Archives for April 2015

Episode #030: Lin Aubuchon

April 29, 2015 by Ted Mills

KTYD DJ and classic rock racounteur

Episode #029: Frank Goss

April 21, 2015 by Ted Mills

Owner of Sullivan Goss Gallery

Episode #028: Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

April 14, 2015 by Ted Mills

Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureate

Just over a decade ago, the Santa Barbara Arts Commission decided to create its own Poet Laureate position, where one of our city’s many poets gets to serve for two years, being called on to create poems for official city functions. Past laureates have included Barry Spacks, Perie Longo, David Starkey, Paul Willis and Chryss Yost. Although she helped create the position, initially Sojourner Kincaid Rolle had no desire to accept the title, but this year, the thirty year citizen of SB decided, what the hey.

This being National Poetry Month, I reached out to Sojourner and asked her to be on the podcast. We found a quiet room at the library and sat down for a freewheeling chat, about her life, her influences, and her work. Oh, and we get her to read four of her poems, including her epic “Black Street.” This is a chat full of references, and I’ve tried to link to as many as possible below.

Topics Discussed include:
What happens in Santa Barbara when you become a Poet Laureate
Working with youth in Santa Barbara
How rap has helped poetry
Tupak Shakur’s The Rose that Grew from Concrete
A theory of creeks and young people
TalentOnly
Her job at the New York Public Library and getting involved in the Civil Rights Movement
Where she was when MLK was assassinated and the play that came out of it
Where she learned poetry and what it took to get her to write her first mature poem
Nikki Giovanni
Her activist lineage
Her problems with Allen Ginsberg and her answer to Howl: “Black Street”
Her influences
William Stafford, her mentor
Quincy Troupe
Langston Hughes “A Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Her routines and how she writes

You can find some of her books here
And her Facebook is here
If you can’t see the embedded podcast above, here are other ways to listen:

Listen to it on iTunes
Download this episode here

You can also follow me on Twitter
Or read my arts writing at http://www.tedmills.com
Or check out my art here (warning NSFW): http://tedmillsart.tumblr.com/

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Lastly, our theme tune is brought to you by Raw Vegan.

Episode #027: Jim O’Mahoney

April 7, 2015 by Ted Mills

Founder of Skateboard magazine and the Santa Barbara Surf Museum, and collector of ephemera

I met Jim O’Mahoney when I wrote an article about a documentary on the Signal Hill Speed Run, and visited him at his museum. I soon got a tour of the residence behind the Museum, where I entered a wonderland of the weirdest stuff I’ve ever seen. The two museums O’Mahoney runs display only a tiny fraction–like one drawer compared to a house full of cabinets.

Then we got talking about his history and that’s where I learned his storied past and how essential he was to skateboarding history. I’ve invited O’Mahoney to bring some of his collectibles to my “Specimen” show in 2013, and he didn’t disappoint. I knew at some point he’d make a great guest on the podcast.

Topic discussed include:
A quick audio tour of just one room in O’Mahoney’s place
“Progress” in the FunkZone
Growing up in Long Beach
His dad, Jacques O’Mahoney (The Range Rider, Yancy Derringer)
Lili St. Cyr
His Mom’s modeling school
His first skateboard
The big evolutionary leap in skateboarding: 1974
Starting Skateboard Magazine, setting up the U.S. Skateboard Association
How Santa Barbara was the first venue for skateboard racing and freestyle
How David Frost led to the Signal Hill Speed Run
The first editorial board of Skateboard Magazine
Why did Santa Barbara birth skateboarding?
Mt. Baldy
The first wave of skate parks
Hangglider Magazine and his hanggliding accident
A brief story of the hangglider accident in Santa Barbara
How the USSA spread worldwide
The Signal Hill Speed Run
How Jim Fitzpatrick made skate parks viable again
Big Wheels and this video
Living in Mammoth and the first snowboards
How he got into collecting and antique store ownership
Moving to Santa Barbara
Starting the Surf Museum and the goodies inside
Traveling the world (twice) when he was a kid
His friendship with Jimmy Buffet
His skater friends
What rock stars actually skate?
The future of the FunkZone
What’s his favorite object in his collection?
His role model

The Surf Museum is located at 16 Helena Ave. #C, Santa Barbara, CA
And online here.

If you can’t see the embedded podcast above, here are other ways to listen: