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Podcast

808: The Man Who Coined Fusion Cuisine and Discovered Charlie Trotter with Norman Van Aken

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Nick Dawson talks with filmmakers, musicians and comedians whose work he loves, avoiding the mundane, predictable questions they&#8217;ve heard numerous times and instead asking substantive, thoughtful questions that get to the heart of who they are.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Stephin Merritt

Joshua Bailey is a documentary filmmaker whose latest film, Stolen Kingdom, delves into the history of mischief, scandal, and theft at Walt Disney World

Joshua Bailey

Brendan Canty is a musician and filmmaker.  He was originally a member of Fugazi and his current band Deathfix can be found <a href="http://www.deathfix.com/">here</a>.  His film production company Trixie can be found <a href="http://www.trixiefilm.com/">here</a>.

Brendan Canty

Music

Joshua Bailey and Brendan Canty on the Punk Origins of Stolen Kingdom

Actor and singer-songwriter’s Alicia Witt’s forthcoming album <a href="https://30tgrs.ffm.to/betweenheavenandearth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Between Heaven and Earth</a>, is out August 28 via Thirty Tigers. Produced by Joe Henry, the album was inspired by filmmaker David Lynch, whose four-decade friendship and creative relationship with Witt shaped its exploration of love, intuition, fate, grief and the unseen connections that bind people across time. The second single from the album, &#8220;Freeze Frame,&#8221; is out now. Witt has been acting since the age of seven, when she made her film debut in David Lynch’s sci fi classic Dune. Her many screen credits include Showtime’s third season of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and films such as Two Weeks’ Notice, Last Holiday, The Upside of Anger, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Urban Legend, Four Rooms, 88 Minutes, Urban Legend and Vanilla Sky. Long celebrated for her work as both an actor and musician, Witt has released multiple acclaimed albums, performed around the world – including at Nashville&#8217;s Grand Ole Opry – and opened for Ben Folds Five, Rachel Platten, Bob Schneider, Jimmy Webb, and John Fulbright. A classically trained pianist, her music has been described as “sharply personal, boldly melodic pop originals” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, while Broadway World praised her “rangy, honeyed voice, clear as crystal, pretty as a stained-glass window,” calling her “a voice to treasure.” Witt also spent five weeks on Billboard&#8217;s Top 30 Adult Contemporary chart with the 2021 piano power ballad &#8220;Chasing Shadows,&#8221; from her self-co-produced album The Conduit. (Photo by David McClister.)

Alicia Witt

Film

On Being Fired

For 15 years, Matthew S led Illegal Art while shrouded in secrecy. During its run from 1998 to 2012, Illegal Art was more than just a record label — it dismantled preconceived notions of originality in music, what was “allowed” in the industry. Then, we only knew Matthew through a series of pseudonyms, most commonly Philo T. Farnsworth. Now, with the reboot of Illegal Art, Matthew is pulling back the curtain, kickstarting a new chapter for the label while launching a deeply personal project of his own, Myth Math. 
Myth Math’s Tongues is out now on Illegal Art. 
(Photo Credit: Valentin Son)

Myth Math

Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: A Sampling of the Illegal Art Archive

Zachary Ray Sherman is an actor, director, writer, and producer from Portland, Oregon, whose new film <a href="https://tubitv.com/movies/100022519/all-that-fall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All That Fall</a> is now streaming. After early success opposite Kirsten Dunst in Lifetime’s Fifteen and Pregnant, and as Jasper on the CW’s reboot of 90210, Sherman has gone on to build an impressive acting resume balancing television work (Netflix’s Everything Sucks!) with edgy roles in independent films (Archie’s Final Project, West Virginia Stories, Cuck). Sherman has also directed three feature films to date: Particular Crowd and Mar Vista’s upcoming Do You Hear What I Hear, the award-winning indie All That Fall and HBO’s Young Hearts, a sweet and touching coming-of-age film executive-produced by the Duplass brothers. He will soon be seen in the indie dramas The Send-Off, produced by Glenn Howerton, and Can’t Seem to Make You Mine, opposite Lindsay Burdge, and is currently starring in Hulu’s Under the Banner of Heaven starring Andrew Garfield, created by Dustin Lance Black from the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer, and executive-produced by Jason Bateman and Brian Grazer. (Photo by David Zaugh.)

Zachary Ray Sherman

When Art Finally Catches Up to You

Anthony Frith is a writer and director with a love for absurd pop-culture anomalies. His work has taken him to Boston, where he studied the art of churning out novelty songs with cult musician Matt Farley in Lessons From A Middle Class Artist; to Burbank, where he made his feature debut directing a trashy dinosaur movie for the legendary studio the Asylum in <a href="https://www.mockbustermovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mockbuster</a>, which is in theaters from July 10 through Giant Pictures. You can usually find Anthony deep in the rabbit holes of internet folklore, always on the hunt for strange stories from the fringes of pop culture.

Anthony Frith

What I Learned Making The Land That Time Forgot (and Mockbuster!) in Six Days

Advik Beni is a South African filmmaker and curator currently based in Los Angeles whose new film, mother, you have not died yet. but you will. and when you do, you will finally be alive again, world premieres on July 9 at <a href="https://fidmarseille.org/en/festivals/festival-37/films/mother-you-have-not-died-yet-but-you-will-and-when-you-do-you-will-finally-be-alive-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FIDMarseille</a>. Through a practice steeped in South African traditions of orality, their work aims to create imagined spaces for marginalized people to express grief and trauma. They are interested in how these non-hierarchical, hybrid models of filmmaking can encourage a collective mutability amongst rhizomatic pathways – that may lead to an actuality of positive impact on communities; whilst preserving a cultural tradition eclipsed by Western modes of storytelling. Advik is focused on how we can witness each other’s existence, and all that entails, in an attempt to facilitate a tangibility of cross-border solidarity that prioritizes care. Their work has been supported by San Sebastián International Film Festival, Sundance, Prismatic Ground, New Orleans Film Festival, Flaherty Film Seminar, Points North Institute and the Edinburgh International Film Festival amongst others.

Advik Beni

The Things We Carry Home

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Desiree Akhavan

Song of Rimbaud

Warped depravity in pop bubblegum packaging, Emma Higgins is a writer and director interested in telling stories she hasn’t seen before through a genre lens. Emma’s debut feature as writer-director, <a href="https://fela.tv/work/special-projects/sweetness-first-look/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweetness</a>, premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival to rave reviews and is out now in theaters. A coming-of-age story for the digital age exploring the line between innocent fandom and twisted obsession, it stars Kate Hallett and Herman Tømmeraas. A self-taught filmmaker, Emma established herself directing commercials and music videos, helming Jessie Reyez&#8217;s music video “No One’s in the Room,” which earned the esteemed Video of the Year win at the 2021 Juno Awards. Emma currently lives in Los Angeles, where she enjoys living amongst the coyotes and nurturing the filmmaking community.

Emma Higgins

Sinking into Sweet Uncertainty – Otherwise Known as Making a Movie

Writer-director Carmen Emmi’s award-winning debut feature,<a href="https://www.magpictures.com/plainclothes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Plainclothes</a>, starring Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, Maria Dizzia and Amy Forsyth, premiered at Sundance in 2025, was released theatrically by Magnolia and is out now on digital. Set in 1997, the film follows a promising undercover officer assigned to entrap gay men, who defies professional orders when he falls in love with one of his targets. Emmi is a filmmaker with deep roots in Syracuse, New York, where he grew up in a family of farmers. After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Carmen began his career as an independent Director of Photography, contributing to a range of projects, including short films, commercials, and feature-length productions. (Photo by Lindsy Avritch.)

809: Claire Saffitz’s Summer Baking and Next Book Plot Twist

972. – Chris & Jason

The Odyssey

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Abel Ferrara

The Stories We Invent Before We Have Language

Mood Board: Sari Lightman’s The Way I Saw You

Alex Zhang Hungtai and Andrew Thomas Huang Tend to Old Wounds

808: The Man Who Coined Fusion Cuisine and Discovered Charlie Trotter with Norman Van Aken

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Talkhouse Weekly