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You are listening to Written in the Stars Books and Beyond, where hosts from the LCC Library sit down with writers, publishers, entrepreneurs and literary enthusiasts of all types. Join your hosts, Amy Ewald, Robin Moore, John Celaeji, and Abby Thiebaud as we explore the very heart of the written word.

Welcome to Written in the Stars Book and Beyond. I'm Robin Moore, joined by my co host, Amy Ewall. Today, we are thrilled to welcome a very special guest, Robin Pizzo. Robin serves as the Director of Education at wkar. She's also an accomplished author, the founder of her own publishing company, a former educator, and a proud former LCC employee. Robin, welcome back.

Yay. I'm so excited to be here and so very honored. This is so, so wonderful to me.

Well, you know, it is such a joy to have you with us. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Yes. So I am Director of Education at WKAR at Michigan State University. It is your capital region PBS station, so I am all things PBS kids. I am also the regional director of the Michigan Learning Channel. So the Michigan Learning Channel is a statewide partnership of all of the PBS stations across Michigan. And each station has a responsibility to provide 247 quality Michigan programming for children that really focuses on state standards based education resources. And they are programming that have been developed by Michigan teachers. And many of the shows on the channel are hosted by Michigan teachers.

Oh my gosh. Your job sounds so amazing and you're smiling from like ear to ear.

I love my work. I always tell my kids, I'm a PBS kid for life. And so I grew up with it. My children grew up with PBS kids programming, learned a whole lot about alphabets and math and how to care for one another and who are the helpers. And I continue that legacy with the work that I do. And so I'm really, really excited about being able to do that.

I love that. I love Arthur. I'll just say that.

Yes.

But Robyn, who or what inspired you to be a writer? Let's talk about that a little bit.

Yeah. So as a writer, I can't remember a time when I wasn't a writer. My mother said when I was about four or five, I was writing stories and I was telling stories and my first published piece was actually a little bit of sadness. But I have this memory forever because it was in my grandmother's home or funeral program. I wrote a poem and my mother surprised me and published it in the program. And it was about my grandmother and I's relationship. I grew up with her in the home. And I loved her dearly. So when I was about 13, she passed away, and it sort of broke my heart. And the way I always found healing was through writing. I would write poetry or stories, and I wrote a poem, and my mother published it. And so that meant it went in the paper because that was a part of her obituary and the announcement of her passing. So that was the first time. So I would say, I can't really say who inspired me to write stories, but who was major inspiration in me being a storyteller was both my mother and my grandmother. They would sit and tell stories all evening long, all summer long, they would sit on the porch and they would tell stories. They would even sort of hide some of the story because, you know, little listening ears shouldn't hear everything about family gossip. But the stories just were always lively and entertaining. And my grandmother, she was blind, she was bedridden, she was in congestive heart failure and diabetic most of my childhood growing up with her. But she was a powerhouse of a woman, and she had had eight children, migrated from the south for a better life for them. And she was the matriarch of our family, and she held the stories. And she regularly would tell us stories. Sometimes they would be spooky and scary, and sometimes they would just be like, really balm of our history as a family. And that I have tried to carry on in my writing or while you're

doing it, because you just sharing that you're telling a story. And I'm like, tell me more. Tell me more about your. What else did you all talk about? I love that. Well, thank you for sharing that. And I also heard that healing was in your writing.

Absolutely. So a lot of people may not know this about me, but I actually was adopted out of foster care at the age of five to my mother, my single mother, and her mother, my grandmother. My mother had wanted a child. She had already adopted one daughter when she was a baby. And when that daughter turned about six or seven, she really started tugging on her to say, I want a sister, I want a sister. My mother still wasn't married, didn't have a relationship, was not having a baby. And so she said, I'll adopt again. And it needed to be an older child because my sister was older and she wanted playmate. And my mother thought, yeah, we can do this again. They adopted me. There was some times within that because my birth mother struggled with some mental illness. And she immediately found out that I was being adopted. And she had began to try to Abduct me back. And so in that process, there were some tumultuous crisis, traumatic times, elementary years, moving into middle school and writing just became a way for me get my emotions and feelings and to tell stories that allowed me to perhaps escape, perhaps understand, reflect what was happening and to understand a little bit better about the world that was around me. There's one other major influence that was also helping in that, Hilly, and that was my mother was a woman of faith. Our whole family were people of faith. And so Bible stories were major in our house. Instead of picking up a children's book to read a bedtime story, we typically went to bed with a Bible story, the story of Jonah or the brothers in the lion's den. Those stories were fantastical to me and as real as anything to me. And those stories really helped birth this understanding of how to tell a story. A beginning, middle in a hero's journey, a villain having a protagonist, an antagonist. Those stories really opened up a lot of that understanding for me. And then I continued to journey on and get my first degree in literature and then, you know, became a teacher that taught literature and English. And storytelling has just been a part of my journey my entire life.

Once again, I'm like, tell me more. Okay, Amy,

I was thinking as you were talking about families and that, and as my son and I were driving back from visiting some family yesterday and we were chatting and I said, I said, oh, yeah. I said, they're always so much fun because they always have such good stories. Right? That element of storytelling and family history that comes through and then, you know, helps. Helps my son to learn those things and learn about where he came from and the, you know, the people in his life. So it's stories. Storytelling is great, right?

