Brodie Foster Hubbard

sciophobic-shadow asks: Where did you see yourself now when you were in junior high?

Tue, 29 May 2012 20:19:00 -0700

Where did you see yourself now when you were in junior high?

This question came as the last line in a longer piece of correspondence between me and s-s, a 13-year-old zinester. I was given permission to answer it as a public post.

I am not sure how it works in other regions of the country nowadays, but in Phoenix, Arizona in the early 1990s, at the middle school I went to, there were only seventh and eighth graders. At that time in my life, as I was just becoming a teenager, I wasn’t really writing songs yet, and certainly not singing, so I had no aspirations towards being a musician. I had participated in acting workshops and appeared in school plays, but that was starting to peter out, so I wasn’t interested anymore in being an actor.

I wrote. I’ve always written. I always will write. The question, at the time, was - for what?

As part of the acting I was doing, I had written a sketch with another student. It would have been very much a “Wayne’s World” kind of thing (which, of course, had its roots in Cheech and Chong, or the McKenzie Brothers, and plenty of other comedy duos that had preceded it, but late 1980s/early 1990s “Saturday Night Live” was my greatest frame of reference at the time). My partner bailed out the night we were to perform and I had to improvise a routine by myself, though pulling from some of the jokes we had written. It received a fair enough reception, and while I wasn’t comfortable with the circumstances or interested in being a stand-up comedian, I had enjoyed the experience of writing comedy. I started to study up on the lives and profession of television comedy writers. Shortly into my research, I got the impression that it was a difficult and miserable lifestyle. But I wasn’t quite deterred yet.

Channel One, a closed-circuit network news program that provided equipment to schools and put on news programs with young anchors (such as an upstart named Anderson Cooper), was part of our school. Another student named Will Elsner and I got to be two of the anchors for our school announcements, which were now handled by video instead of the intercom. We often played characters and wrote sketches for our turn at the announcements. This was coupled with me joining a shop class, but instead of doing the handy kind of stuff with tools and materials that most people associate shop class with, I got to spend the period working with the videocameras and editing equipment that were also a new part of the school.

Doug Ross had been my friend since the sixth grade and became my best friend over the next couple of years. He would later become the one musician with whom I’ve ever had the longest collaboration with, as he was a talented guitarist who translated my melodies into something playable. When we got to high school, he urged me to use my voice, and if I’m a passable singer now, it’s because of Doug’s encouragement. We may have had our differences over the years, but he always supported me creatively. Long before we started our punk rock band, we were making videos. Just silly things, inspired equally by cinema and skateboarder videos.

Between Doug and Will, Channel One and shop class, and my interests in filmmaking, writing, and comedy, my plan was not unlike what many people in the comedy scene today are doing - I would make something wonderful on the cheap, I would get it into the hands (or in front of the eyes) of more rich, famous, and powerful people than myself, and I would someday make a living just creating things.

At the time, like many television-viewing children of that era, Roseanne Barr was like a second mother to me. She was married to Tom Arnold. So, I told Doug that we should get Roseanne and Tom to produce a show starring us.

If only there had been YouTube, Funny Or Die, etc., when we were kids. This was even before Jake Foglenest was doing Squirt TV (though public access would be a new inspiration for me soon enough). Since there was no such thing, mine, Will, and Doug’s brilliance would instead end up as unseen and unheard, dusty, boxed-up videotapes on a shelf above my wife’s craft closet.

As I got into high school, I was getting more into zines and punk rock, concentrating my energy into writing songs and being part of the scene. But just a couple years before, I thought I could be Ben Stiller (that is, the Stiller of that era who had shorts on “SNL” and two sketch comedy shows, one on MTV and one on Fox - not Ben Stiller, the movie star).

These ideas didn’t totally fall by the wayside. After I graduated high school and mine and Doug’s musical partnership ended, I joined the film program at Scottsdale Community College. But I wasn’t destined to be Quentin Tarantino, even if I was working in a video store. I couldn’t grasp the technical side of filmmaking, so after swapping majors a few times, I eventually ended up an English Literature major, also taking a lot of creative writing and screenwriting classes.

