Play with passion!! My guest is high school friend Keith Rodriguez. We didn't know each other really in HS but what we did know about each other back in the day was our impeccible musical taste. It was fun to reconnect with Keith and get to know him.

Classical guitarist Keith Rodriguez received his Bachelor's degree in Music from UCSD and his MBA in guitar performance from San Diego State University, both under the instruction of Celín Romero.  During this time, he had the privilege of receiving several lessons from the Romero quartet´s founder, Celedonio Romero.  He continued to perfect his craft by doing post-graduate studies at the Conservatorio Superior Real de Madrid under the instruction of José Luis Rodrigo.  In 1996, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the renowned masterclasses “Música en Compostela”, focusing on Spanish guitar music and technique.  He has attended masterclasses under the instruction of Pepe Romero, David Russel, Piero Bonaguri and Gabriel Estarellas amongst others.  He has performed as soloist with recitals in México, USA, Spain and Portugal.  The Spanish periodical El Mundo has said after one of his performances “perfect intonation, impeccable interpretation and a diverse program were a delight for all those who attended a glimpse of what was sure to be a brilliant career”.  He has performed extensively both as a soloist as well as forming part of various chamber music ensembles, combining guitar  with cello, violin, and voice, etc.

Beginning in 2009, he discovered a passion for choir conducting through the J.H. Newman Colegio Internacional, where he has been teaching music history, choir and guitar since 2005. This choir has been awarded numerous first prizes in the Comunidad de Madrid school choir competitions, as well as receiving a silver medal at the 2018 Spanish national youth choir competition. 

In addition to performing classical music, he has performed jazz with the Keith Andrews Quartet, as well as blues with his previous group The Blue Roosters. He has also composed music for diverse theater performances and is active as both a performer and music educator.

Originally from San Diego, he moved to Madrid in 1995 to pursue his musical studies, where he has been living since with his wife and four children.

Keith has truly blessed us with lots to listen to. Here's the full performance of the song I played a brief part of during the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8hLHVrBIiI

Here's the Under Pressure performance by him and his students: https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/life.revelrevel/public/Under%20Pressure%20jhnewman%20video%20final_2.mp4

Here's his newest video: https://youtu.be/-8hLHVrBIiI

I had never heard of Celin Romero--here's his info too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celin_Romero

Other topics covered:
No books to mention-SHOCK AND AWE! IKR? but these other items might interest you. The Netflix show I mentioned with Pope Francis is called Stories of a Generation https://www.netflix.com/title/81306329
(And don't forget: my bookshop.org list of recommended books is always available. If you want a personally curated list of banned books too, please let me know.)

The creator of this School of Community: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Giussani

NOTE on Spotify: On the ep I talk about the Spotify situation. Here I'd like to address that if things haven't changed by my next episode, I'll be pulling my podcast off of the platform. As you can see from my stats below, this is purely a principle stance as my numbers on spotify don't hurt them at all. I apologize to these listeners though. Please use your voice to be heard that you won't stand for misinformation (and Rogan is still on all the other podcast apps, so, please support your musicians!

https://www.instagram.com/blind_person_in_area/

https://lomabeat.com/drc-to-eac-a-disappointing-change/

other topics:
Ugly Laws: https://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/54d39e27f8a0ea4706000009#!

The music artist she mentioned was Semler (Grace Baldridge) @gracebaldridge on instagram. Tatum recommend listening to Jesus From Texas, but her entire preachers kid album and late bloomer albums are amazing.

Sub-Minimum Wage:
MUCH to read about here!

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/subminimumwage

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2021/04/16/new-push-underway-to-eliminate-subminimum-wage/29295/

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/what-the-rest-of-the-world-knows/2020/11/03/disability-justice-advocates-blazing-trails?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YESDaily_20210821&utm_content=YESDaily_20210821+CID_eaed244ce66b4522360be855d4f452d4&utm_source=CM&utm_term=Read%20the%20full%20story

Additionally, from the SPL Center:

Book mentioned:

James Cone's The Cross and the Lynching Tree: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781626980051

Karen Auvinen is an award-winning poet, mountain woman, life-long westerner, writer, and the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Rough Beauty, a finalist for the Colorado Book Award and the Willa Award. Her work has appeared most recently in The New York Times, High Desert Journal, LitHub, Ascent, and The Colorado Sun and a collection of short stories about outliers in the West is forthcoming. Karen teaches at the University of Colorado – Boulder and lives at 8600 feet within the Roosevelt National Forest with the artist Greg Marquez, their dog, River, and Dottie the Cat. More at https://www.karenauvinen.com/

Karen Auvinen

Author of Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living

Colorado Book Award and Willa Award Finalist

Twitter:  @karenjamestown

Instagram: @awomansplaceisinthewild

Facebook:  Karen Auvinen Author

Topics:

Learning to live through our relationship with our pets! It was an amazing discussion, even beyond what I could have imagined considering how wonderfully she wrote about her dog in her book.

Order of the Good Death: https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/

Sisu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu

Labor Union history in Philadelphia: https://jacobinmag.com/2019/09/a-labor-day-history-of-philadelphia-home-of-americas-first-general-strike

Generational Trauma: which is a big topic and if you don't know much about it, here's an interesting article on it:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/daily-videos/can-trauma-be-passed-to-next-generation-through-dna/

And of course life in the mountains and what community here means!

People banter about the words and concept of "attitude of gratitude" but Eiam LIVES it. Eiam's pronouns are they/them and I will be using those here. Their use of gratitude is no joke and not trite at all. In fact, they'll make you realize how shallow your thoughts of gratitude for your life may have been at times. If you are reading this before hearing the episode, grab a tissue, cause you are gonna be touched as well as pissed off.

Eiam O'Brien is 35 year old and lives in Sacramento, CA with their rescue animals. They identify as non-binary and Queer. Eiam is a professional caregiver, an empath & neuro-diverse. Eiam has a spouse who is wrongfully convicted and has been incarcerated for over 18 years. Eiam and Sean's blog is: www.innocentat16.com and you can also follow them on Facebook or Instagram.

The petition is also on the website.

If you are reading this after hearing the episode, you know that Eiam does NOT ask for funds, but actually makes a plea for you to help the kids who have a parent in prison. This episode could and was almost called Follow Your Heart. So, if you are following your heart and are so inclined, here are a few organizations who help in that way:

https://prisonfamiliesalliance.org/donate/

https://photopatch.org/about-us/

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/supporting/support-services/incarceration/

Grow the Love group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/growthelove

A book both Eiam and Sean recommend:
https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780307950475

Another new person! Aaron and I met on the pod. How I found him is serendipitous as well as topical.  Who's Aaron? Just my new travel buddy. I might never stop saying "Brian May! Brian May!"

Here's what he says in his own words:

"Host Aaron Millar is an award-winning travel writer, journalist and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), and many other national and international publications. He has presented travel documentaries for National Geographic TV, written two books for London publisher Icon - 50 Greatest Wonders of the World & 50 Greatest National Parks of the World - and is the 2014 and 2017 British Guild of Travel Writers Travel Writer of the Year.  Aaron grew up in Brighton, England but is currently hiding out in the Rocky Mountains of Louisville, Colorado. He hates rom-coms, shellfish and gin; he loves sci-fi, sushi and tequila. Like travel? We'll get on well.

FYI the London Times Galactic article is behind a paywall. Sorry! But you can read another article by Aaron on the matter here: https://www.thebluedotperspective.com/connection/tenerife-stargazing/

Again, if you can't travel the world, bring the world to you via an international foreign student. EF:  https://www.ef.edu/

UK rules: https://www.gov.uk/topic/outdoor-access-recreation/rights-of-way-open-access
Way the world should be: https://visitsweden.com/what-to-do/nature-outdoors/nature/sustainable-and-rural-tourism/the-right-of-public-access/

Books mentioned on pod:

Art of Hearing Heartbeats: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781590514634

Little Paris Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780553418798

Signs of Life: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781643131955

Four Fifths A Grizzly: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781952338014

Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains: https://www.allbookstores.com/Fighting-Monks-Burning-Mountains-Misadventures/9780990930402

Into the Wild: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780385486804

Into Thin Air: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780385494786

Notes from a Small Island: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780380727506

At Home: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780767919395

Geography of Bliss: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780446698894

A Short History of Nearly Everything: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780767908184

I'm ashamed I couldn't think of Chris McCandless' name during the episode so here's one of his fave quotes and the final photo of him.

