PODCAST · arts
The Steer
by Jeff Alessandrelli, Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan
Hosted by Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, and Jeff Alessandrelli in Portland, Oregon, The Steer features leading musicians talking about their favorite writers and books and leading writers talking about their favorite musicians and albums. Conversations often go elsewhere and following each talk is a playlist of songs or sounds discussed during the interview. New episodes drop every two weeks.
Episodes
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Novelist Chris Harding Thornton
We talk to writer Chris Harding Thornton about her debut novel, Pickard County Atlas, out this week on MCD Books. We discuss overrated bands, noir, life as an opera major, working at a record store in the 1990s, what our families think about our writing, and the books we hate.
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Chris Harding Thornton--Playlist
Some songs to accompany our talk with novelist Chris Harding Thornton and her new novel Pickard County Atlas. Tracks from PJ Harvey, Jesus Lizard, The Jam, Pulp, His Hero Is Gone, Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, Rocket from the Crypt, Meat Beat Manifesto, Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg, Nick...
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Musician Matthew Kallman (of Real Estate)
We chat to Matthew Kallman of the band Real Estate about ordering records from paper catalogs in the '90s, adaptability, music biographies, the cultish earnestness of The Blue Nile, instrumental music, Real Estate's new album The Main Thing, and his work as music supervisor for the new HBO...
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Halloween Special!
On our bonus Halloween episode, we ask: What is Halloween music? Is Halloween music actually spooky? And, if not, what makes music spooky? To figure out the answers to these questions, we discuss and listen to everything from goth to surf, horrorpunk to horrorcore rap, old-time music to modern...
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Replay: Musician & Multigenre Writer Dao Strom
A replay of our conversation with Portland-based writer, musician, and visual artist Dao Strom. We also get caught up with her about her evolution as an artist in the time since this interview and talk about her new book Instrument, as well as its companion album Traveler's Ode.
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Essayist Elena Passarello
Superstar Oregon essayist Elena Passarello discusses what it’s like to write and think deeply about Elvis Presley in 2020. We chat about her short-lived attempt to be the world’s first prominent female Elvis tribute artist, find out how to sleep in Elvis’ childhood bedroom, and learn all about…
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Elena Passarello--Playlist
Songs to accompany our chat with essayist Elena Passarello and her writing project on Elvis Presley. Within: deep-cut songs by Elvis, songs about Elvis, songs written for (or almost performed by) Elvis, and songs we wish Elvis would have lived long enough to cover.
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Chelsea Bieker--Playlist
Songs from our conversation with novelist and short story author Chelsea Bieker. Nina Simone, Reba McEntire, Blink-182, Selena, and more.
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Novelist & Short Story Author Chelsea Bieker
Our conversation with Portland writer Chelsea Bieker about her new novel Godshot, and her upcoming short story collection Cowboys and Angels. Within: lost mothers, the power of Nina Simone, Blink-182 t-shirts, the pelvic floor.
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Journalist & Music Writer Santi Elijah Holley
Our chat with Portland journalist and music writer Santi Elijah Holley. We talk about his upcoming Bloomsbury 33 1/3 book, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads, as well as his book-in-progress on the Shakur family and the history of black liberation movements. We also take a deep dive into…
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Santi Elijah Holley--Playlist
Some songs to accompany our chat with journalist and music writer Santi Elijah Holley on his upcoming 33 1/3 book, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads. Four essential versions of the folk ballad "Stagger Lee," as well as 2Pac, Gil-Scott Heron, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
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Reintroducing
Reintroducing The Steer and introducing our new co-host Karleigh Frisbie Brogan. Joshua and Karleigh discuss friendship, pandemic writing, upcoming guests, new music recommendations, and the importance of college radio in the 1990s
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Reintroducing--Playlist
Some tunes to accompany our reintroduction to The Steer, and the introduction of our new co-host Karleigh Frisbie Brogan. Songs from (in order) Brittany Howard, Aldous Harding, Babytooth, Greentea Peng, Frances Quinlan, Soundgarden, Allison Crutchfield, Morphine, Waxahatchee, Steve Young, Sara...
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Bill Carty--Playlist
Music from the Bill Carty episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Gang Starr, Tierra Whack, Frank Ocean and Yo Yo Ma, among others.
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Poet Bill Carty
Joshua and Jeff talk to Seattle-based poet Bill Carty. Topics discussed include: writing under the joy/ pressure of having two young children, the mastery of Gang Starr, growing up in Maine, and his 2019 poetry collection Huge Cloudy, nominated for the 2019 The Believer Book Award in the Poetry...
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Stephen Steinbrink--Playlist
Music from the Stephen Steinbrink episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Dear Nora, Prefab Sprout, Lake and Stephen Steinbrink, among others.
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Songwriter Stephen Steinbrink
Jeff and Joshua talk to Oakland-based indie-pop songwriter Stephen Steinbrink. Topics discussed include: Olympia, Washington; audio books; the kindness of LAKE; stained glass refurbishing; therapy; psychedelics; Arthur Russell; and why short stories are the best tour read.
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Margaret Malone--Playlist
Music from the Margaret Malone episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Erik Satie, John Coltrane, The Notwist and Juana Molina, among others.
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Short Story Author Margaret Malone
Jeff and Joshua talk to Portland short story writer Margaret Malone, author of the PEN Hemingway finalist book People Like You. Within: writing rituals, anti-comparison living, the magic of the live reading, the wizardry of Juana Molina, and the imagined height of Bill Callahan.
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Andre Perry--Playlist
Music from the Andre Perry episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Mobb Deep, The Grateful Dead, Sasami, Kendrick Lamar and Brittany Howard, among others.
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Essayist Andre Perry
Joshua and Jeff talk to Andre Perry about listening to Kendrick Lamar live in Iowa City, making music in San Francisco, the nuances of The Grateful Dead, co-founding the Mission Creek Festival, and his debut essay collection Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now.
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Kyle Morton--Playlist
Music from the Kyle Morton episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Tracks from Kyle's solo album What Will Destroy You are featured, as well as a few from Kyle's band Typhoon.
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Songwriter Kyle Morton (of Typhoon)
Joshua and Jeff talk to Kyle Morton, Typhoon frontman Kyle Morton and noted solo musician, about reading history; growing up in Salem, Oregon; the nuances of good lyric writing, among other far-flung topics.
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Performance Artist & Memoirist Gabrielle Civil
Joshua and Jeff talk to writer and performance artist Gabrielle Civil about Prince, Bjork, Solange, how to both define and come to terms with success, and her new book Experiments in Joy, longlisted for the Believer Book Award in the non-fiction category.
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Gabrielle Civil--Playlist
Music from the Gabrielle Civil episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Prince, Digable Plants, Bjork, Nina Simone and Solange, among others.
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Season 2 Intro
New Steer co-host Joshua James Amberson and Jeff Alessandrelli discuss the upcoming season of their music/writing podcast/radio show The Steer.
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Season 1 Outro
The Steer says goodbye to Season 1 of the show and talks about what's coming up in Season 2.
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Dream Poet Mathias Svalina
Jeff talks to Mathias Svalina, poet and proprietor of the Dream Delivery Service, about deodorant, Michael Crichton, Mary Roach, Virginia, bicycling, solitude, being a college radio disc jockey, traveling vs. staying in one space mentally and physically, and music. A lot about music. At the end...
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Mathias Svalina--Playlist
Music from the Mathias Svalina episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include UUVVWWZ, Boyracer, FKA Twigs and Shudder To Think, among others.
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Writer & Multimedia Artist Felicity Fenton
Jeff talks to ambidextrous author and artist Felicity Fenton about 21st century social media stratification and the potential for freedom, why Yoko Ono deserves all the praise she gets and then some, and how traveling can paradoxically make an artist feel a greater sense of home. Listen until the...
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Felicity Fenton--Playlist
Music from the Felicity Fenton episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Yoko Ono, Sonic Youth, Liquid Liquid and Love, among others.
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Patty Yumi Cottrell--Playlist
Music from the Patty Yumi Cottrell episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Fiona Apple, Casino Versus Japan, Aphex Twin and Bill Callahan, among others.
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Novelist Patty Yumi Cottrell
Jeff talks to acclaimed novelist and 2018 Whiting Award winner Patty Yumi Cottrell about fantasy league basketball, growing up in the suburbs, and giving Fiona Apple some possibly unwanted marijuana after a soul-stirring concert. Stay tuned until the end when Patty also reads an excerpt of an…
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Novelist & Publisher Dan DeWeese
Jeff and Sunny talk with PDX writer, editor and Propeller Books publisher Dan DeWeese about Sade, George Michael, what the term oppositional defiance means both generally and in terms of his own life, and why he can’t listen to Travis Scott too loudly when his son is in a one mile vicinity of him.
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Dan DeWeese--Playlist
Music from the Dan DeWeese episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Pink Floyd, Travis Scott, Sade and Willie Nelson, among others.
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Maxine Hong Kingston--Playlist
Music from the Maxine Hong Kingston episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. All of the songs are from Joe Kingston's album "Songs for Trixie."
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Novelist Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston, winner of the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal, reveals a life without music, having no feeling for the sounds that mysteriously thrilled everyone around her, devoting her ear instead to seeking out the rhythms of literature, penning nine books including...
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Poet & Essayist Elisa Gabbert
Jeff talks to Elisa Gabbert about her new book The Word Pretty, cancel culture, karaoke, growing up in Texas and nostalgia-as-musical-memory, among other topics.
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Elisa Gabbert--Playlist
Music from the Elisa Gabbert episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Interpol, Peter Gabriel, Ratatat and Miley Cyrus, among others.
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Charles Valle--Playlist
Music from the Charles Valle episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include The Spinanes and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
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Literary Journal Editor Charles Valle
Jeff talks to long time Fence Magazine editor Charles Valle about the details of editing a literary journal for 15+ years, musical taste as one grows older, and the cultural experiment that is Ian Svenonius, among other far-flung topics.
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Jenny Chu--Playlist
Music from the Jenny Chu episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include Alan Menken and Mariah Carey.
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Writer & Activist Jenny Chu
Portland-based writer and activist Jenny Chu talks with Sunny and Jeff about growing up as a restaurant baby and what that term means exactly, her love of Disney musicals, and the nature of nostalgia vis-à-vis romantic and familial relationships.
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Ed Skoog--Playlist
Music from the Ed Skoog episode of The Steer, as heard on www.Dublab.com and KZUT 99.1 FM Los Angeles. Artists include The Dixie Cups, Aaron Neville, Ernie K-Doe and Irma Thomas, among others.
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Poet Ed Skoog
Ed Skoog jaws with Jeff and Sunny about New Orleans music and New Orleans life, how and why he started playing banjo, Big Star, and the myriad of direct and indirect musical references in his amazing poetry collections Mister Skylight, Rough Day and Run the Red Lights.
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Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel--Playlist
10,000 Maniacs--Because the Night Nirvana--Where Did You Sleep Last Night Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920-22): I. Allegro / Maurice Ravel played by Nigel Kennedy & Lynn Harrell Black Sabbath--Black Sabbath PJ Harvey--In the Dark Places---Live at Sydney Festival 10,000 Maniacs--Because the...
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Essayist Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel
Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel talks to Sunny and Jeff about her recent essay collection Fear Icons, how as a child growing up in a conservatively religious home Ozzy Osbourne was a near stand-in for ol Saint Nick himself, and what a “shadow text” is vis-a-vis the framework of* Fear Icons*.
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John Beer--Playlist
The music that John Beer talked about, as heard on KZUT 99.1 FM LA. Tracks include: Ellen Arkbro - Three, Ellen Arkbro - For Organ and Brass, Eve Egoyan - Simple Lines of Enquiry Movement 10 & 11, Sarah Davachi - for piano, Sarah Davachi - for voice.
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Poet John Beer
Poet and pub quiz player extraordinaire John Beer, whose poetry collection "The Waste Land and Other Poems" won the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America, talks about his eclectic tastes in music, a brief life in Berlin, and the importance of poetry critics. He's a busy...
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Jamondria Harris--Playlist
Jamondria Harris' EP "meroitic," plus tracks from Alice Coltrane and Cocteau Twins. As heard on the radio episode of our show, broadcast on 99.1 FM Los Angeles.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Hosted by Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, and Jeff Alessandrelli in Portland, Oregon, The Steer features leading musicians talking about their favorite writers and books and leading writers talking about their favorite musicians and albums. Conversations often go elsewhere and following each talk is a playlist of songs or sounds discussed during the interview. New episodes drop every two weeks.
HOSTED BY
Jeff Alessandrelli, Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Steer have?
The Steer currently has 67 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Steer about?
Hosted by Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, and Jeff Alessandrelli in Portland, Oregon, The Steer features leading musicians talking about their favorite writers and books and leading writers talking about their favorite musicians and albums. Conversations often go elsewhere and...
How often does The Steer release new episodes?
The Steer has 67 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Steer?
You can listen to The Steer on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Steer?
The Steer is created and hosted by Jeff Alessandrelli, Joshua James Amberson, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan.
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