How To Tickle Yourself

Eric Hirshberg is what you might call a renaissance man – an accomplished creative executive, he has worked in brand building, video game creation, design, marketing, storytelling, drawing, and music. He has earned awards for innovations in advertising during his years as leader of world-renowned ad agency Deutsch LA, and in his work overseeing development and marketing at video game giant Activision (the maker of Call of Duty and Guitar Hero).  These days, he is currently exploring his lifelong passion for music as a singer/songwriter/muti-instrumentalist — with live performances and two recorded albums of his work, 2021's Spare Room and Second Hand Smoke, which is coming out in May.

Meet today's guest, Mr. Wayne Magri Xuereb of Gozo, Malta. For those of you not in the know, Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It's got a total population of just over half a million people. It's also got Your Kombucha, Wayne's brewery. We love anyone who brews kombucha here at How to Tickle Yourself. But Wayne doesn't just make kombucha. Better yet, he's also a kombucha educator, and through his SCOBY School, gives workshops and classes, teaching people how to brew themselves, all the while showing how Kombucha can be a gateway to our true selves. In other words, he is most certainly our kind of guy. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/273420577572186 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkombucha1/reels/ Website: https://yourkombucha.com.mt/products/your-kombucha-workshop

Today is a first for this show. While we do have a guest – the great Betty McKeon, astrologer, mother, and mother-in-law par excellence, we are not here to “interview” Betty in the typical manner. Instead, we have invited her on the show to talk about one of our favorite things, The Bhagavad Gita, and what it means to all of us. We talk to Betty about the Gita all the time. We figured it was time we shared some of those conversations with you.

We've got another first for you this week. It's not Taylor Swift, but he's going to be able to tell us about Taylor Swift. Specifically, tickets to Taylor Swift. Josh Baron is not a Taylor Swift expert, but he is a ticketing industry expert, and maybe he can tell us what the hell just happened during Taylor mania this past year. Josh is currently VP of business development for Project Admission, where he works with content owners to facilitate a more connected and integrated ticketing experience for fans and rights holders working across professional sports and live entertainment. Previously, he helped lead business development at Songkick, working closely with artists and management teams on direct-to-fan ticketing. He is also the co-author of Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped, widely regarded as the definitive source on the history of the live entertainment business in North America. For more than a decade, Baron served as editor of Relix Magazine, the jam band journalistic bible.

The founder of Shakti Yoga in Woodstock, Linda Winnick has been teaching yoga for more than 30 years. Equally important, she is a student and teacher of ayurvedic medicine as well. We decided last time she was on that we would have her on every quarter to talk to us about how the seasonal changes affect all of us, and what we can do about it – how to stay in balance when the balance is shifting. We were late then, but we are right on time now. Scratch that, the self is always on time.

Emma Levant is a professional ballet dancer and singer from Orange County, CA. She trained at the Long Beach Ballet Academy from the age of 6 until she graduated into the corps de ballet of California Ballet in San Diego at the age of 20. She's had soloist and principal roles in various full-length ballet productions, including DewDrop and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Kitri in Don Quixote, Cygnets in Swan Lake. and the Autumn Fairy in Cinderella.But that's not enough for Emma. She's also been drawn towards the world of musical expression. She learned to sing by copying her favorite artists on the radio and participating in school choirs. She has delved into songwriting, and has begun creating original music. She has released one EP, a single, and multiple collaborations, and is currently working on her next EP slated for release in next year. Check her out on Spotify. She's got a couple of gems on there, including one song called Gems. She's also a big fan of the book TICKLED, which makes us a big fan of hers. What goes around comes around. All kidding aside, we love this woman for her refusal to let life tell her how it's going to go. She's doing it on her terms. Listen up, as she's an inspiration.https://www.instagram.com/emmaxlevant/

Chris Gaelan is an old friend of Rockledge. Among other things, he is the man who pointed us to the defunct kombucha store out on Route 28 that's now gone, the patronage of which led us to start making kombucha. So you might say we owe him everything. When he's not helping change the direction of our lives, Chris is a singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer.  Last month he released his first music as a solo artist, a single entitled  “Just Another Love Song.' But it's not just another love song — rather, it is a grooving indie rock song reminiscent of early Blur, featuring a distorted driving post-punk bass sample over live drums and a Lou Reed-esque half-spoken vocal. The song draws influences from 90's sample-delic artists such as Lemon Jelly with twangy dobro, guitar, and piano samples combined with Stonesy guitars and claps—mixing house music vibes with a nostalgic rock feel. Got it? In other words, it's a great song. And Chris is a great guy. We are thrilled to share his insights on music and life with the rest of you. We hope it tickles. #chrisgaelan #musician #singersongwriter #justanotherlovesong #growth #tickled #howtotickleyourself #spirituality

Today marks yet another first for this show. It's the first time we have ever had the sibling of a previous guest on the air. We set new records all the time at How to Tickle Yourself, and we're doing it again right now. Susanne Langlois is a Canadian artist, based in Kingston, Ontario. She is sister to Paul Langlois, the musician, who we've recently had on this show. Sue has been painting for over 20 years and currently works in three distinct styles: abstract, still life botanicals, and contemporary landscape, featuring wind turbines. We have two of that last type in this house. Anyone listening right now, I encourage you to go check out her website before you continue. So you can, like, know what we're talking about.  https://www.susannelanglois.com/

Dr. Jeffery D. Long is the Carl W. Zeigler Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, in central Pennsylvania. He has taught there since receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in the year 2000. He is the author of several books, including Jainism: An Introduction and Hinduism in America: A Convergence of Worlds and Discovering Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Thought, which will be released in February of next year. He has also published a wide array of articles and has spoken at a variety of venues, both national and international, including three talks at the United Nations. He received initiation into the Vedanta tradition of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in 2005 and is a regular speaker at Vedanta Societies and Hindu temples across the US. But here's where it gets really interesting. Dr. Long, like many of us, is a lifelong fan of the Beatles and George Harrison in particular.  His book on Jainism includes a section on George Harrison and he has given talks on the influence of Vedanta in Harrison's music.  Fans of Harrison will know about the very obvious influences in Harrison's legendary solo album All Things Must Pass. But there are hints of Harrison's Hindu influences in many Beatles songs as well.  We are so excited to speak to him about so many things – Hinduism, George Harrison, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and the Bhagavad Gita, for starters.

We are super-excited for today's guest.  She's been on the show multiple times and is one of our absolute all time favorite yoga teachers, Linda Lalita Winnick.  She's the founder of Woodstock's Shakti Yoga, has been teaching yoga for over 30 years, and has a Masters Degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Yoga Philosophy.  We don't just love her for her yoga flows but also for her sense of humor AND all the nuggets of wisdom she drops during her classes. Today, we talk to Linda about the changing season and how we can use the insights of Ayurveda to stay in balance as the energy of summer dissipates.

Today's guest, Margo Steines, is the author of the recently-released and captivatingly titled memoir Brutalities: A Love Story. A professor, creative coach, and editor on the faculty of the University of Arizona Writing Program, Margo teaches small-group creative nonfiction writing classes and seminars. As she describes them, they are the classes she wishes she had found when she was a fledgling writer: warm, generative, and trauma-informed, with value placed on process before product. So she's helping people find their voice. We are very much in favor of that on this show.Trauma, as it turns out, is a central theme in Brutalities, her memoir of a couple of decades spent in parts of the world and of life that most of us have only heard about: a former professional dominatrix, Steines takes her readers on a journey through S&M parlors, mental institutions, hospital detox wards, antidepressants, and a couple of suicide attempts thrown in for good measure. It might seem a little counterintuitive to be discussing the memoir of a former dominatrix on this show, especially one that explores, in graphic detail, what it's like to both give and receive (with consent) the most extreme kinds of physical pain imaginable. But Margo Steines finally found the tickle on the other side of all that suffering. She's here to tell us all about it.

