Dispatch

This week on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by Shane and Katrina, members of west-coast folk band, The July, and their producer, Dustin Jensen. Shane, Katrina, and Dustin stop by to discuss the band's new record (due out on November 11), "Everything Is Fine," and the many hurdles that can distract you from creating a record worth listening to.

Some rules are pointless. If all they do is deter well-meaning, enthusiastic individuals from pursuing a chosen path, then maybe we should dispense with them. Today on Dispatch, we highlight a couple of rules that should be removed.

Will YouTube's new premium content help it rise to the prevalence of Netflix? What happens when companies lash out against the government, pretending as if they were private citizens? Can you car safely operate on autopilot, or will "autosteer" cause a near-miss and give you a heart attack? We ponder these questions and more, serving them up alongside a cutting dose of sharp-angled critique.

This week, your hosts offer a look behind the scenes of our first event, Chick Habit Live! Recorded before a live audience at Quenchers Saloon here in Chicago, and organized by our own Ashly Dalene, Chick Habit Live was designed to showcase some of the brightest women-driven bands in our city. Now, the following week after the event, we chat about what went right, wrong, and more.

Are you ready for a special Sunday-afternoon edition? This time, Joshua and Nicholas are hanging in the studio with Redeye columnist and Chicago's Chief Geek, Elliott Serrano. They discuss the evolution of geek culture, media, the supreme dominance of Marvel's cinematic universe, unelected gatekeepers, and more.

It's the age old battle waged by every artist and business on the planet: is it better to be first to market, or can you succeed by simply improving on what came before? Does innovation for it's own sake benefit our customers, the planet, and our bottom line? We go deep into these questions this week on Dispatch.

Have you dreamt of taking a cross-country bicycle trip? If so, listen up. In this episode of Dispatch, our new friend Kellie Wyatt recaps her journey; one that began in Chicago, Illinois and ended in Astoria, Oregon. Was this the trip of a lifetime? Listen to find out.

It's Labor Day. In our home country of the United States, most everyone is relaxing, and telling stories around the bar-b-que grill. Meanwhile, Joshua and Nicholas convened in the studio to share six of our favorite tracks, accompanied by stories of how they found the artists. Today on Dispatch, it's six tracks, and the stories that connect them.

Meet our new friend Subi Shah. A mechanical engineer by day, she's into 3D printing and building items with her hands. Recently, she took on the challenge of teaching herself how to code, a respectable pursuit, and one that caught our attention. Today, we chat about her decision to learn by experimenting, and why it's important to never stop learning.

With the sum of human knowledge at our fingertips, why does ignorance continue to perpetuate itself? We ask not as academics, but as pragmatists: when answers are merely a click away, why do some individuals choose to be unlearned?

Some say that the world of software development, where you create for a living, should be the ultimate meritocracy. Unfortunately, the real-world situation is very different. Today on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by Aria Stewart to discuss this deep-set problem, and how we might be able to fix it.

Why are some projects, artforms, or mediums supposedly born to die? In this hour-long conversation, Joshua and Nicholas go over the various considerations that you should account for when releasing work as a physical artifact.

This week on Dispatch, we venture outside the comfortable world of our studio to visit with Michael and Becca McCracken, founders of Vagabond School of the Arts. Chicago is a city full of beautiful art, not the least of which is our thriving theater scene, which Vagabond serves with a collection of useful continuing education classes, curated and presented by the city's top talent.

A majority of the world's citizenry views media bias as a specter to be feared. We all know the game: talking heads on television spin, distort, and omit items from true accounts until there is little of the original story left. But what if we could infiltrate the propaganda machine, make our own media, and use bias to influence the conversation for good? We give you the answers, this week on Dispatch.

If you want to hear for a lifetime, take care of your ears. Unfortunately, many among us (musicians and audio engineers included) don't quite understand what this takes. After this program, though, it will all become clear. Today on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by Carolynn Travis from Earlove.

For the past two years, Joshua and Nicholas have lived, with few exceptions, behind the microphone. One-hundred-and-four episodes later, they bring you this retrospective episode, examining 52-hours of interviews, conversations, and more. This is the second edition of our annual guide to Dispatch.