Yes, absolutely. Writing of them the way they need to be to be publishable can be a lot more difficult. And that's what a lot of people don't realize, unfortunately. There's been a lot of gatekeeping to a lot of great stories from a diversity of writers. One of my missions is to just one, tell people. Everyone has a story, everyone has a story. And if you have a story, if you feel like you have a book within you, write it, get it written, and then worry about polishing it and doing all the things that it needs to be, such as revisions and edits to be actual publishable, worry about that later, but capture that story. And I really have been pushing, even in this very technology driven world, been pushing for it to be published and printed, hard copy format, something that can Be preserved long time. Sometimes it's like those pictures in our phone.

Yes.

You take all of these pictures, they live in your phone. You spend hours scrolling through, trying to find the one picture when you want to show someone how your kid is grown or some amazing thing your kid has done. And I feel like there's an element of losing some of that touch to it being an artifact. Right. Of your history. And so I say if you can go ahead and write that story, type it up, put it in a book, you can go to Staples. Michigan State University has a place where you can bind it and put it in a book for very little do the work to get it actually put in a book. Because it will last a lifetime to me, if you do that.

Capturing those oral histories.

Absolutely.

So important. I think like you said, in this digital age too, where often that gets lost.

Right.

So it is important to get it, get it on paper or somewhere.

Right.

Where you can have that physically. Yeah. So I want to turn our conversation a little bit. You mentioned, talked a lot about families. Yes. And the impact that your family has had in your own situation. So I want to kind of connect that a little bit to WKAR and your role there. So how does WKAR support and engage with local families? Like especially right here in mid Michigan?

Absolutely. So we have a robust partnership with a lot of different organizations all across Mid Michigan where we will partner with them to do family engagements. We will actually bring programming such as some of our characters to the event and then we introduce a lot of of the educational materials that are connected to a lot of our programming, such as Word Girl or Daniel Tiger's Social Emotional Learning or perhaps you talked about Arthur with dw. There's a lot of supplemental materials connected to learning with those shows as well. And another thing about wkr, which is so incredibly special, even though we are, yes, a TV broadcast channel and yes, we are a radio, classical radio channel, but we also produce local programming. And so we have several children's local programming we produce in our studios right on the campus of Michigan State University that includes Curious crew, curious about careers. Those are STEM based programming for children that is experimentation around science, technology, engineering and math. And we have curious crew related investigations that we will bring out to schools, to local churches, to programs in the park, all types of family engagements. If you schedule with us, we'll try to put it on our calendar and we'll show up and set up and do some engaging with your audiences, your community members and children that are part of the space, you know, and engage around our programming. So we do that a lot. Another thing that's been a priority of mine since I left LCC and went to Michigan State and WKAR is literacy. We know that there's been a tremendous literacy crisis for our children throughout Mid Michigan. I was a longtime 8th grade teacher. 8th grade middle school was my jam, but I also taught fifth grade. I taught sixth grade. And I know how difficult it was for me to help students really become a champion as a reader and really foster a love of literacy in each child. It was a difficult task. They have a lot pulling them in all sorts of directions. Technology is major, you know, distraction oftentimes from really diving in deep and doing the very difficult work of learning how to read. And so because there's been a long time crisis, when I started there, I made a commitment that at every event we would provide a free book to a child. We would set up a table full of really wonderfully high quality curated books, and they would be able to select a book at any event that they find us at. That's definitely something we offer as a gift to them. This year marks 100,000 books into the hands of children throughout Mid Mission.

That's amazing.

Wow.

That is amazing.

100,000 books. Great work. Yes.

I believe I can remember taking my son to an event in East Lansing. And I believe WKAR was there and I think we were big fans of Curious George and. Yep, the books and everything. So that, that is such great and

important work, that impact. You are making such an impact with our children.

Yes, yes, children.

And it's. It's wonderful. And that leads me to a question about lcc.

Yes.

So you previously worked here at community college in many different roles.

Absolutely.

So how do you help college students find success? And what advice would you give a college student today?

Yes, my very first advice is stick with it. Stick with it. Education is not just about opening doors of opportunity. Yes, it does provide that. That certain doors are going to be open simply because you have stuck with your education and have earned a degree that's really powerful. But, but what's also really powerful is that you're worth the learning. You're worth the continued growth in education. I'm thinking right now about a PhD program and someone said, well, what are you going to do with that degree? And I said, it's not what I'm going to do with the degree, it's what the degree is going to do for me. The learning, the opening new understandings, the. The ability to start a program, stick with a program. Struggle through the program. All of that just builds so much in your own confidence muscles. And yes, it can be difficult managing the financial end, it can be difficult managing all of the aspects of how you schedule it into your life and all of those pieces. But, but we know that research shows when there are children involved and they see a parent moving through the process of their education, it creates a higher level of achievement in that child. That child then wants to continue to work and grow in their own education and they go further in school as their parents go further. And so there are so many benefits to finding your way in education. And sometimes you say, well, I don't really know what I'm going to do, but you're in the right place for you to find those open doors, those interests that really tug on your heartstrings for you to get deeper involved in. You're in the right place. It's hard to be in the right place when you're just scrolling on your phone or in your house or in your bedroom gaming. You kind of narrow that scope of what your life's potential could be. And so my really biggest advice is I tell my own children, I have four. And I've always told them, listen, all roles lead back to education. All roles lead back to education. And it's always a good choice to

get your an investment in yourself.

