Of Music and Men

Kayona Ebony Brown
Of Music and Men Podcast

Meet Kenya Shaw, a single, young entrepreneur struggling to build an independent record label, while navigating the country's worst city for bachelorettes and an unlikely place for music success: Washington, DC.

  1. Series Preview

    27/09/2023

    Series Preview

    Of Music and Men is a scripted drama-comedy series presented to you in a weekly storytelling podcast format. You thought it was a book, or a short film, or a TV show? Well, all of that is true. Somewhat. Let me explain. Back in 2012, I set out to create a TV show about my life as a single young entrepreneur trying to establish an indie record company in Wash DC. I developed it, wrote the pilot, then made a short film... The thing is, tv shows, even those no budget YouTube ones, still require lots of resources and people. I know exactly what I want the tv show to be, but I believe that timing is everything, and trying to move forward before it's time would be a disservice to what I know will be a great series someday. So I went another route. The pilot script was recognized in a few reputable industry contests, so knowing that it's a more than solid story worth telling, I made a short film, then I turned that full season I wrote, 12 episodes of tv scripts, into novellas (little booklets). This podcast is a production, a reading (sometimes dramatic or comedic), of those episodes, sectioned out into easily digestible weekly stories. We follow a 20-something named Kenya Shaw as she works to build a record label while also (as a bachelorette) navigating perhaps the worst city in the country for single women (and not exactly the place you'd expect when it comes to entertainment) -- Washington, DC. Tune in every single week for these stories of music... and men. Music: "Keep on Going" X Khalil Ismail Jazz Club by Kriss (Italy) - No.mad EP - copyright 2008 - Licensed by Undercut Records for official use to Of Music and Men Trail by Nobara Hayakawa (Japan) - copyright 2009 - Licensed by Nobara and Intervall-Audio for official use to Of Music and Men

    11 min
  2. 29/07/2020

    Update: What you need to know about book 3

    Of Music and Men is a story, so it's best to start listening at episode one. This episode is a bonus episode during our brief hiatus. Good news! This is the last update before we jump into book three (the collection of podcast episodes that make up book three). Thank you for being patient during this time when I'm sure we all may have had other more pressing issues to concern ourselves with. So, I think I mentioned a couple updates ago that I was the July winner of the Roadmap Writers Diversity Initiative. This has been somewhat life changing and actually very necessary for me at this point in my career because winning this is not just a bragging right thing; it came with access to their pitch prep program. If you are a screenwriter, I highly recommend you go to Roadmapwriters.com and check out some of their programs and courses. They are doing some wonderful work over there, and when I'm on stage collecting my Emmy's and Oscars, I'm going to remember them as being an integral part of my journey. You know Justin Simien's work even if you can't place the name yet. He's the incredible creator and writer of the movie and Netflix show, Dear White People. If you came to my novella launch party at Bus Boys and Poets, you may remember me giving a short list of great projects and creators that took as long (if not, longer) than it's taking the Universe to get my OM&M project to the world. Justin Simien's Dear White People was one of the examples I used. It took him several years to get his project made, but when it happened, it was so perfect. If you've ever had a private conversation with me, you've heard me say that DWP is one of the most unrated shows on TV and the best show among those targeting the millennial Black audience (at least, it's my favorite one). Anyway, back on July 17, Justin Simien put three projects on his Culture Machine IG, giving them a shoutout, and honestly, I took it as somewhat of an endorsement. OM&M was one of them. So shout out to Justin Simien for the public acknowledgement. I'm especially grateful to people who do things that they really don't have to do. This probably relatively small act to him means the world to me, so go watch DWP on Netflix if you haven't already, and look out for Bad Hair the film coming soon on Hulu. If you haven't yet, go back and catchup with the story starting with episode 1.1 to get the full experience. If you're pressed for time, we have recap episodes that'll get you caught up on everything. Not the full experience but at least you'll be caught up. Don't forget episode two novella is available at ofmusicandmen.com Music Pillow by Mona Wonderlick Subscribe on Soundcloud

