All Your Days

America can't read, and America is awash in shitty media that exploits its inabilities. The topic is illiteracy and democracy. The podcast is All Your Days.

Trump is not only following the Bannon playbook, in 2024, he's writing its next chapter. America has never put a shit-truck driver like this one in such a lethal lane and told him there's no speed limit. The topic is chaos. The podcast is All Your Days.

The loss of inner goodness would be a thing to grieve in this land. Except America was never promising what we thought it was promising. Today's episode looks at goodness and the American psyche.

For every person saying to an Other in their mind, “Fuck you, you're on your own,” the survival tactic, friends, is the opposite. The tactic is simple and perhaps radically empathetic. The tactic is the topic of today's episode.

The 'All Your Days' podcast is back. Today's episode is about division. We're going to need a bigger stop sign.

All Your Days returns. The focus shifts. The imperative intensifies. Glad to have you along for the ride. Today's topic is oppression.

Lynn Gilbert returns to the podcast for part two of a career-spanning conversation about her photography, finding her path with a camera on the Silk Road, iconic moments for her work at the 2022 Venice Biennale, and an 8-acre garden that has revealed something profound as she's photographed its expanse. And we talk about the anxiety of creation, no matter the years or decades of experience, and what it takes to make peace with our art.

Our guest is Lynn Gilbert, a massive contributor to 20th-century portrait photography — her photos of sculptor Louise Nevelson became the face of the Venice Biennale in 2022 — whose 1981 book of photos and essays, ‘Particular Passions,' became a significant document of second-wave feminism. Lynn, with virtually no professional portfolio at the time, somehow brought together luminaries and unknowns to create her monumental book, cataloging some of the most important well-known — and unknown — persons of the time and movement. Her subjects included Gloria Steinem, Margaret Mead, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julia Child, Lillian Hellman, Barbara Walters, and more. A beautiful and generous figure in my own small story, it is my sincere pleasure to bring part one of this wide-ranging conversation with Lynn to you this Tuesday, a deep look at a life lived behind the lens.

It's part two of our conversation with Lach, who oversaw, curated and cared for The Fort, a little stage at the back of a bar that made an outsize impact on New York and the world in the 1990s and 2000s, fostering and keeping alive the flame of anti-folk and helping launch the careers of luminaries. Our second episode with Lach goes deeper into his life as a songwriter in his own right, and now a radio host and a storyteller, a novelist, and soon to be a memoirist. We cover wins and deep losses, returns and reunions and reinventions. This is always the heart of our show. Please welcome Lach back to your ears on 'All Your Days.'

Please welcome the legendary Lach to your ears. Lower East Side/Edinburgh artist and producer and presenter, novelist, BBC radio host — you name it, he's probably done it. We go super deep into the history of anti-folk in NYC and the world, but that's just the surface of the thing. Memory, dreams, visions, heartbreak and triumph, life and death, love and letdowns — it's the very DNA of this little podcast, and few guests have hit so many of the notes. You're in for it. Clips in this episode: Crazy House (1988 version) - Lach, NYC's Fortunes 13 (2015)Holy Days - Lach, Lach Live at ABC No Rio, NYC, 1980's (2017)The Edie Effect - Lach, Contender (2015)Effect A Change - Lach (2015)New York ≈ Hoboken - Lach (2017)

I get to take you into the studio with painter Annie Leist, where she is creating, crafting, coaxing, and evolving. Her new paintings are stunning, and hopefully, in our words you will hear some of what we see together while we're talking about them. Her show opens on November 19 at the Union Gallery at Wagner College in New York. It couldn't be a better moment to catch up with Annie, for her story is moving forward at a fantastic pace and, as can be expected, is packed with all the emotions that birthing new art must bring.

Sam Shaber is in the middle of a resurrection. For years, if you found Sam's work, you found it via storytelling or her podcast focusing on in-vitro fertilization and women's health and just and accurate information and access to both. Or you knew her power-pop-punk bands. These were the points of contact. This week we pick up the story, the rest of the story, how she came out of a landmark moment in her career recording an album named ‘Eighty Numbered Streets' with a Grammy-nominated artist and what happened after that. We also come back to family, talking about her father, who in his lifetime wrote the screenplay of ‘The Warriors' — a milestone film in several ways. And we at last come to the story of Sam's mother, whose passing in 2022 changed what had been our plan to have an interview on this show shortly after we'd recorded it. That's the only “lost” episode, and in this installment, we restore the ideas and central truths of that original conversation. And I'm glad to have it.

Sam Shaber is back with the very songs she shelved after those years in the early 2000s, back with ‘Eighty Numbered Streets.' She's about to take the album on the road for the first time in decades, playing it front to back in Los Angeles, New York, and elsewhere — and soon she'll reunite with Shawn Mullins for a concert in Georgia. It's a critical moment to meet this artist, or meet them again. Please let me introduce you to an old collaborator and friend.

Messengers come in different ways. In April 2022, my messenger came in the form of an old friend, a very old collaborator, an original co-conspirator. His name: Michael Devin. Our very first guest returns. We talk about our present, Michael's new adventures with a new band — The Dead Daisies — and about some recent delving into darker parts of our past ... and, of course, what is next and what tomorrow may bring.

This is the story of how, for me, in August 1990, the movie ‘Pump Up the Volume' changed everything. I watched the film. I came out utterly changed. This is the story of what happened next. If you're listening to this show, that proves what I have to tell you is true.

It's a very great pleasure to bring you new music from Hamell on Trial. He's our first check-in this week on the show, chatting about a new album, pop music, Tyler the Creator, and what's next from beside his courtyard swimming pool in Austin. Also, Chef Camille Rodriguez is back from from a chef's trip to Italy, and this week we hear a bit about what she learned and discovered this summer, out there, back in the world of dishes that will inspire dishes and create new friends. Finally, we get a sneak listen from the rehearsal studio as Jim Infantino preps a live band to take his remarkable ambient electronic album, 'Utopia Revisited,' to the stage at Passim.

The suicide machine is on; the suicide machine is turning. I know its sound, the sound of its engine: I grew up in a suicide city. I was ten, eleven, and twelve, in a place named Leominster, in Massachusetts, where the suicide machine ran strong between 1984 and 1986. This is the story of what happened back then, and it is potentially the start of a new chapter regarding how we tell ourselves such stories in the present. A heavy episode. Please make choices that are healthy for yourself if these topics are not suitable and safe for you at this time.

Karaugh Brown, our guest from Episode 14 in June 2022, returns with new songs and we get to hear clips of them live from her performance at the Campfire festival on September 3, 2023. A roomful of us got to go along for a journey that evening, to follow Karaugh into new spaces and glimpse what's coming next in her creative work. But where exactly is Karaugh Brown going to in a world of words and music? In this episode, we're going to find out.

This week's feature is a Bob Dylan story, the true story of a song and how it came to be, and what it tells us is something important about holding onto things, about keeping them safe, so that we can open little windows like this into a world that might seem far away, but it's never that far, really, if we have a recording and some electricity to play it.

In 1998, the staff at a little folk club in Harvard Square had a problem. The issue was Labor Day. Audiences went to the beach and the family cookout. Few came to the cool, dark room just beneath Palmer Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To solve this problem, this attendance challenge, the staff tried something new. They threw a festival. They called it ‘On the Cutting Edge of the Campfire.' Returning to talk to us about the Campfire festival on the occasion of its 25th anniversary is the one person who's been the absolute throughline of this bigger-than-a-festival story — Matt Smith, managing director of Passim.Click this link to see the full Campfire weekend schedule, September 1–4, 2023.

One of the pleasures of being alive in the company of artists that you admire (and love) is that they make new art. Today, it's a new album from Jim Infantino, a songwriter who's been on with us before, all the way back in Season One, and it's not only a new recording of songs, but it's a big swing and dramatic departure. These are a few of my favorite things. And you, dear listener, are in for an electronic treat.

The time to think and say something about Sinead O'Connor — who is, not was but is, vastly important to me — that time is now. I've been thinking about Sinead, especially these past several weeks, for reasons we all almost certainly understand. And so, today, an essay focusing on an album and a night I spent painting and what there is to know about a hurting heart that beat for too short a time among us.

This is the first installment of the next chapter in the story of ‘All Your Days.' For the past 18 months, we've gathered on Tuesdays across three seasons a year and shared the ideas, the experiences, the lessons and losses, letdowns and liftings and illuminations, the early days and twists of fate. Now, these are the Tuesday stories. They'll happen in two ways. One way is this way, this short podcast every Tuesday. Another way is the new ‘All Your Days' newsletter. You can subscribe on Substack and the newsletter includes a bit of material that the pod won't, while the pod will give some things the newsletter doesn't carry. There's a sense and reasoning to both formats. I hope you enjoy this new chapter of the project.

One night in the late 1990s I walked up to a big black door under a tattered green awning, and I walked through that door, and I was in a room. I was at a crossroads. I was a kid with a guitar, and I was about to meet a man named Geoff Bartley. I've seldom respected an artist and a host and a curator of a room the way I respect Geoff. He's our guest on the season closer of ‘All Your Days,' and for the first time, I have the privilege of learning where this man, this musician that critics and producers and artists have described as “one of the most under-recognized musicians alive today,” this award-winning fingerstyle player, this picker, this poet, this bluesman, this maker of a space that was essential to the songwriter scene in Boston and Cambridge came from, what he meant to do, what he achieved, where he has been and where he is going tomorrow. A must. A deep and soulful talk.

Please meet Timothy Mason. There is probably no one more consequential in terms of my awakening artist's mind in the 1990s. There was no early room in which I discovered or started to practice art that was not either produced by Tim or for which he was not in some way materially responsible. Nothing that followed would have played out the same way. This one is a catch from the deeper waters, the personal depths. We're swimming with the tides of the cosmos in this one: the story of a person who created a network of stages and performance venues across geography and time, bringing luminaries and future luminaries together in places unlikely or spaces imperiled — all the while practicing his own craft as a poet and performer striving to channel voices and experience both inside and outside the human condition.

