12/10 @9:00am - Singer/songwriter Holly Miranda has just returned from her solo tour in Austria, Portugal and Spain. She spoke with host Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm about her latest album and more

MEET HOLLY MIRANDA

“I’ve always been a proponent of not making the same record twice,” Holly Miranda says. “Some people find a niche and go with that, but I need to try something different every time.”

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That’s more than apparent on Mutual Horse, Miranda’s third release for Dangerbird Records, out February 23rd. The album, Miranda’s fourth full-length solo release, is more than just an artistic step forward, it’s a whole new way for her to make music. “This really is the most collaborative record I’ve ever done,” she says. “It’s first time I’ve shared so much of the writing and the production, the meat and bones of making an album.”

With support from a stellar circle of players – including My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Nova, TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, Grandaddy/Modest Mouse’s Jim Fairchild and Built To Spill’s Matthew Morgan amongst others – it’s Miranda’s astonishing singing vocal that is set free, elevating this collection of songs as no one else could. An instrument which can shift from a barely-there whisper to a soaring wail that cracks open the sky, Holly’s voice is startling from the moment it emerges on Mutual Horse.

This record finds Holly bridging the gap between 2010’s experimental synth laden release The Magician’s Private Library and 2015’s stripped-back, soulful self-titled record. Miranda takes an honest and intimate approach, while maintaining her sense of humor amidst sonic explorations. The tracks run the gamut from the sultry, driving “On the Radio,” to a cover of Crazy Horse’s “When Your Lonely Heart Breaks,” and the delicate “Sing Like,” inspired by Miranda’s mother; an intimate clip of her singing while pregnant with Holly follows the song.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles, where Miranda laid down the beginnings of 23 songs before returning to her home base of New York City to finish the songs that would end up on the album. The Dangerbird studio also inspired the album’s title. “Mutual Horse comes from this image we hung in the studio. It was a photo of the singer-songwriter Cris Williamson—we did a cover of her song ‘Midnight Oil’—and I had become a big fan,” Miranda explains. “We printed out photos of her from the 1970s and taped them up around the studio; that was our vibe.” One of those photos was of Williamson and another woman holding the reins of a horse; the two women are staring at each other, but the horse is staring at the camera. That picture was on the wall of Miranda’s studio, and eventually someone scrawled the phrase “Mutual Horse” beneath it.

“It doesn’t feel like just mine,” Miranda says of the album, which took its name from the graffiti. “It feels like it belongs to everybody who worked on it. I opened myself to collaborating this time around, which made me really vulnerable.” Her collaborators on Mutual Horse include Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), Josh Werner (Dr. John, Lee Scratch Perry), Jared Samuel (Yoko Ono), Jim Kirby Fairchild (Grandaddy, Modest Mouse), Kyp Malone (TV On the Radio), Maria Eisen (Underground System), and Matthew Morgan (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse) among others.

Miranda grew up between Detroit and Nashville, two music towns that would influence her own journey in a very profound way. She began playing piano at the age of six, taught her self-guitar at 14 and moved to New York at 16 to start her professional career. For nearly 20 years, she’s been performing, writing and producing with some of the best talent in the business. She has performed with the likes of Karen O, Lou Reed, The XX, and Lesley Gore. She released two records with her band The Jealous Girlfriends and has co-written and produced a mass of other projects.

www.hollymiranda.com

12/10/18 @9:45am pst - Hilarious Twitter sensation/writer Dan Duvall joined Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm to talk about the power of a funny tweet in the documentary FUNNY TWEETS!

LISTEN to today's show featuring Dan Duvall!

FUNNY TWEETS, a really wonderful documentary about the power of a funny tweet, starring real-life Twitter sensation Dan Duvall (whose career skyrocketed after he realized he could write good twitter jokes!), is available On Demand this week.

here's the trailer!

Andy Richter (“Conan”), Alec Sulkin (‘’Family Guy’’) Matt Selman (‘’The Simpsons’’) Damien Fahey (‘’Family Guy’’) influencer Elijah Daniel and Danny Zuker (‘’Modern Family’’) feature in Funny Tweets, an enlightening and side-splittingly funny exploration of the 140-character laffer!

From director-producer Laurie McGuinness and writer Dan Duvall, Funny Tweets follows a cashier manager whose ‘Funny Tweets’ help him connect with Andy Richter and the writers of ‘’Family Guy’’ and “The Simpsons”. Through interviews, they share how powerful a ‘Funny Tweet’ can be.

Available December 4th on digital from Upstream Flix.

12/10/18 9:30am pst - Author Brett Fleishman joined host Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm

Author Brett Fleishman is presenting a lot of laughs for kids in his new poetry series!

LISTEN to today's show with Brett!

Toilet Trouble (for beginners), Take A Hike! (for intermediate readers), and Bedtime Story (for advanced kids) include fun illustrations, jokes, puzzles and quirky wordplay, and they’re a perfect fit for a childlike sense of humor.

