The Piece with Madame Kelso

Performance artist / space-maker Nailah Griffin discusses the importance "A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby" by Kara Walker holds in her creative practice and personal life. Nailah is a Brooklyn- bred / Nola-born communal artist that focuses on themes of motherhood, community, and mental health in her work. 

Writer, actor, and producer Ben Matheny discusses the impact Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" has had on the way he approaches capturing the magic and pure fun of filmmaking. Ben's most recent film "Easy Does It," which he co-wrote and starred in, is about two best friends and their accidental hostage as they careen across the 1970s American South on a treasure hunt turned crime spree. To learn more about "Easy Does It" and where you can see it, follow @easydoesitfilm on Instagram. 

Zandashé Brown is an award-winning genre filmmaker born bred in and inspired by Southern Louisiana. A self-proclaimed storyteller, Brown writes and directs stories primarily within the horror genre that showcase her perspective on identity, spirituality, and healing for Black women in the American South. For this episode, we discuss the impact Brian De Palma's classic "Carrie" has had on the way Zandashé approaches maternal horror. To find out more about Zandashé and her work, go to www.zandashe.com and follow her on instagram @zandashe.

Dancer Rhia Jade discusses the impact of Pina Bausch's "Café Müller." Rhia (they/them, she/her) moves and makes things by and for the body. Rhia is a choreographer, dancer, and performer based between New Orleans and Los Angeles who cultivates a practice at the crossroads of queerness, intersectional feminism, choreography, video, and performance. Rhia’s dance-works have been presented in New Orleans at the Contemporary Arts Center, the Marigny Opera House, Catapult, and Port, and in Los Angeles at REDCAT, Human Resources, Pieter, the Annenberg Beach House and Highways. Rhia has been a Hothouse resident at UCLA as well as a Summer Holiday Resident at Pieter. Rhia performed Trisha Brown's Floor of the Forest at the Hammer Museum, and has worked with Maya Taylor, Katherine Helen Fisher, Victoria Marks, Ros Warby, Jmy Kidd, Oguri, Jennie MaryTai Liu, Mecca Vazie Andrews, and Ryuta Iwashita. Rhia holds a BA in World Arts and Cultures/Dance from UCLA.

MILAGROS Collective co-founders Felici Asteinza and Joey Fillastre, along with their ever-changing cast of collaborators, create site-specific works that explore the history of place through striking arrangements of color and mark. With an exuberant style that champions the hand made and the intuitive, MILAGROS energizes public spaces with effervescent patterns that obliterate the seams between structures and highlight the unique attributes of the surrounding architecture. The spirit of playful spontaneity MILAGROS brings to their work results in community-based projects that radiate human dignity. For this episode they discuss the impact "Pee-wee's Playhouse" had on their playful, imaginative style. Find more of their work at http://www.milagroscollective.com/ and follow them on instagram @milagrosyall

Rosalie Smith discusses the poem "Evoking the Father" by Sharon Hoffman, her mother who passed away in August of 2018. Rosalie is a multidisciplinary artist who's recent work conceptually addresses impermanence, grief, community, and environmental issues. Her process is deeply rooted in investigating the metaphoric value of materials and processes. She co-founded and conceptualized @luckyartfair, an art fair with an egalitarian financial structure designed to pay unconventionally marketable artists same rate as those who make saleable work. Sharon Hoffman was a poet, artist, landscaper and food sustainability activist.

HU$HPUPPY, Dankyproductions and DJ Sincjack discuss the 1988 anime film "Akira" and the way it informed the music video for "Akuma" that Hushpup and Devin (Dankyproductions) recently released. Find more of their work at @hush__pup, @dankyproductions, and @sincjack on instagram, https://soundcloud.com/hush_love, and the video for Akuma at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbhYw25l0E&app=desktop.

Organizer and filmmaker Raven Crane (they / them) discusses the anthology "Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility" edited by Tourmaline, Eric A. Stanley and Johanna Burton. "Trap Door" is composed of essays, conversations, and archival investigations that explore the paradoxes, limitations, and social ramifications of transgender representation within contemporary culture. To learn more about Raven's organizing follow them on instagram @mx_andry. 

