On today's episode, I talk to musician and actor Katelyn Tarver. After getting her start performing in prestigious talent competitions as a child in Glennville, Georgia, Katelyn moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She promptly made her TV debut with a recurring role on Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush, then began independently releasing her music while penning songs for other artists. In 2014 she experienced a major breakthrough when “Crazy Stupid Love” (a song she’d co-written for British pop star Cheryl) shot to #1 on the UK Singles Chart. Since then, Katelyn's released a number of singles and EPs, recurred on shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Ballers, and her latest album Subject to Change will be released very soon, in early November! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Buzz Osborne. Originally from Morton, WA, Buzz founded the rock band Melvins in the early '80s, and in 1986, C/Z Records released their first EP Six Songs. Since then, they've released over 40 more albums, EPs and compilations on record labels like Alternative Tentacles, Sub Pop and Ipecac Recordings, and while never achieving mainstream success - if that's even something they sought - the band is both sustainable and hugely influential, influencing everyone from Nirvana and Soundgarden to Helmet, Tool, Mastodon and many others. Their latest album, Five Legged Dog, a 36-song acoustic reimagining of their discography, is out now! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to cartoonist Keith "Keef" Knight. Starting with his K Chronicles in the early '90s, Keith has been a professional cartoonist for almost three decades. In that time, he's started two other series - (th)ink and the Knight Life - and written almost 20 books of cartoons. Keith has been syndicated everywhere, won awards like the Harvey Award and was named one of 2015's History Makers by the NAACP. In addition to all of this, he co-created the TV show Woke, which is partially based on his life, and whose second season debuts on Hulu later this year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician David Thomas. Raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, David is one of the founders of the short-lived but influential punk band Rocket from the Tombs, who split up after about a year, with some members going off to form the Dead Boys, while David founded Pere Ubu. While David would record on and off with the self-described avant-garage Pere Ubu over the next 40 years, he has also recorded with a number of different collaborators under a number of different names, such as David Thomas & the Pedestrians, David Thomas & the Wooden Birds and David Thomas & Two Pale Boys. Earlier in September, Fire Records reissued two classic Pere Ubu albums Pennsylvania and St Arkansas! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Indigo De Souza. Originally from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and later based in Asheville, Indigo recorded her first EP, Boys, in a friend's garage in 2016. Following another short-form release, she delivered her debut album, I Love My Mom, in 2018. She then signed with Saddle Creek, which reissued the debut just weeks before releasing the tempestuous Any Shape You Take at the end of August. And it's one of my favorite things released this year! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's special 500th episode, I talk to BAFTA Award-winning comedy writer Arthur Mathews. Originally from Navan, Co Meath, Ireland, Arthur was originally on the path to become a graphic designer until his writing partner suggested they go to London to try their hand at professional comedy writing. Since that day, Arthur has co-created the seminal comedy Father Ted, wrote on some of the best UK comedies of the early 2000s, including Jam, Brass Eye and Black Books, co-created the Simon Pegg-starring sketch show Big Train, and later, with Matt Berry, created Toast of London. And just creating any one of those would have put him in a rarefied pantheon, let alone Father Ted, Big Train AND Toast of London! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to musician/poet/actor McKenzie Chinn. Originally from Fort Washington, McKenzie is a true triple threat. As an actor, she has appeared on Fox's Empire and The Big Leap, is a 2021 fellow in the  Sundance Directors Lab, and wrote, produced and acted in the film Olympia, which made its debut at the 2018 LA Film Festival. As a poet, her work has appeared in numerous publications and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and as a musician, she is part of the Growing Concerns Poetry Collective, whose second album BIG DARK BRIGHT FUTURES was released last fall. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer Bill Oakley. Originally from Union Bridge, Maryland, Bill attended Harvard where he spent most of his time writing for the Harvard Lampoon. After graduating, Bill took on a number of different jobs until he and his longtime friend and writing partner Josh Weinstein were eventually hired to work on The Simpsons. Together, the two wrote some of the most classic episodes of the show including "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" and "22 Short Films About Springfield", and were subsequently promoted to executive producer and showrunner during the seventh and eighth seasons. Since then, Bill co-created Mission Hill, wrote for Futurama, Portlandia and Disenchanted, and currently is the showrunner for the delightful HBO Max series Close Enough! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter.