The Artists on the Verge Podcast: An Accidental Narrative Research Project
As of January 2022, a year since launching the Artist on the Verge podcast (named Convo on the Verge until this month), I have completed 13 episodes, each an interview with an artist of my choice, mostly ones I have met, either in person or virtually, on my own creative journey – five composers, two improvisers, three singers, five opera and stage directors, a pop performer, a playwright, a poet, a pastor-organist (obviously, some guests represent more than one category.) These days, I converse with each artist for around an hour and cut the recording down to around 30 minutes. Each episode takes me about 20 hours to create from recording to uploading. It is what’s called a labor of love. This process – now a monthly project – seems like one of the most important things I am doing, yet I haven’t found the right words to explain what it is that I’m doing, exactly, besides filling the interwebs with more human simulacra. It feels like I am making some kind of testament, a record of a t
