Beginnings Andy Beckerman

On today's episode, I talk to musician Arone Dyer. Originally from Willmar, Minnesota, Arone began writing songs in high school and even won a contest to perform at the Minneapolis Lilith Fair when she was 18-years-old. But soon after, she developed carpal tunnel syndrome and had to give up playing guitar for many years. After moving to New York, where she took up work as a luthier and bicycle mechanic, Arone met Aron Sanchez, and the two eventually formed the group Buke and Gase, which is named after the instruments they created to play in the band. In the last 13 years, the two have released nine albums and EPs, as well as a documentary about performing live during the first summer of the pandemic. Most recently, Arone recorded a collaboration with the European classical-contemporary ensemble, s t a r g a z e, entitled, appropriately, Arone x s t a r g a z e, and it is out now via Transgressive Records!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!
 

On today's episode, I talk to musician Nina Nastasia. Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Nina began writing songs in 1993 but initially had no real ambitions to be a professional musician. She ended up recording many of those songs with Steve Albini, and they became her debut album Dogs, which was released in 2000. Albini sent the record to John Peel, who championed it on his radio show, and Nina began to garner both fans and acclaim. Since then, she's recorded and released seven albums on labels like Touch and Go and Fat Cat Records, and her latest project, Jolie Laide, is a collaboration with musician Jeff MacLeod, and their self-titled debut album was just released on Oscar St. Records!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!
 

On today's episode, I talk to writer and comedian Jordan Morris. Originally from Mission Viejo, Jordan attended UC Santa Cruz, where he met his future podcasting partner Jesse Thorn, and in 2007, the two started one of the longest-running podcasts still going, Jordan, Jesse, Go! on the Maximum Fun network. As a writer, he's worked on everything from @midnight to Earth to Ned, and has also penned two graphic novels. The first, the Eisner-nominated Bubble, was based on his scripted podcast series of the same name, and his latest, Youth Group, a YA horror-comedy is available now for pre-order and will be out next year!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!
 

On today's episode, I talk to Eisner Award-winning comics writer Matt Fraction. Originally from Chicago, Matt started out in comics writing for publishers like IDW in the early 2000s and broke into wider recognition with his 2006 series Casanova. This led to both more creator-owned work like Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam, and November as well as stints on Marvel books like Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Fantastic Four and a defining run on Hawkeye with David Aja. Matt also works in television, and most recently, he was the co-creator, writer, and executive producer of the brand-new Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which is out now!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!
 

On today's episode, I talk to Emmy-winning comedy writer Mike Sweeney. Since childhood, Mike wanted to be in showbiz, but family issues prevented him from pursuing stand-up until his late 20s. Stand-up led to writing on shows like Short Attention Span Theater and Politically Incorrect, and in 1995, he joined the writing staff of the then two-year-old Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In 2002, Mike became the head writer for Conan and stayed with the show through its transition to the Tonight Show in 2009 and then after that, to the TBS version, which ended in 2020. Since then, Mike has stayed busy doing many things, among them working as the head writer for That's My Time with David Letterman and as a producer on Conan Without Borders.

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!
 

On today's episode, I talk to musician Marnie Stern. Originally from New York City, Marnie didn't start out trying to pursue music professionally, and her first album In Advance of the Broken Arm came out in 2007 on Kill Rock Stars when she was 30-years-old. It instantly garnered acclaim, and was followed by This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That in 2008, a self-titled album two years later and The Chronicles of Marnia in 2013. The previous year, she made Spin Magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time", and after Seth Meyers took over Late Night, Marnie eventually joined the 8G Band for a number of years. Most recently, Marnie has recorded her first album in ten years; The Comeback Kid is out now on Joyful Noise, and it's fantastic!

This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!