What Now with Simo

An audio message recorded for a friend on my phone — An interview with Philip Glass — His early years — One of the most successful composers of our time — Film music, operas, and countless other types of pieces — His first opera — Back to driving a taxi — Opera doesn’t make a profit — Nothing to fall back on — Always working on many things rather than a single big thing — Not allowed into the usual concert venues — Radically different music — Music with repetitive structures — Gatekeepers of the classical music world — He was the future — A threat to the existing order — No connections in the establishment — No encouragement from anyone in the wider musical world until he was in his 50s — He didn’t owe anyone anything — An excellent position to be in — Independent — Published his own music — An honest person — Finding the audience on his own — Only started making a living from his music in his 40s — A long road — Inspiring — Two types of creative people — Making just what you like — How I need to have my life

Rod Serling — A gift to all writers — Worked hard all last year — Gift to myself — The 60th anniversary Blu-ray set of The Twilight Zone — The best presentation of this material ever made — Serling himself never got to see it in this astounding quality — Lighting, filming, sets, costumes — Super quality — A treasury for any creative person — Creative insight — Keys to creativity — Apologies to my friend Maren — Incredible amount of extras — A complete, self-sufficient masterclass for any writer — The episodes themselves — Studying them to learn about every aspect of filmmaking — Short films — Acting, lighting, cinematography, staging — Two ways to learn — Personal curiosity — The extras — Serling’s pitch to the sponsors — Even greater treasures — Serling’s lectures on writing — Taught writing — Insight — Commentaries — Martin Landau — Serling’s comments on his own work — Razor sharp — Thank goodness for these recordings — He did so many things right — Great respect for the craft and those who practice it — His perfect style of narration — Just saying it — Norm Macdonald’s similar approach — His style on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update — Stripped to the essentials — Something every creative person needs to do — Becoming yourself — A common theme with many of my favourite creators — Samuel Beckett — Philip Glass — Clearing the table — Getting rid of all the baggage — A completely free stage — The best starting point — John Cage — Starting from the very essentials — His book Silence — The lasting value of The Twilight Zone — Serling’s works and words — One of the best writers as well as teachers of writing — More awake

The discussion with David Lee Homb very special for me — Never had a peer group of creatives for long in life — How different life would’ve been — Easy connection among likeminded souls — Something to do with creativity, caring, and wanting to have a positive impact — Selfishness closes a person off from any meaningful path in life — What we can do for others — A question with art also — What effects? — 10:14 p.m. — Night for the soul — Straight talk — Friends and not — Those who disappear — Maybe due to being overwhelmed and maybe due to lack of caring in the first place — True friendship — Heartfelt discussion — The concept of this podcast — Final stages of editing on An Iceland Symphony — I dream of theatres and other places — Another dream so real — May dreams be shared? — Wrong directions — That feeling in the pit of your stomach — It always knows — Intuition — Time and life sometimes play tricks — Derailed for a while

Heartfelt messages — Reaching out to likeminded people — Saying what feels right — David Lynch — Therapy and creativity — Tigger — ADD / ADHD — Doctor in Beverly Hills — Bouncing rather than medication — Effects on creativity — Insidious effects — Changed brain chemistry equals changed personality — Upcoming book of poetry — Started writing after Phantasmagoria — Pulling through the dark years — Self-realisation — Helping — Working title Out of the Darkness — Final title Awake, I Dream — Writing process — Dreaming awake as well as asleep — Illustrations by Rodrigo de Oliveira Vilela — Great souls and good fortune — Question from Nicole Etter — Archaeology and geology — History — Painting — Questions from Nelson Miguel and Michael Shaw — Dealing with the difficult times — Writing — Musicals and screenplays — Hiking, camping, the outdoors, mountains — Fresh air and the quiet — Telescopes — Stargazing — Leading male actor look — MacGyver — Steve McQueen — Favourite roles — Southern dialects — Horror films — Phantasmagoria (1995) — JAG — The Drew Carey Show — Street Soldiers (1991) — The Channeler (1991) — Desert Storm — Long Beach — International value — Blockbuster — Memories book — Mente Criminal (1991) — Actor Jorge Luke — Spanish — Director Pepe Loza — David’s house in L.A. — Guests — Sunset Boulevard — Poster — Theatre — Playing Jim Morrison in a play — Singing a cappella — The Doors: “The End” — Morrison anniversary — Gray-haired couple — Saw Morrison at The Whisky (Whisky a Go Go) — Casting director for The Drew Carey Show — Gray Matter anecdote — Birthdays — Fellow Libras — Poets and artists — Retro gaming convention question — Started travelling in his early 20s — Jamaica, England, France — Motorcycling in France — Spain, Monaco, Monte Carlo — Museums — Getting to know life in each place — Finland — The future — Music — Hippie — Lynyrd Skynyrd — Old rock ’n’ roll — Classical — Pretty much any genre — Leonard Cohen: “Hallelujah” — “Me and Bobby McGee” — Musical friends — Of Mice and Men — Supportive place — What scares you in real life? — The Exorcist — The Omen — Jaws — Aliens — Scuba diving — Deep, dark water — Rappelling off cliffs — Themes in poetry — Bernard Pivot / James Lipton questionnaire (Inside the Actors Studio) — Thanks

