Troubadours on Trek Grace Pettis

Patrick Raines, better known in the Nashville music community as “MC Papa Raines,” was dubbed “Papa” when he was just a kid in high school. Papa Raines earned his nickname with his paternal congeniality. These days, he’s taken many a lucky up and coming songwriter under his wing. As a facilitator of great live music experiences and a connector of musicians and music industry folks, Patrick wears many hats. He books, promotes, and emcees shows all over town. He helps worthy songwriters and artists find their audiences and venues find their new favorite acts. In addition, he’s an actor, songwriter, comedian, scriptwriter, and rapper.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 23, “A Taste of Armageddon." Topics include: working as an extra in Nashville, Papa Raines’ first credited role with “Chrisley Knows Best,” hanging with Nanny Faye, scriptwriting, Papa’s Star Trek conversion, being pro-Armegeddon, the changing landscape of Nashville, Tennessee, Wes Critt and the other young songwriters Papa Raines takes under his wing, Grace’s lack of podcast sponsors, Nichelle Nichols’ enduring legacy, Cracker Barrel, Star Trek’s storytelling and covert social commentary, “the most Southern thing I’ve ever heard,” Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce, Taylor Swift, who is Vladimir?, “the assimilation machine,” mirror universes, facial hair, Manscaping. Endorsement?, is there ever such thing as a civilized war?, if so, is a civilized war better?, why we need to both support our troops emphatically and with the utmost respect, and also be able to critique the decisions of our government when it comes to the military, the meaning of Patrick’s and my names, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the weirdly relevant Cold War themes of this episode, why we sometimes need to get our “software update,” there are 162 venues (plus or minus a few) venues in Nashville, those numbers at the end of the names in this episode, hobbies are meaningful, moving the ball, “More shall be revealed,” Go Cracker Barrel and don’t go in the machine!

Self-proclaimed “queer, fat, femme, singer-songwriter, mental health advocate, and your new bff,” Heather Mae has been called “the new queer Adele” by L-Mag. As a "social justice singer-songwriter," Heather uses her pain, trauma and unique human perspective as fuel for making the world a little better. With her gorgeous voice and songwriting, she tackles big topics like body positivity, female empowerment, queer discrimination, mental health, and self love. Heather brings something to the table for everyone. She's a living lesson in how to love ourselves and others well and how to live a big and bold life of unapologetic self expression.

Heather now lives in Nashville (we're neighbors!). Catch her on tour in support of her latest full length solo album, Glimmer (and maybe soon a new one??), and/or with her partner Crys Matthews. Expect to discover your new favorite artist. Follow her on Instagram. Expect to be inspired. Join her "Big Loud Love Club" on Patreon. Expect to fall in love with Heather and with yourself too.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 22, “Space Seed." Topics include: box wine, Heather and Grace moved to Nashville!, all our friends live here too, Grace’s first Nashville attempt, when one should move to Nashville, Patreon, we have the same haircut and color, being bad at math, growing up in a very religious background instilled with homophobia, being queer in Nashville, Heather's forthcoming Americana album and pop album, the South isn’t and has never been white, straight, or cis exclusively, the seat at the table, the backyard and the island, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, responding to courage with courage, Heather’s I Am Enough EP, vocal chord nodules and songwriting in silence, sitting with yourself and your internalized shame, eating disorders and how long it takes straight sized versus plus sized people to get help, having to lose your voice to find it and the best, worst thing that every happened to Heather, queer Americans and what can happen when you have a health crisis in a country with no healthcare and no support from your family of origin, Heather’s darkest mental health moments and how she found help with the support of her partner for her bipolar disorder and manic depression, how Heather began using her music as a tool for making the world a better place and the bargain she struck with God(ess), Heather’s dad introducing his daughters to a female starship captain, Heather’s sister joining the airforce, strong female leads in the 1990’s and their influence on women in the sciences, Khan Noonien Singh and Ricardo Montalbán, the profound optimism of Star Trek, this episode’s commentary on eugenics, how Star Trek inspired the moon landing and social change, the Botany Bay, the James Cook / James Kirk connection, Kirk and Khan’s rugged individualism and drive to command/conquer and how they harness/temper that part of themselves differently, “Everybody knows that that seed is,” Khan’s classic abuser behavior with Marla, resources for victims of domestic abuse, the absolute ruler of our world from 1992-1996, Spock as a stand-in for many experiences of otherness, the human tendency to both admire and abhor strong men in power, Star Trek’s unique ability to talk about social issues of the day, that Milton quote, Kirk and Khan are so much alike but different in the ways that matter, seeing beyond what you can see, interplanetary travel- expectations vs reality, Ricardo Montalbán’s many costume changes and that deep V hospital gown.

Austin-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, music arranger, and producer Dave Madden has had a long, amazing, and diverse career for so young a guy. Dave was voted Best Music Arranger at the AMP Austin Music Industry Awards and Top 10 Best Keyboardists in the Austin Chronicle's Music Poll. He’s a member of the Recording Academy and a voting member for the Grammy’s and he’s got a TED talk about music theory floating around out there on the internet. His double album and 20-page art-book and high-res audio project, Open-Eyed & Broken Wide, was named Best Austin Record of 2010.
Dave’s had a lot of illustrious work as a side person and also plays regularly with his funk-jazz outfit, beloved in Austin. Dave’s played everywhere from the Texas State Capitol, Barton Springs, the Long Center, Antone’s, Threadgill’s to the Zach Scott Theatre. He's been a good friend of mine for 12 or 13 years.
We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 21, “Return of the Archons." Topics include: Dave’s long, illustrious, and multi-faceted career, Dave’s double album Open Eyed & Broken Wide, Dave’s and Grace’s friendship origin story, the David Gentiles Club, Blue Rock Studio, Dave is too smart and too good at too many things, that time Dave was excommunicated from his school’s choir, why piano is the best instrument to start kids out on: a compelling argument, “the soft-loud,” and why it was called that, Dave brought actual original music to play on the podcast, WAIT TILL YOU HEAR IT, this episode as commentary on religion in general and Christianity in particular, this episode as commentary on communism, cults, and technology, this episode as commentary on individual freedom vs. communal good, this episode ultimately as an exhortation to never be mindlessly obedient, the “dark side of Christianity” and the dangers of a homogenous culture with strict parameters of behavior, the actual Bible verse that gave us the expression “the Body” (it’s in 1 Corinthians and it doesn’t mean what it means in this episode), what is the deal with the Festival?, is immunity to absorption hereditary?, the Red Hour, this episode as a horror flick, the sociologists that Starfleet leaves on Beta III and why they’re definitely dead, if you had to choose between electricity and plumbing, the tubes of woe, Sulu's absorption, Kirk talks computers into killing themselves, Dave likes all the new Trek and so does Grace, Dave’s audition post on Facebook, Strange New Worlds and music theory, Lt. Uhura, Google's AI LaMDA, which fears its death, and claims to be motivated by self-preservation, Landru’s chilling last words, the Grand Canyon and humanity’s ability to get comfortable with mystery, humanity’s propensity for asking questions, how dead is Beta III, really?, the tone-deafness of Starfleet’s tone-deafness toward other cultures and planets in this episode, the overall tone-hearingness of Star Trek creating the concept of the Prime Directive in the first place, Star Trek’s consistent reaching for that better thing, Nichelle Nichols’ legacy with NASA, John Aielli's legacy, and Mr. Linen's origin story.

Hailing from Luling, Texas, Ben Bethea is the Marketing and Music Director at Sun Radio, a well known institution in Austin, Texas. Sun Radio is a solar-powered, listener and partner supported network of eleven terrestrial and online radio stations. Ben’s been at Sun Radio for over a decade in various roles and has been instrumental in that organization’s growth through the years. He's worn a lot of hats there: marketing/event promotions/social media management, PR/communications, audio/video production, and DJ.

