lengel
https://twitter.com/BrentonLengel
https://www.youtube.com/user/Despanan

Mustache Bob
https://twitter.com/MustacheBob2
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUYQqszpbFSIvFKWPNcE9pg

My guest today, the first of the new year, is Nico Walker, author of the novel, Cherry. The book is a fictionalized account of an unnamed character who follows a path very similar to Walker’s own life story. He joins the army at 19, serves in Iraq as a medic, spirals into heroin addiction as he deals with crippling PTSD, and finally sets off on a spree of bank robberies.

This interview actually came about because Nico reached out to me a few weeks ago following the publication of my investigation into Tony Viola’s wrongful prosecution. Walker was Viola’s cellmate a decade ago, and the two have kept in touch over the years.

On today’s show, Walker and I discuss Iraq, the spirals of addiction, the futility of the drug war, and the frustrating tragedy of Viola’s case.

+++ SUPPORT  +++ 

Likes, Shares, and Subscribes are free, and they help with the Algorithm gods! 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bzdug  
Substack: https://bzdouglas.substack.com
PayPal: https://paypal.me/bzdouglas

This Friday I’ll be doing a livestream year in preview and Q&A on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter Spaces. I’ll preview some of the stories I’m looking into, and share some ideas on other projects I’m hoping to produce. 

Please support my independent journalism by becoming a paying Substack subscriber or Patreon supporter.

Visitors of FreeTonyViola.com will find a much different story. It’s a scrappy but fairly polished little website managed by Viola himself, setup with the express purpose of providing journalists and lawmakers with evidence of Viola’s innocence by exposing the flagrant prosecutorial misconduct he has endured.

Several local and national journalists have quietly taken an interest in his case, but have either been intimidated by the possibility of litigation, too busy to thoroughly vet Viola’s claims, or stymied by editors and publishers.

Visit https://bzdouglas.substack.com to read the full story.

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I covered a Shontel Brown campaign event this weekend, and captured her having a "Please Clap" moment all her own.

(This audio is from the YouTube report, which provides more detail, but functions perfectly as a podcast. https://bit.ly/shontel-brown)

Joining me is Dr. Richard Montgomery, who shares his reactions to Shontel Brown's stump speech.

Dr. Montgomery former mayoral candidate for the city of Euclid, as well as an activist who follows Cuyahoga county politics very closely.  

I was first referred to Dr. Montgomery while working on the documentary series State of Injustice, about the systemic abuses of the Euclid Police Department, and the failures of that city’s mayor and city council to hold them accountable.

+++ SUPPORT MY WORK +++

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bzdug 

Substack: https://bzdouglas.substack.com 

PayPal: https://paypal.me/bzdouglas 

### FOOTNOTES ###

"What Cuyahoga County Residents Need to Know about Shontel Brown and her Campaign for Congress" by Keith Wilson

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown1 

"Shontel Brown outraises, outspends the field in Cuyahoga Council District 9 Democratic primary" by Andrew J. Tobias, Cleveland.com

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown2 

"Former Cuyahoa County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora Convicted of Racketeering" - FBI.gov

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown3 

"Marcia Fudge issued Hatch Act warning over political remarks at White House" by Sabrina Eaton, Cleveland.com

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown4 

"Fudge reprises Friends for Fun at Frederick’s" by R. T. Andrews, realdealnews.com

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown5

“Former deputy of Cuyahoga County auditor sentenced to prison for bribing Frank Russo and Jimmy Dimora” By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer 

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown6

“Shontel Brown must resign as Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair” by Editorial Board, Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown7

“Shontel Brown Approved Major Contract, Then Contractor Backed Her Campaign” by Matthew Cunningham-Cook, Sam Allard for The Intercept

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown8 

“Nina Turner Opponent Shontel Brown Is Low-Key Pleading for Super PAC Support”

by Ryan Grim, The Intercept

https://bit.ly/shontel-brown9 

Armond Budhish on Racism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Oq18AbSMI

Shontel Brown YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCARuPiqBoGzDt0cYfKYJKGg

Secretary Marcia Fudge Visits Lock 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d29iyW8_EWg

Peanut Butter Jelly Time on Green Screen

https://bit.ly/pbjellytime

Please enjoy this unscripted, unedited, emergency episode announcing the release of my new documentary series State of Injustice!

