Something (rather than nothing)

Rachel Lally is an actor, writer, model, director, street theatre performer, poet and drama facilitator who trained with Crooked House Theatre Company and Kildare Youth Theatre before going on to obtain her MA in Theatre from The Gaiety School of Acting and NUI Maynooth. Rachel has toured as an actor (and briefly, folk metal singer with Cruachan) both nationally and internationally as well as appearing in a number of films, theatre productions, music videos and TV commercials over the years. She is passionate about accessibility to the arts for people of all ages. Most recently she has performed her poetry in the Axis Theatre, performed with Giant Wolf Theatre (of which she is a member) in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, toured Ireland with the Moat Theatre production of 'Push Up' as well as directing a number of community and youth productions and is currently developing a new piece of work for stage. Rachel Lally is the voice of SRTN.https://youtube.com/@rachellally

Great chat this episode with two gifted creators - Paige Henderson and Nicole Murray. Their most recent joint project is the YouTube webseries - Dead Friends.https://youtu.be/LYoeOUXbEioPaige Henderson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature: Cinema Studies from the University of Washington. Even amongst various film production jobs she spent a year travelling the world.Upon her return to the U.S. she set her focus on acting. She starred in the feature film “Vellai Pookal”, she also directed and produced her short “To Build a Forest."After moving to Los Angeles, she frequented short film sets as actress, producer, director and art department. Paige co-founded Svelte Dog Productions, where she wrote and produced short films “Nacken” and “Josie’s Song.”Nicole Murray has a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from the University of Washington. She has years of research experience between an addiction and an individual differences laboratory and she has continued research after graduation. Throughout her schooling Nicole quenched her passion for acting through plays and making films with friends.Nicole began pursuing film acting in tandem with research in Seattle, starring in shorts and a pilot entitled “Vashon." She moved down to Los Angeles, to hit her dream full-force, where she starred in various short films alongside producing, directing and writing. She co-founded Svelte Dog Productions and currently works at the renewable fuels facility - World Energy.But, wait, wait, wait! How did they meet???While both ladies were pursuing acting in Seattle, they met on a short film set. Both already had plans to move to Los Angeles, but now, within hours of meeting each other… they decided to do it together.They struggled through the difficulty of finding housing together, eventually finding a place in Highland Park. After settling in to their new home and enduring the initial crisis of “why did I move here??” they took to creating their own content. After co-creating Svelte Dog Productions and filming a couple of shorts together, they began writing “Dead Friends”, which inspired them to expand this world into a full-blown film production.

New episode of the ‘Something (rather than nothing)’ podcast with Opera Singer Mackenzie RogersI had a most stimulating conversation with Mackenzie about art’s role in a pandemic, art's role in challenging white supremacy, opera, van Gogh, painting, Cabaret, philosophy and what it feels like to be painted into a painting.Ms. Rogers is a talented actress and performer whose recent credits include Nancy in Albert Herring, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, the Forrester's Wife in The Cunning Little Vixen, Betty in Over Here!, and the Announcer in Gallantry, A Soap Opera. In 2017, she also joined the ensembles of Portland Opera's production of La Bohème and Broadway Rose Theatre's rendition of the popular musical The Addams Family, the latter of which received the Drammy Award for Best Ensemble and the PAMTA Awards for Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Revival.https://www.mackenzierogerssoprano.com/

Mishka Shubaly is writer, musician, runner, comedian, teacher and thinker. We got to chat all about that stuff as well as drinking and not-drinking, art, creation, nothingness and somethingness. His books 'Cold Turkey', 'The Long Run', 'Of Mice and Me', and 'Beat the Devil' and 'Shipwrecked' are intense, raw and honest reads.I deeply appreciated Mishka's talents and his ability to range on some really tough topics. Importantly, he has a lot of practical advice to get off the sauce. It is a practical, adapt-what-you-can approach that can help save a life from addiction.His writing and music is available on all major and minor outlets. His newest book ‘Cold Turkey’ was a May title available to Audible subscribers. http://www.mishkashubaly.com/

