Podcast: The Steer

Hosted by Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, and Jeff Alessandrelli in Portland, Oregon, The Steer features leading musicians talking about their favorite writers and books and leading writers talking about their favorite musicians and albums. Conversations often go elsewhere and following each talk is a playlist of songs or sounds discussed during the interview. New episodes drop every two weeks.

Literary Journal Editor Charles Valle

Jeff talks to long time Fence Magazine editor Charles Valle about the details of editing a literary journal for 15+ years, musical taste as one grows older, and the cultural experiment that is Ian Svenonius, among other far-flung topics.

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Jenny Chu–Playlist

Music from the Jenny Chu episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Alan Menken and Mariah Carey.

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Writer & Activist Jenny Chu

Portland-based writer and activist Jenny Chu talks with Sunny and Jeff about growing up as a restaurant baby and what that term means exactly, her love of Disney musicals, and and the nature of nostalgia vis-à-vis romantic and familial relationships.

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Ed Skoog–Playlist

Music from the Ed Skoog episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include The Dixie Cups, Aaron Neville, Ernie K-Doe and Irma Thomas, among others.

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Poet Ed Skoog

Ed Skoog jaws with Jeff and Sunny about New Orleans music and New Orleans life, how and why he started playing banjo, Big Star, and the myriad of direct and indirect musical references in his amazing poetry collections Mister Skylight, Rough Day and Run the Red Lights.

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Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel–Playlist

10,000 Maniacs–Because the Night

Nirvana–Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920-22): I. Allegro / Maurice Ravel played by Nigel Kennedy & Lynn Harrell

Black Sabbath–Black Sabbath

PJ Harvey–In the Dark Places—Live at Sydney Festival

10,000 Maniacs–Because the Night–3:39

Ane Brun–All My Tears

Thom Yorke–Analyse–Live (2006)

Patti Smith Group–Because the Night

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Essayist Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel

Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel talks to Sunny and Jeff about her recent essay collection Fear Icons, how as a child growing up in a conservatively religious home Ozzy Osbourne was a near stand-in for ol’ Saint Nick himself, and what a “shadow text” is vis-a-vis the framework of Fear Icons.

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John Beer–Playlist

The music that John Beer talked about, as heard on KZUT 99.1 FM LA. Tracks include: Ellen Arkbro – Three, Ellen Arkbro – For Organ and Brass, Eve Egoyan – Simple Lines of Enquiry Movement 10 & 11, Sarah Davachi – for piano, Sarah Davachi – for voice.

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Poet John Beer

Poet and pub quiz player extraordinaire John Beer, whose poetry collection “The Waste Land and Other Poems” won the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America, talks about his eclectic tastes in music, a brief life in Berlin, and the importance of poetry critics. He’s a busy man but “sometimes,” he says, “I just sit and listen to music.”

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Jamondria Harris–Playlist

Jamondria Harris’ EP “meroitic,” plus tracks from Alice Coltrane and Cocteau Twins. As heard on the radio episode of our show, broadcast on 99.1 FM Los Angeles.

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