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Minisode Redux feat. Morgan Calvacanto · philly has heART

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Hey guys, Robert here. You may have noticed that
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we have gone 48 weeks of pushing podcast episodes,
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as many as three a week. Hello, Pride. And I
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think it's time to give myself and podcast producer
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Lou, the hardest working, working mom in Philadelphia,
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and probably the world, a break. Don't you? Robert,
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me thinks you are right. As much as I love this
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project, I love my sleep and my kids. Sometimes,
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most of the time, my husband more. I think I
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might spend August hanging out with the family
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and taking more naps. Such is the life of a -
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Robert, rude! Wasn't it just your birthday? It
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is Leo season, rawr. We will be rerunning some
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deep cut mini episodes featuring conversations
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between us two and those who are both consultants
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of the pod and friends in real life throughout
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the majority of August. And Lucinda will be napping
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through it. Did you know I snore? Your husband
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told me. He didn't tell you anything else, did
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he? You mean about how you like me? Robert Thomas!
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Stay tuned through the month of August into September
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when we will open season three. And if you are
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out and about and see us, make sure you stop
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us and introduce yourself. We're on summer vacation
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for the next few weeks, so we're recording a
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few mini episodes with friends of the pod. Next
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up, we have Morgan, our absolutely talented tech
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consultant. In this podcast, we sit down with
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artists, gallerists, educators, curators, and
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other creatives who comprise the Philadelphia
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art world to discuss upcoming performances, exhibits,
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and other events and initiatives that are not
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to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia is
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so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider this
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your weekend cultural recommendation. With me
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always is my producer, Lucinda Dutter. Hello,
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hello. And today, we have Morgan. Our tech consultant.
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Yes. Morgan, we're so happy to have you today.
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I'm excited to be here. I've been a long -time
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listener, as they say. And helping behind the
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scenes as well. Yes. Without Morgan, we would
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be lost. To say the least. Morgan was able to
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kind of... help us on our record journey, our
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edit journey. We didn't even know what RSS was.
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And now you're pros. Yeah. A little over there
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with the mixing boards. Yes. So, Morgan, can
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you let us know a little bit about your origin
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story? Oh. So, God, where to begin? The beginning.
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The beginning. No, I was always a very creative
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child, very musical. My kindergarten teacher
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would play guitar and do the weather and days
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of the week. And I would go home and take my
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sister's violin and strum it like a guitar. Completely
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not the right medium. So I would do that. I would
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reenact Grease and all these other musicals.
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Eventually went on to learn guitar and sing.
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I did hairspray in high school. I was Courtney
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Collins' cast, if you can believe it. So I went
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to a performing arts high school and then...
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capitalism took me over and went to college and
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just kind of lost connection with it i've gotten
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back into like writing music now with my partner
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we're on instagram at morgan and the agenda if
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you want to check us out yes yes i would say
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i've always been creative um and slowly kind
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of coming back to it after took like a five -year
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hiatus from writing performing all that can we
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talk about where were you going for college i
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believe the music program was in your past So
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that was high school. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Girard
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Academic Music Program. Ooh, nice. The smaller
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version of Kappa, I guess. And it's like fame,
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essentially, if you're familiar with that. I'm
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familiar with that. Yeah, you're a big fan. And
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so that's when I was in Hairspray. That was,
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we had to do concert choir and like... Sing it
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was an interesting curriculum because you were
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taking music theory singing, but then also had
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like math and science So very very well -rounded,
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but college. I just went to Syracuse University
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nothing special But I did perform like around
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campus and whatnot nice. Yeah, what did you study
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in college good old public relations? but you
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know what without that I wouldn't have like all
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this experience to help you guys get your podcast
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so that was my true purpose in life i feel like
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you just wanted to call it a podcraft a freudian
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slip yeah whoops so what uh motivated you to
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take that more creative track for your high school
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what i would say i think my parents just pushed
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me a little bit to do I wanted to go to the high
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school where all my friends were going, and they
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were like, no, you have to go here. So it was
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kind of like I was pushed into it, but it was
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probably for the best. I wrote down this question,
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and you just answered it for me, but I wrote
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down, what did your parents say when you brought
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this idea to them, going to a performing arts?
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Reverse the question. Yes. What did you say?
