040 Ambassador of String: Gretchen Du Prè

Angelica, it is why I do what I do. I love this city. I love Austin, and that’s honestly my career goal, is to make Austin beautiful, though public art, through landscape design, through public projects if I can be involved.

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That’s Gretchen Du Prè. Fiber artist, landscape designer, musician slash singer, mother, and beautifier. Gretchen’s own string theory is: if there’s a way to knit it, play it, draw it, or sew it, she wants to get her hands on it. If you see her around town and compliment something she made – watch out, you might be wearing it home.

Public Art:

She and Austin Outdoor Design had a entry in the recent Fortlandia, called Hamaca de los Flores, at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

She also had a project in Creek Show, a temporary light installation over Waller Creek in Austin.

Music:

Singer and musician for the band, Honey Punch, for 10 years, a daytime fun band. The intro was “Anarchy in the UK” ; the mid-episode sample was “Being Mir Best Du Schon”, and the outro was “Fallen for You.” Follow them on Instagram and check out their website for shows and delights!

Honey Punch band

Gretchen du Pre

Gretchen at Creekshow 2018

Gretchen du Pre at Creek Show

Creek Show 2018

Fortlandia 2020: Hamaca de los flores

036 Schizophrenic Straddler: Chad Raines

I think arranging in pop music is like so underrated. I think that’s the whole reason why people like pop music; there’s not like lots interesting chord changes or melodies happening–-it’s all about production, which, production is arranging. and it’s just all about the choices of tones and instruments you make and creating an atmosphere that gives you a feeling.

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That’s Chad Raines, sometimes known as Rad Chains, but it depends if you find him on the divine stage or in real life. His artistic lens is aimed at the juxtaposition between giving a rough edge to the prestigious and elevating the overlooked. He swings between between musical theatre to performing in spandex with his band The Simple Pleasure. He arranged and played the music to my wedding, and even more importantly to Matt and me, he made the “Egyptian Lover” music video of our friend Basil Malaty. Having something so precious to look at when my friend was no longer around eventually lead to me to creating this podcast, so I can give stage to the essence of people I hold dear for posterity.

You can find more on Chad at www.chadraines.com, at www.thesimplepleasure.com, the Rad Chains Soundcloud page, and The Simple Pleasure Bandcamp page.

The intro of the episode is “Another Active Shooter,” we sample “Girls and Guys Sometimes, and the outro is “Labor of Love ” by The Simple Pleasure.

Here’s Tom Cherry’s “Boogieman of My Dreams” and Donzi’s World, which have big Tim and Eric Awesome Show vibes way before that was a thing.

Shameless Plug: Chad’s new (Untitled) record with The Simple Pleasure, which should be out by Oct. 14th.

Here’s a couple of The Simple Pleasure’s music videos, “Young Professionals” and “A Need to Know Basis.”

Here’s the “Egyptian Lover” video featuring our friend Basil Malaty (1981 – 2004), shot and produced by Chad Raines in collaboration with Matt Norton around 2001/2002 in Austin, TX.

Chad Raines on Melodica(Chris Perley Photography)

Chad Raines (Photo from ishotamandapalmer.wordpress.com)

Chad and Lily (Photo from The Simple Pleasure)

Chad Raines (Photo from claireandherpipsqueaks.tumblr)

Chad and Lily (Photo from The Simple Pleasure)

035 Magnificent Memorizing Maniac: Eloise Norton

I want to try acting for the rest of my life so I can become one of those actors that are really good. I want to just keep on acting until I feel like, you know what, too much! I don’t feel like I’m enjoying this anymore; I’m just doing this for fame and money, not for my enjoyment.

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That’s Eloise. Child actor, big sister, and my incredible daughter with a memory like a steel trap. She spent the summer working on her first professional play with Different Stages Theatre Company in Austin, Texas. I wanted to capture her pure connection to playing characters when playing pretend was still an instinct instead of a distant, adult memory.

A question to our listeners: What should we do with the memorabilia from her performances? Does anyone have a scrapbook they’ve done to give us ideas on how to showcase all of her programs, thank you notes, etc? Tag me @chattycrafties on Instagram and Twitter!

