Vermont Favorites

Kathryn Blume is currently advocating cannabis awareness through Heady Vermont where she draws on her experience as an actor, playwright, environmental activist, and even game designer. We talk about the global performance of the anti-war Lysistrata Project, her self-designed Yale degree, and her recipe for recovering from a burst appendix: pot, Netflix, and a cat.

RiffTrax writer Conor Lastowka has made a career out of poking fun at movies and books and, well, pretty much anybody who takes themselves too seriously. In addition to Rifftrax, he performs at Vermont Comedy Club, co-hosts a podcast with Mike Nelson of MST3K fame, and has published two novels – Gone Whalin’ and Pole Vault Championship of the Entire Universe.

Artist Kelly Holt artist has worked in Vermont and Berlin, Germany. She is also the Creative Director and Curator for Edgewater Gallery in Stowe, Vermont. We discuss her own work in mixed media and photography as well as her collaborative works with many Vermonters.

Tim Bridge, a talented and very busy comedian, jumps between improv, sketch, stand-up, and talking about movies. He won the Vermont’s Funniest Comedian contest in 2017 and performs regularly around the state. Tim and I talk about the stupidity of competitions, how great dogs are, and running his monthly Pullin’ Yo Chain stand-up showcase.

Corrine Yonce is a painter and radio-maker. Her “Voices of Home” series combines the two featuring interviews with and paintings of local people in subsidized housing. She is also a cross-country cyclist (literally!). We talk about her harrowing trip from Maine to California and its lasting impact on her life and work.

Jessica Amelia is a renaissance woman: a self-taught musician, wood worker, music gear tech, and graphic designer. She has performed and recorded with The Empress Trees, Drive the Hour, The Obvious Tells, and solo to name just a few. We discuss the pros and cons of performing with a band and on her own; the underground Trans Punk scene; and how she uses Instagram to both share her work and connect with others in the Trans community.

Jessica even treats us to in-studio performances of “Gay In Space” and “Never Doubt What We Got, It’s Coming From The Heart.”

The lead singer for Vermont’s Rough Francis, Bobby Hackney Jr. sits down for an hour-long chat to talk about the band’s new album MSP3: Counter Attack, the Detroit roots of American punk, the future of Rough Francis, being a punk rocker dad, and his work with other band Barbacoa, The Static Age, and more.

Back in the late 80s and into the 90s, Al Larsen was the frontman for Some Velvet Sidewalk, a punk band from the Pacific Northwest. I was checking them out on YouTube and saw a great comment: “Their frontman was my college professor. When he showed this to the class, it blew our minds.” In addition to teaching at Champlain College, he is also multimedia artist and writer whose work utilizes public spaces such as festivals, sidewalks, rooftops, and keggers.