Something (rather than nothing)

A wonderful conversation with the talented Irish musical artist GREG CLIFFORD Clifford’s style is an authentic synthesis of Indie-pop rock fused with electronic aspects and ‘classical’ guitar fingerpicking. In 2017 he released an LP entitled ‘Quodlibet’, as well as playing 17 gigs across Ireland as part of a 3-act showcase called the ‘Back to Basics Tour.' Since then he has gone on to release his second album 20/20 Vision. As well as touring throughout Ireland and internationally with his own music, Clifford is also an established arranger and producer. He has scored for and performed with the RTE Concert Orchestra in a sold-out National Concert Hall and holds a Masters in contemporary composition. Enjoy the hit song 'Long Lost Friend' included in this episode.

The up and coming Portland-based garage-psych punk band, Spoon Benders released their debut album ‘Dura Mater’  in May 2020. Inspired by bands such as Goggs, the Pleasure Seekers, Black Sabbath, Thee Oh Sees, and the Stooges, they have managed to create a diverse and highly dynamic sound that promises to hold your undivided attention. https://www.wweek.com/music/2020/07/08/spoon-benders-music-is-inspired-by-iggy-pop-and-neuroscience/  

Greg Larson was a starry-eyed fan when he hurtled headfirst into professional baseball. As the new clubhouse attendant for the Aberdeen IronBirds, a Minor League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, Larson assumed he’d entered a familiar world. He thought wrong. He quickly discovered the bizarre rituals of life in the Minors: fights between players, teammates quitting in the middle of the games, doomed relationships, and a negligent parent organization. All the while, Larson, fresh out of college, harbored a secret wish. Despite the team’s struggles and his own lack of baseball talent, he yearned to join the exclusive fraternity of professional ballplayers.   Instead, Larson fell deeper into his madcap venture as the scheming clubbie. He moved into the clubhouse equipment closet, his headquarters to swing deals involving memorabilia, booze, and loads of cash. By his second season, Larson had transformed into a deceptive, dip-spitting veteran, now fully part of a system that exploited players he considered friends. Like most Minor Leaguers, the gravitational pull of baseball was still too strong for Larson—even if chasing his private dream might cost him his girlfriend, his future, and, ultimately, his love of the game. That is, until an unlikely shot at a championship gives Larson and the IronBirds one final swing at redemption. Clubbie is a hilarious behind-the-scenes tale of two seasons in the mysterious world of Minor League Baseball. With cinematic detail and a colorful cast of characters, Larson spins an unforgettable true story for baseball fans and nonfans alike. An unflinching look at the harsh experience of professional sports, Clubbie will be a touchstone in baseball literature for years to come.

This is a special episode with SRTN Producer and Editor Peter Bauer! This episode is quite the happening. It was recorded live at Warbling Creek Studios in the storied lands of Eugene, Oregon. Peter and I talked about the podcast, about music and philosophy. We reflect on the show, where it came from and where it is going.  Peter is a painter, an adventurer, a musical talent, a producer and editor.  Listen to this all the way through!!! Peter's musical projects Blazar, Blotter Paper, and Detour can be found here - http://bit.ly/warblingcreek The episode features two amazing exclusive tracks to this episode!!! The first track is LoFi Beat 2 (unnamed loFi project). The final face-melting extended track features the sonic journey called Blazar. The song  *Cubensie* will take you towards the Vanishing Point and when the track ends it will drop you off on Exit 42 - otherwise known as the nexus between Something and Nothing.  

Randy J Byrd was a toddler in his playpen comfortably snuggled between two 15-inch subs that blasted the likes of Ozzy, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. Randy’s mother loved heavy music and never said he could not listen to something. Thus a Metalhead was brought into being. Randy is a photographer for the fantastic doom/metal service Doomed and Stoned which serves the varied local worldwide doom and stoner metal scenes. Randy’s images of the Metal Scene are striking and demonstrate the vibrant images in many local metal scenes. Randy is a talented musician and has delved into metal, hip-hop, and punk. We held a lively discussion about the famous Richmond, Virginia music scene which will make you very excited for some live music. We also talked about nothing, something, and being. Enjoy the music. Metal Horns up in the air.