BIO

Brett Fleishman grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. In 1995, he earned his B.A. In 2001, he earned his M.B.A. At no point did he earn a roster spot in the N.B.A. Since 2001, Brett has been living with his two sons, Jacob and Dylan, in the greater Boston area. (Please note that, while Brett and his sons enjoy living in Boston, their sports allegiances remain firmly Philadelphian.)

brettfleishman.com

12/3/18 @9:30am pst - Janeane spoke with singer/songwriter, arranger and performer Julia Joseph!

photo credit: Thomas Pryor

LISTEN to today's conversation with Julia Joseph!

Julia Joseph is a singer, songwriter, arranger and performer based in New York City. Her work is very ecclectic, the common thread being her distinct, warm alto and her total commitment to anything she does. She sings with her soul, she lights up the room, she tells a story and she keeps her audience entranced.

Having been compared to Phoebe Snow, Joni Mitchell and Karen Carpenter, Julia's writing incorporates jazz, folk, blues and gospel elements with rich vocal harmonies and intelligent, heart-felt lyrics that explore universal sentiments.

A pro on stage and in the studio, Julia's voice can be heard on the NBC hit show, 30Rock and in the infamous, NYC based Loser's Lounge. She recently participated in the recording and live performance of Red Hot + Arthur Russell. She is also a core member of a private event and party band The Loyales*.

Julia's debut album, Hush, won the 2008 Independent Music Award's popular vote for Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album; a debut complimented by her inspired and well-honed live act.

*For more info on Julia's session and collaborative work, please visit the VOXBOX.

LISTEN to Julia's music here!

juliajoseph.com

instagram.com/juliajosephmusic

https://www.youtube.com/user/addyjanes

12/3/18 - 9:15am pst - Janeane spoke with author Tammy Lynne Stoner about her latest book, SUGAR LAND

LISTEN to today's show with Tammy Lynne Stoner!

Tammy Lynne discusses her debut novel, SUGAR LAND and will discuss race and class, sexuality & identity, with her signature wit and style.

SUGAR LAND, a Southern-fried novel, is getting RAVE reviews (see just a few below)—please check out her site to find out more about the little-known true story of the musician Lead Belly who became the inspiration for this incredibly poignant work.


“The love child of Fannie Flagg and Rita Mae Brown, Stoner is sure to win her own devoted following with this ravishing debut.” –STARRED Kirkus Review

“Sugar Land is a well written book and its writing style reminds one at times of Doris Lessing. There is a beautiful flow to the narrative, and the plot is expertly crafted. This is writing at its finest, resulting in a good story that is well told.”—New York Review of Books*

“How can you not adore a novel about love, food, and how working in a prison can help you discover whom you really are? Every page has a beating heart, every character is so alive, you swear you hear them breathing. Stoner is an original and this debut is just fantastic.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

"In this always surprising and exhilarating first novel, Stoner presents a memorable character. A lovely debut that addresses race and class, sexuality and identity."—BOOKLIST

"Sugar Land is a raw, spiraling, hopeful story… Stoner brings this unmistakable world to life perfectly” —Forward


Sugar Land is the southern story of Nana Dara, a prison cook in the Imperial State Prison Farm in 1923, who—with the help of the blues singer Lead Belly—discovers how to break out of her own physical and emotional prison to become the feisty, lesbian matriarch to a family of Texas misfits.


It’s 1923 in Midland, Texas, and Miss Dara falls in love with her best friend—who also happens to be a girl. Terrified, Miss Dara takes a job at the Imperial State Prison Farm for men, hoping to keep her secret attractions under lock and key. Once there, she befriends inmate and soon-to-be legendary blues singer Lead Belly, who sings his way out (true story)—but only after he makes her promise to free herself from her own prison. Sugar Land is a triumphant, beautiful debut novel about the heart’s refusal to be denied what the heart wants.


PRAISE FOR SUGAR LAND


“With Sugar Land, Stoner creates a captivating story for the ages—a young, southern girl in the 1920s who becomes a ballsy broad in a double-wide, and on the journey learns about love the hard way. This heartbreaking and hysterical book inspires us with a brave and unusual life. Sugar Land is for anyone who still believes in love.” —Jillian Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and Everything You Ever Wanted

“Sugar Land does what a book should do: it compels you to read on. The writing is lyric and dynamic, driving the reader forward—detailing the true challenges of lesbian life in the years before gay liberation was even an idea, providing a history lesson along with open-hearted prose. But perhaps best of all, SUGAR LAND leaves you with characters that linger on the mind and heart for days. This is fiction that stacks up with some of the best Southern storytelling out there and should have a place on the bookshelf next to Fannie Flagg and Rita Mae Brown.” —Kate Carroll de Gutes, Lambda Award winning author of Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

“His singing bothering you?”

“No more than a four leaf clover bothers an unlucky man.”

“It's 1923 in Midland, Texas, and Nana Dara, newly employed by the Imperial Prison Farm for men and newly awakened to a secret she'd rather lock up than face, has encountered the most unlikely of allies: Leadbelly. Yes, that Leadbelly. Out from this very particular pairing spools a Southern epic that spans decades. With beautiful peculiarity of detail and a perfect combination of sharpness and sensitivity, Tammy Lynne Stoner pens a gorgeous debut novel about race, class, sexuality, and the prisons we make of ourselves.”

