Talking to Strangers (About Music)
Connections to other humans are crucial. But what does that look like? How can we trust others? This second segment of Talking to Strangers focuses on Steph Thompson, founder of sound healing practice Sacred Bloom Tribe talking to strangers about music. Sound and rhythm are crucial aspects to building up our listening skills. Trusting one another--whomever we might be, whatever race, creed, religion, political persuasion--we have to learn to listen to one another and find a common vibration. We need to get in tune, and in this podcast Steph will chat with the amazing people who create and work with sound and music, those people who make creating harmony their mission! We have a lot to learn from one another, and it all starts with DEEP LISTENING!
Episodes
79 episodes
In the Midst of Chaos, Finding Calm
When confusion reigns, where do you turn? We are strangers to ourselves in these moments, unfocused and unclear. I often turn to the piano, or other musical instruments to get at and get out what's going on inside. More even than writing, compo...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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43:13
Fans of Phoebe Bridgers Cite 'Collective Catharsis'
What makes us love a musician? The connection with a performer and their music is not unlike other loves probably, a slightly inexplicable alchemy that hits us hard, right off the bat.Seeing a long line of people waiting mid-morning for...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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16:59
Moxie the Band: The Read on The Future is Great
My interaction with the young band Moxie is a direct result of saying 'yes.' "Can a band stay with us a couple of nights?" my son Eli asked a couple weeks back and--based on my love of strangers, especially meeting them in my house--I d...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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36:39
Cool Drummer Chick: Dani Markham
When I sat down to write about Dani Markham, the first thing I did was look up "cool." Even though it was the first word that came to mind when I thought to describe her, I guess I don't really know why, or what 'cool' really means...Ob...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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1:00:24
How Naked Can We Be?
For this episode, I sat down naked at the piano. Sometimes, it is only through music and rhythm that I am able to get at what I'm REALLY thinking and feeling, what I want to express. Sometimes, often, words don't work. I so like to...
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18:18
Jason Naradzay - Relabeling Ex-Cons 'Humans'
Trust is an interesting thing. To talk to someone, to engage with them, is to offer them a sort of trust. When I first talked to Jason Naradzay a few years back, it was to interview him for a piece I was writing in support of Musicambia, a nonp...
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50:07
Jamee & Leonissa: An Artful Miami Connection
I knew that Jamee Jurecki and Leonissa Morris were to be my pals back when I first encountered them in December of 2017. As we stood there in front of the long mirrors of the communal bathroom at the Posh Hostel in South Beach, brushing our tee...
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1:04:28
Ourida, the Courageous Singer
On Facebook the other day, someone posed the question, "what career did you dream of having when you were a kid?" I didn't skip a beat. "A singer!" I responded. My sister and I spent countless hours singing into a tape recorder (yes, a tape rec...
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55:06
Designer, Color Maven, Dog Whisperer Nora Fish
I first met Nora Fish in a little cafe named Parco, in Park Slope. She had a beautiful German Shepherd named Annika and an adorable pug named Tootsie. As she reminds me during this podcast, she and I "were constantly complimenting each other's ...
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34:31
How Do You Illustrate Meaning? Talk to James Yang
When James Yang came to my kids' school to talk about his illustrated children's book back in 2013, I was immediately struck by its powerful simplicity. I had just started volunteering at a school where kids didn't get to meet authors like my k...
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52:40
When the Stranger is Your Teenager
It was quite the coup to get one of my teenagers to come on to the podcast. After all, they are independent humans with ideas of their own about how to live life, and doing my bidding often takes low priority, as it should be. Over the years, I...
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24:38
Talking with Plants: Permaculturist Emily Sause
When I first met the lovely Emily Sause a few years back, she was 'head of community'for a stunning Manhattan co-working space called The Assemblage. It was part of her job to be welcoming, but she seemed to go above and beyond with her bri...
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32:32
The Games We Play with Strangers...Scrabble with Sarah and Roberto
I met Roberto at Cafe Martin in Park Slope. He was a mathematician/philosopher working there between gigs. A song had come on and I asked a question about it, and he said how popular it was with the French kids. He said it with a bit of a scof...
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10:56
Musician/Barista Ben: A Chat at Java Joe
When I run out of coffee, I am always glad because it means I can take a walk over to Java Joe. For so many years, I have been going to this little shop on 8th Street, in Park Slope, to buy their deliciously strong Black Magic espresso beans. T...
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26:19
Drumming Up Trust: Finding Rhythm with Strangers
In this episode, I head to the beach to drum, and I talk a bit about how we learn to trust ourselves and others. It's not easy. I often use the metaphor of music, and work with people, including homeless men, to try to get at thoughts about con...
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21:35
Samir LanGus: Playing the Sintir in Adidas
What I loved about Samir LanGus from the first time I saw him was how comfortably he seemed to mix cultures seamlessly and stylishly. As a Moroccan musician steeped in the classically spiritual Gnawa music of his homeland, he is always sporting...
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21:35
Discussing Fear & Other Emotions with Facebook 'Friend' Chris Rael
I'm "friends" on Facebook with a lot of people I've never met. Maybe we have mutual friends, maybe they read something of mine or listened to my podcast, maybe I heard them play somewhere. Neither Chris Rael nor I remember exactly how we became...
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33:23
Talking to My Therapist (Friend): Mubasher Naseer
I try not to take advantage of my friendship with veteran psychoanalyst Mubasher Naseer. After all, he is clearly easy to talk to, listens well and has many years' experience helping people sort out relationships and other of life's strains and...
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47:36
Pianist James Carney Talks Shop
Since meeting jazz pianist James Carney seven or so years ago in a little bar in Park Slope, I have sat many times in various venues to see and hear him tickle the ivories, his fingers flying fast across the keys masterfully to create rhythms t...
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25:12
Hilary Robertson: Styling a Beautiful Truth
It is fitting that in our chat, in her sumptuous living quarters in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, stylist/creative director Hilary Robertson would quote Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn. She waved her hand this way and that with...
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1:00:23
Saskia Layden Kaya: Teacher of Yoga, and Love
I first met Saskia Layden (now Saskia Layden Kaya) when she was teaching yoga to children at Still Waters in a Storm, a storefront after-school program in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Her smile and laugh lit up the room, and the children g...
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42:46
The Serious Stylings of Jazz Guitarist Andy Bianco
It is fitting that I am posting this episode of Talking to Strangers late at night, as that's when I met today's guest, jazz guitarist Andy Bianco. We met at Korzo, a Park Slope restaurant and bar, during one of the late great Konceptions Music...
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42:15
Trainer Stanley Mills: Believe, and the Body will Follow
Believing in yourself can be a hard thing. With Stanley Mills' sure smile and easy laugh, and his gentle prodding, it seems easier. Stanley has been a personal trainer for over 20 years, though his body seems to defy that that's even possible! ...
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5:52
Deep Chat with My Contractor & The Plumbers
When you buy a house and decide to gut renovate it, you are suddenly in contact with a lot of strangers you have to learn to trust. Last November, I hired upstate contractor Andy Kane from Peak Builders, and he began to work on the fixer-upper ...
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19:44
Talking to my Teenage Stranger Self, Working at a 50s Diner
It's funny to remember back nearly four decades ago to a time and place, to a 50s diner in Tucson, Arizona in the 80s. That young girl in the too-tight Laverne shirt making shakes behind the ice cream counter was me, Steph Saull. I found this r...
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17:02