Absolutely.

It's an investment.

And you will get a return. You will get a return.

And you deserve that.

Absolutely.

And I love that statement. You deserve that. Yes. Our roads lead to, that's why we're here at Vancouver Community College.

Tell us about.

Okay, so you were a success coach.

Yes, yeah, I was a success coach and I was the director of the C campus program. I haven't said that in quite a while, but the C campus program was a really unique program that funded student parents. So if you were a parent that was moving through your academic program, I could come along beside you and help coach you academically. But I could also provide funding for you to finish your courses and I could provide funding for you to put your child in high quality child care, which is, you know, leaps and bounds, important to you successfully completing your education, that you know your child is somewhere safe and somewhere where they are going to grow and learn and be, be well taken care of and be loved on. And so I was the one that helped programs become high quality if they weren't so that they could then be able to enroll a child from a student of ours here at lcc. But I was also one who was able to just help you pay for the tuition to go into your child, to go into a high quality childcare program. And for a long time we had that here on campus.

I remember, remember that program. You still have the building, actually. Yes, yes, I was very. That's when I met you. I met you.

You were in that role.

That was an amazing program that really supported our students. And. Yeah, I'll just say that. Yeah, I'll just say it.

So I feel like I've taught at every level. I've taught at the elementary level, I've taught at the college post secondary level. And now I feel like I'm a teacher in America's classroom working at pbs.

Well, that's such a great way to say it.

Yes. And you are just that.

Yes.

So children's literature. So tell us about your work as an author now of children's literature and about your publishing company. You kind of touched on that a little bit. But I remember you reading from your book at the Women's Literature Read last

year, I think it was. That's right. Tell us about that book. Yes. So I write a little bit of everything and a whole lot of gibberish. That's what I tell people. But my primary writing niche is children's literature, historical fiction, as well as contemporary and poetry. So those are sort of really where I had my wheelhouse for a really long time. I like middle grade and YA also, and I'm just now diving deeper into some women's fiction. But my first picture book is a wonderful family story. My neighbor is a man that has farmed land his entire life. And in his backyard, he has almost an acre of land right here in Lansing. And he has, since we've lived across from him for over 20 years, farmed this land. But every year, what was so unique about it was he would grow tons and tons of vegetables and beans and all of these wonderful things and then give it all away to his neighbors. And I just wanted to capture that story in a really fun, heartfelt children's book. And so JB's big old garden is my first picture book that is all about JB and the main character being a kid who just wonders, like, why do you work so hard? And then you don't even eat all of it. You give it all away and it's hot out here and there's bugs out here and it's rocks out here. Why do you spend all your time in this garden when you could be doing other things? And there's this conversation that really talks about the Power of how community and gardening is for community and gardens are for sharing that happens between JB and this young man. And then there's also this aspect of history, because when I first had this very conversation with JB years and years ago, like, how did you get started with this? He talked about his father being someone who farmed land. But they were lucky because even though they were down south and they farmed this land, his father owned their land. But most of the families were sharecroppers. And I, when I was in college, that was something that I did, was I actually collected at oral stories of those who were sharecroppers and learned about a lot of the injustices that were connected to sharecropping and what led to ultimately a lot of those families migrating north for better opportunities. And so there is a piece of the book that really talks about that history and how families really, because they had to give the very best to the owner of the land, that they came together to feed their families by sharing their gardens. And so that was a little lost in that migration aspect, because we are urban cities, are cities of concrete and steel.

Right.

And so we have less space to really have gardens, and we've lost some of that history. It's coming back. Back, though. It's coming back more powerfully. You see it all over social media. You see families who are, you know, growing all of their food now on their own land in their backyards, doing raised gardens. Lansing has a robust home garden support or community garden.

Community gardening, yes.

It's huge here with our city of Lansing resources. And so this is just a book that sort of captures that history and then brings it forward with JB and this kid who sort of represents my sons and my daughters in the story.

I love it.

Yeah, I do.

I love it.

Yeah, I love it.

If you want to learn more about the publishing aspect and some workshops, Polish Pages. Polish Pages is my webpage where you can go on there, learn all about me, learn about how we can help and support with helping you become a writer. Writer and encouraging you and giving you confidence in your writing. And so that's definitely one way to check out more about the writing life that I live.

That's wonderful, because I guess our next question would have been, like, just some of the projects that you're working on, but it sounds like your publishing company. Yeah, that's what's up next for Robin Pizzo to assist and guide people.

I love it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll just tell you, I am working on a book that's really stretching me very, very. It's my first historical fiction book. It's based in the city of Detroit and all throughout Michigan because it's the power of the Underground Railroad right here in Michigan and how these women who often don't get a whole lot of credit, really helped preserve community and supported other women in establishing themselves once they came through that passageway to freedom.

That sounds.

We'll have to circle back when you're done and come back on the show and we can dive deep into your work there.

So absolutely, yes.

Well, thank you so much, Robin, for sharing the space with us today and chatting and all your great stories. It was so fun and we appreciate all your work and your efforts to provide that quality programming and literature to this community here at LCC and Beyond and the Lansing area.

So.

And thank you to all of our listeners for listening today as well. And we will put all of the links links and things like that and Robin's contact information in our show notes today. And I think that wraps it up.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

You have been listening to Written in the Stars books and beyond. Visit LCC Edu Library to find the titles discussed in this episode. You can find previous episodes of Written in the Stars and other LCC connect shows@lccconnect.com in the words of Miguel de Unamundo, I hope, reader, we shall meet again and we shall recognize each other.

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CC, LCC Connect, Voices, Vibes, Vision. Hello everyone and welcome to Now Spinning, the official podcast of the Lansing Community College Vinyl Record Club. We meet twice a month to listen to vinyl and talk about music. Stay tuned to learn about how you can get in touch with us and attend our meetings. Today with me I have Leo Ackerman, Iris Morisi, and today's topic will be the meeting that was held on September 10, 2024, the first meeting of the fall semester.

Hooray.

And we had quite a few songs played a little bit less than the summer meetings. But that's okay. We'll live with it. We'll get used to it.

We'll tolerate it.

Yeah. So to start off, we have a song by the band Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark or omd. And this is, I understand, one of President Steve's favorite bands. Yeah, I've listened to them a little bit. They're very, very interesting stuff. Like the new wave, post punk kind of thing.

Yeah, he's very much into the whole like dance punk, new wavy type thing. I am incredibly unfamiliar with Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, but I liked what I heard.

No. Yeah, every song is brought in from him. It's been a banger. I think they're on the list. Trust me, they're on the list. It's a Real list.

They're on the back burner. Just trust.

I've got a lot of things to get through. Oh, man. Following that up, we have a song by the Beach Boys. Because this would not be a vinyl cracker club meeting without a song by the Beach Boys. And spoiler alert, there might be another one later. We don't know that.

Oh, goodness, goodness.

And this one is Disney Girls, parentheses 1957 off of their 1971 album, Surf's Up. And this is a. Probably one of my favorite songs off of that album, if not like all of the 70s from that band.

I think it's just great. I think Sunflower and Surf's Up, I think their collaboration or the collaboration that happens on those records is a big part of what makes it so sick. And Bruce Johnston, who is not one of the more known Beach Boys, if I believe. If I'm like, believing correctly, Bruce Johnston did write Disney Girls.

Yes, he did. This is his. Probably his biggest song ever. He wrote. There's another one, but this is the one that's the most well known Beach Boy song he wrote.

Yeah, it's. And I think it's awesome that this guy who's just a lesser known Beach Boys member, who, if I'm gonna be mean about it, we could call him, like kind of a footnote member kind of. But, like, his contributions are undeniable and stuff like Disney Girls highlights that every member of the band was incredibly talented in their own respective fields.

Yeah, I was gonna say that the whole popular history of the Beach Boys is mostly just Brian Wilson was in charge and then he dipped out. And then the band kind of didn't do anything for the next couple decades until Kokomo comes out. But you look into that time period between, you know, Brian checking out and getting back in, and some of their best work was really done where, you know, Brian's not. He's present, but he's not in command like he used to be. And that really allows the rest of the members to, you know, fill up that void. And like Bruce Johnson, especially this song, I think it's an interesting perspective of where they are at that time. Cause it's a nostalgia song because it's singing about the good old days. But there's also kind of like this self awareness to it that a lot of their later stuff, which was, you know, retreading on that kind of thing, doesn't have it. And I was gonna say it's almost like a little comment on where they would end up being, like, stuck in the past. And unable to move past that. And it's a little. Little weird coming from him as well, because he was one of the more nostalgia focused members of the band by that time as well, too.

Like, he's still. If I'm right, he's still touring with.

Oh, yeah. He's out there.

Yeah.

Clapping his hands. He plays a keyboard sometimes. They might let him sing. I'm not sure. I haven't seen him.

They keep him out back, wish him

the best of luck.

Good luck, Bruce.

Best of luck with whatever he does.

Great friend of the club.

Wow.

Shout out, Bruce. And there's a couple other songs here. One that I want to talk about. Just like an artist in general is John Prine. He's incredible. Everything I've heard from him has just been just powerful songwriting. Not this song, but the one song I've heard of this album before that I've really stuck to me was your flag decal, can't get you into heaven anymore. That was. But that song, it was very, you know, relevant. I think it's a very biting. Yeah, no, it's.

No, he's going after people still, maybe kind of relevant.

Yeah. We live in a society.

We live in a society.

I always hear John Prine mentioned alongside people like Bob Dylan and Towns, Van Zant and stuff like that. Unfortunately, I am not as familiar with John Prine's work. I don't know, I just haven't seeked it out yet. It's on the list, but, yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was incredible.

Yeah, no, he's also on my list. But that's very true. That's this. Like, he does. I think he does deserve to be up there, like, listed among people like Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt. He's one of those, you know, great American songwriters of like, you know, the 70s, I think, is when he was most active. Yeah, yeah. Great artist. I have to listen to this album. It's on the list. I swear. I promise I'm gonna say this a couple times. I'm very sorry. I think you want to talk about this next song here.

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. This next song is called My Girls by Animal Collective. Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic group that were popular in the 2000s for blending sort of Beach Boys sensibilities with modern experimental electronic production. And My Girls is sort of the commercial peak of that. You can definitely hear, like, the sunshine pop harmonies in there, but it busts out into, like, a modern dance groove. It's timeless, but also very 2000s. Love it. Quite a bit.