So to circle back to the original question, when I was in junior high, I thought that by the time I reached my thirties, I would be a successful writer, possibly a producer, in the entertainment world. I also assumed I would be married with lots of children, just like my parents.

That’s not quite how it turned out. I create things, but I rarely get money for them. I work in television, but it’s on the post-production side of the reality genre, not in a writing room on a scripted show. I am married, but for the second time, and caring for animal companions instead of bouncing babies (for now). In junior high, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be almost two decades into writing and playing music, and I wouldn’t have had any idea what a “podcast” is.

All in all, I am happy with how things turned out, but more excited about what is to come.

shakeytownradio: Riverside DIY Print Fest - A Shakeytown Radio...

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:35:00 -0700

shakeytownradio:

Riverside DIY Print Fest - A Shakeytown Radio Minute (13:55)

BFH files a report from an independent publishing event at the Blood Orange Infoshop in Riverside, and interviews Angela Chaos, one of the organizers of the event and a zinester in her own right (“Bitch King,” “Raptor Fancy,” and the zine distro and workshop organizers Zineworks).

Thanks to everybody! Annie, Angela, Elliot, and all the great folks at Blood Orange Infoshop and this year’s Riverside DIY Print Fest!

Check out the link for more photos from the event!

Riverside DIY Print Fest (diyprint.org) is a free event...

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:40:00 -0700

Riverside DIY Print Fest (diyprint.org) is a free event celebrating independent and self-publishing at the Blood Orange Infoshop (3485 University Ave, Riverside CA 92501) this Saturday, May 26 from noon to 4PM. There will be workshops, screenprinting, a display of Raymond Pettibon’s work, and of course, zines galore.

There will be storytelling and readings, including something from me at 1:15 PM. I have been writing something for the last few months that I am looking to complete and publish this summer. I will be sharing some excerpts.

I have known Alexis, who performs as Free Flowers, since she...

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:33:00 -0700

I have known Alexis, who performs as Free Flowers, since she was 14 years old. Her and her sister Carissa, who was 12 at the time, used to play as a duo at the open mic I hosted in Phoenix. They impressed me so much that I started putting them on shows I booked at The Trunk Space when I had a regular monthly night for Modest Proposal Music, and later, Musicomania.

The Cabrera family has always been very warm and welcoming and I feel like the adopted older brother of Alexis and Carissa. Somewhere in my collection of music exists a recording session of Alexis, Carissa, and I doing my songs and theirs, some totally improvised. When I left Phoenix, they played my going away show, but their parents and I decided they couldn’t come into the building until the very foul-mouthed roast was over (that recording also exists, and someday the world will hear it, when I can take the embarrassment). They’ve visited me in California a number of times since, and have even opened up a spare room for me when I’ve visited Arizona.

The song on this post is Alexis and I performing a cover of “Hickey Blvd” by the band Hickey, recorded during one of Alexis’s visits to Los Angeles. The photo above is her and I making like monkeys in the cage at the old zoo in Griffith Park.

She is 21 today. She graduates Arizona State University tomorrow. She’s moving to New York to pursue graduate studies at Columbia. It seems like just yesterday she was a kid at the Willow House coffeeshop. I’m immensely proud of her and I love her a lot.

I have known Marco Holt and the bands he played in (most...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21:01:00 -0700

I have known Marco Holt and the bands he played in (most recently, Tremulants) since I first started going to shows in Phoenix. When I first heard that he was ailing, I honestly didn’t assume it was a dire situation. It’s been years since I’d seen him or talked to him, but right away, I figured it was a temporary obstacle. Marco wrote, “I’m fighting the fight.” I thought, hey, it’s Marco, nothing could keep that guy down.

All my memories of the man are of him smiling, of him being so nice and warm and welcoming, of him enjoying playing music. I know from watching his posts for some months now that he had kept going on, playing and attending shows, while working towards recovery. Last month he posted, “Went to radiohead last night in spite of being in a mad fight with my breathing from this cancer deal. What a beautiful show. If I die from this shit at least I made that amazing show!”