Our Indiegogo Campaign to fund the pilot season ends on Wednesday 3/24. For the last day, I'll be co-hosting an all day stream-a-thon from BLM Cleveland. You can catch that stream via one of the links below. We're going to have some pretty incredible guests and discussion throughout the day, so please pop by and say hi! I never hear from you lovely listeners enough.

Stream-a-Thon Links

• State of Injustice YouTube Live
• State of Injustice Facebook Live

The stream will also be running concurrently on BLM Cleveland and BZ Listening pages, but I'd really rather drive up likes and subscribes on the doc's channels.

My guest today is John Bonifaz, the Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People.  He previously served as the Executive Director and then General Counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, an organization he founded in 1994, and also served as the Legal Director of Voter Action, a national election integrity organization.

John joins me to have a discussion about the hot topic of impeachment. We go through the arguments in the book Bonifaz co-wrote with Ron Fein and Ben Clements, THE CONSTITUTION DEMANDS IT: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.

Follow John and FSFP:

• John Bonifaz
• Free Speech for People
• The Impeachment Project
• Impeach Donald Trump Now

Today’s episode is taken from a video report I posted on Wednesday. It’s the story of the Cleveland Warriors, a semi-professional football team in the National Public Safety Football League, and how their management snuck Tamir Rice’s killer, Timothy Loehmann, onto the team. When black players found out and complained, they were pushed out themselves.

I am very happy to report that this morning I awoke to learn that the president and vice president of the Warriors have both resigned in the wake of this scandal.

State of Injustice
This documentary series will examine Ohio city by city, in order to expose all of the ways that the state's law enforcement departments and judicial systems are failing its citizens. The series will begin in Euclid, Ohio, with the death of Luke Stewart.

• Official Site
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Support BZ's Work

• Patreon
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Watch this episode on YouTube

My guest today is Dr. Joel Schwartz, a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with adults with childhood trauma, neurologically diverse children and adults, and is a strong proponent of the neurodiversity paradigm.

I share a bit about my experience living as an ADHD'r, and learn about how understanding has evolved in the 30ish year since I was diagnosed.

Articles:

• Ten Minutes of ADHD-ing or What a 1930s Anti-War Novel Has to do With Neurodiversity
• Reframing ADHD

Links:

• Total Spectrum Counseling
• Twitter

A few weeks ago I assisted the People's Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland in setting up and conducting an interview with Emanuel Franklin, father of Desmond Franklin.  

On April 9, 2020, plainclothes Cleveland Police officer Jose Garcia, badge #2168 shot and killed Desmond. Garcia drove in an unmarked car, fired five shots into Franklin's moving vehicle, killing Franklin, whose car crashed into a cemetery wall. Special prosecutor Daniel Kasaris, from Ohio Attorney's General Dave Yost's office has taken the case and is currently considering whether to present to the Grand Jury. Meanwhile, Garcia remains on paid leave.

How You Can Help

If you live in Ohio, call the Ohio Attorney General's office (1-800-282-0515), and urge them to take this case to the Grand Jury to seek indictment of Officer Garcia.

If you are a Cleveland resident, call City of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (216-664-2000) and demand the firing of Jose Garcia by Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams for the murder of Desmond Franklin.

Don't stop there, demand that Calvin Williams be removed, and in 2021 vote Mayor Jackson out of office.