It's paradoxical. But I can hear it when you. So you say it like that. And I listen to it. I'm like, I can. I understand where you're coming from. This one. You told me about this album and this band in general a while back, and I've been getting to them. I swear. They're on the list.

Yeah, it's a long.

But they're very. What I've heard from them is just excellent, though, this, especially this song, this album. What is this one?

Merryweather Post Pavilion. It came out in 2009, I think.

Okay. This album. I was gonna comment on the. Just the album cover, this one, because it's like an optical illusion. And I look at it and you, like, as you move it around, it looks like it's just moving on its own. And that's very fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen, like, something like that put on a record cover before, you know, especially when this brought another club.

But, yeah, it's so difficult to talk about Animal Collective without going on a bunch of tangents and a little, like, bunch of different trails. But I think the, like, the overarching theme here is, please listen to Animal Collective. I know they're weird, but you will enjoy it because they're weird, not despite it.

So you're trying to say, if there's one thing you take away from this,

listen to Meriwether Post Pavilion by Animal Collective, I promise you.

And then this next song was brought in by a good friend of the podcast who I understand is back from the dead, it would seem.

Oh, goodness.

You know, I know it's been a while since I've been here, and it's for a good reason. You know, it was really hard to get out of that chained up box you locked me in. And then, like, you know, I had to take some time to dry off after you threw me off a pier on the west coast, and then I had to walk. So, you know, it's been a while, but I did make it back in time for the last meeting and I made it back in time to play Heavenly Days by Rose Windows.

Yeah, good.

Welcome back.

Thanks.

Pleasure to have you. Friend of the show.

Friend of the show.

Can I shake your hand? Can I shake your hand?

Yeah. Don't mind the sea smell.

Yeah. But the song Heavenly Days by Rose Windows, tell us about this song.

Yeah.

So Rose Windows is another one of those childhood bands of mine, I think. Oh, gosh, I don't even remember when it was so long ago. I Talked about King Tough at one point.

You did. I remember that.

Yeah. And I think that was for the second episode, the live albums episode. Because, like, the next song we're about to talk about. Not this one. This is a band that I first saw live before I, like, had any albums or anything. Wait, no.

That's a lie.

I just lied to you.

How funny is that?

How dare you.

This was one of those bands where I found it in a store and my parents let me get one record and it was that one. I like them a lot. I like the main singer. She's got, like an accent that I think is really cool. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Honestly, I don't know much about Rose Windows. I don't know much about Heavenly Days. I liked the song that I heard. I don't quite know what genre you describe it as. Could you give any ideas?

With the help of Mr. Google, probably.

Well, I think we can pass on that.

I actually liked it. This is the first song you've ever brought in that I actually liked. I think.

Rude.

How could you?

No, it's kidding. It's kidding. You've never brought in a bad song ever. That's my bad.

Yeah, of course.

I actually thought it was really good genre wise. It's kind of like an alt rock thing from what I could understand, like alt rock, garage rack sort of thing happening. But I liked it quite a bit, which, you know, I think I added it to my, like, music even, which is a high honor.

That is a high honor.

Thank you. Thank you for that one.

That's some serious accolades right there.

So you told me you're familiar with the song that comes after this one, though.

I am. Shocking, because. Friend of the show, Friend of the show. Friend of the show. My dear mother, Sara Eubanks. She was the one who brought that one in. I know that. I've played Shannon in the Clams at a meeting. You have. So this band is Hunks and His Punks. I helped pick which one we were gonna play. This was Lovers Lane. It's got like this opening where the lead has a speaking part.

Do you mind quoting a little bit of it for the audience?

Do you ever get the feeling that you want to hold me? Well, do it now because I want everyone to see.

It's just.

It's got such a.

It's very bratty. It's very

powerful.

But one of the. One of the people in that band is Shannon Shaw. Friend of the show, Shannon and the Clams.

Best friend, Shannon Shaw.

Best Friend.

I met her as a crossover.

I met her.

Wow.

Did you?

Yeah.

Fascinating.

I do really like that band.

Quite good. Everything that you've brought in from Shannon and the Clams, you've recommended me. Shannon and the Clams, like, outside of the club. And I've listened to a bit of it. I think I need to listen to more of Shannon and the Clams. It's very solid. I like it quite a bit.

Yeah. And her solo stuff is pretty good, too.

I'll check that out.

Shannon, minus the Clams, have all in the.

Shannon, no clam, please.

I'm allergic.

Clam on the side.

Next we have Cool, Cool Water by the Beach Boys, who played this one, Sunflower, which is actually a record we mentioned earlier.

Yes, it is that callback. Sunflower Surfs up the two albums made back to back. Sunflower was first and that's a very good album. Well, second of theirs, that was like, a really good collaboration between everybody equally in that band. But that one's probably, I'd say, the highlight of their entire 70s discography. Personally, for me, yeah, it's like the opposite of Surf's up, and that Surf's up is very, like, introspective and, like, sad and melancholy. This album is very happy and optimistic. Very, like, Summery, which. It's the Beach Boys. I don't really know what you'd expect out of it. And this song is especially interesting. This song, I think, took three years to record entirely. There's a bit that was recorded back during the Smile sessions, which in the middle of the song, there's, like, this, like, crashing wave sound effect. And then it goes into, like, this, like, wordless chant that was taken from a smile. And that's a. I think it's called.

