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The Pratfalls podcast

Hosted by Levi Weinhagen, The Pratfalls Podcast features conversations with artists and creative folks of all kinds about the relationship between making cool things and being a person in the world. It features funny, insightful and weird conversations with artists and creatives of all kinds.
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Now displaying: August, 2016
Aug 30, 2016

 “If someone is going to think less of you for not knowing something, they can suck it.”

On this podcast Molly Mogren Katt talks about anxiety, getting out of one’s comfort zone. She talks about how facing your fears regularly alters how you think about fear and think about doing things that scare you. Molly shares how committing to a year of doing one thing every day that scared her meant a few big obvious things and then a lot of discovery about the small fears we all are guided by every day.

Just weeks away from giving birth to her first child, Molly talks about trying not to think too much about how her life will change and whether she’ll be prepared or not. Molly also talks about the one time she did something that scared her and it didn’t turn into a beautiful experience.

The daughter of a flight attendant and a hippy-turned-real estate developer who toured Europe in a Volkswagen bus, Molly arrived on earth with an undeniable sense of adventure. From hiking the Antarctic Peninsula, to outrunning a hyena in South Africa and even driving a street-legal monster truck through Des Moines, Iowa—Molly never turns down an opportunity to do something crazy. She worked as Andrew Zimmern's right-hand (for nearly eight years!); they've co-written three books together and she co-hosted a weekly podcast called “Go Fork Yourself.” These days, Molly is a freelance writer and blogger, full-time. You can see her work in Delta Sky Magazine, Food & Wine, Eater.com,Minneapolis | Saint Paul Magazine, to name a few. Her latest project, Hey Eleanor!, chronicles Molly's experiences living outside her comfort zone and making every day an adventure. 

Aug 23, 2016

“I wish there was one thing I could say ‘this is what I want to do with my life.”

Nathan Tylutki's new business cards actually say "Renaissance Man." This is as close as he can come to describing his career. Nathan is an actor with a masters degree in sociology. He's fully trained in law enforcement and created a one man show called Nayrotica. Nathan's an activist with a history working in fundraising. 

On this episode of the Pratfalls podcast, Nathan talks about wanting to do creative work while engaging in social justice work. He talks about deciding to quit his job while living in New York City because he wasn't feeling fulfilled and how that led to him returning to Minnesota. Nathan talks about sobriety and how it unlocked his ability to be present as an actor. He also talks about vulnerability, the feeling of not being good at your job, looking for fulfillment and his relationship to money.

 

Aug 15, 2016

“Although I fly the flag for ‘yes, and’ it’s okay to say no.”

 

Madde and Levi have known each other for a number of years. Which is part of why this episode is full of silly bits and goofy nonsense. But Madde also talks about relationships, making work, living in new cities and where she is in her life. Madde also talks improv theory, working in education and shares a bit about her new project “Down & Out.”

 

Madde Gibba is a New York-based actor and comedy writer who most recently could be found slinging funny haha's on the high seas with Second City Theatricals. She is a contributor to the online satirical magazinereductress.com and regularly writes and performs all over the country. Originally from Minnesota, she has performed at Tony Award-winning theaters such as The Guthrie and Children's Theater Company and is an alumni of the country's oldest satirical comedy theater Brave New Workshop. In addition to the stage, Madde co-hosted Mike and Madde, a weekend arts and entertainment radio program on MyTalk107.1, and was featured in a small role in the critically-acclaimed indie film Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (appearing at SxSW and Sundance Festivals in 2015). Madde has toured the US with her original sketch comedy shows, Comedy Sportz, and her improvised rock concert Madde Gibba: Does Not Play Well With Others--which has appeared at both the Chicago Improv Festival and New York Musical Improv Festival. 

Aug 9, 2016

Katie Sisneros is a founding editor of The Tangential, a PhD student in English literature at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the voice of Totinos on the internet and a live event host. She is a Minneapolis transplant from Nebraska where she earned two English degrees at UNL before deciding to one-up herself at the U of M. She orders whiskey diets but won’t return it if she’s served a whiskey coke, and usually manages to get about 35% of the questions on Jeopardy right.

On this episode of the podcast, Katie talks about internet trolls, spending her entire life thus far as a student, why personal relationships are challenging for her, how she manages her time and what it means to have a powerful and inspiring mother.

Aug 2, 2016

On this episode of the podcast, environmental sound-artist Philip Blackburn talks about early exposure to an artist that inspired him to build his own instruments. He also talks about how getting to study under Kenneth Gaburo further opened up Philip’s ideas about what his art could be. Plus, Philip talks about the lovely unpredictable nature of work that changes based on human interaction.

Philip Blackburn was born in Cambridge, England, and studied music there as a Choral Scholar at Clare College (BA, MA). He earned his Ph.D. in Composition from the University of Iowa where he studied with Kenneth Gaburo and began work on publishing the Harry Partch archives. Blackburn's book, Enclosure Three: Harry Partch, won an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He has worked at the American Composers Forum since 1991, running the innova Recordings label (which has been called “the nation’s premiere label for American new music”) while developing re-granting programs (notably the Jerome commissioning program, McKnight Fellowships) and opportunities for composers (such as the Sonic Circuits International Electronic Music Festival, Continental Harmony, and Bamboofest).
 
He is also a public artist specializing in sound — a composer/environmental sound-artist — and has served as teaching artist for school residencies connected with the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival, creating multi-media performances using home-made instruments.  He composed the soundtrack for the Wild Music: Sounds and Songs of Life exhibition initiated by the Science Museum of Minnesota now traveling the nation.  His Car Horn Fanfare for 8 ArtCars opened the Northern Spark Festival, and his Duluth Harbor Serenade was heard by thousands of people during Duluth Superior Pride. His concert work, Sonata Homophobia, for Flute and Brainwave-Triggered Right Wing Hate Speech was also premiered in Duluth. Blackburn’s works have been heard in ships’ harbors, state fairs, forests, and coming out of storm sewers, as well as in galleries and on concert stages. He has incorporated brainwave sensors and dowsing rods in performance as well as balloon flutes, car horns, smart phones, and wind-powered harps. He created a multi-media hyperopera about Cragmor Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Colorado Springs. That work, The Sun Palace became a 60-minute indie film that premiered at the New York's Anthology Film Archives.

 

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