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♪♪

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♪♪

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-Hi, and welcome to the show.

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I'm Nancy Guppy coming to you

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from one of Seattle's
great independent music stores,

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Easy Street Records.

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Located in West Seattle

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at the bustling corner
of California and Alaska

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and helmed by owners
Matt and Kisha Vaughan,

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Easy Street is a warm
and welcoming community hub

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packed with lots of vinyl,

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a selection of CDs,

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plus fun and groovy merch
including posters, bags,

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books, and must-have T-shirts.

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On top of all that,
they've got a killer cafe

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and a robust in-store
calendar of live performance.

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Easy Street Records is
open seven days a week.

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Hours and location
are at easystreetonline.com.

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We've got a terrific lineup
for you,

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including a rock opera premiere
from Bhama Roget...

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-♪ Also, maybe now ♪

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♪ There's a chance
this could be our last dance ♪

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-...a gorgeous listening room
in Ballard...

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[ Clouds of the West's
"All Alight" playing ]

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-♪ The reason
for the turmoil inside ♪

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-...and fresh music
from Oliver Elf Army.

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-♪ Mariko Aoki Phenomenon ♪

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-♪ Haunted by French Knot ♪

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-And we'll begin
with the deeply personal,

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creative journey of visual
artist Grace Athena Flott.

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♪♪

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-My art and my motivation
for making my art

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is about body liberation,

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which to me means

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attempting to create safety
and belonging

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for everyone, for all bodies.

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What I see my work doing
is making a space

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where we can
acknowledge the truth

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of human variation.

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My name is Grace Athena Flott.

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I'm a visual artist,
primarily working in paint.

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♪♪

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I work mostly
with oil paint on canvas,

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and I also do a bit
of printmaking.

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So, I went to University
of Washington.

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I was on a path to go into
economic and labor policy.

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The thing that tipped me towards
art or returned me to it,

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was the major injury
that I experienced.

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When I was 20 years old,

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I was on a study abroad
program in Paris, France,

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and I was injured
in this apartment fire.

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I sustained injuries,
burn injuries

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over like half of my body
and also skeletal injuries.

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I was in recovery in the
hospital for two full months,

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and part of that was in Paris.

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And then I was
medically evacuated

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back to Harborview
Medical Center here in Seattle,

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an event
that just totally changed

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how I thought about myself
and how people perceived me.

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That experience
of, like, waking up

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in a different physical reality
made me realize

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that I didn't see any bodies
like mine in media,

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and it turned me towards
this kind of, like, search

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for meaning and belonging.

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After I went to
the University of Washington,

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I then, like, went back
to school a few years later

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to learn to draw and paint
the figure and portrait.

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And that was
at Gage Academy of Art.

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So, I studied for four years

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in an atelier, which is
the French word for "workshop."

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And it's a type of education

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modeled after the kind of
19th century academic painters

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who would train students
in their studio.

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I was attracted to that
because it --

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to me, realism

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is a very powerful mode
of communication.

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This is an amazing
storytelling tool.

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I got these technical chops,

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and then when I got out,
I realized that,

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you know, everything I learned
was amazing and so useful,

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and at the same time,

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it was really rooted
in a particular time period

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and a particular philosophy

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around what types of bodies
are worthy of being portrayed.

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Being me and
knowing, like, my friends

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and my community of people
who might have burn injuries

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or just really anybody,

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we don't really fit into,
like, an idealized version.

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I think about my work

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as kind of broadening
the image of what is normal.

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So I think a lot about
whose body has value in society,

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who gets to belong,
who gets to decide,

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and what that looks like.

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So, I started a project
called New Icons,

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and it's a collaborative
portrait project

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with people in my community

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with visible scarring
from burn injuries.

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And it started

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because I was looking
for my own visual history.

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And I just started
talking to friends,

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and I said,
"I know how to paint people,"

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and, "Do you want
to be in a painting?

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I think that you are worthy
of being in a painting."

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And people were interested.

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It just started with one person
and grew from there.

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I know that a few people
that I painted,

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it was the first time
anyone even photographed them

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since their injury.

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Many of us can relate
to feeling othered in some way.

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That doesn't have to be about

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even necessarily how you look.