Once, in an interview, Marco said about music: “I’m kind of in it for life.” He kept that promise. If music is my religion, Marco is now one of its saints.

We’ve lost another good one. Marco will always have a special place in my heart and in my memories of Phoenix and its music community.

Keeping Taryn Hipp and SUBROSA zine close to my heart.

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:15:49 -0700

Keeping Taryn Hipp and SUBROSA zine close to my heart.

Today, I start a new journey. I’ve shared the details with...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:38:35 -0700

Today, I start a new journey. I’ve shared the details with a few of you. Too many, in fact, although I think it’s good to be accountable to people in your life. Nonetheless, this is something I’m keeping close to the chest for a while. But it will inspire me to write more and I’m excited to eventually share the chronicle of those adventures with you. For now, I wanted to document my last moments before I embark.

I have known many transitions in my life. Some painful, some rejuvenating. This is going to be both.

shakeytownradio: Shakeytown Radio Hour: Ryan McKee and Ron...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:06:00 -0700

shakeytownradio:

Shakeytown Radio Hour: Ryan McKee and Ron Babcock (1 hr, 45 min)

Not only did these two encourage me to pursue my music and support me by booking to play, they gave me my first opportunity to interview comedians and write for a magazine, and I credit them both for setting me on the path to a lot of the creative projects I work on today. Of course, I return the favor by plying us with alcohol and drawing out embarrassing stories on the latest episode of my podcast.

(More about the episode at the link.)

“I want to talk a little bit about extremism in American...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:42:46 -0700

“I want to talk a little bit about extremism in American politics today… I’m not entirely against it.”

The picture above is Dr. Joel Olson, author of The Abolition of White Democracy, speaking in December 2010 in Sedona, Arizona, giving a lecture entitled Extremism and American Politics: Abolitionists, Jihadis, and Tea Parties.

Joel has been on sabbatical from his position at Northern Arizona University, working on his next book (American Zealot: Fanaticism and Democracy in the United States), teaching classes at the University of Alicante in Spain, and was most recently vacationing in Nottingham, UK. Word started getting around last night that Joel passed away yesterday. I’m not sure of any of the details and I’d guess that very few know right now. I was only informed because I read it on the social network status updates of mine and Joel’s mutual friends.

Joel was not a mentor to me. We were not close friends. I know that he was a wonderful husband and father, a beloved professor, and role model for the activist community. But I can only claim an acquaintance at best. Here’s the thing - Joel was such a kind, intelligent, passionate person who contributed so much to this world, that even my tenuous connection to him still makes this loss devestating. If I feel the impact, I can only imagine how deeper that feeling runs for those close to Joel, those for whom he has played pivotal roles in their lives.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Joel was an editor for the zine Hippycore, from which the influential vegan cookbook Soy Not Oi was spun off. When he moved to Minneapolis for graduate school, he became an editor of the legendary zine Profane Existence and a member of the collective behind the publication. He was also a drummer with some P.E. comrades in a band called Pissed that was supposed to tour Europe with seminal crust band Doom. The performances didn’t happen, but Joel was along for the ride anyway.

Having returned to the state where he was born, Joel founded Phoenix Copwatch, a grassroots movement for civilian monitoring of police to keep them accountable, in 1998. This is about the time I first met Joel, and my memory of him from then is how I always remember him, even as I followed his exploits for the next fifteen years. In my mind, he was always the friendly anarchist dude I used to run into at punk shows. He was that guy who passed around a newsletter called Bring the Ruckus that I just didn’t understand. For me, before Cornel West, before Peggy McIntosh, before Tim Wise, before social justice activism blogs on Tumblr, there was Joel. He was talking about something called “white privilege” that I just couldn’t wrap my head around at that time in my life.

Joel got married, started a family, wrote and got published more, and moved up in the ranks of academia, eventually becoming Associate Professor at NAU’s Department of Politics and International Affairs. But he never gave up the struggle against oppression and never shirked from the responsibilities he took on as an ally of oppressed people. If you look at his home page, you can see all the work he has continued doing against racism and the destructive social construct known as “whiteness,” including his actions to protest the anti-Latino/anti-Latina/anti-immigrant Arizona Senate Bill 1070.