    19 min
  3. 15/07/2020

    Episode 2 Recap | part two

    Of Music and Men is a story, so it's best to start listening at episode one. This is a recap episode for episode two during our brief hiatus. This is part two of the recap episode for the series of podcast episodes that make up Nothing But a Number. So, in case you forgot, episode two is called Nothing but a number--that is, the collection of seven episodes of the podcast that make up episode two. You know how this works. Here, I'll give you the recap of the story--without the cold openings--so you can get a full sense of where things will be when we pick back up. In When do you start, which is episode 2.4, Kenya has to nurse a sick Lucas while trying to get him to actually take an active part in something important for his own career, and Tk, still thinking about the possibility of being an old rapping-teacher, tries to quit her job but is denied by the principle. In The Great Compromise, Kenya goes out with the older guy to a Balkin Beat Box concert and later realizes that she's actually more of kid than she realized. J goes to a college party and finds herself in a compromising situation with her young friend. In Of Age yet? The party J's at gets crashed by the police and her age save her from further embarrassment, Kenya helps Lucas get better but refuses to do anything more for this grown child, and Ty gets a surprise of her own when she finds out who her secret admirer is. Kenya realizes that she's still in the process of becoming a grownup as she makes a decision about her retaining wall, Tk realizes that she has to go all in with music or she'll regret it, and Kenya finally meets her father's new love interest--someone much younger. You can find links to all of the artists featured here in your show notes. I actually recommend going back and listening to the full episodes of the podcast which includes the cold open segment. They give you a timely, sometimes even philosophical viewpoint to help introduce the theme of the episode. Lastly, don't forget to go to ofmusicandmen.com to get your copy of episode two, nothing but a number, for any amount that you want to give. Narration Episode narrated by Kayona Ebony Brown Episode Written, recorded, and produced by Kayona Ebony Brown at Siingle Studios in Washington, DC MUSIC LISTED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE IN THE EPISODE All music for this episode provided by Filmstro - arranged for this episode by Kayona KIDS by @MonaWonderlick Mona Wonderlick on Spotify: bit.ly/spotify-mona-wonderlick Mona Wonderlick on Apple Music: bit.ly/applemusic-monawonderlick I'm Up In The Clouds by Le Gang Le Gang - "Lo-Fi Beats & Chill" (Album) out on Spotify & Apple Music. Le Gang on SoundCloud: @thisislegang Le Gang on Spotify: spoti.fi/2Nqx1E1 Le Gang on Apple Music: apple.co/2tCxx8M Le Gang on YouTube: bit.ly/2Th5V7E Chillin in the 70s by Studio Monkey Get The Balkan Party Started by @Soundroll Things by @LiQWYD & @thisisLeGang : Music by LiQWYD & Le Gang - Free download: bit.ly/things-free-download INSTAGRAM: Music by @LiQWYD & @thisislegang Balkan Partizoni By @Soundroll Strange by Aden @musicbyaden Quirky Latin by Pink Zebra Escape by @Niwel Reveal by Ikson Stream/buy Ikson music: - Spotify: goo.gl/GSvyMN - Soundcloud: @ikson - iTunes: itunes.apple.com/se/artist/ikson/id533041587 Zdarmania by @Niwel Wasted Years by @Inossi Relax, man by Le Gang Le Gang on SoundCloud: @thisislegang Le Gang on Spotify: spoti.fi/2Nqx1E1 Le Gang on Apple Music: apple.co/2tCxx8M Le Gang on YouTube: bit.ly/2Th5V7E Sunflower by @Soybmusic Track: Sunflower - Soyb [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: youtu.be/dG1U3NuR9Pk Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/sunflower Bisiesto by Hiracutch Hidden Trails by Broke in Summer Undone by Mona Wonderlick - YouTube: bit.ly/youtube-monawonderlick - Soundcloud: bit.ly/soundcloud-monawonderlick - Instagram: bit.ly/instagram-monawonderlick -...

    1h 9m
  4. 08/07/2020

    Episode 2 Recap | part one

    Of Music and Men is a story, so it's best to start listening at episode one. This is a recap episode for episode two during our brief hiatus. So, I'm going to give you a two-part recap of episode two before we get into episode three since it's been a while. So, in case you forgot, episode two is called, Nothing but a number--that is, the collection of seven episodes of the podcast that make up episode two. You know how this works. Here, I'll give you the recap of the story--without the cold openings--so you can get a full sense of where things will be when we pick back up. So this first part is called, No Time for Biding, where Kenya tries to get Tk a performance at the Kennedy Center. She does, although it's not as easy as she might think it should be, but the high from that performance is diluted when Tk meets a Boomer who also has aspirations of being a rapper. Where to draw the timeline? Kenya later meets up with J and Ty, and the get on the topic of age because J is seeing this dude who's like 20, and although that's only 8 years younger than her, Ty feels like it's inappropriate. This conversation makes Kenya reveal her true feelings about her father's new love interest who is closer to her age than his. She's uncomfortable but she can't explain why. Men of a certain age Later on that day, Kenya agrees (although somewhat reluctantly) to go out with an older guy, and when she chats with Stax about it, a male friend and fellow millennial, she realizes that maybe she should be more open to older men because, considering the ones her age, this might be the reason why she's still single. Ty has a secret admirer who she thinks is the father of one of her patients. Since it'd be too long to put it all here, next week, I'll give you part two of the recap next week. You can find links to all of the artists featured here in your show notes. I actually recommend going back and listening to the full episodes of the podcast which includes the cold open segment. They give you a timely, sometimes even philosophical viewpoint to help introduce the theme of the episode. Lastly, don't forget to go to ofmusicandmen.com to get you copy of episode two, nothing but a number, for any amount that you want to give. For full credits and sources on this episode, go to: https://ofmusicandmen.com/episode2-1-no-time-for-biding http://ofmusicandmen.com/episode2-2-where-timeline https://ofmusicandmen.com/episode2-3-men-certain-age CREDITS Narration Episode narrated by Kayona Ebony Brown Episode Written, recorded, and produced by Kayona Ebony Brown at Siingle Studios in Washington, DC MUSIC LISTED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE IN THE EPISODE All music for this episode provided by Filmstro - arranged for this episode by Kayona Come On, Let's Go by Le Gang Le Gang on SoundCloud: @thisislegang Le Gang on Spotify: spoti.fi/2Nqx1E1 Le Gang on Apple Music: apple.co/2tCxx8M Le Gang on YouTube: bit.ly/2Th5V7E Pillow by Mona Wonderlick Free download: bit.ly/pillow-download - YouTube: bit.ly/youtube-monawonderlick - Soundcloud: bit.ly/soundcloud-mona-wonderlick - Instagram: bit.ly/instagram-monawonderlick A Magical Journey Through Space by Leonell Cassio Sad Circus x Unminus (Free download) Music for the Word of the episode: Soar by Scott Buckley

    1h 4m

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Meet Kenya Shaw, a single, young entrepreneur struggling to build an independent record label, while navigating the country's worst city for bachelorettes and an unlikely place for music success: Washington, DC.

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