A Fresh Face in Hell with Jonathan Evison

In the summer of 2024, we recorded our first Fresh Face interview with Steve Turner, the trailblazing guitarist of Mudhoney. We initially planned on being an audio-only podcast, but we quickly realized that America prefers to watch people talk, so we started the YouTube channel. We wanted to re-release some of the early episodes that didn't get the video treatment on the channel, so we're starting with Steve. In this episode, we talk about collecting records, the early days of the Seattle punk scene, Steve's long journey in music, from basements to arenas, and his excellent memoir Mud Ride. You can also watch the interview on our YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/7la6_5MwPyc
linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/freshfacepods.evison

Francis Weller is a retired psychotherapist and renowned author of "The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief". Francis believes that grief and gratitude are inseparable, and that our capacity to feel loss is proportional to our capacity to love. Believing that communal grieving is essential for genuine healing, Francis hosts weekend retreats in Northern California where participants share stories of loss, write, sing and engage in symbolic ritual to tend to their grief. We discuss this process and his expansion of our understanding of what grief is, be it the loss of a loved one, a loss of vitality, or a loss of hope. Through what he calls the sacred work of grief, Francis offers tools to help us reconnect and heal, and ultimately navigate our way out of what he refers to as the long dark. If you're a fan of Joesph Campbell or Carl Jung you'll love what Francis is laying down here.  
https://www.francisweller.net/
linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/freshfacepods.evison

If I were tasked with creating a soundtrack for the Evison family, Eric D. Johnson would definetly be featured. My kids would know the lyrics already from repeated listens. From Bonnie Light Horseman to The Shins to Fruit Bats, Eric has amassed a discography of indie folk-pop amazingness that few could rival. Eric has also created scores for films such as Wild, Our Idiot Brother, and Spivak. A Chicago native, we get into some of the celebrated and unknown artists coming out of the Midwest. Fruit Bats' new album, The Landfill, comes out this June and I couldn't be more excited.
https://www.fruitbatsmusic.com/
linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/freshfacepods.evison

We're all a little vain and self-involved at times, does that make us narcissists? Today’s guest, therapist and writer Vanessa Reiser, posits that although we may all be guilty of manipulation and self-aggrandizing, most of us are not, clinically speaking, narcissists. In today's episode Vanessa breaks down the telltale signs of a proper malignant narcissist. We discuss the crossover of sociopaths and psychopaths with their common need to dominate others. We talk about how a narcissist will bide their time before revealing their toxic traits (four months, to be exact). And you'll be surprised to hear that Vanessa doesn't think Donald Trump is a narcissist. This is a really fun conversation about some dark shit — enjoy!
Narcissistic Abuse:  https://www.amazon.com/Narcissistic-Abuse-Therapists-Identifying-Manipulative/dp/0306833174
linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/freshfacepods.evison

This month, Hachette Publishing cancelled distribution of their book Shy Girl after it was reported by The New York Times that large portions of the text had been created by AI. When the author originally self-published the novel, it garnered rave reviews with 4,900 ratings on Goodreads and an average of 3.52 stars. Eventually, readers started to notice the tell-tale signs of AI slop: repetitive phrasing, confusing metaphors, and maybe more than a few - em dashes. This poses some difficult questions for publishing. Are authors necessary? Is a 4,900 Goodreads rating good enough for readers? I dive into these troubled waters with my friend Bruce Barcott. Bruce is a journalist, editor, and founder of The AI Humanist.
The AI Humanist:  https://ai-humanist.beehiiv.com/
linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/freshfacepods.evison