Back in the early 2010s, I met a man named Rafat Ali, who'd just co-founded an online travel news company called Skift, and he gave me an assignment. And that changed everything. In my journey, Rafat has unlocked incredible next steps and new chapters, but we've never really talked to each other about his journey, the whole thing, from India to Indiana to New York and many circles opened and closed along the way. Culture shock, climbing the cliff face of a career in writing and journalism, triumphs, injustices, escapes and narrow passages, fearlessness lost and found again. This is Rafat's story and it's a great privilege to have had such a deep and generous conversation. Many lessons within. Spend some time with the mind of Rafat Ali. You'll be glad you did.

This week our conversation turns to Africa with the brilliant Gift Kiti, who has been building water resources and a crucial health clinic for the people of Kashani, Kenya, since 2017. I've been fortunate enough to be along for parts of Gift's journey, thanks to The Resolution Project, and in this episode, 'All Your Days' unpacks the nature of a project that is materially changing lives but that has also come with prices, costs, lessons and revelations for all of us

Some songs and their writers get to you by degrees. Some creep up on your consciousness, a verse here, a chorus there. Others land on your world in a song. That's all it takes. It's not a lot, and then it's everything. In this episode, songwriter Randy Kaplan and I talk about the moment his song “Slow Eater” landed in my world, and then we unpack a lifetime of incredible moments, from Los Angeles and coming up with luminaries like Dan Bern and Andras Jones to a career on TV, including ‘Beauty and the Beast,' scenes with Jennifer Aniston in 'Ferris Bueller,' and more. And that's just scratching the surface.Clips in this episode: Slow Eater (Randy Kaplan, ‘Boyish Hips') - 1997 Tootsie Roll (Randy Kaplan, ‘Perfect Gentleman') - 2004Crushed Berries (Randy Kaplan, ‘Miraculous Dissolving Cures') - 2001Shampoo Me (Randy Kaplan, ‘Five Cent Piece') - 2006Mosquito Song (Randy Kaplan, ‘Five Cent Piece') - 2006 Candy Man Blues (Randy Kaplan, ‘Shake It and Break It') - 2019Beauty and the Beast (‘Snow' d. Gus Trikonis) - 1989Ferris Bueller (‘Without You I'm Nothing' d. Steve Dubin) - 1990I'm Not Hungry (Randy Kaplan, ‘Boyish Hips') - 1997Live Tigers (Randy Kaplan, ‘Boyish Hips') - 1997Angel Eyes (Frank Sinatra, ‘Sings for Only the Lonely') - 1958Sad to Be Happy (Randy Kaplan, ‘Songs for Old Lovers') - 2011Volunteers (Randy Kaplan, ‘Miraculous Dissolving Cures') - 2001

The second part of our conversation with the topical songwriter David Rovics. Part one traced the evolution of a political mind to the moment when tragedy undid the shackles of expectations and set David on his path. This week we follow what happens next, the collapse of the college circuit that supported activists throughout the later 20th Century, the implosion of the CD revenue stream and the rise of an atomized social-media-driven culture. Clips in this episode:Today in Charlottesville (David Rovics, ‘Ballad of a Wobbly' - 2018)From Kabul to Khartoum (David Rovics, ‘ Living in These Times' - 2001)Operation Iraqi Liberation (David Rovics, ‘The Commons' - 2007)Somewhere on Spotify (David Rovics, ‘Songs for Today' - 2019)Israeli Geography 101 (David Rovics, ‘Meanwhile in Afghanistan (Solo Acoustic) - 2019)David Rovics is a Nazi (David Rovics, ‘David Rovics' YouTube - 2022)I'm a Better Anarchist Than You (David Rovics, ‘The Commons' - 2007)

Some songwriters, they yearn for a mantle — they strive for the political mark. David Rovics' songs move musically in the way of the great protesters, singers and poets — the Seegers and the Guthries, Baez, early Dylan, the Anne Feenies and the Alix Olson. I've finally had a chance to talk with David. What I discovered, and what fills the next two episodes of this show, is an artist still at work on the specific and the topical and the positively protest-oriented, but I also found a person deeply embroiled in the new tides of the present. this is a story of protest, and of being protested, and it is a story of minds and souls that are searching for the paths that navigate both of those poles while staying in the light and, if were are lucky enough, offering some guiding point, some pinprick of illumination, to others.Clips in this episode: Henry Ford Was a Fascist (David Rovics, ‘Live at Club Passim' - 2000)Who Would Jesus Bomb? (David Rovics, ‘The Commons' - 2007)Hobo's Lullabye (David Rovics, ‘Live at Club Passim' - 2000)Make It So (David Rovics, ‘Make It So' - 1996)Song for Eric (David Rovics, ‘Live at Club Passim' - 2000)If I Die Tomorrow (David Rovics, ‘We Just Want the World' - 1998)

In the fall of 2002, I turned on a four-track and demo-ed the album I intended to record as a follow-up to my record 'Life Underwater.' A lot of things changed after that. The new season of ‘All Your Days' starts with the story of lost work and how it was made between the events of September 11, 2001, and the day I switched on the recorder. A portrait of a year marked by fire and death, haunted spaces and creations, by the accidental making of a time capsule that would emerge 20 years later as a testament of sorts. Clips in this episode: Opening Themes: Dark Shadows / Collinwood (The Robert Cobert Orchestra, Dark Shadows [The Original Music]) - 1999Sleep (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Touch You (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023After the Prom (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Mourning Day (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Same Old World (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Surrender (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Black Helicopters (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023Church of the Kitchen Sink (Resurrections Version) (James O'Brien, ‘Church of the Kitchen Sink: Resurrections) - 2023

‘All Your Days' returns for Season Five on June 6. We're joined this summer by incredible artists and musicians reaching for the next ring while reconciling lives and careers at times caught in the storms of the interior and exterior world. As always, our guests are people that have intersected with the personal. These are artists and innovators, visionaries and creators that have materially changed the world in which I work. Our guests are inventors, and re-inventors, creative minds that have survived and thrived in the most competitive places at the most ridiculously challenging times.

Part two of a stunning and wide-open conversation with Melissa Ferrick. From the Spotify class action suit to writer's block to the revival and reinforcement of a practice to the transformation of a life into one that strives for balance between artist and academic, the podcast is joined again by this incredible voice, one that has been putting in the work since 1991. We pick up Melissa's journey from where we left off in the heady early days, tracking days of triumph and troubles all the way to the present, where the artist — and the academic — are on the cusp of new and powerful moments. And we get a sneak peek at Melissa's new single. Clips in this episode:David Lowery v. Spotify (Dan Kopko, ‘Copyright Answers: Copyright & Music') - 2016Why Did Taylor Swift Pull Her Music From Spotify? (Joe Levy + Trish Regan, ‘Street Smart') - 2015A2IM/Melissa Ferrick/NMPA (Portia Sabin, ‘The Future of What, Episode 64') - 2017Goodbye Youth (Melissa Ferrick, ‘GoodBye Youth') - 2008It's Been A Long Time (Melissa Ferrick ‘In The Eyes of Strangers') - 2006The Truth Is (Melissa Ferrick, ‘The Truth Is') - 2013What Music Teaches You (Melissa Ferrick, Berklee College of Music) - 2013Black Tornado (Melissa Ferrick, '70 People at 7000 Feet') - 2004Welcome to My Life (Melissa Ferrick, '70 People at 7000 Feet') - 2004

In 1991, nineteen-year-old Melissa Ferrick got a phone call. The caller told her that she was about to open for Morrissey. She had about an hour to get to the amphitheater. And the next day, they sent a car to take her away on tour with Moz. It has been a long time since I last spoke with Melissa. And never before have we spoken to each other about the stories and experiences and details that she shares. Part 1 of 2, this episode is such a generous conversation re: early days, transformations, triumphs, frustrations ... and "Drive." Our conversation floored me with its specificity and sometimes its vulnerability and always by how powerfully the way Melissa Ferrick describes her world resonates. Clips in this episode:Do Re Mi (Ani DiFranco and Melissa Ferrick, Live in New York - 2011)Seconds (Melissa Ferrick, Live in Hollywood - 2009)Giving Day 2021 (Melissa Ferrick and Steve Kurz, Northeastern College of Arts, Media and Design - 2021)Morrissey in Houston (Christi Myers, 13 Eyewitness News - 1992)Happy Song (Melissa Ferrick, 'Massive Blur' - 1993)Hello Dad (Melissa Ferrick, 'Massive Blur' - 1993)Massive Blur (Melissa Ferrick, 'Massive Blur' - 1993)Freedom (Melissa Ferrick, 'Freedom' - 2000)Drive (Melissa Ferrick, 'Freedom' - 2000)North Carolina (Melissa Ferrick, 'Freedom' - 2000)Closer (Melissa Ferrick, 'Live at Union Hall' - 2007)

Chris Chandler is a maker of new things out of two things, out of three things, out of four — one of the world's consummate collaborators, sharing tracks with luminaries, fusing the verse he inhabits with the chords and choruses of artists such as Dan Bern, Jim Infantino, Peter Yarrow, Anne Feeney and Paul Benoit. I've known Chris a bit over the years, and years ago shared stages with him here and there, and I've always been moved and awed by what he manages to do with a pair of vocal cords and the truth. But I've never heard his full story or gotten under the hood with the head that makes it all work. Until this episode.Clips in this episode:Jupiter Falling (James O'Brien, Live at City Winery [unreleased, Dan Bern intro] — 2023)Stone Mountain/Georgia (Chris Chandler and Paul Benoit, ‘So Where Ya Headed?' — 2009)Hannibal / Would You Die for a Necktie? (Chris Chandler and Dan Bern, ‘Collaborations' — 1999)Carnaval (Chris Chandler and Anne Feeney, Live at Kerville — 2003)Travels with Charlie (Chris Chandler, ‘As Seen on No Television — 1992)Lionel Say / Breakfast Serial Killers, (Chris Chandler and Jim Infantino, ‘Collaborations' — 1999)Loafer's Glory / Nothin ‘ to Do But Go (U. Utah Phillips and Mark Ross, ‘Loafer's Glory' — 1997)Sourmouth Sprout (Chris Chandler and Anne Feeney, ‘Hold Me Up to the Light' [Peter Wilde] — 2003)Last Thoughts on Elvis Presley (Chris Chandler, ‘Convenience Store Troubadours' — 1996)Eli Whitney was an A-Hole / Maggie's Farm (Chris Chandler and Paul Benoit, ‘Pocket Call From My Dreams' — 2017)Meek Rising - Don't Go Back to Sleep (Chris Chandler and Paul Benoit, ‘Don't Go Back to Sleep' — 2022)Lightning Bugs and Barflies (Chris Chandler and Paul Benoit, ‘Matadors' — 2011)

Ted Drozdowski penned what is probably the most important article about my musical work in the whole of my strange little start-and-stop songwriting career. But that's not what this episode is really about. Ted Drozdowski packed his bags and traveled the world and played the blues, and he gets to say that forever. That is part of what this episode is about, and that he is a believer in the power of the guitar, and that he is connected to some part of an older source, an older trunk line. This is his story, an artist's story. Ted Drozdowski is our guest on this episode of 'All Your Days.'Clips in this episode:Death Letter (Scissormen, 'Jinx Breakers' - 2005)Nobody But You (Live) (Junior Kimbrough, 'You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough' - 2002)Big Shoes (Scissormen, 'Big Shoes - Walking and Talking the Blues' - 2012)When the Devil Calls (Scissormen, 'Luck In a Hurry' - 2008)Hellhound On My Trail (John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars, 'Steady Rollin' Man' - 2001)Corey Harris & Othar Turner (d.Martin Scorsese, 'The Blues' - 2003)Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues (d.Robert Mugge - 2010)57 Flavors (Ted Drozdowski, 'Coyote Motel' - 2019)The River (Live) (Coyote Motel, 'Still Among the Living (Live)' - 2020)The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography Trailer (d.Errol Morris - 2017)

The sound of John Sinclair giving his poetry to a room is a deep motion, a rumble from some planetary layer. The sound of John Sinclair giving this interview is a hurricane motion, a gale force communication from a past and present that cannot be ignored. His is a story that includes great artists of our time, of his time — the 1960s especially — of a time that feels long ago until you hear the voices again ... huge, urgent, howling. Poet, activist, ally, cause celebre, White Panther, prisoner, a free man — and all the complications that come with all those things — this is John Sinclair on 'All Your Days.'Clips in this episode: My Buddy (John Sinclair & His Boston Blues Scholars, ‘Steady Rollin' Man' - 2001)Sentimental Journey (Les Brown, 'Best of the Big Bands' - c.1944)Maybellene (Chuck Berry, 'The Definitive Collection' - 1955)Rebel Without A Cause (d. Nicholas Ray, 1955)(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones, 'Hot Rocks 1964–1971' - 1965)I Am Not Your Negro (d. Raoul Peck, 2017)Kick Out the Jams (Uncensored Version) (MC5, 'The Big Bang!' - c.1969)WPP Central Committee - Music is a Revolutionary Force (p. Cary Loren, field recording - c.1968–69)D. C. B. A. 25 (Jefferson Airplane, 'Surrealistic Pillow' - 1967)Abbie Hoffman incident - Woodstock (field recording - 1969)John Sinclair (John Lennon, 'Some Time in New York City' - 1972)Do It (John Sinclair, 'Beatnik Youth' - 2017)Ain't Nobody's Business (John Sinclair, 'Beatnik Youth' - 2017)

Archaeologist and historian Edward L. Bell joins ‘All Your Days' to talk about his recent book, a history — and a mystery (and he's come the furthest in solving it) — tied to stories of slaves in the Northeast U.S. and what we think we know about bastions of abolition. A lot. Heavy talk. Good talk. Needed talk. Ed and I go back as musical friends as well, and I learn a lot about this person I've known for many years, including his parents' early days around Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, and our shared connection to Ferron's incredible songwriting.Clips in this episode:Shadows On A Dime (Ferron, ‘Not A Still Life: Live At The Great American Music Hall' - 1992)Classroom Scene (‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' - 1989)

