The Cosmic Nod

One of my favorite artists, Lauren Napolitano joins the Nod this week! Lauren works in a multitude of mediums on a multitude of surfaces. Whether it's a drawing on paper or object, a mural on a wall or a tattoo on someone's skin ; everything Lauren makes is beautiful, unique & full of its' own inborn magic.

This conversation took place back in November of 2019. While this seems like a lifetime ago in current events, this episode is deeply relevant especially those who find themselves called to the artist's path.

We touch on everything from the challenges of nomadic muralist life, cultivation of style, working with at risk youth, creating the mural festival POW WOW Nepal, leveraging one's art to make a positive impact on communities, the benefit of therapy, Lauren's experiences with Peyote and other psychedelic medicines and a lot more.

Lauren's Bio fro her website :

"My work is about celebrating the handmade and the imperfections that come along with it. I am incredibly influenced by my mother's Mexican heritage and I lean heavily on these ancestors as I create and gather inspiration. Much of what I create falls between the themes of being surrounded/supported or the symbiotic energy/movement between every living organism. Earth and sky, life and death, love and sorrow, I explore these connections through invented pattern and symbology in order to find balance, growth and healing."

Lauren has a beautiful brand new print available now in her shop!

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Check Out Lauren's Work On Her Website

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The episode so many have been waiting for is here! My longtime bandmate and dear friend of over 20 years, musician/vocal extraordinaire Anthony Green joins the Nod for the first time.

Anthony is a force of nature. It is an extreme understatement to say I have never met anyone like him. He is one of the most adored and gifted lyricists/vocalists on the planet as well one of the most interesting thinkers when it comes to creativity, intuition, spirituality, and the human condition. You may know his work within our band Circa Survive, his solo music or a slew of other projects/collaborations most notably Saosin and The Sounds Of Animals Fighting.

This conversation took place on April 8th and we were in the first month of dealing with the fall out of our tour being canceled due to Covid-19. We talk about that a bit and then go down the rabbit hole of memories and reflections. I'm lucky enough to have had hundreds of conversations like this with him over the years, this was just the first time we recorded it. Hopefully there will be plenty more. In fact if you like this episode I would recommend joining the Circa Survive Patreon because we do 2 podcasts a month plus a zillion other cool things.

Check Out Anthony's New Live Album

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ATTENTION : Join artist,comedian and podcaster Ramin Nazer and I, this Thursday 9/24 for a LIVE CALL IN SHOW on ZOOM. Starts at 7pm PT / 10pm ET. bit.ly/templeofzoom

A wonderful new psychedelic friend , the lovely Jasmine Virdi of Synergetic Press and Cosmic Sister joins the Nod this week.

Jasmine is a writer, editor, proofreader and educator who raises awareness about the benefits and risks of sacred plant medicines and encourages people to make informed choices about their therapeutic potential and transformational capacities. By sharing the socio-historical context in which these substances emerged, Jasmine hopes to help people integrate them into their lives in a safe and meaningful way while protecting indigenous ethnobotanical practices and their environments.

Since 2018 she has been a writer, editor and social media coordinator for the fiercely independent Synergetic Press where her passions for ecology, ethnobotany and psychoactive substances converge.

She has published articles for Psychedelics Today, Chacruna.Net, Lucid News, Entheonation and OPEN foundation. She recently spoke at Psyched2020 as well as Earthdance Vision 2020.

For reference we recorded this back in late March. Jasmine does PR for a really cool literary publishing company called Synergetic Press and had sent me an email about having a few of their authors on as guests. They put out a lot of books about psychedelics and mindfullness and in general seem very passionate and righteous in their artistic quest. While this sounded cool, I had stumbled upon some of Jasmine's own writing and videos and was more interested in having her on the show first.

I genuinely enjoy seeking out people who haven't told their stories yet and while I would love to have some of said Synergetic authors on in the future I'm so happy that I was able to have Jasmine on as even since we had this talk her profile as a writer and educator has exploded.

Jasmine and I talk about her journey as a traveler, student and writer in the world of plant medicine. We discuss our early impressions of the COVID world (this was in late March) and share various experiences with psychedelics and community.