Filmmaker Marion Hill discusses Jonathan Demme’s 2008 film “Rachel Getting Married.” We also talk about Marion’s short film “Goddess House” which depicts a house of queer consensual sex work between femmes of color, as well as her upcoming debut feature film “Ma Belle, My Beauty” which will explore a polyamorous relationship between three people as it ages and moves across countries (or as she describes it- "'Call Me By Your Name' but take the white men out and put cool queer women of color in it.") To see more of Marion’s work go to www.marionhillvisuals.com or follow her on instagram @marionhillvisuals. 

In 2015, the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Chris Staudinger and his father built the frame of a 16 foot canoe. They began collecting stories from family and friends about Katrina and the years since, and then printed and stretched the stories like heavy duty papier-mâché to form the hull of the boat. Thus, the Paper Boat project was born. On this episode we discuss how this community project of grieving and remembrance is in conversation with the AIDS Memorial Quilt. We also discuss Chris's celebrated drag alter ego, Miss Bernadette Weatherly and her tenure as a Vampire Musical Cooking Show Hostess, a George Orwell-themed Water Ballet Starlet, and founding member of the Flaming Flagettes All Drag Flag Team. To learn more about the Paper Boat project follow them on instagram @apaperboatproject. 

Multimedia artist, digital curator, and face paint icon Phlegm discusses the reverberating impact Busta Rhymes' "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" has had on the development of his one of a kind visual vocabulary. We also discuss Phlegm's now famous shirt design "EVERYTHING YOU LOVE ABOUT NEW ORLEANS IS BECAUSE OF BLACK PEOPLE", Azealia Banks, and Hey Arnold's #1 It Girl, Helga Pataki. To see Phlegm's work follow him on instagram @mynameisphlegm and visit his online shop at https://teespring.com/stores/little-praline. 

Curator and Funeral Director's Assistant Lola Palacios reflects on Angela Carter's 1975 short story, "The Lady of the House of Love." Several themes throughout Carter's tale of Romanian vampire romance interweave with Palacios' many artistic practices. We delve into the "death positivity" movement, the gendered politics of necrophilia, and Lola's recently curated exhibition "Night Perfume; An Homage to Storyville" which explores New Orleans' early 20th century Red Light District through a contemporary lens. Find Lola on social media at @followyrlola and if you're in New Orleans, catch her exhibition up at Arrow Cafe until March 8th.

Rapper, singer, dancer, and revered scorpio Stash Marina discusses "Bucky Done Gun" by M.I.A. We explore the sexiness of dead plants, cheetahs, the importance of black femme educators, and the lost art of rollerblading. Find Stash's music at https://stashmarina.bandcamp.com/ and follow her instagram @8rawrawr8. 

Architect and visual artist Maggie Lloyd aka Orange Juane discusses "The Rape of Proserpina" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. We delve into the surprising emotionality of marble as a medium in Baroque sculpture, separating (or not) traumatic contexts from art objects, Kelsey's feminist butcher ancestors, and Maggie's impending arthritic gargoyle hands. Find Maggie's work at www.orangejuane.com and follow her on instagram @orangejuane. 

DJ Heel Turn discusses DJ Koze's "DJ-Kicks", the ethics behind sampling James Baldwin speeches in a house track, the politics of Post-Hurricane Katrina party spaces, and why vegans are the new bad boys of the wrestling world. Find DJ Heel Turn's music at https://soundcloud.com/djheelturn and follow him on instagram @djheelturn. 

Electro-soul-pop goddess Nondi breaks down the album that has had the biggest impact on her creative path, Solange's "A Seat at the Table." From the lusciously textured visual album's palette to Solange's creating a sense of "black girl weirdo" permission for other black women to fully embrace their weird, Nondi expounds on the many ways this album has touched her personal and creative life. Find Nondi's new EP "Water" on Spotify and iTunes, and follow her on instagram @Nondi.