It's time to talk writing. This hour on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by Collin and Ben, founders and instigators of the Wasted Pages Writers' Workshop. Each week, they help fellow authors bone up on grammar, narrative storytelling, and everything else that makes a great work. We'll see if they can clean up our shownotes!

Eventually, old technologies will be altered and presented as new work. It's inevitable. But sometimes, these reintroduced platforms breathe new life into the mediums that birthed them. Today on Dispatch, a roundup of ideas that are arguably outdated, but might help us find new paths.

Before signing your rights away, it's best to understand the rules. Before penning a controversial article, you should check your cultural sensibilities. Today on Dispatch, we round up the most important news, beginning with Apple Music and end on the censorship of historical artifacts.

A landmark. When you move from double to triple digits, for any creative project, it's a reason for celebration. This, friends, is episode one hundred of Dispatch, featuring an all-new theme and audio branding, but us, Joshua and Nicholas, remain. We will always be here to provide you with ample doses of educational and thought provoking conversation... We're just older and wiser now.

What risks are acceptable? Opening a business and pursuing your own destiny is certainly fraught with danger, but how do you divide risks that are worth taking from the ones you should avoid?

If you've emailed a journalist asking for a favor, thought of promoting your own work instead of hiring outside help, or are making anything (of any sort) that will eventually require promotion, listen up. This episode is for you.

Whether you're hosting an event, releasing an album, or publishing content on your website, you are the host. And any time you welcome someone into your world, the guests' experiences matter. Today on Dispatch, lessons learned from years of event planning expertise, and how you can be welcoming to everyone.

When you're facing a mountain of work and other projects are still piling up, how can you dig yourself out? This week on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas offer several useful tips for taking on an overstuffed schedule.

Some people believe ideas are currency, and if that's true, should your ideas be protected? This week on Dispatch, we discuss the common action of having interested partners sign an NDA, or non-disclosure agreement, and how these binding legal documents can help (and sometimes harm) your ability to do business.

Once again, we're coming to you live from Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Along with special guests Kate Merena and Emily Martin, we discuss the role that brick and mortar stores play in our local economy, and how they affect careers of our maker friends.

Today's guest, Will Farina, is a scholar and educator in the constantly expanding field of Digital Humanities. In this hour, we explore how academic workers are extracting value from otherwise meaningless communication, and how this seemingly academic field will eventually benefit us all.

It's time to announce a new show! This week, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by musician, and Chicago arts booster Ashly Dalene to announce her new show, Chick Habit, which is coming to The Machine later this month.

As seasoned radio makers, it isn't often we get into deep conversations about how (and why) we create the programming you experience each week. But today, we had a unique opportunity to do just that. Annabel Lang, a newly-minted radio creator joins us to chat about the many behind-the-scenes concerns, and why audio storytelling is experiencing huge gains in popularity.

Do you remember the iconic consumer audio brand, Aiwa? Most 90's kids recall lusting over the next great boombox with big speakers and modern industrial styling. Often, these big beat blasters were manufactured by Aiwa. Today, we chat with the innovators who are resurrecting the company and bringing a great product to market: the Exos-9.

Whether you know it or not, there is a name for artists to were untrained, and had only a few ways to satisfy their urge to create. Outsider Art is a movement born in European mental hospitals, but the shockwaves from this creative institution extends well into the future. Along with Cleo Wilson, your hosts trace the impact of Outsider Artists from the beginning until today.

How do you grow as an artist? Can you adopt a regimen of tasks that help you stretch outside of your comfort zone? In this hour, we examine how we have grown, and suggest ideas that will help expand your range of talents well outside their current boundaries.

Before offering your services for sale, it's important to understand who you are and what your abilities can do for clients. In this broadcast, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by returning guest Charles Riffenburg to discuss the pitfalls designers (and other creatives) often go through when exchanging their talent for legal tender.