Duff McDonald and Joey Moss discuss the special things in life that bring them one step closer to the tickle of existence.

Today, we bring you back to one of the most important topics in the history of mankind: Bob Dylan. Specifically, the massive and astounding and beautiful new book that is being released this month: Bob Dylan: Mixing up the Medicine. This gem of a publication comes to us courtesy of Callaway Arts & Entertainment and the Bob Dylan Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a beast, more than 600 pages with over 1,100 photographs by 90 photographers and filmmakers, as well as 30 original essays by writers and artists focusing on unseen treasures from the Bob Dylan Archive. And I can say, uncategorically, that this is the most ambitious, comprehensive, and beautifully constructed book ever published about the man. And today's guests, these two fine gentlemen, are who we have to thank for it: Mark Davidson, and Parker Fishel.

Andrew Faust is the founder and director of Center for BioRegional Living and a permaculture designer, teacher, and activist.  Andrew is known for his dynamic teaching style and his ability to inspire people to take action and make positive changes in their communities. He's also an advocate for social and environmental justice. He believes that permaculture can play a crucial role in addressing issues such as climate change, food insecurity, and social inequality by promoting sustainable and regenerative practices.  It all might sound very serious but believe me, it's very ticklish stuff as you'll hear.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mandara Cromwell is the author of the book Soundflower: The Journey to Marry Science and Spirit. A veteran entrepreneur, Mandara has been on a lifelong mission to prove via science what she has always known to be true in her heart. And that is that sound, the essence of the universe, has the power to heal. To that end, she has spent several decades refining what she calls cymatherapy – healing using sound frequency with an understanding of the energetic meridians of the human body. She believes that love is a vibration and can heal all maladies. We do not disagree.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's episode is going to be a family affair. Back by popular acclaim, one of our first guests way back in Season 2 of this podcast, is Betty McKeon, who holds the triple crown of top mother (to Joey), top mother-in-law (to me), and astrologer non-pareil. Many of our listeners have had a reading from Betty. Those who haven't should book with haste. She's at BettyMcKeon.Net.So what are we going to talk about today? We're going to start with a high-level discussion about some astrological changes that affect all of us. Then we're going to do a reading. But not a reading for me. Nor a reading for Joey. We are going to get a reading for one of the patron saints of How to Tickle Yourself – Bob Dylan. Betty's got his chart, and she's going to tell us what makes him tick and what he's got in store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shawn Wickens is a New York City-based futurist, casual stoner, and comedian. He co-produces Stoned Laughs, a monthly 420-friendly comedy show in Midtown Manhattan.    His most audacious work yet, “Time Machine Blueprints, 1st Edition,” is available on Amazon. It is a work of pure genius.   All of his good friends, the ones who have his private phone number, can tell you that he doesn't like being harassed.   But we're not here to harass him. We are here to have him tell us how to bend the space-time continuum. And some other stuff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's not every day that you get to interview the guitarist for one of your favorite bands of all time. But the goal of this podcast is to tickle ourselves, so a few months ago, we decided to see if we could make it happen. We succeeded. Paul Langlois is a founding member of Canada's seminal rock band, The Tragically Hip. He's also the leader of the newly-constituted Paul Langlois Band, who just released their debut album (and his third solo album), Guess What, this past summer. Humble, thoughtful, genuine, and downright funny, Langlois shares stories about how he got his start in music, his decades playing with The Hip, as well as the challenges of moving from the side to the front of the stage. He also reveals a thing or two about songwriting in the clutch. It's all very ticklish stuff. Listen up!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we speak to Dan Tomasulo, the academic director of The Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia University's Teachers College. But that's only one of his many talents. Dan is the author of the bestselling books Learned Hopefulness: The Power of Positivity to Overcome Depression and The Positivity Effect, among others. He's got a PhD in psychology, an MFA in writing, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. When he's not running schools or writing books, he edits scholarly journals about psychology. He's also pretty damn funny, but you can judge the quality of his jokes yourself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rich Cohen, Duffs favorite writer, is back with a new book called When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season. He's talking about 1987. He tells the story of that season through the prism of four of the greatest players in NBA history: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, and Michael Jordan. And he does it with his usual craft, insight, and wonderful writing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've got a special one for you today, folks. About a year ago, Duff started hounding his old friend, filmmaker and documentarian Andy Keen to sit for an interview for How to Tickle Yourself.  Andy is currently at work on a timely documentary series of monumental importance. It's called Back to the Fire: In Search of Lost Values That Could Change Our World, and he's making it with our other guest today, Chief Gibby Jacob, the leader of Canada's Squamish Nation for over 30 years.  We want to let these two describe what they're working on themselves, but suffice it to say that their mission is something we share here at How to Tickle Yourself: They are trying to help us get back to first principles, to those few things that matter more than all the other things.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2020, Duff told Joey that he wanted to start a newsletter called The Kombucha Times. Alas, someone already had that idea. His name is Ian Griffin, and he is the founder and publisher of Booch News, the premier source for independent news and statistics about the kombucha industry.   