Podcasts
Blog posts associated with or featuring podcasts.
- Gold Revere Interview ()
This is the villin podcast and this episode features an interview with Akash Gururaja and Ian Crumley of Gold Revere. Collaborating on music together all the way back to when they attended Linn-Mar High School in Marion, they’ve put out a tremendous catalog since then despite writing and recording out of separate locations for the […]
- Ira Rat Interview ()
This episode of the villin podcast features a conversation with Ira Rat. If you’re scanning his solo work, you’re going to hear some lo-fi experimental music, but as I learned in our discussion, he’s also released music as one half of Neon Lushell, which then led me down a rabbit hole where I learned of […]
- Terra Incognita (Terminally Unique, Pt. 21/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links The last chapter, titled “Clarity,” is where I originally ended things in 2012, and for the better part of a decade I’ve regretted writing that ending the way I did. To be clear, what bothered me most about my conclusion was using a clichéd premise to […]
- Lodge Cove Collective Interview ()
This episode of the villin podcast features a conversation with Mark from Lodge Cove Collective. On his website, Mark explains his goal for the project was to release original music written, produced, and recorded by himself and some of his friends. Quoting him, Mark writes, “I wanted to be able to put some of my […]
- Clarity (Terminally Unique, Pt. 20/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Clarity” is the twentieth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the closing chapter from a piece I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. To gain a better sense of what this broader series is, I suggest starting from the beginning […]
- Does Rehab Work? (Terminally Unique, Pt. 19/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links My concern in discussing treatment in public like this is that I might somehow discourage someone who needs help from seeking that help. That’s part of my decision to explain a different side to Alcoholics Anonymous, from a perspective I didn’t have ten years ago. If […]
- Adaptation (Terminally Unique, Pt. 18/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Adaptation” is the eighteenth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the eighth chapter from a piece I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. To gain a better sense of what this broader series is, I suggest starting from the beginning […]
- My A.A. Speaker Tape (Terminally Unique, Pt. 17/21) ()
I don’t remember where I read or heard this, but it’s been said that getting sober and telling people about it like it’s something to be proud of is like walking into a room of unsuspecting people, unloading a machine gun, missing everyone, and asking for a pat on the back because you didn’t kill […]
- Isolationists (Terminally Unique, Pt. 16/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “We shall get rid of that terrible sense of isolation we’ve always had,” notes the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. “Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.” I can’t stress enough how true it’s been for me that isolation isn’t merely a byproduct of my […]
- CBT and the 12 Steps (Terminally Unique, Pt. 15/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links I’ve heard it said that the best diet is the one you’re actually willing to do. In recovery terms, there is no single best way to get or stay sober, there’s only the plan for recovery you’re willing to try. A decade or so ago I […]
- Reconsidering A.A. (Terminally Unique, Pt. 14/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Reconsidering Alcoholics Anonymous” is the fourteenth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the seventh chapter from a piece I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. To gain a better sense of what this broader series is, I suggest starting from […]
- What is a Relapse? (Terminally Unique, Pt. 13/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links What is a relapse? The question is straight forward, but the interpretation is where things become a little more opaque. Not to start things off in too dry a manner, but the Alcohol and Drug Foundation does well in defining it, explaining, “A relapse happens when […]
- All or Nothing (Terminally Unique, Pt. 12/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “All or Nothing” is the twelfth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the sixth chapter from a piece I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. To gain a better sense of what this broader series is, I suggest starting from […]
- Perfectionism and Recovery (Terminally Unique, Pt. 11/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “I do it every ten seconds,” writes Russell Brand in Recovery, “It could be a part in a film, a passing stranger or a can of Diet Coke—’If I get that, I’ll be alright,’ I think, not those words, it’s quicker and more insidious than words. […]
- A Crisis of Identity (Terminally Unique, Pt. 10/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “A Crisis of Identity” is the tenth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the fifth chapter from a piece I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. To gain a better sense of what this broader series is, I suggest starting […]
- What is Recovery? (Terminally Unique, Pt. 9/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links A few months into my new job working the overnight shift at the in-patient treatment center, the facility experienced its first ever on-campus death from overdose. It occurred while my shift was just getting started. A patient had snuck in some drugs and they killed him. […]
- Untreatable (Terminally Unique, Pt. 8/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Untreatable” is the eighth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features what was originally the fourth chapter from a piece I first published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. For more background on what this series is, I suggest starting from the beginning with the […]
- The Disease Concept of Alcoholism (Terminally Unique, Pt. 7/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links There’s such a thick residue of resentment I see in myself in that last chapter, but I don’t think it I can be too critical of the perspective I had. Addiction can be wildly confusing and it can be frustrating from the perspective of someone going […]
- One Nation Under the Influence (Terminally Unique, Pt. 6/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “One Nation Under the Influence” is the sixth part of a project called Terminally Unique. If you’re starting here, this is going to be confusing because it features the third chapter from a piece I originally published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. If you are new, […]
- Organized Confusion (Terminally Unique, Pt. 5/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links The phrase “terminally unique” is one that comes up regularly in the recovery community. A definition for it which rings as most true for me also refers terminal uniqueness as “personal exceptionalism,” calling it a “false belief that your experiences with substance abuse are unlike those […]
- Aeon Grey Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Aeon Grey is one third of the Des Moines-based hip-hop group Maxilla Blue. Along with news of a forthcoming performance at the 80/35 music festival in Des Moines, earlier this year the trio announced plans of releasing an album of new material, which would be its first since 2012’s […]
- Surrender (Terminally Unique, Pt. 4/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Surrender” is the fourth part of a project called Terminally Unique. It features the second chapter from a piece I originally published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. For context on what this project is, what my hopes are for it, and where it might be leading, […]
- The Maze Within (Terminally Unique, Pt. 3/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “…How I finally found my way out of its maze.” In the years since its publication, this introduction is one of the things that continues to sit most sideways with me about Believed to Be Seen. In the writing, I did my best to explain where […]
- Letting Go (Terminally Unique, Pt. 2/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links “Letting Go” is the second part of a series called Terminally Unique, and the first part of the series that looks back on a piece of writing I published in 2013 called Believed to Be Seen. For context on what this project is, what my hopes […]
- A New Pair of Glasses (Terminally Unique, Pt. 1/21) ()
Listen to Terminally Unique via… YouTubeSpotifyApple PodcastsAmazonPandoraAdditional Streaming Links In February of 2013 I published a writing project called Believed to Be Seen. Looking back on it in the rearview, it was an incomplete history of my problematic relationship with alcohol, written in nine parts as an extended essay. With a friend’s help, I recorded […]
- Geneviève Salamone Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Geneviève Salamone bills herself as “The One Woman Symphony,” but even that could be a limiting description when compared to the true reach of her artistic vision. Releasing her debut solo album, Catharsis, a few years ago, she has taken that work and transformed it into a sprawling multimedia […]
- Husoul Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Husoul is a Des Moines-based drum and bass musician. In this edition of the villin podcast he discusses how he has transitioned from a rapper/producer to a gamer to where he’s currently at, music’s influence on and relationship to mental health, and the ability to find identity and individuality […]
- villin on The Nasty Collective Podcast ()
March 2023 interview with Miguel of The Nasty Collective, discussing Iowa music and the value of celebrating local talent.
- Imma Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Imma is a Des Moines-based MC and he just released a new EP titled GOOD. In this discussion we spoke about the release and the influences that contributed to its sound. One such genre that swayed its direction is R&B from the ’90s and 2000s and as we continued, […]
- Annie Kemble Interview ()
Listen to the villin podcast via… Annie Kemble is a Des Moines-based singer, songwriter and musician who just released her seven track debut titled Dive Bar. In our discussion we talked about a sort of dual nature inherent in the release, as it’s simultaneously autobiographical while bearing aspects of a performative persona. Annie also discussed […]