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Read Her Most Recent Piece On Peyote For Psychedelics Today

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Michael Garfield is a multi-media artist, musician, podcaster, futurist, former paleontologist and all around brilliant human. I have been a huge fan of Michael's work for a while specifically his ultra-inspiring, mind bending podcast Future Fossils so I was delighted to have our paths cross via many mutual friends and of course some delightful synchronicity. This conversation occurred literally a full year ago, last September, a very different time in the world but I think the topics we touch are as potent as ever. We dove SUPER deep and given this was our first conversation using voices and eyeballs there is that familiar vibration that I often talk about occuring, the "friendship being born" energy. Since this was a decidedly "co-broadcast" we sort of interview each other to some degree but the convo is so free flowing I don't think it even qualifies as an interview for either of us. We talk about touring vs being at home modes, working in different mediums & the scorn that can come along with it, tripping indoors vs outdoors, being in relationship as an obsessive artist type, Michael's first dance with fatherhood, therapy, the multiplicity of self, "real job" stable life, synchronicity generators and so much more. I hope you dig it. In related news, Michael and I are presenting a talk together for The Annual Psilocybin Summit this sunday, September 20th (5 day event 17th-21st) The lineup for this thing is stacked to the gils with amazing folks like Paul Stammets, Francoise Bourzat, Bia Labate, Ayanna Iyi, Dennis Mckenna and a bajillion more. Our talk's theme is "Psilocybin, Synchronicity & High Strangeness : A dive into these phenomena and the process of using curiosity & creativity in order to integrate challenging psilocybin experiences." (3:30 pm PT on Sunday) Support Michael On Patreon Michael's Art Website Michael's Fantastic Music The Future Fossils Podcast The Future Fossils FB Community Follow Michael On Twitter Follow Michael On Instagram

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In my first solo pod I give a bit of an update / rant about a plethora of things. Infinite Love.

Please help areas affected by Wildfires if you can. Donate funds, time and or volunteer.

OREGON

CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON

Black Lives Matter. Especially Black Trans Lives.

Black Trans Advocacy Coalition

Wear a Mask! Give a Mask!

Help Indigenous Communities Effected By COVID-19

Seeding Sovereignty

THANK YOU.

One of my new favorite artists and people M.K. Komins joins me on the Nod! A multi-medium'd magician of an artist, M.K. is a bright, curious and friendly soul with a huge heart & and razor sharp mind. We get into so much good shit on this episode. One of the many joys of doing this podcast is meeting new people and making new friends but there is just something so incredible about documenting the very first time you talk to someone and having it be such a barn burner of a conversation. The themes range from caretaker self-care during a crisis, imposter syndrome, addiction & recovery, the challenges & blessings of life as an artist, the healing harmonious power of empathy and soooooo much more. Check out her Designer Con instagram takeover today (May 28th from 2pm-4pm PST) Follow M.K on instagram! Go to her website! We were both recently in a show together for Arch Enemy Arts of Philadelphia, check out her amazing piece which is also available for purchase <3 She also has just a few prints left through House Of Roulx. For another 23 mins with M.K. & I, lots of early episodes, bonus content and merch goodies :

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The amazing artist Richey Beckett joins me on the Nod! For those who don't know, Richey is one of the most well known and respected illustrators alive at the moment. He's made posters for some of the biggest bands, movies and shows in the world as well as some of the coolest! Converge, Mastodon, Metallica, The Grateful Dead, Game Of Thrones, Lord Of The Rings... You get the picture. This episode is deeply ironic in that when we first discussed doing it a few months back, Richey was in the middle of some big big changes. As you'll hear him explain in detail, he was basically living a life of artistic isolation for the last 5 years and was about to go completely nomadic indefinitely shifting to pop ups, residencies and gallery tours. And while that doesn't seem to be in the cards anytime soon this chat is a wonderful window into the mind of a constantly evolving artist. We talk about COVID-19 some but mostly we talk a lot about the life of an artist and the importance of change, challenge and improvisation. We recorded this in the middle of March just as everything really started to kick off. It was deeply therapeutic to have a long conversation right at the beginning of this wild time that is still currently unfolding. I hope it gives you a similar light hearted escape that it gave to me. Please check out Richey's work at his website Follow Richey on Instagram! For lots of early episodes, bonus content and merch goodies :

