The To Do List

In this episode we (well, Jamie mostly) chat with Carolyn Kellogg–writer, vanguard podcaster, blogger, hair color aficionado, and all around awesome person–about gastrointestinal distress, the fast-paced life of a book blogger, and success despite the inability to plan more than 1 day ahead.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:26 — 20.4MB)

Our friend Carolyn Kellogg is an LA Times staff writer who covers books and publishing and leads the book blog  Jacket Copy. She is also a member of the board of the National Book Critics Circle.She has served as  editor of LAist, web editor at Marketplace and, many years ago, managing editor of Woodstock.com (the riot-and-fires year).  She currently lives in Los Angeles

Carolyn began blogging about books in 2004, when she had an internet radio show and podcast that was part music, part books. Some weeks, an author would guest DJ. Because her job at the time was pretty darn formal, she needed a pseudonym: Pinky’s Paperhaus was her show name. Then her blog name. Then she left the job, dyed her hair red, and people started calling her Pinky.

Now her hair has changed, and you’re welcome to call her Carolyn. She can be found @paperhaus on Twitter, and am on Facebook and Goodreads and Flickr and other places online. She can be seen discussing publishing in this C-SPAN2 video of a BEA2010 panel and heard interviewing Richard Russo for the LA Public Library’s ALOUD series.

In this episode we talk to Mark Norris of The Backpeddlers about writing and making music, using Kickstarter.com to fund a vinyl pressing of their new LP, Mark’s old band girlpope, “shame sheds,” and the perfect teaching job.

Plus, all of the music in this episode is from the new Mark Norris and The Backpeddlers album, Songs of Guilt and Revenge!  Get a sneak peek at the first three tracks:

“turn the tables” – “it’s all true” - “we know (who we are)”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:43 — 22.2MB)

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The Backpeddlers only have until June 9, 2011 to raise the last $50 needed to reach their funding goal!

Help them out!

Only a year ago, Mark Norris was through with music. A chance encounter with one of his idols and an unexpected loss changed all of that. Now, Norris’ group, the Backpeddlers, is poised to release the best recording of its six-year career and all it took was a lot of pain and a little inspiration.

For over a decade, Norris fronted the powerpop outfit girlpope. Hailed as one of Buffalo’s best live acts for its breakneck, sweat-soaked performances, the band eventually went its separate ways after several critically hailed recordings and a few dalliances with the major labels.

Forming the Backpeddlers in 2005, Norris was looking for a new approach. After a few key shows opening for the likes of Steve Wynn, The Pernice Brothers, and Elvis Costello, the band released its debut CD, Stranded Between Stations, in 2007. Filled with stark, quiet ruminations, the disc was a step away from girlpope’s bombastic, uptempo songs. The disc was described by the Buffalo News as “The Basement Tapes recorded with Ray Davies instead of Bob Dylan.”

There’s no cussin’ in this squeaky clean episode of The To Do List podcast, where we talk to Leigh Gibson, 1/2 of the bluegrass duo The Gibson Brothers, about songwriting, staying true to yourself, meeting your idols, Jamie’s conversion to being a bluegrass fan, and why this episode took so long to release.

Leigh also treats us to a special version of the song “Want vs. Need” from their new record, Help My Brother.

Family-friendly and scrubbed of profanity! Just in time for your holiday weekend travel!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:35 — 24.2MB)

2010 IBMA Award Winners, The Gibson Brothers—Eric and Leigh—are widely recognized as the finest brother duet in bluegrass music today.  Whether taking on a gospel standard, re-imagining a Ray Charles classic or weaving a tale of their own, Leigh, Eric and the boys always seem to hit the mark. Their latest album on Compass Records, Help My Brother, has already been hailed by reviewers.

“Help My Brother” is a special recording.  It has wisdom and joy.  It has emotion and humor.  It has heritage and spirituality.  But mostly it is just excellent music from some wonderful, immensely talented folks; Eric and Leigh Gibson, Mike Barber, Clayton Campbell and Joe Walsh.  And just for good measure they’ve brought along Ricky Skaggs, Claire Lynch, Alison Brown and Mike Witcher to add to the joy.  Buy it.  You’ll be awful glad you did.

Do yourself a favor and get it now.

Also, their live show is definitely worth your time and money. Check out their tour schedule.  They’re probably playing near you soon.

Special shout outs to Gibson Brother sponsors D’Addario Strings and Deering Banjos.

As always, we welcome your feedback and comments on the podcast.  If you subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, we would really appreciate it if you could leave us a review over there. – Much love, TDL.

In part 2 of our interview with writer David James Keaton.  We talk about home medical exams, Dave’s testicle-themed screenplay idea, dreams, and the wedding typewriter incident.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:47 — 17.8MB)

David James Keaton’s fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Deadcore, Dark Highlands, and The Death Panel, as well as in Dark Sky, Plots With Guns, and Thuglit, among others. His prison story “Schrödinger’s Rat” is forthcoming in Needle: A Magazine of Noir.

He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Flywheel Magazine and a full-time closed captioner. He has recently completed his first novel for which he is seeking representation and can be contacted via email. He has scribbled enough pages for five books and is constantly rewriting three screenplays; a prison movie, a thriller, and a western, simultaneously adapting them into novels. He realizes this method is probably backwards.

In this episode we feature our second guest, writer David James Keaton.  We talk about improving your Google ranking, closed captioning pornography, anti-road rage tactics, Dave’s story about the Erie Collar Bomber, and lifesaving.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:59 — 21.2MB)

David James Keaton‘s fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Deadcore, Dark Highlands, and The Death Panel, as well as in Dark Sky, Plots With Guns, and Thuglit, among others. His prison story “Schrödinger’s Rat” is forthcoming in Needle: A Magazine of Noir.

He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Flywheel Magazine and a full-time closed captioner. He has recently completed his first novel for which he is seeking representation and can be contacted via email. He has scribbled enough pages for five books and is constantly rewriting three screenplays; a prison movie, a thriller, and a western, simultaneously adapting them into novels. He realizes this method is probably backwards.

In this episode we have our first guest, comedian Ron Placone.  We also talk about Keith’s trip to the brewing festival, Jamie bombing on stage, hecklers, Ron’s to do list, and another party for a dog.

Intro music: Throwdown – “Step It Up” from the album “Haymaker”

Outro music: H2O – “Bootstraps” from the album “Faster Than The World”

(There were some technical setbacks this week. We appreciate your patience!)