I think on the official released version, it's called Love to say Dada.

Yeah, Love to say Dada. That's a. Yeah, interesting title. But that. That was. I think that's. They called that the Water Chant or something. There's, like. There's a large community on the Internet that, like, fights over these things. But that's beside the point, of course. Yeah.

If I recall correctly, it's part of, like, the Elements series.

Yes.

Like, there's the Elements Fire, which is obviously found on the Smile sessions. I'm not sure if it ever surfaced on any of the actual records. Then we have the Elements Water, which manifested and Love to say Dada. And of course, Cool, Cool Water, which came out in 1970.

Hey, I know about Cool water.

Yeah. But, yeah, Cool, Cool Water. Excellent. Song. Love it. It's. I think it's the most experimental they get on that record.

Yeah.

Like, how do you even describe it?

I don't know. It's like you said, it's experimental. Like there's the first half and then there's the water chant in the middle. That breaks it up and then it comes back and it's like. There's a lot of like weird like little synth things going on in the background. Which if you're a fan of like early synthesizer working albums like the Beach Boys, that's all over their like 70s work. They're really. They got really into synthesizers. Not so much. I mean, this album they're there, but it's like not overwhelming. You know, they're there to compliment the rest of the music and they do a really good job, I think of using it tastefully on this song especially. Yeah, it's very. It's a very aquatic sounding song. Like if you listen to it and you're like, I'm thirsty now, like, I want water. And then you have water.

Makes me feel like somebody dumped a bucket of water on my nose.

If you drink water but you listen to this song, you get to see what Brian Wilson saw, I think.

Yeah. You'll see the vision.

You'll see the vision, right? Yeah.

Next.

Well, I want to mention first of all the song Perfect Murder by the Glove. That's a wonderful little like 80s, I want to say, post punk kind of song.

I'm just going to make a guess here. Based on the time period. I'm going to assume this is a Steve Pick, right?

This is actually a Tim pick, if you'll believe that.

Really?

Yeah. No, and I thought that was a really good song. I don't have much else to say about it other than I like the song. You should go listen to it. You should listen to the whole playlist.

If you take one thing away. Please listen to the playlist, which will

be linked on the club website. Anyway, song that followed that, it was off the. That compilation. Was it like the Super Girls compilation where it's like a bunch of old like Motown and like brill building kind of 60s girl group songs. And that album cover is like. Does not fit the music at all because it's like a bunch of like biker women. Like it looks like like a punk punk rock album. But you put it on and it's like be my Baby. And it's like, that's weird. But that's a very good compilation though. I listened to that a couple times and it's There's a lot of really good stuff coming out around that time. Because I feel like, you know, people kind of ignore that kind of music that was coming in the early 60s just. Cause it's like, you know, it's just pop. It's like disposable. But they were doing some very interesting things, like, sonically, during that time.

Like, how can you listen To Be My Baby and not feel a thing?

No, right. You get. You listen to it and then you want to put it on repeat for the next 30 years. But that's Brian Wilson, like we said. But it's a very good song. They didn't play that song, though. This was a different song.

And this song is I Will Follow him by Peggy March, if I'm correct.

Yes. Yeah, that song's pretty good. It's all right. It's pretty good. But like, that whole era of music. I know personally, I was kind of a little bit outside of it for a while. I didn't really think there was much worth listening to in that. And I was very significantly wrong. And I would like to apologize to women.

Sorry, Women.

I'm sorry, Women. Very great album. If you ever find that compilation, when you're out buying records or anything, pick it up. It's well worth it, I think.

Next we have Church Fire by Wayne. What do you have to say about Church Fire? By no way.

That is a song off of their new Deluxe edition, which was a demo they dug up assumably from like a box somewhere in Dean Weins basement marked do not open. It is a song that is essentially Gene Wein narrating, like the news that like, a church burned down somewhere in, like, nonchalantly. It's very weird. I mean, it's weaned, but like, it's especially weird for Ween.

Yeah, it's. Hmm. I'm not against it. I just think it's interesting.

No, that's the kind of song that you put on and everyone just kind of like stops and like turns around, be like, what's going on? What are they playing over there?

Everyone leans over and cocks an eyebrow

and they look at you. Weird. I didn't play this one. If you believe me, this was not me.

No, that is new.

No. Yeah. That's a shock.

But, you know, before your goons put a burlap sack over my head.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I was on my way to go get my will written, you know, because I really wanted to make sure we didn't go an episode without talking about Ween of Course.

Yeah.

So I'm really glad, you know, looking back at all these episodes that, phew, thank goodness, right?

Yeah. We talked about a lot of ween. That's gonna go on the bingo chart. When I finish the bingo chart, I think.

Thank goodness your fears are unfounded. You don't have to worry about it. We will talk about ween.

I will try my darndest, at least. You. Yeah. I don't want to talk about Church Fire anymore, though. That's a weird song.

Instead, we can talk about Rotten Apple by Alison Chains from the Jar of Flies ep. I like Alice in Chains quite a bit. This is contradictory. I have not heard that much Alice in Chains, but everything I have heard from Alice in Chains, from the Unplugged sessions to Dirt, I've really loved. I know Jar of Flies is the EP that everybody says is their best body of work. While I can't comment on that personally because I haven't heard it in full based on Rotten Apple. It gives a strong, strong first impression for me. Really awesome moody cut. Kind of dour. Yeah, it rocks, though. Like, what else can you really say about it? Acoustic grunge.

Oh, God, that's so good. No, that's my. That's a great, you know, just genre in general. They do Alice in Chains. Every song I've heard of theirs is excellent. I hear people say that they're probably in contention with, like, Nirvana as being, like, the best band to come out of that whole, like, wave of, like, grunge punk rock stuff. And I would not disagree with them. I think that they have a very good point when they say that, like, I'm personally, I'm always like a big Nirvana fan, but yeah, Alice in Chains is definitely one of the greatest bands ever out there during that time.

Anyway, if you're into the more metal side of grunge rather than Nirvana's, like, very aggressive punk. Think you'll like Alice in chains?

Absolutely. 10 out of 10 would recommend. Yeah.

Few. Few thoughts on my end. It's.

Oh, no.

I mean, as in I have very few. I don't know. It's all. As a semi frequent Hot Topic shopper. It's all just a little too Hot Topic for me. It's not my favorite.

That's understandable.

It's on a T shirt there.

Yeah, it, you know, for as good as I think it is, it's undeniably Edgar.

Oh, yeah.

It's called Jar of Flies and it has like, you know, like a. Like a dark little red cover.

Yeah. I mean, but they Lived it, you know, it wasn't, like, performative. Like, that was very much.

Oh, yeah, I can respect.

No, yeah, the.

The time period. Appropriate.

Yeah. And then, like, it's not just, like, they were just being, like, performatively edgy, like, you know, like Lane Stanley. I know he was very much going through it.

Yeah.

Lane Staley.

Yeah.

So, you know, it's. It's not just Hot Topic, like you said, you know.

Yeah.

But you can probably find Alice in Chains shirt at Hot Topic, though. I wouldn't be that surprised.

For sure.

Cool shirt. I would buy that shirt. Anyway, this next song, great song, right, Leo?

Yes, it is the next song. We have Melissa by the Allman Brothers Band, one of my favorite bands, period. Duane Allman is a guitar God, but strangely enough, he didn't actually play on this one. This was played by Dickey Betts, who is the second lead guitarist of the Allman Brothers. Greg Allman wrote this song, and it was one of Duane's favorites. Before he passed, Dickey Betts actually played the song sort of mimicking Duane Allman, and it gives the song this. I know I say. I don't know how to describe it quite a bit, but it feels like Duane Allman is still present in the song, if only in spirit. Like, you can hear him being channeled through Dickey Betts playing. It's just beautiful.

One of their best, if not their best song, I have to say. And Allman Brothers, they're a band that I've gotten into quite a bit. They're one of the. Probably, I think, the best Southern rock band. I'd say the definitive Southern rock band. No, they. They are the ones Lynyrd Skynyrd can

try, but they're no Allman Brothers.

They can try their best.

Yeah, but did they write. Did they do Freebird, though?

But did they write Whipping Post?

They did not write Whipping Post.

Almond Brothers wrote Whipping Post.

Okay. No, I was gonna say, did they write that? Like, I thought. I don't know if that was, like, a blues song that they just, like, rift over, but. Because a lot of songs, you know, like, you know, Southern rock bands, a lot of that stuff is like old blues covers that they kind of take and they, you know, reinvent in their own way. But no, especially, yeah. Allman Brothers. Of all the Southern rock bands, they'd have to be the one that recommend the most. They have just a solid discography up until, like, Brothers and Sisters. Everything before that, 10 out of 10 working. But would recommend. Plus their live album. They did. Did Live at Film East.

Yeah.

Beautiful, beautiful album.

There's this jam version of Whipping post that's like 22 minutes, which I think is probably the best thing they ever recorded.

No, it's beautiful. Yeah, those. I love those. Those albums that just have like the 20 minute song on a side. Like you flip the record over and there's just one song in there. You're like, oh, boy.

Shout out to the Allman Brothers. Friends of the show.

Friends of the show. Recipes. And then up next we have another great song that I'd have to mention is A Ceremony by New Order, which, from what I understand that was actually a Joy Division song that originally started out. And I think this was like the first thing that they ever recorded as New Order after Ian Curtis passed. It's a really great song, honestly. Like I. I might be wrong, there might have been one after this that he wrote. But this is also like the last song that Ian Curtis actually wrote, I think, with them. So, yeah, it's just a great song, I have to say. Like post punk masterpiece, probably. I want to. I don't know if it's like New Order's single best song, but it's definitely up there in their like top five.

For me personally, when I was first hearing Ceremony, the first thing that came into my head was like the main riff of the song and it sounded very familiar. And I tried singing along to it and I realized that James Murphy of LCD Sound System just like kind of took the riff and the main motif for All My Friends and transformed it into a. His own thing because it's the same rhythm, pretty. Pretty much the same harmonic structure. The real difference is in the production and like the lyrics.

Right?

Yeah. I don't know. I just noticed that James Murphy ripped it off as he often does. That no good scoundrel.