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I recently had two paintings
acquired by the Port of Seattle

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to be displayed
at SeaTac International Airport,

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and it's two paintings from
the New Icons portrait project.

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Portraiture is part
of the storytelling piece

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that I'm interested in.

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People are powerful,
and they tell a story.

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Everyone's face tells a story.

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I'm interested really in the map
of the surface of the body

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and what that says
about someone's history

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and who they are.

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So, someone one day
just sent me this call for art,

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and it was to paint the portrait
of Governor Jay Inslee.

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And I just thought, "Wow, okay.

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Well, I paint portraits,
and I've lived in Washington

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since I was 4 years old,"

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east of the mountains and west
of the mountains, just like him.

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I applied and interviewed.

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I met the governor.
I met First Lady Trudi Inslee.

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I met his team. Two weeks later,

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we were doing the photo shoot,

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so it was very fast paced.

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Overall, like,
the process really mirrored

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the way that I work for
most portrait commissions,

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which is we started
with, like, a big conversation

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about the vision.
How do you want to be portrayed?

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What's most important to you,
in this case about your legacy?

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And then we take that
and go into the photo shoot,

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take 700 photos, and then
I select kind of the top images.

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And with Inslee, what I did

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is a tiny or, like,
a small digital version

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of the big painting.
And then I did the painting.

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It took about seven weeks
start to finish.

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The painting was unveiled
in January 2025

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when he left office,
when he retired.

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-Three, two, one!
-Three, two, one!

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-Art! Whoa!
-[ Cheers and applause ]

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-Huge unveiling at
the Capitol building in Olympia.

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Over 200 people were there.

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I could not have asked
for a better opportunity.

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To do the kind of work
that I have done,

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being an artist,
we try so hard to get our work

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validated in the public sphere,

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and that's really
meaningful to me.

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I was lucky enough
to get another commission

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to paint the retired Washington
State University president,

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Kirk Schulz, and
I just finished the painting.

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It's about to be framed
and delivered.

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I'm in a kind of
exploratory period.

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So, this is the scar pattern
enlarged with a screen print.

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I'm starting to hit on
bringing in, like, plants

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and nature more into the work.

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We see disfigurement
and disability

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quite often in nature,

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and I also see my scar patterns,

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like, the particular shapes
from my body,

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replicated in cracked earth,
in riverbeds,

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in tree bark.

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I just finished a painting
called "Washing with the Roots."

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It's kind of an altar piece, um,

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about healing
through a connection to water

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or your ancestors and place.

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The figure is printed

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with these things
I call scar prints,

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by rolling ink on the skin,

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and then pressing paper
and pulling a print.

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And the balsam root is a plant
that is really meaningful to me.

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It not only grew everywhere

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around where I'm from
in Spokane,

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but it is really resistant
and resilient in a wildfire.

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And as a burn survivor,
that means a lot to me.

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One thing
that's important to me --

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to continue working
with the figure.

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As long as we have a kind of
body hierarchy in our world,

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like, the figure will continue
to be political

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and really important.

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I feel like I can speak
the loudest about what it means

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to go through a major change to
one's body and not only survive,

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but turn it into something
that is creative

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and can carry me
into the future.

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♪♪

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-Learn more about Grace
on her website

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and follow her on Instagram.

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♪♪

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Listening to a record front to
back is a satisfying experience,

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and it turns out
that sharing that experience

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with a room full of like-minded
strangers is surprisingly fun.

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[ Clouds of the West's
"Glass Radio" playing ]

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♪♪

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♪♪

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-When you're listening to vinyl,

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I mean, you have to be
physically present.

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You have to clean the record
when it goes onto the turntable.

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You have to drop the needle.

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When it's done,
you have to get up,

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move the tonearm over, flip
the record, clean the record,

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and then drop the needle again.

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And so it requires you
to be present in the space

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in a way that sort of a,
a never-ending playlist doesn't.

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-♪ The youngest of them all ♪

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-So we are in the hi-fi room
at Shibuya Hi-Fi.

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This is a space
that is dedicated to listening,

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so people listen here.

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We pride ourselves
in helping people

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kind of tune out the noise
of the modern world.