Some names we mentioned during the podcast: Clayton Stromberger is the On-campus Coordinator of the Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach program. Mr. Park is Eloise’s AMAZING 3rd grade teacher (what up, Mr. P!) A Doll’s House (by Henrik Ibsen) was a Different Stages production, directed by Norman Blumensadt. Kelsey Smith (Episode 31) told us about the audition for child actors. Catie Williams (@catieelaine) played Nora Helmer, and was mentioned during the “dah doo” vocal exercises. Emily Villarreal (@thatsmissemily) played Kristine Linde and showed Eloise tongue twisters.

PRESS:

Different Stages’ A DOLL’S HOUSE is an Excellent Rendering of the Ibsen Classic by Broadway World: “An unexpected highlight of the production is the performances of Eloise Norton and Anuart Zarate as the Helmer children. Commendably, these young actors pick up cues quickly and play their roles with enthusiasm.” (June 27, 2019) by Lacey Cannon Gonzales

Review: A Doll’s House by Different Stages by CTX Live Theatre (July 2, 2019) by Michael Meigs

Eloise singing Clementine for a talent show

Eloise at a costume fitting for A Doll’s House

Eloise as Willy Wonka

A Doll’s House (Steve Rogers Photography)

Eloise Norton, Catie Williams, Anuart Zarate (Steve Rogers Photography)

Eloise and Emily Cawell at a costume fitting for A Doll’s House

Eloise Norton, Catie Williams, Anuart Zarate (Steve Rogers Photography)

030 Musical Collaborator: Floyd Willis

It’s a release, it’s a distraction, you know…it’s not day-to-day life. If there’s actually people there, then the immediate gratification of, ‘oh people like me, or like what we’re doing.’ Yeah, it’s the performer’s high, you know, which you always keep chasing, but also learning how to balance that with real life.

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That’s Floyd. Bassist in a punk band, park event coordinator, dutiful dad and husband–and my older brother. We had a chat over the Christmas break at our Mom’s house about our shared creative influences growing up and explored the overlay of being a performer that also produces various events at Discovery Green in Houston. We also took a moment to put his 10-year-old daughter on for a quick dip into her artistic interests.

A new Album from Dead to the World called Fire can be found on Spotify and iTunes.
follow them on Facebook @deadtotheworldtx. Some DTTW press:

Dead to the World takes Its War to Warehouse Live – Aug 2015

The first song on the episode was “For You,” the middle song was “Decay,” and the closing song was “Taxman.”

We talked about rotoscoping; here’s an example.

Dead to the World rehearsal (image from their Facebook)

Dead to the World show (image from their Facebook)

Fire cover art for Dead to the World

Dead to the World show (image from their Facebook)

Floyd, Blake, Steve, Brandon, Mikey (left to right)

Floyd, Steve, Mikey, Brandon, Blake (left to right)

028 Generative Farmer: Sean Henry

I’d been cooking for a long time and then I started the farm so I think both recognizing and engaging in that ends up in some aspect of life being healthier and happier and…kind of heading in the same direction: the ultimate destination is learning how to cook and prepare your food is very closely related to growing and taking care of the land around you. And that’s kind of a fundamental part of life that in the modern day we’re kind of detached from.

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That’s Sean. Musician, culinary scientist, and cook of much the food he lovingly produces. He officiated my wedding, is a godparent to my girls, and teaches us all the connectivity between food production, cooking, and renewable systems all while prototyping generative communities of the future. Stay tuned for our chat – with special guest, Matt Norton.

His mushroom farm Hi-Fi Mycology (with business partner Cory Nellisson) has a delightful Instagram page with all sorts of delicious and photogenic fungi that can be purchased at farmers markets and local Austin restaurants. His other business, a hydroponic lettuce farm called Francis and Thatcher can be found a grocery stores like HEB and Whole Foods in Austin.

Mushrooms from Hi Fi Mycology

Sean sorting mushrooms for dinner

Sean holding greens from Francis and Thatcher

Sean and business partner Wes Kenner at their hydroponic farm

Sean on a banner at Whole Foods for Leaf Safari

We mentioned his wife Yasmin Youssef again this week, who’s art is produced in a studio in Cement Loop, which is where Sean is taking piano lessons. Follow her on Instagram @thegoldcurrent as well.