Limited Engagement

On this week's show, our 40th (another milestone!), I talk to artist, writer, activist, community organizer, and all around amazing person, Clottee Hammons. Clottee is the founder and director of Emancipation Arts, which "provides educational information and discussions relevant to American Chattel Slavery through collaboration and arts programs." The 20th Annual Emancipation Marathon will take place on June 24th from 10 am - 5 pm at the Phoenix Changing Hands location, and prior to that, there is a meet and greet on June 18th at Copper Star Coffee from 10 am - 1 pm. Go to the Emancipation Arts Facebook page for details.

On the show this week, I talk to Russ Kazmierczak, the writer and artist behind Amazing Arizona Comics. Russ also created and hosts Phoenix Tonight, a late night talk show, and the Stuck in Traffic podcast. The man likes to stay busy. We recorded this the weekend before Phoenix Comicon, which we were both going to, and we’re both proud nerds, so we talk a fair amount about that. Also, apologies to Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore’s hotpants. Get more info on all things Kazmierczak at http://karaokefanboypress.blogspot.com/

Two years. TWO YEARS! For the 2nd anniversary, I asked Four Chambers Press founder and editor-in-chief Jake Friedman to interview me about the show, and the book we released covering every episode of the first two year, The 'Arg' in Blarg, which he sort of did. Really, Jake did a bang up job...of making me feel uncomfortable. Which means he did an all around bang up job. Thanks, Jake!

This week's show is a conversation I had with poet Andrea Scarpino just prior to the launch of her new collection, Once Upon Wing Lake. It's a beautiful collection, and I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. We had a deep and open conversation about family, perception, and writing artfully about painful personal experience.

This week, I talk to poet and photographer Jia Oak Baker. Jia's chapbooks Crash Landing in the Plaza of an Unknown City (Dancing Girl, 2015) and Well Enough to Travel (Five Oaks, 2015) are both fantastic, and she's been published in many journals. Jia was one of the first guests I talked to, and it's the only conversation I didn't manage to record, so I'm thrilled she was willing to stop by the house and do it again. It was a great conversation. Probably even better than the first one.

On the show this week, we have local music legend Jon Rauhouse. Rauhouse came to prominence in the band Grievous Angels, has worked with Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann, Jakob Dylan, Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms, and many are no doubt familiar with Jon’s work as a part of Neko Case’s amazing band. We had a great conversation about the life of a professional musician, his work with Neko Case (who might be my favorite singer of all time), and his beautiful playing bookends the show. On May 20th, you can check out the Jon Rauhouse Combo at the Sun Punchers album release show at The Newton on May 20th at 7:30 pm.

Sally K. Lehman and Jessica Standifird made Limited Engagement one of the stops on their Spring tour through the southwest. We were thrilled to have them. Sally is promoting her young adult novel, In the Fat, and Jessica is reading excerpts from her forthcoming memoir, Notes from a House Where Silence Is Failing. Both deal with issues of molestation, sexual abuse, and the psychological fallout.

This week I talk to legendary poet David Chorlton. Next year, David will celebrate his 40th year in the Phoenix poetry scene. His new collection, Bird On A Wire, is available from Presa Press and davidchorlton.mysite.com. I highly recommend it. We have a long political discussion, which may be off-putting to some, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. The whole conversation was great. I got to hear a lot of stories I’d never heard before, and we cover a lot of ground.

On this week’s show, we’ve got a conversation and reading from Eric Wertheimer recorded back in January of 2016. This is the last of the old shows from the time before we started up the website and began posting the episodes. It’s a great talk. Eric’s first collection of poetry, Mylar, is available now from BlazeVOX, and his second collection, Regulus, will be published by…Four Chambers Press (what?!) later this year.

In this week’s show, I talk to Josh and Natasha about what it’s like to be busy academics and parents of a young child, and their mutual admiration of Kevin Costner. They were very forthcoming, and the information is a little out of date (it is almost two years old after all). The book Josh Rathkamp was talking about is now out, it’s called A Storm to Close the Door, and it’s great, and it was selected by Terrance Hayes as the winner of the 2016 Georgetown Review Press Poetry Manuscript Contest. Natasha Murdock should have a book coming out any day now, because she’s an amazing writer, and I have to believe that there is still some justice left in this world.

This week's show is a recording of the conversation I had with Joel Salcido for March's live edition of Limited Engagement at HUB Patio. Along with previous guest Rashaad Thomas, and hopefully future guest Marco Pina, Joel is a part of Gutta' Collective, he's an MFA student at ASU, his work has been published in a number of journals (including Public Pool, Four Chambers, and others)...not to mention he's also a husband and father. We cover a lot of ground here—it was a great talk.

On this week’s show, I talk to artist Jordan-Alexander Thomas. Jordan makes really cool retro-style robots that you may have seen at Practical Art, MADE, Treehouse Bakery, and even Phoenix Comicon. I had fun talking to him, he’s an interesting guy. Be sure to check out his work on spaceboyrobot.com

This week's show is the second half of my conversation with the great Johnny D. We talk a lot about his involvement with the preservation of Arizona music and his role in getting the music licensed in order to give it a second life and hopefully give a little something to the original artists as well. Please visit azmusicdude.com for more on Johnny D.'s work.

This is the first part of my conversation with Arizona music scene legend John Dixon. You may know him as Johnny D. The man's done it all, knows everyone, has been everywhere. Part 2 will be up next week. For more on all the ways Johnny D. is working to preserve Arizona music's legacy, visit www.azmusicdude.com

Ashley Naftule stops by the office to discuss Life, the Universe, and Everything! Not kidding - we covered a lot of ground here. Ashley does a lot of work both on stage and behind the scenes with Space 55, writes for The New Times, the Film Bar blog, and more. For more information, visit ltdengagementpod.com.