Latest / Pop of Culture / S03 E14 - We Do Duos

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S03 E14 - We Do Duos · Pop of Culture

0:00
- Support for "Pop Of Culture,"
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(bright music)
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- This week on "Pop Of Culture,"
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duos, we talk to two sets of local artists.
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John and Jenni Marsh are writing partners,
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and Ruthie Berkey and Randy Eyestone
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are independent musicians who have joined forces.
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They'll perform live in the Pop Studios.
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Also, this week's Beautiful Thing,
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takes us to a hot day in the summer.
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We'll dive in coming up.
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(upbeat music)
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- From IPR, this is "Pop of Culture." I'm Michelle Kinsey.
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And I'm Kara DuQuette.
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Later this hour we'll hear a live performance
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from a local duo.
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- But we're going to start today with a different duo.
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John and Jenni Marsh recently wrote and directed
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the West Wind at Muncie Civic Theater.
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This was their third play together.
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They sat down to talk about their partnership
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with IPRs Abby Urban.
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- So when did writing start for both of you?
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- You go first.
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- Okay, well, the West Wind,
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we'll kinda work our way backwards.
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The West Wind is our third show that we've written together
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and it's a comedy like the others.
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We write comedies and it just have a lot of fun
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doing it together.
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You know, it's our relaxation
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and our escape and so on.
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And our first show was called "Fixing Up,"
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and we started it in the mid-'90's
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and we were raising little kids at the time,
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so we didn't have much time,
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you know, to work on it.
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So sometimes a year or two would go by.
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So it took us several years to get that one done.
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And then we sent it off to contests
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and it actually won the McLaren Comedy Festival,
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a playwriting competition in Midland, Texas.
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And so it was produced down there in May of 2015.
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And then our second play was "Cat's Pajamas,"
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which we workshopped and was first put on here
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at Muncie Civic Theater.
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- It was not a fully produced play,
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but it was a staged reading.
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And we did rewrites during the rehearsal process.
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So the cast had scripts in hand because we had made edits
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and updated things as things evolved.
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- But it did have sets and costumes and props and so on.
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- So was it like rewriting it as they were like doing it?
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- It was really fun.
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You know, we'd see something in the evening rehearsal
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that we didn't like or we thought
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we could do a little better.
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We'd go home, we'd work on the pages till all hours.
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It was kind of exhausting really, because we had to get up
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and do our day jobs in the morning
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and then come back to rehearsal with the new pages
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to see how it played out.
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And the other thing that was really special
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about that production
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was there was an audience feedback session
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after the performances,
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so audience members could ask questions
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or comment on things they didn't like or liked.
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And so all of that helped kind of take that play
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to the next level.
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- Yeah, we were taking notes and all,
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and you know, plays are meant to be heard, right?
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I mean, you write it and you can read it
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and get a sense of it, but you kinda really don't know
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until you hear, you know, hear it.
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And "The West Wind," we kind of just workshop
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with just informally at our house
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with some of our civic friends, you know,
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coming and reading it and you know, and then tweaking it
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and so on after that.
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- So why write comedies?
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- I think the world needs more laughter in it for starters,
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I was involved in drama club when I was in high school
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and I always loved the screwball comedies like
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Arsenic and Old Lace and You Can't Take It with you.
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Those kinds of shows that just have a cast of characters
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that are just zany and living their best individual lives
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and the circumstances they find themselves thrown into.
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So our first two plays are true farces
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and that's a space we really love to be in.
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Our day jobs are kind of serious, so we like to laugh
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and giggle and just be not serious at all.
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- And I think a lot of other people like, you know,
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like to do that too, just be taken out of themselves
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and have fun and end up, you know, leaving feeling good
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and happy, you know, for those moments.
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I think that's really important.
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I mean, we really believe in humor
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as an important part of our lives, right?
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And dealing with the things that go on in our lives
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and so, you know, yeah, comedy sounds like
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it's just frivolous and extra, but really it's important.
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- What has it been like writing together
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and doing this together?
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- Well, I have a story we like to share
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from a friend of ours that said to us,
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"You guys write plays together?"
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He says, "My wife and I tried to paint the den together
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and it ended up in a divorce."
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So it's so much fun.
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I mean, at this point in our lives,
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we can do it without having our ego
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heavily tied up in it, right?
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And so we just have the fun of the creative process.
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You know, that we brainstorm the ideas together,
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you know, and we kind of oftentimes start with a set.
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And this one it was like, well, I wanna train, you know,
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let's, that might be kinda challenging.
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Well, let's try and do that.
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We brainstorm the characters and you know,
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what each of them are trying to do and so on.
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- Yeah, and you know, this guy makes me laugh
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every single day.
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Some days we just write down-
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- Sometimes intentionally.
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- Sometimes we just write down the funny things
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that happen in real life and that turns into a story
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or a play, which is certainly the case in fixing up,
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which is based on a couple that's fixing up their house
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and their brother.
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And it was kind of based on some real experiences.
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- Yeah it does.
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Yeah, so some of those stories didn't have to be changed
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too much to be put into the play, but, you know,
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write what you know, and that's where I think, you know,
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you can be the most authentic.
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- How did you find out?
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Like, oh, we're gonna write place together.
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Like that's what we're gonna do.
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- We kinda stumbled upon it.
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- We both like to create and write,
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and we've always done that.
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I mean, in fact, one of our first dates
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we were sharing writing what we'd each other had written,
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you know, poems and, you know, things like that.
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I'd had an interest in theater
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and she had a lot of performing experience
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in high school and.
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- Well, and you know, one night we were just talking about,
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wouldn't it be fun if we could fix his brother up
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with someone at the time?
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And then we're like, oh, wouldn't that be a fun plan?
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You know, what if we tried to host something
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in this disaster of a house we're fixing up right now.
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We're doing it ourselves.
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- Wait, does he know that character is based on him?
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This might be a reveal right here for your audience.
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- He does.
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(John laughs)
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- What has been your favorite to either write
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or to direct or both?
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- Well, we kinda stumbled into the directing process.
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Michael O'Hara had directed "Cat's Pajamas,"
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and he was on tap to direct "Fixing Up,"
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when it was going to be produced here at Civic.
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And a scheduling conflict prevented him
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from being able to do it.
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And Civic said, why don't you guys direct?
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We've been wanting to get you to direct shows
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for a while now, let's see what you can do.
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And so we directed that show and absolutely loved it.
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- We loved it, yeah.
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- And they invited us to come back.
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And so we directed the importance of "Being Earnest,"
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which was a really magical experience.
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We just had a phenomenal cast.
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It's a brilliant play by Oscar Wilde.
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And we had fun with the set and the staging
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and it was a fantastic experience.
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So when it came time to put this play
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into the a consideration for this season,
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they said, "Would you direct?"
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And we said, "Yes."
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- We love the collaborative process of it.
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You know, we love the fact that, you know,
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everybody is coming here, you know, to enjoy themselves,
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to express themselves, to tap into their creativity.
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- And it's so interesting to sit with pen and paper
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or at the computer and imagine this world
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and imagine these people, but the amazing talented cast
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we have made these people whole.
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- Why do you think it's important for local artists
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like yourself to have voices in local art spaces
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like the Civic?
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- Art and culture creates greater empathy and understanding
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of the human condition and relationships.
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And the more you expose yourself to stories and culture,
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the more empathy you have,
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the more you understand your fellow humans
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and are more likely to just be respectful,
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be understanding, give some grace.
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And I think it's really, really important
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that Muncie foster creativity and culture and arts
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because that just fosters better citizens.
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- It takes a lot of courage, you know, for people to,
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you know, do creative things and put themselves out there.
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And here I'm crediting the cast and crew and so on,
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you know, tremendously.
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You know, they come in here
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and they're stretching themselves, right?
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And that pays off so many benefits in your life, right?
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You know, people who push themselves
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in those kinds of experiences.
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Yeah, it's just gonna pay off benefits
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and how you deal with life.
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- So what's next? Do we know what's next?
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- We have a play in the works.
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It's mostly just us talking about it over breakfast
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and jotting down notes and then finding all those notebooks
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and notes and starting to put some pieces together.
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We have an idea for a show that is actually not a play,
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but a dance, so we're working on that.
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I mean, we just have different ideas and we just pursue them
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on the side as we find time.
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- And we're going to be directing next season
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on the main stage we'll be directing the Christmas show
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"It's a Wonderful Life."
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- And we're very excited about that.
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- Yeah, super excited about that.
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- A very fond, sentimental favorite for sure.
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- Well thank you guys so much for me (indistinct)
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and talking (indistinct) I really appreciate it.
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- Thank you.
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Thank you Abby, we appreciate it.
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- That was John and Jenni Marsh
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speaking with IPRs Abby Urban.
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- This interview was produced by Stephanie Wiechmann.
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(bright music)
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We started today with a playwriting duo.
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Now we have a musical duo.
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And before we get into this interview,
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a warning that there is a brief mention of suicide
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near the end.
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- We are in the IPR studios talking with Randy Eyestone
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and Ruthie Berkey.
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And sometimes they perform individually
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and at other times they are a dynamic duo.
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So I would like you to start,
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one of you, by talking about your musical journey.
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And Ruthie, let's start with you.
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- I started singing, I don't know, 20 years ago or no,
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30 years ago at the Civic Theater.
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- Okay.
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- Was my first public singing
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and now I sing the national anthem at numerous events,
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the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Service on Veterans Day
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and Memorial Day.
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Randy sang with me this last Veterans Day.
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And I sing at the Senior Citizen Center the first Saturday,
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every month they have a Veteran's breakfast.
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I am a Navy veteran, and they're also having,
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I wanna plug this,
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Dedication of the Revolutionary War Monument
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on the 11th at 10 o'clock at the Senior Citizen Center.
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- Okay. Are you going to sing at that?
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- Yes.
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- Okay, and what will you be singing there?
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- The national anthem.
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- Okay. And that is usually what you sing?
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- I do that, yes.
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And then I also go to various jams around town.
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There's numerous open mics.
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Mondays, every other Monday at the Guardian.
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Tuesdays is at Elm Street and Room Five
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is on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday.
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Governor Davis Memorial Blues Jam is at the Oasis
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from 8:00 to 11:00.
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- We're very familiar with all of these venues
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and opportunities.
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I wanted like to know because of your service
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to our country, what makes you so excited
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about sharing the national anthem in this way
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with so many groups?
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- It's an honor.
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It's an honor to have the ability to sing that.