First anniversary — Special guest David Lee Homb — Actor and writer — This podcast started in Iceland on 24 March 2020 — Sierra’s groundbreaking adventure game Phantasmagoria — Live actors in computer-generated sets — Nothing can replace a real actor — Lead male role — Kindred spirit — Same wavelength — Two-part episode — Skype recording — David’s introduction — Great things coming — Starting on his acting career — High school — Theatre — Ballet for 9 years — From stage to screen — His self-imposed apprenticeship — Second year in Los Angeles — Sasha and Orson Welles — Orson’s 16-millimetre practice reels from his early 20s — The vault — Early days in Los Angeles — Honda Gold Wing motorcycle in Arlington, Texas — Father’s advice — The Steve McQueen / James Dean thing — Erik Estrada — CHiPs — Porky’s — Car city — Getting the van — A condominium on wheels — Studies in New York — American Academy of Dramatic Arts — Audition in Dallas — Scholarship — Getting the run of the place at night — Invitation to teach the advanced acting class — Formal studies vs. learning on your own — Innate talent and learned skills — Variety or Hollywood Reporter interview — Theory and experience — Teaching packed classes — Teaching yourself — With Ernest Borgnine, Lois Nettleton, Douglas Barr, and Lisa Hartman in Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing (1981) — Ready for L.A. — Crossroads moment with a fellow Texan — We all make dumbass moves — ADHD — Part of his creative side — Pasadena — Rose Bowl parade — Van broke — Gilmer, TX — Kilgore, TX — Auto shop — Trust between Texans — Texan honesty — Questions from Michael Shaw — Getting cast in Phantasmagoria — Troy Donahue — Laughlin, Nevada — Casino town — Hiking and scouting all day — Call from familiar casting director — Earlier game for Electronic Arts — Call from the director’s wife — Flight to L.A. — Met with actor Victoria Morsell, writer and designer Roberta Williams, and director Peter Maris — Roberta’s happiness at his casting as Don — Time right after Phantasmagoria — Thousands of letters — Answered every single one — Nelson Miguel very talented — Arrogant Hollywood stars — Talking to people — Coming up next time — Transcript

Unplanned break — Clearing the cobwebs — Spotify playlist from 1952 to 1955 now over 15 tracks old — The only agenda for it — Period pieces or timeless quality — Recent Icelandic earthquakes — Best wishes from Finland — Increasingly less interested in comics — An art form as good as any other — Films, TV series, theatre, music — Limitations — Following real passions — The possibilities of theatre — Potential — Feeling of freedom — Music and theatre are a wide open stage — The poetry of T. S. Eliot a dead end — Not helpful as a model — Tiredness, hopelessness, giving up — Fresh things not laden down with the past — The meaning of life — In good moments that question becomes meaningless — Actual neurosis — Good life — Being active and having fun — Bathtub — Sauna — Swimming — Rowing — Fireplace — These elements in stories as well as real life — Postponed topics — Back to a good rhythm — New pieces for mystery ensemble — Tidying up the sheet music for An Iceland Symphony — Great progress with the first Northern Exposure book — Screenplays and stage plays — Approaching 1st anniversary of this podcast — Good wishes

Recap: TV, malls, driving — Lighter episode — Happy 75th birthday to David Lynch — Spotify playlist — “Scène” from Act II of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — London Symphony Orchestra/Anatole Fistoulari — Dragnet premiere correction — Favourite film of 2020: The Vast of Night — Subtle depth — Nothing about it needed excusing — Favourite TV series: The Right Stuff (Disney+) — Science fiction and science fact — Authentic and down to earth — Alan Shepard’s first flight — Simulator felt more real — The virtue of being a slow burn — Better and better — A genuinely mature series — Misuse of the word “mature” — Parks and Recreation — Comedy series — Perfect casting — Ron Swanson — Aubrey Plaza — Jerry — Chris Traeger — Completing a point — Sensuality, TV, and films — This basic human thing — Nourishing the senses