Walter Geer III is a creative director in the advertising world. In 2018, he approached me with this one specific story, and in this episode, we return to that moment, that project — one that is now ongoing, one that focuses on social justice, equality, ambition, expectations, repercussions, and perseverance. One that's changed Walt's life and changed the lives of people working with words and images and sound throughout his industry. And made some of them angry, too. This is a story of what it means to stand up, to take flak for standing up, and to keep standing up regardless. Walter Geer III is our guest on this episode of ‘All Your Days.'Clips in this episode:Advertising or Marketing (Bill Hicks, ‘Revelations: Variations' - 2019)Walter Geer III at Mosaic Awards 2022 (American Advertising Federation - 2022)Ask The Experts - Anita Sheares + Walter T. Geer III (The Advertising Club of New York - 2020)ThinkNW Diversity Summit Summer 2021 - Walter T. Geer III + Anastasia Williams (ThinkNW - 2021)Black Madison Ave Trailer (NewYorkFestivals - 2022)

His name is Dhani Jones. He was a middle linebacker in the NFL from 2000 to 2011, from the New York Giants to the Eagles to the Cincinnati Bengals. And that's only part of the story. Dhani hosts TV shows on The Travel Channel and CNBC, publishes a book about his sport, starts companies and creative agencies and invests in visionary organizations that are shaping the future, all while working for equality in our schools and workplaces. He's one of the most inspiring people I know, in a rare class of doers — the kind that talks the talk and walks the walk. In this episode of ‘All Your Days,' Dhani Jones is my mind-blowingly passionate guest for a deep talk about persistence and recognition, passion, curiosity — and about exhaustion as a process rather than an obstacle. It's a big one. This is Dhani Jones.Clips in this episode:‘Vin Scully was the voice of baseball. Hear some of his greatest calls.' (MLB - 2022)‘Hedman turn, he shoots, he scores!' (SPORTSNET - 2017)‘NFL Announcers "Speaking Too Soon”' (Ding Productions - 2021)‘Dhani Jones Interview with Adam Neft on 97.1 The Fan' (97.1 The Fan - 2011)‘Dhani Tackles the Globe' (RedL1neF1lms - 2011)‘Dhani Tackles the Globe (Thailand)' (freelandfilms - 2011)‘Rachel Jacobson - From The Hardwood Court To The Sky' (The Pathfinders with Dhani Jones - 2022)

Pamela Means is among the most incisive and insightful describers of injustice and indignation, anger and antipathy — on a level with few others. Her songs create a lens, and in its focus we can call out the racists, the fascists, the homophobes, the horror dealers among us. And yet, Pamela Means is at the same time a writer of love songs, making space for love. This is the story of her career doing both and more and how Pamela continues to honor that heavy responsibility, speaking the truth and calling things out.Clips in this episode:James Cameron (Pamela Means, ‘Single Bullet Theory' - 2003)Maybe You Should (Pamela Means, ‘Cobblestones' - 1998)Strange Fruit (Pamela Means, ‘Single Bullet Theory' - 2003)Potholes (Pamela Means, ‘Bone Spurs' - 1995)Speak - Live w. Ani DiFranco (Pamela Means, ‘Bone Spurs' - 1995)Truth (Pamela Means, ‘Cobblestones' - 1998)Maggie's Farm (Pamela Means, ‘Pearls' - 2000)Two Halves (Pamela Means, ‘Single Bullet Theory' - 2003)My Funny Valentine (Pamela Means, ‘Jazz Project, Vol. 1' - 2006)My Brother Was (Pamela Means, ‘Plainfield' - 2016)Impeachment Now! (Pamela Means, ‘Impeachment Now!' - 2018)Color of the Skin (Pamela Means and The Reparations, ‘Live at Northfire' - 2020)

'All Your Days' is back in your ears on February 7. It's Season 4, and the talks are intense and funny and sad and sometimes angry as I step into the discussion with artists and athletes, poets and ad executives, historians and colleagues and friends — all the creative souls I know who've been putting in the work and dealing with the world in which we live.

We start with the Conan O'Brien moment. Songwriter Michael McDermott has been loved by luminaries (Stephen King wrote his liner notes), followed by fans, showcased on the biggest stages, and written about by the widest-reaching publications. Yet, as Michael puts it, he still suffered under a kind of reversal — pleasure over peace, the quick fix over the long game. Join us for the finale of Season Three, a journey into Michael's roaring music, his meteoric rise, his subsequent crashes and resurrections, and now the incredible album and memoir he's riding to new heights in a lighter — and light-filled — reality. Clips in this episode: https://youtu.be/12v3cd548gk (Bells (Michael McDermott, 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' - 1996)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-wall-i-must-climb/1600780525?i=1600780526 (A Wall I Must Climb (Michael McDermott, '620 W. Surf' - 1991)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/20-miles-south-of-nowhere/7066263?i=7066228 (20 Miles South of Nowhere (Michael McDermott, 'Last Chance Lounge' - 2000)) Scars From Another Life (Michael McDermott, Live Reading - 2022) https://music.apple.com/us/album/annie-and-the-aztec-cross/7066263?i=7066233 (Annie and the Aztec Cross (Michael McDermott, 'Last Chance Lounge' - 2000)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/knocked-down/1364762641?i=1364762956 (Knocked Down (Michael McDermott, 'Out From Under' - 2018)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/dance-with-me/16044739?i=16044715 (Dance With Me (Michael McDermott, 'Ashes' - 2004)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/pack-the-car/1617706699?i=1617707460 (Pack the Car (Michael McDermott, 'St. Paul's Boulevard' - 2022)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/getting-off-the-dime/7066263?i=7066188 (Getting Off the Dime (Michael McDermott, 'Last Chance Lounge' - 2000)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/shadow-in-the-window/1113221761?i=1113222428 (Shadow in the Window (Michael McDermott, 'Willow Springs' - 2016))

In a sense, Andras Jones has always lived in a world that overlaps with dreaming. His father was a dream researcher. In the 1980s, Andras starred in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 4' (he also appeared on 'Saved By The Bell' and in films with Drew Barrymore, Alice Cooper and Jeffrey Combs). All the while, he has been conjuring his own world with a guitar and a head full of clever, funny, angry songs.  In this episode of ‘All Your Days,' we join Andras's journey, exploring the triumphs and frustrations of wrangling with dreams and, as a writer about synchronicity, how in giving attention to different ways of perceiving the "real" world Andras has redefined his own dream and its pursuit. Clips in this episode: https://music.apple.com/us/album/get-normal/159868619?i=159868628 (Get Normal (The Previous, 'UnPop' - 1998)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-firecracker-kid/152125457?i=152125468 (The Firecracker Kid (Andras Jones, 'A Curmudgeon For All Seasons' - 2004)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/hold-your-nose-and-vote/152125457?i=152125476 (Hold Your Nose and Vote (Andras Jones, 'A Curmudgeon For All Seasons - 2004)) Three Day Weekend (Andras Jones, Unreleased - Live 2001) Superlame (Andras Jones, Unreleased - Live 2001) https://youtu.be/yl5txewXOUk (The Sync Web of Andras Jones: Showman/Shaman (Part 3 of 3, dir. William Morgan - 2013)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/paint-my-day/1475972409?i=1475972422 (Paint My Day (Andras Jones, 'All You Get' - 2019)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-things-i-have-to-live-without/1475972409?i=1475972411 (The Things I Have To Live Without (Andras Jones, 'All You Get' - 2019))

Adam Brodsky gives zero fucks. Adam Brodsky cares very, very deeply. This is the dichotomy and part of the genius at the center of Philadelphia's own King of Anti-Folk (though he'd put that crown on your head and mine, just as quickly ... but maybe only if you deserved it). In this episode, Adam and I dig deep into rejection, betrayal, and hard traveling. Plus yelling at Nazis, landing a Guinness World Record, early days, vanishing acts, life, death, new recordings, and all things 'All Your Days'.

Just before the pandemic, there was this restaurant, our neighborhood local. Chef Camille Rodriguez ran its kitchen, and she kept us well fed, well poured, and just plain happy at our end-of-the-bar dinner spot. Then, when the quarantine locked down New York, Chef Camille transformed her talents into a lifeline for those of us stuck inside. From her apartment kitchen, she emerged with a full bistro menu, lovingly cooked with the help of her tiny team. In this episode, we dive into how she managed to stay alive, stay creative, and thrive as a food person in a world where hospitality and breaking bread went on hold. Lot's more, too: Late starts at the cooking career, equity in the kitchen, and traveling to learn what people eat. A feast!

Join us for a story of survival and guarding a cultural treasure in the face of terrible odds. Matt Smith is the managing director of Passim, the legendary folk club in Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The room saved my life more than once in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And then, in 2020, Matt faced an incredible dilemma — how to keep the 60-plus-year-old venue alive during the lockdown of quarantine. He's on the pod, taking us through those months and moves, steps and challenges, and ultimately triumphs. We also talk about the remarkable changes folk music — and what we call folk music — has undergone since those days I worked (and played) in the room. Clips in this episode: https://music.apple.com/us/album/in-my-head/1353718229?i=1353718239 (In My Head (James O'Brien, 'A Bothersome Injuries Forty, Vol. 7' - 2018)) https://fb.watch/f8TcrlAU_C/ (Kris Delmhorst, 'Emergency Club Passim Social Distancing Hour' - 2020) https://youtu.be/ZrJaNNDefB8 (Matt Smith, 'Make Us A Video for Keep Your Distance Fest' - 2020) https://youtu.be/693Tszy2UsA (Passim Streams: The Bigfoot Research Organization - 2020) https://youtu.be/0Tfc_6kxyKw (Passim Streams: Melissa Ferrick - 2020) https://youtu.be/ZU6-b1REPO8 (Passim Streams: Virtual Open Mic 9/22 - 2020) https://youtu.be/qWI9i6lBsOo (Alice's Champagne Palace (Ellis Paul, Live - 2014)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/i-will-wait/1451531115?i=1451531639 (I Will Wait (Mumford & Sons, 'Babel' - 2012)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/once-there-was-no-sun/1624742998?i=1624744864 (Once There Was No Sun (Jake Blount, 'The New Faith' - 2022)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/chase-of-the-buffalo/2767571?i=2767335 (Chase the Buffalo (Pierce Pettis, 'Christine Lavin Presents - Follow That Road' - 1993))

