Buddha And The Slut

  I've been teasing it forever, and now the show is one step closer to reality — time for a deep dive into BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA: The Musical, with nearly half the original soundtrack for your listening pleasure! Wanna skip the yada-yada preamble and get straight to the goods? We got ya timecode covered, you sons o' bitches: 7:40 - (It's All In The) REFLEXES  16:00 - THE STORMS (Part 1) 18:00 - THE STORMS (Part 2) 19:00 - HE'S A DEMON! 23:20 - MAN'S WORLD 27:00 - GREEN EYES 35:30 - BURNING BLADE (Somebody to Love) 42:30 - EPIC RAP BATTLE (In Little China) 48:45 - ???    

Tobias Tinker He's the man behind the music behind the show. And we take this hour before ringing out the old and ringing in the new to chat everything under the sun, including his two new albums of jazz and ambient, OK BOOMER, and much much more!

When I look back at the stories that had a lasting effect on me — the ones that shaped, inspired, and frankly blew the roof off my basic storytelling sensibilities — I'd have to say that one of the defining tales was a 12-issue DC comics epic. For a hick kid with a second-rate movie theatre, a laughably small local library, and six channels on cable? My storytelling could pretty much be summed up as BC and AC: Before Crisis on Infinite Earths...and after it.  

This month, a longtime listener asks: If you could turn back time in your creative career, what would you do differently? Do you have any regrets? I thought this'd be the SHORTEST Q&A yet...but free-styling is akin to public therapy, I reckon.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/buddha-and-the-slut/id1239333963 SUBSCRIBE, Review, and spread the good word! (25MIN) 27 Years Ago, this happened in an abandoned warehouse on Halloween night in Windsor, ON, Canada. Think Jacob's Ladder meets Twin Peaks w a dash of Twilight Zone on top. Oh...and strippers and weed. FOR MATURE LISTENERS.

I've been asked a lot of questions in my (nearly) half-century on this rock... But when I put the call out for fresh Q&A material, one listener hit me with the coolest Q imaginable... "If you could be asked anything that you've never been asked before, what would the question be, and what's the answer?" Time to get metaphysical, bitches. (Feat. new music from Tobias Tinker and Stillness3)

As I plunk away on the next volume in The Shadowland Saga during rare moments of 'free time' (HA!), I began to think: What if I narrated the audiobook edition myself? I was truly spoiled with the great David Kaye's contributions on The Cat's Maw, but let's face it — he's a busy (and expensive) man. And if I've learned anything during this podcast romp the past two years, it's that maybe, just maybe, my voice doesn't suck as much as I thought it did. Think of it being akin to body dysmorphia, but for vocal chords — I clearly can't trust my opinion, 'cause I have nearly five decades of bias. So here we are...the first draft prologue for Book 2 for your greedy little ears, and me behind the mic. Some classic TT tunes as well. And I honestly want to know what you think... SHOULD I DO THIS OR NOT?   

NEW MONTHLY FEATURE! One episode a month just ain't enough, my friends. But I just don't have the bandwidth to crank out 2+ original stories, edit them, and set it all to cool new music. The solution..?  FAN-SUBMITTED Q&A RETURNS! One question a month gets a 10-15 answer. Anything YOU want. Easy peasy. And the first Q from Michael Davis doesn't hold back: What's the hardest thing to confront about yourself?  

Ever been tempted to trash all your spiritual brownie points for one moment of gloriously justified VENGEANCE..? I was. And here's what happened. Featuring ALL NEW MUSIC from acclaimed jazz trio STILLNESS3

Exactly 30 years ago, there was a brash, foul-mouthed, overcompensating, girl-obsessed, and woefully immature version of yours truly spending his summer nights in Windsor, ON and Motor City Michigan doing stand...up...comedy. So, Chris Spirit Brown? This one’s for you, by special request. One night only. I'm coming out of retirement. And you're not gonna like it. 

The roots of creativity go deep, tangled around our formative years and adolescence. For me, one of those dark tendrils snaked its way into my pre-teen thoughts with a simple roll of the dice... Role-playing. Escapism. Power fantasies. Call it what you want. The rest of us called it...D&D. Dungeons & Dragons showed me something about myself that I still treasure (and struggle with) to this day. It also revealed how bogglingly deep the rabbit hole of my young mind could really go. And that's what this show is about.  

30 years ago, I first heard of the legendary 900km pilgrimage across Spain — the Way of St James. 10 years ago, I walked it after reading The Alchemist.  This is how it changed my life.  Featuring music by TOBIAS TINKER and the Stillness3. www.brookeburgess.com  

As Notre Dame burns and much of the world mourns, I can't help but wonder — have we lost the ability to feel the suffering of those UN-like ourselves? *includes the reading and examination of an article by author Hanna Rosin on NPR titled 'The End of Empathy', and featuring original music by TOBIAS TINKER.

Men. Women. Relationships. Conflict. A Divine Comedy...or is it all just a curse in the f#$%ing stars?  Got 20min? Here's an 'End of Mercury Retrograde' freestyle rant on the whole 'manhood' conundrum, featuring a lesson learned at the end of my longest relationship — a lesson that put me on the path to reconciling what masculinity could (and I feel SHOULD) mean, culture and hormones bedamned...

At some point in your life, you're gonna hear the words: I DON'T LIKE YOU. They could be said cruelly, or critically, or even from a claimed place of 'constructive kindness'. In fact, for me, it happened just one week ago. It wasn't the first time. Not by a long shot. But this time..? I was READY.

Some New Year freestyle storytelling where you get to laugh (and cringe) at my expense. Vulnerability! Body image! Shameless Germans! Cold water anatomy lessons! It's the first Buddha and the Slut of 2019!!!

  Happy Holidays, loyal listeners, and apologies for the veritable silence around these parts. Been swamped with work and travel and the expected holiday chaos, but I wanted to share something a bit sweet and soulful (and perhaps even revelatory) to close out 2018. It's a short ep, featuring my entry for the National Poetry Contest this year. And since everything I do and make draws from a hefty pile of personal truth, I fully expect you to draw some wide-eyed conclusions from this one... Stay tuned, stay safe, and stay YOU, my friends. B

As we approach the merge on the latest season (Davids Vs Goliaths) of SURVIVOR, I wanted to take a closer look; why does the show endure? How does the Hero's Journey apply to non-fiction? And what the hell happens now that CANADIANS CAN PLAY, TOO?!? It's another 30min+ freestyle ep of Buddha and the Slut, so pop in those buds and bask in my nerdishly honeyed tones and the soundtrack sweetness of Tobias Tinker and Stillness3.

Hey Kittens and Cats, Here's a 23min freeform rant on gender politics — where things are at between men and women right now and where (according to some wacky evolutionary biologists) it may have all started. Rampant OPINIONS, theorizing, inflammatory thoughts (drawn from some pretty compelling science) AND yes...an earnest plea for mutual compassion.  Is there a chance for us to hug this one out...bitch?    

Hey kittens and cats — the summer series continues with something a little bit different on Buddha and the Slut. You see, I get asked a ton about the whole ‘digital nomad’ working remote thing. A lot of you still seem to have NO idea what I actually ‘do’... So here's a short suspense narrative I recently did for a game client as a 'storytelling test': three sections of prose (200 words or less per section), along with two TEXTING sequences (8 lines or less) to gauge my ability to quickly establish character and stakes from the get go. Lemme know your thoughts, and thanks as always for listening and spreading the good word!