Life Elsewhere

All of the music we curate for LEM is the best! So, we bring you The Best Of The Best 2022.

Including Maram & Con, Barzin, Cathal Coughlan, Telefis, Tess Parks, Elizabeth Crompton, Pictoria Vark, Joshua Idehen, Blackjack Illuminist Records, Pearla, Shoredive Records, Srirajah Sound System (ft. Molam Inteng Keawbuala), Chris Connelly, Olivia Barton, and Ollie Cook.

And, a special mention for Pela, Jah Wobble, Just Mustard, Porridge Radio, Robert Forster, Hand Drawn Dracula Records, Mammal Sounds, Sorcha Richardson, Fazerdaze, and so many more

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We invited Phil Allen Jr. onto the show to talk about his new book, The Prophetic Lens - The Camera And Black Moral Agency From MLK To Darnella Frazier. Very quickly it was clear we were running out of time, yet there was much more to discuss with Phil. A second Zoom conversation was scheduled to delve into two issues he is passionate about, Education and Religion. Phil Allen Jr. explains how and why his life changed when he realized he had had a spiritual awakening. Being cognizant of the world around him, Phil doesn’t preach about his faith, instead, he has chosen to explain and educate. His observations and viewpoint are critical to how he conducts his everyday life, including taking time for a daily run with a playlist of spiritual, soul, and  R & B music. Our conversation touches on today’s politics, especially the case of Hershel Walker and how his run for office is so distressing. Listen carefully to what Phil Allen Jr. has to say, he is a terrific communicator.

“It has taken me 30 years to write this book.” Announced Joan E. Strassmann when asked about her process of writing, Slow Birding - The Art And Science Of Enjoying Birds In Your Own Backyard. Ms. Strassmann explains it has been a labor of love, yet there is so much more to learn and share. Slow Birding is a charming and fascinating read, packed full of details and advice on birding in your own backyard. Strassmann tells colorful stories of the most common birds to be found in the United States -  birds we often see but might not have considered deeply before. For example, northern cardinals thrive in the city, where they are free from predators. White brows on a male white-throated sparrow indicate that he is likely to be a philanderer. In fact, the sometimes complicated sex lives of birds are an essential part of Slow Birding. For evolutionary biologist, Joan E. Strassmann understanding the intimate escapades of backyard birds is crucial, as is nature’s seemingly cruel lead on predatory behavior. She emphasizes this with a sharp rebuke of feeding feral cats, “Even if you don’t see them in action, I can assure you, cats will attack and eat the birds in your backyard!”

Michael Shermer - Conspiracy: Why the Rational  Believe the Irrational

Nothing happens by accident, everything is connected, and there are no coincidences: that is the essence of conspiratorial thinking. Long a fringe part of the American political landscape, conspiracy theories are now mainstream: 147 members of Congress voted in favor of objections to the 2020 presidential election based on an unproven theory about a rigged electoral process promoted by the mysterious group QAnon. But this is only the latest example in a long history of ideas that include the satanic panics of the 1980s, the New World Order and Vatican conspiracy theories, fears about fluoridated water, speculations about President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the notions that the Sandy Hook massacre was a false-flag operation and 9/11 was an inside job. In Conspiracy, Michael Shermer presents an overarching review of conspiracy theories―who believes them and why, which ones are real, and what we should do about them. Trust in conspiracy theories, he writes, cuts across gender, age, race, income, education level, occupational status―and even political affiliation. One reason that people believe these conspiracies, Shermer argues, is that enough of them are real that we should be constructively conspiratorial: elections have been rigged (LBJ's 1948 Senate race); medical professionals have intentionally harmed patients in their care (Tuskegee); your government does lie to you (Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Afghanistan); and, tragically, some adults do conspire to sexually abuse children. But Shermer reveals that other factors are also in play: anxiety and a sense of loss of control play a role in conspiratorial cognition patterns, as do certain personality traits. This engaging book will be an important read for anyone concerned about the future direction of American politics, as well as anyone who's watched friends or family fall into patterns of conspiratorial thinking. 

