What Am I Making Podcast

When I first began to really mull the idea of a podcast and Substack space, Pete Dominick was one of the first people I reached out to for advice. His suggestion was simple, “Just start”. 

In the Fall of 2019, Pete lost his job in corporate media and began a podcast out of a shed he built in his backyard. Sound familiar?

In the last four years, Pete has built a community of amazing folks by doing great work on a daily basis. 

Pete assured me that no matter how I prepared, I would fall on my face at first. Start writing, start recording, start publishing. The ethos was as uncomplicated as could be; the more you do it, the better your work will get. It’s the only real path. 

He was, of course, right. 

Now, Pete finds himself at a new crossroads. Just last week, Pete dropped his eldest daughter Ava off at Ithaca College in upstate New York for her Freshman year. We chat about the challenges and the trepidation of sending your kid off into the real world. 

Moments like this are our first real test of how we did as parents. Pete is brimming with confidence and excitement over Ava, her freshman year and her future in general. 

As if this were not enough emotional road to hoe, Pete recently spent ten days in Australia on a solo trip for a friend's milestone birthday. In lieu of spending his days filled with touristy pursuits, Pete spent his time with the family he was visiting, becoming “Bald Mom”. 

We talk about how travel opens your heart and mind, and what a treat it is to spend genuine time with a family that is not your own. 

I admire Pete greatly for his talents and work ethic as a podcaster, but I look up to him most as the tremendous friend and father that I know him to be. 

Here’s a great chat with two dudes opening up about the perils of parenting, the mystical nature of travel and finding a way to do the work that really matters. 

Enjoy,

Matty C

Jack Gruber has been around the world and back more than once. In his 35 years as a photo-journalist, Jack has been embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and other far flung spots around the globe.

He’s followed teams on their journey to a Stanley Cup, and covered the tragedy of an ensuing celebration gone horribly wrong. He has spent the last twenty years at the USA Today, largely covering hard news and politics.

From the court to the courtroom, Jack Gruber has been on the front lines of American history and culture for the better part of the last four decades. Now, he is sharing what he has learned and experienced in that time with young people through a remarkable internship program. 

The Boyd’s Station Image Archive and the Boyd’s Station Gallery in Cynthiana, Kentucky are designed solely to archive the lives and celebrate the creativity of Harrison County, Kentucky. Jack and his team sought to build a place where young people from around the country could come to learn on the job photo-journalism while helping to document the life of one rural American county.

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This project has led to a gallery space where work from the students in the program as well members of the local arts guild, and nearby students can show and sell their work. Jack sees it as a self-sustaining operation that he hopes can grow and subsist organically.

I first met Jack when he was recommended to me as a stop on my solo tour. Jack, his mother Myrtle, and the entire town of Cynthiana welcomed me with open arms. It’s hard not to fall in love with a town and with people like this.

These are good folks trying to carve out and create something unique in the sort of place that usually doesn't have the forward momentum to keep it going for long. In Cynthiana, it’s thriving, and the rest of the town is building on the momentum. 

It was a pleasure to catch up with a guy who gets things done, makes things happen, has seen almost all of it, and always makes you feel better for talking to him. Here he is, photojournalist and my friend, Jack Gruber. The sort of guy who genuinely makes the world a better place to be. 

Enjoy,Matty C

Heather Frarey has spent her life in record stores. It wasn’t planned to work out that way, it just happened. She landed a job at the legendary Wherehouse Records in East Lansing when she was not yet 16 years old. Through the mid-90s, Heather stayed on the retail front lines as the music industry continued to shift and morph from the CD era through to the age of the internet. 

In 2008, The Record Lounge opened its first location in East Lansing in the corner of a basement based vintage clothing shop. From there, the store has grown, changed locations multiple times, nearly failed more than once and become a bedrock of the local music community. In fact, to celebrate Heather, The Record Lounge and the city of Lansing, my band, The Stick Arounds filmed a music video for ‘Ode To Kid Marine’ at the shop and in the surrounding neighborhood. 

Third spaces like the Record Lounge are crucial to a vibrant scene and community. It’s rare that I visit Heather at her shop and don't run into one or two other folks that I know from the local creative community. It is a place to meet, connect, hatch ideas, and even network.

As her locations and times have changed, so too have her customers. They are becoming younger, and more ethnically diverse. There are still plenty of hermetic, unkempt middle aged men trolling around the local record shops, but the audience is expanding. 

That expansion has been challenging for many new collectors though, as vinyl prices have risen astronomically in the last few years. Heather and I dive into the details of why records have become so expensive and what that actually means for the industry, and for shops like The Record Lounge. 

Heather’s story is especially unique in that not only are the buyers of vinyl records mostly men, record shops are overwhelmingly owned and run by dudes. Last I knew, The Record Lounge was the only woman owned and  run record store in the state. Even if one or two women owners have been added to the fold in recent years, it’s a male heavy industry and voices like Heather’s are crucial to creating a welcoming and open environment.

Every great city has shops like The Record Lounge and folks like Heather. I often feel that part of my work here is to make sure we appreciate those folks and remember that many of these sacred spaces are in danger of going under, and going away forever.