Today’s guest is technically me, as I’m re-broadcasting an interview I gave with Brenton Lengel on his YouTube channel a few weeks ago about an article I published at the end of October: "Euclid officer Matthew Rhodes and officials throughout Ohio facing charges of homicide, dereliction of duty due to non-compliance with state-mandated training"

Most Recent Video Report:
Caught on Body Cam: East Cleveland Commander Attempts to Steal Drugs Seized as Evidence

Support my work on Patreon

Subscribe on Substack

48hr Virtual Music Festival Event Page

Livestream will be broadcast on my Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter

Snow White Zombie Apocalypse Issue #3 Kickstarter

• Mariah Crenshaw - Chasing Justice, LLC
• Kareem Henton - Black Lives Matter Cleveland
• Keith Wilson - Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus

My guest is Mariah Crenshaw of Chasing Justice LLC. According to her research, a significant portion of officers in the state ("40-60%" in her opinion), are currently operating while designated as "cease function" according to Ohio Revised Code 109.803 and Ohio Administrative code 109:2-1-12. 

Crenshaw has widened her focus to EVERY DEPARTMENT IN THE STATE. Requesting 10s of thousands of records, cataloging, annotating, organizing, databasing, and preparing materials that could be used in lawsuits all over Ohio.

This episode contains tracks from Jadon’s brand new album, “Late to the Party”, along with some audio from Train Robbers circa 2013.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqAkm5Tx4jI

Today I am interviewing members of the People's Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland. I first learned of them while covering a Black Lives Matter Cleveland "Defund the Police" protest on the fourth of July, where volunteer Emily Forsee spoke about the importance of documenting police brutality. In this episode I’ll be speaking with Emily and two of the creators of the archive Carol Steiner and Keith Wilson, to discuss some of the work they've done, why they're doing it, and how you can help.

When I interview musicians, I typically intersperse four or five songs throughout the interview. Today I'll be doing the same thing but using stories from the archive, specifically the 2015 People's Tribunal on Police Violence collection. You will hear the stories of Alicia Kirkman, Brenda Bickerstaff, Clarence Jones, and Bernadette Rolen.

Visit archivingpoliceviolence.org or @policeviolence_cle on Instagram for more info.

Support my independent journalism:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bzdug

Newsletter: https://bzdouglas.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bzdug

Here's a teaser of my very first guest appearance on another podcast: Stoner Morning Show.

The host, Shawn Wickens, is an old friend of mine from my improv days in NYC. Last year he mentioned on Facebook that he wanted advice on how to start a podcast, and I told him everything I learned in exchange for him being a guest on my show. 

I can’t thank him enough for returning the favor so that I can talk a bit about the work I’m doing now, how I came to do it, how I will be doing it, and why I think it’s important.

Support my work:

• Follow on Twitter
• Become a Patreon Supporter
• Subscribe to my free newsletter

A lot has happened since my last episode. Let’s see: Bernie dropped out, a global pandemic broke out, which caused the economy to fall off a cliff, a national uprising against the police is in full swing, and on a personal note, as of last Friday I am officially a published journalist. For the story behind that story, check out my interview with Brent Lengel on his YouTube channel.

BLMCLE:
https://www.facebook.com/BLM216/
https://www.paypal.me/blmcle

Other orgs that need support:

• The Bail Project
• Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition
• Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition

If you have any extra cash to spare, please consider supporting me on Patreon. I’ve decided to take the leap and quit my full-time job as a web developer in order to pursue journalism as a new career, and the only way I can pull it off and remain completely independent is with your support

Go to events.berniesanders.com to join the movement, take our government back from the wealthy, and make some history.

Find a Bernie event near you: http://events.berniesanders.com/

That show will be going up on Saturday, February 29th at Negative Space from 4:30 to 7:30. For more info, click here.

• Facebook 
• Instagram
• Soundcloud

• I'm putting more time into volunteering for Bernie Sanders
• The fuckeditude of the world at large has had me rattled
• A random opportunity came up for me to perform in an incredible new play as part of CPT's Entry Point
• Shoutouts and love to all the Patreon supporters and my wife Deb
• The podcast will go on, but the frequency and subject matter is going to vary a bit more.
• Bullet Point that I'm very curious to see if anyone read

Happy 2020! 

