Strange Currencies: A Podcast For Songwriters

The second album from Queens, New York songwriter Matt Waters. Originally released November 27th, 2019.

The second album from Queens, New York songwriter Matt Waters. Originally released November 27th, 2019.

The second album from Queens, New York songwriter Matt Waters. Originally released November 27th, 2019.

The second album from Queens, New York songwriter Matt Waters. Originally released November 27th, 2019.

The second album from Queens, New York songwriter Matt Waters. Originally released November 27th, 2019.

Judith Lee Herbert’s chapbook Songbird, published by Kelsay Books, was a finalist in the Blue Light 2017 Chapbook Competition. Her poems have appeared in Bards Annual, Before the Dawn, NCPLS Review, LIQ, These Fragile Lilacs, First Literary Review East, Mothering in the Middle, and The Ekphrastic Review. Her poems placed 2nd in the Mid-Island Y 2018 Contest and Honorable Mention in the NCPLS 2018 Contest. DANIEL BRAUM is the New York based author of the short story collections The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales (Cemetery Dance), The Wish Mechanics: Stories of the Strange and Fantastic (Independent Legions 2017) and the chapbook Yeti Tiger Dragon (Dim Shores 2016). His third collection, Underworld Dreams is forthcoming from Lethe Press. The Serpent’s Shadow, is his first novel. He is the editor of the Spirits Unwrapped anthology from Lethe Press (October 2019) and the host and founder of the Night Time Logic reading series in New York City. Claire Zajdel is a writer originally from the Chicago area.

The September edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series: Aida Zilelian is a New York writer and English teacher. Her debut novel The Legacy of Lost Things was released in March 2015 (Bleeding Heart Publications) and was the recipient of the 2014 Tololyan Literary Award. She has been featured on NPR, the New York Times, the Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, among other radio and print platforms. Most recently, her short story collection These Hills Were Meant for You was shortlisted for the 2018 Katherine Anne Porter Award. She is currently completing her third novel. Matthew Thorburn is the author of seven collections of poems, including The Grace of Distance (LSU Press, 2019) and the book-length poem Dear Almost (LSU Press, 2016), honored with the Lascaux Prize for Collected Poetry. His work has also been recognized with a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, as well as fellowships from the Bronx and New Jersey arts councils and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He lives with his wife an

The August edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series! Featuring: Kay Gram is a writer and editor based in NYC. Her work has been named a 2017 Best of the Net finalist and as a semifinalist for both the Fourth Annual TAR Chapbook Series and the Gazing Grain Press 2018 All-Genre Chapbook Contest. She is currently at work on a memoir about mental and physical illness, family, and the balance between holding on and letting go. For fun, she also writes fiction. Find her online at http://kaygram.com. Stephanie Laterza is a writer and attorney from Brooklyn, NY. Stephanie is the author of poetry chapbook, The Psyche Trials, (Finishing Line Press, 2019) and a 2018 SU-CASA award recipient from the Brooklyn Arts Council. She holds a B.A. in English from Fordham College at Lincoln Center and a J.D. from New England Law School in Boston. Stephanie’s work has appeared in L'Éphémère Review, First Literary Review-East, Ovunque Siamo, Literary Mama, Akashic Books, A Gathering of the Tribes, Newtown Literary, The Nottin

The July edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series!

The June edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series! Thanks for listening.

Rebekah Bergman's fiction appears or is forthcoming in Joyland, Hobart, DIAGRAM, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Passages North, among other journals. She was a 2018 Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and a 2018 winner of The Masters Review Anthology Prize. She lives in Brooklyn and is at work on a novel. Read more at: rebekahbergman.com Gabriel Don is a multidisciplinary artist who works in a variety of mediums: a filmmaker, artist, photographer, musician and writer. She has been published in numerous online and print publications. She received her MFA in creative writing at The New School, where she worked as the Reading Series and Chapbook Competition Coordinator and currently teaches writing at BMCC. Her short stories are forthcoming in publications such as Gargoyle 70 and her poetry collection, Living Without Skin, was just released with A Gathering of The Tribes, Fly By Night Press. Born in Australia, raised in Singapore and Dubai, Don now resides in New York City. www.facebook.com/ga

The fourth edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series featuring readings from Julia Lynn Rubin, Amanda Miller and Ron Kolm. Intermission entertainment: William Burroughs.