A former marketer and speechwriter who was blogging and podcasting when both were still new things, Griffin wrote a blog about professional speaking for more than a decade. After he retired, he was on a trip with his wife to his native UK and couldn't find enough kombucha. Seeing an opportunity to mix his two loves – blogging and kombucha – he landed on the ideas of a couple of reports about the industry, and Booch News was born.   So this interview is going to be a bit of a mash-up. We're going to talk to Ian about all things kombucha as well as speechwriting. He thinks AI has changed the speechwriting game forever.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We cannot believe our senses over here at How to Tickle Yourself, because we got to interview a singer/songwriter who literally lights our souls on fire.    His name is Andrew Combs. Andrew released an EP in 2010, and his first album, Worried Man in 2012. It was an auspicious start. Since then, he has graced us with four more: All These Dreams in 2015, Canyons of My Mind in 2017, Ideal Man in 2019, and Sundays in 2022.   Texas born and Nashville-based, Andrew writes about love as beautifully as any songwriter we have ever heard. But also about the nature of existence. He's got “searching” lyrics - it sounds as if he's trying to find something, the secret of it all. He also sings like an angel, with a timeless voice.   In any event, he's been on quite the artistic journey, from straightforward country/folk to orchestral accompaniment to indie singer-songwriter, to rock n roll impressionist to outright songwriting experimentalism with his latest, Sundays, during which he entered the studio with a producer and musician friend every Sunday to record a song he'd written that week, entirely in mono.   He's also quite the painter. Check out his site, AndrewCombsMusic.com, for a sample.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are so excited to introduce you to today's guest, woodworker Uli Kirchler. We first came across Uli's work on the website ThisIsColossal in late 2019. A Portland, Oregon-based artist of Italian heritage, Kirchler is the maker of one of our favorite things, ever.   Using unique pieces of wood with varying textural surfaces and colors, he carves multi-story towers – hidden castles, landscape castles, pop-up cities – that telescope in and out of the wood with a flick of the wrist. Uli, quite literally, sees castles inside pieces of wood and then spends countless hours bringing them out of that wood. He is an artist of a most ticklish sort.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's guest is a repeat offender: Chris Wink, the co-founder of Blue Man Group, one of the most legendary performance art creations of our time. But one huge triumph wasn't enough for Chris. More recently, he created Wink World: Portals into the Infinite, which he describes as a psychedelic art house meets carnival fun house. Located in Area 15 in Las Vegas, Wink World consists of six infinity mirror rooms, each containing a distinct combination of light, color, sound and motion. It's quite the trip, literally. And so is Chris, who is one of the most inspiring and energetic people walking on this earth.He's currently working on a second Wink World at Mall of America, with the help of his longtime partner in crime, Alex Aliume. We will talk to him about that, but also some other things: How to stay inspired, how to reconnect to the source, to cultivate a sense of wonder and joy, to appreciate the mystery, etc. You know, all the important stuff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is a man of multiple dimensions. First off, Ron Brent is a friend of Duff and Joey. He lives just down the road in Woodstock. But let's back up about fifty years. In the 1970s, Ron was living in California, surfing, doing yoga, and meditating. The next thing he knew, he was in Ganeshpuri India, where, for 12 years, 1982-1994, he managed one of the country's largest yoga and meditation training facilities. During that time, he helped establish the PRASAD project, a rural development program bringing literacy, safe drinking water, economic development, and eye camps for cataract surgery to villagers living in the vicinity of Ganeshpuri. After returning to the US, he spent nine years on the global board of directors of PRASAD. He's currently on the Board of Directors for PRASAD's Children's Dental Health Program. But that's not all. Ron was co-founder of Asia Arts and Culture, a former company dedicated to bridging the cultural divide between China and the West. Wapner and Brent Books, the publishing arm of Asia Arts & Culture, recently published Laozi's Dao De Jing, translated by Yang Peng, a visiting scholar at Harvard. Ron served as Yang Peng's editor. He has produced documentary films shot in India, Nepal, Tibet, Turkey, and Egypt. Among his current projects: the development of the Shaolin Zen Center of New York, a retreat site for the teaching of Shaolin Culture (meditation and Kung Fu) as well as the production of a documentary film on the development and spread of Chan Buddhism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's guest, Dr. Sona Bhatnagar, has quite the story for you. On the surface, it does not seem ticklish in the slightest. Twelve years ago, her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident. Ten months later, her son died of bone cancer. Not surprisingly, she fell into a pit of despair. Time, willpower, self-reflection, and a conscious acceptance of what had happened to her brought her back from the edge. She wrote about it in a book called Grief Healed: A Physician's Guide to Dealing with Grief and Thriving. She's got a blog and website called GriefHealed.com. We all know people who have lost loved ones. So we invited Sona onto the program to talk about what happens when the tickle seems all but gone, and how to get it back.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have a repeat guest for you this week, one of our favorite people in the whole wide world. Her name is Linda Lalita Winnick, and she is the founder of Woodstock's Shakti Yoga. Go to enough yoga studios, and you will find that the quality of teaching can be all over the place. Not so at Shakti. Linda's understanding of both hatha yoga - the various yoga poses, and flows – as well as the deeper philosophical aspects of yoga runs so deep that her teaching is not rote; it is spontaneous, in the best sense of the word. She does not teach from memory; she teaches from the heart. We all hear a lot of talk about presence and how to find it. It is always in ample supply during one of her classes at Shakti.   Of course, much of yoga, as taught in the U.S., is more like an exercise class than an exploration of anything deeper. That is not the case at Shakti. A certified yoga teacher, with an M.A. in Ayurvedic Medicine and Yoga Philosophy, Linda's teaching of yoga integrates her over three decades of experience as a yoga practitioner and teacher with the principles of exercise physiology and the energetics of Ayurveda, the Science of Life and Longevity. True to the spirit of yoga, Linda continues to study with a number of teachers, including Dr Robert Svoboda (for Ayurveda and Tantra), Dr Parla Jayagopal (for Ayurveda), and Shubraji (Vedanta), and others. Not that long ago, she invited me and Marguerite to an afternoon talk by Shubraji on the lessons of the Bhagavad Gita. So Shakti isn't just a place to fine-tune your body. It's also a place to fine-tune your soul.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My, oh, my, we are excited about today's guest, a remarkable musician and guitarist who is about to bless the world with an unbelievably joyful album next week. It's coming out July 14, and it's called Wild & Precious Life. The man of the moment is Duane Betts, and the album is packed with soulful melodies, intricate guitar work, and a raw, heartfelt energy that will take you to the place that great music is supposed to take you. Dare we say, it will tickle you. Son of the legendary Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts, Duane is his own force to be reckoned with in the guitar-based rock and blues scene. After cutting his teeth with the bands Backbone69 and Whitestarr, he spent a decade playing guitar alongside his father as a member of Dickey Betts and Great Southern. He then traveled the world as a touring member of Dawes. But in the last five years, he's been on a tear: He released an EP in 2018 and co-founded The Allman Betts Band, releasing two records in 2019 and 2020. And then, it was finally time for a solo album. Which brings us to Wild & Precious Life, which is being released by our friends at Royal Potato Family. A native of Sarasota, Duane says he wanted to capture “that old school Florida vibe” with this record. Well, he did that and more. Along with a powerhouse of a band - Johnny Stachela on guitar, Berry Duane Oakley on bass, John Ginty on keyboards – all three members of The Allman Betts Band, along with Tyler Greenwell on drums and special guests Marcus King, Nicki Bluhm, and Derek Trucks, Betts has gifted us with 10 scintillating tracks cut live at Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks Swamp Raga Studio in Jacksonville, Florida in 2022.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, on How to Tickle Yourself,  we speak with Virginia Schenck, a vocal artist and jazz performer who goes by the stage name VA.  She's a social activist. She conducts soul-inspiring Singing Journey Retreats, where she takes singers to places like the middle of Time Square to improvise amidst chaos or the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico to “sing our bones alive.” She is also a board-certified music therapist. She believes in the power of music, as do we.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Longtime listeners will know we love musicians on this podcast. We particularly love musicians whose music we love listening to. That's why it's such a thrill to welcome guitarist Scott Metzger to the show this week. Because he's in four of our favorite bands. In addition to being a founding member of the Grateful Dead revivalist outfit Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Scott is part of the “Telecaster rock trio” WOLF! (along with Jon Shaw and Talor Floreth), and the trio LaMP (with Trey Anastasio band members Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski). He also recently released Too Close to Reason, the first solo album of his 20+-year career. The label? Our friends at Royal Potato Family, who also released the latest from WOLF!, an EP called Adult Entertainment. Check out any or all of these incarnations of Scott Metzger on Spotify. They will not disappoint.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeremy Toback is one half of the hush indie-folk group Renee & Jeremy. These two have made a speciality — actually, an art form — of turning popular songs into delightful little lullabies. The latest is Madonna's Lucky Star. But they also write great originals. One of them, Here and Now, sounds a lot like our theme song here at How to Tickle Yourself. One of us must have stolen the idea from the other. Or, more likely, we are singing from the same songbook about things like presence – the vital importance of focusing on what's happening to you in this very moment. Renee & Jeremy have been releasing singles from their latest album, shout! (a cover of the Tears for Fears hit) in recent weeks. The entire thing is due out this summer. It's a winner. Check it out Renee & Jeremy on Spotify. But first, have a listen as we talk to Jeremy about songwriting, the music business, spirituality, and how forgiveness might just be the answer to everything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us on this enlightening episode as we welcome the inspiring Sunny Singh, an articulate evangelist of the importance of nurturing the “whole” you. After a remarkable — and remarkably lucrative — career in healthcare technology, Sunny realized that it was time to pay attention to the parts of his life he'd been neglecting, and rededicated himself to his practices of yoga, meditation, nourishing nutrition, and establishing strong connections to nature and the human community. But Sunny's mission extends well beyond his own personal journey. Indeed, the once hard-driving executive has shifted his focus to giving back to the world with an intention and scale that boggle the mind. For starters, he's founded a company called Roundglass that supports people in their journey toward what he calls Wholistic Wellbeing. Roundglass is quite the effort, with resources centered around meditation and mindfulness, food & cooking, grieving and death, learning and wisdom, and music. In other words, everything that matters. He's also spearheading an effort to plant a billion trees in the Indian state of Punjab. And that's only the start of it. Sunny Singh's actions serve as proof of the value of his own ideas. Listen in and discover the transformative potential of an integrative and wholistic approach to wellbeing.

