Latest Talkingtostrangers Podcast Episodes
In the Midst of Chaos, Finding Calm
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 28, 2022 16:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen confusion reigns, where do you turn? We are strangers to ourselves in these moments, unfocused and unclear. I often turn to the piano, or other musical instruments to get at and get out what's going on inside. More even than writing, composing music allows thoughts and feelings to flow thro...
Fans of Phoebe Bridgers Cite 'Collective Catharsis'
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 21, 2022 11:00 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhat makes us love a musician? The connection with a performer and their music is not unlike other loves probably, a slightly inexplicable alchemy that hits us hard, right off the bat. Seeing a long line of people waiting mid-morning for the best seats for the Phoebe Bridgers benefit concert in...
Moxie the Band: The Read on The Future is Great
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 13, 2022 17:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsMy interaction with the young band Moxie is a direct result of saying 'yes.' "Can a band stay with us a couple of nights?" my son Eli asked a couple weeks back and--based on my love of strangers, especially meeting them in my house--I didn't skip a beat. "Yes," I said. And so it was that I f...
Cool Drummer Chick: Dani Markham
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - October 18, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen I sat down to write about Dani Markham, the first thing I did was look up "cool." Even though it was the first word that came to mind when I thought to describe her, I guess I don't really know why, or what 'cool' really means... Obviously, like all words, 'cool' is subjective. But what ca...
How Naked Can We Be?
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 29, 2021 17:00 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsFor this episode, I sat down naked at the piano. Sometimes, it is only through music and rhythm that I am able to get at what I'm REALLY thinking and feeling, what I want to express. Sometimes, often, words don't work. I so like to express my naked thoughts and ideas. And I like to hear other ...
Jason Naradzay - Relabeling Ex-Cons 'Humans'
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 17, 2021 16:00 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsTrust is an interesting thing. To talk to someone, to engage with them, is to offer them a sort of trust. When I first talked to Jason Naradzay a few years back, it was to interview him for a piece I was writing in support of Musicambia, a nonprofit music education organization he had been invol...
Jason Naradzay - Relabeling Ex-Cons 'Humans'
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - June 17, 2021 16:00 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsTrust is an interesting thing. To talk to someone, to engage with them, is to offer them a sort of trust. When I first talked to Jason Naradzay a few years back, it was to interview him for a piece I was writing in support of Musicambia, a nonprofit music education organization he had been invol...
Jamee & Leonissa: An Artful Miami Connection
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - November 23, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI knew that Jamee Jurecki and Leonissa Morris were to be my pals back when I first encountered them in December of 2017. As we stood there in front of the long mirrors of the communal bathroom at the Posh Hostel in South Beach, brushing our teeth and hair, preparing to hit the town, it was very ...
Ourida, the Courageous Singer
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - October 07, 2020 16:00 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsOn Facebook the other day, someone posed the question, "what career did you dream of having when you were a kid?" I didn't skip a beat. "A singer!" I responded. My sister and I spent countless hours singing into a tape recorder (yes, a tape recorder, with cassette tapes whose plastic film we oft...
Designer, Color Maven, Dog Whisperer Nora Fish
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - October 02, 2020 12:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI first met Nora Fish in a little cafe named Parco, in Park Slope. She had a beautiful German Shepherd named Annika and an adorable pug named Tootsie. As she reminds me during this podcast, she and I "were constantly complimenting each other's boots!" I have always admired Nora's style, from t...
Designer, Color Maven, Dog Whisperer Nora Fish
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - October 02, 2020 12:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI first met Nora Fish in a little cafe named Parco, in Park Slope. She had a beautiful German Shepherd named Annika and an adorable pug named Tootsie. As she reminds me during this podcast, she and I "were constantly complimenting each other's boots!" I have always admired Nora's style, from t...
How Do You Illustrate Meaning? Talk to James Yang
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 30, 2020 18:00 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen James Yang came to my kids' school to talk about his illustrated children's book back in 2013, I was immediately struck by its powerful simplicity. I had just started volunteering at a school where kids didn't get to meet authors like my kids did, and I invited James to join. We reminisced ...
When the Stranger is Your Teenager
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 30, 2020 03:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt was quite the coup to get one of my teenagers to come on to the podcast. After all, they are independent humans with ideas of their own about how to live life, and doing my bidding often takes low priority, as it should be. Over the years, I humiliated them bi-weekly with my Fearless Parentin...
Talking with Plants: Permaculturist Emily Sause
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 29, 2020 02:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen I first met the lovely Emily Sause a few years back, she was 'head of community' for a stunning Manhattan co-working space called The Assemblage. It was part of her job to be welcoming, but she seemed to go above and beyond with her bright-eyed enthusiasm. While I didn't end up joining the ...
The Games We Play with Strangers...Scrabble with Sarah and Roberto
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 27, 2020 14:00 - 10 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI met Roberto at Cafe Martin in Park Slope. He was a mathematician/philosopher working there between gigs. A song had come on and I asked a question about it, and he said how popular it was with the French kids. He said it with a bit of a scoff. He sounded French but...”where are you from?” I as...
