Platonic Polyamory (fka Undressing Underground)

The second half of our conversation with esteemed noise musician Leslie Keffer. In this part we talk about noise music (of course), touring, stained glass, and spend a good chunk talking about AI.

Nothing anti-AI this time. Sorry.

Same opening and closing tracks as last time since I've got a lot going on and didn't have time. But still be sure to check out Leslie's Bandcamp page, No Part Of It's Bandcamp, and, I dunno, google around about her. She's been around a while and done a ton of interesting stuff. One of which is this Gutter: Girls of Noise doc I still need to watch.

ALSO! Are you doing cool shit like Leslie? Do you know Leslie or Arvo or one of our other guests? We want to talk to you! There's always more room in our platonic polycule, but we also have lives and jobs and stuff and can't spend as much time as we'd like looking for new guests. If you're interested, find us on social media or shoot me an email at [email protected]

Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to Jennifer's mailing list, the Dirtbag Christian.

We finally had just enough of a break from all the horrible, complicated, and annoying things in our lives to sit down and talk to esteemed noise musician, and mutual friend of Arvo Zylo, Leslie Keffer. We talk about how she got into noise music, touring, and some about her process, but the Zoom's AI that Jennifer discovered probably gives a good of a synopsis of the overall conversation as I can:

Based on the meeting transcript, the conversation seems to be casual and meandering, covering various topics such as podcasting, music scenes, secret societies, and polyamory. The participants discuss their experiences and share anecdotes about living in Nashville, attending shows, and encountering different subcultures. There is also mention of Freemasons, Mormonism, and the TV show "Big Love." Overall, the meeting appears to be a friendly and informal discussion without any specific agenda or action items.

We'll be in a week or two with part two of our discussion. In the meantime, you can hear more from the split EP tape of Leslie playing (respectively) with Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore on YouTube and here more of her solo work either on her bandcamp or the No Part Of It label's bandcamp. You can also find Leslie on Twitter.

Also, if you're interested in more projects of people fucking around with radios, there's the short film Brandon and I shot in Joshua Tree last year, Extinction Weekend. And Jennifer can always be found on her Substack, the Dirtbag Christian.

Not really sure how to title this because we don't want to give his name considering the stuff we discuss. But this is one of my oldest friends, someone I used to travel around with to festivals and to see the Dead, but who has lived a much more interesting life than me. He notes that he's seen the Disco Biscuits live more times than there are days in a year. Following bands is a bizarre and hilarious subculture that I have enjoyed in small doses and have always loved hearing about.

If you're curious what the Disco Biscuits sound like, you can check out this random live video I found on YouTube. It's 50 minutes long and features 3 songs.

If you've been following us, I apologize for the break in episodes. 2023 saw a lot of turbulence, between Brandon getting a job and working on his book, Jennifer getting laid off and buying a house, and then everything going on in mine. The big thing was still the lingering effects of a sudden and unexpected breakup from someone I was in the early stage of buying a house with, but also a deluge of other comically absurd mental, physical, and especially financial crises. But we're working on getting back to talking to more strange podcasters, noise musicians, and general weirdos in 2024.

After this year, I'm done tempting fate. We're calling this the Xmas Exchange now. I also don't remember how many we've done, so I'm done trying to figure that out.

Anyway, we're back with Josh and Jill for our annual exchange of the best, worst, weirdest, funniest, and most interesting Christmas music and clips we could compile. This year Josh and Jill really leaned into the worst, but they've got a handful of nice bits I'll be including in future Christmas mixtapes I force upon my friends and family in lieu of gifts, despite no one owning a CD player anymore.

As always, Jill's share includes an eclectic collection of foreign Christmas songs and Josh's includes some of the dumbest shit you'll ever hear. I edited together my choices again, this time focusing on a smattering of high and low brow Christmas movies, specials, and one local news interview. To my surprise, Josh and Jill were really into my editing, so if you want to see that and you're not located in one of the 70+ countries it's banned from, you can see that here, though I should note I had to film my screen for a lot of it (the sound was recorded direct and sounds fine): https://youtu.be/ZpeMWMEG18Q

As for the music, hope you have Shazam downloaded because we forgot to announce pretty much everything again.

At the end we're joined by Jennifer C. Martin, who reads a family favorite, 'Twas the Night Before Redneck Christmas.

Platonic Polyamory will be back in the new year. Everything in my life began falling apart in February just got exponentially worse as the year went on, leaving me mentally and physically incapable of following through on anything, let alone this podcast. But we've got one interview already recorded and a couple lined up for the first few months of 2024.

Happy holidays/New Years/whatever you do.

Just like evolution will inevitably lead to crabs, our conversations will inevitably lead to breast milk and cannibalism. We discussed cell steaks, again, but also veggie burgers, idiosyncratic small towns across America, the Pacific Northwest, and Brandon and I both got incredibly excited by the mention of the old Hentai theater in Portland.

If you enjoy hearing from Kelly and find yourself curious about non-right wing debate culture, please do check out her podcast Indubitably over at Podbean or wherever you get your podcasts.

Also, subscribe to Jennifer's newsletter, The Dirtbag Christian, at her Substack. She has a paid option now, which gets you additional content, an exclusive Discord chat (that I will join eventually), and other exclusive content. It's worth it. She's worth it. Just do it.

Want to come on the podcast? Or know another good guest? Shoot me an email at [email protected] or reach out to any of us in whatever way you know how. We're ethical platonic sluts and are interested in talking about anything with just about anyone.

Hello, we're back. I moved and my cat got cancer, Brandon got a job, and Jennifer quit hers, so... here we are. Now. Instead of earlier.

