Episodes
![#73 - Joe Gaspar](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
#73 - Joe Gaspar
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Joe Gaspar is the owner and founder of 2 Bici Bicycle shop in Willow Springs, IL.
![#72 - Hannah Bess Ross](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
#72 - Hannah Bess Ross
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Hannah Bess Ross is a Chicago based illustrator and writer. She lives in a little house with a blue door and an orange cat, but dreams of the woods and the waves of rocky seas far, far away. She likes telling stories about everyday magical things like bugs and stars. She also loves puppets, folk art, and silly word-play. Hannah mostly makes art for a children's market. https://www.hannahbessross.com/
![#71 - Karen Mooney](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
#71 - Karen Mooney
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Karen is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Chicago. She is tirelessly curious about all forms of creative expression, and her work includes illustration, sculpting, print making, video editing, songwriting, and sewing. Her tenure in the Production Art space has also provided her with a deep appreciation for graphic design. Primarily, she works with local bands and businesses to collaborate on merch design, posters, and album art.
![#70 - Josh Jones](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
#70 - Josh Jones
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
My first memory is of hitting everything in sight at 2 years old. From playing in the church from the age of 5 to performing with the Percussion Scholarship Group, (PSG), starting in 4th grade, I have had many valuable experiences and lessons that have brought me to where I am today.
Directed by Patricia Dash, percussionist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and her husband Douglas Waddell, percussionist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Percussion Scholarship Group is where my formal training began. During my time there I was featured on radio and television with From the Top, The TODAY Show, and Chicago Tonight was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award and received second place in the Chicago Symphony Youth Auditions. Thanks to them I was fortunate to be accepted to all colleges that I auditioned for in 2010 and I chose to go to DePaul School of Music to continue my training.
While at DePaul I was able to develop quickly resulting in being added to orchestra sub-lists, advancing in Civic orchestra auditions, attending the National Repertory Orchestra Festival, and eventually winning the Detroit Fellowship in 2014. With the help of my mentors, the percussion section, the principal trombonist, and the remaining members of the symphony, I was able to begin advancing in major auditions as well as further my technique and knowledge of this particular business. After finishing the fellowship there, I applied for and was hired as a fellow of the Pittsburgh Symphony. This was cut very short because of my success in the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra audition, where I worked as the Principal Percussionist for 2 years and was layered tenured. I now serve as the Principal Percussionist of Grant Park Orchestra. I always hope that with each degree of progress I make in my life that I can somehow help someone else do the same.
![#69 - Molly Compton](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
#69 - Molly Compton
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Molly Compton is a singer-songwriter, visual artist, amateur baker and founder & resident bleeding heart at Ur Mom Records. She thinks everyone deserves a good mom and everyone can be a good mom.
![#68 - Friday James](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
#68 - Friday James
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Introducing Friday James, a gifted songwriter originating from Nashville, Tennessee. Relocating to Chicago in November of 2021, Friday swiftly immersed herself in the local music scene, enthralling audiences with her mesmerizing performances. Her artistic essence is centered around a profound appreciation for lyricism and poetic depth, artfully weaving true events from her own life into poignant and relatable musical narratives.
![#67 - Alec Koukol](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
#67 - Alec Koukol
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Alec Koukol is an Omaha-born, now Nashville-native. The multi-instrumentalist and songwriter is involved in many projects within Music City, but his primary operation is Safari Room, Koukol’s indie rock outfit that began in 2018. Five years into the band, Safari Room has released two eps and two full-length albums, ‘Look Me Up When You Get There’ (2020) and ‘Complex House Plants’ (2022). Koukol and co-producer, Cole Yepsen, are currently working on the band’s third record that will be released in February 2024. Safari Room has toured extensively during the lifetime of the band and has reached great notoriety locally and regionally. The band is completely independent, Koukol wearing many hats in management, PR, tour booking and is chief songwriter/producer for Safari Room
Koukol’s other projects include producing, playing bass, keys and guitar for artists on the road. As of recent Koukol has toured with Nashville locals, Wild Love and Alicia Blue.
Catch Safari Room on the road this Fall and listen for new music as the band releases singles through the rest of 2023.
![#66 - Julia Danielle](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
#66 - Julia Danielle
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Julia Danielle is an up-and-coming vocalist, arranger, educator, and composer based in the heart of the vibrant jazz scene of Chicago. As the 2022 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition Winner, part of Julia's prize was performing alongside The Tierney Sutton Band at the renowned Blues Alley Jazz Club in Washington D.C. and since then, has lead her own band and music at the incomparable venue. Julia has also won DownBeat’s 46th annual Student Music Award for “Undergraduate College Outstanding Vocal Soloist” and will be mentioned in their 2023 June edition.
![#65 - Clare Bollnow](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
#65 - Clare Bollnow
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Clare Bollnow is a 26 year old artist living and working in Chicago. She started painting in 2019, never having gone to art school, she began with watercolor and eventually branched out; she works with oil paint, spray paint, watercolor and pigment dye among other mediums together on large-scale material. Clare finds inspiration in the human form and its expressions, using vivid color and a unique drawing style to evoke emotional experiences for those who sit with her work. These emotions are channeled from Clare’s own reactions to life and the state of the world- communicated through familiar content which allows for a commonly understood visual language between artist and viewer. She is drawn to minutiae, moments often missed, familiar sensations that go unexpressed (and often suppressed), the way things look when they are not being looked at, and where we disconnect from ourselves (in an effort to save ourselves.) Clare points the finger at the viewer and asks, where are you in this?
![#64 - Iyana Brown-Bey](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10447491/Bending_Brain_Podcast_Photob3zu5_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday May 31, 2023
#64 - Iyana Brown-Bey
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023