He can't get away with this. Oh, man. Anyway, listen to Sir. A great song. Fantastic.

Take anything away from this episode.

Yeah, yeah. Take anything away. Listen to that one.

Yeah.

Next we have Bird Calls by Charles Mingus off of Mingus A, which I believe was released in 1964.

I think that was like 1958. That's when it was.

Oh, it's much earlier.

Yeah.

Well, either way, sorry, I got my release dates wrong.

Banned off the show, unfortunately, we can't have you here.

Yeah, Bird Calls, great post bop song. Excellent. Charles Mingus, he's one of my favorites. I think he's actually pretty underrated in the grand scheme of things. Like when you hear jazz, you're going to hear stuff Like Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, even Pharaoh Sanders, I think will be mentioned before. Charles Mingus.

Right.

It's hard to put into words how a jazz song makes you feel because there's no lyrics. You just.

You have to listen to learn to appreciate freeform jazz.

Then the next one is Swamp Grass by Doug Kershaw.

And that's like a Cajun music. Yeah, that was a. That's a good. That's a good little country song. I like that a little bit. Definitely. I know that's one of those artists that. He's on the list. I've been told to put him on the list. Yeah, he's like a lot of that Cajun music stuff. It's very good. And then closing out today's playlist, we've gotten through every song somehow. It's a miracle.

I think it's the first time we did.

Well, if we Skip is Going to

Happen by the Tall Dwarfs.

Okay. If I skip that, I. I don't know if I had anything to say about it. I'm sorry.

Dang.

To fans of the Tall Dwarves, we've failed you. We'll talk. We'll do the deep dive. Don't worry, we'll go back for it. Anyway, last song, I Lied, we didn't do all of them. But yes, it is by the Beatles, which we've had. It's been a while since we've had a Beatles song. Actually on one of these.

I think we usually have the Wilsons in here. We don't have the Fab Four.

I don't know why nobody plays them. I mean, I guess it's cuz, like, people don't bring it because, you know, they assume everybody's already heard it, you know. But this is one of those songs where it's like, not really that popular. Like, as far as. As far as the Beatles go. Like, obviously every song they have is at least a little bit known. But, yes, it is. It's kind of one of the deeper cuts. I think this is just. I think it was like a B side off of one of their Signals. I can't remember which one. I Might have been Ticket To Ride. I don't know. It's not important. Anyway, this is a really good song, though. It's like a nice melancholy ballad song. It's like their other song, this Boy, which is another good song. It's kind of like. It's very similar to it. But both of those songs, very good little Beatles songs, if you take one thing. No, no, listen to yes, it is great Beatles songs. Listen to it. And I do believe though that that wraps us up for tonight.

Wow.

And you know, if you don't see me again, it's probably because I pitched a two hour episode where I explain all the Kingdom Hearts lore. Cause I will be playing that and

I'm gonna talk to my coffin guy and we're gonna get something figured out anyway. Yeah. But if you're interested in coming to any of our meetings though, check out our website which will be linked along with the podcast. You can find our meeting schedule there as well as our themes, which we will be getting. Themes for meetings. That's exciting. As well as playlists, a link to the podcast on the website, and pretty much any information you'd ever need about the club. Anybody's welcome. If you are a student, if you're a staff member, faculty, just a community member, and you want to hang out with people and expand your music taste, there is no better place to do it, I think, than the Vinyl Record Club here at lcc.

Don't even need to have records.

Yeah, no, literally, if you want to hear new music and maybe you're interested in getting into vinyl as well, but come on down. Great group of people, very nice, very accepting people. You'll learn pretty much anything you didn't know about. You know, record collecting, that kind of thing. And the Beach Boys of course.

And.

And ween. I will talk about ween to you, don't worry about it. But that's all we have for today. Thanks for listening. Bye and we'll see you next time. See you. Bye. Bye.

Bye.

Love you.

Love you. See ya. Bye bye.

Sharing the voices of Lansing Community College. Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect Voices vibes, Vision

Lansing Community College Performing Arts is proud to present Summer Stage under the star featuring a 10 minute play festival directed by Paige Dunkle and Shelley Peterson. A wonderful variety of styles and concepts for this evening of theater, including all these Buckeyes by Joshua Thompson Linton. A farcical work that touches on current issues. HOA President Bingus Stunk is determined to keep the Ohians in their place. But there are so many Buckeyes. Will his assistant Gibble save the day? Featured at LCC's outdoor amphitheater July 23rd through the 27th at 7pm in the event of rain or extreme heat, performances will move into Dark Auditorium. For more information, visit LCC.edushowinfo. all performances are free to attend.

What does Title IX mean? It means I'm valued. I'M empowered. I can do anything. It means I'll pave the way for every girl who plays high school sports in the future, just like every female student, coach, official and administrator. Blaze the trail for me because every student deserves the opportunity to play. Encourage girls you know to participate in Michigan high school sports.

This message presented by the MHSAA and the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. New and Experienced motorcycle riders LCC's Adult Enrichment Program offers motorcycle safety classes weekly throughout the summer for riders of all skill levels. Classes fill quickly. Find more details at lcc.edu keeplearning.

This is WLNZ Lansing. You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the Voices, Vibes and Vision of Lansing Community College. To find out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect, voices, vibes, Vision.