Five Questions with Steve Molter

Abigail Correu is a singer, songwriter, creator, explorer, and mother who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. I found her on Instagram around 2014/2015 and really appreciated her honest and authentic energy that she shared via the medium. I had wanted to connect with her for Five Questions after following her for a couple of years and finally had the chance when I visited Nashville this past summer.

Abigail invited me to her house and we immediately started in on the unfiltered conversation that I love. We ended up talking for about an hour officially, then continued off the record for another hour. It felt like it could last for days if it wasn’t for the outside world calling on us to rejoin its ranks. We chatted about her recent leap into motherhood, the trials of heartbreak, and the shining good we both see in people. And she totally answered Five Questions. Meet Abigail.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Abigail Correu - Luna (Demo)
Abigail Correu - Shadows (Demo)
Adam Kay - In a Moment. In this Moment.
The Ansion - The Problem with Destiny

This episode was edited by Fina Charleson.

Kevin Avery is a comedian, actor, and writer for TV. He’s written for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Jim Jeffries Show, The New Negroes, VH1’s Best Week Ever, and served as head writer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Also with Kamau, he hosts Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period. The title speaks for itself. In essence, Kevin’s pretty damned funny. He also recommends really good lunch spots.

Kevin has lived and worked in San Francisco and New York, but it was in LA where we connected to chat about artistic collaboration, helplessness in love, the spiders that seem have taken residence in his apartment, and his process of writing. And before you ask: Yep, he answered Five Questions. Meet Kevin.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Her Eyes on the Horizon - Do Make Say Think
Slippin - Quadron
Beware of Safety - Husbands and Hangmen
Alex Gopher - Ralph and Kathy

This episode was edited by Fina Charleson.

Hammock intertwines musical sub-genres of modern classical, ambient, post-rock, and shoegaze with ease, while consistently walking the fine emotional line between hope and despair. They truly are masters of emotion. Hammock is also regarded in the highest company of similarly influential artists, and their music has been featured in film (Columbus soundtrack), video games (Far Cry 5 soundtrack), radio (BBC), and TV (Ricky Gervais’ Afterlife).

Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, the two members of Hammock, also happen to be lovely human beings. They graciously invited me to Marc’s home studio where we dove deep into the challenges of life in many different facets, as we normally do here at Five Questions. And today, during our chat, Marc opened up about something that he had never shared publicly before: His 5-year struggle with alcohol addiction which he called “a journey into authenticity.”

I am honored that Marc chose to share his story with me and the listeners of Five Questions. His fortitude reaffirmed in me that this project is a safe space for the vulnerability of humans like Marc, like Andrew and me, like all of us.

Marc, Andrew, and I also spoke about a ton of other deep and contemplative thoughts and feelings, and of course, they answered Five Questions. Meet Hammock.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Hammock - I Could Hear the Water at the Edge of All Things
::thinkstandard:: - If You Are the One to Take Me Home
Beware of Safety - Icarus
Hammock - For My Sister

This episode was edited by Fina Charleson.

Elizabeth Traynor is a writer, speaker, and an avid runner based in Boston. At 24 she lost one of her closest friends to cancer, and shortly after broke her hip during a marathon—which caused her to spiral into a deep depression. Despite struggling heavily during that period, she found an outlet through writing about her grief, trauma, and recovery. Her writing has been featured in SELF Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Fitness magazine, and Women’s Running, to name a few.

Elizabeth and I chatted about the fear of abandonment, coping with loss in the face of grief, feeling hopeful about family, and many other intriguing topics. Oh, and of course she answered Five Questions. Meet Elizabeth.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Aros E-V - Beauty (Sketch 5)
We Say Yes - Spirit Knife
Hilary Woods - Inhaler
::thinkstandard:: - ID

This episode was edited by Fina Charleson.

Jordan Rich is a seasoned veteran of the broadcasting industry and a staple of Boston’s airwaves having worked in the field for nearly forty years. His silky smooth voice that was destined for radio complements his interest in people and their lives. He happens to be a good friend of my dad’s too. The two of them worked in radio together in Boston for many years.

