without sounding like I’m exaggerating. 

I think it’s best to just start listening to him yourself.

Alvin Oon is a very positive, upbeat guy.  Usually, I’m suspicious of guys like that, because really, who are they fooling? But for Alvin, that’s genuinely the way he is.  And as you’ll hear, any guy who made a choice to pursue the performing arts in Singapore and go his own way and who made a successful life for himself and his family must have a positive attitude.

Alvin is an actor, singer, emcee, director, he can basically do it all.  He also writes songs, and some of his songs poking fun at life in Singapore have gone viral, getting hundreds of thousands of views.  If you like any of them you hear later, I encourage you to check out the videos on youtube.

Here are pictures and links to a few of the things we mentioned in the show:

Scene from '10 Courts of Hell' at Haw Par Villa

Scene from '10 Courts of Hell' at Haw Par Villa

Depiction of filial piety - Haw Par Villa. photo by Jnzl

Statue at Haw Par Villa

Alvin's Songs:

All I Ever See is Haze

Give Me Back My Terrex Chia

Don’t Let The Train Breakdown on Me

One Nation Together

Corn Mo

If you haven’t started your own podcast as an excuse for calling old friends for a conversation, you really should.

It was nice calling my friend Jon Cunningham, also known as Corn Mo.

Corn Mo is the kind of guy that can walk into a room full of strangers with an accordion, a cymbal and drumstick stuck to his shoe, and win over even the most cynical audiences.

Broadway World called him, “Charming troubadour and raconteur Corn Mo ," and praise his, “patented combination of original songs, quirky, off-kilter anecdotes, and charisma,” and The Sydney Morning Herald described his songs as, “absurd, but his voice (as well as his piano and accordion playing) is so great it's a pleasure to listen to – even when you're not sure where the laughs are supposed to be.”

So anyhow, I gave Jon a call. I have to warn you, it was a bit awkward at first. I’ve cut out a lot of the pregnant pauses. I was a bit run-down, and I was calling Jon pretty early his time.  We both felt we proved we are just boring guys. We pretty much fell into the same conversation we would have had as roommates twenty odd years ago. (But we enjoyed it)

Before I jump into the conversation, I did just want to talk about Corn Mo’s music. He’s written and recorded a lot over the years, but I’m still impacted the most by some of the songs he was performing way back when I met him

Here’s just a bit from “Junior High”

And this from “The Day Jason Klein cried”

Follow Corn Mo on Twitter

Follow Corn Mo on Instagram

Corn Mo and Mauve Oed, 1995 at Good/Bad Art Collective -video

Ivan Rana

Ivan Rana is a true dreamer.  But he doesn’t just dream, he really hustles to get things done.

I met him him when I was a producer and editor at Zee TV, the Indian Television network that’s on satellite in the US.  I was the first non-Asian hired at the North American headquarters which happened to be in Arlington Texas.

Ivan was also a producer and editor but he was actually from India. We worked closely together for years.  We were essentially a two-man team for about two years.

We’ve both come a long way since then.  As you’ll hear, Ivan has had a lot of success with his creative endeavors, but there are still things he wants to do, and he’s still hustling.

Ivan at one of the epic ZEE parties

 

Handsome Ivan and the water bottles from colonel Bindra

Rory Scholl

See if you can hear the envy in my voice when I talk to Rory Scholl about his bohemian lifestyle.  Rory is a comedian, a writer and actor in New York.  He actually has so many different gigs, we only scratched the surface in this conversation. Way back when I was making student films, I would rope Rory in as talent, because he’s talented, and as you’ll hear, he’s pretty much game for anything, whether that’s playing an airline seat, or trying to make Lenny Bruce kid-friendly.  Heeeeere’s Rory.

Rory in Four Grey Sleepers circa 1989 or 1990?

Rory in "Scary Life Size Monster Ghost!"

A young Rory Scholl and an even younger Mark Cuban

Rory as the American Airlines mascot

Link to Geek Club Books, autism storytelling article: James Rebhorn and a Tale of Two Friendships

Follow Rory on Twitter 

Norm Bowman

When I graduated high school in 1988, my idea of college was equal parts Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds and The Sure Thing.  So if you were going to cast the part of my freshman roommate, you couldn’t have found a better person that Norm Bowman.  He had it all, a spray-painted Dodge Dart, an anti-establishment attitude, and best of all, he was old enough to buy booze.  It’s not surprising he was kind of the nucleus of my circle of friends.  These days he’s still anti-establishment but a bit mellowed, with lovely family in the Dallas suburbs. He has a lot to say. We cover the similarities between coffee and condoms, his atheism, his signature style of photographing himself on abandoned furniture, and more.

The many moods of Norm

Follow Norm on twitter @AnyBowman

"Dumpster Comfort" the photo blog I wrote on "Norming."

https://zeitgeistripoff.blogspot.sg/2016/01/dumpster-comfort-is-where-my-friend.html

 

 

Photo: Andy Sweet

This episode is easy as Sunday morning.  That's what time it was in Seattle when I spoke to my cousin Jackie Micucci.  Jackie is originally from Long Island, New York.  She’s one of my many relatives that I know, but I don’t know that well, and I certainly don’t see very often.  But even though I've only been in the same room with her a few times, I've always felt an affinity to her... probably because of her snarky comments on Facebook.  But the snark is a bit misleading.  As you'll hear she's practically a Pollyanna!

Jackie's father and my Grandfather

Jackie's father and my Grandfather

The three Micucci brothers

Chris Flemmons. Photo by Peter Salisbury

I met Chris Flemmons while I was living in the college town of Denton, Texas. He’s a talented singer and songwriter. He has a band called the Baptist Generals. He’s also a filmmaker. He was Director of Photography on a short film I made called “Kung Fu Teenage Bigfoot” the trailer…and he also did the voice over.

I’ve always liked Chris’ demeanor. During this conversation, he mentions he sometimes feels like a crotchety old man, but the thing is, he had that vibe even in his twenties…he wears it well, it suits him. Anyhow, I always get a lot from his point of view. I hope you do too.