Julie part deux.

Get it?

Julie goes more in depth about community, her students, time vs. money, traveling to learn, more about cultural exchange, pen pals still exist!, medical marvels (are in this ep-not part 1) Thanksgiving, giving to others, Buy Nothing groups, and of course more on both The Horse and His Boy andthe Count of Monte Cristo! And we give some reading and other life hacks! Some will be shocking!

Full transparency: I have not even started reading Count yet and it is 1312 pages long. So, making the English person do math here, if I started reading it today, which I can't because I don't have a copy, but today, Sept 1st, I'd have to read about 11 pages a day to finish it by the end of the year. :(

Another mention of the art of making beauty out of broken things. It really seemed to encapsulate Julie's ethos as well as what she appreciates about Christianity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi

And for the record: I am part of 2 awesome Buy Nothing groups in my area. They truly are great, giving people. But no one has to get creative to get the items. ;-)

CALLS TO ACTION:

If you are a regular Reveler, you know about the books fundraiser we did for another teacher this August. Well, Julie has been working with her Buy Nothing group and her French Club and she's gotten 2 carloads of book donations to her students! She is looking for more donations of $, gift cards, or books.

Most need now is for:

*books in Spanish--particularly popular titles/series such as Harry Potter in Spanish
*infant board books

*graphic novels
*adolescent/YA books
and USED books are totally fine!

Address to Julie's school is below but you can also buy gift cards or books at her local Booksmart in Morgan Hill CA. https://mybooksmart.indielite.org/

Julie Hoefling

Everett Alvarez High School

1900 Independence Blvd.

Salinas, CA 93906

Since we're talking about children in need and her brother Mark was at a children's hospital https://www.uhhospitals.org/locations/uh-rainbow-babies
let me point out that St. Jude's always needs money but especially now that they can't do big fundraisers during covid to give here: https://www.stjude.org/

And don't forget, I'm a coordinator for EF so if you have a student who wants to study abroad or if you want an international student to come to you, please check this out and then contact me: https://www.ef.edu/

Julie, Julie, Julie...I loved her in HS and was so glad to reconnect. This was not planned as a two-parter. You'll have to listen to both to hear why.

Julie Malinowski, now Hoefling, and I recorded this over Christmas break 2020, so please forgive any holiday references. In this, we'll talk about her journey, travel, language, French and France, why you should study abroad (or if you can't, I'll add that you should get a foreign exchange student here! talk to me about it, or see the link below--this is another thing I do) trauma, meeting people where they are at, the good C word--community, the value of the theatre, and teaching during covid. To help you get back into the swing of things, this school year, I'm bringing these episodes out now, as well as to go back in time to school year 2020 where everyone was talking about helping out teachers and giving them raises. Can we go back to that? Please?!

She's our second Teacher of the Year award recipient here on Revel Revel. Julie really stresses the importance of teachers investing their lives into the students and how much it means long term and it will warm your heart. Thanks to all of the MCHS teacher!

Julie went here and now I want to too! https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/

National Sexual Assault hotline: https://www.rainn.org/resources

I am a foreign exchange coordinator for EF: https://www.ef.edu/

And boy! Did we talk about books!!

Books we discussed:

Count of Monte Cristo https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780140449266

Narnia series, particularly The Horse and His Boy https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780064471060

Elegance of the Hedgehog https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781933372600

Bringing up Bebe https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780143122968

Me Talk Pretty One Day https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780316776967

Almost French https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781592400829

Burnout: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781984818324

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780385341004

Plus a ton of books from her Classics bookgroup with her daughter.

Amanda Skenandore is a local 'to my neck of the woods' Colorado girl, now in Vegas. She's a historical novelist. And a nurse! And I didn't know that until our discussion. I guess I should have picked up on it when reading her newest book, coming out THIS WEEK! Tomorrow, July 27th actually, The Second Life of Mirielle West. It is set in the 1930s in the U.S. leper colony in Louisiana.

