Flies in the Kitchen

“Our theme music was composed by BJ Leiderman.”

If you’ve tuned in to NPR over the last 44 years, the likelihood is pretty great that you have heard this on-air credit. It’s because when BJ sold his themes to NPR, he made it a part of his contract that he would receive spoken recognition for his work. Little did he know he’d become one of the most recognizable names on the network.

BJ’s NPR credi...

Some of you may remember a few years back when I uploaded a reading of "The Velveteen Rabbit."  That was a recording I had made for librivox.org, an online archive of literary works in the public domain, recorded by volunteers all over the world.  Recently I recorded a few poems for an anthology they were putting together and I thought I'd share them with you. I hope you enjoy them! I've included the text below.

I've known about David Wilcox since I first heard "East Asheville Hardware" back in the mid 90's working at a summer camp.  I was absolutely captivated and delighted at what I was listening to, and knew that this was something that I needed to pay more attention to, being a budding songwriter myself.  What followed was a few decades of wonder and inspiration at the levels of depth to which a songwriter can go when it comes to commu...

Y'all.

I first met James Houston when I decided to start learning karate in my mid-20s, living in a small, southwestern Virginia town along the New River. I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up for karate, only that it seemed like there was a good blend of experience, and I knew that I wouldn't be the only one who had no idea what he was doing.  We began each class with what is known as the Dojo Kun, fiv...

Loss is a weird thing, isn't it?  The day I recorded this, I had found out a friend had died.  Just out of the blue.  Hit by a truck while running.  It was a big blow.  I had already decided on a topic, and on its face, it seems like the wrong direction...  But really, my friend Jeff was one who lived a life of gratitude.  And I'll miss him.

Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret. - Ambrose Bierce

Hey everybody!  I have something pretty cool to share with you.  I've decided to give myself a little break from producing the full episodes of Flies in the Kitchen, because I've been out of town a lot working a contract job that has l...

Lately I've been looking at a lot of my Facebook memories, and being amazed at how oblivious we all were to what life would look like just one year later.  Large groups closely gathered around tables, no masks, sharing pizza, and laughing.  So much laughing.  It will be interesting to see th...

I first met David LaMotte at a weekend retreat in the WV mountains where he was performing.  He and his newly-wed wife Deanna were there, and it was fun hanging out with them both.  As it goes, though, with many traveling gigging musicians who ...

Deep among the rolling hills and misty mountains of Western North Carolina lives a charismatic young man who has already, in his first 20 years on earth, managed to release 3 albums and 5 professionally produced music videos, sharing with the world music that is complex, rich, i...

When Chuck Brodsky was 21, he made a decision that he was going to follow his passion to become a songwriter who tells stories that matter. He hitchhiked from his hometown in Philadelphia to San Francisco and never looked back.