—Gigi Little, Powell’s Book Seller and editor of City of Weird


“In Sugar Land, Tammy Lynne Stoner debuts the “Southern-fried novel about love, Leadbelly, and liberation” that she promises—and so much more. Knowing just how cruelly her deep and mutual love with college-bound Rhodie Marie would be received in 1920s Midland, Texas, Miss Dara takes a job at Imperial Prison Farm. The characters she—and we—meet there brim with color, ache with longing, sass, snipe, strike, and, as the book itself does, sing. This big-hearted story spans decades, exploring at every turn the prisons we build ourselves, the exhilaration of cracking them wide open, and the heartbreaking cost when we can’t. Readers will be torn between rushing ahead to find out where Miss Dara’s keen compassion and wry observations lead her next and slowing down to enjoy her wrenching, witty, unforgettable voice for as long as they possibly can.”

—Tracy Manaster, author of You Could be Home Now and The Done Thing



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

tammy lynne stoner’s work has been selected for more than a dozen anthologies and literary journals. Stemming from what her grandmother calls her “gypsy blood,” tammy has lived in 15 cities, working as a biscuit maker, a medical experimentee, a forklift operator, a gas station attendant, and a college instructor—among other odd jobs. She is also the creator of Dottie’s Magic Pockets, and the publisher of Gertrude, and wrangle of the GERTIE book club, based in Portland, OR, where she lives with her lady-friend, Karena, and their three kids. You can find her at TammyLynneStoner.com.


FROM SUGAR LAND

This is how it goes in life: sometimes you’re born with a cleft palette or rickets, like my bow-legged Granddaddy, or a touch short on brains, like my Great Aunt Cal who everyone called ‘Stool.’ Me? I’m a double hitter. In addition to being what folks call “large boned,” I came into this world with homosexual tendencies—though back then I thought of it only as my strange, strong affections for some female friends, having no such notion of “homosexual tendencies” as a thing, at least not in Midland, Texas.

Notions of this nature found footing in me eight months before I ran away to work in the kitchen at Sugarland Prison, when I got a job at the egg store. The egg store was all wood. Wood floors, wood ceiling beams, wood shelves—that rugged, knotty, reddish wood. The simple kind of wood they used to bury folks in before the floods, when rotting coffins popped from the ground like splinters and dead bodies dropped out in maggoty heaps.

The egg store smelled like wood, too, which I liked. That and just the tiniest hint of smoke from Bibby’s metal pork smoker two streets over. I swear he ran that thing day and night, crazy redneck. And that’s where I fell in love for the first time, there in the egg store that smelled like wood and smoked pig fat.

12/3/18 - Janeane spoke with Beth Ricanati, MD about her book Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs

LISTEN to Beth Ricanati, MD!

Beth Ricanati, MD is the author of Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs (now available, She Writes Press, paperback), a beautiful gem of a book perfect for the season when we focus on slowing down, baking, family time, spiritual reflection, and gratitude.

As a physician focusing on women's health, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a friend, Ricanati felt like many today—like she was on a flying carousel, always busy and disconnected from her body and spirit. But when a friend challenged Ricanati to take the time to make challah from scratch for Shabbas dinner, she was knocked out of her stupor and realized: It was time for me to change. Part memoir, part cookbook, and part manifesto, Braided is a heartwarming and powerful exploration of Ricanati's personal tradition of baking this challah every Friday. It has become a self-care practice that has sustained her for the last 10 years, allowing her to reconnect with her family, her home, her community, and her faith, and helped ground her again to be present in her own life.


"I used to just prescribe medications[...]; now I also prescribe baking challah," Ricanati says. "I've learned that making food can be medicinal in its own right” – even if it is white bread!


ABOUT
Beth Ricanati, MD, author of the new release BRAIDED: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs, has built her career around bringing wellness into women’s everyday lives, especially busy moms juggling life and children. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her MD from Case Western Reserve University; she completed her internal medicine residency at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC. She spent ten years in practice at the Columbia Presbyterian’s Women’s Health Center, the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health, and the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. In addition to the frequent online writing that she does now, Ricanati has been a guest contributor for television, print, and online media, and has published medical articles in peer-reviewed journals. Ricanati lives in the Los Angeles area with her family and one challah-loving dog. Learn more at https://housecallsforwellness.com.

11/26/18 - Post-show conversation with author Donna Levin!

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About Donna Levin

Donna Levin is the author of There’s More Than One Way Home, a best-selling novel that Booklist gave a starred review, California Street and Extraordinary Means, as well as two non-fiction writing advice books. She taught fiction writing for two decades, most notably at the University of California Extension at Berkeley. Donna has also been a frequent guest at writers’ conferences, including the San Francisco Writers’ Conference and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Donna’s work is included in Boston University’s 20th Century Archives and in the California State Library’s collection of California novels. She lives in San Francisco.