:party-hat: :mushroom-cloud: :fire: :fire:

I believe the official slogan is "Worst Year Ever"

I first saw Justus performing a couple weeks ago at the McFarland Manor November show. On today's episode, I chat with him about his creative process, how he became "big in Algeria", his terms of success, and the lessons he's learned navigating Spotify's playlist algorithm.

Justus has a new track Risky debuting today, December 11th, on Spotify. Listen thru until the end of the episode to hear it, and be sure to add it to your playlists if you dig it!

Follow Justus Online:

• Instagram
• Spotify

Today I’m bringing a new thing to the show with my guest Shawn Wickens, who will forever hold the distinction of being the first comedian on the podcast. I met Shawn about twelve years ago, back when I was going through my improv comedy phase. He happened to be passing thru Cleveland a couple of weeks ago on his way to play a show in Louisville, Kentucky, and swung by the house to catch up.

We chat about the improv scene circa 2007-8, how he came to found the Bad Theater and Film festivals, and his latest endeavor co-hosting The Stoner Morning Show with fellow comic Lex Morales, which just kicked off its own podcast this week! Be sure to check out stonermorningshow.com for all the 411 about this 420-themed show.

This show is ad-free, and that’s all thanks to my Patreon supporters. I recently updated some of the benefit tiers, and anyone donating $3 or more per month is supposed to get a shoutout on the show’s footnotes for that month. Since it’s Thanksgiving this week, and I’m way overdue on the shoutouts, I’d just like to take a moment to thank my first two BZ Backers: Michael Hornsby (this months winner of the swag giveaway) and Michael McFarland (a former guest and incredible musician, artist, and producer). And lastly, my boss at Blackbird Digital Pat Walsh, who kicked in $12 month to earn himself a BZ Producer credit, and includes a plug.

It’s not even hard for me to talk up Blackbird as an agency. I’ve been a web designer and developer for over twenty years, working at over a dozen international and local agencies, and Blackbird is far and away my favorite. Blackbird combines award-winning web design, acute knowledge of technology, and marketing savvy to help your organization. We specialize in developing for WordPress and HubSpot, but never shy away from working in something new if necessary. The sites we build are always set up with self service in mind, so you won’t have to come back and request help every time you want to make changes. To learn more visit Blackbird.digital, and if you sign on as a client, I'll probably be the one coding your site!

If you would like to become a supporter, just click here!

Today my guest is writer Christopher Johnston, and we’re discussing his book “Shattering Silences: Strategies to Prevent Sexual Assault, Heal Survivors, and Bring Assailants to Justice”.

Chris also has a new play with Playwright’s Local, Live Bodies for Sale. The show premieres tomorrow Friday November 22, and will run until December 15th. You can find more information and tickets at playwrightslocal.org.

Additional links:

• Cleveland Rape Crisis Center
• Greater Cleveland’s Coordinated Response to Human Trafficking
• The Joyful Heart Foundation
• Human Trafficking at Human Scale in Live Bodies for Sale
• 5 Must-See Productions: Fall Theater Preview 2019

So suffice to say, Ben has been one of my favorite people for quite a while. If you are in the Milwaukee area or have friends thereabouts, be sure to catch Ben at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn this Sunday, November 24th. After that, keep an eye on https://www.benpaulwilliams.com/ for more shows.

Today my guest is Cal Folger Day, a singer-songwriter that’s a bit hard to pin down genre-wise, but if I had to slap a label on her, it’d probably be “Avant Folk”, similar the band Cutleri, who I had on earlier this year.

Cal is based out of Dublin, Ireland, but I met her around 2010 back when we were both living in New York City. We chat a bit about her early days in the thrall of classical music, her time in NYC, the differences between Ireland and the US, and her latest endeavor writing and performing “verbatim pop operas”, which I didn’t even know was a thing until I started doing background for this interview.