As Heather nears 60, it’s forced her to reflect on her legacy, how much longer she wants to go at this pace, and what this journey has meant to her and how it’s defined her own life.

Enjoy,

Matty C

When I approached Barry Hummel with the idea of talking about a film he loved that had flown under the radar, I am not even sure if I really had a sense of what I was after. Somehow, Barry was still game.

The vague conceit I had pitched was for Barry to choose a film he loved that had a foundational impact on him, but was a lessor known film. In essence it would be a chance for us to use a personal connection to a somewhat obscure flick and have that as a springboard for a conversation about film and the act of going to the movies.

Towards the end of our chat, Barry mentioned that he is always happy to be a guinea pig for ideas such as these, and he delivers in spades once again. You might remember that I interviewed Barry and his daughter Abigail back on episode #006 of the pod, about their music and beer podcast, Pops On Hops.

Barry and I dive in taking about The Stunt Man, a 1980 film within a film piece that explores concepts of identity, control, and the shifting nature of reality. From there, we discuss what a massive impact that the early years HBO had on the both of us, and what an enormous shift it was in the way we were able to view cinema in our homes.

We wax poetic for the long gone days of arthouse and repertory theaters that curated cinematic masterpieces, arthouse indies, foreign films, and cult classics. While we never say it directly, we both seem to dance around the sad fact that going to the movies these days is a largely soulless experience in hollowed out multiplexes with little to no variety in the available films to see.

As prestige television has taken on much of the cultural import of the smaller films Barry and I loved and miss seeing in the theater, it’s obvious that the days for which we are pining are almost certain to never return. It doesn't not mean that we have stopped making these sorts of films, it just means they can be tough to track down.

As we roll along, Barry shares stories about the arthouse theatre that was near him when he was a young man falling in love with New Hollywood in high school. At the main run theater near his beach community in New Jersey, he saw films like Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind that might have been blockbusters, but they contained a maturity and ingenuity that was game changing, and they opened up the young mind of Barry Hummel as he cruised in and out of theaters soaking up the American cinema one night at a time.

There is a behind the scenes story of The Little Mermaid, a breakdown of the novel that led to Jaws 2, and how the movies being made today seem to be less reflective of our current culture. Come hang with us and delve into the religion of film and the church of the movie theater.

Enjoy,Matty As promised in our chat, here is Barry’s short film based upon the opening credits sequence to The Stunt Man.

Watch The Stunt Man on YouTube

Writer Rich Tupica is a rock and roll archaeologist. Sure, his CV will tell you that he is a published author and the staff music writer at The Lansing City Pulse. What Rich Tupica really does is dive into the past and unfurl the music and the stories that most of us missed.

Rich’s book, There Was A Light chronicles the all too brief life of Chris Bell, half of the mercurial duo that founded the legendary band, Big Star. We talk at length about the trust that Rich needed to build to get people from Bell’s musical career and life to open up about their friend and former collaborator. The result is a new chapter in the Big Star story and a much deeper understanding of one of the main architects of the band.

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Somehow, a made for TV movie and a couple of early cassette purchases led to a life in music for Rich Tupica. Once he fell for The Beatles and Elvis, the rest was history; and history is where Rich sought to find new sounds.

I talk with Rich talk about our shared love for unearthing lost classic recordings, and the often fascinating back stories they carry. There are discussions of loner folk, garage rock, a recording studio and pressing plant in the Michigan pastures, and of course, Motown.

Detroit plays a central role in the cultural history of our state, but Rich has a special affection and abiding interest in the garage rock years around Lansing. Both of us opine about how fun it would be to put a Nuggets style collection together from Lansing bands of a given era. Most cities of this size have a musical story to tell, and Lansing is no exception.

Ultimately, for all of his digging and compiling and cataloging, Rich Tupica is using his Indiana Jones as rock archivist skills to grow our collective musical community. Whether he is writing a weekly column or researching a book, he is weaving lives and stories together through music. His passion for both the music and the stories that he coaxes into the public record are what make Rich a good writer, and a great researcher.

Join a pair of music lovers needing out on all of the things we have yet to discover.

Cheers,

Matty C

My mother gave the gift of travel to my sister, my Dad and to me. She had first been given the gift of adventure by her own Father who willed a trip to Mexico into being for her, despite financial obstacles when she was still in high school.

My grandfather’s own experiences in Germany at the end of World War Two and a Jack Kerouac style cross country trip after the war had profound impacts on his worldview, and he bequeathed wanderlust into his children. Deborah, his oldest child took the seed of that and never looked back.

Travel has been at the center of our family since I can remember. It was common for my folks to split a meal at a restaurant, purchase second hand clothes, and drive road weary models that had seen better days. Every purchase and financial choice attempted to save each possible cent for travel.

By my teenage years, Mexico had become the center of affection for my parents strain of wanderlust. Steven and Deborah found their perfect hideaway in the form of Puerto Escondido, a small beach city along the southern Pacific shore of Mexico. Puerto became a second home for them. They stayed each winter for weeks or months at a time. The rhythms of our family were planned to some degree by when they would be in country.

