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…

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

I like ear worms.  I like something that gets caught in your head.

Many people in Dayton know Zac Pitts as a television news anchor on WDTN.  I know him as an encouraging supporter of local music, a songwriter, and musician. Zac has finished his debut album Midwest Romance, and will officially present it to the public via a show at Yellow Cab Tavern on Saturday, 10th December.  In advance of the show, Zac agreed to talk to me about the album, his songwriting process, how he got started making music, and…

 writing songs, playing music, and I realized that was my joy in life... and so to be able to continue to do that from that point to now, I feel lucky...

That's Joe Anderl pictured above on the left in the foreground.  He's been making music for two and a half decades or so, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who brings as much passion as he does to the stage at a show.  Joe is the lead singer and songwriter for The 1984 Draft.  You'll hear some stories in our conversation about a past ska…

When you are a small community, coming together and having shared experiences is a big part of how that exists and how that persists over time...

Matthew Kirk has already shown love to his community by resurrecting a long time ice cream business that had closed.  He continues to show love to his community by being host to musicians at two different locations for Yellow Springs Porchfest this upcoming weekend.  I have the honor of playing at O and E's Corner Cone at 4:00 PM.  What other musicians is…

Gretchen Kelly is a well-known face in Dayton night life.  If you enjoy delicious OE pizza, heading out for occasional drinks, or local music, chances are you've run into Gretchen out there in our city.  She talks with me on this episode about her new business venture, Mercenary Bartenders.  What kind of niche are they filling in our community?  What's Gretchen's favorite Dayton band?  What was the first music she can remember hearing?  What in the world is liquor liability insurance?  You'll learn…

Joe is from Richmond, Indiana, just a little bit West of Dayton on I-70. He is a singer-songwriter who performs as Achilles Tenderloin. In this episode, he becomes the first guest to play a song live on the podcast, an exclusive that you can't find recorded anywhere at the moment. You'll hear us talk about his songwriting process, building community around music and giving back.  You'll also learn about his two newest singles and plans for an upcoming album. He is a thoughtful lyricist, and that…

It's all about the Gem City's past, present, and future

I welcome a fellow Xenian on this episode, Arch Grieve.  Arch teaches political science, and is a podcaster.  His main podcast is called Discover Dayton. Why did he start this podcast?  What service is he trying to provide to the community?  These are some of the things you'll learn in this episode.  We also get into a few behind-the-scenes details of podcasting, and some tips for podcasters.  You'll also hear me analyze the "what did your childhood…

Music has always helped us to feel our feelings and we want to be that for other people, we want to create music that helps people to feel their feelings and to make people feel a little less alone...

Jon Kresin and Amelie Eiding are a pop duo called 7000apart.  They are currently based in Wisconsin, but at the time of our conversation, they were in Stockholm, Sweden. The story of the beginning of their project is compelling, but it's one they have told many times, so I'll send you over to the Our…