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It's a very special occasion when I have the opportunity to spend time in conversation with Chris Connelly. With every new project, he eagerly shares his passion and inspiration for his exceptional music. He was just fifteen when saw her perform live in Edinburgh, he connived his way backstage to say hello and unbelievably, the goddess reached out and touched his face. From that wondrous moment, Chris Connelly has been a devoted fan of Nico. It was after a suggestion by his friend Cosey Fanni Tutti that Chris listen to Nico’s later work, Janitor Of Lunacy that he began to conceive of paying tribute to his idol. He originally planned a 10-song tribute featuring Chris’s versions of Nico songs, at the end of the recording, Connelly decided to write a parallel album of his own compositions spanning the life of one of the most unique, tragic, and misunderstood female artists in the history of music. The result is the 24-track Eulogy To Christa: A Tribute To The Music & Mystique Of Nico. The double album sees Chris purposefully adopting the personas of Nico, Lou Reed, and John Cale – even Andy Warhol makes a cameo! Chris Connelly was also inspired by the brilliant book, You Are Beautiful And You Are Alone by author Jennifer Otter Bickerdicke, who contributed to the liner notes for the album. She writes, “This is a record to be played at full blast, all the way through, as a commemoration not just to Nico the person, the musician, but to art for art’s sake, for making something because it is important and needs to be done – an idea that is as rare and precious as Nico herself.” Make sure you pay careful attention to Chris’s details about the song and making the album - and enjoy the music. Thank you, Chris, for a beautiful conversation.

In the introduction to his new book, The Prophetic Lens, Phil Allen Jr. quotes a performer who has had his share of notoriety in front of the camera, not least of all his extraordinary behavior live on TV at the Oscars, that performer is, of course, Will Smith, who when asked on a late-night talk show if racism is getting worse, Smith responds astutely with, “Racism is not getting worse, it's getting filmed.” Allen takes us on a critical journey, recounting how he watched the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd on May 25, 2020, “I realized how indispensable the footage on the camera phone recorded by Darnella Frazier had become - the camera is not just technology that is indispensable for documentation; it is a prophetic tool for Black moral agency. The images captured by the camera have shed light on the violence endured by African Americans as well as pictures that depict blatant and subtle images of what white supremacy may look like. The pictures of Emmett Till catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement. The images of Bloody Sunday and other events captured the creative tension of the movement.” Allen chronicles the use of the camera from J.D. Griffiths’ Birth Of A Nation to how the prophetic scene of the killing of Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s classic film Do the Right Thing was a precursor to Eric Garner and George Floyd. In our conversation, Phil Allen Jr. ponders on what would have been the outcome if smartphones or CCTV cameras had been present at the killing of Travon Martin, and the untimely death of his grandfather in 1953.

Phil Allen Jr. is a pastor, poet, storyteller, filmmaker, and justice advocate. A former All-American NCAA athlete, Phil's call to ministry led him to California, where he is a full-time pastor and a Ph.D. candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Also in the show, regular contributor, Dr. Binoy Kampmark offers his often idiosyncratic opinions on the following questions:

1. Could these be the beginning of the last days for Putin? How much trouble is he in behind the vast cloak of secrecy that is the Kremlin?

2. Could there be a more painful start for the Conservative leadership in Britain as Prime Ministers Truss plunges the UK economy into a never-seen-before turmoil?

3. Is the West looking the other way while rumors of upheaval behind the scenes in China could affect the Communist empire’s global footprint?

4. Does Italy now have a perfect Fascist leader who happens to be a woman?

5. New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman unveils, Confidence Man, a disturbing reckoning of the 45th president, yet she doesn’t explain why she along with so many reporters failed to report what they now say they knew at the beginning?

Dr Binoy Kampmark is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Global, Urban, and Social Studies, at RMIT University, Melbourne

The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. Sean Carroll guides readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.

Few rock artists continue to gather more and more adulation with age. Sir Elton Hercules John is an exception who proves the rule. In Elton John @ 75, veteran rock journalist Gillian Gaar presents a unique and beautifully produced celebration of the iconic and beloved rock star, examining Sir Elton through the lens of 75 career accomplishments and life events. Key studio albums are featured, of course, as are a curated selection of his earworm singles. But Gaar delves deeper to reveal the events that helped chart the course of Elton’s career: Beginning with his 1969 debut LP, Elton John is regarded as one of the most influential musicians and performers of the previous five decades. In examining 75 touchstones, Gaar provides a unique presentation of Elton’s career arc, from his first steps as a solo artist to the breakthrough album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to his flamboyant stage presence, and beyond. Every page is illustrated with stunning concert and candid offstage photography, including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, and more. This incredible package also includes a gatefold Elton John timeline, a previously unpublished gatefold artwork, an 8×10-inch glossy print, and a pullout poster.