We have a repeat guest for you this week.  Her name is Tara Bach, and she is one of Rockledge's favorite artists. Tara lives just down the road a bit, in Saugerties, and in the basement studio of the beautiful house she and her husband are building, she churns out one piece of delightful art after another.  Her attitude is light. Her art exudes light. Her Instagram account is like a sunbeam of inspiration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's guest, Mark Hsu, wrote a book called Please Open in the Event of My Death: A Father's Advice to His Daughters In Case Something Horrible Happens (Which Hopefully It Won't, But Just in Case…) It's a delightful book, full of the kind of advice we all wish we'd gotten when we really needed it. Mark is a rarity - he's a funny lawyer — and we have a humorous time trying to get to the bottom of what it's like to try and be a good parent in these unprecedented times. Support the show by subscribing to How To Tickle Yourself wherever you consume your podcasts! Thank you all so much for your support! Till next week, Duff, Matt and Joey 

Today we're talking to Margie Bissinger, a physical therapist, integrative health coach and “happiness trainer.” We like authors on this show, and Margie is the author of Osteoporosis: An Exercise Guide. She is also the host of the podcast Happy Bones, Happy Life. Who doesn't want either of those?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's guest on How to Tickle Yourself is an old friend of Duff & Joey's. Her name is Rachel Ghiazza, and she is the EVP of US Content at Audible, the audiobook arm of Amazon. Rachel, who studied computer science and business as an undergraduate, has what might just be the perfect combination of talent and assets for today's fast-moving business landscape: She understands the programmers, she understands finance, she understands content, and, most of all, she understands people and what makes us tick. In fact, she's playing a part in what's making you tick. Whether you know it or not, she is helping shape the way you consume media every day. She knows what tickles you, and is holding a very big feather called Audible in her hand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learn how to create a meaningful and self-sufficient life in nature as Arielle Crawford, a sustainable fashion designer turned back-to-the-land evangelist, joins us on today's episode. Arielle is the driving force behind a fascinating project called The Realness Preserve, an off-grid regenerative ranch and retreat, and watching her on Instagram is like watching someone stranded on a desert island figure out how to do everything we take for granted in modern life. A shining beacon of passion, drive, forthrightness, and creativity, Arielle will inspire you to be a better citizen of planet earth. Support the show by subscribing to How To Tickle Yourself wherever you consume your podcasts! Thank you all so much for your support! Till next week, Duff and Matt See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each of us adds to the great play of the universe in our own unique way and with our own unique gift. Today's guest is making lives better, one pantry at a time. Her name is Mira Dessy, and she is known as the Ingredient Guru. As a nutrition educator, Mira helps us understand how to make informed choices about what we eat by focusing on whole food nutrition. Join us as we explore topics like food labeling, common food additives, eliminating bad ingredients from your diet and how to build a healthy and sustainable pantry. With Mira's guidance, we are able to gain clarity and confidence in our food choices, leading to a happier and healthier life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The whole universe is music. And every now and then, individual human beings get in sync with that music and become a conduit for the rest of us to enjoy, a channel through which to hear the sounds of universal love.  Paul Reddick, the Poet Laureate of the Blues, is one of those people. He brings us the sound of everything. We ask about Paul the process of creation, songwriting, and the last book he borrowed from the library.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on How to Tickle Yourself we speak with Andrew Steiner, an internationally touring comedian, actor and producer, about living in a Zen Monastery in Japan, Capitalism, UFO's, Burlesque, Comedy and meditation.  Andrew takes the myriad of his life experiences and celebrates them in his comedy show, How to Meditate, a stand-up comedy show about his unorthodox spiritual journey that explores the nature of happiness, self-identity, and true love through a series of unconventional and hilarious stories, and guided meditation.    See Andrew Steiner Live!: April 14th - 6th Dimension Comedy https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-dimension-comedy-tickets-600895453477   April 15th - How to Meditate: Comedy Show @ The Bunker (Toronto) https://sidedooraccess.com/shows/hX4sQoIQdwuoqpikyoCv   April 17 - Montreal Improv https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-meditate-a-burlesque-show-tickets-603831705887   July 22 - Old Confidence Lodge, Riverport, Nova Scotia https://sidedooraccess.com/shows/dErxVquCMtyXF9vWsRdN  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Described by Rolling Stone as "the point man" for drug policy reform efforts and “the real drug czar,” this week's guest, Ethan Nadelmann, is widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy reform both in the United States and abroad. He founded The Lindesmith Center (1994-2000) and then the Drug Policy Alliance (2000-2017). We talk to Ethan about the unlikely leadership of the United States in reforming marijuana laws, the role of the drug war in mass incarceration, and President Biden's slow transformation from being old time drug warrior to a drug policy reformer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on How to Tickle Yourself we speak to a doctor that helps people see themselves as whole, not broken.  Dr. Nemeh, along with his wife Kathy, helps us use the power of faith to heal ourselves. Dr. Nemeh has been practicing medicine for over thirty years in a private practice in Cleveland. He is well aware of the tools and techniques of modern medicine. But he works with more than that. He has the entire universe at his disposal, and he is using it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we are talking to model/actress turned philanthropist and filmmaker Katie Cleary, who has taken love of animals to a whole new level. A former contestant on America's Next Top Model, Katie has since moved on to more meaningful endeavors. She founded the charity Peace 4 Animals in 2012. She later created World Animal News in 2013 to report on breaking news focused on animals from around the world. She has lobbied to change legislation around cosmetics and their testing on animals. In 2022, she produced and directed Why On Earth, a stunning documentary about the vital connection between humans, animals, and the planet.

Today's host is the perfect guest for this podcast. She's someone who was doing something, happily enough, or so it seemed, until something happened that changed everything, and she found her purpose in life. That's the big tickle, the one everyone should be trying to find.Allow me to explain: Our guest, Jane Hogan, spent the first 30 years of her career as a design engineer. But a case of rheumatoid arthritis became crippling to the point of debilitation. Doctors couldn't help her, pain medication couldn't help her. She was a wreck. But using her engineer's mind, she set out to find out how to cure herself, and the discovery of a natural solution to her ailments changed everything. She ditched the engineering and began her next phase as a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, a Yoga Teacher, and a wellness educator.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can you turn one man's trash into another one's treasure? We get the answer to that question from this week's guest, Sophie Rochester, who finds herself doing just that, smack dab in the middle of the “circular economy.” Sophie brings a sharp eye and British wit to a discussion about how the creative industries can help us make the world a better place—provided that we help them help us to do so. It's all very inspiring, as is Sophie's company, Yodomo. Have a listen to hear all about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With cameras and photos everywhere ready at hand, what gives iconic photography the staying power to influence new generations?  This week on How to Tickle Yourself we explore this question with Elliott Landy, one of the first music photographers to be recognized as an artist. His celebrated works include portraits of Bob Dylan (the cover of Nashville Skyline), The Band (Music from Big Pink and the Band), Janis Joplin, Van Morrison (he took the photos on the cover of Moondance), Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and many others.

