Iconoclast of Things

Latest Episodes:

Episode 8 - The Silver Screen and All the Magazines May 12, 2017

Show notes

The first Chapter of Lipstick traces is called "The Last Sex Pistols Concert." That show was on January 14th, 1978 at the Winterland in San Francisco. The opening band was this San Francisco punk rock group called The Nuns. In that chapter and his book, Marcus explains how people and events crashed together to tell the secret history of the 20th century. The book got me thinking about the music writers I’ve admired in my life and the moments that shaped their work and the way they illuminate this art form. To find out, I asked Tim Finn of the Kansas City Star, and Danny Alexander of Rock and Rap Confidential to tell me the stories of the moments that shaped their writing. Today’s thing is Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus and this episode is titled “The Silver Screen and all the magazines.”

Episode 7 - Horizons Get Hazy Apr 19, 2017

Show notes

Throughout human history, structures like the Lighthouse of Alexandria served as a welcoming beacon for the traveller, eaching out to guide them through the perils of a place they may have never seen, or one they may not recognize. In America - home of more lighthouses than any other country - though lighthouses aren’t used much anymore, they still dot our coastlines and shorelines from the Great Lakes to both oceans. Few of them project a beam for visitors anymore though. But, as author Jeff Vandermeer, wrote, “Even a ruined lighthouse defines the landscape that surrounds it, serving as a daymark by which passing ships can orient themselves on a map.” And, maybe more valuable, a lighthouse serves as a constant instrument by which those of us on land can orient ourselves; making sure we’re never quite lost in our own familiar spaces. This episode is about the friendship of two religious leaders; a Muslim — born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt and a Christian who was born and raised in Minneapolis Minnesota. It’s a story of hospitality and putting faith in human connection. Not just the midwestern kind, but the version of hospitality taught in every culture throughout history. It’s the story of how those two men became a beacon for one another, and - by extension - their communities. Teaching us all to welcome the visitor and to orient ourselves to openness from within our own land. Today’s thing is the Lighthouse of Alexandria. And this episode is “Horizons Get Hazy.”

Episode 6 - The Distance Between You and Me, Part 2 Apr 04, 2017

Show notes

This second episode looking at refugee musicians in the US is the story of a Kurdish family. A musician father, his wife children and the story they share with one another — whether they realize it or not. They left Syria as refugees and continue the Kurdish tradition to define a home in the United States. Today’s thing is Kurdistan and this episode is The Distance Between You and Me Part Two.

Episode 5 -The Distance Between You and Me Part 1 Mar 20, 2017

Show notes

This is the first episode telling the stories of some musicians who’ve come to America as refugees. It’s a creation odyssey. The creation of Kuomba Ministries. Like any odyssey, this one involves death, new life, near-death, and some inexplicable, supernatural forces inserting themselves in human events from one side of the planet to another. Today’s thing is this building, the Wesley Heights Methodist Church in Northeast Kansas City. This episode is “The Distance Between You and Me. Part 1”

Episode 4 - Emotional Rescue #VeryImportantPicco Mar 06, 2017

Show notes

If you’ve never had your heart broken and want to see what it’s like, get a dog. Picco and I have run over 5,000 miles together. We’ve touched two oceans. He’s been with me at shows in bars across the midwest, down the Eastern seaboard and Southeast. We’ve fought bigger dogs together - he won. Through all of it I’ve wondered; who rescued who? What can we learn about our humanity from our relationships with animals? This episode is about rescues. Rescues as nouns. Rescues as verbs. And rescues as metaphors. Today’s thing is this shaggy mutt, Picco. This episode is titled “Emotional Rescue.”

Episode 3 - Everywhere At Once Feb 20, 2017

Show notes

Over the past month, we’ve had a lot of activity around immigration and refugees and I've been thinking a lot about Presidents. So I started reading what past American presidents have said about it. What guidance is there for us in the past? While this episode is told through the words of some of the Presidents of our history, it’s really a story about leadership. Not the kind of leadership you read about on those inspirational posters in the meeting room at work. It’s about the dogged tenacity of people doing the ordinary. Signing the forms and staffing the offices, getting kids into schools and making sure the vans run on time every day. These are people who persist in the delivery of human kindness in order to work our new American neighbors into the fabric of our communities. Today’s thing, is President’s Day. This episode is titled “Everywhere at Once.”

Episode 2 - AmericanGuitars Feb 02, 2017

Show notes

What can electric guitars teach us about the American economy? Big Box retail may have spurred some innovative manufacturing techniques. Automation, robotics, CNC carving; all of it means we can make guitars — or anything — to tighter tolerances and faster and cheaper than a human can. But automation and robotics at the big Guitar Makers mean fewer hands building guitars. Private Equity and financial manipulation are not sustainable substitutes for innovation. On one level this is the story of two independent electric guitar builders; Seuf Electric Guitars and Swope Guitars. But it’s also a story of the American economy and how big box retail, structured finance, and some of the most iconic companies in America forgot about their customers, took a dump in their own tour bus, and broke up the band.

Episode 1 - Houses of Concrete and Wood Jan 03, 2017

Show notes

Our first Thing is Blue Dawn Manor, the neighborhood I grew up in. I used to play baseball in the Healys’ back yard. It was the infield which made my back yard dead center field and the Smith’s pool in Left Field the water spectacular. I knew all the neighbors, the Johnson’s. the Belfontees, the Smalls, Hutchisons, Hupps, Cernich’s, the Saladinos, the other Saladino’s and the Domsch’s. We had dirt clod fights and I split my head open playing hide and seek the night Thriller debuted on MTV. In the summer my friends and I would meet up at this power pole under the Johnson’s mulberry trees. I’d wrap my purple hands around the grips of my black and gold BMX and race down this hill to a ramp we built at the bottom on the playground at this little school where I’m standing right now. Today, two Syrian brothers brothers go to this school. Their names are Faras and Amar and the story of how these two boys and their family got here, and brought together a neighborhood of people not far from this spot in the middle of Independence Missouri is Episode One of Iconoclast of Things: it’s titled Houses of Concrete and Houses of Wood.

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