Ruth Abernethy, sculptor of some of the most iconic public art in Canada, joins the podcast to discuss her work.

Ruth has been a sculptor for more than thirty years, documenting in bronze many quintessential Canadian figures, such as Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson, and Margaret Atwood.

Her connection to the theatre world goes quite deep. She began her career at Stratford, creating the sets and decorations that helps the festival bring Shakespeare to life.

Her commissions can be found across Canada, including at Queen's Park, Ontario's legislature, where visitors can see her rendition of Queen Elisabeth II, near Queen Victoria.

Mark, Joe and Ruth have a fascinating conversation about Ruth's work, her passion for creation, and her recent book.

For fans of art, this is an episode not to be missed!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Independent filmmaker Jen Prince joins Mark and Joe to discuss one of her favorite shows, Veronica Mars.

As an indie filmmaker, Jen has had to wear a lot of different hats, including producer and director. She did acting in her undergrad, but soon discovered a talent for producing theatre. She then went to USC for film school, where she did a graduate degree. She’s worked in television, including reality TV shows such as The Amazing Race. Eventually, she landed on producing indie movies and teaching when she’s not making films.

Jen picked Veronica Mars because of the strong female character. It’s also a coming of age story, which Jen loves. She loved the cinematography. She loved the fact that it was a noir set in a high school and that it was coming of age story. She loved the acting, particularly Kristen Bell’s, who came of age as an actor during the show.

If you haven’t watched Veronica Mars before hearing Jen, you’ll want to after!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Author Peter Darbyshire joins the lads to champion the classic Roger Zelazny fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber.

A writer of fantasy and literary fiction himself, Peter encountered the series when he was in elementary school.

This is the second time that Zelazny has come up on the podcast.

“For me, Roger Zelazny is one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer,” says Peter. “It was coming across The Chronicles of Amber that changed everything that a book could be. They’re the best noir-fantasy-scifi-horror-political-thriller-family-drama-literary-fiction-metaphysical-inquiry that I’ve read,” Peter quips.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by Christopher Guerin, poet and music aficionado, who is on the podcast to champion the work of classical Indian musician Ravi Shankar.

Christopher spent twenty-six years in the symphony orchestra business, including twenty as President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. After that he went on to work for Sweetwater ("the world's leading music technology and instrument retailer") as a VP.

Since retiring, he's been putting his English degrees to work as a writer. He started out writing short stories and has become a poet, focused on ekphrastic sonnets. (In his case, poems that describe, or are influenced by, specific images.)

The trio take a deep dive into the history and current state of poetry before discussing the music of Ravi Shankar.

Shankar's sitar music was in the background as Christopher wrote his sonnet sequence, My Human Disguise.

"Ravi Shankar's music is so overwhelmingly complex and free that when I have it in the background I can concentrate on the poems and rhymes in a way that I can't with any other music," Christopher explains.

He's also a huge fan of Shankar's daughter, Anoushka, in particular a piece called Jannah. [clip below]

"You can hear the same piece over and over again and you'll think it's brand new because of the complexity of the music," he says.

Christopher makes a great case for authors to listen to raga while they write.

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark are joined by Evan Gary Hirsch and Kip Baldwin, who make up the duo Soul Twin Messiah (STM).

Evan Gary Hirsch, AKA The Blue Rocker, gets his aesthetic from his blue eyes and glitzy clothes. A California boy, he's into many different forms of music -- classic rock, new wave, punk and psychedelic rock.

Kip Baldwin, AKA Oshalla, is a farm kid from Washington State, where his family raised racehorses. When he was young, he had an experience of infinity that changed his perspective on everything. He moved to the Bay area in 1985 specifically for a musical community. He spent a lot of years doing "hair metal" music, which was popular at the time.

Evan jokes that Senator Bernie Sanders brought the two together. In 2016 he was looking for a producer to help him document his support of the politician and that's how Evan and Kip met.

Both artists have a central message, which is the importance of love and selflessness.

That informs their choice of media. Kip champions the classic John Lennon song Imagine (1971). Evan makes the case for why we should give Construction Time Again (1983) by Depeche Mode another listen.

An inspiring and hopeful conversation!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Editor and writer Robert Runte joins Mark and Joe on the podcast to encourage everyone to read R. F. Kuang’s satire of the publishing industry, Yellowface.

Before they get into Yellowface, the lads discuss the nature of editing. “Most publishing houses work off the Chicago Manual of Style,” Robert says, “mainly because it was the first style guide for books.”

Robert outlines how he approaches the art of editing with different writers.

He loves R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface, and recommends that everyone listen to the audiobook version of the novel because the actor, Helen Glazer, picks up all the subtleties of the story. Robert says the Glazer does such a good job of showing you the narrator’s point of view that she gets the reader through the most cringe-inducing and tough bits of satire. He says, “If you’re a writer or you want to be a writer, you HAVE to read this book!”

A fun read and a fun conversation!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Joe and Mark invite Tony Schwartz, a veteran freelance first assistant director and line producer for film and television, to make the case for why everyone should watch The Wire.

Tony worked on two of Joe and Mark's favorite shows: Freaks and Geeks and the cult favorite, Firefly, and talks about the heartbreak of working on such fabulous shows only to have them succumb to the whims of how the industry sometimes works.

Tony goes on to make a compelling case for watching his favourite show The Wire, which first aired in 2002.

"It has often been described as the greatest show that nobody saw," he says.

Tony makes his case so well that Mark wound up buying the complete DVD collection while they were still recording this episode!

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Mark and Joe are joined by writer and broadcaster Lisa Brandt to discuss a massive environmental art installation by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude, the artists known jointly as Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Lisa started in radio and has since moved into voice-over work and writing for hire as a freelancer, which she loves. She’s also written several books.

The three discuss The Gates, one of the massive environmental art installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The installation was constructed of more than 7,503 steel gates hung with saffron orange cloth, and situated throughout Central Park in New York City. The Gates spanned twenty-three miles in Central Park; it ran from February 12th to the 27th in 2005.

Joe, Mark and Lisa go on to discuss the careers of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the nature of creativity, and explore the question: what does art do for the soul?

For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.

Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com