THE ROUNDTABLE

From January 2010 through June 2011 Transistor Radio offered a weekly arts interview show, The Roundtable, hosted by Rani Woolpert (now Rani Young). The show was usually recorded before an audience, often included “in studio” performances, and generally provided a showcase for artists and artisans whose work was featured at Transistor, teachers presenting workshops at the store, and musicians scheduled to perform in Transistor’s Friday night music series. The show also reached past the confines of Transistor to explore the goings-on in Chicago’s wider arts and entertainment community. In the course of the show’s year-and-a-half run, Rani’s guests included jazz saxophonist Ken Vandermark, Lou Mallozzi of Experimental Sound Studio, musician Jon Langford, performance artist Julie Laffin, filmmaker/scholar Daniel Eisenberg, and musician and visual artist Damon Locks. Those interviews and many others are contained in the archive of 49 episodes below.

EPISODES

Rani welcomes filmmaker and film-making instructor Alaric Rocha (pictured), spoken word artist Michelle Renae, photographer and photography teacher Brian Hischier, and video artist Surabhi Saraf.
The debut episode!

Learn more about:
Alaric Rocha
Brian Hischier
Surabhi Saraf

Rani’s guests are the Chicago Independent Radio Project's Shawn Campbell speaking about CHIRP on the day the station was launched online, and Roth Mobot's Tommy Stephenson and Patrick McCarthy.

Learn more about:
CHIRP
Roth Mobot

Rani’s guests are lamp maker Michael Darin (pictured), and photographer Tracy Graham and Jason, who together created the multimedia event Masquerade at Black Gate Studio (February 13, 2010).

Learn more about Tracy Graham

Rani welcomes Patrick McCarthy of Chicago circuit-bending duo Roth Mobot, Matthew Peabody and Mike Kegler of Chicago band The Missing Chums, and the Artist Formerly Known as Vince.

Learn more about:
Roth Mobot
The Missing Chums
TAFKA Vince

Rani talks to furniture maker Bladon Conner.

Rani welcomes local magician/raconteur Sean Masterson, who talks about his current show at local wine bar In Fine Spirits, 5420 N. Clark Street, which runs Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m., through the end of July. Plus, he performs tricks on the radio! Also appearing this week: electronic groups Gamma and Feedbacula (pictured), who will both be performing at Transistor Friday, March 12. We have in-store performances from both!

Learn more about Sean Masterson
Learn more about Feedbacula

Rani welcomes Mikey Peterson, Brian Hischier, Jess Pappalardo, and Dalia (Farida Traore) to talk about upcoming workshops and events they will be participating in at Transistor. Peterson’s workshop is Laptop Remix; Hischier’s is How to Create a Digital Darkroom; Dalia’s is Secrets of French Facial Care (a workshop presented by The Closet). Pappalardo is part of Color Swim, which will present on Friday, March 19 a genre-bending mash-up of video and music at Transistor.

Rani welcomes members of Billy Goat Experiment theater group and Two With Water to talk about their upcoming joint event at Transistor, Friday, March 26; Two With Water will continue its Rx Reading Series and Billy Goat Experiment will perform a short piece on our orange stage.

Rani welcomes artist Jyl Bonaguro to talk about the two Bottles and Brushes workshops that she will be presenting at Transistor in April; and members of The Plagiarists theater group talk about their new production “The Wreck of the Medusa.”

Rani welcomes performance artists Clover Morell and Matt Marcum, who will be talking about the upcoming performance art night at Transistor Friday, April 16; artist Andy Rohr, talking about his zine The 27 Steps, now available at Transistor; and Josh Siegal, who will stop by to talk about his upcoming workshop, Fundamentals of Programming for Artmaking, Saturday, April 17.

Rani welcomes Mikey Peterson, who will be talking about his upcoming workshop, GarageBand Basics (April 22), and Alex White of Busy Beaver Button Company and Chicago band White Mystery and Lauren Kurtz and Andy Miles of the band Airlines-X; they will be talking about next Friday’s event where their bands will play Transistor’s orange stage and the Button-O-Matic button vending machine will be launched.

Learn more about White Mystery

Rani welcomes spoken word artist Sondra Morin, who will be performing at Transistor Friday, April 30; Barbara Trinh, Paul Dinh and Dan Scotti to talk about the upcoming VIVA DOC International Student Documentary Competition fundraiser (Sunday May 2 at Viaduct Theater); and Caressa Givens, Liz Birnbaum, Ali Hoefnagel and Emily Forsgren of The Part Time Gallery, Andersonville’s newest art space (5219 N. Clark Street).

