Salt Lake Dirt

This week I'm thrilled to welcome Mike Rinder to the podcast. I've been a huge fan and supporter of his work since I read Lawrence Wright's book Going Clear about the history and abuses of the Church of Scientology. Mike co-hosted the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. He reunited with Remini for the podcast Scientology: Fair Game. 

Mike was kind of enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk about his new memoir A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology. I can't recommend this book enough.  

Thanks for listening! Kyler 

For more about Mike and his work check out: 

In this episode Mike mentioned these books: 

Steve Wiegand joins us today on Salt Lake Dirt. We had a great conversation about his new book 1876: Year of the Gun: The Year Bat, Wyatt, Custer, Jesse, and the Two Bills (Buffalo and Wild) Created the Wild West, and Why It's Still With Us. This fascinating work of non-fiction works on so many levels. Whether you have a deep interest in the American West or not I'm confident you'll find yourself absorbed in its pages.

Thanks for listening,

Today I welcome back Gary Lippman. Gary wrote one of my top picks from 2019, Set the Controls for the Heart of Sharon Tate. His new book of short stories is entitled We Loved The World But Could Not Stay and is available through Rare Bird Books. This is a book I fell in love with quickly. Each story is one sentence long, which I'm still trying to figure out how he did this without it sounding forced! Amazing book, amazing guest!

Thanks for listening!

Kyler

For more on Gary Lippman check out:

Gary's Official Website

Twitter: @GLippman_Author

Instagram: @lippmangary

Facebook: @GaryLippmanOfficial

This week on Salt Lake Dirt I welcome author Scott Badler. His new historical fiction/YA crossover JFK & The Muckers of Choate (Bancroft Press) was a great read . I learned a lot about Kennedy from the book and from talking to Scott. This would be a great novel to have in school libraries across the country! Great guy, great chat, great book!

I welcome back writer and filmmaker Duncan Birmingham (Blunt Talk, Maron) on this week's episode of Salt Lake Dirt [click HERE a previous interview with Duncan]. His feature film Who Invited Them is currently streaming on Shudder and AMC+ on Amazon Prime. I've become a big fan of Duncan's over the past couple of years and the new film totally sucked me in. Great film, great chat, great guy!

Thanks for listening.

Kyler

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Grab a copy of Duncan's book The Cult In My Garage.

Skylight Books - Los Angeles

Amazon

On this episode of Salt Lake Dirt I welcome writer Hannah Sward. We talk about her new memoir Strip (Tortoise Books. 9.6.22), growing up with a poet as a father, and teaching 'writing through trauma' workshops. I fell in love with Strip after just a few pages. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy wherever you get books and to keep an eye out for some of her upcoming author events.

Thanks for listening!

Kyler

@saltlakedirt

KPCR.org

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Today on Salt Lake Dirt I welcome Sean Thor Conroe. His novel Fuccboi was released this past January on Little Brown. Laura Albert first recommended Fuccboi to me. She always sends me books that I fall in love with. Fuccboi was an interesting read for me. It took me longer than normal to finish. I took my time with it. After I finished it, the book wouldn't seem to leave my consciousness and I thought about it frequently. I was excited to have some space between finishing Fuccboi and actually talking to Sean. I think it made for a better conversation. I can't wait to read more from Sean in the future. Great conversation, great book, great guy! Make sure to check out his podcast 1STORYPOD.

Thanks for listening!

@saltlakedirt

KPCR.org

Today I welcome artist and filmmaker Juan Escobedo. I've been wanting to have Juan on the show for awhile so it was great to finally make it happen.

On this episode we talk about finding your artistic niche, his short film Marisol, the upcoming East Los Angeles Film Festival (Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 2022) and of course the fact that we both have three dogs.

Thanks for listening!

Kyler

@saltlakedirt

KPCR.org

On today's episode I welcome artist Dmitry Samarov. His new book Paint By Numbers can be pre-ordered on his website dmitrysamarov.com. It's a fascinating read with incredible visuals based off real events. Dmitry is host of the podcast hu u no and co-host for That Horrorcast with Mallory Smart.

On this episode we chat about Bruce Wagner, quitting social media, and podcasting during the pandemic.

Thanks for listening!

Kyler

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Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and  printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993.

Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab—first in Boston, then after a time, in Chicago— which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work  memoirs Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab (University of Chicago Press, 2011)  and Where To? A Hack Memoir (Curbside Splendor, 2014).

Music to My Eyes (Tortoise Books, 2019) is his first non-cabbie-related book. Soviet Stamps (Pictures&Blather, 2020) is the second.

All Hack (Pictures&Blather, 2020) is a summation of his cabbie-related work. Old Style (Pictures&Blather, 2021) is his first work of fiction.

He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffeeshops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up).

He writes dog portraits and paints book reviews in Chicago, Illinois. You can see more of his work than you'd ever want to at dmitrysamarov.com.

On today's episode of Salt Lake Dirt I welcome filmmaker Jason Loftus. I first met Jason in Park City, Utah at the 2020 Slamdance Film Festival. His film Ask No Questions was one of the standout documentaries from Sundance/Slamdance that year for me. I was thrilled to hear that he had a new film coming out in 2022. Eternal Spring has been playing the festival circuit all over the world and bringing home several awards. It is such a unique film and I'm glad that I got to talk to Jason about the project.

Thanks for listening!

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For more about the film visit: