Beginnings
672 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 100 ratingsWe all know the stories of how creative people get into the business of creating for a living, but how did they start using their imaginations in the first place? On the Beginnings podcast, writer and performer Andy Beckerman asks well-known and on-their-way-up comedians, musicians, writers, artists and thinkers about their earliest creative acts, their formative childhood experiences, and how they've developed both creatively and emotionally over the years. Beginnings is part therapy, part philosophy and almost all fascinating (95% according to FDA studies).
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Episodes
Episode 480: Matt Sweeney
April 23, 2021 05:49 - 1 hour - 83.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Matt Sweeney. Originally from northern New Jersey, Matt started playing in bands in high school with his first group Skunk, who released two albums on Twin/Tone records. In the early '90s, he formed Chavez, which went on to release two incredible albums and an EP on Matador. When the band stopped playing together, Matt became a sideman touring with GBV and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, until he formed Zwan with Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan. Although Matt has...
Episode 479: Jana Schmieding
April 16, 2021 05:20 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBOn today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Jana Schmieding. Originally from Oregon, Jana cut her teeth performing sketch, improv and characters at the Magnet Theater in New York City. After moving to Los Angeles in 2016, Jana started the Woman of Size podcast, which she hosted until 2019, and most recently, she writes on and co-stars with Ed Helms in Peacock's newest sitcom Rutherford Falls, which debuts on the streaming network next Friday! This is the website for Beginnings, subscr...
Episode 478: Bob Nastanovich
April 09, 2021 05:09 - 1 hour - 72.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Bob Nastanovich. Born in Rochester, but raised in Richmond, Virginia, Bob spent the early part of his life playing tennis and listening to punk rock. While attending college at the University of Virginia, he met his future bandmates Steve Malkmus and Dave Berman, and the three formed the band Ectoslavia with future Yo La Tengo member James McNew. After college, the three moved to Jersey across from Manhattan, where the first Silver Jews songs were record...
Episode 477: Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu
April 02, 2021 04:00 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Jamie Stewart. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jamie played in a number of bands as a teenager, including a parody band and a Bauhaus cover group. However, he didn't really find his voice until he formed Xiu Xiu in his mid-20s. The release of the band's first album Knife Play on the Kill Rock Stars imprint 5RC cemented their style, but it was with 2004's Fabulous Muscles that the band really started to break through. Since then, Xiu Xiu has recorded and...
Episode 476: Hans-Joachim Roedelius
March 26, 2021 06:25 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius. A pioneer in the field of electronic music, Hans-Joachim Roedelius is considered one of the founders of contemporary popular electronic music. Born in Berlin in 1934, Hans-Joachim starred as a child in a number of UFA films, and during the war was an unwilling member of the German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth, membership being mandatory for all boys from the age of ten. During this time, he also appeared in several propaganda fi...
Episode 475: Tobin Sprout
March 19, 2021 05:19 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician and painter Tobin Sprout. Born in 1955 in Dayton, Ohio, Tobin is an American artist, musician and children’s book creator. As a musician, he was well known as a founding member of the indie rock band Guided by Voices before going out on his own, releasing his first solo album, Carnival Boy, in 1996. As an artist, Tobin is famous for his photo-realism large format paintings, especially the “Superchrome” series, although he does paint in other styles as we...
Episode 474: Sarah Mary Chadwick
March 12, 2021 06:36 - 1 hour - 68.7 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Sarah Mary Chadwick. New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, Sarah Mary Chadwick has been making music since she was a teenager. In the early 2000s, she formed the band Batrider in Wellington with guitarist Julia McFarlane (now of Twerps). After a number of albums and line-up changes that left Sarah as the only original member, she began writing music on her own. Her first album as herself, Eating for Two, was released in 2012 on Bedroom Suc...
