I was very excited to have author Megan Abbott on the podcast - even a bit nervous because I loved this latest book of hers so much. I am new to her work but now I am thrilled to go back and read all of her past novels. Her latest,The Turnout kind of blew my mind. It is definitely one of my top picks for 2021. Thanks for listening!
Synopsis: "Ballet flows through their veins. Dara and Marie Durant were dancers since birth, with their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, homeschooled and trained by their mother. Decades later the Durant School of Dance is theirs. The two sisters, together with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prize student, inherited the school after their parents died in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago. Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, back broken after years of injuries, rules over the back office. Circling around each other, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of The Nutcracker, a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration, an interloper arrives and threatens the delicate balance of everything they've worked for.
Taut and unnerving, The Turnout is Megan Abbott a the height of her game. With uncanny insight and hypnotic writing, it is a sharp and strange dissection of family ties and sexuality, femininity and power, and a tale that is both alarming and irresistible." (MeganAbbott.com)
On today's episode I speak with filmmakers Laurence Madrigal & Jason O'Mahony. Their new documentary WE WERE HYPHY just premiered at Cinequest 2022. Great film, great chat!
Thanks for listening!
Kyler
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Social and Web: WE WERE HYPHY
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PRESS RELEASE:
WE WERE HYPHY is delighted to announce its World Premiere as part of the prestigious Cinequest 2022 Film Festival. The music documentary captures the hugely kinetic Hyphy movement, and brings the sights and sounds of the San Francisco Bay Area's most influential musical movement of the past 30 years to life on the screen.
This music documentary feature traces Hyphy's genesis on Bay Area streets and examines its influence with interviews from legendary figures such as Keak da Sneak and Mistah FAB to modern day artists such as Kamaiyah, Rafael Casal, P-Lo, and G-Eazy who grew up during the movement and were deeply influenced by it. Historical context is provided by columnists and academics such as Pendarvis Harshaw and Dr. Andrea L.S. Moore.
"Hyphy had a massive influence on me as a teenager," says Laurence Madrigal, director of WE WERE HYPHY. "I grew up in Antioch and Hyphy was everywhere. It was on the streets, in our cars, in the clothes we wore, and in the way we spoke. I've always wanted to share my love of Hyphy with the world and this film is a love song to the era!"
On this episode of The Salt Lake Dirt Podcast C.E. Hoffman (Sluts and Whores) and Winston Rowntree (Subnormality, People Watching) join us to talk about their new short film GTFO.
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Artist Bios:
C. E. Hoffman is a writer of NA Urban Fantasy who has been published widely since 2010. A grant winner and member of the Writer's Union of Canada, they wrote their first novel at eleven years old, and have continued writing ever since. Find more weirdness at https://cehoffman.net/
Winston Rowntree is an artist, author, and filmmaker, who has illustrated for Cracked, Random House, and many others. Their webcomic Subnormality has been active since 2007, and their animated series People Watching has aired on Cracked and CBC. Find more at https://viruscomix.com/
This week on Salt Lake Dirt I speak with the author and screenwriter Bruce Wagner. Bruce is one of my favorite writers of all time. He has authored a dozen books and his work is something I've come revisit over and over again since I first saw his film Map to the Stars. His latest novel The Marvel Universe was released into the public domain in 2020 and can be found at brucewagner.la.
Thanks for listening!
Kyler
On today's episode of the Salt Lake Dirt Podcast I speak with author Joe Ide. Joe is best known for writing the IQ crime series. His most recent book is The Goodbye Coast. The novel places Raymond Chandler's iconic character Philip Marlowe into modern day Los Angeles. Great book, great conversation!
Thanks for listening.
Kyler
On today's episode of the Salt Lake Dirt Podcast I speak with actor, writer, and director Alison Rich. Her short film TRAINING WHEELS played at Sundance last month and was one of my favorites from the festival. Thanks for listening!
"Alison can currently be seen in the new seasons of The Other Two on HBO Max, Tuca and Bertie on Adult Swim and The Goldbergs on ABC. Previous acting credits include Drunk History, Angie Tribeca, The Lonely Island's Popstar, 2 Broke Girls, Life in Pieces, and more. She was also a series regular on The Lonely Island's Fox sketch show Party Over Here. Alison has staffed on Saturday Night Live, The Goldbergs, and Billy on the Street. She's sold and developed shows for Comedy Central and TBS. Alison also wrote and directed a digital series called The MacMillan Genius Grant. She's directed viral videos for CollegeHumor as well as Ego Nwodim's sol show Great Black Women and Then There's Me. Alison appeared as a New Face for the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival." (Source: AlisonRich.com)
On today's episode of the Salt Lake Dirt Podcast I speak with composer David Schwartz. David scored the new documentary film Lucy and Desi which was directed by Amy Poehler and had its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
David is a three-time Emmy-nominated whose credits include Arrested Development, Deadwood, and Northern Exposure. He is currently scoring season 2 of Peacock's comedy series Rutherford Falls.
I had such a blast talking with David. It was an honor speaking to such an accomplished composer and all-around great guy!
Thanks for listening!
Kyler
SLD
On today's episode of The Salt Lake Dirt Podcast we have Joe Escalante joining us. Joe is in one of my favorite bands of all time The Vandals. He also plays bass in the Smiths and Morrissey tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans (New EP - Querído Esteban). Make sure to check out his iHeartRadio program Joe Escalante, Live from Hollywood as well as his Fox Nation series Monsters Across America.
It dawned on me while preparing for this interview that The Vandals are the only band from my teenage years that I still listen to on a regular basis. It's incredible when people that you looked up to in your youth end up exceeding your expectations when you are able to meet them in person. Thanks for a fascinating conversation Joe. My teenage self would have lost his mind!
For a 2019 interview we did with Joe click HERE.
On this episode of the Salt Lake Dirt Podcast we have author Mike DeCapite. His latest novel Jacket Weather (Soft Skull Press) is definitely one of my top picks for 2021. A big thanks to Tony DuShane for introducing me to Mike's work. Thanks for listening.
SYNOPSIS:
"Nick Hornby meets Patti Smith, Mean Streets meets A Visit From the Goon Squad in this quintessential New York City story about two people who knew each other in the downtown music scene in the 1980s, meet again in the present day, and fall in love."
Mike knew June in New York's downtown music scene in the eighties. Back then, he thought she was "the living night—all the glamour and potential of a New York night when you're 25." Now he's twice divorced and happy to be alone—so happy he's writing a book about it. Then he meets June again. "And here she was with a raincoat over the back of the chair talking about getting a divorce and saying she's done with relationships. Her ice-calm eyes are the same, the same her glory of curls."
Jacket Weather is about awakening to love—dizzying, all-consuming, worldview-shaking love—when it's least expected. It's also about remaining alert to today's pleasures—exploring the city, observing the seasons, listening to the guys at the gym—while time is slipping away. Told in fragments of narrative, reveries, recipes, bits of conversation and snatches of weather, the book collapses a decade in Mike and June's life and shifts a reader to a glowing nostalgia for the present. (Soft Skull Press)
On today's episode of the podcast we have author Paul Haddad. I came across his new novel Paradise Palms and absolutely loved it. Late 1950s Hollywood couldn't be more interesting with this mob-centered noir. Definitely check it out. Paul also has a new non-fiction book entitled Freewaytopia, about how the freeways of Los Angeles shaped the city itself. Sounds like a fascinating read!
Thanks for listening!