Podcast appearances and mentions of William J Simmons

Missing your rambling relatives this holiday season? You're in luck! Tune in to Jason and Skip as they ramble through weather reports, amp fixes, book recommendations, reflective impedance, reverb-driven line-out and more on our 141st episode! Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to podcast@fretboardjournal.com. Some of the topics discussed this week:  :48 Weather report: Rain in the West, bomb cyclones in the PNW 4:32 A 1968 Heathkit catalog with DIY Harmony Guitar kits 6:35 Thanksgiving at the Simmons house 7:09 A noisy Alamo; Pathfinder, the band (link); bands named after amplifiers  8:49 Our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars and Amplified Parts (Jensen speakers are currently on sale!)  10:58 Deluxe Amplication's red can El Pato Practice amp! (link, I said green on the podcast...my bad) 11:50 Pre-order William J. Simmons' new book, 'Love and Degradation: Excessive Desires in Queer-Feminist Art' (pre-order link)  12:51 Recommended reading: 'The Golden Ocean' by Patrick O'Brian 14:33 What's on Skip's bench? The secret solid state guru in Sacramento, not to be confused with the washing machine guru 18:54 The Truth About Vintage Amps Patreon page; guided tours of the Skip universe?  20:50 Jason interviews a yogi on the Fretboard Journal podcast (link)  22:35 Adding a half-power switch to a push-pull amp?, tortilla chips  29:48 Would a variac set to 110v help new amps?  31:49 Mullard 10M tubes; going back to school; Skip has all the NOS Amperex 12AX7s   37:58 A Denver TAVA meetup?; one filter cap or two in a Gibson GA-25? Replacing non-polarized electrolytic caps by twisting two regular negative caps together 41:03 More on Skip's new (old) Fender Duo Sonic 48:26 Using your Fender's reverb circuit to drive a speaker; Sherlock Holmes' lazy brother 52:36 Skip is going to make an outboard tremolo pedal 53:09 Why do some reverb tanks have bags? 52:22 A non-alcoholic cocktail featuring ginger ale and cranberry juice 56:02 "I smile at pretty solder joints;" Riddim Restoration of Bellingham, Washington (link)  1:00:45 An early 60's Geloso 215AN, a diode bridge and a choke to create negative voltage; and Denver chocolate pudding cake   1:07:14 Reusing old blown transformers 1:09:00 KVMR Community Radio (link) 1:10:05 A mid-‘50s theremin schematic; the Theremin documentary   Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.  Don't forget, we have a Patreon page. Join us to get show updates and get to the front of the question line. 

The history of racism has a parallel history of resistance. Courageous women and men have responded to injustice with lives of faith, hope, and love—bearing witness to the spirit of justice. They have inspiring stories we can learn from today. But who is willing to tell those stories? And who is willing to hear them? In this episode Mark Labberton welcomes historian Jemar Tisby to discuss his new book, The Spirit of Justice—a summoning of over fifty courageous individuals who resisted racism throughout US history. The book is a beautiful quilt of stories and profiles, stitched together through Tisby's contemporary cultural analysis. Jemar Tisby is the New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism. He is a public historian, speaker, and advocate, and is professor of history at Simmons College, a historically black college in Kentucky. Recent Books by Jemar Tisby The Spirit of Justice *Available now I Am the Spirit of Justice *Picture book releasing January 7, 2025 *Stories of the Spirit of Justice Middle-grade children's book releasing January 7, 2025 About Jemar Tisby Jemar Tisby (PhD, University of Mississippi) is the author of new book The Spirit of Justice, New York Times bestselling The Color of Compromise, and the award-winning How to Fight Racism. He is a historian who studies race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century and serves as a professor at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college. Jemar is the founding co-host of the Pass the Mic podcast, and his writing has been featured in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and the New York Times, among others. He is also a frequent commentator on outlets such as NPR and CNN, speaking nationwide on the topics of racial justice, US history, and Christianity. You can follow his work through his Substack newsletter, Footnotes, and on social media at @JemarTisby. Show Notes The Color of Compromise (available here)*—*the larger narrative of (Christian) America's racist history Myrlie Evers Williams on her husband Medgar Evers's death Myrlie Evers Williams: “I see something today that I hoped I would never see again. That is prejudice, hatred, negativism that comes from the highest points across America. She told us then with the candor that comes with old age, she said, and I found myself asking Medgar in the conversations that I have with him. Is this really what's happening again in this country? And asking for guidance because I don't mind admitting this to the press, I'm a little weary at this point.” Fighting for justice “Black people are born into a situation in which we are forced to defend, assert, and constantly so, our humanity. And that is in the midst of constant attacks on our humanity, big and small, whether it is the vicarious suffering that we see when there's another cell phone video of a black person being brutalized by law enforcement, whether it is, you know, We all have memories of the first time we were called the N word, uh, whether it is going into the workplace and wondering if you didn't get that raise or you were passed over for that promotion, if it had anything to do with the color of your skin, even subconsciously. And so we are born into a situation in which resistance is a daily reality.” Sister Thea Bowman, Black Catholic Mississippian Nun “Her holiness leaps off the page.” Simmons College, Louisville, KY Jim Crow Era: “How do you tell the story of the Jim Crow era without centering the white supremacy, the violence, the segregation—How do you center black people in that era?” William J. Simmons, Men of the Mark The history of Simmons College as an HBCU Ida B. Wells Harriet Tubman (Araminta Ross) and the Underground Railroad Nursing, training, service, and freeing the slaves Combahee River Raid (led by Harriet Tubman)—she received a full military burial “We need the spirit of justice because injustice is present.” Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn “And in all kinds of ways, black people chose to fight their oppression.” Romans 5: Suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance produces character. Character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame. “Hope is a decision.” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu) “They chose hope.” William Pannell, Fuller Theological Seminary—My Friend the Enemy (1968) Rodney King and “the coming race war” William Pannell's impact on Mark Labberton Film: The Gospel According to Bill Pannell “When you see what's really motivating people, what's really stirring up fear and hatred, which can lead also to violence. It's still around race.” Racial anxiety and politics: “This is no longer a white man's America.” The Holy Spirit “I'm getting so Pentecostal in these days.” Psalm 11:7: “God is a God of righteousness. God loves justice.” “When I think about what exactly the spirit of justice is, I think it's the fingerprint of God on every human being made in God's image that says I'm worthy of dignity, respect, and the freedom to flourish. And when that is taken away from me because of oppression and injustice, I have this spirit within me to resist.” “The spirit of justice gives us that resilience, that strength to become determined all over again. This is not a power that we find within ourselves to get back up again every time the backlash pushes us back. It is a power. the supernatural power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that also empowers us for the work of justice.” How to make a difference The variety of black experiences Jemar Tisby's first picture book and young reader's edition Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

William J. Simmons is a writer and curator based in Los Angeles and New York. This is his third interview in this series, the second interview can be found here, and the first interview can be found here.

The latest episode of Marian Goodman Gallery Presents takes a close look at Time No Longer, the immersive film and sound installation commissioned by Anri Sala for the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern in Houston, Texas. Sala speaks with writer and curator William J. Simmons about his approach to space as an instrument and the project's prevailing theme: time, and how it relates to history, music, solitude and outer space.

Queer Formalism: The Return expands upon William J. Simmons’s original, influential essay “Notes on Queer Formalism” from 2013, offering novel ways of thinking about queer-feminist art outside of the critical-complicit and abstract-representational binaries that continue to haunt contemporary queer art. It therefore proposes a new kind of queer art writing, one that skirts the limits imposed by normative histories of art and film. Artists addressed in Queer Formalism: The Return include: Sally Mann, David Lynch, Lars von Trier, Math Bass, Lorna Simpson, Laurie Simmons, Alex Prager, Lana Del Rey, Jessica Lange, and Louise Lawler, among others.   Simmons is in conversation with Emily Wells.   _______________________________________________   Produced by Maddie Gobbo, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang. Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.

In this Roundtable we are joined by Mexican photographer, Tania Franco Klein, and art curator and writer, William J. Simmons. Tania’s work has been exhibited widely both in solo and group shows across Europe, the USA, and Mexico and has been commissioned by clients like The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue and Dior. Will received his BA in Art History and LGBTQ Studies at Harvard University and his book, Queer Formalism: The Return, was published by Floating Opera Press this March. In 2020, Will curated the special projects section at the Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles, entitled Cruel Optimism, which highlighted themes of gender, queerness, and feminism. He is presently curating a special limited edition zine for King Kong Magazine, and brought Tania on to photograph Yalitza Aparicio for the first issue. Ximena Prieto leads this thoughtful conversation and the three debate many aspects of the art world, from the view of the artist to that of the audience. They start with discussing how Will and Tania’s recent collaboration came about, the inspiration, and the logistics to bring it together during a pandemic. Tania delves into society’s influence on her practice and how self reflection has helped her achieve the intimacy that’s portrayed in her work, and the group considers how the audience's perception can sometimes differ from the intention, and how this can be a fruitful challenge to further hone artistic focus. Ximena wraps up the conversation with a reflective and hilarious round of quick fire questions including ideal 1 am snacks and controversial art & film world opinions...

Photo by Zach Gross William J. Simmons is Provost Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Southern California. Simmons did his BA at Harvard University and spent three years at the Graduate Center, CUNY and taught at the City College of New York. His criticism and essays have appeared in numerous periodicals and books internationally. This is his second interview for this series, the first interview can be found here. During the interview, three pieces of writing were mentioned; A review of the Jenny Saville show at Gagosian Gallery that was not published but can be found here, also an article on Lena Dunham and Jill Soloway.

William J. Simmons, M.W. Hamilton, and Erle Johnston recall both the influence and organizational faults of the White Citizens Council in Mississippi.  (photo of White Citizens Council operative on right with camera at voting site)