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Ep. #293: Marisa Anderson

Marisa Anderson is a gifted musician who hails from Sonoma, California but currently calls Portland, Oregon home. Though somewhat under the radar, Anderson is renowned as one of the finest guitarists in the world. Emerging as a lively interpreter of Delta blues and Appalachian folk music, Anderson has been embraced by free and improvised music aficionados for the history of guitar styles and techniques that flow through her fingers. Her latest album is bolstered by electric piano, pedal and lap steel guitar and finds Anderson exploring the west, as it sits and as it stands in a contemporary, border conscious America. The record is called Into the Light and it’s one of the finest records of 2016. Marisa has been touring extensively since its release in July and she recently played Guelph so I invited her over to our home for pizza and a far-reaching conversation in our living room about her frequent visits to Guelph, playing Hamilton, Ontario and the Hamilton controversy and confusion, research and misinformation, bubbles, implied and overt threats, identity politics discourse, Patton Oswalt on nomenclature and content, broad brush finger-pointing, missed messaging and selective hearing, fear and outspokenness, communicating thoughts and ideas as an instrumentalist, spiritual and Christian music, church-y and state-y, growing up queer in a religious household, splintered identities, a childhood in Sonoma and wine country, working in the service industry, music and swimming, rebellion and recorder, getting into guitar, Bill Monroe, John Denver, Rush, Sousa marches, guitar reverence and understanding it as a shape-based instrument, Appalachian folklore and story songs, words and country sounds, Chet Atkins, guitar styles, sustainability, many sounds and one pair of hands, writing and singing at one point, “The House Carpenter/Demon Lover,” “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye,” folk traditions and definitive versions, intangible histories and empirical art, instrumental music as “cinematic,” Into the Light as the soundtrack to a non-existent film about the concept of feeling or being alien and migration, border psychology, belonging, music as an idea and emotional processor, contextualizing mysteries, gentrification in Portland, Oregon, urban growth boundary, distance and fodder, new work, coming back to a new America after time away, the vote recount, local levels, an uprising of common decency, the song “He Is Without His Guns,” a happenstance recording, self-quality control, and then it was into the night.

Related links: marisaandersonmusic.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #292: Nick Flanagan

Nick Flanagan is a very funny comedian, writer, and actor who hails from Toronto, Ontario but currently calls California home. Known for his endearingly dark stand-up and for fronting bands like Brutal Knights and Wrong Hole, Flanagan’s first comedy album, I’m Here All Weak, was released six years ago. This month Comedy Dynamics puts out his new record, Wiped Privilege and Flanagan plans to play some shows to spread the word. Flanagan and I recently caught up for a chat about living in Eagle Rock, California, leaving Canada for America for work, comedy and acting and performing in Brutal Knights and Wrong Hole, starring in films like Diamond Tongues, press releases and whimsy, mailing list activity stalking, DIY or die, Comedy Central and Comedy Dynamics, writing for kids’ shows like Odd Squad, the Kids in the Hall, Mark De Angelis, Tim McKeon, Adam Peltzman, Sinking Ship Productions, Ben Joseph and children’s writing, John Callahan’s Quads! and scriptwriting, writing off 2016, keeping busy, genuine math, children’s entertainment and its 24/7 work days, being a silly person and working on kids’ shows, discerning kids, fickleness, parent-engaging humour, crossing generations, six years since I’m Here All Weak, finding his voice, one-liners, impersonal joke machines like Demetri Martin and Anthony Jeselnik and Jerry Seinfeld, comedy as confessional, Aparna Nancherla and a grape and an apple walk into a podcast, Wiped Privilege and this year’s political environment, a Canadian living in the USA and reflecting societal problems in comedy, pseudo-activism, snark, tropes about comedians, contrarianism and info glut and Info Wars, an upswing, feeling the Flanagan, “Thank You for Supporting Live Comedy,” Mailchimp status update, and then it was time for some more California dreamin’.

Related links: theflans.com vishkhanna.com

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Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #291: Long Night Reviews 2016 with Aliya Pabani, Freddie Rivas, Jill Krajewski, John Semley, & Laura Hermiston

This episode of Long Night with Vish Khanna was recorded at the Polish Combatants Hall in Toronto, Ontario, as part of the Long Winter festival on Friday December 2, 2016. It was a thoughtful, funny, and fascinating year in review discussion about 2016, featuring some very wise panelists. Aliya Pabani is the host of The Imposter, Canadaland’s arts & culture podcast, and also an artist in her own right. Freddie Rivas is a talented comedian and puppeteer and is well-respected for hosting Rap Battlez in Toronto. Jill Krajewski is a social media producer at Vice and a contributor to Noisey where she’s written notable pieces, including “The Noisey Guide to Making Your Damn Venue Inclusive.” John Semley is a books columnist at the Globe & Mail and the author of This Is A Book About The Kids In The Hall. And Laura Hermiston is the driving force behind the Toronto band Twist whose new album, Spectral, is out now on Buzz Records. Recorded by Dave MacKinnon. Photos by Rick Clifford. Produced by Long Winter and Vish Khanna.

Related links: torontolongwinter.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

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