Talk, talk, talk
Hope y'all like the sound of my voice
I’ve been running my mouth more than usual this week, so I’ll keep it brief.
I recorded a new episode of the Brutal South podcast. It’s an interview with Aaron Carey of the West Virginia black metal band Nechochwen. You can listen to the episode via the Substack page or find it on your podcast app of choice.
Aaron is a true Appalachian hesher who's also trained as a classical guitarist, and he's been using his musical project to retell indigenous history in his part of the world. He learned growing up near Wheeling that he was descended from some prominent members of the Shawnee and Lenape tribes, and he frequently talks about the history of those tribes, both in his lyrics and in what he describes as non-lyrical tone poems.
The latest Nechochwen album is called Kanawha Black, and you can stream or download or buy a vinyl record of it via Bindrune Recordings on Bandcamp. If you're interested in learning more about the band, the music journalist Brad Sanders had an excellent profile earlier this year in Bandcamp Daily.
Elsewhere, I went on the Dissident Orthodoxy podcast this week with Casey Hobbs, a leftist Christian brother from Alabama. You can listen to that episode here or just search for “Dissident Orthodoxy” wherever you get podcasts.
Casey invited me on to talk about liberation, economic jubilee, and the radical possibilities that open up when people aren’t bound by debt any longer. I talked a lot about the Black radicals of South Carolina Reconstruction history because of course I did.
I had a great time! Casey was a gracious and thoughtful host, and I’ve been enjoying digging into the Dissident Orthodoxy archives listening to his interviews with people who are way smarter than me.
Finally, if you’re in the Charleston area, I’d love to see you Thursday night at a Banned Books Week panel discussion I’m moderating with some rad local educators!
WHAT: Bans Off Our Books Anti-Censorship Panel. Learn about free speech battles happening in South Carolina from the people who are fighting them.
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Outdoors at Commonhouse Aleworks (4831 O’Hear Ave., North Charleston, SC)
ADMISSION: Free, but please RSVP here so the hosts know how many people to expect.
Major thanks to my friends at Itinerant Literate Books for hosting the event. Here’s a list of the panelists:
AJ Davis (@Anjene1976) is a passionate community advocate who is focused on quality, equitable public education, economic and social justice and building inclusive communities. AJ was a guest on Brutal South Podcast Episode 27: “Critical Race Theory.”
Loni Lewis (@djlanatron) is a teacher and librarian at Sangaree Middle and is the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. She was also recently a contestant on Jeopardy!
Marjory Wentworth (@MarjWentworth) is a College of Charleston English instructor who teaches courses on banned books and is a National Coalition Against Censorship Free Speech Is for Me Advocate. She is the former poet laureate of South Carolina.
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