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People come in,
they have a cocktail

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in the lounge out front,

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and then they come back here,
kick off their shoes --

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so when you come
to Shibuya Hi-Fi,

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make sure you wear nice socks.

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For 40 minutes,
you're really spending time

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with people you may
or may not know,

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and you're listening to a record
that everyone loves together.

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-This is it.

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Our band is called
Clouds of the West.

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-We do about 80 records a month.

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You can kind of
look at our schedule,

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and it sort of takes you through
a tour of recorded music.

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If there's anything that we love
and sounds good, we'll play it.

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♪♪

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-♪ If I see the world aflame,
I will do it ♪

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-We've got one of
the most amazing sound systems

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that you'll find
in this town or anywhere.

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That's a Technics
1300G turntable.

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The amplifier that we have

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is a Luxman 505uXII
hand-assembled in Japan.

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We've got two sets of speakers
in the hi-fi room here.

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The smaller ones
are ATC SCM50s.

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The larger speakers
in the corner are Klipschorns.

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They were built
by Paul Klipsch himself.

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Klipschorns are known
for their bountiful bottom end.

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I mean, you can listen to
a Bud Powell piano record

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on there, and it's astonishing.

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You can also listen
to Led Zeppelin IV,

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and it's thunderous.

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So it can get down to some real
kind of nuanced, soft music,

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and it can get as loud
as you want it to get.

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[ Clouds of the West's
"All I Want" playing ]

249
00:14:52,351 --> 00:14:55,646
I think of all the artistic
forms of expression,

250
00:14:55,646 --> 00:15:00,192
I mean, music is the one that
we all seem to have in common.

251
00:15:00,192 --> 00:15:02,236
You can just feel a beat.

252
00:15:02,236 --> 00:15:04,947
The music is what appeals
to people,

253
00:15:04,947 --> 00:15:08,825
but it's also the act
of listening to music

254
00:15:08,825 --> 00:15:11,411
that really resonates
with people.

255
00:15:11,411 --> 00:15:15,374
[ Clouds of the West's
"All I Want" playing ]

256
00:15:15,374 --> 00:15:17,376
♪♪

257
00:15:21,713 --> 00:15:25,342
-For Shibuya's hours, location,
and listening room schedule,

258
00:15:25,342 --> 00:15:28,095
go to shibuyahifi.com.

259
00:15:34,351 --> 00:15:36,395
Our musical guest this week is

260
00:15:36,395 --> 00:15:39,231
the three-piece band
Oliver Elf Army.

261
00:15:39,231 --> 00:15:41,733
So here is Martin Adams,
Mary Adams,

262
00:15:41,733 --> 00:15:46,113
and Henry Yarsinske from
the stage of the Sunset Tavern.

263
00:15:46,113 --> 00:15:48,866
♪♪

264
00:15:48,866 --> 00:15:51,577
[ Indistinct conversations ]

265
00:15:51,577 --> 00:15:54,621
[ Can opens ]

266
00:15:54,621 --> 00:15:57,082
-One, two, three, four.

267
00:15:57,082 --> 00:16:00,711
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

268
00:16:00,711 --> 00:16:04,590
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

269
00:16:04,590 --> 00:16:08,468
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

270
00:16:08,468 --> 00:16:12,222
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

271
00:16:12,222 --> 00:16:16,143
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

272
00:16:16,143 --> 00:16:20,063
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

273
00:16:20,063 --> 00:16:23,901
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

274
00:16:23,901 --> 00:16:28,071
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

275
00:16:28,071 --> 00:16:31,700
-♪ The weight of the words
is pressing down on me ♪

276
00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:35,913
-♪ Can you show me the way
to the bathrooms please ♪

277
00:16:35,913 --> 00:16:39,583
-♪ We are seconds away
from a calamity ♪

278
00:16:39,583 --> 00:16:43,754
-♪ Can you show me the way
to the bathrooms please ♪

279
00:16:43,754 --> 00:16:51,345
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon,
Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

280
00:16:51,345 --> 00:16:59,436
♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon,
Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

281
00:16:59,436 --> 00:17:02,981
-♪ The weight of the words
is pressing down on me ♪