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And it's an honor for me as a military veteran, to sing it.
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- Well, that's a beautiful thing.
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Well, Randy, can you talk a little bit
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about your musical journey as well?
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- Yeah. And first of all, Ruthie's known all around town.
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So yeah, anytime you go to a venue,
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they know that she's a great singer
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and everybody looks forward to seeing her on stage.
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I'm not quite as noble as her when it comes to like my,
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as you said, musical journey.
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I've been-
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- Did you say Noble or notable?
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- Either one, they both work.
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But Noble is what I meant to say.
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- Okay, just checking.
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- Because she's definitely leaning towards what she can do
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as a service and because of her service.
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So thank you for that.
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And as far as me, like, I remember a time
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when I didn't sing or perform-
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- Or write.
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- Or write really, but the first time that I was ever
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on stage and sang in front of somebody was in a church.
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I was around like five years old.
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And the only thing I really know about it was that
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they had trouble getting me off the stage.
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What, does Spirit move you?
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- I was supposed to do one song and I wanted to do,
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and I knew two, so I wanted to do the second one too.
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And they had to kind of pull me off stage
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once I was up there.
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And I didn't always get attention for good things
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when I was little.
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So that was also the first time when I was getting attention
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for something that felt good.
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And so I think it was really powerful for me early on
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When I got a little older, I was in some bands.
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I was in a band in high school
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where I was by far the youngest one.
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And our ages ranged from, I was about 15 or 16.
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And the oldest guy in the band,
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we rehearsed at his house we was like 32.
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It was a weird band.
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- Did you convene this band particularly?
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- Did I what?
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- Did you get all these people together too?
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- No, I joined actually later when they were looking
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for somebody to sing.
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They had like great guitarists.
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They had a very good drummer.
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But it was an odd mix of people that I learned a lot from.
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And part of it was like being that front man,
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because these guys were all more experienced than me,
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but I was the one in front of the mic.
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So it was a cool, fun experience.
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- Well, when did you start to performing on your own?
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- Oh, I would say once I could.
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So I've always done things like open mics
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though, for instance.
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So I'm originally from Indiana, but I've moved around a lot.
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I'm a bit of a nomad.
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- Indiana called you back?
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- Yeah, tends to, but I keep running away.
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But one place I run to a lot is Nashville.
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First time I went was in 2004
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and I went with a guitar player, a friend of mine.
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I guess I always lead with what their instrument is
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before they're a friend of mine too.
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But, he was a really great guitarist and good friend.
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And we lived there for a short time
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and we did things like open mics he would just play.
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And sometimes for whatever reason wouldn't go.
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And I would even do like acapella open nights,
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which is very daunting when everybody in Nashville
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is a virtuoso on their country guitar.
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And I'm just up there like singing my original songs.
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Like it is more like a poetry with like a good melody
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to it at.
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- You gotta love that.
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- But I've always written, I've written a few times
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with other people, nothing necessarily that's too notable,
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but it's always fun to do that as well.
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But most of my writing I do by myself
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and Nashville is great for many, many things.
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But when I went there, I found out really quickly
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I wasn't looking in the right place.
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I was looking at like Broadway
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and you had to know a thousand country covers
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and wear the right, a different kind of hat than I wear
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and different things, you know?
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So I felt like I didn't fit in.
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I wish I would've found East Nashville faster
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because East Nashville is where the songwriters
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and the hippies and the people that don't like hanging
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out on Broadway, I don't wanna knock Broadway.
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Broadway is-
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- No, you just found your tribe.
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- But that's, yeah.
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And that's where I did end up in Nashville again
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and ended up living in East Nashville.
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And again, wish I would've known that 20 years earlier
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or 18 years earlier.
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- Well, you found it now and you're here now,
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the two of you.
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So we would like to hear the duo perform.
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Can you do that for us?
18:54
- Yeah, yeah.
18:55
So yeah, this one is Worthy of a Song, is the name of it.
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And it's kind of about trying to make,
19:05
just do something every day that's worth writing about.
19:09
Or at a minimum finding something to write about
19:12
in that day.
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And it means a few different things
19:16
to a few different people.
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And so that's a cool thing too is,
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I might write it about something
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and it means something to me
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and it'll mean something different
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to everybody who hears it so that's cool.
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So yeah, this one is Worthy of a Song, is the name of it.
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And it's kind of about trying to make,
19:41
just do something every day that's worth writing about.
19:45
Or at a minimum finding it something to write about
19:47
in that day.
19:49
And it's means a few different things
19:51
to a few different people.
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And so that's a cool thing too is,
19:55
is I might write it about something
19:57
and it means something to me
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and it'll mean something different
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to everybody who hears it, so that's cool.
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But let's try it.
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(upbeat guitar music)
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♪ I'm nowhere I'm going ♪
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♪ After I get down there ♪
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♪ You'll know I'm leaving when I'm gone ♪
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♪ Right here, right now, today we are together ♪
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♪ Make this day worthy of this song ♪
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♪ Make this day worthy of this song ♪
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♪ We should take a nice long walk ♪
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♪ We could have a nice long talk ♪
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♪ Maybe have a drink or two or three ♪
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♪ See where the evening takes us, feel how Sativo wakes us ♪
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♪ Offer up myself, you open up to me ♪
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♪ Offer up myself, as you open up to me ♪
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♪ There's a light at the end of the tunnel ♪
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♪ It's a long black train ♪
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♪ There's a light at the end of the tunnel ♪
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♪ it's a long black train ♪
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♪ I'll know where I'm going after I get down there ♪
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♪ You'll know I'm leaving when I'm gone, long gone ♪
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♪ Right here, right now today we are together ♪
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♪ Make this day worthy of this song ♪
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♪ Make this day worthy of this song ♪
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♪ Make this day worthy of this song ♪
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(audience applauds)
23:14
- Thank you. - Thank you.