I used to think I was a smart guy. I used to think it was enough that I wasn’t a racist. As you get older, you learn a lot and you realize how little you actually know, how much you missed out on over the years. I look back at everything Joel has done and everything he was saying when I met him that didn’t click then, but rings so true now. It’s not enough to merely refrain from slurs or hateful thoughts. That deserves no cookie, no pat on the back, no pass from communities of color. We do not live in a post-racial society. White people still benefit from undue privilege and need to become more aware of how the system works, how race actually functions. My understanding of these issues are now leaps and bounds beyond when I met Joel, but it was him planting the seed, and it was his writings and speeches, that helped these ideas germinate for me.

As his path took him to Flagstaff, AZ and mine took me to Los Angeles, I stayed connected to Joel through social network sites. One day, he solicited feedback on the first couple chapters of his new book, asking friends to submit their emails if they were interested. I am honored to have been one of the folks he was comfortable sending his writing to and I regret not responding to thank him for that. You just take for granted that people are going to be around and you’ll catch up with them later. I’m too late for that now, but I’m thankful for the small interaction I had with Joel and envious of those who got to know him on a more personal level.

This morning, I pulled up Joel’s email, addressed to me and others. Joel signed off on that email, “Yours for freedom fanatically, Joel.” Joel was a writer. A zinester. An activist. A teacher. He was one of ours. And we are all together in this. At least, Joel saw that we could be.

“Revolutionaries don’t make revolutions. Millions of ordinary and oppressed people do.”

Thank you, Joel, for inspiring us to be better people by being one of the best.

What is the number of people you know who wish they were like their parents?

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:44:00 -0700

Of the people I know, how many wish they were like their parents? I don’t know the number. To my best recollection, I can’t think of anyone who ever explicitly told me that they wish they were like their parents. That doesn’t mean none of them wish it, only that none of them have made me aware of it. Anyone I’ve ever discussed the subject with has made it clear that they don’t want to be like their parents. But if that’s the general rule, there’s a few people who I can make assumptions about and declare exceptions.

My friend Dan is one of the greatest people I have ever known and he has continued to be kind to me several years past the dissolution of my relationship with his daughter, who I know has always seen her father as a hero.

My wife’s story isn’t mine to tell. But I can say that while I appreciate good characteristics that her and her mother share, Megan is one who lives in the here and now and isn’t one to analyze these things in the way I like to. I told her about the question, she shrugged, and said, “I don’t know,” then said she was off to take a shower. Looking back at parental influence is a topic she’s about as interested in discussing as politics or religion.

I have three sisters, each in a committed relationship. One of the three is married with children, and I think she sees our parents as role models for her and her husband’s family.

I see my parents as role models for my marriage, in that they are more loyal to each other than I have ever seen in any other two people. They’re also one of the relatively few married couples I know who stayed married.

I don’t outright wish that I was like my parents, but I can’t deny all the ways in which I am like them. My mom and I were a lot alike for most of my life. We were both very emotional, we were both friendly, outgoing, and talkative people, we both inadvertently attracted strangers to begin conversations with us, and we both were people friends felt they could turn to for help and advice.

As I get older, I am becoming far more like my dad. At least, my skewed view of what he’s like, or what he has been like up to now. Practical, logical, analytical, valuing my alone time more. If I have any sense of decorum, it’s from him. But I don’t mean to make him sound detached. He once was a black belt competing in karate tournaments and a drug store clerk in his twenties supporting a family of six, bringing us kids home candies shaped like Pac-Man, making up songs about somewhere called Booger Mountain. I have a weird sense of humor, sometimes immersed in puns and silly noises, and I know I got that from my dad even if it’s not something I associate him with currently. But with all his children grown up and following their own paths, I think he’s earned some peace and quiet. For all I know, he sings songs about Booger Mountain to himself when no one’s around.

