My___on Mondays

Episode 28: My Morning Chamber Music - MING Studios Public Archive Series

In 1907, James Joyce published a collection of love poems titled, “Chamber Music”. Though he later claimed, in the cynical tone more commonly associated with the writer, that the title was a reference to the sound of urine hitting a chamber pot, the poems are a reflection of a younger, more earnest Joyce writing to an imagined love.

Episode 27: My Finnish Opera Find - MING Studios Public Archive Series

Finnish opera singer Eino Rautavaara lived from 1879-1939. After studying in France, Germany and Italy, Rautavaara returned to Finland to serve as the Helsinki Kallio church cantor until 1922, then after, as a teacher at the Church Music Institute. His son, Einojuhani Rautavaara, was born in 1928 and went on to become one of Finland's most notable composers. The songs featured in this episode were recorded between 1905 and 1909.

Episode 26: My Question by Jens Kuross

Jens Kuross has been a professional musician since the age of 15 when he landed his first jazz gig playing drums for a piano trio alongside former Buddy Rich side man Jeff Rew. After studying with jazz greats Billy Higgins and Ralph Peterson, he earned his bachelors degree in jazz performance from the Berklee College of Music in 2005. Relocating to Los Angeles, Jens played with jazz greats such as Larry Koonse, and Bob Mintzer, as well as members of pop rock groups Weezer and Maroon 5. He graduated from Azusa Pacific University with his Masters in Jazz Performance in 2013. Jens has subsequently toured the world, playing storied festivals such as Glastonbury and the Montreux Jazz Festival, as well as venues like Walt Disney Concert hall and the Konzerthaus Berlin. As a composer Jens’s music has been featured in several TV shows and films, such as “13 Reasons Why” and “Lucifer” as well as the 2016 documentary “The Bomb”, an immersive audio visual experience about the history and threat of nuclear weapons which Jens has performed live with the band The Acid at several film festivals including the Tribeca, the Berlin Film Festival, and at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies in Oslo, Norway.

To learn more about Jens and his work, visit: http://jenskuross.com/

Episode 25: My Morning of Syrian Song - MING Studios Public Archive Series

This episode features six traditional Syrian songs performed by Youssef Tage, most likely recorded in the 1930s and early 40s. Though nothing is known about the artist, the songs he sings are an incredible example of the complex musical development in Syria, cradle of one of the oldest known civilizations on earth.

Episode 24: My Peek Into the Life of Byron - MING Studios Public Archive Series

In 1824, Thomas Medwin published his book, “Journal of the conversations of Lord Byron noted during a residence with his lordship at Pisa, in the years 1821 and 1822". It was a response to the burning of Byron's memoirs by his publisher, which Medwin considered a betrayal of both Byron and the public. Today's episode is an excerpt from the beginning of this book, describing Medwin's first introduction to Byron ––– a vivid and delightful window into his personality, a moment of his life and the era.

Episode 23: My Early Irish-American Find - MING Studios Public Archive Series

This episode features three recordings made in 1917 by Irish-American piper, Tom Ennis. Ennis was born in 1888 in the US and was taught to play the Uilleann pipes by his father, John Ennis, who emigrated from Kildare, Ireland.

Young Ennis grew up steeped in the Irish-American Gaelic community and became a well-known piper. In early adolescence he became the youngest member ever admitted into the Irish Music Club of Chicago, playing amongst the most elite musicians of the day. He went on to perform in Vaudeville and was very active in the New York and Chicago music scenes.

Episode 22: My All Grammars Leak by Barnett Cohen

Barnett Cohen (b. Cape Town, South Africa) is a queer poet, painter, performance maker, and political activist who lives and works in Los Angeles and New York City. He has exhibited, staged performances, and held readings at REDCAT, JOAN, LAXART, Pieter Space, 356 Mission, Human Resources, The Box (Los Angeles), The International Center For Photography, Beverly's, JDJ (New York), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), Open Space/SFMOMA City Limits (San Francisco & Oakland), and The Onassis Foundation (Athens, Greece). He has been in-residence at SVA, Skowhegan, MacDowell, and is currently an artist-in-residence at the NARS Foundation, New York. In 2020, he was nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant. Cohen is also the founder of the Mutual Aid Immigration Network (MAIN). Established in 2017, MAIN is a trilingual free assistance hotline for people detained in immigration detention centers across the US. MAIN connects people in detention with bond funds and legal services that can accelerate their freedom from incarceration.

 

https://www.barnettcohen.com/

Episode 21: My Grandmother by Christy Claymore

Christy Claymore (she/her) is a writer, researcher, freelance editor, and former adjunct English professor. She is an emerging poet whose work has been included in the previous three anthologies published by The Cabin, as well as in The Panorama Project, a pandemic arts segment underwritten by The Idaho Press Tribune and Surel's Place. She lives in Boise, Idaho where she loves supporting the arts, running in the foothills and raising her two wild boys.

Episode 20: My First Glimpse Through A Pervy Lens by Jodeen Revere

Jodeen Revere is an Idaho actor and writer, and a regular contributor to MING Studios programming. Her first reading at MING in 2019 became the spring board for her one woman show, The Persistent Guest. This darkly humorous story of her trifecta of cancer experiences, less than desirable relationships and life philosophy, premieres at Boise Contemporary Theater in January of 2022. In addition to her work on stage, in film and readings of her personal essays, she has been part of two Migration Theory site specific productions: S5 and Small Matters. You can listen to her earlier contribution to My On Mondays in Episode 8: My Getaway.

 

You can follow Jodeen on Instagram: @jodeenrevere

Episode 19: My Frankenstein Monster Part II by Samantha Silva

Idaho author and screenwriter, Samantha Silva's debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was published by Flatiron Books in 2017, followed by Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft in May of 2021. Her essays appear on LitHub, and her short story, “Leo in Venice,” was the September 2019 issue of One Story. She is currently working with Seattle Repertory Theater to adapt Mr. Dickens and His Carol for the stage, and was a 2020 Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow.

 

You can learn more about Samantha and her work at: https://www.samanthasilvawriter.com/