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Across the Margin: The Podcast
Episode 106: Louder Than Bombs with Ed Vulliamy
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This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast presents an interview with Ed Vulliamy, former reporter for The Guardian and The Observer. He is the author of Amexica: War Along the Borderline and The War is Dead, Long Live the War — Bosnia: The Reckoning. His latest book Louder Than Bombs — part memoir, part reportage — is a story of music from the front lines. In Louder Than Bombs, Vulliamy offers a testimony to his lifelong passion for music. Vulliamy’s reporting has taken him around the world to cover the Bosnian War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism, the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003, narco violence in Mexico, and more. All places where he confronted stories of violence, suffering, and injustice. Through it all, Vulliamy has turned to music not only as a reprieve but also as a means to understand and express the complicated emotions that follow. Describing the artists, songs, and concerts that most influenced him, in Louder Than Bombs Vulliamy unites the two largest threads of his life — music and war. Vulliamy’s book is a wildly exciting and informative journey that covers some of the most important musical milestones of the past fifty years, from Jimi Hendrix playing “Machine Gun” at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 to the Bataclan in Paris under siege in 2015. Vulliamy was present for many of these historic moments, and with him as our guide, we see them afresh through his unique perspective, along the way meeting musicians like B.B. King, Graham Nash, Patti Smith, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, and Bob Dylan. As Vulliamy discovers, when horror is unspeakable and when words seem to fail us, we can turn to music for expression and comfort, or for rage and pain. Poignant and sensitively told, Louder Than Bombs is an unforgettable record of a life bursting with music. In this episode host Michael Shields and Vulliamy converse upon the cathartic power of music while waxing poetically about the ways musicians channel and give birth music. They explore Vulliamy’s interactions with B.B. King and his experience seeing Jimi Hendrix mere days before his passing while recounting the importance of a band called The Plastic People of the Universe around the fall of the Berlin Wall, and ultimately celebrate Graham Nash’s aim to change the world through music, and so much more.
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Episode 234: The Great Flood with Bill Morrison
01:06:53|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Bill Morrison who has been called the poet laureate of lost films (New York Times, 9/21/2021), as he often makes films that re-frame long-forgotten moving images. He has premiered feature-length documentary films at the New York, Sundance, Telluride and Venice film festivals. In 2021 Morrison became a member of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. His found footage opus Decasia (2002) was the first film of the 21st century to be named to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) was included on over 100 critics' lists of the best films of the year and was later listed as one of the best films of its decade by the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. His most recent film, Incident (2023) won the Best Short Film Award from International Documentary Association in 2023, the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Documentary Short in 2025. His film, The Great Flood (2013) — the focus of this episode — was recognized with the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for historical scholarship.The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in American history. In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places and inundated 27,000 square miles to a depth of up to 30 feet. Part of its enduring legacy was the mass exodus of displaced sharecroppers. Musically, the “Great Migration” of rural southern blacks to Northern cities saw the Delta Blues electrified and reinterpreted as the Chicago Blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Rock and Roll. Using minimal text and no spoken dialog, filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer / guitarist Bill Frisell have created with The Great Flood a powerful portrait of a seminal moment in American history through a collection of silent images matched to a searing original soundtrack.
Episode 233: Skerik 061725
40:19|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with pioneering saxophonist and composer Skerik. Over three decades, Skerik has built a devout following through his often contrarian, outsider approach to jazz, funk, and rock music. A founding member of Critters Buggin, Garage A Trois, The Dead Kenny Gs, and DRKWAV, among others, he has also become an essential contributor to several Les Claypool projects and has collaborated with artists including Pearl Jam, Mad Season, and Roger Waters. This episode focuses in on Skerik’s latest endeavor, his first fully fledged ambient album in a 30-plus-year career, SKERIK 061725, Ambient music elements have long appeared throughout Skerik’s work, but here he fully embraces the approach across six tracks, using multi-dimensional, layered “saxophonics,” shaped by electronic effects, to create a dreamlike state of sonic texture and sound. In this episode host Michael Shields and Skerik discuss how SKERIK 061725 (Loosegroove Records) was stitched together in one day and the influences and stories behind the enthralling album. They discuss forthcoming albums from other Skerik projects including ones from DRKWAV and Garage a Trois. They also talk about the reissue and birthing of Critters Buggin’s debut album Guest, and so much more.
Episode 232: Kimball Gallagher & 88 International
26:58|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with renowned pianist and composer Kimball Gallagher. Gallagher’s journey as a pianist has carried him far beyond the traditional concert hall. A Boston-raised musician trained at Juilliard, he began questioning the narrow path often available to concert pianists early in his career. That curiosity led him to launch an ambitious 88-concert tour across seven continents, funded by 88 supporters who each sponsored one key of the piano. These intimate, community-hosted performances brought classical music out of formal halls and into living rooms, cultural centers, and gathering spaces worldwide. Along the way he encountered communities where music served as a tool for leadership, inspiring him to found 88 International, a nonprofit that now runs youth-led music initiatives in Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, The Gambia, Myanmar, and Taiwan. Its flagship program, Tunisia88, established student-led music clubs in all 592 public high schools in Tunisia, giving students space to write songs, organize concerts, and lead creative projects in their communities. Just weeks ago, that work came to life in the U.S. as the Tunisia88 Alumni Choir completed its first U.S. tour — a two-week East Coast journey where young musicians performed original songs, collaborated with university choirs, and shared how a post-revolution experiment in student voice grew into a global youth movement.