As individuals, my view of my parents has changed constantly because of our ups and downs over the years, how they change as people like we all change, and how my understanding of them grows as I have become to accept them as fallible human beings instead of authority figures that I have rigid expectations of. That used to mean I resented them for their mistakes. I won’t rehash the disagreements we’ve had over the years - sleeping dogs and all that. All that’s important to know is that I was in the right, let’s all just assume I’m not biased and agree to that.

Right now, my new perspective on my parents means I appreciate their quirks. Like their recently found enthusiasm for Renaissance fairs, or their admiration of Gavin McInnes of all people. Today is my father’s 60th birthday, and I bought him How To Piss In Public.

I think the best any of us can do is learn from the mistakes our parents made and not repeat them, but honor whatever good they helped instill in us. That could be in how we conduct ourselves in society, or if we have children, in what we pass along to them.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:32:11 -0700

I should have said my guitar, or a pencil and an empty page, but let’s face it, as of last Christmas, it’s my iPhone.

Will, and do you want, Obama (be) re-elected?

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:41:22 -0700

Yes, Obama will be re-elected. There is no relevant or credible candidate to stand opposed to him. I don’t believe there’s even an outside chance of securing more of the vote than the incumbent. I want Obama to be re-elected despite my disappointment in his administration in its first term. I am an independent whose politics are radical when compared to most other people, even if my ideas don’t feel as radical to me as those of others I know in the counterculture, so there are areas where Obama and I disagree. However, he is far and beyond a better choice for our country’s voters than the Republican alternative.

What would you prefer, one great big dog or a hundred bees? My son asked me this question this afternoon. I'm passing it on to you.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:20:14 -0700

That is a great question. Please thank your son for me.

Bees are fuzzy. But I’m a vegan who doesn’t eat honey and a person who dislikes stings. A hundred bees is a hundred potential stings.

A great big dog is lovable, loyal, and can protect you.

I think this is an issue of quality over quantity. I choose dog.

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it? - moneysbags mcgee

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:36:33 -0700

I would pay off my debt and put the remainder in a low-risk, high-yield investment. The annual interest would afford me the opportunity to pursue my own projects and select jobs based on my passion, as opposed to an urgent need for income.

Also, I would buy this costume…

…to wear on this lawnmower…

…and I would ride all over town.

#SETHBUYMELUNCH w/ @SethMad

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:09:02 -0800

#SETHBUYMELUNCH w/ @SethMad:

Looking at Brodie Hubbard there, obviously the first thought that comes to mind is, “I’d like to know the history of that beard.” Luckily, at my urging, Brodie has told it. Now let’s move on to other things.

Brodie’s a vegan, so he suggested we meet at animal-byproductless hotspot Flore in Silver Lake.

Seth is a writer who buys people lunch in exchange for an interview. Read more about his dining experience with me at the link.

On my end, I can say that this was a delightful time. It was nice to chat with a fellow writer, someone with whom I have a lot in common. We’re two guys married to wonderful women, and we both moved here from other places to pursue our careers. As Seth touches on in his article, this town and its populace are known for certain contemptible characteristics. Fortunately for me, my encounters with other folks on this journey to stay creative and survive in Los Angeles, the best and most difficult place you can try to make our kind of living in, have been largely positive.

Seth is my kind of people. He’s had particular struggles that he bravely discusses on his site. You should read more from Seth there at sethmad.com, and follow him on Twitter at @sethmad.

Tell us the history of your beard.

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:14:54 -0800

In the early aughts, when I was finally capable of growing facial hair, I tended to favor a Van Dyke beard, though I would often shave my face clean as well.

By the end of 2005, when my future wife and I started dating, she recommended I let more of my beard come in.

The following year, it had grown in with a vengeance. I have maintained this monstrosity in the six years since.

I like the new, little, nifty buttons when I log onto...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:15:47 -0800

I like the new, little, nifty buttons when I log onto Tumblr.

The missus has always preferred Blogspot. I used a LiveJournal for years. I know lots of folks dig WordPress. For me, Tumblr is the way to go. There’s just something about this platform I enjoy.

So it occurs to me now, the whole point of bringing brodiehubbard.com here was to motivate myself to write more. I have some ideas on making that happen. One of them is enabling Ask (just look for the “Question everything!” link). I’ll even allow anonymous inquiries, if you’re feeling shy. But what I’d really appreciate are prompts - if there’s something you want me to write about, let me know.

shakeytownradio: Mishka Shubaly (@mishkashubaly) - “Death In...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:14:21 -0800

shakeytownradio:

Mishka Shubaly (@mishkashubaly) - “Death In Greenpoint” (download mp3)

It’s Mishka’s birthday. Again? I just wrote about him on his birthday a year ago!

He has a new Kindle Single out. I’ll be reading it. You go read it, too.

Glad you were born, man.

A few words about “Lazarus The Legend”… When I...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:39:28 -0800

A few words about “Lazarus The Legend”…

When I was a young man in Arizona in the 1990s, I loved Phoenix public access television (I believe it was Cox Cable’s channel 22). Our city had some pretty creative amateur filmmakers. One of them, Chris LaMont (“TV Or Not TV”) even went on to become a media instructor at Arizona State University and create the Phoenix Film Festival.

There was another named John Frazzini, a transplant from Erie, Pennsylvania. Him and his team made comedy videos (including the adventures of Pee Man, who used his superpowered urine stream to help the fire department, and extinguish illegal marijuana and make the smokers watch “Reefer Madness”). Some of my old classmates have stories about running into Frazzini and friends on Mill Avenue. Frazzini and his pals, such as Carter Tobin, had twisted enough senses of humor and foul enough mouths to end up on the local news in a story about whether or not public access should be censored.

Frazzini also used his time on our local cable station to show his brother Matthew’s film and video works, made back in Erie. One such piece was a feature length action epic shot on VHS called “Lazarus the Legend.” I don’t quite grasp all the mythology these years later, but from what I understand, there was a handful of powerful warriors. There was always destined to be one on top and one isolated in a sort of purgatory. This movie showed the quest of the titular character, played by Dale Crawford, to find and defeat his rival (played by Matthew), assume power, and send his enemy into a phantom zone. The journey includes combat (and bloody b-movie style gore) with several underlings in all manners of ninja garb and Halloween masks.

I loved all of this stuff. The wigs, the facepaint, the costumes, the appropriated “Star Trek” score. I should have thought to record it, but I didn’t, so it would be another 20 years until I rediscovered it. (I’m not actually going to point out where it is online, because the version I found is abbreviated. It ends at the climax, but omits the important denouement. You owe it to yourself to hold out for an unabridged version.) It brought back the memories of staying up late, watching “Frazzini Presents,” and calling into the phone number they posted to talk to John and Carter. I was even inspired to check out video equipment from my school and make my own videos.

Later in life, I ran into John in the halls of ASU, where he was pursuing a broadcasting degree at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. In my eyes, I might as well have run into one of the Coen Brothers. He was very kind and humble about his work. Several years later, when I reconnected with him online, he wrote, “I hope I did not corrupt your mind too much with the show.”

I was saddened to learn that Matthew was killed in 2009 in a car accident caused by an impaired driver, a man who only spent 11 days total in jail for the crime. John and the rest of the Frazzini family have made sure to preserve Matthew’s memory and celebrate his work.

The most appropriate way to wrap this up is with Matthew Frazzini’s own words, written for his creation:

“The implosion and implementation of my internal spiritual power is complete. Let those who oppose fear the name… LAZARUS!”

My friend Robin Groves (@smartbunny) hosted me on her show, The...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:05:02 -0800

My friend Robin Groves (@smartbunny) hosted me on her show, The Half-Assed Podcast.

Meet Brodie. Singer/Songwriter, actor, writer, reality TV expert, guitarist, podcaster, horse, vegan and beard aficionado. We talk about sitcom writing, earthquakes, magical unicorns in Griffith Park, bathtubs in Brooklyn, goths, Nicole Ritchie and getting in the van.

Go to her website or find the podcast on iTunes.