Musician/Barista Ben: A Chat at Java Joe
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 26, 2020 01:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen I run out of coffee, I am always glad because it means I can take a walk over to Java Joe. For so many years, I have been going to this little shop on 8th Street, in Park Slope, to buy their deliciously strong Black Magic espresso beans. The shop is adorable, run by a lovely frank Irish lad...
Drumming Up Trust: Finding Rhythm with Strangers
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 24, 2020 17:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIn this episode, I head to the beach to drum, and I talk a bit about how we learn to trust ourselves and others. It's not easy. I often use the metaphor of music, and work with people, including homeless men, to try to get at thoughts about connection, and trust and flexibility through drumming ...
Samir LanGus: Playing the Sintir in Adidas
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 23, 2020 01:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhat I loved about Samir LanGus from the first time I saw him was how comfortably he seemed to mix cultures seamlessly and stylishly. As a Moroccan musician steeped in the classically spiritual Gnawa music of his homeland, he is always sporting American fashions like his favored Adidas jackets o...
Samir LanGus: Playing the Sintir in Adidas
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 23, 2020 01:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhat I loved about Samir LanGus from the first time I saw him was how comfortably he seemed to mix cultures seamlessly and stylishly. As a Moroccan musician steeped in the classically spiritual Gnawa music of his homeland, he is always sporting American fashions like his favored Adidas jackets o...
Discussing Fear & Other Emotions with Facebook 'Friend' Chris Rael
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 22, 2020 02:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI'm "friends" on Facebook with a lot of people I've never met. Maybe we have mutual friends, maybe they read something of mine or listened to my podcast, maybe I heard them play somewhere. Neither Chris Rael nor I remember exactly how we became "friends," though we have a long list of friends in...
Talking to My Therapist (Friend): Mubasher Naseer
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 20, 2020 16:00 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI try not to take advantage of my friendship with veteran psychoanalyst Mubasher Naseer. After all, he is clearly easy to talk to, listens well and has many years' experience helping people sort out relationships and other of life's strains and stresses with his sage advice. Since we met, roughl...
Pianist James Carney Talks Shop
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 19, 2020 12:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsSince meeting jazz pianist James Carney seven or so years ago in a little bar in Park Slope, I have sat many times in various venues to see and hear him tickle the ivories, his fingers flying fast across the keys masterfully to create rhythms that resound in the soul. It was a pleasure to sit wi...
Hilary Robertson: Styling a Beautiful Truth
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 18, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt is fitting that in our chat, in her sumptuous living quarters in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, stylist/creative director Hilary Robertson would quote Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn. She waved her hand this way and that with her usual English dramatic flair, and the crisp striped fabric of ...
Hilary Robertson: Styling a Beautiful Truth
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 18, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt is fitting that in our chat, in her sumptuous living quarters in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, stylist/creative director Hilary Robertson would quote Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn. She waved her hand this way and that with her usual English dramatic flair, and the crisp striped fabric of ...
Saskia Layden Kaya: Teacher of Yoga, and Love
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 17, 2020 04:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsI first met Saskia Layden (now Saskia Layden Kaya) when she was teaching yoga to children at Still Waters in a Storm, a storefront after-school program in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Her smile and laugh lit up the room, and the children gathered around her, all over her, like puppies. I kn...
The Serious Stylings of Jazz Guitarist Andy Bianco
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 16, 2020 03:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt is fitting that I am posting this episode of Talking to Strangers late at night, as that's when I met today's guest, jazz guitarist Andy Bianco. We met at Korzo, a Park Slope restaurant and bar, during one of the late great Konceptions Music Series shows put on by pianist James Carney and his...
Trainer Stanley Mills: Believe, and the Body will Follow
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 14, 2020 20:00 - 5 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsBelieving in yourself can be a hard thing. With Stanley Mills' sure smile and easy laugh, and his gentle prodding, it seems easier. Stanley has been a personal trainer for over 20 years, though his body seems to defy that that's even possible! It is his physique that is physically impressive, bu...
Deep Chat with My Contractor & The Plumbers
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 14, 2020 03:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhen you buy a house and decide to gut renovate it, you are suddenly in contact with a lot of strangers you have to learn to trust. Last November, I hired upstate contractor Andy Kane from Peak Builders, and he began to work on the fixer-upper we'd purchased in Elka Park, NY. It has been 10 mont...
Talking to my Teenage Stranger Self, Working at a 50s Diner
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 13, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt's funny to remember back nearly four decades ago to a time and place, to a 50s diner in Tucson, Arizona in the 80s. That young girl in the too-tight Laverne shirt making shakes behind the ice cream counter was me, Steph Saull. I found this recording I made talking about that time (and digress...
Talking to my Teenage Stranger Self, Working at a 50s Diner
Talking to Strangers (About Music) - September 13, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsIt's funny to remember back nearly four decades ago to a time and place, to a 50s diner in Tucson, Arizona in the 80s. That young girl in the too-tight Laverne shirt making shakes behind the ice cream counter was me, Steph Saull. I found this recording I made talking about that time (and digress...
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