282
00:17:02,981 --> 00:17:06,902
-♪ Can you show me the way
to the bathrooms please ♪

283
00:17:06,902 --> 00:17:10,989
-♪ We are seconds away
from a calamity ♪

284
00:17:10,989 --> 00:17:15,035
-♪ Can you show me the way
to the bathrooms please ♪

285
00:17:15,035 --> 00:17:17,704
♪ Oh sweet mother of Christ ♪

286
00:17:17,704 --> 00:17:23,043
♪ Here comes
that horrible feeling again ♪

287
00:17:23,043 --> 00:17:25,587
♪ Oh sweet mother of Christ ♪

288
00:17:25,587 --> 00:17:30,843
♪ Here comes
that terrible feeling ♪

289
00:17:30,843 --> 00:17:33,345
♪ Oh sweet mother of Christ ♪

290
00:17:33,345 --> 00:17:38,809
♪ Here comes
that horrible feeling again ♪

291
00:17:38,809 --> 00:17:41,228
♪ Oh sweet mother of Christ ♪

292
00:17:41,228 --> 00:17:45,274
♪ Here comes
that terrible feeling ♪

293
00:17:45,232 --> 00:17:53,574
♪♪

294
00:17:53,574 --> 00:18:01,874
♪♪

295
00:18:01,874 --> 00:18:05,169
♪ The bookstore, the binding ♪

296
00:18:05,169 --> 00:18:09,423
♪ Always searching
but never finding ♪

297
00:18:09,423 --> 00:18:13,510
♪ The reason
for the turmoil inside ♪

298
00:18:13,510 --> 00:18:17,431
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

299
00:18:17,431 --> 00:18:20,642
-♪ Haunted by French Knot ♪

300
00:18:20,642 --> 00:18:24,855
♪ And the egg yolk
make out sessions ♪

301
00:18:24,855 --> 00:18:28,650
♪ But please don’t kiss
where you shit ♪

302
00:18:28,650 --> 00:18:32,279
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

303
00:18:32,279 --> 00:18:36,241
-♪ Surrounded by knowledge ♪

304
00:18:36,241 --> 00:18:40,329
♪ The wisdom of the ages ♪

305
00:18:40,329 --> 00:18:43,916
♪ But no one ever found
the answer to the ♪

306
00:18:43,916 --> 00:18:47,753
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

307
00:18:47,753 --> 00:18:51,548
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

308
00:18:51,548 --> 00:18:55,260
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

309
00:18:55,260 --> 00:18:59,139
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

310
00:18:59,139 --> 00:19:02,976
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

311
00:19:02,976 --> 00:19:06,897
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

312
00:19:06,897 --> 00:19:10,692
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

313
00:19:10,692 --> 00:19:14,530
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

314
00:19:14,530 --> 00:19:19,576
-♪ Mariko Aoki phenomenon ♪

315
00:19:25,999 --> 00:19:29,795
-"Oliver Elf Army Are Not For
Everyone" is available online,

316
00:19:29,795 --> 00:19:32,714
and catch the band live
on Saturday, March 28th

317
00:19:32,714 --> 00:19:34,341
at Lucky Dime in Everett

318
00:19:34,341 --> 00:19:38,387
and on Saturday, May 9th
at Obec Brewing in Ballard.

319
00:19:40,973 --> 00:19:44,726
Bhama Roget is an
accomplished actor, improviser,

320
00:19:44,726 --> 00:19:48,397
writer, and singer, and all
these skills will come together

321
00:19:48,397 --> 00:19:51,149
in the premiere
of her epic rock opera

322
00:19:51,149 --> 00:19:54,111
"Mother Nature:
The Farewell Tour."

323
00:19:54,111 --> 00:20:01,451
♪♪

324
00:20:01,451 --> 00:20:05,455
-♪ Sacred moons,
embodied earth ♪

325
00:20:05,455 --> 00:20:09,209
♪ Goddesses of life and birth ♪

326
00:20:09,209 --> 00:20:12,921
♪ Casting spells
for your protection ♪

327
00:20:12,921 --> 00:20:18,677
♪ And listening
for my direction ♪

328
00:20:18,677 --> 00:20:22,598
I'm Bhama Roget,
and I am the author,

329
00:20:22,598 --> 00:20:25,517
composer, performer, creator,

330
00:20:25,517 --> 00:20:29,855
producer of "Mother Nature:
The Farewell Tour."

331
00:20:29,855 --> 00:20:32,316
-Let's do it.
-One, two, three, four.

332
00:20:32,316 --> 00:20:35,736
♪♪

333
00:20:35,736 --> 00:20:39,114
-It's a rock opera.
It's a ritual.

334
00:20:39,114 --> 00:20:42,784
Mother Nature is in drag
as a human.

335
00:20:42,784 --> 00:20:46,580
♪ You bitches
burned my witches ♪

336
00:20:46,580 --> 00:20:50,626
This project is the thing
that I've been trying to write

337
00:20:50,626 --> 00:20:52,878
my whole life.

338
00:20:52,878 --> 00:20:55,255
I needed a character
that was big enough

339
00:20:55,255 --> 00:20:58,175
to hold
what I was trying to say

340
00:20:58,175 --> 00:21:01,261
and also that could get away
with saying all of it.

341
00:21:01,261 --> 00:21:03,138
And that's
how Mother Nature came

342
00:21:03,138 --> 00:21:06,016
to be the storyteller
rather than me.

343
00:21:06,016 --> 00:21:08,519
And if I'm speaking
as Mother Nature,

344
00:21:08,519 --> 00:21:10,938
it's that you, humanity,

345
00:21:10,938 --> 00:21:13,690
you're looking at everything
you've created,

346
00:21:13,690 --> 00:21:17,444
all of your systems and your
progeny and your technology,

347
00:21:17,444 --> 00:21:19,071
and you're trying
to tell the difference

348
00:21:19,071 --> 00:21:21,490
between your
brilliant innovations

349
00:21:21,490 --> 00:21:23,075
and your weapons
of mass destruction,

350
00:21:23,075 --> 00:21:25,035
and you can't.
You don't know which is what.

351
00:21:25,035 --> 00:21:26,328
You don't know
what's going to help you

352
00:21:26,328 --> 00:21:28,163
and what's going to eat you.

353
00:21:28,163 --> 00:21:34,628
So she feels kind of about us
like we might feel about A.I.

354
00:21:34,628 --> 00:21:38,966
The genesis of this show
came during the pandemic.

355
00:21:38,966 --> 00:21:41,260
I just felt like
everything was on fire

356
00:21:41,260 --> 00:21:44,471
on the inside
and on the outside.

357
00:21:44,471 --> 00:21:46,598
What I did during the pandemic,

358
00:21:46,598 --> 00:21:49,977
in order to keep sane,
was I just went in my room,

359
00:21:49,977 --> 00:21:53,605
and I did yoga with an app
on my phone.

360
00:21:53,605 --> 00:21:55,732
And then
after I would do the yoga,

361
00:21:55,732 --> 00:21:57,276
I would just lay there,

362
00:21:57,276 --> 00:22:00,362
and I would just get
this feeling of grief

363
00:22:00,362 --> 00:22:03,198
that I didn't really recognize.

364
00:22:03,198 --> 00:22:09,454
I just had this overwhelming
feeling of contemplation about,

365
00:22:09,454 --> 00:22:12,207
we're not meant
to live like this.

366
00:22:12,207 --> 00:22:16,879
All these things we're doing
are terrible for us.

367
00:22:16,879 --> 00:22:21,967
And they're so --
they're so far from

368
00:22:21,967 --> 00:22:24,887
who we really are.

369
00:22:24,887 --> 00:22:29,683
And during the pandemic, I just
kind of randomly wrote this song

370
00:22:29,683 --> 00:22:31,685
that went...

371
00:22:31,685 --> 00:22:35,439
♪ We're all gonna die ♪

372
00:22:35,439 --> 00:22:39,860
♪ Maybe not now,
but eventually ♪

373
00:22:39,818 --> 00:22:43,906
♪♪

374
00:22:43,906 --> 00:22:48,285
♪ Also, maybe now
there's a chance ♪

375
00:22:48,285 --> 00:22:51,788
♪ This could be our last dance ♪

376
00:22:51,788 --> 00:22:55,584
♪ Have you heard
there's a meteor ♪

377
00:22:55,584 --> 00:23:02,841
♪ Headed for earth ♪

378
00:23:02,841 --> 00:23:05,511
I have an incredible band.