23:17
- Where can we like find y'all online or in person
23:21
and hear some more? - I got very little online,
23:25
but because of knowing I was coming here,
23:27
a friend of mine was like,
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hey, put a bunch of your stuff up on SoundCloud.
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So on SoundCloud, I go by my last name,
23:35
which is Eyestone, and that's E-Y-E-S-T-O-N-E.
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And you can find that on SoundCloud.
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There's a lot of other really cool music
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from the most famous people
23:45
down to somebody who has one song.
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And I'm somewhere in the middle.
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But I put up like 30 songs in the last two days
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of just stuff that I already had recorded on my phone
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or recorded with other people in different studios.
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Most of it's just me though.
24:01
And Bela Negra my guitar.
24:04
- Bela Negra?
24:04
- Bela Negra, it's my black beauty
24:07
and she's a Spanish guitar.
24:08
So it's Bela Negra.
24:10
- Excellent. Well, do you mind pa playing one more for us?
24:13
- Yeah, I could do one more.
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I don't know if we have any others that we do together,
24:16
but I could do something.
24:17
- Yeah, Go ahead.
24:18
- I think that'd be just fine
24:19
because we talked about-
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- I was talking about Nashville earlier and I just,
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a really good friend of mine,
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I thought I was writing this song about myself
24:25
and realized I was writing it about
24:27
a good friend of mine named Mark.
24:29
And this song's called The Saint.
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And it's another one that means different things
24:34
to different people, but-
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- That's the best kind of song, right?
24:37
- Yeah.
24:39
(upbeat guitar music)
24:53
♪ So you called tonight, can it wait till tomorrow ♪
24:58
♪ My ears are burning and you sound like sorrow ♪
25:02
♪ It's a little too late, I'm a little too gone ♪
25:06
♪ Your little face tell me something is wrong ♪
25:10
♪ And so I am here for you ♪
25:26
♪ Come inside, come out of the weather ♪
25:30
♪ You and I can get it together ♪
25:34
♪ Come inside and stay for a while ♪
25:37
♪ I'll pour you some cheer and I light you a smile ♪
25:41
♪ And I, I am here for you ♪
25:49
♪ I am here for you ♪
26:05
♪ And if you're too wired, I can help you down ♪
26:09
♪ If you're too tired, I can turn you around ♪
26:12
♪ If what you need is a hand to hold on to believe in me ♪
26:17
♪ I'm the man you belong to and I am here for you ♪
26:27
♪ I am here for you ♪
26:50
♪ I got what you want, I ain't what you need ♪
26:54
♪ What you need a space between you and me ♪
26:58
♪ And as for tomorrow, you never can tell ♪
27:01
♪ And you can't drink the water from a wishing well ♪
27:04
♪ But I am here for you ♪
27:12
♪ I am here for you ♪
27:20
♪ I am here ♪
27:28
- Woo, well, thank you for adding some music,
27:31
both of you to this song Worthy Day.
27:33
- Awesome. Thank you.
27:34
- Appreciate you being here. - Excellent.
27:37
- Is there anything else you wanted to say about your music?
27:40
- Just one quick thought,
27:41
and I hate to leave it on a bad note,
27:43
but doing these songs, sometimes you write them
27:47
and you mean one thing and then turns into another thing,
27:50
and then sometimes you think you know what it means
27:52
and then something happens
27:54
and all the words mean something different.
27:57
And not too long ago, a very good friend of mine
28:03
took his own life.
28:04
And I only bring that sad note up to say that these songs
28:08
that I just sang you to you today,
28:10
like took on a whole new meaning.
28:13
And if anybody happens to hear this
28:16
and that's something that you're thinking about,
28:19
please don't do it.
28:21
I know you think that you might be a burden on people
28:25
that you love, but there's nothing like the burden
28:29
after you're gone that you feel.
28:33
So I just wanna say, just give somebody a call,
28:40
email me at Eyestone music, you know, Gmail or something.
28:44
We'll talk about it, but don't please don't do it.
28:47
- Thank you so much Randy for sharing
28:52
and saying that very important, those words.
28:58
(gentle music)
29:00
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide
29:04
or is in crisis, call or text 988,
29:07
to reach the Suicide in Crisis Lifeline.
29:10
(gentle guitar music)
29:28
- This is "Pop of Culture." I'm Michelle Kinsey.
29:31
- And I'm Kara DuQuette.
29:32
- And I'm Jen Blackmer
29:33
- Indiana spring can mean snow, driving rain,
29:36
brilliant sunshine, gusty winds often in the same 24 hours.
29:41
This week's Beautiful Thing is about summer
29:43
and one particular afternoon.
29:45
- And today's beautiful thing comes to us from.
29:47
- I'm Candace Angelica Walsh, coming to you from Chicago.
29:52
- And Candace, can you describe
29:54
what is around you right now?