Episode 231: Pat Kelly's Hook
29:10|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Pat Kelly. Pat recently released his fifth album, and his first for Glamour Gowns Records, entitled Hook, an enticing and cathartic set of songs that evokes self-doubt, delusional ambition, anger, and wistfulness. Pat’s lyrical prowess is exceptional. His wordplay and delivery brings to mind some of the greatest, from David Berman of the Silver Jews, to Bill Callahan and Leonard Cohen. In this interview host Michael Shields and Pat discuss some of the meaningful themes that manifest themselves throughout Hook, the tremendous musicians who helped Pat bring the album to life, the unique inspirations behind the songs on Hook, and more.Find Pat Kelly’s Hook here.
Episode 230: Nature’s Last Dance with Natalie Kyriacou
43:54|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Natalie Kyriacou, an award-winning environmentalist, charity director, and author. Natalie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and the Forbes 30 Under 30 honor for her services to wildlife and environmental conservation in 2018, and was recognised as one of The Australian’s ‘Top Innovators’ in 2022. She was the UN Environment Programme’s ‘Young Champion of the Earth’ Finalist and is LinkedIn’s Top Green Voice. She is a Board Director at the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and CARE Australia, the Founder of My Green World, a UNESCO Green Citizens Pathfinder, a member of the XPrize Brain Trust for Biodiversity and Conservation, and an Australian Delegate and Climate Justice Lead at the W20 (the official engagement group of the G20). Her book — Nature’s Last Dance : Tales of Wonder in the Age of Extinction — is the focus of this episode. Amidst the tragedy of wild species extinction lies a hidden world of survival and wonder. Conservationists are embroiled in a high-stakes clash with a drug cartel to save a porpoise. Scientists are fighting to save a flightless bird that romances rocks. Unconventional animals are upending 21st century beauty standards, and financiers are betting on whale poo to make its debut on Wall Street. Nature's Last Dance is a story of survival and extinction, of life and death, of curiosity and perversion, of unimaginable joy and harrowing sorrow. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly unfolding mass extinction event, Nature's Last Dance takes readers across hunting grounds, through jungles and oceans, inside communities, through trafficking rings and courtrooms, and into the heart of battles to survive against all odds.Grab a copy of Nature’s Last Dance here!
Episode 229: On Healing Land, Birds Perch with Naja Lockwood
28:46|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with director Naja Lockwood. Naja has executive produced multiple documentary and narrative films focusing on social justice and is the founder of RYSE Media Ventures which supports stories of diverse voices. Born in Vietnam, Naja immigrated to Massachusetts during the Fall of Saigon. As a refugee, Naja continues to advocate for immigrants from her undergraduate years to her current work with the Governor's Workforce Services. She serves on the Committee for Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies at Harvard University and The Coalition for Diverse Harvard. She is the Founder and CEO of Naja Lockwood Designs which supports female artisans of Southeast Asia. She is the director of “On Healing Land, Birds, Perch,” which is the focus of this episode. “On Healing Land, Birds Perch (Đất Lành Chim Đậu)” tells the stories behind the iconic photograph taken by Eddie Adams during the 1968 Tet Offensive titled “Saigon Execution.” The film presents an opportunity to delve into the complex narratives and the lasting impact of a single moment captured in time. The photograph of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong officer, Nguyen Van Lem, has become a powerful symbol, often viewed as emblematic of the brutality of the Vietnam War. However, it also represents much more than the act of violence it depicts. It reflects the personal stories, struggles, and the human costs of war for generations that continue to reverberate today.Watch “On Healing Land, Birds Perch” here! *A correction to what’s said on the podcast: Malcolm Brown’s burning monk photo was taken in 1963, not 1968.
Episode 228: What Do You Do When You're Lonesome with Jonathan Bernstein
52:57|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Jonathan Bernstein, a senior research editor and writer at Rolling Stone, who before that was a freelancer for Oxford American, The Guardian, GQ, Vulture, Pitchfork, The Village Voice, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, and American Songwriter. His book, What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome : The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle, is the focus of this episode. In What To Do When You’re Lonely, Jonathan Bernstein, with the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate, unravels a short but incredibly creative life, and reveals the backstories behind Justin’s greatest songs and what happened when it all fell apart while also capturing a shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents.
Episode 227: Michael Townsend's Secret Mall Apartment
34:37|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with artist and educator Michael Townsend. Michael is the founder of the Tape Art movement and for over 30 years, he has created hundreds of ephemeral murals and community projects around the world. His work includes the 9/11 Hope Project, the invention of the BOOM! Projector, and the now-legendary documentary Secret Mall Apartment. Directed by Jeremy Workman and executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg, the critically acclaimed documentary follows Michael and his collaborators, who, in 2003, secretly built and lived in an apartment inside Providence Place Mall for four years. What started as an underground protest against gentrification has become a cultural phenomenon, a story about art, resistance, and community. At the center of the film is Michael Townsend, the artist whose work sparked the story. Michael has found a way to live his art, and give back to his community and the country all the while, from teaching collaborative drawing in hospitals and schools, and building projects designed to disappear physically but endure culturally. The mall apartment was one project among many — a piece of protest art that happened to be documented, and in this episode host Michael Shields and Michael Townsend delve into Michael’s motivations, his enduring and inspiring work with Tape Art, the blended line between art and everyday living that defines Michael’s life, and so much more.
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.