Citywide Blackout

LA-based pop artist Nadia Vaeh joins me once again in an Instagram Live interview to talk about her new single “Anxiety.” The song deals with mental health struggles and how people experience and cope with it an Nadia talks about her own battles with anxiety. We also dive into the music video for the single and her partnering with MusiCares, which raises funds to support musicians in need.

Following this, enjoy the new single, “Anxiety.”

Ranchers, super models, dead pigs, burro racers, and religious beet farmers—these are just a few of the characters in Heather Mateus Sappenfield's new book, "Lyrics for Rock Stars." We talk about the different viewpoints in this book, all set in the West, as well as her previous works and how she evolved as a writer. I also ask her about a line from her bio where she is “fascinated by the many selves each of us becomes in our varied roles throughout the day (some we like, some we do not)” and how that factors in to her writing.

 

Writer Frank Thoms has spent 25 years talking about Marxism, Russian history, and Soviet Communism as a teacher. But he's also spent years in Russia on seven different occasions since 1985 and has been beyond the Iron Curtain and the Red Veil to what the country is really like. In his new book, “Behind the Red Veil: An American inside Gorbachev’s Russia,” he introduces people to Russia, its people, and how he changed from the experience.

In this recording of an Instagram Live interview on Oct. 8, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Leah Belle Faser and I talk about her debut EP, “Crossing Hermi's Bridge.” Set to be released on Oct. 16, this album this seven-track album includes relationships gone both right and awry and the comforts of going home again. Leah talks about what went into the album and the team she worked with, as well as some upcoming shows she has later this month and in November.

After this, I've got two tracks off the upcoming album, “Better Than Mine” and “Back Home.”

Boston-area rapper and business owner Daniel Promotes joins me again to share some big news with his company, OMT. A lot has changed since we last talked and there's some new faces at the company. He also has a new album with a Dec. 25 release, “Amen,” and we talk about the music and what people can expect. 

Following this, enjoy “Boston Thing,” featuring Kenaughty, BADD, and Tru-L.

Former Citywide co-host Jeff Royds returns to talk about the recently released “Greatest Hits Vol. 2: Director's Cut” album for his band, We Are Bullethead. This is a revamp of some earlier music, which Jeff and the band felt wasn't up to the level it should have been. So, a number of great tracks got a complete strip-down and rebuild. Jeff talks all about this and what was changed. We also dive into how it felt to bring We Are Bullethead to a close and change the name to We Were Bullethead and what he is up to these days.

Following this, enjoy two songs from the album, “Celebrity Douche Bag (Even Douchier Cut)” and “Welcome to My Nightmare (Deadman's Digest Cut).”

In this episode, I'm talking with Sharisse Zeroonian [Flynn], Stephanie Wang [Ellie and Caroline], and Evan Gabovitch [Charlie], the creators and cast of the new YouTube series, The Sandbox Police. The show is a comedy about a podcast and was going to take place in a fictional college radio station.

But when the pandemic happened, the trio went ahead with the show and began filming episodes entirely on Zoom. We talk about the story behind the show, the role that each character fills, and what we can expect in future episodes.

Author Caitlin Garvey's debut novel, “The Mourning Report,” looks at the passing of her mother and the subsequent battles she had with depression and being admitted to a psychiatric facility after a suicide attempt.

In her book, she interviewed the people who were part of her mother's care, including a hospice nurse, a priest, an estate planner, a hairstylist, and a funeral director. If she figures out how they could function after being so close to her mother’s death, then maybe she can learn how to navigate her own life. Caitlyn shares some of the stories told in these interviews and what they meant to her, as well as what she thinks it means to “move on.”

This book is scheduled to be released in print and electronic formats on Oct. 6 through Homebound Publications.

In this episode, author Nancy Burke and I talk about her new book, “Only the Women are Burning” (Apprentice House Press, Oct. 1). One of the unique aspects of this book is how it blends elements of mystery, science-fiction, domestic fiction, fabulism, and feminist literature and we look at how it all came together. Nancy talks about her friend and why the book was dedicated to her and the cause she's supporting with a portion of the proceeds.

And be sure to check out her virtual release party on Oct. 7 at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/burning. 

Performing artist Blake English's new EP “Spiders Make Great Poets” shows his journey from Athens, Georgia to LA, going back to his childhood when he sought a safe space to be himself. He's doing well in LA having recnetly completed the horror-themed music video for “Sad Girls Dance Party,” with a new one in the works. We talk about his background and how it's shaped him, as well as the different places life has taken him (Hint, LA was not going to be his original destination).

Following this, I've got two songs from the new EP, “Sad Girls Dance Party,” followed by “The Neighbors.”