Mike Mangione                                                      

After leaving high school Arian and I set out on separate artistic journeys. Mine led me to the West Coast and eventually living in a van for a couple years. Arian’s, on the other hand, led him to New York…

Three and a half miles from my house runs the Milwaukee River.  Not too big, not too impressive, bearing the name of a city of the same characteristics.   When I first moved out of the city and north I didn’t…

I met Christopher West when I was 21 years old and a student at Marquette University. He is 10 years older, but at the time, he seemed 150 years ahead of me and from another universe. He had conviction, faith…

As a kid I made my room into a living-breathing thing. My room was vibe, full of image, sound, smell and feel … (smell?). It wasn’t color; it was tone. Like an Instagram filter it just had haze and drift…

At the time of this interview, summer of 2015, Kristian Bush was the most popular guest I have had on my podcast. He had come out of the Atlanta music scene when it was on fire, launching acts like REM…

When I scheduled an interview with sportscaster Brian Anderson, I wasn’t sure how to approach the conversation.  What is the common thread between Brian’s work and my other guests, like Jim Gaffigan or Greg Brown, who are mostly artists and…

I often find myself straddling a life of the sacred and secular.  The goal is always to seamlessly weave the two, never letting one negatively influence the other.   The objective is to see the sacred in all the places it…

I remember being taken back by Johnny Cash’s description of his childhood in his autobiography, Cash.  He spoke about the hardships of moving to government subsidized land in Arkansas with his family and having to work the land with his…

For the past thirteen years I have been on the move.  I grew up in Chicago, attended Marquette University and after graduation, moved to Los Angeles to pursue something as a musician.  While there I recorded an album entitled There…

I have always been fascinated by the Crucifixion and what it must have been like to witness it.  I would imagine that, not having the full story of who Jesus was, yet having Him be who he was … it…

I wrote this one night sitting on my couch in Milwaukee.  Most songs take a couple of days, weeks or even years to write.  I never force the process, if it comes great, if it does not that’s fine too. …

A week ago I began a trip that was unlike most.  Traveling is always hectic and uncomfortable.  This specific trip, though, was something special and pushed me to a limit I haven’t felt since my high school football days.  The…