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I... I really didn't want to go. I was like,
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I would know no one there. But I was a very reserved
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child. Like I found my group of friends and to
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have to like do it all over again was very anxiety
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inducing. So I was not thrilled to say the least,
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but again, it was all for the best. It all worked
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out, was way happier. Like I would have. Where
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I was going to go was Hallahan, so a Catholic
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school. I would have hated that. I'm like a gay,
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non -binary person. I would have hated it. Even
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if I wasn't out back then, but it was for the
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best for sure. When you were at GAMP, they call
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it GAMP, did you have an option to take a specific
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track as far as performing arts options go? Yes.
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So I don't know what it's like now, but God,
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almost 20 years ago. So you had to do regular
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choir, and then you could join concert choir,
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which was, like, the elite choir. Then there
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was jazz band, classic orchestra. You could also
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do, like, quartets. They had musical theater,
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like, drumline, marching band. So much to do.
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And did you pick musical theater? Yes. Yeah.
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Jazz band, I was like, I'm not a jazz musicianist,
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and that was really the only option for guitars.
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So I just did. the musical theater and singing.
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What was your favorite role while you were there?
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Courtney Gollins? Yeah, honestly, it was fun.
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Again, I was not a very femme -presenting person,
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but to kind of put on the act and be that way
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on stage, like I truly was acting, like for real.
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So that was probably the funnest, and I loved
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Hairspray. When I was there, they did Hairspray,
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Rent, Sound of Music, and The King and I. In
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Rent, I had a much more backstage tech role,
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so I didn't have an actual role for Rent. Default,
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the hairspray role was my favorite because it
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was really the only one on stage, technically.
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You told me you went to GAMP earlier this week,
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and I knew that just from past conversations
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you had gone to a performing arts, or at least
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an arts high school. And for some reason I thought
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you were from Allentown. I was like, I wonder
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what that commute was like. My partner's from
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Allentown. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're
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from Philadelphia then. Yeah, yeah. I did not
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know that. Where were you, you don't have to
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dox your family, but where were you commuting
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from? So I grew up in South Philly, 15 minute
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walk max. Thankfully my dad would drive me in
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the mornings. So I didn't have to walk to school,
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but I would have to walk home and like some mornings
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if he was working I'd have to walk in. But it
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wasn't bad, like thankfully. Yeah, that's not
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bad. Because it's a magnet school, people would
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come in from all over, like, northeast, Germantown,
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Norristown, even though I think that's technically
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outside of the county. Anyway, you know, people
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do what they gotta do. Someone in this country
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is fucked up. Thankfully, though, I only had
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to go, like, a 15 -minute walk. You take it over,
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Robert. I love it. All right, so we're post -school.
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You're thrust into what now is the advertising
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world. Is there anything from your high school
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experience or from your college experience that
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plays into your career today? That's a good question.
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Probably being resourceful and being ingenious
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a little bit. So a lot of songwriting, recording.
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making videos like that was all self -taught
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when i was growing up like there was no there
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was no rec philly right like that was all self
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-taught and god it was probably it was a little
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pre -youtube as well so it was like going on
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forums and figuring out how to use audacity and
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different programs like that and like understanding
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what midi is so i would say being resourceful
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though i guess ai is going to take that away
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in a little bit yeah but it it really is kind
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of just jumping into things and, like, what is
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it, building the plane while you're flying it.
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That's what I would say I've taken a lot from,
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like, having gone the creative route in high
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school and then leaving that behind. I'm asking
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you another question. I have so many questions
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over here. Have you ever written a jingle? A
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jingle? And do advertisers write jingles, or
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do they hire someone to write a jingle? Because
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they might be able to take that in -house. So
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I have not written a jingle. My partner has,
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though. But that's a thing, yeah. I personally
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just haven't done it. I feel like your partner
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and Petit Garçon could collaborate and make one
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hell of a deal. Yes, definitely. Oh, yeah. Definitely.
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Probably about P -O -O -P, but... Yeah, yeah,
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yeah. Can I? Wait till the cello can come into
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it. Oh, my God. Wait, is he learning cello? He
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got fitted for a cello last weekend, and we're
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giving cello. Just think of a little baby cello.
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Stop, that's so cute. We're trying it this summer.