When I sat down to have this chat with my Mom, I had intended to talk at length about her first two trips to Mexico as a young woman with her best friend, Barb. That jumping off point quickly veered into discussions of family, purpose and what travel can do to your soul. Like a true adventure, this conversation drifts into places I did not expect.

That love of Mexico has now filtered down to her four grandchildren. The love and passion with which my Mom has shared the world with us is a genuine legacy. She and my Dad made every effort to give each of us in the family the chance to see the world and to share their beloved Mexico.

In this chat, you will get to hear that passion and that love for a country that continues to enchant our family. I also get the opportunity to genuinely thank my Mother for this amazing gift; both the physical opportunity to see Mexico, and for the lesson in falling in love with the world that is out there waiting for us.

Enjoy,Matty C

The first time that Lillian Werbin and I were supposed to get together to record this chat was the week that her mother died. Naturally, we postponed and I waited a few weeks to reach back out again. By the time we were able to reconnect I found her trying to keep Pepper the puppy entertained on a warm Summer day in Michigan. 

During our chat, Lily fights with her home internet connection, strolls the lovely grounds at the Woldumar Nature Center and even has to track down a poop bag for Pepper’s business. All the while, Lillian maintains a wonderful disposition filled with humor, thoughtfulness and charm. Although she is just 32 years old, Lillian Werbin is an old soul, and a wise one as well.

Despite the effort to keep up with Pepper and to outrun spotty cell coverage, this conversation is a window into one incredibly special family and the gift they have given to our part of the world in the form of Elderly Instruments. 

Elderly is a world renowned institution that has been selling the finest fretted instruments for 50 years. The store is a playground for musicians and gawkers alike, and it is a hub for the Lansing creative scene, and beyond. To only call it special would be to undervalue it. It is a sacred space.

Lily gives us the deep dive into her adoption, her amazing parents and their lives, and her own story of growing up in a family with a unique legacy. She is a brilliant and engaging woman, and her love for her community, and her extended Elderly family are always at the forefront of everything she seems to be working on. 

Lansing is lucky to have Elderly Instruments, the Werbin family, and Lillian specifically at the heart of our community. Here is a deeper look at my friend Lily, her life, and her family’s amazing legacy. 

Enjoy. 

Cheers,

Matty C

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This is a podcast version of an essay published earlier here at What Am I Making.

Enjoy.

I’ve introduced Jennifer Toms as my sister on more than one occasion. It’s not true, except that it is. Jenny is technically an only child in her birth family. I have one sister in my birth family. Jenny is, nonetheless, my sister. Our bond has been forged over a two decade long friendship built on a shared love for music, cinema, and the beauty of words. Culture is our shared love language.

In each other we found kindred spirits willing to dive equally headlong into heady concepts and boilerplate b-movies alike. It’s rare for me to find someone so ravenous for cultural thinking, and in Jenny I have found a veritable soulmate.

Throughout a career in academia, and as an independent musician, singer, and songwriter, Jenny has pursued her passions and curiosities with relentless discipline. She holds a PhD in English Literature but she’s also held her head aloft in the punk band trenches. Her varied viewpoint and unique life experience make Jenny a fascinating professor, and a terribly well educated bass player. 

In our chat, we discuss pulling Shakespeare down from his pedestal and deflating the idea of literature with a Capital L. From classism to colonialism, we look at how our art and culture help to propagate the idea of othering and the catastrophic consequences that can have on our society for centuries.

We also look at how the openness of art and community is much like the openness we have in our youth. Through the eyes of Jenny’s students, we glimpse the beauty of naivete and the thoughtfulness of youth. There is even a fairly plausible argument made in here that the local music scene is a bit like the mafia. 

So, come on inside and meet my dear friend and sister, Dr. Jennifer Toms, though I am fairly certain that she would prefer it if you called her Jenny. 

Enjoy. 

Cheers,

Matty C

Last week, my guest Matt Berenson and I dove deep into the heroes in his book,  Secret Stars, the Greatest Underdogs Of The Rock n Roll Era. From Elliott Smith to Nick Drake to our beloved Guided By Voices, we spent the better part of an hour waxing poetic on the genius of these under-appreciated icons. 

In this episode, we take a look at Matt’s career as a film producer. From his huge hit Daddy Day Care to prestige work like Place Beyond The Pines, Berenson has seen the ups and downs of a fickle industry. 

We talk about how he arrived at this point of his career, and what it even takes to be a producer in the first place. Matt shares the necessity of risk taking in entertainment, and how it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for artists to participate in the financial successes of their own work. 

The theme of our entire conversation is buttoned beautifully in the final chapter of our chat where we discuss the English singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock and revered filmmaker Martin Scorcese as artists who have continued to make great work late into their respective careers. Some might even say, their best work. 

These are the filmmakers, writers and musicians that call out to Matt Berenson, and to me as well. The most fascinating artists are the ones who never run out of new things to tell us and new ways to convey the message. Perhaps that’s the secret to being a secret star. 

Enjoy.

Cheers,Matty C