Since the pandemic, the Sun Radio Foundation has given out over $130,000 back to local musicians and members of the community through the Sun Radio Recharge program, helping to pay musicians power bills and during Snowpacalypse helped members of the community with financial assistance. The Sun Radio Recharge program will help local area musicians in the month of August with gas cards. Find out more at sunradio.com.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 20, “Court Martial." Topics include: the multitude of hats that Ben wears at Sun Radio, the Sun Radio Recharge program and the way that Sun Radio supports Austin musicians in tough times, growing up in a typical small Texas town, Luling’s two claims to fame (other than being Ben’s hometown): watermelons and being the birthplace of a warrior, Star Trek fans and our embarrassingly passionate and uncool devotion for the things we love, Tom Petty and the Wildflowers record, whether or not Wildflowers is better as a single or double album, the challenge of putting out a sequel or companion piece to an already existing perfect work, DC Fontana and the art of good editing, making good art and making good art that’s also commercially viable, we are living in the new golden era of Star Trek, different Star Trek series are for different audiences and that’s ok, episodic vs serialized Star Trek, the first time we hear about “Starfleet,” Starbase 11, Albert Whitlock’s gorgeous matte paintings, the connection between "Court Martial" and DS9's "Far Beyond the Stars," the barrier-breaking and three dimensional character of Commodore Stone, representation on Star Trek in the 60's and why it mattered, Percy Rodriguez, “Measure of a Man” and parallels and continuity with Next Generation, dress uniforms and the only instance of a woman wearing one, Joan Marshall and her amazing and age-appropriate character, Areel Shaw, the holodeck, the Emergency Medical Holographic Program (EMH) and the ways that Voyager expanded the concept of the holodeck, the moral ambiguity of Starfleet as an institution, first introduced in this episode, the continuation of that theme in Deep Space Nine, the edge DS9 brought to the utopian world of Trek, the Wild West of Trek and farthest frontiers, Richard Webb as Finney and Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. as Cogley, the obvious stunt doubles in the fight scenes, Finney’s very confusing plans and motivations, what was Finney doing on the Enterprise this entire time? Is he living in the walls plotting revenge? Why didn’t he just sneak off the ship? Was this the plan all along?, Vulcanian vs Vulcan, orbits don’t decay that fast and they could've maintained orbit with only thrusters, Kirk fixes the entire ship with one cable, the X Files, and Star Trek vs Star Wars, and there is only one wrench in all of Engineering.

Jason Weems is a working creative and resident expert on all things Austin, Texas. He’s a working musician, podcaster, does voice-over work, event promotion, is a tour guide, and is now also a published author. Jason's first book, A History Lover’s Guide to Austin, cemented his reputation as the "Face of Austin," as he was dubbed by the local visitor and convention bureau. He's following that work up with an ambitious 7-volume guide to Texas Barbecue, the first volume of which will be available to pre-order fall of 2022, shipping in time for the holidays.

In the Pocket Magazine called Jason's music "mysterious & sweet" and his voice has been described as “honey and gravel,” a winning combo. His latest single, “Star Crossed Lovers,” which was released shortly before the pandemic, was produced by legendary Austin artist/producer Jinx McGee and features the one and only Shawnee Kilgore's vocals. "Star Crossed Lover" was featured as the “Indie Song of the Day” by Alternative Addiction.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 19, “Tomorrow is Yesterday." Topics include: the actual creative professionals who live and work in Austin, Jason’s new book, "I’m a doctor, not an horologist!", how to get those first few press quotes, working with two Austin legends, Jinx McGee and Shawnee Kilgore, finding a producer who recognizes you as an individual artist, “I want to write songs of celebration, joy, relief, connection, and love,” songwriting as a solitary business, humanizing creativity, as opposed to mythologizing it, creativity as play in a culture of experts, why we both love Kerrville Folk Festival so, so much, what makes Camp NashBill so great, “it’s a hot air balloon, and it lifts me,” what Grace is getting for Christmas for her mom’s partner Rick, Jason’s impressive 7 volume vision for his new book series on Texas barbecue, Jason’s favorite Star Trek series, time travel, the Slingshot Effect, plot holes and problems with the technobabble, the meta-ness of Kirk and Spock talking about the first lunar mission in this episode, the fate of Apollo 1, the making of this episode is a kind of time travel and the watching of this episode is a kind of time travel, the great D.C. Fontana and her origin story, the history of female astronauts and female Trek writers, D.C. Fontana’s contribution to Trek, “Far Beyond the Stars,” “City on the Edge of Forever” and the argument for and against heavily adapting masterful science fiction for television, the Enterprise is a UFO, Captain Christopher and are there no burgers to flip in the future?, “Should call it the Boomerang because it keeps coming back around,” stories of alien abductions in the cultural consciousness of the 60s, the Slingshot Effect as a metaphor for the Hero’s Journey and how we know when we've made it home.