This week we had Kelly from the podcast Indubitably talk to us about debating and how she does it without crying. And who wins if someone does cry. Honestly, I think we were all sort of surprised how interesting we found debate. It's become an easy topic to dismiss due to the rise of the disingenuous right wing debate culture, but Kelly makes a formidable case for its usefulness and its just being a fun thing to do (for anyone but me).

Jennifer was a guest on Indubitably last year, so please do check out her discussing polyamory, dating apps, and cancel culture with Josh and Kelly here. You can also find more episodes and where else you can here them at their PodBean page.

And if you're still reading, please also check out Jennifer's blog, The Dirtbag Christian. She just added a paid tier and is going to be posting regular updates going forward.

And hey, I just heard from Tripp Nasty recently, our former guest and composer of the songs I stole for most of our episodes. If you're reading this on 8/4, that means it's Bandcamp Friday, so why not go peruse his offerings and throw him a few bucks too? https://trippnasty.bandcamp.com/

k, bye now

Part two of our talk with Brandon Noel about his working class background, poetry, and Olney Magazine. Plus a little more about religion, but not much. We also talk about how reality TV is made.

Olney recently released their fifth issue, which you can pick up on their website as a $5 PDF or the print version for $17.99. It's worth picking up just for our very own Jennifer C Martin's cover story on her alma mater, "Lee University and the on campus treatment of its LGTBQ+ student." You can learn more about Olney and submit your own work through their website, though they're also on Twitter and Instagram. They're also on Facebook, but you're not really still on Facebook, are you?

We brought Brandon Noel on to talk about his working class background, poetry, and Olney Magazine, but our Brandon and I can't stop fucking talking about religion. So, in this part Brandon Noel speaks primarily about how he founded his own church in his early 20s, his amusingly pedantic theory on the "existence" of God, and then we talk a little about Hoarders before I have to cut it off to prevent this episode from going on two hours.

Next week Jennifer forces us to talk about Brandon Noel's work in a steel mill, the origins of Olney Magazine in the backroom of a cigar bar, and how he's been able to carve out a more fulfilling career in the media thanks to his work in Olney and his former blue collar job. He also explains the origin of the name Olney, which evidently has nothing to do with the Olney area of North Philadelphia.

Olney recently released their fifth issue, which you can pick up on their website as a $5 PDF or the print version for $17.99. It's worth picking up just for our very own Jennifer C Martin's cover story on her alma mater, "Lee University and the on campus treatment of its LGTBQ+ student." You can learn more about Olney and submit your own work through their website, though they're also on Twitter and Instagram. They're also on Facebook, but you're not really still on Facebook, are you?

Hi, hello, sorry, yes, we're late again. I hope this edit makes sense because I'm still too busy to start from scratch. But this edit cuts out most of Ileana and leaves Melissa's answers intact for any bilingual listeners. I'm sure our reactions aren't going to really make sense. Sorry.

If you skipped the last episode, here's a recap of the description, lightly edited because Tripp Nasty had to cancel his tour.

Good hello again and sorry again for the delay. Life is hard, but it goes on, whether I want it to or not. 

Today on the show we talk to a mutual friend of former guests Ileana and Ernesto Bautista, Melissa Guevara. Her and Ernesto's work have a lot of overlaps (death, experimental video, large conceptual pieces, focus on El Salvadoran history and issues like immigration), but also we tried to focus a little more on her own unique perspectives and approaches. We discuss all of the above, but we also touch on her religious upbringing, her current feelings about religion, and her pottery work.

Also of note, Melissa's answers in this episode are translated by our mutual friend and former guest, Ileana. I've done my best to edit this in an engaging manner for English speakers, leaving Melissa's answers largely in place but diverting focus to Ileana's translations layered above them, but we will also have a bilingual version in the coming weeks that will feature all of our questions in English and Melissa's answers in Spanish. If there's any questions or concerns about my editing, please let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

If this works out, we'd also love to hear from other non-English speaking artists and people. If you know anyone and would like to help us out with this, please feel free to contact me at the email above and let's see what we can do. We had a lovely time talking to Melissa and are incredibly grateful to Ileana for her services. We would love to learn more about what's going on outside of the anglosphere.

If you want to learn more about Melissa or take a look at some of the work described in the episode, you can check out her website and her VIMEO, which are primarily in Spanish.

Music today is a couple of old tracks by our buddy Tripp Nasty.

Good hello again and sorry again for the delay. Life is hard, but it goes on, whether I want it to or not.

Today on the show we talk to a mutual friend of former guests Ileana and Ernesto Bautista, Melissa Guevara. Her and Ernesto's work have a lot of overlaps (death, experimental video, large conceptual pieces, focus on El Salvadoran history and issues like immigration), but also we tried to focus a little more on her own unique perspectives and approaches. We discuss all of the above, but we also touch on her religious upbringing, her current feelings about religion, and her pottery work.

Also of note, Melissa's answers in this episode are translated by our mutual friend and former guest, Ileana. I've done my best to edit this in an engaging manner for English speakers, leaving Melissa's answers largely in place but diverting focus to Ileana's translations layered above them, but we will also have a bilingual version in the coming weeks that will feature all of our questions in English and Melissa's answers in Spanish. If there's any questions or concerns about my editing, please let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

If this works out, we'd also love to hear from other non-English speaking artists and people. If you know anyone and would like to help us out with this, please feel free to contact me at the email above and let's see what we can do. We had a lovely time talking to Melissa and are incredibly grateful to Ileana for her services. We would love to learn more about what's going on outside of the anglosphere.

If you want to learn more about Melissa or take a look at some of the work described in the episode, you can check out her website and her VIMEO, which are primarily in Spanish.

Music today is a couple of old tracks by our buddy Tripp Nasty. He's touring soon, so sniff around his social media for more info on that.