Episode 473: Bobby Previte
March 05, 2021 05:26 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBOn today's episode I talk to drummer and composer Bobby Previte. Originally from Niagara Falls, New York, Bobby was one of the seminal figures of the 1980s New York ‘Downtown’ scene that included John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, and Elliott Sharp, and his original compositions have been recorded and released on labels like Sony, Elektra, Tzadik. He's also led a plethora of diverse ensembles from behind his drums and has collaborated with many of the leading lights in and beyond the world of music, ...
Episode 472: Ron D. Moore
February 26, 2021 05:05 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to writer and showrunner Ron D. Moore. Originally from Chowchilla, CA, Ron broke into TV writing when he passed a spec script he had written to one of Gene Roddenberry's assistants during a tour of the Star Trek: The Next Generation set. This eventually led to him being hired on the show, and from there he wrote on Deep Space Nine, Roswell, Carnivale, and many otherTV shows until eventually he had the opportunity to reboot Battlestar Galactica for Syfy. The show was...
Episode 471: Chip Zdarsky
February 19, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 61.5 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician James Yorkston. Originally from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife in Scotland, James has been playing music since he was young, and was an integral early member of the Fence Collective, a collaborative group of musicians that included groups like The Beta Band. James spent years honing his craft was eventually championed by John Peel and John Martyn after he sent them tapes of his music. This led to him being signed by Domino who have subsequently released...
Episode 470: James Yorkston
February 12, 2021 06:06 - 1 hour - 69 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician James Yorkston. Originally from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife in Scotland, James has been playing music since he was young, and was an integral early member of the Fence Collective, a collaborative group of musicians that included groups like The Beta Band. James spent years honing his craft was eventually championed by John Peel and John Martyn after he sent them tapes of his music. This led to him being signed by Domino who have subsequently released...
Episode 469: Frances Quinlan
February 05, 2021 06:13 - 1 hour - 83.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to solo artist and principal songwriter of the band Hop Along, Frances Quinlan. Growing up in Boyertown, PA, Frances recorded their first album as Hop Along during their freshman year of college at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Hop Along soon became a full band and with their third album Painted Shut, the group signed to Saddle Creek. Their fourth album Bark Your Head Off, Dog was met with near-universal acclaim, and just one year ago right before the pande...
Episode 468: Mark Little
January 29, 2021 08:52 - 1 hour - 66 MBOn today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Mark Little. Originally from New Westminster, British Columbia, Mark has been writing and performing comedy for almost two decades. His sketch group Picnicface gained some acclaim during the heyday of internet videos, leading to their own series, which was executive-produced by Mark McKinney. He's also known for the popular shows Mr. D, Gary and His Demons, and one of my favorites Cavendish, a show Mark co-created that is easily one of the funn...
Episode 467: Richard Dawson
January 22, 2021 08:15 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Richard Dawson. Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, avant-garde folk musician Richard Dawson has been performing and releasing albums for over a decade, each one released to great critical acclaim. Starting with 2014's Nothing Important, Domino began releasing his music, and his latest album 2020, which was released in 2019, is absolutely one of the best albums of the last few years. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, fo...
Episode 466: Ian MacKaye
January 15, 2021 06:53 - 1 hour - 61 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Ian MacKaye. Originally from Washington DC, Ian is a guitarist and singer who founded Dischord Records as a teenager in 1980 with Jeff Nelson. Ian and Jeff went on to form the defining DC hardcore band Minor Threat, and in 1986, Ian then formed Fugazi with Joe Lally, Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto. Over 20+ years the band has released seven albums and toured the world extensively covering all fifty United States, Europe, Australia, South America, Japan ...
Episode 465: Mary Timony
January 08, 2021 08:43 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Mary Timony. Originally from Washington DC, Mary began playing in bands in the early '90s, first with Autoclave, and after they broke up, with Helium. Between 1992 and 1997, they released two full-length albums, three EPs and several singles on Matador Records. After Helium split up, she released a number of solo albums, as well as albums with two other bands Wild Flag and Ex Hex, both of which were released on Merge. On January 15th, Matador will be re-...