I highly recommend checking out this audio documentary by “The Lyric Feature”. It chronicles the process of creating one of these operas “The Woods and Grandma”, which is based on stories of Lady Gregory, Yeats and George Bernard Shaw as told by the Gregory granddaughters Anne and Katherine.

Just a reminder that this Wednesday November 13th is the deadline to sign up as a Patreon supporter at any level for a chance to win a signed copy of “Snow White Zombie: Apocalypse” by Brenton Lengel, my Halloween guest. This is the latest patron perk that I’m calling these “Swagstakes”, where once a month I choose a supporter at random to receive some swag from a guest.

Today my guest is playwright and author, Brenton Lengel. Brent and I go back nearly ten years, when I first met him at an open mic in New York. In this episode we spend a bit of time catching up and tracking the arc of his writing career, but the main reason I invited Brent onto the show was to talk about his new comic “Snow White Zombie Apocalypse”, published by Scout Comics.

I’m going to quote the synopsis from Scout’s website now since I never pass up an opportunity to save myself some time writing these intros:

Snow White awakens to True Love's Kiss... twenty-eight days after the zombie apocalypse! With the Seven Dwarves dead, the quintessential fairytale princess must join forces with her polyamorous Prince Charming and his tough-as-nails paramour, Rapunzel, to wage a losing battle against death itself. Bound by love and driven apart by jealousy, can this unlikely trio find a way to put aside their differences, or will they be devoured by the reanimated denizens of their once enchanted kingdom? Based on the hit play by the same name, Snow White Zombie Apocalypse is a story of deep woods and old magic mixed with a healthy dollop of blood, sex, kung fu and gender politics. Y'know, fairy tales as usual.

The comic is now available in shops all over the country, or you can order it online at scoutcomics.com.

Brent was also gracious enough to sign and donate a copy that I will be giving away to one lucky Patreon supporter. If you’d like a chance to win, sign up to support the show at any level at patreon.com/bzdug before Thursday November 14th (two weeks from today). At that time I will print out all the supporters names, toss them into one of the many hollowed out skulls I have lying around the house, and select the winner.

Aside from his music, James and I also discuss his new podcast, ToddCast, a show devoted to celebrating Todd Rundgren. I have to admit I’d never listened to Rundgren before, but after hearing James’ passion for Todd in our interview, I’m definitely going to go back and correct that omission. You can find his show on iTunes or Spotify by searching for “ToddCast Cleveland”.

• http://debzep.com 
• https://www.facebook.com/debzepmusic
• https://www.instagram.com/dzdebzep/
• https://soundcloud.com/debzep

Tracks:

• BZ & DZ: A Musical Love Story (performed at Wandering Aesthetic's Bigger Than a Breadbox)
• Here With Me (feat. Marbar on guitar)
• Stand By Me
• Hound Dog (BZDZ)
• Don’t Let Us Get Sick
• Without You (BZDZ)
• Home
• Just Be You
• Astoria Shore
  

The podcast will be returning in September, but I wanted to share the new audiobook “The War on Everyone” by former guest, journalist Robert Evans. This is the second half, Chapters 1-3 are in the previous episode. 

Robert is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, “Behind The Bastards”, where he profiles some of the worst people in history. The work he has done to catalog the history of White Supremacy in America provides so much essential context for our current political climate. So with his permission, I am republishing the entire book in two parts this week. You can also find the book at http://thewaroneveryone.com

Louis Beam was once a normal American soldier. But in the wake of the Vietnam War, he would painstakingly craft a vicious fascist insurgency. When Beam’s ground-level activism met Pierce’s propaganda, the result was the birth of a terrorist movement that still stalks us to this day.

Inspired by Beam and Pierce, a young man named Bob Mathews attempted to spark a Second American Civil War. Whether he succeeded or failed is still up in the air.

In his life and death, Timothy McVeigh represented the best-case scenario for the kind of warriors Louis Beam wanted to inculcate through his “leaderless resistance” strategy. His story is a tale of triumph for American fascism.