At the turn of the millennium, I learned to mix sound for an Arabic music series at a famous folk club in Massachusetts. Every month was a musical challenge; every month a personal reward. And then, in the middle of our work together, 9/11 changed everything. Joining me on this episode is the remarkable Karim Nagi — one of the great culture bearers; a masterful musician — who created and shaped that series. We talk about the post-9/11 world, his vast array of musical projects, being an ally in antagonistic times, and the future of hope for pluralists and multiculturalists in 2022. Clips in this episode: Alla al-Balad al Mahbub (Sharq Arabic Ensemble, 'Arabesque Mondays: Collection 1' - c.2000) Bin al-Balad (Sharq Arabic Ensemble, 'Arabesque Mondays: Collection 1' - c.2000) Saidi ya Dallaa (Sharq Arabic Ensemble, 'Arabesque Mondays: Collection 1' - c.2000) https://youtu.be/IW-xEzrlf80 (Karim Nagi (TedX, 'The Tambourine: My Partner in Diplomacy and Disruption' - 2020)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/istihlal-huzam/1637444452?i=1637444456 (Istihlal Huzam (Karim Nagi, 'Huzam' - 2022)) http://www.karimnagi.com/cds/longariad_kayyalii.mp3 (Longa Riad (Karim Nagi with Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali, 'Arab Pan Eastern Music Live' - 2004)) https://youtu.be/M696x8OiPIg (Munyati (The Arab Blues, Live - 2021)) https://youtu.be/gpFRBfDn43A (Baladi TukTuk (Karim Nagi, 'Detour Guide' - 2015)) https://youtu.be/uOxxikIqJyA (Arabiqa (Karim Nagi - 2019)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/dulab-huzam/1637444452?i=1637444453 (Dulab Huzam (Karim Nagi, 'Huzam' - 2022)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/future-folklore-zaman-zaman/1601259091?i=1601259092 (Future Folklore: Zaman Zaman (Karim Nagi, 'Future Folklore' - 2022)) https://youtu.be/THogKj649MI (Alive & Diverse (Karim Nagi, Live - 2018))

A powerful painter with a very personal perspective, Annie Leist takes us into the mind, the oils, and the brushes. We talk about her eyes, which deliver visual information differently than the typical pair, and her advocacy for accessibility and equity. Hot and cool times at the canvas. New work with photos at the Mall of America. The artist and advocate at large; please meet Annie Leist. Clips in this episode: https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/643 (Annie Leist on Andrew Wyeth's 'Christina's World' (MOMA/UNIQLO Artspeaks, 2021)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/paint/1295894171?i=1295894180 (Paint (James O'Brien, A Bothersome Injuries Forty, Vol. 1, 2017)) Thief and Painter (James O'Brien: Unreleased, 2002) Paint (James O'Brien: Unreleased, 2001)

To put it mildly, it's a raging Season 3 kickoff episode with the unbelievable guest presence of Hamell on Trial. We get into the records, the stages, the wages, and what's next for an artist who's seen a lot, done more, and earned the right, night after night, to give us all a couple pointers on the unbelievable shit that's going down. Clips in this episode: https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/big-as-life-2 (Big As Life (Hamell on Trial, 'Big As Life' - 1994)) https://youtu.be/xIrTAiTmZrA (The Meeting (Hamell on Trial, Live at The Sidewalk Cafe - 2012)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/dead-mans-float-2 (Dead Man's Float (Hamell on Trial, 'Big As Life' - 1994)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/when-bobby-comes-down (When Bobby Comes Down (Hamell on Trial, 'Choochtown' - 1999)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/choochtown (Choochtown (Hamell on Trial, 'Choochtown' - 1999)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/nancys-got-a-new-boyfriend (Nancy's Got A New Boyfriend (Hamell on Trial, 'Choochtown' - 1999)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/go-fuck-yourself (Go Fuck Yourself (Hamell on Trial, 'Choochtown' - 1999)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/tough-love (Tough Love (Hamell on Trial, 'Tough Love' - 2003)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/aint-that-love/1436793284?i=1436793294 (Ain't That Love (Hamell on Trial, 'The Happiest Man In The World' - 2014)) https://music.apple.com/us/album/melting-snow-kill-them-all/1436115697?i=1436115981 (Melting Snow (Kill Them All) (Hamell on Trial, 'Night Guy At The Apocalypse: Profiles Of A Rushing Midnight' - 2018)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/all-the-things-i-miss (All The Things I Miss (Hamell on Trial, 'The Pandemic Songs' - 2020)) https://hamellontrial.bandcamp.com/track/meet-me-at-the-v (Meet Me At The V (Hamell on Trial, 'V for Valentine' - 2022))

'All Your Days' returns on September 6. Here's a bite of the apple, a sample of the ample, a bit of the wit that's on the way next week, as we get back into the mix and hear from our new season's guests, including Hamell on Trial, Michael McDermott, Andras Jones, and more. Nine-six-twenty-two: Get yer pod!