Sweetman Podcast

Simon Sweetman
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Sweetman Podcast

Conversations with creative people. simonsweetman.substack.com

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    More Sneak-Peek Rehearsal Clips from “DICK: Reading ‘Richard’ Live

    Another rehearsal, so a few more teaser clips of the show developing… On Friday, February 21, I’ll be performing poems from my latest book as part of a Fringe Festival show: The show is taking place at Photospace Gallery in Courtenay Place, Wellington, at 7.30pm. I’m being backed by musicians John Kingston and James Gilberd of the duo Filtersphere. Their ambient, improvised wash of music is the perfect soundscape for my Richard Reimagining — a kind of poetry remix where I take about a third of the poems in the book and re-arrange them to tell the same story-arc of the poetry sequence’s narrative, but in a whole new shape. We are rehearsing the material to build up an idea of how it will go on the night. And I’m really thrilled with it so far. I couldn’t have better support and understanding and intuition from my musician pals. Anyway, work in progress, but have a look and let me know what you think. And maybe see you there on the night? Or tell your friends in the Wellington vicinity. See below for the details again about the show, in a link. And also there’s a previous rehearsal clip to click on if you missed it at the time, or wish to compare. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    1 min

  2. JAN 26

    Podcast: Christine — We All Float Down Here

    We are back with the eighth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. A bit delayed here sorry, we actually put this up first on YouTube in late 2024, but then, you know, summer holidays, etc… And we are talking Christine — from 1983, the classic movie version from the same year too (John Carpenter). It’s a big book too, so as always that is the focus of the chat. We’ll be back as quick as we can with Pet Sematary, the first proper pod of 2025… The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min

  3. 11/24/2024

    Podcast: Cujo — We All Float Down Here

    We are back with the seventhepisode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Cujo — from 1981, the classic movie version, and the sequel story Rattlesnakes, from the brand new story collection, You Like It Darker. But, as always, it’s the book that matters most. And for this conversation we were joined by our first guest, one of New Zealand’s greatest authors, Pip Adam. The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. But also adding it here so you can find it on Substack, and your favourite podcast providers like Spotify if you just want the audio. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    59 min

  4. 11/07/2024

    Featured Poet Spot at Fringe Bar, Thurs, 7/11/24

    I was the guest poet at the November edition of Poetry in Motion. They have an open mic each month, and then a Feature Poet. This month it was me. I’d last done it in 2021 after the late 2020 release of The Death of Music Journalism. This time I had The Richard Poems to plug, but also read a few new and old poems. I also introduced Tarns Hood, during my segment, and got her to recite one of her poems. (Tarns is thanked in the Acknowledgments of my new book, she is one of the best performance poets around, a SLAM champ, and she gave me crucial advice on my delivery of these new poems, for which I am very grateful). Anyway, this is the recording of the night’s feature spot. You’ll hear my full set here, including Tarns’ poem, and all the explanatory banter and backstory around various poems too. I hope you enjoy. It felt good to launch the book in this way, well pre-launch. The main launch is still to come of course: Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min

  5. 10/25/2024

    Podcast: Firestarter — We All Float Down Here

    We are back with the sixth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Firestarter — the first book of the 1980s, the classic Drew Barrymore-starring film version, its ludicrous non-canon ‘sequel’, and a pretty bad recent remake. But it’s the book that matters most. (And the film soundtracks by Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter — LOL!). The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. But also adding it here so you can find it on Substack, and your favourite podcast providers like Spotify if you just want the audio. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    41 min

  6. 10/14/2024

    Podcast: Dead Zone — We All Float Down Here

    We are back with the fifth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Dead Zone — the 1979 political thriller/existential horror, and its 1983 David Cronenberg-helmed Sci-Fi film adaptation — but we are not discussing the TV series. We did not go there! The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. But also adding it here so you can find it on Substack, and your favourite podcast providers like Spotify if you just want the audio. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    29 min

  7. 10/08/2024

    Audio + Typed Short Story: Luckily, Not Good Enough

    I’ve got this (silly) idea for my next book — by which I mean the one after the one that is about to be released. I’d like to catalogue various low-key failures in my life via a set of autobiographical short stories. Vignettes, really. I have some audio recordings of some of these too, so I’m occasionally sharing them here with both options — you can listen to the spoken-word version (with my primitive soundscaping) or read the story below. Or both, you know, read-along-as-you-listen… Anyway, here’s the truth story of when I was very luckily not good enough… Some 20 years ago I got a friend to drive me out towards Porirua to rehearse for a Jimi Hendrix tribute act. My car had been stolen, my drums too (they were in the car). The local guy we hired our PA from let me rent a kit for the weekend for $20. Amazing eh? I had the rehearsal and a couple of gigs, I made enough to pay petrol for my mate and the cheap-as-chips hire fee and actually it was a pretty good payday (had to wait to get a new car). But the thing that I’ve just remembered is that the Hendrix rehearsal went okay; the bass player was pretty good and I thought I did fine as well. I played as many of the songs from memory as I could and if I didn’t know it I just gave it a nudge, which you can do on the drums, more so than on most other instruments. The lead singer and guitarist — The Jimi Hendrix for this experience — was good too. He rolled around the floor at one point, had the guitar up over his head. We had a beer after and a get-to-know-each-other chat and he explained that he really liked to get into the showmanship side of things, said he’d be doing more than just what we saw then. He liked to really get into character as well and explained that when we played he had big plans for huge venues. H e’d be dressing up as Jimi. A big wig he said. And he liked to paint his face black… I didn’t do any gigs with his group. I can’t say it’s because of any moral fibre. I’d love to say I was too good for blackface but perhaps, even more luckily, I wasn’t good enough. A couple of years ago I recorded a few of these stories, with crude musical backing, and released an album or two on Bandcamp under the name Second Storey Teller. Here’s an earlier Audio + Typed Short Story, about another kind of failure: Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Start writing today. Use the button below to create a Substack of your own Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min

  8. 10/03/2024

    Poetry Reading: 'Richard' - 4th Time Around

    Hey there, here’s a new set of recordings — more from the files of ‘The Richard Poems’. You’ll remember I have shareda few previous times reading, as I try to get to grips with these new poems, and work on the idea of creating an actual show, also the book is on its way soon. But if you missed the other recordings I’ll add them down here below: And, if you’re playing at home, I like to give you the option to read along — so below are the poems featured in this podcast in their print/text ‘readings’: See you next month — with a book out, and news of a launch, and maybe even a recording from the launch, as well as a featured spot at the Fringe Bar open mic where I’ll be reading more from the book than just two or three… Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Sounds Good! ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min
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About

Conversations with creative people. simonsweetman.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Simon Sweetman
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    339
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Simon Sweetman
  • Show Website
    Sweetman Podcast

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