This is where we are now: an era where a distributed network of individual extremists are able to radicalize each other and inspire acts of violence worldwide. This is not the result of an unhappy accident, or an unforeseen consequence of the digital era. It’s the result of decades of careful planning.

The podcast will be returning in September, but I wanted to share the new audiobook “The War on Everyone” by former guest, journalist Robert Evans. 

Robert is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, “Behind The Bastards”, where he profiles some of the worst people in history. The work he has done to catalog the history of White Supremacy in America provides so much essential context for our current political climate. So with his permission, I am republishing the entire book in two parts this week. You can also find the book at http://thewaroneveryone.com

There is nothing new under the sun. In this chapter, you’ll learn about “Ur-Fascism”, and how humor and irony have historically been used to enable its rise.

The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting, the Poway Synagogue shooting, the Olympic park bombing and dozens of other terrorist attacks all have one thing in common- Christian Identity. In this chapter, we delve into a cultic belief system at the heart of American fascism.

William Luther Pierce is the most important Nazi you’ve never heard of, and his work has helped inspire a generation of terrorists- right up to the present day.

Click Here to Donate!

 Welcome to a special episode of BZ Listening. The podcast is officially on vacation, but I wanted to help spread the word about a fundraiser for The Footlight, a venue in Ridgewood Queens that is very near and dear to my heart, as are its owner Laura Regan, and her husband Tim. The Footlight opened just as I was departing New York for Cleveland, but I got to produce the very first show that graced its stage, the finale of my variety show, The BZ Douglas Carnivale. On today’s episode, Laura and I discuss the genesis of the Footlight, how it has become an artistic incubator and a space that fosters community, and finally the financial troubles she is facing due to a landlord that is not honoring his obligations, and the systemic problems that the city has with regulating building owners. 

Beloved Ridgewood Bar and Music Venue Struggles with Landlord's Negligence
[Bushwick Daily]

Follow the Footlight:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Today’s guest is Jane Arnoff Logsdon. I met Jane randomly last year when we were both cast in a play as part of the Marilyn Bianchi Kids Playwriting Festival. As castmates do, we became friends on Facebook, and before long Jane started inviting me to Stand Up to Trump CLE events, but I wasn’t able to make any of them.  

On July 12th, the family and I attended “Lights for Liberty”, which was in coordination with events across the country, organized by Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Indivisible CLE, the Immigration Working Group of Cleveland,  Action Together Lakewood Area, Women’s March Northeast Ohio, Stand Up to Trump CLE, the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus and the InterReligious TaskForce on Central America. The purpose of the event was to call for an immediate end to immigrant detention and family separation and to defund ICE.

To my surprise, the MC for the event was my old castmate Jane! A few days later, I reached out to ask her to be on the show, and I am very excited to share our conversation about activism, organizing, and just how fucked we are under Trump.

Visit justincurryviolin.com for shows and to hear more of his music.

• Official Website
• Spotify
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Be sure to swing by pathullmusic.com for all his music, merch, and upcoming tour dates.

Today, my guests are Amanda Nyx, a painter, teacher, and installation artist, along with former guest of the show, musician Michael McFarland. I’m such a huge fan of the work Amanda and Michael do in the Cleveland area, especially their work on the McFarland Manor shows, so I wanted to have them on to help spread the word about their new project for Ingenuity Cleveland, entitled “Zen Soundscapes”

In our chat, we go over the purpose of Ingenuity Cleveland and how getting involved with that space took Amanda and Michael in new directions as artists. Amanda goes deep on the history and purpose of zen gardens, and Michael explains how their project will be taking the traditional zen garden and enhancing it with technology.

Most importantly, the reason I recorded and am releasing this today is to help Amanda and MIchael spread the word about their fundraiser for this project. 

All donations made before August 1st will be 100% matched by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Match Fund through a partnership with a new crowdfunding platform, ioby, which worked with Michael and Amanda to secure these matching funds.

Zen Soundscapes Fundraiser on ioby

Killy's Official Website

Mock-U-Mental on RadioFreeBrooklyn.com