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Guitarist, Songwriter, Producer and buddy of mine Steve Choi ( Rx Bandits, The Sound Of Animals FIghting , Peaced Out, J Moon ) comes to the Nod for the first time. We had a lovely virtual morning hang a few weeks into our mutual quarantines. We each drank a cup of coffee, smoked a joint and let the conversation take us where it wanted to go. We talk about the madness we are witnessing right now with COVID-19 and how we are both dealing with it. We talk in depth about our struggles and triumphs with creativity, ego and inner peace. There's some tour reminiscing and some questions answered from those who submitted in the patreon discord... There are some serious gems of wisdom dropped in this episode as well as some real genuine conversational catharsis that I hope you all enjoy. Check out all of Steve's projects and follow him on social media! Steve On Instagram Steve On Twitter RxBandits Peaced Out The Sounds Of Animals Fighting

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First I talk little bit about the state of the world and my current feelings about it all.... Then I give a little overview of what this special segment is all about. Many people probably don't know that The Cosmic Nod podcast began as some earnestly recorded conversations with friends and peers about their ayahuasca experiences as I prepared for my very first this past August. Enter The Ungoogleable Michaelangelo. A brilliant thinker, artist, musician, actor, podcaster, writer, and many other -ers that I became a fan of through podcasts like Future Fossils, The Rainbow Brainskull Podcast and Expanding Mind. I gathered through his various pod appearances that he might have some tales/wisdom to share on the topic of Ayahuasca and decided to reach out to him via the rectangular digital interface we had become friendly through. I spoke to him a few days before I left for the Peruvian amazon. As you'll hear at the time of this recording I was still brainstorming on a name for the project, I hadn't fully committed to the idea of a regular podcast yet and beyond trying to get some perspective on what I was headed into, I didn't even really know what I was going to do with the very conversation we were recording. I'm loosely and generically calling this series Ayahuasca Dialogues which is just going to be a mini-series I present through The Cosmic Nod. If that sounds confusing don't worry it really isn't. I spoke to roughly a dozen people that I knew or was introduced to seeking their thoughts, advice and stories about the Ayahuasca experience and that's all there is to it. It is an extremely limited pool of people and extremely lacking in the diversity I would normally seek but this was not an attempt to add anything significant to the lexicon of Ayahuasca, just a quickly inspired personal project of exploration that occured over 7 days before my excursion. Regardless of all these journalistic shortcomings I find the conversations extremely fascinating, informative and enjoyable. My own ayahuasca experiences which occurred subsequently are well documented on my dear friend and interdimensional travel companion Michael Phillip's podcast, Third Eye Drops. If you are interested in that, check out the first of a four episode saga. I could excitedly listen to Michaelagelo talk about pretty much anything for endless hours. If you took the energy of Terrence Mckenna, Michael WInslow, Salvador Dali and Robin Williams and put it through a blender it would probably taste a lot like him but yet it would still be missing the deeply unique thing that he is beneath his memetic masks. He recently released a short companion piece to this episode (along with is own riffs on the pandemic) on his podcast 'Self Portraits as Other People' a few days ago and you should check it out! At the tail of this episode I included the audio from Michaelangelo's 2014 appearance on a series called The Ayahuasca Monologues ( which I later drew some inspo from name wise ) . He had shared it with me prior to our talk and I refer to it a few times early in the convo. You can watch the video of the performance on youtube. I highly encourage you to seek out his works of all medium through his website and his instagram. Check out his incredible podcast Self Portraits As Other People. And of course you can also support him over on Patreon! Join The Cosmic Nod's brand new Patreon!

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Steven Bradshaw creates insanely detailed drawings that reach into the darkest corners of my mind... He has one of the most beautiful & powerful singing voices I've ever heard & lends that voice to a plethora of talented (even Grammy winning) ensembles like The Crossing, Room Full Of Teeth, Variant Six and more... He is also my cousin! As Steve points out at the end of the chat, we don't have these gushing conversations all that often but when we do they wind up having a huge impression on my consciousness. Steve and I have had some of my very favorite personal exchanges over the years and this was no exception. We talked about the strange and sometimes scary journey of trust that being an independent multi hyphenate entails, living simply in exchange for freedom, why Steve thinks I have a healthy outlook on things (LOL), how he balances music and visual art and the differences between how they affect his life, the way that our perception changes of media over time both as fans and creators, and a whole lot more. This is a really amazing chat for anyone on the creative path. Lots of gems. The groups that Steve performs and collaborates with most frequently : https://www.crossingchoir.org/ https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/ https://www.variantsix.com/aboutv6 Follow him! Steven On Instagram Steven's Website Join The Cosmic Nod's brand new Patreon!

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