Rani welcomes photographer, instructor, author, illustrator and Silent K host Brian Hischier; Rhonda Holcomb, who is hosting a fundraiser/film screening of “Born Into Brothels” at Transistor May 13; and members of local indie bands Seafarer and T-Bone, who will be playing Transistor later this month. Seafarer performs a song in studio.

Learn more about:
The Silent K

Rani welcomes members of local indie rock bands Absinthe and the Dirty Floors and House Sounds, who will be sharing a bill at Transistor Friday, May 28. The show includes two in-studio song performances by Absinthe and the Dirty Floors and two studio recordings of House Sounds.

Learn more about:
Absinthe & The Dirty Floors

Rani welcomes Karen Cross Durham, associate director of public relations and marketing at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, to talk about current and upcoming events at the Siskel; Don Hill of “dark ambient” music project Millipede and VJ Byron Durham of MF Chicago to talk about their upcoming June 4 Transistor performance; and Emily Martin and Joshua Wentz to talk about Orange Beautiful, their new stationary and home shop at 4648 N. Damen.

Learn more about:
Millipede
Gene Siskel Film Center

Rani’s guests are yoga teacher Amy Cronk, musician Wes Imel, and Andersonville Performance Collective founder Fred Mowery.

Rani welcomes teenage brother-sister duo Caroline and Schaeffer Lucius, who go by the name Signature Groove. They perform in studio.

Rani welcomes Jordan Bunker from Pumping Station: One, Chicago’s hackerspace; photographer and sculptor (and Rani’s twin sister) Colleen Woolpert, who will be presenting a short film, “Red Twin Blue Twin,” Tuesday night June 22 at Transistor, and a workshop, “The Photographer’s Eye,” June 30 at Transistor; and Sayward Schoonmaker, host of The Extended Pause, Transistor Radio’s monthly literary show. The show includes music from “Unimpressive,” the new album by the band Split, which will play Transistor Friday, June 25, with a CD release party!

Learn more about:
Colleen Woolpert
The Extended Pause
Pumping Station: One

Chicago indie rock duo Chew Heart (they perform in studio and are pictured below), fused glass artist Laurie Freivogel of Kiku Handmade (pictured below in yellow), Chicago band The Missing Chums (they perform in studio), and members of sketch comedy troupe WADA Productions (WADA stands for We All Die Alone).

Learn more about:
Chew Heart
Kiku Handmade
The Missing Chums

Rani welcomes synth pop musician Charlie Slick, who has just released a new album and will be performing Friday night, July 16 at Transistor. The show includes three Charlie Slick songs.

Learn more about Charlie Slick.

Rani welcomes members of the Idle Muse Theatre Company, whose production of “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” opens July 22; and photographers Tracy Graham and Brendan Shanley of LostInConcert.com, a website devoted to concert and band photography. Prints of their work are available at Transistor.

Learn more about Lost In Concert.

Rani welcomes guests Monica Panzarino to talk about her involvement in the Chicago Women of Noise, where she presents her freqshift/reverb audio bra; and Fred Mowery and David Sergeant, organizer and performer respectively with the Andersonville Performance Collective.

Learn more about Monica Panzarino.

Rani’s guests are Chicago bands Legs Like Straw and Simple Singer (they both perform in studio), and fashion designer Carlos Romano.

Rani’s guests are Elizabeth Lindau of Chicago band Canasta, L.A.-based poster designer Kii Arens, photographer and composer William Harper (pictured), and Kevin Golden of Chicago band Beaten By Yuri (he performs in studio).

Learn more about:
Canasta
Kii Arens
William Harper
Beaten by Yuri

Rani welcomes jazz musician Ken Vandermark (pictured), photographer Jeremy Edwards, and White Rainbow Chicago theater group.

Learn more about:
Ken Vandermark
Jeremy Edwards

Rani’s guests are Eric Nelson of local sound speaker company Iky Audio, painter Harry Sudman, Motion Graphics Festival founder Mason Dixon, and Nadine Lollino of performance art/dance duo Poster Child. Music in this episode by Rayograph.

Learn more about:
IkyAudio
Poster Child
Harry Sudman

Rani’s guests are Chicago band Eiffel Tower (pictured), Transistor photographer and photography teacher Brian Hischier, and Adam and Skye Rust, owners of Andersonville’s Woolly Mammoth. Music in this episode by Rayograph.

Learn more about:
Eiffel Tower
Brian Hischier
Woolly Mammoth

Rani welcomes ambient guitarist Tommi Zender.

Rani’s guests are Joe Wallace (aka Paisley Babylon) of turntabling.net, visual artist and musician Damon Locks, and furniture designer Eve Fineman (pictured).