Season 2 transcript book now on Amazon — More than 41,000 words — Introduction, footnotes, and bonus chapter on The Ray Bradbury Theater — Book series — Happy with this volume — Closer to my ideal of being like a late night radio programme — Thanks to Alessandra for checking my facts regarding S.Pellegrino mineral water — Course correction re: sharing my journeys through different realms of art — Reasons against it — Spontaneity and total freedom — Sharing only the most interesting things — The Spotify playlists will continue — Tens of thousands of tracks — Not possible to share folders on Spotify — A future possibility — One task too many — Foregrounding the wrong thing — Slowing down everything else — Not enough breathing room — Prefer to avoid any academic approaches — Northern Exposure book series — Fresh — Straining your processor — Adjusting my working methods this year — Will finally publish my music and other things — Avoiding stuffy places — Gems — Better a bit late than too late — Letting reactions mature — A wake-up call — More time for relaxing and unwinding — Taking care — New TV — Much more immersive to watch from a big screen — Like being there — Bradbury on input and output — Soundbar — Solid dark-wood table from IKEA — Three truly relaxing things — TV, driving, shopping — Great mall on an international scale — Streaming — Blu-rays, DVDs, videos — No YouTube ads — Mirroring device screens — Now also my “typewriter” — Scrivener — Composition Mode — Black background, green text — Music through the soundbar — iMac Pro — Games on the big screen — Life upgrade — Things that make a place a home — End to deprivation and tension — Next week a blank slate — Bathtub

Welcome to 2021 — Journey through art — Music, film, TV, books, comics, more — About dates — Spotify playlist: “What Now with Simo 1952–1955” — Tony Bennett’s “Blue Velvet” — January 1952 — Version by Bobby Vinton in the 60s — Used by David Lynch in his film — A threshold moment — Modern era — “Riders in the Sky” — Caccini’s “Amarilli” — Ages for reference — David Lynch turned 6 — Philip Glass turned 15 — Jean Sibelius was 86 — John Cage 39 — Ray Bradbury 31 — Gene Roddenberry 30 — Charles M. Schulz 29 — His Peanuts strip was 1 year and 2 months old — Rod Serling was 27 — The Twilight Zone would start in 1959 — Harlan Ellison was 17 — Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman) 11 — Vangelis 8 — Edward James Olmos 4 — Larry David 4 — Births still in the future — Jerry Seinfeld in 1954 — Norm Macdonald in 1959 — H. P. Lovecraft had died in 1937 — Dragnet premiered on NBC — Moonlight Sonata by Rudolf Serkin — Dave Brubeck — Frank Sinatra still singing forgettable songs — Marvel’s 4-panel cover layouts for horror and SF comics — DC Comics — Harry Houdini debunking spiritualists — Aztec history — EC Comics — Quality vs. quantity — Wallace Wood getting ever better — His protégé Joe Orlando — Keeping up with the times — The clothes in their comics — Season 2 transcript book — Playlist on Spotify — Comments and messages welcome — Social media and website — Good wishes for 2021

Season 2 finale — Over 5,000 listens since 24 March 2020 — Dark events and crossroads in time — David Lynch writing and directing Wisteria for Netflix — Published Art & Love, Vol. 1 — A legacy creation — 100 years from now — Future-proof language — Encapsulations and essences — The substance of a person’s life — 124 chapters — Preserving or diminishing the value of a creation — Imagine a theatre stage — The books of transcripts — Future wishes — An Iceland memory — A country where childhood is still possible — Intuition — Norm Macdonald Has a Show and Norm Macdonald Live — Warmth — Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton, Drew Barrymore — How rarely many comedians seem to enjoy their work — The Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch — Some of the warmest music ever — Beauty as strong as the dark — Sensitivity — Speaking from the heart — The ultimate guide for art, love, and life — Curt Swan — Superman — John Byrne, Marv Wolfman — The kindest faces — Superhero comics vs. the films — Russ Cochran — EC Comics — Graham “Ghastly” Ingels — Stephen King, Ray Bradbury — The Old Witch — MAD magazine — Steven Spielberg, George Lucas — “Wicked Game” — Apple — The best tools — Financial independence — A new leaf — Season 3 starting 1 January 2021 — An Iceland Symphony — Reinventing — Art and freedom — Samuel Beckett and Philip Glass — For future listeners — Thoreau’s Journal — Creative freedom — “I want to do this” — The 4-verse Serena poem about Oisín and Niamh — Tír na nÓg — The Land of Youth and Beauty — Crash and Zzap! 64 from Newsfield — Reading (1:14:01) — Roger Kean and Oliver Frey — Into the Christmastime — Curb Your Enthusiasm — Seinfeld — See you soon