Yes, you read that right! I didn't know the U.S. had a leper colony and didn't know that folks in the U.S. still have leprosy today till I read her book. You'll learn a lot by reading it and listening to this discussion. It was amazing to discuss leprosy and covid with an infection disease prevention nurse. You'll definitely be thinking about what our covid historical fiction will be like, thus history has its eyes on you. Thanks Hamilton!

Amanda Skenandore is the award-winning author of three historical novels, The Second Life of Mirielle West, The Undertaker’s Assistant, and Between Earth & Sky. She’s also a registered nurse and certified infection preventionist. When she’s not writing or chasing germs, Amanda spends her time curled up on the couch with a book and cup of tea, or propagating her many houseplants. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their pet turtle Lenore. https://www.amandaskenandore.com/

At the time of our discussion in May, events were iffy, but now she has a bunch lined up: https://www.amandaskenandore.com/events/

Here's her 3 novels, listed with the most recent first. Remember, if you buy from these links, you support Amanda, ME and independent bookstores:

The Second Life of Mirielle West: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781496726513

The Undertaker's Assistant: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781496713681

Between Earth and Sky: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781496713667
This novel is about the schools for Native Americans that have been so much in the news recently. If I had realized that at the time I certainly would have brought it up.

Other things discussed:
Coney Island Boardwalk in Bailey: https://www.facebook.com/ConeyBailey/

Up with People:https://upwithpeople.org/

What does Forte Volontà mean? It means Strong Willed in Italian and is Torrey's tattoo and mantra.

"Who’s Torrey Andre Grimaldi?  (Formerly called Terry Hunt--this is his dead name.)
Assigned female at birth. Just a boy screaming to brake free vessel in a girls body!!  Proud Trans Advocate today!!
Started  Hormone Therapy (HRT) December 22,2020 and my life completely changed on March 2,2021 when I was blessed to get some things “OFF MY CHEST!“
Youngest of four siblings. Italian raised. Mom was an Italian Immigrant and became an American citizen in 1969. I was born and raised in San Diego. Torrey (like Torrey Pines in San Diego) lives to enjoy anything outdoors!! Did u say Beach? That is my medicine when I’m in a funk!!
Photography and cooking are also a passion.
I love dogs more than people!! I started my own business TGpetsitting when I came back to live in California after a near death stay at St. John’s Medical in Tulsa OK.  After surviving certain disabilities I started DOGTHERAPY/TGpetsitting to teach their owners how to bond with their furry friends during any recovery or disabilities!  TRANS MODEL BIG BRO FOR TRANS TEENS !!  Now I am living my most authentic and true life! Never be afraid to come out!"

To contact him about dog therapy, petsitting or trans-activism you can find him here:
@ [email protected] and Torrey Andre
on Facebook.

For trans support and information, here's a comprehensive resource: https://transresources.org/

If you are interested in counseling, please check out https://www.betterhelp.com/ and use the code Revel Revel to get my discount and see if counseling is right for you.

This photo of Torrey is just 5 days postop and you can still see bandages:

Books, death, food, quaranTINIES, coming out, living your authentic life, Maya Angelou, buying lamps, Attitus Fitch, meeting your soul mate later in life, gay weddings, work-life balance, cheese drawers, being a great dad, the 80s, and getting your first born married. What a ride this episode is, as well as Brian's life.

Brian is a dear friend of mine and has always been. Or at least as long as we can remember anyway. He and his late wife were always great hosts and I have fond memories of scooting around San Francisco with them and man could Diane drive a stick in that hilly city! I've yet to meet his husband, but it is something to look forward to, with cheese, of course. Brian is one of the most wise people I know.

Books:

The celestine prophecy: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781538730263

Ray bradbury: the butterfly effect: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780060785697

Go Set a Watchman and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780062409867

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780199536061

Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781545216941

Treasure Island by Stevenson https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780141321004

Michael Pollan and his books about food: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780147514899

Infinite Game: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780735213500

TheoryU: https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781626567986