Episode 464: Si Spurrier
December 18, 2020 08:37 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBOn today's episode I talk to comics writer Si Spurrier. Raised just outside London, Si had a number of different jobs before he began writing for comics. He started with the British small press, after which, he created a number of series for the beloved UK cult comic 2000AD. This success led to work in the American mainstream, which includes runs on Hellblazer, X-Men: Legacy, X-Force, The Dreaming, and the GLAAD award-winning Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. It also led to the opportunity to write a...
Episode 463: Chris Hedges
December 11, 2020 07:35 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to writer Chris Hedges. Chris is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. In addition, he writes a weekly column for the online magazine Scheerpost and is host of the Emmy Award–winning RT America show On Contact. ...
Episode 462: Steve Conrad
December 04, 2020 08:30 - 1 hour - 66.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to TV writer and showrunner Steve Conrad. Originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Steve has been writing screenplays for over two decades, with his notable films including The Weather Man, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Secret Life of Walter MItty and Wonder. In 2015, he started developing one of the first shows on Amazon Prime, Patriot. Though it only lasted two seasons, it is easily one of the best series of the last decade. His latest series Perpetual Grace, LTD debuted o...
Episode 461: Chad Clark of Beauty Pill
November 20, 2020 08:06 - 1 hour - 72.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Chad Clark. Originally from Harlem, Chad moved to DC as a teenager, where he eventually became part of the DC punk scene. He formed his first band Smart Went Crazy while still in high school, eventually releasing two albums on Dischord, the second of which - Con Art - was named by Pitchfork as one of the best albums of the 1990s. After Smart Went Crazy broke up, Chad formed Beauty Pill in 2001. Since then, they've released a number of EPs and albums, and...
Episode 460: David Sirota
November 13, 2020 06:24 - 1 hour - 61 MBOn today's episode I talk to journalist David Sirota. In David's long career, he has done a great deal of work both inside politics and outside, reporting on politics. In the early aughts, he worked as a political strategist and campaign advisor on a number of progressive campaigns, soon after transitioning to journalism, which included everything from a nationally syndicated newspaper column to investigative reporting. His work has garnered him a number of awards including the prestigious I...
Episode 459: Diane Cluck
November 06, 2020 08:48 - 1 hour - 70.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Diane Cluck. Originally from Lancaster, PA, Diane began playing music in grade school. She started to perform publicly in New York in the early 2000s, in the same LES folk scene that included Jeffrey Lewis, Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson, and since then has recorded and released over a dozen albums and compilations. Her latest Common Wealth was just released in June, and it's just wonderful! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podc...
Episode 458: Thurston Moore
October 30, 2020 07:53 - 1 hour - 60.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Thurston Moore. Originally from Coral Gables, Florida, Thurston eventually ended up in New York in the late-70s, just as a vibrant musical scene was exploding, which included post-punk, new wave, no wave, jazz and numerous other styles. After playing in a few different bands, he met Kim Gordon and they eventually formed Sonic Youth in 1981. Over the next three decades, Sonic Youth released 15 amazing albums and became one of the most well-known indie roc...
Episode 457: Silas Howard
October 23, 2020 07:45 - 1 hour - 70.8 MBOn today's episode I talk to writer and director Silas Howard. Silas is an award winning director and writer whose recent work includes executive producing and directing on FX’s Emmy-nominated series Pose. Other TV credits include directing on multiple seasons of Amazon’s Emmy award-winning Transparent, NBC’s This Is Us, HBO’s High Maintenance, Netflix’s Tales of the City, Apple TV's Dickinson, as well as the new Josh Thomas show Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. In addition to all of his directin...
Episode 456: Owen Pallett
October 09, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour - 64.9 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Owen Pallett. Since the age of three, Owen has been playing violin, and as a young teenager, he composed his first piece. This started him on the path to making music for a living. On his own, he's written and recorded a number of great albums both as Final Fantasy and under his own name. Additionally, Owen's written for and toured with a number of great bands including Jim Guthrie, The Hidden Cameras, Beirut and perhaps most notably Arcade Fire for th...
