The PAUSE -- Podcast of the New Creative South

Listening to The Pause feels like stumbling into a dream where your dad is hosting a late-night radio show from an alternate dimension—and somehow, you’re into it. It’s weird, it’s eccentric, and half the time I don’t totally know what’s going on… but that’s kind of the point. This isn’t your typical podcast. It’s not linear, it doesn’t hold your hand, and it definitely doesn’t explain itself. One minute you’re hearing about the philosophy of silence, the next you’re getting a monologue that sounds like it was beamed in from another planet. There are moments of brilliance, moments of confusion, and plenty of pauses (naturally). You have to go in with an open mind—and maybe a cup of tea. It’s like if David Lynch and your favorite high school English teacher teamed up to make something just for the vibes. I don’t always get it, but I always feel it. Give it a listen if you’re into the unexpected. Just don’t try to make too much sense of it.

Many thanks to Ari, Ash and the Parrot for giving me the opportunity to take a Pause from the devastating daily news cycle and take in thoughtful nourishing content that feeds me at a deeper level. Playful, irreverent, and soulful, it reminds me that I am not alone in longing for community that shares my values around ecology, the Sacred, and wild creative space.

"There is no intention here except to play with radio," was uttered by Ari Clibanoff in an early episode of "The Pause," a podcast that originates as a weekly radio show on radioKCM.com, Knoxville. Ari and his co-host, Ash, dive into wide-ranging and free-roaming ideas about creativity and the myriad ways it connects us with everything within, around, and beyond "us." Invited guests and occasional musical tracks punctuate the weekly offerings. Some episodes are extremely serious and lofty, while others actively engage in the absurd. The unpredictable nature of the show makes fertile ground for rumination that will likely cause you to consider your own ideas about possibilities and your awareness of the bounds of self- or socially-imposed limitations.

Ari + Ashley deliver an hour of playful yet meaningful subjects that are wonderfully contextualized, PAUSING at just the right moments. I especially love the PAUSE to dance and let what was spoken into the ether time to marinate with joyful abandon.