Since his retirement (if you can call it that with all the work he does), he has continued sharing peoples’ stories on his podcast On Mic with Jordan Rich. A show on which I was a guest.

I connected with Jordan at his studio in Massachusetts where we conducted back-to-back interviews of each other for our podcasts. During the recording of Five Questions, Jordan opened up about delivering the eulogy at his first wife’s funeral, how comfort and excitement are key components of true love, and how he finds joy in life by affecting people in a positive way. And you got it, he answered Five Questions. Meet Jordan.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
A Lily - Leanna is a Quiet Meow
Miles Gurtu - Omen
Tristeza - Shifty Drifty
Brambles - In the Androgynous Dark

Christina Agapakis is a biologist, writer, artist, and a mother of two. She collaborates with engineers, designers, artists, and social scientists to explore unexpected connections between microbiology, technology, art, and popular culture.

Christina invited me over to her apartment where we talked about world travel, bias in biochemistry, how framing failure can reveal the process of learning, the difference between STEM and STEAM (and how STEAM is better), and the root of all consciousness…ya know, light-hearted topics. Oh, and of course she answered Five Questions. Meet Christina.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Bersarin Quartett - Oktober
Rhandir - Prince Tyrinian's Naming Day
Adam Kay - Raucous Whispers and a Word of Reason
The World on Higher Downs - euclid
Worrytrain - For Aushwitz

Gitamba Saila-Ngita is a product designer who has worked with Google, Apple, Nike, American Express, among other influential entities. He's also a tech-lover, a 90s film fan, and a genuinely gracious and kind-hearted man. 

Gitamba invited me over to his place just outside of Boston where we talked at length about how surviving cancer (osteosarcoma) as a teenager was easy but getting back into the real world was hard, his adoration of his parents, how we're limited by our human dimensions, his fear of the end of the world, and how he's learning to dig into his vulnerability as a black man in America. And before you ask: Yup, he answered Five Questions.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Russian Cirlces - Asa
Beware of Safety - Husbands and Hangmen
Alex Gopher - Ralph and Kathy
Hans Zimmer - Waiting for a Train (Inception OST)

Sophia Moon is an abstract painter, a musician, a loving and conscious mother, and the newest host of CreativeMornings Boston. CreativeMornings is a global organization with chapters in 188 cities who host monthly events geared towards nurturing creativity. Their volunteer teams not only celebrate their city’s creative talent, but also promote an open space to connect with like-minded individuals. 

Sophia invited me to her new studio space which is undergoing a rad renovation, and we chatted about the effects of her parents' divorce on the way she nurtures her own growing family, discovering a part of yourself in another person, combating imposter syndrome, and she even turned the tables and kindly talked me through some thoughts about depression and perfectionism. Talk about a versatile guest! Oh, and of course she answered Five Questions. Meet Sophia.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Classixx - Hanging Gardens
Do Make Say Think - A Murder of Thoughts
Khruangbin - Dern Kala
Todd Terje - Johnny and Mary (feat. Brian Ferry) 

Will Dailey is a versatile and award-winning musician based in Boston, Massachusetts whose latest record Golden Walker will be out on June 1st. He is deeply involved with multiple charitable organizations including Farm Aid, Foundation to Be Named Later, and Zumix as well as other local organizations. He's a husband and a father of two, and a genuinely down-to-earth, affable, and humble human being. 

I met up with Will at his home and studio just outside of Boston where we had a long and compelling chat about the positive impact on the arts of affordable access to healthy food, the selfishness of making art, the difference between quitting and moving on, the consequences of trying to do everything by yourself, the automatic privilege of being a white male, that guns represent weakness and fear, and we even had time to go off on a tangent about our magical experiences of seeing Pearl Jam in concert for the first time. Meet Will.

Featured Music:
Theme Song: Beware of Safety - Mulberry and Heather
Will Dailey - He Better Be Alive
Will Dailey - When It Dies
::thinkstandard:: - False Darling
The Victor Ship - The Accident
Bing Satellites - Late Summer Meadows