The third meeting of a new literary series in which writers share and reflect upon their work. Michelle Sierra Laffitte is a Mexican-born writer, journalist and editor based in New York. Her fiction work has appeared in Joyland and Evergreen Review. Her non-fiction work has been published in magazines and outlets including Reuters.com, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, CNN, Expansión and MSNBC. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn. Lena Valencia's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in CRAFT, Joyland, The Masters Review, and elsewhere. She is the managing editor of One Story and has held positions at A Public Space and BOMB Magazine. From 2014 to 2017, she hosted the HiFi Reading Series in Manhattan. She has an MFA in fiction from The New School and is the recipient of a 2019 Elizabeth George Foundation Grant. Mary Newell lives in the lower Hudson Valley. Her chapbook, TILT

The first edition of the Show Do Tell Reading Series at Otto's Shrunken Head in Alphabet City! The format is designed for writers to not only share their work -- but also their personal insight and philosophies into their fiction, poetry, or essays. Our first readers were Bard Hovenga, Jason Pfister, and Christiana Connett Gonzalez. The intermission programming for volume 1 is William Butler Yeats reading his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,’ along with James Joyce reading from ‘Anna Livia Plurabelle’ in ‘Finnegans Wake,' one of the only surving pristine recordings of him reading his work. More about this recording from the Public Domain: "The recording was made in 1929 by C.K. Odgen in the studio of the Orthological Society in Cambridge. From account by Sylvia Beach: "How beautiful the "Anna Livia" recording is, and how amusing Joyce's rendering of an Irish washerwoman's brogue! This is a treasure we owe to C. K. Ogden and Basic English. Joyce, with his famous memory, must have known "Anna Livia" by heart

Analyzing the use of music in the novels: American Psycho, Another Country, Jazz Moon, The Dead Do Not Improve, and A Visit from the Goon Squad. I finally recorded a new episode of my podcast 'Strange Currencies!' It has been almost a year. And the Podcasting side of my brain just hasn't been the same since I concussed myself head-banging at a Father John Misty concert. Har har. But seriously! This new episode is about the use of music in a few of my favorite novels. I start with an overly long preamble about the Yankees and a strange interaction I had with "The Thing" while rollerblading. Because I'm also doing this podcast to entertain myself. (my most loyal listener!) Then I get into the real shit shit (as Mobb Deep would singggg) The books and scenes I cover are American Psycho: Bateman and company go to see U2 at "somewhere called the Meadowlands." The scene is fascinating for its mixture of humorous satire with an impressionistic passage of Bateman actually experiencing human emotion. Ellis alters hi

All Rights Reserved to Special Rider There's a whole lot of people suffering tonight from the disease of conceit Whole lot of people struggling tonight from the disease of conceit Comes right down the highway straight down the line Rips into your senses through your body and your mind Nothing about it that's sweet The disease of conceit There's a whole lot of hearts breaking tonight from the disease of conceit Whole lot of hearts shaking tonight from the disease of conceit Steps into your room eats into your soul Over your senses you have no control Ain't nothing too discreet about the disease of conceit There's a whole lot of people dying tonight from the disease of conceit Whole lot of people crying tonight from the disease of conceit Comes right out of nowhere and you're down for the count From the outside world the pressure will mount Turn you into a piece of meat The disease of conceit Conceit is the disease that the doctors got no cure They've done a lot of research on it but what it is they're still

Strange Currencies Episode 7 I ruminate on Bruce Springsteen as an artist. How the image from his most commercially successful time-period can become a generalization to those unfamiliar with the depth of his work. Along with my deep admiration for his song 'American Skin.' I discuss his memoir 'Born to Run' and discuss concert experiences in the context of his electrifying performing style.

'Oh Mercy' was praised as a return to form for Bob Dylan at the end of the 80s. He wrote about the process of recording the album in his beguiling memoir 'Chronicles.' I discuss the album using passages from 'Chronicles' as a conduit toward my own fascination with the material. I wonder whether Dylan was articulating his sense of internal and external morality in the same way he captured chaos in his earlier work. Why would that have been important to him in 1989, considering where he'd been, and where he wanted to go? With detailed considerations of classic songs like 'Man in the Long Black Coat,' this episode is a must-listen for fellow Dylan obsessives!

Brittany Anjou is an accomplished jazz composer who has taught music all over the world. But when I interviewed her for Strange Currencies, we primarily discussed the debut album for her punk rock project 'Bi-Tyrant.' The discussion took place at Two Boots Pizzeria in downtown Manhattan. We talked about the appeal of making punk rock, and the realities of being a professional female musician in the city.

In this episode, I delve into the powerful 2016 album by Conor Oberst called 'Ruminations.' A minimalistic effort from the lead singer of 'Bright Eyes,' 'Ruminations' saw Oberst compose an unsparing cycle of music gazing intently at consumerism, depression, love, obsession, and loneliness. It was an album that tilted my axis as a listener -- and although I was outright wrong about a few of thoughts concerning the songs -- this exercise in reflection was still a memorable one!