With a returning guest on the show, we tackle what's happened in the life of our friend Molly Marshall in 84 weeks since her last visit. The latest news so far is, #PodcastClub, a listening group for passionate fans of audio entertainment. We then springboard into a discussion for those interested in creating other community driven meetups, including how to avoid common pitfalls and discouraging mistakes.

Life as a design professional can be difficult. Balancing your free time with work, setting expectations for clients, and delivering consistent results are all part of the game. A game that our guest Margot Harrington has mastered. She joins us today to discuss her life and career thus far.

Publicity is one of the hardest, and most overlooked tasks that, when ignored, makes it difficult to be heard in a noisy world. Your hosts are joined today by an advocate for independent artists, Bryan Bull, to discuss what acts should (and shouldn't) do on their rise to the top.

Sometimes it pays to have a partner. They become your best friend, sounding board, and critical voice of reason when the work just isn't right. This week, Joshua and Nicholas speak to TWINKIDS; a newly-minted electronic duo about their music, life in Chicago, Banff center residency, and more.

When you're finished creating, there's one task left: promotion. Unless you're making art for only your personal satisfaction, you'll want to share it with the world. This week, how communicating like a person - rather than a robot - will help increase your exposure.

On a never-ending bender of new projects, returning Dispatch guest Kriss Stress is driven to draw, paint, and record everything they can. Today on the program, we discuss the quest to document not only their own life, but the lives of friends though a series 400+ hand-drawn portraits, and more.

For many artists, collaboration is the lifeblood of their work. And for those who work solo, this question is never entirely off the table, as they work for small businesses, other creators, and corporations. Too often these relationships sour, and in mostly preventable ways. Today on Dispatch, how to choose your creative companions with care and discerning taste, so you avoid unreasonable discomfort, wasted money, and lost time.

The world of theatre is complex. Beyond stepping onstage in an effort to portray a complex persona, working actors struggle with a dizzying array of business concerns. We cover a few of them in today's episode of Dispatch.

Why do we create? Is it to release beauty into the world? To design critical imagery, in hopes of teaching society an important lesson? Today on Dispatch, Joshua and Nicholas are joined by Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher, founders of Sonnenzimmer, the renowned Chicago-based design studio to chat about their life, work, cultural context, and more.

It's January 1, 2015. Everyone in the world has a fresh start, a chance to do something awesome, but how many will embrace it? Your hosts are ready for another season, and full of advice to help maximize your work during the next 364 days.

Put down the phone and come over here; you aren't ordering sodium-laden takeout tonight. This week we're talking food for busy creatives with Chef Monika Sudakov of The Chestnut Street Inn.

All too often, we're driven by our work. And when unexpected life events creep in and disrupt our otherwise organized workflow, it can rattle the best of us. In this episode, we explore what happens when those worlds collide, and how to reassemble the resulting broken pieces.

This week on Dispatch, your hosts offer a peek behind the scenes. Nicholas has been out of town and reports on his work, we recap a few important events of the holiday season, and give you a chance to help build our future.

If you celebrate, this week is a time for friends, family, and thankfulness. Here at Dispatch, your hosts are grateful for many things, including your continued listenership and support. In this hour, we come to you from Show of Hands Chicago 2014, to ask a handful of artists what they're thankful for.

This week, our guest is a man of mystery, intrigue, and many scratchboards: Dan Grzeca. While you may not know his name, you're certainly familiar with his posters; having done work with The Black Keys, Veruca Salt, and Phish. It gets weird, as we discuss his perspective on the worlds of art, music, life, and drugs.

Last year Dispatch came to you live from Chicago's foremost handmade design fair, Show of Hands. And now, we're preparing to do it all over again! In the studio today, we have the instigator behind it all Emily Martin. We're chatting about the challenges and rewards of planning a large scale event, this week on Dispatch.

Cosmetics aren't heavily regulated, and as a closed ecosystem, some mass-market products contain unhelpful ingredients, and others actively cause harm. Are you concerned? In today's episode, we speak from the intersection of small business ethics, financials, and personal care with Jenny, owner of Noktivo, a non-toxic spa in Ravenswood, Chicago.