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FunkZone Podcast

FunkZone Podcast

Interviews with Artists and Creatives straight from Santa Barbara's FunkZone and Beyond!

Episode #005: Sean Lewis

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H4GErRES

Welcome back Funk Zonerz!

This episode we sit down with beer and brewery columnist Sean Lewis, who not only writes a weekly column for the Santa Barbara News-Press, but has just released a book on microbreweries in America and the people behind the craft, called “We Make Beer” from St. Martin’s Press.

I know that I like beer, but apart from that little else, so the book informed me a lot, as did this hour long chat about the writing of his book and Lewis’ many thoughts on the craft, the industry, and his cross-country drive that led to his first book agent and deal. It’s a chat that’s guaranteed to make you thirsty! Santa Barbara has a lot of exciting breweries, and we talk about them too.

Topics discussed include:

* The end of Pabst Blue Ribbon’s trendiness
* Sean’s move to Boston and its beer history
* His evolution from Keystone Lite to better beers
* His first attempts at home brewing
* Writing for Beer Advocate
* The learning curve for writers and for brewers
* Firestone Walker using wine barrels to ferment wine
* Jeffers Richardson
* New Albion Brewery, Jack McAuliffe as the birthplace of microbrewing
* Sam Adams, Pete’s Wicked Ale, and Anchor Steam
* How Sean Lewis pitched his book to publishers
* Sean’s cross-country trip and remote breweries: Brew Kettle in Cleveland, OH and Nebraska Brewing Co.
* Brewmaster Paul Kavulak
* Levels of competition in the beer business
* Tom Acitelli’s “The Audacity of Hops”
* Maureen Ogle “Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer”
* How Budweiser is actually good in terms of consistency
* Why it’s impossible to recreate century-old beer
* How Sean made his book more marketable
* State by state tax laws, and how that affects brewing
* Santa Barbara’s brewing scene and its growth since 2006
* Kevin Pratt, A.J. Stoll, Paul Rey, James, David, Bucky and Diana Burge
* Why Firestone Walker Pale 31 is Sean’s favorite
* Whether brewers are good business people
* Why there aren’t tech bros in microbrewery
* Why cool labels are a bad sign
* Sean’s least favorite beer trends
* German, British, and Belgian beers
* Five breweries across the country you have to try

Breweries and websites mentioned in our talk:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/ @BeerAdvocate
http://www.thebrewkettle.com/
http://nebraskabrewingco.com/ @NEBrewingCo @brewkettle
http://www.bluehillsbrewery.com/ @BHBCanton
http://www.sbbrewco.com/ @SBBREWCO
http://www.pureorderbrewing.com @PureOrderBrewCo
http://www.telegraphbrewing.com/ @TelegraphBrew
http://www.figmtnbrew.com/ @figmtnbrew
http://www.blackstar.coop/ @blackstarcoop
http://www.goodpeoplebrewing.com/ @GPBrewing
http://foundersbrewing.com/ @foundersbrewing
http://www.gooseisland.com

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Sean Lewis’ book can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C8X0AR0?btkr=1

His website is here and his Twitter 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/
ALSO! Repeal Day is coming up, would you like to celebrate with us? Well then: www.repealdaysb.com

Subscribe to our show on iTunes (still working on this! Both iTunes and Libsyn have not been helpful!)

Or for non-iTunes people out there, subscribe to our RSS Feed

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

Episode #003: Wallace Piatt

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wallace_portrait

The wild man of Santa Barbara art and screenprinting!

Howdy, FunkZone Podcast listeners! I’m really excited about this third episode because I got to have a sit down with the wild man of Santa Barbara art, Wallace Piatt. (Pronounced like Hyatt Hotels with a P).
As you’ll hear, Wallace came in to art at a weird angle, having owned a cool used clothing store “True Grit” with his partner Jill Johnson for years on State Street. That led to screenprinting and that led to art and his current pop art style that borrows liberally from Lichtenstein and Warhol, but with his own complex spin. He incorporates cultural icons, Native American history, and advertising ephemera into his colorful work. In his heyday, he probably could have drank Peter O’Toole under the table, but despite a heart attack, he’s still with us and focused on creating art these days, non-stop.
He does not suffer fools gladly and speaks his mind. Yes, there’s a lot of swearing in this episode. Buckle up!!
death-of-a-cowboy
Topics include:
• Life in the Container Village
• Growing up Catholic in Santa Maria
• His dad’s life as a school building, his mom’s as a real estate agent
• Mathematics and poetry before art
• His trip to Europe, the rave scene and seeing Warhol for the first time
• The evolution of the FunkZone
• Waiting tables in Santa Barbara, especially Palminteri’s
• The Japanese man who helped Wallace and Jill kick off True Grit
• How State Street changed over the years
• The legacy of True Grit, and Santa Barbara’s lack of fashion
• The art of trashing T-shirt
• How a broken heart and bitterness started his painting career
• Getting in drugs and drink later in life
• Gay clubbing in Santa Barbara back in the day
• Marijuana as the worst drug ever
• Sobering up and making art
• How to sell (or not) art in Santa Barbara
• The problems of gallery representation
• The lessons of retail
• The benefits of Instagram, the death of Facebook

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You can find Wallace at his website:
 http://wallaceisart.com/

Or on Instagram at #wallaceisart

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/

Subscribe to our show on iTunes (still working on this! Both iTunes and Libsyn have not been helpful!)

Or for non-iTunes people out there, subscribe to our RSS Feed

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

Welcome to the FunkZone Podcast!

by

SBIFF-Ted-Mills_t690

Hi folks,

It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally up and running on this weekly podcast show, every Tuesday!

Getting this podcast/site up and running is a bit like “death by a thousand cuts” but instead of cuts, try “things that should work easily according to the site but don’t.” Even after many years doing this web creation thing (I hand-coded html in the ’90s! I walked to school thru snow drifts!) I see that you still have to pound nails in with the forehead.

Anyway, whinging aside, prepping this show has been super fun, as I’ve been learning a new skill set: audio recording. And the ease of recording these days is just ridiculous. You can literally do the whole production out of a backpack. (Convincing your guest to get into the backpack with you is the hard part.)

Expect interviews with artists, photographers, musicians, authors, chefs, and other creative artists in the weeks to come. I’ll also be adding mini-essays, extra content, and more.

Feel free to suggest guests, topics, and ways to improve the podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe!