Ep. 16 - Open Mike Eagle “What if Somebody Knocked Down the Pyramids?”   Hello, hello!  This week, we sat with the great Open Mike Eagle, to talk rap, comedy, architecture, and mental health for touring musicians! I first met Mike a few years ago, when Aimee and I, along with Mike, were guests on a PAUL F. TOMPKINS show in Los Angeles, and we had such an amazing time hanging and talking with him at the show, that we stayed in touch. Now, I assumed that Mike knew Paul in the way that we...

Ep. 15 - Kim Gordon “Is Art Really All Design Now?”   Very happy to bring you another interview in a different kitchen - this time, the mighty Kim Gordon’s (kitchen) (and interview)! I fairly idolized Kim for her presence in Sonic Youth, but I see her more now as an inspiration in how to live a creative life when life keeps getting longer.  I was privileged to attend the opening of her Wreaths show in LA a couple of years ago, not long after Aimee and I were lucky to catch an early live...

Ep. 14 - Chad Clark “This is Why it’s Good to be Transparent!” Apologies for the hiatus, folks. We are BACK and I’ll be attempting to turn the next few episodes out on a weekly basis to get us back on track In this episode, we start off with some rhombus talk and celebrate GETTING OLD. THEN WE GET TO CHAD CLARKE - practically the ideal guest for our concept. I’ve always admired Chard and his work.  I’ve always seen him as an incredibly inventive person with an ear for melody and...

Fitting that these notes come to you today from what has become a liminal space between “home” and “tour” for me.  That space is, of course, “New Jersey,” and it’s fitting because it was from here (this very house, in fact) in 1987, that I wrote a letter to our guest, Ian MacKaye.  Ian’s new band, Fugazi, was asking people to rethink their relationships to each other in the space of “the pit” and consider not slam dancing/moshing.  This was a radical proposition back then, but I understood...

Ep. 12 - Jean Grae "I Need to Create the Things That are Still Unseen"   It's JEAN GRAE, folks.  Hip Hop artist, writer, actor, singer, thinker... puppeteer? Jean was born in South Africa, raised in New York City, and makes so so many many good good things. IN THE INTRODUCTION, Aimee and I tackle some technical issues and try to figure out what a polymath is and why it might be more fun to say my whole name? IN THE INTERVIEW we start out with naps and animals, but eventually get to...

WE'RE BACK. A number of bumps in the road on the way to getting the last episode out resulted in the last episode becoming THIS episode; and THIS episode, is the Emily Nussbaum episode! Emily is the former editor of Nerve, writer for Slate and the New York Times, Culture Editor of New York magazine, where she created the Approval Index (where I was over the moon to have once achieved a spot in the Lowbrow/Brilliant quadrant); current Television Critic at the New Yorker (that's three of the...

Ep. 10 - EMIL FERRIS "Benevolent Vampires and the Starfish Army" CW: childhood sexual assault Welcome back! We have not actually been away for longer than our usual bi-weekly hiatus, but it feels like we have.  IN THIS EPISODE we sit down in her home city of Chicago with artist and graphic novelist Emil Ferris.  Emil's book "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" affected both Aimee and me deeply; SO deeply that, at our mutual friend, designer Gail Marowitz's suggestion, I was lucky enough to be...

Ep. 9 - Eli Attie "A Constituency of One"   This episode, we're talking to Eli Attie - speechwriter for NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt, and Vice President Al Gore; AS WELL AS a writer for the West Wing, House, Rosewood, For the People, and others!  He gives us some great insight into what makes for good and bad political speechwriting, and how it dovetails and differs with dramatic writing. The overarching theme of the episode is the "constituency of one" - who...

Ep. 8 - Eric White "Usually it's the Opposite and it's Terrible" Another harsh corporate takedown by your hosts in the intro! Extreme temperatures misremebered! And artist Eric White!  We talk about music's influence on his painting, sleep deprivation, the bolt of lightning, and the value of having an outside eye to help edit.  Links to Eric's work, and a couple of other artists that are mentioned, below.   Links: Eric White on the web. Eric on working with Tyler the Creator for his...

WEEK TWO OF THE MAXIMUM FUN PLEDGE DRIVE! In this episode, we sat down with "Money Mark," Mark Nishita, musician, inventor, producer, etc.  We touch on everything from being a middle child, to the Chinese Exclusion Act, piano rolls, and the macho/privileged side of crate digging for break beats with the Beastie Boys.  A couple of things that don't necessarily NEED explaining, but that I will anyway, are that: 1. Mark references a panel that he and I were on at South by Southwest in 2018. It...

Ep. 6 - Rhea Butcher “A Weird Flesh Skeleton (and the Maximum Fun Pledge Drive)”   VERY happy to bring you A SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE in what would’ve otherwise been a dark week for us (in the sense that we wouldn’t normally be delivering a podcast because we’re on a bi-weekly schedule, because, I mean… it’s always pretty dark these days… and weeks) with our friend, comedian Rhea Butcher! If you like our dumb intro conversations, then, my friends, you are in for a treat, because this may be...

Ep. 5- Andy Kindler "And There's One Guy Still Upset With You in Stuttgart" Late again!  But this is how it goes.  I had an iLok/ProTools freak-out that wasn't my fault, and I lost the file with Aimee's intro and outro, and had to have her dig through her computer, find some wifi on the road, and re-send it to me (then me re-edit it), all of which WAS my fault. This week we start out somehow getting into a discussion of parody songs for pets (specifically cats, dogs, fish, and iguanas);...

Sorry for the delay this Monday, but we're happy to present to you, this conversation with our friend, Rachel Lichtman; among other things, the co-creator of the "Something Cool" podcast; director of music videos for Juliana Hatfield, Creamer, and yours truly (me); director of "The Guys Who Wrote 'Em," a documentary about songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who wound up writing the Monkees' most iconic songs. And I want to make a plea here - this doc is hard to find, but if anyone knows...

On this episode of The Art of Process, we talk to one of our favorite songwriters, Dan Wilson. From his start in the Twin Cities indie scene of the early 80s to his rise as a noted "song-whisperer," working with artists ranging from Adele, to the Dixie Chicks, to Pink, and many others among and between, he's displayed an integrity and a commitment to artistry that shows through in all of his work. Join us as we discuss everything from meeting in the slow bake of a hot tent with yogurt on the...

The multi-talented Rebecca Sugar is the creator and showrunner of the wildly imaginative Steven Universe on Cartoon Network. Ted, Aimee, and Rebecca discuss how the show is able to appeal to both children and adults, how to tackle a blank page, and how early love of some art (and rejection of others) influenced their careers. Oh, and also, what art is for, what it means and what its purpose is.

For their first episode, Aimee and Ted are joined by Emmy-award winning writer / actor / comedian Wyatt Cenac. The trio cover a lot of ground, including: defying commercial expectations in your creative work, the nature of live performance, and the inspiration for Wyatt's show Problem Areas, which is coming back for a second season on HBO later this year

Subscribe now to hear intimate conversations about craft and the creative process, featuring Aimee Mann, Ted Leo, and artists from a variety of fields - comedians, directors, novelists, show creators, writers, producers, musicians and more. New episodes every other Monday, starting January 28!