Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today I am delighted to be in conversation with two organizers from the Critical Thinking Witch Collective, Alex Wrekk and Maya Amatvult. Alex and Maya were kind enough to join me in my digital studio to talk about the work they’re doing with the Crit Witches, specifically in the lead-up to the annual Con that’ll be happening this September 27th, 28th, and 29th. The upcoming Con is entitled “Perception (and Perspective) Check! Life Through a Seeker's Len.” Tickets are on sale now.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
I just wanted to pop in here quickly and let all you lovely listeners know that you’re not going to be seeing any fresh episodes in your feed for a short while so that I can turn my attention to some other creative projects that I’ve had simmering on the back burner. And honestly, I just want to give my podcasting muscles a proper rest, rather than inadvertently burning myself out, so that I’m refreshed and ready to rock with a fresh batch of episodes for you sooner rather than later.
Thank you for joining me on the journey through this third season of I’ll Follow You. I’m looking forward to sharing more with you again very soon.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today I am simply delighted to be in conversation with Jeanette Elaine Dubois.
Jeanette is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild and has 25 years of experience cutting a wide variety of projects for film and television. She’s worked on the Emmy Award-winning shows Super Soul Sessions with Oprah Winfrey and Artbound on PBS, as well as Emmy-nominated documentaries including The Day My God Died. Recently she’s worked for Steve Harvey’s Steve on Watch and has just completed editing her second season of Married to Real Estate starring Egypt Sherrod on HGTV and MAX. Elaine is also often called upon for voiceover work, and has written, produced, directed, and edited her own short films as well.
At the end of 2019, Jeanette self-published her first book, the memoir Things My Father Never Knew He Taught Me: Seven Lessons from a Life, which is available on Amazon now. And be on the look for the audiobook version to be released on Audible later on in 2024.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
This week I am absolutely thrilled to share my conversation with the writer Michael O’Donnell.
Michael is the author of the novel Above the Fire. Published by Blackstone Publishing in December 2023, Above the Fire crystallizes the relationship between a father and son as they survive a winter of isolation. The book has received starred reviews from Booklist and Shelf Awareness, and the audiobook edition recently won the AudioFile Earphones Award. Michael’s nonfiction writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and other publications. He has been a member of the National Book Critics Circle since 2005. An attorney by profession, he clerked for Judge Ann Claire Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and now practices law in Chicago. He earned his bachelor’s degree with distinction from Indiana University in 2001 and his law degree magna cum laude from Boston College in 2004.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
This week I am absolutely thrilled to be in conversation with Hayley J. Croom of Paintbox Soapworks.
Queer, witchy, feminist, and leftist-owned since 2009, Paintbox Soapworks is devoted to making small batch soaps, skincare, and bath products in unique and irreverent scents. It’s a one-person show, and each product is made by hand using vegan friendly, coconut-free custom formulas with no SLS, parabens, or phthalates. Their goal is to get you clean and smelling amazing, and to work a little magic with every blend they make to transform and transport you.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
For this first episode of 2024, I’m really excited to share my conversation with Hollywood costume supervisor Sara Walbridge. Sara is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago and has been steadily working in Hollywood for over 20 years. Some of her best known TV projects include Love and Death, Barry, GLOW, and True Blood, and her film credits include Don’t Look Up, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Vice, and Beautiful Boy.
In our chat today, she gives me the lowdown on how costume supervising is like solving a puzzle; how the immediate aftermath of 9/11 inadvertently shaped the trajectory of her career; why if you don’t notice the costumes in a movie or TV show, that actually means they’ve been executed really well; what the most pressing concerns about AI are for costume departments; the kinds of questions that get tossed around in the group chat of the so-called Costume Mafia; why working as a costume supervisor is secretly kind of a blue-collar job; and why she nerds out about making scale maps of changing tents for huge groups of extras. Plus, since we’re well into awards season now, Sara highlights some of her favorite costuming moments from the year gone by that she hopes will be recognized by voters.
For my Letterboxd users out there, I’ve created a list featuring all the films we talk about in this episode. Links to that and other show notes will be available on my blog QueenofPeaches.com.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Rather than release a normal interview episode today, I thought I’d just put a little audio trinket in your stocking, so to speak. I’d like to read a short selection from a book called "Atargatis," which is by the English writer, lecturer, hypnotherapist, and Reiki Master Paul Weston. Featuring original musical accompaniment by Brian Cremins.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today I’m incredibly psyched to share with you my conversation with science writer and medical intuitive Allison Clark. Allison is a heart-centered, holistically-minded healer who takes into consideration all aspects of a person—not just their body and not just their soul. Her approach is an alchemy of years of training, scientific research, and personal mind, body, and spirit work. She’s studied clairvoyant and energy healing techniques for well over a decade and has learned from experts including Cyndi Dale, Kelly Meehan, Bruce Lipton, and Robert Moss. She also graduated with honors from the Open University of Catalonia with a master’s degree in nutrition with a focus on clinical nutrition and nutrigenomics and is also triple-certified as a functional nutritionist, a culinary nutrition expert, and a holistic health coach. Her current mission as a healer is to help women learn to trust their intuition and embrace their unique spirit so that they can live a fulfilled life.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
I’m delighted to be in conversation with visual artist and graphic designer Sadie Teper.
Sadie is the founder and owner of Twentysome Design. Twentysome is a lady-powered feminist stationery and gift brand. Sadie’s design background enables her to create bright and colorful hand-lettered designs that empower and inspire others to spread the message of positive change while still encompassing cheeky wit and feminist fun. We talk about the origin of her brand name; how the text on her first greeting cards was really just an extension of her own inner monologue; how her art classes in college taught her how to not take personal criticism too seriously; the reason why the stationery industry isn’t particularly cutthroat; and the big difference between someone suggesting a topic for a card and someone suggesting the exact wording for a card.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today on I'll Follow You, I am super excited to bring you my conversation with the author and editor Jerome Pohlen.
Jerry has written 23 books for both adults and children, including Oddball Illinois (which is the flagship title of the larger Oddball travel book series), The Apollo Missions for Kids, Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids, Gay & Lesbian History for Kids, and Chicago Baby, as well as articles and op-eds for the Los Angeles Times, Advocate, and the Chicago Reader. Since 2001, he has worked for publishing house Chicago Review Press where, as an acquisitions editor, he signs up adult nonfiction in categories including US history, LGBTQIA, nature, popular science, and DIY, along with children’s nonfiction and activity books. Our wide-ranging chat is roughly broken up into three distinct sections: we talk about his work as a writer, his father’s work as an engineer on both the Apollo and Viking space missions, and Jerry’s run for Congress as a Green Party candidate in Illinois in 2008.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today I am delighted to be in conversation with pianist and healer Marta Johnson.
Marta’s first career was as a professional pianist, mostly working in the classical and musical theater worlds in Chicago. However, a crisis of performance anxiety brought her to the world of inner healing and spiritual growth. And now she uses Internal Family Systems and AuraTransformation in her own life as well as in her professional practice with others. If you’ve never heard of Internal Family Systems, much less AuraTransformation, don’t worry—they’re both a big part of what we’ll be talking about today. You’ll be getting a whole crash course on not just what they are, but also why and how they can be super helpful for addressing a range of psychological and spiritual concerns.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
I am so excited to share with you my conversation with my very dear, very funny, and very brilliant friend Cemal Ozdemir.
Cemal spent nearly 30 years with the firm Dauby O’Connor & Zaleski (DOZ), a leader in affordable housing and real estate accounting, starting there as an intern in 1993 and ultimately becoming Chief Executive Officer in early 2020. He stepped down in 2022 to focus exclusively on his newest project, Ozwell Fitness, an elevated wellness studio that combines the two core elements of wellness–fitness and recovery–into a single, seamless experience. He has a degree in business and accounting from Indiana University and has also taken over 2,000 group fitness classes, with Orangetheory, CycleBar, Fit Flex Fly, Shred 415, Peloton Tread and bike, Flywheel, and SoulCycle as well as several hundred hours of personal training.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today on I’ll Follow You, I’m in conversation with two of the most influential people in my musical life, Ed Bialon and Don Graves.
Ed and Don were members of my dad’s band, the Terry Felus Trio, for about ten years, from the early 1970s through the early 1980s.
The Terry Felus Trio was known and loved around Northwest Indiana as a great party band, getting hired to play for wedding receptions, milestone anniversary celebrations, and New Year’s Eve shows, though they were also frequently booked at local venues like Mama Puntillo’s in Highland, Indiana, and Sarti’s Restaurant and Lounge in East Chicago.
I wanted to sit down with them and get the scoop on how exactly they did what they did. I wanted to dig into the history of how they all knew each other, where and how they all trained as musicians, and get a glimpse into this now mostly bygone era of live bands who didn’t try to sound like anyone but themselves.
Show notes are available at QueenofPeaches.com.
Today on I’ll Follow You, I’m super excited to share my recent conversation with author and journalist Saga Briggs. If you’re listening to this on the day that the episode initially goes live, Saga’s first book will be officially published tomorrow, Tuesday, September 19. It’s called How to Change Your Body: The Science of Interoception and Healing Through Connection to Yourself and Others and, as you’ll hear me enthusiastically state at the top of our chat, I really think everyone should read it.
Beyond the book, she’s written articles for Scientific American, Aeon+Psyche, and DoubleBlind magazine and has worked as an editor for both the MIND European Foundation for Psychedelic Science and the digital magazine InformED. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest but is currently based in Berlin.
Please visit QueenofPeaches.com for full show notes.
Francesca Kritikos is the author of the chapbooks It Felt Like Worship (published by Sad Spell Press in 2017) and Animals Don't Go to Hell (published by Bottlecap Press in 2021) as well as the forthcoming full-length collection Exercise in Desire (which will be published by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in early 2022). Her poetry has also appeared in the Des Pair Quarterly, Ghost City Review, and Witch Craft Mag. She completed the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of East Anglia in the UK in 2017. She is on Instagram @fmkrit.
Visit QueenofPeaches.com for full show notes.
Pascuala Herrera was a Professor and Accessibility Specialist at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, for almost 30 years and was selected as Distinguished Faculty, the highest honor given to a faculty member, in 2019 and is now faculty emeritus. She is currently also a full-time consultant and author of Not Always a Valley of Tears: A Memoir of a Life Well Lived. Pascuala received her BA in Sociology and M.Ed in Reading and Learning Disabilities at DePaul University in Chicago. She is a frequent local and national presenter on the topics of disability awareness, motivation, and the importance of education for individuals with disabilities and Latinx students. Pascuala contracted polio at nine months old, and has spent her career assisting thousands of students with disabilities both in and outside the classroom. As a disabled Latina woman, she inspires and motivates others in working towards achieving their aspirations despite any challenges they face. I was very excited to get to talk to her about her experience as a first-time self-published author. We go deep talking about purchasing ISBNs, hiring a freelance design team, and the ins and outs of marketing yourself, as well as touching on her fascinating experiences as a disability advocate and as a parent.
Visit QueenofPeaches.com for complete show notes.
S. Elizabeth is a writer, curator, and frill-seeker. Her essays and interviews about esoteric art have appeared in Coilhouse, Dirge Magazine, Death & The Maiden, as well as on her own occulture blog Unquiet Things, which intersects music, fashion, horror, perfume, and grief. Born of the strange and fraught relationship between an astrologer and an artist, S. Elizabeth draws upon the magic in her blood and a lifelong passion for the visual arts to explore her obsessions through her writing. She is the co-creator of The Occult Activity Book Volumes 1 and 2 and is a staff writer at Haute Macabre. She lives in the Florida swamps with a Viking named Ývan and an imaginary corgi named Cheese Tray.
Today we chat about being the avenging angel of properly crediting supposedly anonymous artwork found online, why intros are the hardest part of the writing process, the arcane expectations of the publishing industry, being terrified of academics, reining in the tendency to be clever at the expense of kindness, and her Taurean ability to become more of herself while staying cozy at home.
Complete show notes are available on QueenofPeaches.com.
Tim Clarke has performed throughout Europe, North America, and the UK, including close to 1,000 appearances on London’s West End stages. He’s had leading roles in productions including Jesus Christ Superstar, Blood Brothers, The Buddy Holly Story, Dusty—The Musical, The Glenn Miller Story, and The Demon Headmaster. Tim’s television roles have included Sir Richard Byngham in The Spanish Armada, fireman Mick Foster in Emmerdale, and Detective Inspector Goodman in Canary Wharf, as well as numerous TV commercials.
As a musician, he’s written and recorded the albums Life Changes and To Love and Be Loved and was the winner of the Netherlands International Song Festival and a finalist at the Isle of Wight Song Festival.
A highly competent German and French speaker, Tim has also translated into English the German musicals A Touch of Colour and Scrooge—A Christmas Tale as well as project managed the critically acclaimed musical theater piece In May, which features all original music by Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. Which is what brought us together.
In the spring of 2017, I wrote a long, loving post on my blog, Queen of Peaches, about the recording of In May that appeared as a bonus disk on the 2016 Divine Comedy album Foreverland. In the years since, it’s become one of the most highly trafficked pieces on my site. Fans of Neil Hannon are nothing if not devoted to his music. Tim himself found and read the piece and reached out to me about it, and the rest, as you’ll soon hear, is history. I was so excited that he was willing to spend a solid 90 minutes talking me through the ins and outs of his extremely varied career, as well as the creation of this breathtaking set of songs, which have meant so much to me over the past few years.
Complete show notes are available on QueenofPeaches.com.
Today, I’m in conversation with my very dear friend, singer Hilary Webb.
Originally from Schererville, Indiana, Hilary began studying voice at the age of 13. She earned her bachelor’s from Ball State University, where she studied with Mary Hagopian, and she earned her master’s in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has worked with John Rutter, Dan Forrest, Beverly Sills, Barbara Hahn, and The King’s Singers and has been soprano section leader at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, since 2011 and has been part of the Bel Canto Company since 2003. Hilary has also performed with the Greensboro Opera, Capital Opera Company, and The Choral and Oratorio Societies of Greensboro, and has made guest appearances with The Triad Pride Men’s Chorus. A two-time National Association of Teachers of Singing Great Lakes Auditions finalist and Mu Phi Epsilon scholarship winner, she competes throughout the country and performs in the U.S. and Europe.
In our chat today, we talk about how we first met thanks to the robust community arts scene of Northwest Indiana in the 1980s and 90s (and how the secret origins of the very name of this podcast go back to my days as piano accompanist for many of Hilary’s solo performances), seeing Placido Domingo live on stage the first time she ever went to the opera in Chicago, hanging out with Beverly Sills, how women and men’s voices come to maturity in different ways, the spiritual dimensions of choral music and the challenges of choral singing during these days of Covid and social distancing, and why she’s specifically chosen not to live in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago in order to pursue music professionally.
To read the full text, please visit QueenofPeaches.com.