This is the worldwide live debut reading of an original play by our regular guest Nathan Corliss! Yes something great coming out of quarantine. He assembled an amazing cast and one of them couldn't make it so I got to read along too. 

CAST:
Sarah-Vicki Morgan
Carol-Shelly Smith
James-Will Jones III
April-Abby Rudnicki
Bobby-Robby Griswold

It's so good. It's funny.  It's current. It's sad. It's real. Great dialogue. There is a even a weed smoking scene. There are gardening references. There is a huge reveal at the end that I wish I had remembered before I played Carol. I would have made her more convicted and certain......but it was still such an honor to be in this cast who created so much emotion and chemistry even over Zoom. 
We dedicate this show to Tori Tomalia, a leader in our improv community who died from cancer a few days before this reading. 
She brought theater to kids and grownups in this area for the last many years and we are so grateful to have known her. She opened Pointless Brewery and Improv Theater In Ann Arbor with her husband Jason and built a wonderful community. We are all hurting and miss her. Nathan worked there. It felt so good to be together today creating theater and remembering why it is important.

Episode 58-Three Sinners by Nathan Corliss

Well this was just wonderful. In this episode I sit down with my lovely longtime friend Erin Zindle to talk about songwriting. Erin is the multi instrumentalist frontwoman of the band the Ragbirds. I have loved her music for so long because it speaks right to me, makes me want to dance, makes me want to pray, sometimes to cry. Erin also teaches private songwriting lessons and taught for years at Interlochen. The songs we reference in the episode include Good, Believe It, Enemy, Medicine, Brave New Beat, Adoration, Book of Matches, New Story, and Curious. There are so many more that I love! We talked so long I made it two episodes. I just joined https://www.patreon.com/theragbirds and you should too! Also Erin Zindle and the Ragbirds are back on tour after tooooo long and are fired up so make sure to catch them soon!

Episode 75-The lyrics of Ebird-Part 1

I am so grateful to Dr. Dan Piccolo(dear old friend and percussionist) for recommending this book and to Ross Huff(dear old friend and trumpet player) for joining us on the read. 
Two big ideas stuck with me from this book.  One is that creating music is dependent on the tension between understanding the basics of a deep tradition AND constantly improvising to create something new. 
Two is the intimacy in Dyer's stories about many of America's most lauded musicians. We see Thelonius Monk, Lester Young, Charles Mingus, Ben Webster, and more not as icons but in their completely messy painful humanity, often suffering at the hands of the country that celebrates their music, dealing with real mental health issues and loss.
Dan and Ross were the perfect guests and you should take my advice and go check out their music.
www.danpiccolo.com
www.rosshuff.com

Episode 95-But Beautiful (A Book About Jazz) by Geoff Dyer

September is here and that means that we are excited about the 3rd annual Entheofest taking place on the diag at the University of Michigan on Sunday, September 17th at 1:11 pm. 
Entheofest is a free speech event celebrating sacred plants and fungi and facilitates creating a base of equity in this growing industry. There will be live music, speakers, and community.
We will once again have a table there and are so excited to see you all again. You can check out this amazing collection of books curated by the Entheofest team and enter a drawing to win them. I KNOW! SO EXCITING. They are in my house right now and it's just delicious.
Thanks to Sara for being the absolute best person to preview them with me!

Entheofest Promo!

Shelly gathered with a fantastic fun group of theater vets to discuss and read scenes from Brian Cox's new childrens' play 'Stone Dragon Stew'. Thank you Brian for sharing this gem with us and thanks to Laurie Atwood, Robert Papineau, Tommy Cook, and Dinah Tutein for jumping in. 

Villagers of Nearhere are fed up with living under siege of the Stone Dragon, who keeps dropping rocks from the sky!  Residents are forced to stay inside, wear a helmet, or suffer the consequences!  Smart villager Bookseller offers up a plan:  find a brave knight to defeat the Stone Dragon and restore peace to Nearhere.  The only problem is nobody in the village knows any knights, so four brave villagers set out to find knights willing to fight the ferocious dragon.  After the knights prove to be no help and hope seems lost, a renowned chef shows up and shares the perfect recipe for successfully dealing with the Stone Dragon.

Episode 101-Stone Dragon Stew by Brian Cox

Shelly and Kris are joined by Jamie Lowell and Shannon Halley to discuss Graham Hancock's 'Fingerprints of the Gods', mind blowing research rich dive that questions what we THINK we know about Ancient Civilizations and ourselves.

Episode 20-Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Hanging with friends, smoking weed, and talking about books is just the best idea ever!

Episode 95-But Beautiful (A Book About Jazz) by Geoff Dyer

Reads and Weeds

Related tracks