Cigar boxes are not meant to be guitars…

In addition to getting to listen to people discuss they're passionate about, something I like about having a podcast is learning new-to-me things.  On today's episode, number 107, I learned about cigar box guitars.  Are you familiar with this instrument?  If not, I'm sure you'll learn something new and interesting in this conversation.  My guest is Max B. Greene, a blues enthusiast and luthier who doesn't think he should be called a luthier.  We're talking about his…

Yes, I know that the third quarter of 2023 is almost over, and that I am very late dropping this episode.  I've had some technical difficulties, and I apologize for the delay.  I hope that once you hear the GREAT music we talk about in this conversation, you'll feel super forgiving.

Taylor's review of Good Living Is Coming For You.

Taylor's albums

Pearl & The Oysters - Coast 2 Coast
One's a Crowd - Fictorian Era//Bedroom Pomp
McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Bully - Lucky For You
Sweeping Promises -…

This particular episode is an important one to me, and if you care about authenticity in music, I think it'll be important to you as well.

Country isn't my genre of choice, but I've been making an effort to listen to more of it over the last few years.  To keep it 100, as the kids say, the sound never spoke to me when I was young, and I couldn't see any value for me in that genre.  As I've gotten older, I've learned that country music is a vehicle for Black stories as well, despite what the music industry…

Meet the outrageously talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Cherimondis J.   She's a classically trained concert pianist among many other things.  We dig into her music background, her songwriting process, what it's like being a Black musician in the classical world, and the album she put out last year, Dove Archer.  You'll find that Cherimondis thinks very deeply about both music and life, and she has quite a lot of introspective things to say about how her art relates to her life. Why does she…

Hiba Loukssi is a 2023 Xenia High School graduate, and will soon be attending Cornell.  I first learned about her when she won Ohio's Poetry Out Loud Competition for poetry recitation.  What kind of skills do you have to have to be successful at poetry recitation?  What are some of the things that Hiba is passionate about?  How important is tea to her family?  You'll learn the answers to these questions and more in our conversation.

LINKS

Instagram

Interview with WYSO

Linsey Rogers, who uses The Wandering Linstrel is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, actress, and pinball aficionado.  We get at least somewhat into all of those things in our conversation.

Linsey occasionally makes it to the Dayton area to play shows, and that's how I met her.  Her sparkling personality keeps the attention of a roomful of listeners between songs, and I think that it'll keep YOUR attention during this podcast episode.

LINKS

Official Website
YouTube
Facebook

Pinball Links

Twitch
YouTube
Facebook

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Generally speaking, science fiction authors starting religions is a bad idea

John Scalzi likes pie.  Of course, a lot of us like pie, so that's not the reason I wanted to talk to him for this very special episode with the number on hundred on it.  John Scalzi happens to be my favorite author at the moment, but that's also not our main topic of conversation.  No, dear listener / reader, I'm staying mostly on brand here, and we talk about music.  Scalzi is a musician who lives in Ohio, just like me!  What…

It's pretty cool to live in a place that has a venue where you can see 50 free concerts a year.  That place for us is Levitt Pavilion Dayton, and my guest of honor is their Executive Director, Lisa Wagner.  How do they make sure the concerts are diverse?  How much work does it take to put on a show at Levitt?  How in the world can they afford to deliver 50 concerts without charging for admission?  You'll learn the answers to these questions in this episode.

Levitt Pavilion Dayton

Kyleen Downes is a professional musician, and our music community here in the Dayton area is better off for having her here.  I truly enjoy seeing her play live, I like her songs, and I'm sure you'll agree after you hear this conversation that she has an infectious enthusiasm.  She has benefitted from the encouragement of others in her career, and is passing that on by teaching a new generation of folks here in Dayton how to play rock and roll.   Kyleen tells us about how she got started making music, who…

Tatiana Bonneau is founder and CEO of a company, a wife, a mom to four humans and two non-humans, a runner, multilingual, and an all-around fascinating individual.  I had the privilege to be a guest on her podcast a short time ago, and I kind of sound a little like I know what I'm talking about in that discussion.  Tatiana, of course, knows what she's talking about, no matter what language it's in.  We talk about her business life in our conversation, but we also get into some personal details.  How does…