Mr. Nestor is an abstract painter who strikes a strange new chord with portraiture. Using photographs he takes of beautiful women, he creates grotesque, distorted creatures, their features uncomfortably recognizable within the melting forms, slashes and swirls of Buddy’s abstraction.   “These physical and psychological images are my attempt to capture the true nature of humanity. They are spiritual X-Rays. The models that I use in my work are all beautiful women. However, there is nothing beautiful about the portraits I create.”   Mr. Nestor was born and raised in Collingswood, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, PA. As an only child “Latch Key Kid”, he spent endless hours in front of the television, watching movies and drawing and gravitating toward strange cult and horror films. In 1999, he traveled around the world on an aircraft carrier, and painted everyday. He received his B.A in Fine Arts shortly after his return to the States.  

Metra Mitchell received her early training at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY where she earned her Bachelor's of Fine Art in Painting and Minor in Art History on a full art scholarship in 2006. She later was awarded a teaching assistant ship from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, MO where she pursued her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2008. Metra's works have been exhibited in many galleries including: Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, PhD Gallery in St. Louis, MO, St. Louis Artist Guild, Art St. Louis Gallery, Cinema Gallery in Urbana, IL and The Foundry Art Center in St. Charles, MO. Institutions that have exhibited her paintings include University of Alaska- Anchorage, Susquehanna University, Northern Kentucky University, University of South Alabama, Western Kentucky University, Fontbonne University, World Trade Center in St. Louis and The Regional Commerce and Growth Association of St. Louis. She has also exhibited internationally in Eme' Exposition Internationale at the Centre Culturel et de la Vie Associative Villeurbanne in Lyon, France. In an exhibition entitled "Master PiecesMetra's works were highlighted by Cincinnati's cultural magazine City Beat as "exploring the nude figure while relishing the paint in rich colors and bold strokes. The subject's gaze- or in one decapitated instance, lack of one- and the inclusion of a single object create a haunting effect." She has given lectures on her work and process at several events including PhD Gallery's One Year Anniversary, Opening Night of Gunther Van Hagan's Bodyworlds at St. Louis Science Center and St. Louis Community College at Forest Park's annual City Art Speak. Metra has taught Figure Drawing II/III at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, Drawing I at St. Charles Community College and Drawing I/II at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. She is currently teaching Drawing II, III, Advanced Drawing, and Design I at Forest Park along with Art Appreciation at St. Charles and Maryville University. Her role as teacher has opened up a new vein in her work, something that she is just beginning to explore.

For this episode of Something (rather than nothing) we engage with the talented music artist and activist Laura Hopkins. Hopkins discusses her classical piano training, writing songs, growing up around music, playing guitar and creating some ‘louder’ music. Hopkins exquisite work with the band Death Parade straddles wide emotional terrain and floats into space only to be brought back in and grounded in our beautiful and strange world. We grapple with life, death, something and nothing. The soundtrack to this episode includes the music tracks Ghostworld and women of the internet (woti)

"New perspectives can spring up from within the most insignificant everyday moments. A private photograph, a newspaper article or even a still frame of a movie can be the medium for another dimension. All these are raw materials for me, which I gradually release from any unnecessary feature that traps them into the optically compatible world. My aim is for my images to have a universality that goes beyond the context of a particular place, time or person." Kiki Kolympari was born 1974 in Nuremberg where she lived and worked for many years. She studied Visual Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Athens from 2012 to 2017.
During her studies she also completed the following courses:  Byzantine Iconography, Fresco painting, Encaustic, Ceramic sculpturing and Art Theory. She graduated with an MFA Honours Degree. She currently lives and works in Athens.

Jainam Jhaveri is a graduate in business management and degreed in software programming. Jainam started working when he was fifteen years old and worked in multiple corporate companies in fields like content writing, marketing and sales, software programming, administration work. In 2015, his father passed away and he took over the family business. Jainam says:"Somehow I randomly came to know about Astrology and it was very intriguing, though I did not believe in it first - but by studying it and applying it - I realized how accurate it is. Then came the love of my life and that is Philosophy. I started studying Vedanta, Buddhism and Jainism."Join 'Philosopher Jay' from Mumbai, India and host Ken Volante to learn about philosophical traditions of India and their commentaries on something, nothing, nonduality and the nature of being and becoming.

Turkish artist, İlay Karabay Solaklı graduated from economics and spent her former years working in corporate companies and government institutions. Realizing that this lifestyle isn't satisfactory enough for her she decided to follow her childhood passion, which is painting.   The self-taught artist mostly uses acrylic and nail polish in her paintings. She believes that paintings should give people positive and calm energy, thoughts, and feelings therefore she states that color composition is the most important aspect.   Started from drawing doodles and comics, eventually, she ended up doing abstract paintings. “It’s more freeing and limitless, you can use any type of medium and draw what's inside your mind and heart without any limit,” says the artist.She also believes that talent itself is not enough to achieve your goals in the art industry. You need dedication, hard work, and most importantly creativity, so you can be original and stand out from the rest. "Basically, I paint my feelings. :)  All of them. All the time. And i like to share them with everyone. Enjoy."

Vincente DiSanti Founder / Producer / Director WOMP STOMP filmsVincente DiSanti moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and has since worked in several aspects of the film industry including live-action, feature animation, story development, voice acting, visual FX, commercials, and much more. A jack of all trades, Vincente is best known for his directorial work on Never Hike Alone (2017), Never Hike in the Snow (2020), Imagine (2018), The Red Room (2015), and starring as Michael Myers in The Spirit of Haddonfield (2018). 

Ken Volante has been asking questions of SRTN guests for awhile. In this special episode, Rachel Lally, podcast host of Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other returns to ask the SRTN host the baffling questions he usually advantages himself of.Ken Volante is a labor activist. He is originally from Pawtucket, RI which is known as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. He has worked on behalf of working people for a quarter century and was involved in the beginning stages of The Wisconsin Revolt. He holds degrees in English literature and Philosophy from The University of Rhode Island, an M.A. in Philosophy from Marquette University, a M.S. in Labor Studies from The University of Massachusetts - Amherst.He has worked as a grocery clerk, a bookstore clerk, a University Professor and a union representative.His creative endeavors include hosting the podcast 'Something (rather than nothing)', painting in an abstract style, writing short pieces and he has recently started doing short documentaries.He is influenced by the following artists: Kathy Acker, Nikolai Gogol, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Jesus Christ, Stanley Kubrick, Polly Jean Harvey Andrei Tarkovsky, The Buddha, William Faulkner, David Lynch, Taylor Swift, The Cure, Neurosis, Neutral Milk Hotel, Weedeater. (((Remember, every list you write will be incomplete)))This episode is dedicated to my lovely parents Kenny Sr. and Patricia :-)

Geoff Finan was the Writer in Residence for Dublin City Council for the Dublin North West area in the summer of 2018 and again in 2019 and is currently lecturing in the National College of Art and Design on the module ‘Voices From The Margins’. Last year he had the honour of writing the 100 year commemorative poem celebrating the first Dáil in Ireland, titled ‘January 1919’. Geoff was recently commissioned as part of the First Fortnight Festival to write his most recent piece ‘Gloke’ after working with The Traveling Community for four months. Geoff has also been commissioned by the DCC’s Culture Connects project to write for the Local Heroes initiative and his poem 'A Letter To Leo' was chosen as the flagship piece for the My Name Is campaign, fighting against child homelessness in Ireland.Geoff has written and performed a poem for the documentary Baristas, which has gone to number 1 in 8 countries, top 10 in the US and top 5 in Canada and the UK, in the documentary charts and is now streaming on Amazon Prime. He was also recently shortlisted for writing and performing in the short film ‘Taboo’. Geoff been featured on RTÉ, TV3, Today Fm, 98 FM, FM104 and Newstalk and in The Sunday Business Post, The Times, The Irish Times and The New York Times.

Mary Cappello is the author of six books of literary nonfiction, including Awkward: A Detour (a Los Angeles Times bestseller); Swallow, based on the Chevalier Jackson Foreign Body Collection in Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum; and, most recently, Life Breaks In: A Mood Almanack. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Salon.com, The Huffington Post, on NPR, in guest author blogs for Powells Books, and on six separate occasions as Notable Essay of the Year in Best American Essays. A Guggenheim and Berlin Prize Fellow, a recipient of The Bechtel Prize for Educating the Imagination, and the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, Cappello is a former Fulbright Lecturer at the Gorky Literary Institute (Moscow), and currently Professor of English and creative writing at the University of Rhode Island. A new book, Lecture appears this Fall 2020 as the inaugural title in Transit Books Undelivered Lecture Series.