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He's trying it this summer. Like, I am trying
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to chill out. I have to be at the webinar. It
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kind of is, though. You're going to be the one
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carrying this thing around the city. Taking to
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get it tuned and all that. You mean two blocks
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away from me. Let's be honest. Are you going
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to settlement? Yeah. So, Morgan, tell us about
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your foray into the podcast world yourself. I
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feel like everyone at some point, It's like,
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I'm going to start a podcast. And my partner
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and I, Paige, had talked about it for too long,
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maybe like a year or two. We were noodling on
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this idea of the machine of Disney and Nickelodeon.
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So Hilary Duff and Miranda Cosgrove and Miley
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Cyrus and all those great gems that we got from
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Hollywood Records and Nickelodeon Records or
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whatever. Whatever, don't listen to the podcast.
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we decided to just go all in again another another
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google search and like being resourceful and
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kind of figuring it out i already had like the
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audio and recording side it was more of just
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getting it like the distribution side that i
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had to learn more about i always like to commit
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to something for a year and if it doesn't work
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out then you know either pivot or just like leave
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it behind for a little bit we did it for a good
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year got like three good seasons it's a really
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saturated market talking about disney stars and
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where they came from and the machine it's such
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a popular topic there's so many podcasts so it's
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just hard to get a following but then we stopped
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recording and people always reach out and say
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when's the next episode and we're like we told
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told everyone on the last episode like this is
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it we're done page and i got to know more about
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each other and like our childhoods and what we
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listened to so it was just a fun outlet for the
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year we did it you guys seem to be doing much
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better Can you let the audience know what it
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was called? It was Girl Manufactured, and we
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were on all the major podcast platforms. Excellent.
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You guys made it a year. We've made it 17 weeks,
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so check in with us. Has it really only been,
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I guess, yeah. Where can the audience find you
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in real life and online? I keep my Instagram.
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under lock and key but you can find me back in
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music with this morgan and the agenda you can
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find me on instagram at morgan and the agenda
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like the gay agenda so follow us on there and
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we're in the process of getting our music on
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spotify and apple music so by the time this episode
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drops hopefully by then you can find us on all
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those platforms as well and stream our debut
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song called death three's a crowd that's all
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i'm gonna say about it So we're going to close
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out with some rapid fire questions for you. What's
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your favorite Philadelphia neighborhood? Probably,
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what is it, like Point Breeze and Pashunk Ave.
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I love that little strip from Mifflin up to like
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Dickinson on Pashunk Ave. Cheesesteaks with whiz
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or without? Without. Just give me like the actual
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cheese. I hate the cheese whiz. It's gross. Best
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manufactured girl artist? Paige and I always
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go back and forth on this. It's between Demi
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Lovato and Miley Cyrus. They're both incredible.
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Not only talent, but longevity and how they've
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built a career post -Disney. So it's a tie between
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them. If you could have any piece of art in your
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home, no limitations, what would it be? Okay,
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I don't know why. It really spoke to me. The
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card players. Is it Cezanne? The card players?
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Are you familiar with that one? But when I was
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little, I saw it somewhere. I was obsessed with
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it. So that one. Favorite drink at the moment?
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Probably just my... protein shakes I've been
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making. Vanilla, strawberries, bananas, and peanut
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butter. Are you a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda,
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or Charlotte? Unfortunately, probably a Miranda.
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I'm such a stick in the mud. And when I see her,
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because I'm in, what am I, season three or four?
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When I see her with Steve, I'm like, oh God.
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Paige, I'm sorry, but sometimes you're my Steve.
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So you... Watch the episode where she is desperate
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to be in a couple, any couple, and goes to the
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partner's dinner party with Sid. Yes! Oh, I love
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that episode. I feel like we are at a turning
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point with Sid. Sid needs to come back to Ange
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just like that because now this is her there.
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The appropriate pronoun. This is a moment. Anytime,
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I feel like at 1 .1 of the 4. always has, like,
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some lesbian relationship or, like, adjacent
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type thing. Oh, yeah. Those are always my favorite
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episodes. But, yeah, Miranda, unfortunately.
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Justice for Miranda. Well, Morgan, thank you
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so much for your time today. Yeah, thanks for...
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Your time, your talents, your treasures, all
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of it. Thanks for having me. I feel like I'm
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highly underqualified to be a guest on this,
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but thank you. Well, not only your time today,
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but I would say your time over the past six months.
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You've been so helpful. Yeah, I'm proud of you
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both. Hey, Morgan. Hey, Lucinda. Can you babysit
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soon? Thank you.