Jen Stone is one of those people who treats everything--and everyone--as if they were her own family. (Everything really is Brahman, people!) Jen is the co-founder of Stone Kelly Events, which she runs with her brother-in-law Marco Olmi. Stop what you are doing right now and go to StoneKelly.com or check them out on Instagram. For 25-plus years, they and their team of designers, artists, and craftspeople have created thousands of elaborate city, country, and destination weddings, elegant dinner parties, award shows, and fundraising galas. There is no event too big or small. Their creations will blow your mind. And then Jen will too, because of the humanity of it all.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we speak with Dave Skaff, co-founder of skincare brand Geologie and co-parent of Duff McDonald's daughter. Dave shows us how to let enthusiasm lead you to where you need to be. He is adding his piece to the greater puzzle, with thoughtfulness and determination.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From juggling tennis rackets to spinning cheeseburgers, Michael Rayner, aka the Broken Juggler, has captured the hearts of audiences with his "preposterous brilliance" and "wacky jugglement." Get ready to be amused and inspired as we chat with this master of self-tickling humor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams are a husband-and-wife musical power duo that have been performing together for nearly 20 years.  When talent of this caliber plays live, there can be magic — and with these two, there usually is. Duff and Matt sit down with Teresa and Larry to talk about the other dimension that musicians go to when they're in flow.