Something (rather than nothing) Podcast presents a special STRIKE episode from Albany, Oregon. SRTN gives you an up to the moment report on the brave educators of The Greater Albany Education Association (GAEA) who have been on strike for five (5) days as of this episode’s release. GAEA is fighting for student safety, lower class size and a wage th…

Besa is a film photographer and model who resides in Chicago. Her work is largely editorial, drawing inspiration from old Hollywood film noir and the creative direction of Sofia Coppola. Besa SRTNPar Something (rather than nothing)

Elisabeth Eaves is the author of the debut novel The Outlier as well as two critically acclaimed non-fiction books, Wanderlust: A love affair with five continents and Bare: the naked truth about stripping. Her work has been anthologized in four books of essays, and she's won three Lowell Thomas awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. He…

Shelia Knox awakes from a two week coma to find her life torn apart. Her children have been savagely murdered. Her husband is missing. Her hand completely mangled and her throat slit to within inches of her jugular…Leaving her with nothing left to live for. So, when the men responsible for taking her and her family, come after her to try and finish…

Samn Johnson (he/they, b. 1991) is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and historical linguist. Their work often harnesses research on acoustics and historical phonology to set texts in ancient languages like Latin, Old English, Hittite, and Gothic. Samn has written for a range of performers including Chromic Duo, Righteous GIRLS, JACK Qua…

Frederick Livingston lives in the liminal space between experiential education, sustainable agriculture, and peacebuilding. His work has appeared in numerous literary and scientific journals, public parks, and bathroom stalls. SRTN podcastPar Something (rather than nothing)

Multi Media Artist Shannon Kringen grew up in San Diego California and Whidbey Island Washington. She is a self taught photographer with a background in Graphic Design. She has worked as a figure model in Seattle since 1992. She completed her BA degree in Arts and Literature from Antioch University in 2013. She sees her creative expression as a too…

Aranea Push is a digital illustrator and comic artist living in the PNW. Aranea blends rich illustration with sharp attitude, creating a style she lovingly refers to as ‘Effin’ Adorable’. In 2023, she published her first graphic novel “Coffee & Wine” which you can read in its entirety here!\ SRTN Website Browser's Bookstore Popular Culture and Phil…

It was a pleasure to talk to Olivia Dolphin about her deep literary and musical talents back in Episode 116 Providence, Rhode Island’s Olivia Dolphin brings a deep and gritty honesty to her lyrics that captures an audience. Whether it’s a song about embracing your imperfections, being ghosted, or challenging yourself, Dolphin’s vulnerability pulls …

Sara McGrath is an illustrator and author of "Garage Girls" and lives in Los Angeles. About "Garage Girls" - - - Sara & Chloe are best friends, roommates, & co-hosts of garage girls, a weekly talk show that airs at an inconvenient time on Los Angeles' public access channel, a station no one watches. And yet, they become wildly famous and popular. C…

Ilya Popenko is a multi-disciplinary artist who was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the US at the age of 16. He is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer as well as a songwriter and a performer. In 2011, he formed a band called Mad Meg who play in an eclectic style they themselves haphazardly identify as “Punk-Chanson-Noir”. Based o…

Spencer Fleury is the author of I Blame Myself But Also You and other stories (Malarkey Books, 2024) and How I’m Spending My Afterlife (Woodhall Press, 2021). He lives in San Francisco. Spencer Fleury Website SRTN WebsitePar Something (rather than nothing)

Lauren graces the show again to talk more about her exciting solo play "Lolo's Boyfriend Show." It was such a thrill to talk to Lauren about art, the development of Lolo, taking risks on the stage and the hopes and dreams we all need : - ) We also talk about so many costume changes, fashion and design! Bunch of John Leguizamo love at the end. Here'…

Ross McMeekin the author of The Hummingbirds (Skyhorse, 2018.) His short fiction has appeared in literary journals and magazines such as Virginia Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, Redivider, and X-R-A-Y. He has won fellowships from Hugo House and Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle. For the last ten years, he has served as editor of the literary jour…

Matthew Kyle Levine is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in New York City. His short films have won awards and played at numerous film festivals throughout North America, including the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival and the Canada Shorts Film Festival, most notably for his short film “Miss Freelance”. Watch 'Caleb and Sarah" and other s…

Paul Luikart is the author of the short story collections Animal Heart (Hyperborea Publishing, 2016), Brief Instructions (Ghostbird Press, 2017), Metropolia (Ghostbird Press, 2021), The Museum of Heartache (Pski’s Porch Publishing, 2021), the 11th installment of Belle Point Press' Prose Series, and The Realm of the Dog (J. New Books, 2024.) He serv…

The Ill-Fitting Skin is layered with surreal storytelling but remains an extraordinarily realistic read, in the sense that even the most solid realities of life—and death—tend to blur and shimmer at their raw edges. The talkative bird that nests in a woman’s womb is as real as the “previous tenant.” The love of a mother for her uncontrollable son i…