29:56
- I see a Squishmallow of a Brindle French bulldog
30:05
and a very real neurotic pit bull
30:11
- That is the best.
30:12
I am assuming these are sitting on your desk.
30:15
- He'd love to be sitting on my desk.
30:19
He is right by my feet.
30:21
And the Squishmallow is nearby in a chair.
30:25
- Amazing. I love that.
30:28
Candace, you're gonna share with us
30:31
a Beautiful Thing entitled, "Playing Hooky."
30:36
- Dad sat at the park picnic table
30:39
smoking one Marlborough after another.
30:43
With not a word of protest from my sister or me.
30:48
Pulls apart from the week before
30:50
when we snapped his whole pack in half
30:54
and flushed it down the toilet.
30:57
We were extending some grace in exchange for the freedom
31:01
of a Tuesday outing during the school year.
31:04
Not yet knowing he'd lost another carpentry job
31:08
that we wouldn't be going back
31:10
to Baldwin Elementary anyhow.
31:14
That morning he picked us up in the Toyota motor home
31:18
borrowed from grandpa that we used as a car.
31:22
And we drove around East Los Angeles
31:24
looking for a place to swim.
31:27
On the floor amidst the empty McDonald's bags
31:31
and mobile oil bottles.
31:33
I magically found my rainbow one piece from our lake trip
31:36
a month prior and my sister threw on
31:39
one of dad's big white Hanes work shirts over her underwear.
31:45
We settled on a park with a two foot deep wadding pool,
31:50
and for hours we played mermaid royalty
31:53
to a handful of preschool kids
31:55
who didn't yet know how to judge us.
32:00
The afternoon sun haloed our court
32:04
and warmed us to a glowing notion.
32:07
Stolen time offers a unique joy.
32:12
As it started to get dark, I looked at dad
32:16
who made no indication he was ready to leave.
32:20
He took another deep drag and blew smoke
32:24
toward the scorch sunset and the coming tomorrow,
32:28
like a summons to a dual.
32:32
- Candace, thank you for sharing. That was lovely.
32:35
Stolen time offers a unique joy.
32:39
That really jumped out at me
32:42
in regards to this picture of this moment
32:44
that you are sharing with us.
32:47
What inspired this piece for you?
32:49
- So, originally I had written or attempted to write a novel
32:54
or what a lot of us call autobiographical novels
32:57
and I reverse engineered it for Beautiful Things.
33:03
And it was interesting because when I called upon
33:07
the memory itself, I had already written so much description
33:12
that I felt like I had to do if it were fiction,
33:19
that it became so much more alive and palpable as the truth.
33:26
- Oh wow.
33:27
- So I think that a lot of nonfiction writers,
33:29
and maybe I'll just speak for myself,
33:31
but it feels like sometimes you're writing this happened,
33:34
then this happened, then this happened.
33:35
But I took an amazing workshop with Claire Dieter,
33:39
who is just a phenomenal memoirist and critical writer.
33:43
And she said, you know, fiction is addition
33:49
and memoir is subtraction.
33:51
And although that's very drilled down or boiled down
33:55
if you wanna call it, it really made sense to me
33:58
because when you're creating an entire world,
34:01
you focus on the little nuances and details
34:04
that you otherwise wouldn't if you're just assuming
34:06
the page knows what happened.
34:09
You know that you're thinking of the memory
34:10
and you're reiterating it because of course,
34:13
you know, the reader sees what you're seeing,
34:16
but that's not always the case.
34:18
So for me it was very much going back to the drawing board
34:22
and seeing what needs to be here, you know,
34:26
in order to capture, you know, this moment.
34:30
And that was where the subtraction came in,
34:33
what needs to not be here.
34:35
- You also make a lovely use here of that tension
34:40
between maybe a positive moment and not so much.
34:46
I mean, when I was reading this
34:47
I was thinking about my parents and the things
34:52
that I knew they were dealing with when I was a kid,
34:56
but that I really didn't know they were dealing with.
34:58
You know, this idea of mermaids in a swimming pool
35:03
while your dad is obviously worried about what comes next.
35:09
You know, so these moments of maybe joy
35:13
that we remember or are imprinted in our brains,
35:17
but yet when you begin to pick it apart,
35:20
you're like, what's really happening here underneath.
35:22
- Yes. That's so insightful.
35:24
I mean, I just took a scene class
35:28
with a brilliant writer, Marya Hornbacher.
35:32
She had recently shared,
35:34
when you write in the present tense,
35:36
there's a sense of innocence to it
35:38
because you don't know what's coming next, right?
35:41
So reverting back to a memory
35:45
and going into the present tense first person,
35:49
if you're reflecting on like a childhood moment,
35:53
it really creates this sense of innocence
35:55
because you don't know what's happening next.
35:58
And I think I chose in this particular piece
36:01
to write in the past tense
36:04
because it felt like I wanted the subtext to be
36:10
a little bit of that ominous sense of like,
36:12
oh, there was more going on than I really realized
36:14
at the time.
36:15
- Yeah, and that I think is clear too
36:18
in the end of the first section you say, you know,
36:21
we wouldn't be going back
36:22
to Baldwin Elementary anyhow, right?
36:25
So, you had this expectation as a kid,
36:28
but then, you know, looking back, you know,
36:30
it wasn't fulfilled.
