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Across the Margin: The Podcast
Episode 170 : To Catch A Killer With Doug Greco
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This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast presents an interview with author and political organizer Doug Greco. Greco has organized for over 15 years in Austin and San Antonio with the Industrial Areas Foundation, the nation’s largest and longest-standing network of faith and community-based organizations. Before that, he served as Director of Programs with Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ organization. His book, To Find a Killer: The Homophobic Murders of Norma and Maria Hurtado and the LGBT Rights Movement, is the focus of this episode. Despite monumental gains in legal equality over the past decade, the LGBTQ community still faces harsh disparities in physical and mental health, economic status, racial stratification, and hate crimes victimization. These factors compound for LGBTQ persons of color, low income individuals, immigrants, and members of the transgender community. In To Find a Killer — a finalist in the Writers' League of Texas 2021 Manuscript Contest for Nonfiction — Doug Greco explores the next phase of the LGBTQ rights movement and how issues of race, class, sexuality, gender identity, and economic status often intersect producing negative outcomes for members of the LGBTQ community. Beginning with a gripping, firsthand account of the 2011 anti-gay murder of twenty-four year-old Norma Hurtado, a student the Greco taught in an Austin high school ten years earlier, To Find a Killer employs a mix of narrative nonfiction and political analysis to uncover the intersectional nature of the disparities impacting the LGBTQ community. Drawing from his fifteen-years' experience as a grassroots organizer in Texas and California, Greco argues for the types of political organizations and public policies necessary to address these challenges. To Find a Killer charts a robust but pragmatic course for the LGBTQ movement today: investing in grassroots leadership development, rooting organizations in local civic and religious institutions, and focusing not just on legal equality, but a wider set of socio-economic issues.
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Episode 226: Plan C For Civilization with Ben Kalina
35:41|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with award-winning director and producer Ben Kalina, whose work centers on the collision between human nature and the force of nature. In 2020 he produced and directed Can We Cool the Planet? for NOVA. His film Shored Up, the 2014 Sundance Institute LightStay Sustainability Award winner, explored rising sea levels and the politics of Climate Change in the U.S. in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He was Associate Producer of A Sea Change, broadcast on Discovery’s Planet Green in 2009, and Two Square Miles, broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens in 2006. Ben’s production company, Mangrove Media, is based in Philadelphia where he is an Assistant Professor in the Film and Television Program at Drexel University. His latest documentary — Plan C For Civilization — is the focus of this episode. Plan C for Civilization tackles the promise and peril of solar geoengineering with exclusive verite access to its protagonist David Keith and the SCoPEx project as well as the rogue geoengineers of Make Sunsets. From Bangladesh to Nevada, the extremely controversial promise of solar geoengineering is emerging after more than 60 years in the shadows, and with it, a new chapter of the Climate Change saga.
Episode 225: You're No Island with Andrew Daly Frank
33:03|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with singer-songwriter and guitarist Andrew Daly Frank. Andrew is an inimitable songwriting voice and virtuosic guitarist, and his debut album, You’re No Island — the focus of this episode — is a gorgeous, affecting piece of art that is pacifying and vitalizing. Andrew is a guitarist who has lent his thrilling leads and delicate chordal touch to albums by Charlie Kaplan and released a series of beguiling EPs in the lead up to You’re No Island. Andrew’’s arrangements on You’re No Island are both intimate and expansive, and he emerges here as an auteur in his own right, a songwriter of uncommon wisdom and an architect of subtle musical effects. In this interview host Michael Shields and Andrew Daly Frank discuss the genesis of You’re No Island and the ways in which the songs on it took shape over the past five years. They talk about the cunning lyricism found on the album, Andrew’s musical influences, and so much more. Songs featured in the episode: “Alone in the Frame,” “Someone Somewhere,” “Lisbon.”
Episode 224: The 90s Jam Band Explosion with Mike Ayers
56:35|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with author and seasoned music and culture journalist, Mike Ayers. Mike has had work published in Billboard, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Time, Esquire, and Relix. His first book, One Last Song: Conversations on Life, Death, and Music came out in 2020, with Variety declaring it as one of the best music books of the year. His latest book, Sharing in the Groove: The Untold Story of the '90s Jam Band Explosion and the Scene that Followed, is the focus of this episode Sharing in the Groove is a rich examination of an underdog genre that helped define the 1990s musical landscape — a scene that paved the way for modern-day cultural institutions such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival and kept the Grateful Dead ethos alive. Beginning in the mid-’80s and traveling up to New Year’s Eve 1999, Sharing in the Groove covers milestones such as getting signed to record labels and working the club scenes to playing amphitheaters and arenas. Along the way, details emerge of the scene’s own cultural values and the desire to be unique in a world that wanted them to follow a prescribed path. Ultimately, it’s a DIY story of creativity and making music — and how that won over a huge audience. Filled with anecdotes and stories directly from the musicians, promoters, managers, roadies, producers, label executives, and fans who lived this scene, Sharing in the Groove is a fun, fast-paced oral history that will appeal to music lovers everywhere.
Episode 223: Keep The Line Open with Joe Alterman and Mocean Worker
50:28|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with bassist/producer Mocean Worker (aka Adam Dorn) and pianist/composer Joe Alterman, who have come together for Keep The Line Open, a funky, feel-good tribute to the late soul jazz legend Les McCann. Keep The LIne Open remarkably taps into the genre-blurring spirit that defined McCann’s music, as well as his influence on Joe and Adam. Both Joe and Adam called Les McCann a friend, collaborator, and mentor. Joe was a devotee of Les who had the rare opportunity to open for his hero, and later craft songs with him. Adam met Les through his dad, Joel Dorn, who produced several Les records for Atlantic Records, including the iconic Swiss Movement. Adam and Joe created Keep The Line Open by melding sampling with live instrumentation to pay homage to an era when the groove reigned supreme and the vibe was decidedly danceable. It’s a super fun and funky sonic journey designed to sound like it was captured at a jazz club circa 1964. Learn all about it and more in this episode.
Episode 222: Organize or Burn with Fabian Holt
48:49|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Fabian Holt, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Arts at Roskilde University. He is the author of Everyone Loves Live Music: A Theory of Performance Institutions. His latest book, Organize or Burn : How New York Socialists Fight For Climate Survival, is the focus of this episode. Climate inaction is already causing widespread suffering and devastation around the world. How can citizens take collective action? Fabian Holt argues that we must go beyond protest and direct action, and turn to the potential of hybrid organizations that bring together social movements and political parties. One such “movement party” with recent political success is the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), which has become the city’s main organization for movement climate politics, running multi-year climate pressure campaigns and a slate of climate-focused electoral campaigns, Organize or Burn situates the NYC-DSA in the history of the Democratic Socialist movement in the United States, In it, Fabian contests that NYC-DSA has developed a distinct approach to political organizing that has broad relevance to citizen climate mobilization. Ultimately, Organize or Burn shows that NYC-DSA can offer powerful lessons in how political collective action can be meaningful in the present moment of political turbulence.
Episode 221: The Song That Changed Our Lives with Rick Korn
31:02|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with film and TV producer, writer, and director Rick Korn. Rick is the co-founder of In Plain View Entertainment which specializes in creating socially conscious documentaries. Rick has produced benefit concerts with Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Kevin Bacon, and Joan Jett (amongst others). He executive produced the documentary about Paul McCartney, My Old Friend, and in 2024, he directed and released A Father’s Promise, the inspiring story of professional musician Mark Barden who lost all joy in music when his son Daniel was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Mark rewired himself and became a powerful voice and activist when he co-founded Sandy Hook Promise. Rick’s latest documentary, the focus of this episode, is entitled Harry Chapin — Cat's In The Cradle: The Song That Changed Our Lives. This new documentary explores Harry Chapin’s deeply affecting folk song’s lasting impact on music and culture decades later. In it, reflecting on the song's universal themes of parenthood, time, and relationships, are legendary musicians Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Judy Collins, Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Darryl McDaniels (Run-D.M.C.), Mandy Patinkin, Robert Lamm (Chicago), Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe) and more. In this episode host Michael Shields and Rick discuss what it is about “Cat’s In The Cradle” that has affected generations of people from across the world so deeply. Join in on a celebration of Harry Chapin who was more than just a singer-songwriter; he was a storyteller, activist, and humanitarian whose life and music touched the hearts of millions.The documentary will benefit WhyHunger, Long Island Cares and the Harry Chapin Foundation.