Episode 455: Tim Smith of Midlake and Harp
October 02, 2020 06:24 - 1 hour - 58.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Tim Smith. From 1999 to 2012, Tim was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for the indie rock band Midlake. During his tenure, the band recorded a number of EPs and three highly-regarded albums Bamnan and Slivercork, The Trials of Van Occupanther, and The Courage of Others. In 2012 though, Tim left the band to pursue his own projects, and since then has been recording under the name Harp. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Appl...
Episode 454: Psalm One
September 25, 2020 06:46 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBOn today's episode I talk to rapper Psalm One AKA Cristalle Bowen AKA Hologram Kizzie. Originally from the Southside of Chicago, Cristalle was set to be a chemist before creating a hip hop album for her junior Creative Writing project. That album led to some meetings, and eventually she signed with Minneapolis indie hip hop label Rhymesayers. They released her album The Death of Frequent Flyer in 2006, but after a number of years, Cristalle parted ways with them. She started releasing music ...
Episode 453: Brian Gallivan
September 18, 2020 06:19 - 1 hour - 64.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to TV writer Brian Gallivan. Originally from the Boston area, Brian was a middle school language arts teacher before taking a risk to perform and write for a living, starting first with Boston's Improv Asylum and then, after moving to Chicago, with Second City. Since moving to Los Angeles, Brian has written for a number of shows including Happy Endings, Future Man, Splitting Up Together and created the CBS series The McCarthys. This is the website for Beginnings,...
Episode 452: Shirley Collins
September 11, 2020 05:41 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Shirley Collins MBE (Yes, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire!). Shirley is an English folk singer, song collector and perhaps the greatest living embodiment of the musical threads that connect England with its history. In 1959, she assisted Alan Lomax on his famous folk song collecting trip in the Southern US, and as a significant presence during the Second English Folk Revival in the 1960s, Shirley formed a duo with her sister Doll...
Episode 451: Josh Radnor
September 04, 2020 08:19 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBOn today's episode I talk to actor and musician Josh Radnor. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Josh got his start in New York theater before being cast as the lead in the wildly-successful CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2005. He has written and/or directed two films, Happythankyoumoreplease and Liberal Arts, and starred in two series since How I Met Your Mother ended: Mercy Street and Rise, and is currently part of the ensemble cast of Amazon's new show Hunters. In addition to all of this...
Episode 450: Mac McCaughan
August 28, 2020 07:46 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Mac McCaughan. Mac is a singer, songwriter and the co-founder of Merge Records, one of the most influential labels in indie rock. As a performer, he's the lead singer and guitarist of the genre-defining indie rock group Superchunk, who have released 11 albums since 1989, including the most recent 2018's What a Time to Be Alive. On his own, he's released numerous albums as both Portastatic and under his own name, and in addition to all of this, he also sc...
Episode 449: Sabrina Ellis of Sweet Spirit and A Giant Dog
August 21, 2020 07:37 - 1 hour - 66.9 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Sabrina Ellis. Originally from Houston, Sabrina has been a mainstay of Austin indie rock for years. In 2008, they formed the indie rock band A Giant Dog, and since then, the band has released five albums, including a full-length cover of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. Sabrina also co-founded the bands Heart Bones, with Har Mar Superstar, and Sweet Spirit. Sweet Spirit have released three albums, and their latest, Trinidad, was just released on Merge a few mon...
Episode 448: Andrew Becker
August 17, 2020 06:16 - 1 hour - 63 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Andrew Becker. Andrew began his musical career with the post-Faraquet Dischord Records band Medications, drumming on their first few records before moving to New York to form the band Screens. But it was with his move to Los Angeles that Andrew began recording mostly on his own under the moniker Human Potential. He's released four albums under this name. I'm Glad You're Alive, his most recent, produced by Woods' Jarvis Taveniere, was just released earlie...
Episode 447: Sam Prekop
August 14, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 56.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Sam Prekop. Sam grew up in Chicago and while he went to art school, forming the band Shrimp Boat sent him off in a completely different direction. When the band broke up in the early '90s, he formed The Sea and Cake with Archer Prewitt of The Coctails and Tortoise's John McEntire, and over the last two and a half decades, they've released 11 albums, the most recent being 2018's Any Day. As a solo artist, Sam has released four albums, all on Thrill Jockey...
Episode 446: Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods
August 07, 2020 07:14 - 56 minutes - 52.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Jason Williamson. Originally from Grantham, Lincolnshire, Jason spent several years pursuing music unsuccessfully both with various groups and as a solo singer-songwriter and working as a session musician with a number of bands including Spiritualized. It was when Jason met Andrew Fearn though and they formed Sleaford Mods that things started to take off. Since 2007, they've released ten albums to much acclaim, and their latest All That Glue (a collectio...
Episode 445: David Hill
July 31, 2020 06:14 - 1 hour - 76.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to writer Dave Hill. Dave is originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he was raised in a family of carnies, gamblers, hell-raisers and story-tellers. He spent over a decade traveling the United States and Canada as a union organizer before settling down in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and three children. He was a regular contributor to Grantland and a writer for the UCB Theater in New York City, and his work has been featured on This American Life, in New Yo...
Episode 444: Shamir
July 24, 2020 07:06 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Shamir Bailey. Originally from North Las Vegas, Shamir's music career took off relatively quickly after signing to XL Recordings at the age of 19. The push and pull between what Shamir wanted to do and what the label wanted him to do though eventually ended with them dropping him a few years later. After a psychiatric hospitalization, Shamir began making the music he wanted to make, and his latest album Cataclysm, just released in March, is incredible. ...
Episode 443: Greg Saunier of Deerhoof
July 17, 2020 07:20 - 1 hour - 83.7 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician, producer, composer and founding member of Deerhoof, Greg Saunier. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1991, Greg formed the band Nitre Pit, which a few years later became Deerhoof, and in the last 25 years, the band has released 15 albums on labels like Kill Rock Stars and Joyful Noise. Outside of Deerhoof, Greg has played with many bands, including Nervous Cop with Zach Hill and Joanna Newsom, and Rolling Stone called Greg, Zach ...
Episode 442: Ben Passmore
July 03, 2020 17:51 - 1 hour - 75.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to cartoonist Ben Passmore. Originally from Massachusetts, Ben has been writing and illustrating comics since he was a child. He's created comics like Daygloayhole, the Eisner Award-nominated and Ignatz Award-winning comic collection Your Black Friend, and BTTM FDRS with Ezra Claytan Daniels, which was published by Fantagraphics last year. In addition, he is a regular contributor to the daily satirical publication The Nib.. This is the website for Beginnings, sub...
Episode 441: Dan Levy
June 26, 2020 23:01 - 1 hour - 66.5 MBOn today's episode I talk to writer and stand-up Dan Levy. Originally from Stamford, CT, Dan has been performing comedy since he was nine years old, and while in college, performed stand-up as much as possible. This lead to him winning "Funniest College Comedian in America" at the 2001 Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which jumpstarted his career. He's hosted shows on MTV, has his own Comedy Central Presents special, and has written for numerous shows including Whitney, Mulaney, and The Gold...
Episode 440: Thao Nguyen
June 19, 2020 05:40 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Thao Nguyen. Originally from Falls Church, VA, Thao began playing music as a young teenager, but it was with the release of her first album Like the Linen in 2005 that her actual career began. Her next album We Brave Bee Stings and All, her first with the Get Down Stay Down, was released on Kill Rock Stars to general acclaim, and since then, her albums, whether with the Get Down Stay Down or collaborations with musicians like Mirah, are all fantastic and...
Episode 439: Rob Guillory
May 29, 2020 07:27 - 1 hour - 65.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to Eisner-Award winning comics creator Rob Guillory. Born, raised and currently based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guillory is most known for his eight-year run on Image Comics’ Chew. The book went on to achieve much success, winning two Harvey Awards (including Best New Talent for Guillory), two Eisner Awards, and has been translated into a dozen or so languages. Rob is currently the writer & artist on his hit creator-owned series Farmhand from Image Comics. This is...
Episode 438: Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs
May 22, 2020 08:24 - 1 hour - 64.1 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Jimmy Flemion. Jimmy and his brother Dennis began playing music together in the late '70s in a number of different groups, eventually forming the band The Frogs in 1980. Since then, the band has vacillated between cult status and mainstream success, championed by such musicians as Billy Corgan, Kurt Cobain, Beck and Eddie Vedder, and releasing albums on labels like Matador and Scratchie. Though Dennis passed away in 2012, Jimmy continues to write and rec...
Episode 437: Michael R. Jackson
May 14, 2020 22:14 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to playwright and composer Michael R. Jackson. Originally from Detroit, Michael holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musicals White Girl In Danger and A Strange Loop, which received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in 2019. A Strange Loop became an off-Broadway hit garnering Michael a number of nominations including the Lucille Lortel ...
Episode 436: Dennis Callaci
May 07, 2020 17:35 - 1 hour - 63.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Dennis Callaci. Raised in Upland, California, Dennis has bounced around Southern California his entire life. He runs the legendary indie record label Shrimper, noted for bringing forth the earliest recordings from Amps For Christ, Woods, Franklin Bruno, Lou Barlow's Sentridoh, The Mountain Goats, Dump, and a few hundred other releases over the course of the last thirty years. He is also in the band Refrigerator who have released twelve records over tho...
Episode 435: Anna Burch
April 30, 2020 17:48 - 1 hour - 58.4 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Anna Burch. Originally from St. Joseph, Michigan, Anna began touring with her band Frontier Ruckus at the age of 18, and eventually went on to play in the Ann Arbor-based Failed Flowers. But it wasn't until she was almost 30 that she started to write and record her own music. Her first album as herself, Quit the Curse, was released by Polyvinyl in 2018, and her latest If You’re Dreaming, was just released at the beginning of April. This is the website...
Episode 434: Jeff Parker
April 23, 2020 08:29 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to musician Jeff Parker. Originally from Hampton, Virginia, Jeff has been playing music since he was 8-years-old. Eventually ending up in Chicago, he became a member of the experimental post-rock group Tortoise in 1996 and also co-founded Isotope 217 and The Chicago Underground Trio. He's worked with everyone from Meshell Ndegeocello to Smog, and has released six solo albums. His latest, Suite for Max Brown, was released earlier this year on the Nonesuch imprint Int...
Episode 433: NIIKA
April 16, 2020 06:40 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBOn today's episode I talk to Nika Nemirovsky AKA NIIKA. Born in Uzbekistan in the wake of the USSR's dissolution, Nika and her family immigrated to Chicago when she was very young. Her music reflects being at the nexus of a number of different cultures, both on her 2017 EP Honest Dancing and her debut album Close But Not Too Close will be out May 15th. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.
Episode 432: Larry Hankin
March 19, 2020 08:28 - 1 hour - 72.3 MBOn today's episode I talk to comedian and actor Larry Hankin. Originally from Long Island, Larry got his start doing stand-up in Greenwich Village as a contemporary of Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen. After moving to Chicago and joining Second City, he and a number of other improvisers formed The Committee in San Francisco. Larry is one of the most well-known character actors in Hollywood, and trying to list his numerous credits is nigh impossible, but a few of the more well-known ones are E...
Episode 431: Sarah Bolger
February 20, 2020 09:38 - 1 hour - 60.2 MBOn today's episode I talk to actress Sarah Bolger. Originally from Dublin, Sarah started acting at a young age, and since then has been in many films and television shows. Early in her career, she starred in Jim Sheridan's Academy Award nominated film In America and she received a number of critics association nominations as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role. Other films include The Spiderwick Chronicles, End of Sentence and the upcoming A Good Woman Is Hard to Find...