Morgan Parker is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel Who Put This Song On?; and the poetry collections Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, and Magical Negro, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the recipient of a National Endowmen…

Ruby Roth’s work is defined by the female form and depicts the inner lives of women through emotionally visceral representations of the bodies they inhabit. For the past several years, amidst a radical transition from a decade of familial life as a best-selling children’s book author-illustrator to self-determined independence as a single female ar…

Mark Ostler joins the show to kick around comic books - specifically his work Ivar the Boxer and Waltzing Carpet Juliette We also talked about Warning: Danger! Mark Ostler is a comic book writer and publisher. In 2023, he wrapped up a 4 issue mini-series titled, “Waltzing Carpet Juliette” about the dangers of consumerism. In 2024, he began a new se…

This episode is very different than others. Jim LaBelle, this episode's featured guest, passed away recently. I wish, hope and pray that our conversation gives tribute to Jim's contributions and advocacy. Thank you and farewell Jim. Host Ken Volante "There are certain individuals that go under the radar their entire lives despite being one of the m…

Blend a background in fast-paced PR, political campaigns, and a lot of roll-up-your-sleeves energy, and you've Stuart Collective founder and CEO Kathleen Stuart. Kathleen founded Stuart Collective in 2017. With a crystal-clear mission to support changemakers in securing progressive wins, Kathleen works every day to win campaigns, pass high-profile …

Ivana Yellowback is a member of Manto Sipi Cree Nation – God’s River (maternal family) and a relative to Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (paternal family). She is both Asiniskow Ithinew ekwa Muskego Ininew (High Rock and Muskeg Cree). Ivana an Associate Producer, Writer, Cree host, and English co-host of Eagle Vision’s and APTN’s 7TH GEN Home (7thgen.ca…

Teghan Hammond and Mel Hammond are sisters who grew up punching each other whenever they saw a P.T. Cruiser, dying their hair blue together, and fabricating a fake band in which their middle brother was (allegedly) the lead singer. Writing Lucy, Uncensored was their first time co-writing. Unless you count the summer they spent scribbling down recip…

Special Spring 2024 NYC Fringe Festival episode with three dynamic creators! Lauren O'Brien presents Lolo’s Boyfriend Show - a new comedic solo show, the writer is also the performer; Suzanne Bachner presents Conversations with My Divorce Attorney - the playwright also directs the two hander play which she started writing many years ago when she wa…

From Page Stephenson: "Sometimes my life feels as though I am both the director and the directed. As I attempt to navigate the vast ocean of choices, I often find myself adrift. It's in these moments that inspiration often bubbles to the surface. My creative adventures have enabled me to collaborate with giants like Google, Red Bull, Patagonia, and…

M.J. Bassett is an English director, writer, and producer of film and television. She began her career directing the cult horror films Deathwatch and Wilderness, the dark fantasy Solomon Kane, and the video game adaptation Silent Hill: Revelation. Since 2012, she has worked as a director and writer on high-profile television series like Strike Back…

Ben Tanzer's work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Tanzer is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award a…

Philip Barasch has maintained a lifelong interest in sequential art. He is the creator of HandHewn, a magazine designed to explore the Graphic Short Story art form. His years in Portland, Oregon included involvement with The Stumptown Comic Book Convention, Sequential Art Gallery and Talisman Gallery. Philip and his wife, Charis, relocated to Astor…

Guest host Kinneret Ely interviews opera star Nicholas Tamagna Nicholas Tamagna’s meteoric rise in recent years has made him one of the world’s most fascinating alto voices. Highlights of the last few seasons were undoubtedly his interpretation of Ermano in the award-winning CD recording of Gismondo, re di Polonia (Leonardo Vinci) on the Parnassus …

Chimen Kouri is a writer based in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey. Her work has been featured in Goat’s Milk Magazine, Blood Moon Poetry, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and more. She fell in love with storytelling one Christmas morning during a power outage when she and her parents laid in bed while her father told stories about his life in Lebanon. She i…

TJ McGowan aka The Everyday Bite is a Bronx based writer, poet, and spoken word artist who has performed all over the Tri-State. His written work has been published in Flash Fiction Mag, Collective Unrest, 35MM, Mojave Heart, Vamp Cat, United: Red, BX Writers, to name a few. His body-autonomy poem, I Am Not Her Bones, and its incendiary performance…

Mortal Emblem owner Olivia Britz-Wheat is a multimedia artist who has been tattooing for over 15 years in Portland. She hails originally from Colorado, attended college in Missoula, Montana until learning how to tattoo under Phil Roberson and Jed Dillon. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation and regale in thoughts about art, Depeche Mode, Portland, …

ART FUN with the hosts of the Baroque B**ches Podcast! How much fun can you have on a podcast? I dunno but this was hella fun. Join this wildly ranging art, life, and raunch conversation to discover what you did not want to know but, really, c'mon, you actually really did want to know. Art Scholarship for the People!!! BB Website up in here SRTN We…

