Episode 406: Michael Collins of Drugdealer

On today's episode, I talk to seven-times New York Times bestselling author and award-winning comic book writer Dan Abnett. Originally from Maidstone, Dan began working in the editorial department of Marvel UK before starting to write his own comics. Dan's CV is too extensive to cover here, but a highlights reel includes his incredible work for 2000 AD, which includes comics such as Sinister Dexter and Brink, his revamp of the Guardians of the Galaxy with writing partner Andy Lanning, which became the basis for the MCU films, his work with Lanning on The Authority, Warhammer 40K, and my personal favorite, his Wild's End books, which are some of the best comics I've read in forever!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician and founder of TeenBeat Records Mark Robinson. Originally from New Jersey, Mark moved to Washington DC as a child, and in high school formed the indie rock group Unrest. From 1985 to about 1994, the band released seven albums, many on Robinson's own TeenBeat Records, as well as Caroline and 4AD. Since then, Mark has played in a number of groups including  Air Miami, Flin Flon, Grenadine, Cotton Candy and many others. As previously mentioned, Mark is also the founder of the very influential indie rock label TeenBeat which has released albums from bands like Bratmobile, Versus, Barbara Manning, The Rondelles, Velocity Girl, True Love Always, Gastr Del Sol and so many other incredible musicians!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician Madeline Link. Originally from Calgary, Madeline Link initially started PACKS as a solo project, but it eventually coalesced into its current four-piece configuration. In 2020, they were signed to Fire Talk Records, and the label has since released all four of their albums and EPs. This includes 2021's Take the Cake, 2023's Crispy Crunchy Nothing and their latest, Melt the Honey, which came out towards the end of January and is just wonderful!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician Andrew Kenny. Originally from Fort Worth, Kenny formed The American Analog Set in 1995 and over the next decade, released six albums on labels like Emperor Jones, Tiger Style and Arts & Crafts, after which the band went on hiatus. In 2009, Kenny released the first of two albums as The Wooden Birds, but since 2011's Two Matchsticks, he has been rather quiet. That is, until this last year. In 2023, The American Analog Set released their first album in almost two decades For Forever, and most recently, Numero Group released New Drifters, a comprehensive box set of the band's first three albums, and folks, it is worth your time!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to writer and director Juel Taylor. Originally from Tuskegee, Alabama, Juel at first wanted to design video games, but in college he shifted his focus to filmmaking. He did different jobs in sound while he was waiting to break through, and in 2018, he co-wrote Creed II. Directing gigs on Boomerang and Twenties followed, as well as co-writing Space Jam: A New Legacy in 2021. This all culminated in Juel's first project as co-writer and director They Cloned Tyrone, which was released last year on Netflix and was one of the best films of 2023!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician Avery Hellman AKA ISMAY. Originally from the Bay Area, Avery grew up surrounded by music - their grandfather founded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival - but didn't think they would pursue making music professionally until a crisis propelled them in that direction. Their first album Songs of Sonoma Mountain was released in 2020, and their latest album Desert Pavement was just released last week, and it's great!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's 14th Anniversary episode, I talk to MacArthur Genius Grant-winning author Jonathan Lethem. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Jonathan at first thought he was going to be a visual artist until some existential realizations about class and art in college in the early 1980s left him disillusioned. He dropped out, hitchhiked to California and started writing while he worked as a clerk in used bookstores. In 1994, Harcourt Brace published his first novel Gun, with Occasional Music, and since then he's written a dozen more - just a sampling: Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, Chronic City, The Feral Detective - as well as a number of short story collections, and this is just scratching the surface. Currently Jonathan is the Roy Edward Disney Professor of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Pomona College, and his most recent book, Brooklyn Crime Novel, was published last October by HarperCollins, and like everything else Jonathan writes, it is great!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to composer and artist Arnold Dreyblatt. Originally from New York City, Arnold is part of the second generation of New York minimal composers, having studied with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, and Alvin Lucier. His first album Nodal Excitation was released in 1982, and since then, he's recorded almost a dozen more, including 1995's Animal Magnetism, which was released on Tzadik. Based in Berlin since 1984, Arnold was Professor of Media Art at the Muthesius Academy of Art and Design in Kiel, Germany for almost a decade and a half and is currently deputy director of the visual arts section at the German Academy of Art. His most recent album Resolve was released last August on Drag City, and it is fantastic!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician Evan Dando. Attending the CommonWealth School in Boston in the early 1980s, Evan met Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz, and in 1986, they formed The Lemonheads. The band released three great albums on Taang!, but it wasn't until after signing to Atlantic and releasing It's a Shame About Ray in 1992 that the band broke through. While there have been numerous ups and downs, personnel changes, a six-year hiatus, during which Evan released a wonderful album under his own name, The Lemonheads have endured through the decades. They've recorded a number of new singles, and starting in early February, Evan will be touring across the US!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

On today's episode, I talk to musician Tanya Donelly. Originally from Newport, Rhode Island, Tanya founded not just one, but three, incredible 20th century bands. As a teenager in the 1980s, she formed Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh and performed with them through 1991. During this same time, she founded The Breeders with Kim Deal and co-wrote the first album Pod. Tanya left both groups though to form Belly, where she was the principal songwriter and frontperson. Their first album Star was a huge hit, although the group then broke up after their second album, which started Tanya's solo career. Since then, she's released numerous albums and EPs on 4AD, performed again with Throwing Muses & Belly, and contributed to more albums than I can possibly list here in a short bio!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!