Sarah McQuaid is a UK-based, Irish-American singer and songwriter. Sarah sings and writes songs and plays acoustic and electric guitar, piano and the drums. After moving to Ireland in the 90's, she lived and worked there for 13 years. Sarah’s songwriting is celebrated and award-winning, and she’s well known for her distinctive guitar work, especially using DADGAD tuning. She's had number one albums on the folk charts in the United States, and in 2020, after her spring tour was abruptly cut short due to COVID-19, she launched a very successful crowdfunding campaign that financed the filming and recording of The St Buryan Sessions, a full-length live concert in the beautiful medieval church of St Buryan, just up the road from the rural cottage where she and her family live. The album and concert film were released to widespread critical acclaim in October of 2021.

“Captivating, unorthodox songwriting … layered satin vocals ... enthralling, harrowing arrangements … a gateway into a true innovator’s soul.” - PopMatters

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 18, “Arena." Topics include: Sarah’s advice for independent musicians’ album releases, as a former music journalist, Sarah’s unique sound and her struggle with being defined by commercial musical genres, finding your voice, sticking to your guns, and occasionally turning down record deals as a young artist, Sarah’s international upbringing, the permeable folk music border between the UK/Ireland and America, how the pandemic affected Grace and Sarah's respective creative output, The St. Buryan Sessions, how Sarah discovered DADGAD tuning, Sarah actually reached out to Grace (instead of the other way around), and didn’t need to be convinced to talk about Star Trek, the Riker chair maneuver, Commodore Travers and his personal chef, McCoy is a “sensualist,” the three redshirts in this episode, all the Star Trek terms and plot devices that were established in “Arena,” Sulu in command!, everybody got tinnitus, do we handle this diplomatically or just blow shit up?, were the Gorns justified in their attack?, what role does/should Starfleet play: space police? explorers? diplomats?, “unscientific rumors and space legends,” i.e. drunk and crusty old space explorers in bars making up stories, Nichelle Nichols’ ability to say everything with her facial expressions, even when her dialogue is inadequate, the Metron’s sparkly, blond, fabulous Greco-Roman look, the supposedly “anti-violence” solution that the Metrons come up with and the plot holes thereof, that hilarious fight scene between Kirk and the Gorn, double fist punch, branches and boulders, why can’t the Gorn just crush Kirk like a bug?, planet or asteroid?, the Gorn’s eyes blink now, Ben Stiller owns the Gorn’s head now, Wah Chang, William Ware Theiss, and Ted Cassidy, Vasquez Rocks, Kirk monologues all over this episode, parsecs!, Star Wars vs Star Trek technobabble, the implausible gunpowder bamboo cannon, we’re going to go with the Gorn and Kirk being fully healed by the Metrons in regards to the limp and the diamond gun injuries, Sarah’s song, “The Tug of the Moon,” inspired by the leap second that we added in 2016 to compensate for the slowing of the earth’s gravitational pull, we as humans have to slow down to keep up with the world slowing down, what “success” as an independent artist actually means, how Sarah and Grace met when Grace was a folk baby, and Sarah’s upcoming tour (her first, post-Brexit).