379
00:23:05,511 --> 00:23:08,138
We're in Bootstrap Studios
in the vault

380
00:23:08,138 --> 00:23:11,475
and just kind of
putting it all together.

381
00:23:11,475 --> 00:23:15,270
On drums, I have
Aimee Zoe. Legend.

382
00:23:15,270 --> 00:23:18,815
Sherri Jerome is on lead guitar.

383
00:23:18,815 --> 00:23:21,610
Ben Heege on bass,
which I'm very excited about.

384
00:23:21,610 --> 00:23:27,324
Also, John Ackerman is going
to be leading the band,

385
00:23:27,324 --> 00:23:31,161
and then I have Evan Mosher
on audio visual

386
00:23:31,161 --> 00:23:35,123
and various electronica.

387
00:23:35,123 --> 00:23:38,961
I mean, I think the
two big questions for me

388
00:23:38,961 --> 00:23:41,129
are how did we get here,

389
00:23:41,129 --> 00:23:45,717
and is there any --
is there any way out?

390
00:23:45,717 --> 00:23:47,010
But here's the thing.

391
00:23:47,010 --> 00:23:48,846
The dinosaurs got lucky,

392
00:23:48,846 --> 00:23:52,808
because they didn't
have to witness their own end

393
00:23:52,808 --> 00:23:56,687
by their own hands,
by their own teeny-tiny hands.

394
00:23:56,687 --> 00:24:00,774
♪ When mankind was young ♪

395
00:24:00,774 --> 00:24:04,945
♪ The only gods were
the earth and sun ♪

396
00:24:04,945 --> 00:24:07,322
I feel like
there's a lot of shame

397
00:24:07,322 --> 00:24:09,616
around being
a human being right now,

398
00:24:09,616 --> 00:24:15,497
and I want the audience to feel
the beauty in themselves,

399
00:24:15,497 --> 00:24:19,126
to touch that divinity
within themselves

400
00:24:19,126 --> 00:24:22,171
and -- and in a room together

401
00:24:22,171 --> 00:24:28,635
and -- and feel hopeful
and feel like we have agency

402
00:24:28,635 --> 00:24:33,348
and we have choice about
what kind of world we create.

403
00:24:33,348 --> 00:24:39,062
♪♪

404
00:24:39,062 --> 00:24:40,898
-"Mother Nature: The Farewell
Tour"

405
00:24:40,898 --> 00:24:42,649
runs April 2nd through the 5th

406
00:24:42,649 --> 00:24:44,985
at Intiman Theater
on Capitol Hill.

407
00:24:44,985 --> 00:24:47,696
Ticket information
is at intiman.org.

408
00:24:47,696 --> 00:24:54,244
-♪ Are you not worried
that this might be the end? ♪

409
00:24:54,244 --> 00:24:55,621
-And that's a wrap.

410
00:24:55,621 --> 00:24:58,290
Big, huge thanks
to the fabulous crew here

411
00:24:58,290 --> 00:25:00,709
at Easy Street Records
for hosting us.

412
00:25:00,709 --> 00:25:02,794
And thanks to you for tuning in.

413
00:25:02,794 --> 00:25:05,130
We'll be back soon
with lots more cool stuff.

414
00:25:05,130 --> 00:25:07,424
And until then,
we hope that you get out there,

415
00:25:07,424 --> 00:25:08,926
try something new,

416
00:25:08,926 --> 00:25:12,346
and experience
the awesome power of art.

417
00:25:12,346 --> 00:25:13,931
We'll see you soon.

418
00:25:13,931 --> 00:25:23,732
♪♪

419
00:25:23,732 --> 00:25:33,534
♪♪

420
00:25:33,534 --> 00:25:43,335
♪♪

421
00:25:43,335 --> 00:25:53,136
♪♪

422
00:25:53,136 --> 00:26:02,980
♪♪

423
00:26:02,980 --> 00:26:12,781
♪♪

424
00:26:12,781 --> 00:26:22,583
♪♪