raised on musicals

Bob and I go way back: I posted about his kidney transplant 14 months ago, but we met c. 2008 at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School, where I taught two of his four children and we shared the effervescence of early childhood magic.I had the good fortune of coaching Bob as a singer 2018-2020; in this video we reference musicals like Big River and Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Bob shares about his trip to ancestral grounds in Italy while we discuss creativity, empathy, and what is fueling our engines of delight at a time of global anxiety.Bob talks about the consumerist societal mandate: “fill your role and feed the monster.” I want to hold onto this snippet as an invitation to deep soul-diving. Perhaps a future guest will want to reflect on their own ways of evading the monster.Two final notes: * The novel I talk about in this episode is Percival Everett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James.* Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the interstitium, the anatomical space that currently fascinates me.Monday Morning Muse thrives when its listeners drive. To receive new posts & help steer future collaborations, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe