Crude Conversations

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Mike Ward, the co-owner of The Pioneer Bar. The Pioneer Bar, better known as Pio, is a classic Alaskan bar located in downtown Anchorage. It’s been around since the 1950s, before Alaska became a state. Back then, it was a working class bar with a regular crowd of blue collar workers and barflies. It eventually began to attract a younger crowd in the late 1990s. That trend has continued to this day, where crusty sourdoughs and weekend warriors drink side-by-side. Mike’s relationship with The Pio goes all the way back to his childhood, when his dad was a regular there and he would bring Mike with him. That was around 1980. Mike and his business partner Dave Croffut bought the bar in 2013, and they quickly learned that the idea of owning a bar is much different than the reality of it. In reality, you have to deal with controlling crowds, local politics, and all the repairs that come with owning a 100-year-old building.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Julie Decker, the Director and CEO of The Anchorage Museum. When she took the job, Julie made a radical shift in the way museums typically function. Rather than just collecting and displaying artifacts, she decided to transform the Anchorage Museum into a living museum, focused on local issues by examining present themes in order to look at Alaska's cultures and traditions in a contemporary way. Ultimately, this shift was meant to answer one fundamental question: how does the museum and its network make Alaska a better place? Julie is uniquely qualified for the position she's in, having grown up around her dad Don Decker, a prominent Alaskan artist whose work goes back to the 70s. When she was a kid, she watched as he did the artist thing—struggle and appreciate the creative process and then learn to let his art exist outside of himself. She understands this dance between the indefinable creative process and its payoff because she's an artist as well. Today, she talks about how she finds things like the sound of pencil on paper soothing because of what it represents: a quiet and contemplative meditation.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with tattoo artist Deb Yarian. Deb started tattooing in New York in 1979. Back when tattoo culture was reserved for outsiders, or what Deb calls “carnival people.” The tattoo culture then was predominately male, and women usually found their way into the culture through a man, because men were the gatekeepers. More recently, those barriers have been broken down, making the culture more equitable. Today, Deb and her husband Don own and operate Eagle River Tattoo.  Early in Deb’s career, her mom told her that she didn’t want Deb getting tattoos because she didn’t want people to judge her by the way she looked. Deb responded by saying, “If people are going to judge me by the way I look, then those aren’t the kind of people I want in my life.” Deb says that the difference between tattooers today and tattooers in the past is that their journey is different. When Deb entered the scene, there was a lot of inequality and even violence. Deb has a history with domestic violence. One that she tries to talk about as openly and honestly as possible. She talks about those seedier origins of the tattoo culture, the sanctity of the tattoo shop and how people with tattoos need to be responsible for their actions if they don’t want to be mislabeled.

In this episode, we look at crime from the perspective of a retired police officer. Aaron Roberts was an officer for the Anchorage Police Department for over 20 years. He patrolled downtown Anchorage, was a detective in robbery, assault, and metro with a focus in narcotics. At the time of his retirement, he was the team lead negotiator and worked closely with SWAT.

In this Special Conversation, Cody talks with Tim Davis about teaching during COVID-19. Tim has coached high school football for 20 years, and has taught at West High School in Anchorage, Alaska for 12 years.   Full disclosure: Cody and Tim are friends.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Alaskan artist Duke Russell. Growing up in Anchorage in the 1970s, Duke would draw everything he could in downtown Anchorage. At that time, he and his dad were living in an apartment above a bar called Ruthie’s 49er—which would later become Darwin’s Theory. Duke would sell his paintings in downtown Anchorage for a dollar, in addition to working and going to school. A lot of his youth was also spent taking care of his alcoholic father. It was this upbringing, in a past version of Anchorage, that continues to influence his art. Today, Duke’s art can be seen all over the city of Anchorage. From restaurants to banks to local theaters and the Anchorage Museum.    Duke has been in the Alaska art scene for over 50 years now. In that time, he’s experienced a lot of failures, growth and success. He’s not afraid to voice his frustrations, and he’s not afraid to talk about the lessons he’s learned. In fact, he’s able to find humor in most things. In this conversation, we get a glimpse of how Duke’s mind works. It considers everything—the importance of telling the truth and the transient nature of life. How life is constantly in flux and the more we accept that, the more we’re in rhythm with it. 

In this Special Conversation, Cody catches up with Dr. Andy Elsberg for an update on where Alaska is with COVID-19. The last time they talked, Alaska had been in quarantine for over a month. Since then, many businesses have re-opened and many non-essential employees are back at work, but social distancing and wearing masks is encouraged. Andy is an emergency room doctor in Anchorage, Alaska.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with radio and podcast host Alexis Sallee. Alexis has worked in radio for about ten years now. She started right out of high school at 90.3 KNBA in Anchorage, Alaska. She was a sound editor on a radio program called Earthsongs. She now hosts and produces INDIGEFI. Both of those programs feature modern music by indigenous artists. In addition to INDIGEFI, she hosts a podcast called “Native Artist,” where she talks with indigenous artists about their creative journeys. Alexis says that she’s always asked a lot of questions and that she’s always learned best by listening. She feels like that must be connected to her indigenous background of oral storytelling that keeps tradition alive. When she thinks about the future, she hopes that there will be more indigenous representation in the media. That they’ll be able to fund their own projects and make the final decisions on those projects because then they’ll be a genuine reflection of how they see themselves. 

In this episode, Cody and Dustin H James talk to Fairbanks Ladies of Wrestling, better known as FLOW. Two summers ago, FLOW gave Crude access to the green room before their event at Williwaw Social in Anchorage on July 20. Cody and Dustin talked with event organizer and FLOW co-founder Donald Crocker, and wrestlers Leslie Dope, TJ Rocks Rivera, Thunder Thighs and Freya the Slaya.  The following interviews were originally conducted with the intention of making a short documentary. Back when Crude was transforming from a physical magazine to digital media, and then eventually to this podcast. In that shuffle, the documentary was scraped, but the intention of producing something out of the content remained. There was just too much good audio and the interviews were just too great to forget about.  NOTE: FLOW has since disbanded due to interpersonal conflict. So, this episode stands as a snapshot of where this organization and its wrestlers were at that time.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Fairbanks-based rapper Josh Silva, better known as Alaska Redd. Redd is one of the pioneers of Alaska hip hop. He’s been pursuing it for over 20 years. And in that time, he’s had to learn what a successful career in hip hop looks like in Alaska, that it can’t follow the conventional route of radio-play and touring because many times local radio stations won’t play your music, and statewide touring is not always possible because of a lack of venues or an unwillingness to host a hip hop show. So, he’s had to improvise by founding his own studio, releasing his music independently and running his own tours.   As a pioneer, Redd says that he feels a responsibility to the local hip hop scene. So, he tries to help up-and-coming artists when he can, by providing studio time and by imbuing knowledge. He says that if you wanna be serious about music and excel at it, then you need to invest in yourself because, at the end of the day, nobody is gonna believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.