The Trace

My guest on this episode is musician, bar manager, and all around cool guy Ryan Lobe.  We discuss the transition from home schooling in the suburbs to bartending heavy metal shows.  

This is a look back on the movies, albums, political events, and personal readings that stuck out to me in 2018.  I remember movies like "First Reformed", "Roma", and "Mandy" plus albums by Janelle Monae, Lykke Li, and Earl Sweatshirt.   Later in the episode I focus on political events of the year plus some of the themes that have been important to me during the last 12 months.  At thetracepodcast.com I will have a full breakdown and links to all that has been discussed here.  Happy New Year my friends!

Mary Jo Hansen has run Casa Nana in Tepic, Mexico for 10 years now. Casa Nana is a foster/orphanage home for kids that have no where else to be.  It's a dynamic undertaking where kids get back to school, learn art, receive love, and get an opportunity for a new future. Mary Jo is from the Bay Area and we discuss how she went from a chaotic adolescence of her own to taking care of adolescents in Mexico years later.  Along the way we touch on political and religious topics, living in Mexico, and scary stories of "narco" violence in Tepic.   Check out heart4mexico.com to learn more about Casa Nana.

I am very proud to present this talk with Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers from Seattle Pacific University and The Northwest Institute on Intimacy.  Her book "Sex, God, and the Conservative Church" is an insightful look at how abstinence only education has caused deep levels of sexual shame in people as they grow up.   Dr. Sellers and I discuss the nature of religious and cultural sexual shame and then look into the movies to see where this manifests itself.  The whole talk was thrilling to be a part of and I am so happy to share it with you.

In this episode I explore cinema and religion with films like "First Reformed", "The Last Temptation of Christ", and the work of Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant.  These movies speak to me in the religious sense where we ask ourselves questions about responsibility, empathy, love, and justice.   I must note that religion and spirituality, in my definition, also contains atheism, paganism, agnosticism, etc.  For me, religion and spirituality, have to do with the big existential questions and then asks who and what am I responsible to in this life?  The only way to truly avoid the human aspect of religion and spirituality is to be a pure conformist to your society where you don’t think for yourself in any way.  I already assume that anyone in that state of mind will have absolutely zero interest in this show!  

My guest this week is Greg Wright.  Greg is an artist of many talents and experiences.  He has done writing, acting, criticism, poetry, plus theater and film direction.  He is also a practicing Christian with strong thoughts and feelings on our current times.  Greg and I had never met but we got right into a very honest and direct discussion on movies, religion, politics, empathy, and why it is that we human beings are so naturally divisive.

It's October and Halloween is coming up.  I talk with author and editor Lucas Gonzalez about Horror in film.  This gets us into 80's horror films, Cronenberg, body horror, grief, and terror in literature.  

This is a special edition episode of The Trace where I analyze the career of Nicolas Cage.  Here I challenge the idea that Cage is a bad actor.  I contend that he plays his characters truthfully in terms of emotional experience.  We are the actors in the way that we repress and deny our inner life.  This whole episode is a provocation to all of us to be more honest about our emotions and experience.

My guest this week is Melody Parks  Melody was born in 1973 and she has a history of work in television, as an actress, and currently as a therapist here in Seattle.  We discuss her birth year and the films “The Exorcist”, “Mean Streets”, and “Badlands”.  These movies open up conversations on what it means to be American plus topics of race, parenthood, and hope.  

My guest this weak is Sean Jewel.  Sean writes for American Standard Time which is associated with Greg Vandy who hosts The Roadhouse on KEXP here in Seattle.   Sean and I discuss our mutual birth year of 1978 with films like “Blue Collar”, “Days of Heaven”, plus Bruce Springsteens cinematic record “Darkness on the Edge of Town”.  These works get us into themes of class in America, progressive politics, gender expectations, religion, and many other excellent topics.

Does romantic love complete us?  Can we be completed at all?  On this episode I look at Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" how it is a genuinely powerful film on romantic love.  I also reference "Jerry Maguire", Slavoj Zizek, GK Chesterton, and "Moonstruck".  Join me as we explore what real love is in a world of lack, limitation, and loss.

I was so happy to have my friend Vicco Gonzalez on the show this week!  Vicco is a musician and graphic designer from Guadalajara, Mexico.  We talked about a few of his favorite films like "The Shining", "Los Olvidados", and "Persona".  This led us to talk about identity, Mexico, immigration, Seattle, Hannah Arendt, fatalism in art, and forgiveness.  

My guest this week is Chris Estey.  Chris and I share a connection to a very specific music scene that Seattle was a center of in the latter half of the 90’s.  I was so, so excited to have this conversation with him.  It did not disappoint.  Many bands will be referenced here plus lots of talk about politics, religion, and the musical traditions of Seattle. Chris has had connections to Light in the Attic, Tooth & Nail Records, Bandoppler Magazine, and many more music-associated works.  He is currently with XO Publicity and working on a book that I am very excited about.

Today I am speaking with novelist, film critic, and teacher Jeffrey Overstreet.  We discuss the kind of films that we consider Medicine for Ailing America.  Jeffrey and I agree that healing starts with acknowledging the reality of the problem.  To become better we must acknowledge the truth of the past and become open to new possibilities in the present and future.  The main movies we discuss are Terrence Malick’s “The New World”, Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”, and Wim Wenders “Wings of Desire”.

Today we are going to look at Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and how the film opens up possibilities for forgiveness as opposed to vengeance.  Forgiveness is not the first thing one thinks of when Tarantino comes to mind but I believe this is one of the aspects that has made “Pulp Fiction” relevant to viewers of all-ages.  

This week I break down Donald Trump's and the GOP's recent denial of facts.  I look at postmodernism, multiculturalism, and their threat to white supremacy and why conservatives have become "truth relativists" in recent times.  I use samples from "A Few Good Men", Newt Gingrich, and "1984" to illustrate my points.  

Brian “Bernee Luv” Bernazard is a DJ, musician, skater, and fellow Ballard dad.  He was born in 1982 and we discuss E.T., parenting, skating, Pink Floyd: The Wall, Radiohead, and growing up with 80’s music.  

I look at Spielberg's "E.T." and the hope included in the Impossible and Event.  This is contrasted with the terror of "Alien".  The result is a hopeful take on transformation in the individual.  

Caitlin Sherman is a Seattle singer-songwriter with loads of soul and talent.  We sat down to talk about some of the films and music of 1982.  With films we talked about the impossible good that can happen in life with “ET” and then how the impossible bad can take place with John Carpenters “The Thing”.  Finally, we discuss the power and beauty that sad music can have and Bruce Springsteen’s lonely masterpiece “Nebraska”.