36:31
The other thing that really struck me
36:34
when I first read this is just the first moment
36:36
where it's pulls apart from the week
36:39
before we snapped his whole pack in half.
36:43
And here's the thing, right?
36:45
I don't know if it was, you know,
36:47
kids of a certain generation or not,
36:48
but I did the same thing.
36:51
- Oh my God, how funny.
36:53
- And my father smoked Marlboros
36:55
and I did the exact same thing to both my mother
36:57
and my father because we were learning all about, you know,
37:02
why you shouldn't smoke and then to see the people you love
37:04
most in the world doing it was so hard.
37:07
- Exactly. It was so hard.
37:09
And it was so like, heartbreaking.
37:11
You know, all the DARE programs, all that stuff were like,
37:15
you are on, you know, the pathway to hell.
37:19
Marlboro Rats or the Gateway drug.
37:21
- Yes, well, and they would get so mad,
37:24
but I remember a conversation with my mom much later
37:29
and she looked at me and said, "Thank you for that."
37:32
And I was so taken aback by that,
37:36
but from her perspective.
37:38
And she told me, she goes, it's because you cared.
37:39
And I was like, yeah, of course I did, mom, you're my mom.
37:43
- Yeah. How funny. You did the same thing.
37:45
- I know, and I think that what to me is so fabulous
37:50
about that moment and starting off your piece
37:52
with that moment is that you are setting up this dynamic
37:56
of care for this person who is obviously troubled,
37:59
obviously having issues.
38:01
You know, he just lost his job
38:03
and you know, you were probably gonna move.
38:06
And yet, you know, here you are,
38:08
you and your sister just caring so much.
38:12
- Yeah, yeah.
38:13
- Yeah, well, Candace, I can't thank you enough
38:16
for taking some time and sharing this moment with us.
38:21
- Thank you so much.
38:22
- And this just lovely, lovely micro essay.
38:25
Candace Angelica Walsh is a Best of The Net nominee
38:28
and a finalist for the New Ohio Review Nonfiction prize.
38:33
Her work has appeared in "Gulfstream Magazine,"
38:35
"River Teeth," Midwest Review, and elsewhere.
38:39
Originally from California, Candace now resides in Chicago.
38:43
Candace, thank you so much.
38:45
- Thank you so much Jen.
38:47
- This story comes from IPRs collaboration
38:50
with "River Teeth's" Beautiful things,
38:52
a weekly magazine of micro essays.
38:55
More at riverteethjournal.com.
38:58
I'm Jen Blackmer.
38:59
- I'm Kara DuQuette.
39:00
- And I'm Michelle Kinsey.
39:02
No matter the weather outside, the "Pop of Culture," podcast
39:06
is delivered into your feed every Friday at noon.
39:10
- Find us on the NPR app, Apple Podcast, YouTube,
39:13
or wherever else you listen to shows.
39:16
(upbeat music)
39:37
- Okay, we're in the home stretch. This is "Pop of Culture."
39:41
I'm Michelle Kinsey.
39:42
- And I'm Kara DuQuette.
39:44
It's time for our regular, what are you working on segment.
39:47
It's funny you should mention stretching Michelle,
39:50
because this week's guest stretches glass.
39:54
Here's our co-host Maya Doss.
39:56
- Today on the show I have Brent Cole,
39:58
an Associate Professor of Art at Ball State.
40:01
Thanks for coming on the show Brent.
40:02
- Thanks for having me on the show, Maya.
40:04
- So we would love to know, what are you working on?
40:07
- Currently, I'm working on making glass trees.
40:12
- Oh nice. That's cool.
40:13
- I've been interested in the science of dendrology
40:16
where they use tree rings to date items.
40:20
And currently my former colleague Jacinda Russell,
40:23
from the photo department and I have a show
40:25
up in Tucson that is kind of working with their archive,
40:30
translating their archive from a scientific perspective
40:35
into one that factors in an artistic perspective.
40:39
- That's so interesting.
40:40
So you're using glass to translate like scientific ideas,
40:45
- Glass and mixed media yeah.
40:48
I have been making the tree rings
40:51
out of bureaucratic paperwork that I've accumulated
40:53
as a professor for the last 15 years at Ball State.
40:56
- I love that. So it's kind of like eco-friendly?
41:00
- Eco-friendly and also taking some of those records
41:04
and using them in a collaging manner with the work.
41:08
- Which is kind of interesting
41:09
'cause it's about tree rings, right?
41:10
Which is like an archive or a record of that tree's life.
41:14
- Right. - And you're using old paper.
41:17
It just circled right around, full circle moment.
41:20
- Well, if you don't mind,
41:22
I need to give you a little bit of a backstory.
41:24
What's kind of interesting is the gentleman
41:27
that founded the endocrinology lab.
41:30
Lab of tree ring research was actually an astronomer
41:34
and he had set up a observatory,
41:37
but what was interesting is the person that had financed it
41:41
was sure that what he was seeing through the telescope
41:43
were canals on Mars.
41:45
And that's when the whole Mars alien thing started.
41:50
And this particular gentleman,
41:53
I think his last name was Douglas,
41:55
refuted his benefactors conclusions about aliens
42:01
actually being on Mars.
42:02
And so he was kindly asked to exit stage left
42:06
and so he went to Tucson and started an observatory there.
42:09
But the way he got interested in dendrochronology
42:12
was he was trying to prove that he could find
42:16
where solar flares had happened because of tree rings.
42:21
- Ooh, that's interesting.
42:22
- And he wasn't able to see it come to fruition
42:25
in his lifetime, but they did recently prove
42:27
that you can actually see where these solar flares happen.
42:31
But Arizona became a perfect place
42:33
because the tree sections can be stored
42:38
and can be stored in a manner in which they're kept dry.
42:42
- Right.
42:43
- And I've been making some fungus
42:45
and so I ended up making it so that some of these fungus
42:48
were kind of growing off of this tree ring research.
42:52
So I was interested in this thought that like, you know,
42:55
through some of our own endeavors,
42:57
we've set this system in motion
43:00
where the things that we feel like we need to save
43:02
that are giving us knowledge are actually things
43:04
that we're destroying at the same time.
43:07
- So what have you learned from this project
43:09
that you've been working on?
43:10
- I've always been interested in navigational methodologies.
43:14
So I made work about buoys, I've made work about the stars.
43:18
I'm still making some work about the stars,
43:20
but a lot of it is my interpretation of like making my way
43:24
through life as an artist.
43:26
And as you know, as a fellow artist,
43:28
it's not always an easy path
43:30
and it's not always laid out in front of you.
43:32
And so I try and express that.
43:35
For me, the interesting thing is thinking about
43:37
astronomical time and thinking about
43:39
how short our time on the planet is
43:41
and overlapping kind of my history and then maybe
43:44
the viewer's history with acknowledging,
43:48
you know, how small of a bandwidth we actually have
43:51
on this planet.
43:52
- That's fascinating.
43:53
I feel like you have such big conceptual ideas
43:56
that you're trying to navigate
43:57
and it's almost like this feeling of,
44:00
I have this one small little human life,
44:02
but I'm so in awe of all the wonders of the world.
44:05
- Yeah, exactly.
44:06
- Where do I fit in all of that?
44:08
- Right now I'm working on a wedge of the sky
44:13
and so I have to go and get it water jet cut
44:16
and then I will take that flat sheet of glass
44:19
that has stars on it and then try and slump it over
44:22
kind of a portion of the, like the globe wedge.
44:28
And then what I wanna do is make it look like a portion
44:31
of the sky is missing out of like this dome or hemisphere
44:34
like you would see at the planetarium.
44:37
- Like "Chicken Little." - Like "Chicken Little," yeah.
44:39
- The sky is falling. - Yeah.
44:42
- Sorry.
44:43
- Seems to be apropos with the time
44:45
we're all dealing with, so.
44:46
- Yeah, it does feel appropriate.
44:49
Well that's super cool.
44:50
I love hearing about how my professors
44:53
that I've had in the past are actual artists
44:55
that have really amazing ideas.
44:58
So you work almost every day
45:00
over at Marilyn K. Glick Center for Glass.
45:03
For the listeners, Brent is a masterful glass worker,
45:06
watching him, it feels like watching a wizard.
45:09
And you're teaching classes this semester?
45:12
- I am, I'm teaching two intro to glass classes
45:15
and then I'm teaching an immersive class
45:17
where we are taking on the new university hotel
45:22
as a client and we are responsible as a class
45:27
for designing and making the elements
45:30
that will be in the hotel lobby.
45:32
- How do you as an artist and a professor balance that?
45:36
Like, I am a guiding light for others,
45:38
but I'm also charting my own path in my artistic practice?
45:42
- Well, I think it's about trying to figure out
45:45
where the flow is at and being able to allow students
45:48
to participate in that flow.
45:50
And also figuring out when I can carve out time
45:53
to give myself enough freedom in the studio to allow ideas
45:59
to kind of crash together and coalesce.
46:02
I would say that for myself,
46:03
I tend to work more from a collage standpoint.
46:07
I'm thinking about concepts and making work.
46:10
You know, I'm thinking about things con conceptually
46:13
being collaged that like this thing I'm not sure about
46:16
and this other thing I'm not sure about,
46:18
but by happenstance maybe there's a relationship
46:21
between those two things and maybe I can leverage that
46:24
towards something that I hadn't thought about
46:26
and maybe the viewer hadn't thought about.
46:28
- What draws you to the different mediums
46:30
to express different ideas?
46:31
- When I was your age as a student,
46:33
I think I looked at some of those things as limitations,
46:36
but I find that I can express myself differently
46:40
through different materials and sometimes the glass
46:44
isn't necessarily the best material to bring that concept
46:48
to fruition.
46:49
So if I can't say what I need to say in glass
46:54
that I can say it maybe with mixed media
46:56
or I can say it with a collage.
46:57
And a lot of times drawings
46:59
I find I do drawing in the beginning and then many times
47:03
I'll do drawing somewhere in the middle.
47:06
Like when I get stuck I find drawing to be a really nice way
47:09
to get unstuck.
47:11
- Totally. I agree.
47:13
I wanted you to maybe explain for our listeners
47:15
what the differences between working in like a hot shop
47:18
and a cold shop and the different artistic possibilities
47:21
you can get from those spaces.
47:23
- Well, as you know, having taken the class,
47:26
the material that I've decided to spend a lot of my time in
47:30
is not a kind material.
47:31
- It's very hard.
47:34
- So when it's hot it's not kind
47:37
and when it's cold it's not kind.
47:39
But I think its material characteristics
47:41
keep drawing me back.
47:43
We have preconceived notions of what the material can do,
47:46
but the material can look like a lot of different things.
47:49
And it's interesting
47:50
because we fall into all of these tropes
47:53
and I think one of the things that, you know,
47:55
we hear over and over again is that,
47:57
oh, it's about fragility and it's about,
47:59
you know, ghostlike images and I'm hoping
48:03
that I can go beyond some of those standard tropes
48:05
that happen when you talk about work out of glass.
48:10
Many times we're having to use other materials
48:13
to either support or hang or augment the material.
48:17
And it's nice to try and bring in those characteristics
48:20
into the conversation.
48:22
- That's so fascinating and I've really appreciated
48:25
your kind of scientific perspective overlapping with art.
48:28
I think that's been really interesting to talk about.
48:31
Where could our listeners go to see your work
48:32
for themselves?
48:34
- Google Me. You can find my webpage.
48:38
If you just go to Brent Cole Glass, it should pop up
48:41
and you can see some of my work there.
48:43
- Awesome, thank you so much
48:45
for coming on the show today, Brent.
48:46
- Thank you very much for having me.
48:48
(bright music)
48:51
- Well, hello Kara.
48:52
- Well, hello Michelle.
48:54
- And "Hello Dolly!"
48:56
The show opens this weekend at Muncie Civic Theater.
48:59
With humor, romance, high energy dancing, and iconic songs.
49:02
This musical follows a wealthy and cantankerous widower
49:05
as he hires the irrepressible Dolly,
49:08
professional matchmaker to help him find a wife.
49:11
288-PLAY is the number to call for more info.
49:14
- The Dolly Bombs featuring founding Flaming Lips bassist
49:18
Michael Ivans will perform Saturday, April 11th
49:21
at Be Here Now in the village.
49:23
The band has been described as passionate fuzz pop
49:26
with an edgy twang.
49:28
The music begins at 8:00 PM.
49:30
- Awesome music on the Range kicks off this Saturday,
49:32
April 11th with Clay Arnett.
49:35
The music begins at 7:00 PM
49:36
at the Crestview Golf Course in Muncie.
49:40
- Country legend Randy Travis is performing
49:43
Saturday April 11th at Anderson Paramount Theater.
49:46
The music begins at 7:30 PM.
49:49
- Mounds State Park in Anderson is inviting artists
49:52
to paint in the park Saturday, April 11th at 10:00 AM.
49:56
So many beautiful spots to park yourself and paint.
50:00
Parkplacearts.com has details.
50:03
- We are so lucky to have Mounds State Park.
50:06
- Indeed. Yes.
50:07
The Muncie Artist Disorganization, MAD,
50:11
will have its spring gathering at Mad Jack's
50:13
in Muncie Saturday, April 11th at 6:30 PM.
50:17
It's a laid back opportunity for creatives and makers
50:20
and those who just love art and to hang out.
50:23
- Great, Ball State's opera theater
50:25
will present the "Marriage of Figaro,"
50:27
Saturday Sunday, April 11th and 12th,
50:30
at Sursa Performance Hall.
50:31
The "Marriage of Figaro," continues the plot
50:33
of the "Barber of Seville," several years later.
50:36
And recounts a single day of madness in the palace, oh.
50:42
(Michelle laughs)
50:44
- Lee Alverson's Tribute to Elton John,
50:46
will take the stage at Portland's Arts place on Saturday,
50:49
April 11th at 7:00 PM.
50:52
Lee Alverson is the only Elton John tribute artist
50:55
who performs and sings with authentic costumes,
50:58
life-size baby grand piano, lighting and effects.
51:02
- And a reminder that the Public Media Pours event
51:05
is Saturday April 11th at Cornerstone Center for the Arts.
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From 3:00 to 6:00 PM.
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I will be chatting with the Taste for Whiskey guys
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an stage at 4:30.
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There will be more than a dozen breweries, distillers
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and wine makers.
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Tasty Bites from 1925 Pub House,
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live music from Mason and Vaughn and more at this event,
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Indianapublicradio.org has more details.
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And hey, that's also where you can send us your events,
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indianaPublicradio.org/contact, then click "Pop Of Culture."
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(upbeat music)
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- Support for "Pop of Culture," comes from,
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Stallings Wealth Management and from you.
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You might have seen a federal judge's recent ruling
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against an executive order to defund public media.
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This does not reverse our loss of federal funding.
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So you are the reason local programming is still on IPR.
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Give today at indianapublicradio.org.
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- And that's our show.
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Our director of audio operations is Sean Ascraft.
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- This week was produced by Luke Jones,
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whose favorite duo is a Spring breeze
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coming through the window in a soft blanket.
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- Aw.
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- We had production assistance from Andrew Montavon.
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Our audio fellow is Maya Doss.
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Our show was hosted by me, Kara DuQuette.
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- And me Michelle Kinsey.
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"Pop of Culture," is a production from IPR
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on the campus of Ball State University.
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- Country legend. Randy Travis is performing Saturday,
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April 11th at Anderson's Paramount Theater.
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The music begins at 7:00 PM.
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- Perfect. - Nope, but it doesn't.
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It's 7:30, the music begins. Okay, one more time.
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(Michelle laughs)