The unstoppable cacophony of Manhattan’s ambient soundtrack - police sirens, a building’s gurgling water pipes, the banging and crashing of who-knows-what fail to stymie Steve Brodner’s gentle, yet acerbic comments. We are recording via Zoom, it’s around 8.30 pm, the famed political cartoonist appears to have the windows open, with no intention of allowing the outside racket to interfere with our conversation on his new book, Living & Dying In America. This is the type of scenario that Brodner is so apt to illustrate. Getting a point across while creating the ambiance of a “situation”. Living & Dying In America is a daily graphic diary of the covid-19 years, conceived, written, and drawn by the award-winning caricaturist. It is a testament to those who died, a chronicle of the hardships and the pain suffered by those who lived through it, a grim indictment of political and civic leaders who failed us, it’s a profound moral document of our times.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth 11 has enabled all and sundry who have the tiniest connection to the royals to pontificate for hours on end over every facet of media, and true to form the networks have flown legions of commentators over to Blighty for seemingly non-stop 24/7 coverage of people standing in line for a month of Sundays, hoping to get a peek at the dead monarch. The whole parade of pomp and circumstance, and common folk weeping prompted a reflection on the monarchy, but that may be better left to another time when the current episode is over. So, we selected a different look at the royals, film and media critic Bob Ross will join the show to discuss Royalty in Movies. As always, Mr. Ross has somewhat of a twinkle in his eye as he unveils a list of Royals in Movies. How about you join in by telling us your choice for Royalty in Movies? Send your selection to [email protected].

To close the show, new experimental music from the Absorb label out of Melbourne, Australia. The World I Want Would Be Celestial, Wet is an exceptional double album featuring acclaimed and lesser-known artists. The label says, “This is their first full-length release, that serves as a timestamp of a very special chapter of contemporary experimental music being made in Naarm (Melbourne) and its surrounds. Absorb acknowledges the Custodians of the lands on which this publication was produced. So-called Australia is stolen land, where sovereignty was never ceded. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.” The cut we selected is I Don’t Hate You by Emily Fishpool. And, full marks for the excellent artwork. Enjoy!

One ordinary day, a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on the Hays family's door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child. It was this knock, this threat, that began the family's journey out of the Bible Belt but never far from the hate and fear resting at the nation's core. Self-aware and intimate, A Girlhood asks us all to love better, not just for the sake of Hays's child but for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice just as they begin to understand themselves. A Girlhood is a call to action, an ode to the community, a plea for empathy, and hope for a better future. A Girlhood is a love letter to a child who has always known exactly who she is--and who is waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

Carolyn Hays is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, bestselling author, who has chosen to publish to A Girlhood: Letter to My Transgender Daughter under a pen name to protect the privacy of her family.

How do we make and keep friends in an era of distraction, burnout, and chaos, especially in a society that often prizes romantic love at the expense of other relationships? In Platonic, Dr. Marisa G. Franco unpacks the latest, often counterintuitive findings about the bonds between us—for example, why your friends aren’t texting you back (it’s not because they hate you!), and the myth of “friendships happening organically” (making friends, like cultivating any relationship, requires effort!). As Dr. Franco explains, to make and keep friends you must understand your attachment style—secure, anxious, or avoidant: it is the key to unlocking what’s working (and what’s failing) in your friendships. Making new friends, and deepening longstanding relationships, is possible at any age—in fact, it’s essential.

“I love Wobble!” Bellowed Martin Atkins, (renowned drummer for Ministry, Pigface, Killing Joke and more) when he heard I was about to do an ongoing series of conversations with the legendary bass man. Martin’s sentiment has to be universal, because the mere mention of the name Jah Wobble and every music aficionado’s faced lights up. Wobble’s career stretches back to the musical Middle Ages  when British Punk was just a glimmer in a Svengali’s eye, (née McLaren). John Joseph Wardle, known by the stage name, Jah Wobble became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums. Following his departure from PiL, he developed a solo career. In 2012, he reunited with fellow PiL guitarist Keith Levene for Metal Box in Dub and the album Yin & Yang. Since then and up until the present day, John has been involved in numerous projects and his collaborations read like a who’s who of almost every genre of noted musicians. Along the way, Wardle despite being a lovable geezer, he has managed to run up a remarkable list of confrontations and scrapes which he unabashedly recounts in his autobiography, Memoirs Of A Geezer,  published in 2009. In the very first moments of our initial conversation, John Wardle made it clear he had a lot to say and was enjoying how the chat was developing. He suggested we record an ongoing series of conversations, so without delving into more of the man’s prodigious career, we are going to proceed with as many conversations as it takes to bring you a complete understanding of who John Wardle - Jah Wobble is. This is Part One of An Ongoing Conversation with Jah Wobble.

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