Episode 220: Jenna Nicholls — The Commuter
34:34|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with singer-songwriter Jenna Nicholls. Hailing from the small town of Irwin, PA near Pittsburgh, after college Jenna set her sights east to test her wings as a songwriter and performer. Initially trying Boston, she ultimately gravitated to the creative hotbed of Manhattan’s Lower East Side forging lasting friendships with other like-minded artists and musicians. Jenna made three albums on her own dime: Curled Up Toes in Red Mary Janes, The Blooming Hour, and Radio Parade. The albums revealed a restless muse and a theme that would be a constant for Nicholls: a love of vintage music – anything from classic music films like “Singin’ in the Rain” to Bessie Smith. Her latest album — The Commuter — is the focus of this episode. The title of Jenna Nicholls’ new album The Commuter is fitting in every sense — the story of a journey both musical and personal. The recording signals a departure and new beginnings: a new producer (multiple Grammy winner Larry Campbell), a new record label (Hudson Valley based Royal Potato Family), a lusher sound with inventive, fleshed-out arrangements, and an astoundingly wide-ranging collection of original songs. The constant: Jenna’s unique ability to transport the listener to a different place and time with her writing and inspired singing. The Commuter displays Jenna’s melodic and lyrical gifts in full flower. It’s a cinematic trip that takes the listener to 1930’s Parisian cafés, New Orleans juke joints, and beyond. It is an album that communicates the excitement of venturing forth and the reassurance of returning home to an abiding love. Learn all about it and more in this episode.
Episode 219: Orcutt Shelley Miller with Bill Orcutt
32:47|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with guitarist and composer Bill Orcutt. Bill is one of experimental music's most influential guitarists, known for weaving melodic lines into a dense landscape of American primitivism, outsider jazz, and a stripped-down re-envisioning of the possibilities of the guitar. Bill’s jagged sound is utterly unique and instantly recognizable, compared with equal frequency to avant-garde composers and rural bluesmen. The New York Times has called him a "powerful musician" and a "go-for-broke guitar improviser." His most recent album — which is the focus of this interview — is entitled Orcutt Shelley Miller, a fiery release which finds him teamed with two other legendary, electrifying musicians, Ethan Miller and Steve Shelley. While Bill is known for his prolific solo work and his time with the band Harry Pussy (amongst many other projects), Steve Shelley is best known for his many years as the drummer of Sonic Youth, and Ethan Miller for his time with the bands Howlin Rain and Comets On Fire. Following in the footsteps of the high-firing free jazz and European outer-rock bands of the ‘60s and ‘70s and the Pacific Rim’s subterranean reimagining of “rock” form in the 90s, the teaming of these three powerhouses utilizes explosive group chemistry, focused intention, and the chance to pursue the creation of song in its rawest, purest form. Orcutt Shelley Miller is an exciting ride of an album brought to life three highly celebrated figures of experimental music, and in this interview with Bill you will learn more about the genesis of the album, how two days of studio improvisation brought the album to life, what life on the road with the album has been like, and much more.
Episode 218: A Hat Upon The Bed with Charlie Kaplan
54:23|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Brooklyn- based independent singer and songwriter Charlie Kaplan. Charlie has released three solo albums to date, each excellent in their own right, and he is the bassist in the art-pop quartet Office Culture. Charlie also helms the independent record label Glamour Gowns Records. His latest album, A Hat Upon The Bed, is the focus of this episode.A man pleads with the sky for Halley’s Comet to return. Washing the dishes devolves into a catastrophic anxiety spiral. Figuring out which key the microwave emits could foretell the secret of the universe. Messages of love extend to people who cannot receive them. These are some of the magical, everyday scenarios that singer-songwriter Charlie Kaplan weaves throughout his epic new album, A Hat Upon The Bed, all in service of surveying the unknowability of death. Drawing on the flood of love and pain that arrived during his “fatherless decade” — spanning the loss of his father in 2013 and the birth of his son in 2025 — the album pairs the strongest writing of Kaplan’s career with music that matches its untameable ambition and empathy.Order Charlie Kaplan’s The Hat Upon The Bed now!