Death is the high cost of living. The weight of that knowledge can feel crippling but is it there we find the deepest and most important knowledge of how to live? After tragedy struck in 2013, Elizabeth Coplan turned to writing to express her personal grief. She wrote many published essays, and later, after experiencing three losses in less than a …

ALLYSON MCCABE is a journalist whose work is heard on NPR’s newsmagazines, public radio stations and programs, and podcasts. Also appearing in publications such as the New York Times, New York Magazine/Vulture, BBC Culture, Wired, and Bandcamp, McCabe is also the author of WHY SINEAD O’CONNOR MATTERS, UT Press, 2023. SRTN Podcast…

Katherine Yeske Taylor began her career as a rock critic in Atlanta in the 1990s, interviewing Georgia musical royalty such as the Indigo Girls, R.E.M., and the Black Crowes while still a teenager. Since then, she has conducted several hundred interviews and contributes regularly to Billboard, Flood, Spin, and American Songwriter, among others. She…

Shippentower signs with the Oregon Ravens Kola Shippentower is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She has co-founded and is the Director of The Wisáwca Project - Enough Iz Enough, a non-profit organization working together for change, for better communication and involvement. Kola has developed a Safet…

Minnesota musician, Katy Tessman is an optimistic and approachable singer-songwriter with a voice full of the wisdom she’s gained through cancer survival, heartbreak, and motherhood. Her powerful vocals and rhythmic approach to guitar (or mandolin) express a straight-from-the-heart songwriting style that moves passionately over diverse emotional an…

Meghan Lamb is the author of COWARD (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022), Failure to Thrive (Apocalypse Party, 2021), All of Your Most Private Places (Spork Press, 2020), and Silk Flowers (Birds of Lace, 2017). She served as the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, and teaches creative writing through the University of Chicago, Story Studio, a…

Kate Brody lives in Los Angeles, California. Her work has previously appeared in Lit Hub, The Rumpus, Noema, and The Literary Review, among other publications. She holds an MFA from NYU. Rabbit Hole is her debut novel. Released January 2, 2024. SRTN PodcastPar Something (rather than nothing)

GLÜME is an art phenomenon. Whether she was plucked from the astral planes or the near-dream world she occupies a unique space in the heart. Her album MAIN CHARACTER is a subtle and attractive dark-pop trance. HEAVEN makes you bounce as you slightly weep and pray your rosary. Dream of your car floating in the clouds as you listen to THE QUEEN OF L.…

Stephen Pellnat "I have been making comics for as long as I can remember understanding the written language. I received my formal education at the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 2005 to 2009, graduating with a Bachelor’s of the Fine Arts. I have self published comics for years, including Kitty of the Dead, Ma, Heaven and now, Upstate. …

Surrounded by animals, held most dear was the peacock family that allowed her to follow them around, telling stories, inventing all kinds of life. Zora von Pavonine spent her teenage chapter foreshadowing her eventual participation in burlesque with another solo activity crafted beautifully from the mind and body, performing as a decorated cross co…

Salo Panto is: Joe Garwig, Max Doyle, Ed Beach, and David Kudelka Since 2015, Salo Panto has been exploring and bending every corner of the rock genre. Rooted in psychedelia with a stage presence that will blow your hair back, commonly being described as “a sight to behold”. Their technical skill and original hooks play homage to the legends of roc…

Salisha Old Bull (Salish/Crow) is an Indigenous artist based in Montana. She creates a diverse array of art genres but has an affinity to beadwork. "I am motivated by the Salish history and Indigenous place-based knowledge. I have learned that place gives a sense of self and allows a person to grow intellectually and continue to explore their possi…

Welcome back Suziey! Recorded in a Russian cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Suziey Block kills it in the found footage insta-classic Horror in the High Desert Her performance in ‘Entrance’ is a haunting tour-de-force Suziey was last featured on SRTN Episode 194! And you heard it here - Suziey Block is the official SRTN podcast SCREAM QUEEN (statue in …

Pete Dryden is a portrait photographer based in Oregon. When he’s not deconstructing the world of photography he’s plotting ways to enter into it. Enter the world of SomethingPar Something (rather than nothing)

Let's go Hollywood! Something (rather than nothing) Podcast is pleased to present Lori Fetrick who is also known as ICE from American Gladiators! She stars in the Netflix Documentary 'Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators.' Lori does a great podcast called "Chillin' with Ice" so you can go on a Gladiator nostalgia stroll bu…

The daughter of two preacher’s kids, Pieta Brown’s early upbringing in Iowa was in a rural outpost with no furnace, running water, or TV. There, she was exposed to traditional and rural folk music through her father, Greg Brown, the now beloved Midwestern folk singer. Later, while living with her mother in Birmingham, Alabama during her formative y…