Calgary Culture: The Perspectives YYC Podcast

A short summit with Alkarim Devani, Richard De Los Reyes, Brett McDermott, and Pete Emes. 4 successful Calgarian Entrepreneurs and I reflect on the city, succeeding working with our dreams, and where Calgary might be heading next. A great conversation which inspired me to reflect on my own work with Perspectives YYC and the push for change, growth, and creativity! We talk about origin stories, politics, business thinking, and even the merits of a $15 smoothie!
Thanks again to Kyle Marshall of Media Lab YYC, Thomas Thomas Band (new EP on Spotify, What!?!?!) and special thanks to ATB Entrepreneurial Centre for allowing us use of their conference room for this recording!

This past March I had the pleasure of sitting down with Filmmaker and Production Company Owner Anna Cooley. A born Calgarian creator, Anna shared with me her experience growing into an artist, establishing herself in the industry, and her experiences experimenting with new feature concepts.
Thanks always to Thomas Thomas who just released their debut EP on Spotify. And of course my Partner-In-Digital-Crime (podcast production, not actual felonies) Kyle Marshall and Media Lab YYC for the continued partnership and support.

In January I had the honour of sitting down with Ashley Miles. At the time of record she considered herself Non-Binary and Gender Fluid.  We met through a referral by our mutual friend, poet, mother, and all around awesome person Amanda Hiebert. Ashley created a poem for our Issue 3 and we discuss this work, poetry at large, her experience of the gender issue, politics, heck... we discuss it all. I want to thank her for working with us to keep building this Perspectives movement in the city.
In the spirit of non-binary, Thomas Thomas's amazing track Gracious Host appears in its entirety at the end. And thank you, always, to my incredible producer Kyle Marshall and Media Lab YYC. 

I had the pleasure of sitting down with front woman, lead singer, and founder of Future Womb - a Psychedelic Darkwave Popera baby of the Canadian prairies - their words, not mine! Mikaela is vibrant, creative, and open to discussing her roots, experiences, and music with us. They have a single dropping today, March 15! And their album release will be April 19! Calgarian born and raised, we discuss everything from her start on a karaoke machine, experiences as a cis-female in the male-band-music scene, to musical theatre and, believe it or not, even her band's creation and creative process! It's a jam packed hour, hope you like it!
Thanks, as always, to Media Lab YYC for the recording, studio, mentorship, and general awesomeness. And to fellow Calgary Band Thomas Thomas for their track Gracious Host! 

I had the great pleasure of sitting down with renown Calgary artist Dean Stanton! We chat about... well... pretty much everything! Art, politics (?), Calgary, creativity, you name it... we probably cover it somehow. At least... felt that way. Haha. You can see Dean's art all over the city but it's on our podcast that we get down to his story! Amazing how he's been able to be a self-employed artist in Calgary since the 90s! Great insight and mentorship.
Thank as always to Thomas Thomas for their amazing track Gracious Host. And congrats on the recent announcement of their debut EP. We'll do our best to have some exclusive links here!
And of course to Media Lab YYC - without whom none of this would be possible!

I met Ingrid Vargas last year while building a photography show. She brought prints of floral film photographs. They were beautiful. But I soon learned her true form of artistry was the creation of movies! Amazing! She has given me the honour of chatting on record about art, Calgary, being a woman, among other things! Thank you to Ingrid, and of course to MediaLabYYC for the production. Thank you to Thomas Thomas for the killer intro/outro track. With all the big changes in my life to date, I'm super grateful to know so many amazing creatives in this city!

A few years ago I met Thana Boonlert street-shooting on Stephen Ave. We chatted about our craft and over the course of an insta-friendship and then some coffee dates, I learned he was an engineer in training and, go figure, an agent of social change. As a member of the Green Party of Alberta and now officially representing Calgary for the soon to be announced political campaign, Thana Boonlert is running on his belief in science and rationality. While we here at Perspectives YYC must steer clear of any specific political lean, one question arose in the recording of this session at Thana's launch party: Can Reason Win Over Rhetoric in Modern Politics? The only contribution we can make is to offer an avenue for said discussion to take place.
Thanks to Thana and the Green Party of Alberta for allowing us access to this great event. And as always to MediaLabYYC for production and Thomas Thomas Band for this hot intro/outro track!

I met an incredible man, Eric Wicherts, at Phil&Sebastian Coffee Shop. 90+ year old Dutch-Canadian, husband to painter And Wicherts, war vetran, geo-physicist, owner of a luxury passenger train. And super nice. He gave me a run down of meeting his wife to having 3 kids each on a different CONTINENT. And of course we talk about how amazing Calgary is! (Especially compared to Toronto, hehehe) And when he's done, he walks out of the studio - mid session. Proper thug. Thank you Eric. Thank you to MediaLabYYC for audio production and hosting. Thank you Thomas Thomas Band for amazing tunes. And thanks to coffee shops in general, that a foolish man like me could befriend an incredible achiever like Eric!

We had the distinct honour of sitting down with George Webber, esteemed, famous, and incredibly fun. A casual conversation that stretches across history, process, philosophy, and general awesomeness.
Incredible new track by band Thomas Thomas. And as always, great thanks to Kyle Marshall at Media Lab YYC for production.
Our hope is to further hone our content to show just how amazing Calgary is. Incredible creatives that, regardless of notoriety, want to keep encouraging the art scene to grow and evolve!

Here is a pre-post season quickie. Kyle from MediaLabYYC did me the great honour of attending our Issue 2 Launch and we recorded this podcast. As a fare-thee-well to my music collaborators I've included full track cuts of the songs from Handmade and Mellori.
This event occurred at the incredible seafood restaurant Rodney's Oyster House.
It features quick chats with Issue 2 collaborators: Arlene Hufalar, Graham Boyd, and Geordan Spicer.