Great new episode with Indigenous artist and musician Sara Billdt!!!We chatted about her music, her graphic art, and her traditional bead work. It was exciting to learn more about her philosophy, her experiences in the heavy metal scene, and finding her remarkable voice.Sara has been involved in the music scene of Eugene, Oregon for over a decade. Starting out as a solo artist, she went on to found and front Sara B3 and the 45RPM Soul Revue, as well as the heavy power trio, Coyote.Influenced by both cultural and natural forces, she has continued to create music and artwork that reflect her position in a world that has gone awry.https://eugeneweekly.com/2016/10/27/sara-billdt/

I chatted with JASON MAYOH, author/director of ‘Tales of Rocky Point Park.’ It was an inspiring and delightful conversation that covered horror, childhood, comics, philosophy, the pandemic, the creative process, Rocky Point and more!!!Many Americans enjoyed amusement parks in their childhood and in non-pandemic summertimes. Rhode Islanders and Southern New Englanders had Rocky Point park with its joys and fun and clam cakes and urban legends and weird accidents and horrors.The legend of Rocky Point’s cursed FLUME Log Number 13 haunts Rhode Islanders to this very day. The same fear resonates in visions of the great VIKING who stood to protect (?) or attack (?) those who dared visit the HOUSE OF HORRORS. Did you jump off the SKYLINE and live to tell about it?This is a Rhode Island story but it is also a story of Summers of Yore. https://johnstonsunrise.net/stories/cranston-native-exposes-haunted-ri-,62453

WOW! An interview with GINA GLEASON lead guitarist for the incredible metal band BARONESS.Gina Gleason, a product of Philly, began playing guitar at fourteen and has had a wild journey through Rock&Roll, playing for Misstallica (all female Metallica tribute band) as well as Queen Diamond (all female King Diamond tribute band). She performed as the character 'The Muse' in the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil production of Michael Jackson: One playing many of those famous rock/funk guitar licks.After this stint she moved into an outsized vacancy  in Baroness by replacing their guitarist Pete Adams.This is where her badassness presently resides.Enjoy this listen as we chat with Gina about life, art, guitar lessons, creation, something, nothing, metal, and more . . . https://guitar.com/features/interviews/baroness-gina-gleason/

BRAD BALUKJIAN hit the sweet spot of the baseball in his new book WAX PACK. The book is a joy for baseball freaks but also serves as a fantastic memoir on relationships and life. The LA Times Bestselling book is a road trip journey of history and the psyche. Built on the randomness of a fifteen pack of baseball cards with a crisp stick of tongue cutting gum, Brad builds a 10,000 mile adventure into the strange character of American baseball. Brad is a Ph.D., a fighter for the underdog and the working stiff, a writer and a Rhode Islander who now lives on The Best Coast.Brad tells a bit about himself here:"Brad Balukjian is a doctor, but not one who can write you a prescription (unless you're a sick insect). He hated school when he was little, but now loves it so much that after graduating from the 23rd grade, he has moved to the other side of the desk to teach natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He has strong opinions about the value of education, exposure to nature, and utility infielders from the 1980s, and is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun. He chose this path because he never wants to stop learning and apparently has a strong aversion to money. This is his first time writing in the third-person."https://www.bradbalukjian.com/books/

Michael Burns is a university teacher, writing coach, film director, labor activist, editor, and storyteller. He has a B.A. from Georgetown University, an M.S. from University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and holds a Ph.D. in documentary film history from the University of Birmingham in the UK. Burns directed five films for international television and his work has been seen in over twenty countries. He is the founder, director, and curator of Tall Tales, India’s longest-running, true storytelling event series that features live performances and writing workshops of all kinds. He lives in the United States of America for six months each year and the other six in India. I was so happy to catch up with Michael from Mumbai, India for an incredible chat and exploration. Enjoy.https://www.michaelpburns.com/bio

EPISODE 32 - of ‘Something (rather than nothing) podcast with writer Allison C. Meier!Allison C. Meier is an Oklahoma-born, Brooklyn-based writer focused on visual culture, architecture, and overlooked history: she believes in writing about the arts and heritage of our world in an accessible, engaging way. We talked about her recent, haunting Fall 2019 article on the Spanish Flu and the depiction of disease by painters in a Pandemic.I am still thinking about the many topics we discussed including - forgotten history, disease, death, cemetery tours, painting, philosophy, history, Spirit photography, symbols, ghosts and so much more . . . I hope you enjoy the journey.https://allisoncmeier.com/