Tag: Robin Williams

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #224: Ian MacKaye & Steve Albini (Part II)

Ian MacKaye is known for being in bands like Minor Threat, Embrace, Fugazi, and the Evens and he co-founded the Washington D.C. based label, Dischord Records. Steve Albini has sung and played guitar in bands like Big Black and Shellac of North America and he owns and operates the renowned recording facility, Electrical Audio, in Chicago, Illinois. In this second of a two-part moderated conversation between Ian and Steve, we discuss the Independent Rock Music Label Festivals organized by Heather Whinna in Chicago that featured Fugazi, Shellac, the Make-Up, Blonde Redhead, and the Ex, Jay Ryan, the Rainbow Roller Rink and the Congress Theatre, confidence versus leadership, Ian on Steve’s interviews, how disempowered people feel, Ian doesn’t talk shit about people like Marc Ribot, exemplars, why Steve might call someone out on a position or argument, critiquing your own community, relating to “political correctness” today, the Reagan Revolution and ‘to care is selfish,’ being decent toward other people, biases and presumptions, the Fugazi song “And the Same,” which includes the lyric, “Yes, I know this is politically correct…,” derailing progression, charity was selfish and greed was good, growing up in D.C. without encountering many Republicans, Democrats can’t go radically left, why musicians play music, being attacked by others, Sylvester Stallone, the Urban Outfitters/Minor Threat thing and aquarium warfare, online pile-ons and Henry Rollins and Robin Williams, Steve defends Henry, internet distractions, making sense of the age of outrage, access and speed, super communication and one-way communication and real-life communication, anonymity, the Butthole Surfers, metrics, I can’t even, Steve belongs on twitter, the way Ian demonstrated how to be a decent, thinking person, the punk rock lawyer, creeping professionalism, custodial and active responsibilities, Dischord Records and Electrical Audio, the music scene in Chicago, it’s nice to be right, work and love, people don’t own their own time, the big payback, “The People’s Microphone,” and that was that phone call.

Related links: dischord.com electricalaudio.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

ianandsteve_present_colour

fugazi_shellac_jay_ryan_1998

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #174: Andy Kindler

Andy Kindler is a stand-up comedian from New York City who is currently based in Los Angeles. Best known for frequent appearances as himself on the Late Show with David Letterman and recurring acting roles on Everybody Loves Raymond, Maron, and Bob’s Burgers, Kindler is a hard-working road comic who fearlessly assesses and critiques the comedy industry, both in his act and in his annual ‘State of the Industry” address at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Kindler will be performing at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg on Friday March 27 and here, we discuss my amazing guest introductions, milk and green apples and voice over auditions, Bob Dylan doesn’t drink water on-stage, Marco Rubio was thirsty and terrible, the red button is over, Jimmy Fallon’s viral videos, Ricky Gervais really is that David Brent character, fundamental atheism, interacting with Gervais once on Letterman, thinking about Robin Williams, Dane Cook and Hitler, how David Letterman has kept it real and Jimmy Fallon might be a phony, the pretentiousness of Louis C.K., the sanctimony of Jon Stewart, defending and enhancing the art of comedy, wanting to be loved and laughed at, satisfaction, the ‘I’ve-gotta-make-it’ phase of being in show business, bumping into each other once at SXSW, his connection to music and the Hold Steady, some of Andy’s hit singles, Adam Levine and Coldplay, loving the National, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, and some other white people, liking soul music, contemplating David Letterman’s retirement, Dave’s demeanour before and after the heart surgery, Dave probably doesn’t really want to retire, Stephen Colbert will be amazing, being a true curmudgeon, what’s happening on the third season of Maron, appearing with Dave Anthony and Marc in Maron scenes, voicing Mort on Bob’s Burgers, Andy’s new special Hence, the Humour, Innerspace and All of Me, Marc Maron should return my calls, and that was that.

Related links: andykindler.com vishkhanna.com

Andy Kindler

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes. Now available via AudioBoom.

listen to ‘Andy Kindler talks Letterman, Fallon, Gervais, Maron, weak comedy, music, more’ on audioBoom

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #134: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is the long-held moniker of the esteemed and uncompromising songwriter, singer, actor, producer, and musician Will Oldham who hails from Louisville, Kentucky. Over the past twenty years, he has been remarkably prolific and displayed an astonishing dedication to the quality of his craft, which is ostensibly folk, rock, or country music of the highest level. He has been something of a shape-shifter, working under different names like Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Palace Contribution, Bonny Billy, and his own given name, Will Oldham. He has also collaborated with different backing bands and hundreds of other artists and worked with many record labels outside of his core partnership with Drag City. Oldham also has a fluid relationship with his own work, often re-interpreting, re-recording, and, in a sense, re-releasing his own songs in different forms. In 2011, he put out a record called Wolfroy Goes to Town and his new album, Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues, which is out now via Drag City, recalls songs from those Wolfroy sessions. Here, Will and I discuss The Family Circus footprints, talking to people in Slint, how Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues may represent an alternate reality than Wolfroy Goes to Town but the records actually aren’t really all that connected, the DC comics parallel universes, the Justice League of America and the Justice Association of America, different versions of the Flash aren’t really related to one another, I don’t understand the DC universe, people might be misremembering Wolfroy Goes to Town, how people remake movies years apart and can have vastly different audiences,Yasujirō Ozu, Douglas Sirk, definitive versions of things, creative fulfillment versus expectations met, Yusuf Islam reinterpreting his older songs for newer material, Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings,” Pixies and Rolling Stones, when the Ramones would cover songs on their albums, factors that impact a recording, how Will prepped Emmett Kelly and Paul Oldham ahead of working on Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues, white elephants and gorillas, “Fuck Birds in the Bushes” bumper stickers, taking stock of one’s own work via their own work, R. Kelly and David Allan Coe, Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, The Man Who Would Be King by John Huston and its influence on the song “So Far and Here We Are,” confidence and confusion, why we need to issue challenges from time to time, most awkward radio interview ever, how and why to promote music, the pros and cons of self-awareness, human RAM, Robin Williams, early teens triggers, going to acting day camp as a kid, Louisville punk bands like Malignant Growth and Languid and Flaccid, seeing Hüsker Dü and going to Maurice and Slint band practices, taking pictures, making a living acting and not needing college, the weirdness around agents and auditions compared to Louisville’s creative, unmediated music community, touring with Samhain and Squirrel Bait and seeing Dinosaur, then seeing Sonic Youth and the Necros, Lydia Lunch, Jim Thirlwell Foetus, CBGBs, bullshit intolerance, Old Joy, Pioneer, indirect parental support for kids in bands in Louisville, Matewan, encountering Steve Albini, the Slint doc Breadcrumb Trail and Britt Walford’s awesome parents, what the hell is up with Silver Jews leader David Berman, Berman’s stressful, strained relationship with his conservative lobbyist father, an extensive forthcoming article about Richard Berman in Mother Jones, calling David Berman, perhaps we’ll hear or read something new from Berman some time soon, how Berman brought Will to Drag City, sending demos to Interscope Records, Harpo and Chico Marx, an Italian woman and two Dutch guys aren’t into the Frogs’ It’s Only Right and Natural, laughing a lot with Slint, working with people like Dawn McCarthy, David Ferguson, Matt Sweeney, playing a show at a state prison and getting closer and closer to meeting Don Everly, twin Mexican wives, maybe performing “Omaha” before Don, Bill Withers didn’t maybe care so much, Manual Cinema in Chicago, complicated websites, the songs “We Are Unhappy” and “New Black Rich (Tusks),” and then it’s time to be clear.

Related links: royalstablemusic.com dragcity.com vishkhanna.com

BonnyBilly_byMattSweeney

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS