Crude Conversations

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.

In this Special Conversation, Cody talks with Jasmin Smith, an entrepreneur and community activist. On May 30, Jasmin hosted the "Icantbreathe Social Distance Rally" in Anchorage following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Thousands of people gathered at the rally to protest against police brutality and systemic racism. 

In this episode, Cody talks with three prominent black voices in the Alaska community to understand the conversations and the perspectives of Alaskans in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Floyd’s death has sparked worldwide protests and rallies against police brutality and systemic racism in the United States. Alaska has seen a number of these rallies, including in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Palmer, Utqiagvik, Unalakleet, Sitka and Kotzebue.  Cody talks with rapper and community activist Michael Cofey, journalist Zakiya McCummings, and high school teacher Mike Thompson. Each conversation comes with its own unique perspective, but there is a common theme prevalent in every one of them—it is of deep-rooted, generational trauma and how it affects everyday life. PHOTO / Jovell

In this Special Conversation, Cody catches up with Cliff Groh, who raises some important questions about Alaska's economy during COVID-19, including short-term and long-term solutions to current and ongoing issues. Cliff is a former Alaska Revenue Department official and longtime advocate for the Permanent Fund Dividend, and a board member of Alaska Common Ground, a non-profit that focuses on Alaska’s public policy issues.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Anchorage-based photographer Kerry Tasker. Kerry says that to be a freelance photographer in Alaska, your skillset has to be versatile. Because Alaska is such a small market, there’s not a whole lot of consistency in the type of work you do. Meaning, one day you might be taking headshots for a business and the next day you might be shooting video for a commercial. And whenever you find the time, you focus on your passion projects. Kerry says that in a hyper-competitive field like photography, you can’t stand still, you always have to be moving forward. That the reality is, you’re only as good as your next project because people generally only see the last thing you did, not the last 10 years of your work. Which isn’t always a bad thing, if you believe in natural progression, or Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule. That the longer you do something, the better you become at it. PHOTO / Jovell

In this Special Conversation, Cody and his wife, Carrie Hambach, talk about being in quarantine for eight weeks together. There's a lot of scary news out there right now, so they decided to highlight some of the positive outcomes of the quarantine.