Muhf***as I Know: James Frazier

Yes, folks -- I'm back! For one time only, I've decided to dip back over to my dormant podcast and drop this ep, which is really a homemade audio commentary I made for one of the most astoundingly gawdawful movies I saw last year. So, if you want to hear me drunkenly, profanely ramble during a whole movie for an hour and 40 minutes, oh boy, are you in luck!

The following Crizzlecast is one of two I did with Dylan Otto Krider, a journalist/writer and one of my former editors at the Houston Press. As some of you know, I've taken some time off from doing this podcast to deal with other matters. So, I've had this one on the shelf for quite some time. Just recently, I heard that Krider suffered a stroke in the left side of his brain, due to a spontaneous carotid artery dissection that resulted in a blood clot.  He recently had surgery, which was successful, but he is suffering from right side weakness/numbness and is having difficulties speaking and understanding things. This episode was done sometime last summer. We talked about many things. But, more importantly, we talked about the experiences we had working together. He was a great editor and someone I still continue to call my friend. I wish him good luck on his recovery.

We'll talk about why I haven't posted here in a few months at another time. It's time for me to post a Crizzlecast I've actually held on to because the guest asked me to do so. As you'll listen to this ep, you'll understand why. I talk to filmmaker/actress Marya Murphy, who certainly dispensed a lot more than I expected her to. She first starts off talking about being a victim of stalking. (Wasn't expecting that.) Then, she speaks on the pitfalls of divorce, as she was severing ties with her filmmaker husband at the time. Then, we finally talk about the films she's worked on and what she wants to accomplish as a filmmaker. Yeah, this was certainly a surprising, revealing hour that I'm glad to finally put out there. She gave me the go-ahead yesterday, so here it is.

On this lively edition of the Crizzlecast, I Skype over to LA to talk to multi-talented vocalist Karina Nistal. Nistal and I go way back, when I used to see her dance at a monthly club night back in Houston. We talk about those early days, along with her transition into singing, her years working with her jeweler father as a teenager (and the horrific event that made her leave the business) and how she's handling living in Los Angeles. She also compliments me like crazy during the episode, which I don't know how to handle. And, remember, if you enjoy the episode -- DONATE TO THE PODCAST, DAMMIT!

Yes, after a month of quiet slumber, the Crizzlecast returns! Today's episode has me talking with New York-based filmmaker Jesse Epstein. After several false starts, not to mention her taking care of her newborn baby, we get into talking about her short films, what got her filmmaking, how she's handling life as a mother and, for some reason, my man-titties.  If you would like to hear me talk about my man-titties more, please donate to the podcast so I can keep this going.

I head back over to Brooklyn -- hipster country -- to holla at another Crizzlecast guest. Today, I'll be speaking with Lance Scott Walker, the former Houstonian who wrote for a lot of Houston-based publications before heading over to the East Coast to make it as a writer and musician. We talk about his great moments in Houston freelancing, his musical side project the White Papers and the two books he'll be releasing on Houston hip-hop. Yes, sir -- he's an accomplished author, musician AND he's married to the chick from Elysian Fields. Thank God he lives in Brooklyn -- I have this incredible urge to hit him with a brick just for having it so good! Ah well.

Today, I head back to Houston (via Skype) and talk to one of my former music-journalism colleagues over there, Kwame Anderson. A former rapper-turned-schoolteacher, we discuss how he still dabbles in music writing for Free Press Houston, which of course slides into what he's hating the most about music today. We also discuss his days dropping rhymes in groups Seeds of Soul and Freedom Sold. He also reminds me that he and I went to college together. (Didn't have the heart to tell him that I forgot all about that.) Kwame also comes up with the term "snowconing them hoes." If that doesn't end up in a rap song, then I have not done my job as a podcaster.

For today's Crizzlecast, I fiberoptically venture out to Brooklyn, the hipster capital of the world, to talk to guest Nathan Gelgud. A film critic I share column space with over at INDY Week, the man is also quite the illustrative artist. I talk to him about the various doodles he has done for others as well as on his own website. Of course, we also chop it up a bit about film and film criticism, which we both agree has made us quite tired and jaded even though we're in our thirties.  It's another one of those beautiful episodes where I find a kindred spirit in the most unexpected of places. Enjoy.

For today's Crizzlecast, I take it all the way up to Sundance country to talk to today's guest. I speak with Scott Renshaw, the head film critic over at the Salt Lake City Weekly. We talk about the Sundance Film Festival as well as his early days reviewing films in high school, what's it like reviewing movies in Utah, his hilarious Twitter page and why it's such a pain in the ass to get a press screening for Star Trek Into Darkness. Talking with film critics is always hilarious. You'll see why when you take a listen to this.

It's another Crizzlecast where I talk to an old high-school classmate. This time around, it's Jennifer Kabay Barnett, a lady who often busted my chops back in the day. We delve into that rather uncomfortably, as well as her new career as a published author, her rampant love of Paul McCartney and anything British and why she feels her Texas home is haunted. By the way, she also break my balls a bit about not reading her book. So, if you want to hear that in all its awkward glory, take a listen.