Learn more about:
Joe Wallace
Eve Fineman
Damon Locks

Rani’s guests are Joshua Wentz (pictured) and John LaSala, co-creators and co-producers of "Foreshadows: The Ghost of Zero," a collection of 19 cyberpunk stories, songs and illustrations, and Chicago indie rock band Seafarer (they perform in studio).     

Learn more about:
Foreshadows

Rani’s guests are Lou Mallozzi (pictured) of Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, and Shane Ardell and Justin Wood, members of the band Mouth Dakota (they perform in studio).  

Learn more about:
Mouth Dakota
Experimental Sound Studio

Rani talks to Dikko Faust and Esther K. Smith of Purgatory Pie Press.

Rani welomes printmaker and "imagist" Kathleen Judge, whose work is associated with Neko Case, among others, and Wes Imel and Juan Salamanca of Light on Lines (pictured), a collaborative project involving AI programmer Salamanca, algorithmic artist Ryan Scheidt, and ambient composer Wes Imel.

Learn more about:
Kathleen Judge

This week Rani welcomes Jenny Kendler and Brian Kirkbride (pictured) of Other People's Pixels, Dave Goss, managing director of WNEP Theater, and Chris Force of ALARM Press, which publishes Alarm and Design Bureau magazines. Music in this episode by Rayograph.

Learn more about:
Alarm Press
OTHERPEOPLESPIXES

Rani welcomes Nick Disabato, author of the book “Cadence and Slang,” and Lisa Whiting, owner and founder of SIFU Design Studio and Fine Yards.

Rani talks to Damon Locks of Chicago band The Eternals (he’s pictured left in the photo).

Learn more about The Eternals.

Rani’s guests are singer-songwriters Jane Thatcher and Jenny Gillespie (pictured), who both perform in studio.

Learn more about Jane Thatcher.
Learn more about Jenny Gillespie.

Rani’s guests are Chicago pianist and singer-songwriter Steve Solomon (he performs in studio), and Marguerite Horberg, founder and CEO of Portoluz and former head of Chicago jazz venue HotHouse.

Learn more about Steve Solomon

Rani’s guests are artist Tony Akins, organizer of the StatiCCreep Exhibition of Sequential Art at Las Manos Gallery, and novelist Steve Tomasula (pictured). 

Learn more about:
Tony Akins
Steve Tomasula

In this incomplete episode, Rani welcomes members of Chicago band Flights to talk about their upcoming multimedia event at Transistor.

Rani’s guests are photographer Michael Rioux and performance artist Julie Laffin (pictured). 

Learn more about:
Julie Laffin
Michael Rioux

Rani’s guests are Monica Panzerino, Mark Beasley, Kyle Evans and James Connelly, participants in the upcoming Strange Electronics performance night at Transistor, and filmmaker Daniel Eisenberg on his new book “Postwar.”

Learn more about Daniel Eisenberg.

Rani’s guests are musicians Julia Miller, and Noé Cuéllar and Joseph Kramer of Chicago experimental duo Coppice (pictured).

Our apologies for the poor sound.

Learn more about:
Julia Miller
Coppice

Rani’s guests are The Missing Chums, who had just performed a Sunday Session at Transistor, and poster designer Nick Butcher of Sonnenzimmer studio.

Learn more about:
The Missing Chums
Sonnenzimmer

Rani talks to singer-songwriter Jane Thatcher, who had just performed a Sunday Session at Transistor.

Learn more about Jane Thatcher.

Rani talks to Bruce Miller of Miller Trade, an Andersonville-based book rep, about the book publishing industry.

Rani’s guests are magician Jay Collen, Susan Doll of Facets Multimedia, and Mary Fons of the Neo-Futurist Theater.

Learn more about:
Jay Collen
Facets Multimedia
The Neo-Futurists

Rani talks to author and musician Julian Dawson, who had just completed a Sunday Session at Transistor.

Learn more about:
Julian Dawson

Rani’s guests are photographer John Sisson and mixed media artist Sara Schnadt (pictured).

On this same evening, Rani talked to musician and painter Jon Langford, following his Sunday Session. The interview is below.

Learn more about:
John Sisson
Sara Schnadt
Jon Langford

GALLERY

The six photos above are scenes from a taping, in which Rani and Andy Miles are at the mics, the gathered audience looks on, Rani talks to Tommy Stephenson of Roth Mobot, and Roth Mobot bends circuits during a break from their interview. (Because of the low-res quality of the photos, a tablet screen is not the ideal platform for viewing the page.)

The Roundtable was produced, recorded and edited by Andy Miles.