Steve Earle Talks Death, The Wire, Guitars And Leaving Home
Steve Earle Talks Death, The Wire, Guitars And Leaving Home

American singer-songwriter, Steve Earle, is a living legend. Between his decades touring the country, playing his jangly-heavy guitar for audiences thirsty for stories of the road and dust kicked up, and his years acting on hit television shows like HBO’s The Wire and Treme, Earle is known for his folk wisdom and sharp tongue. He’s a veteran of the Texas, New Orleans and Nashville music circuits and he’s a staple for those combing through the decades of Americana music greatness. I caught up with Earle to ask him about the first time he picked up a guitar, what it was like leaving his parents at an early age to pursue songwriting and what he’d like to experience just before he died.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Monarch Review
Against the Grain
Against the Grain

One of the Pacific Northwest’s most innovative breweries sits not in the craft beer hubs of Seattle and Bellingham, but in the fertile farmlands of Skagit Valley.

Farmstrong Brewing Company’s story begins with the cover crop — the practice of planting soil-enriching plants after a more profitable crop’s harvest. In Skagit Valley, grains are the most prominent cover crop of all.

Farms have cultivated grains for decades as a way to reintroduce nitrogen into soil depleted by apple production, among other harvests. Historically, the “nitrogen-fixer” grains were simply ground up and added back into the soil as compost. But in 2013, Skagit Valley Malting began buying up the grains, roasting and curing them, and selling them to local breweries like Farmstrong. The result is a match made in craft-beer heaven.

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ImbibeJake UittiEdible Seattle
Your Last Supper
Your Last Supper

KIRO RADIO’S RACHEL BELLE loves food. A decade ago, the intrepid reporter stumbled upon a list of last meals requested by Texas inmates. She wondered—what would her own last meal be, and what if she turned this curiosity into a podcast series featuring celebrities such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Guillermo Del Toro and Alicia Silverstone? Just like that, the podcast Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle was born.

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FoodJake UittiOnTrak/TMR
Valerie June On Brad Pitt, Banana Candy, Etherial Portals And Time
Valerie June On Brad Pitt, Banana Candy, Etherial Portals And Time

Valerie June finally has free time. After a life working odd jobs and steeling moments to write songs, the lilting, butterfly-voiced Americana singer has room to make her art, unfettered by traditional responsibilities. And, she says, this is the best thing she could have hoped for. June talked about this newfound resource and the freedom it offers her ever-evolving creativity. She also talked about the time she met Brad Pitt (and nearly passed out), what her favorite candy was as a kid and how she grew up singing gospel music with family and friends all around her.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Monarch Review
H.R. Of Bad Brains On Headaches, Human Rights And Speeding Up Songs
H.R. Of Bad Brains On Headaches, Human Rights And Speeding Up Songs

Paul “H.R.” Hudson is the longtime front man for Bad Brains, a group founded in 1979 and often credited with creating the original hardcore sound. Through fast, energetic songs and snarling, high-pitched vocals, Bad Brains raced through shows as their fans moshed all around them. Bad Brains also often played reggae between the punk rock. And after decades in the scene, the band only plays reggae at shows today. This fall, H.R. (short for Human Rights) is releasing a new solo record, Give Thanks, a reggae-inspired album filled with the uplifting music he’s made his signature. I caught up with the front man to talk with him about the origins of Bad Brains, what they talked about as they were creating a new sound and what it was like for H.R. to get brain surgery later in life after enduring a series of terrible headaches.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Monarch Review
DAVID MARCHESE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE ON DEATH, DIET COKE, AND WAYNE GRETZKY
DAVID MARCHESE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE ON DEATH, DIET COKE, AND WAYNE GRETZKY

If you’re a fan of celebrity, chances are you’ve encountered the work of David Marchese. His interviews, whether published by his former employer, New York Magazine, or his current one, The New York Times Magazine, regularly unearth some of the more revelatory details about our most mystifying stars. The most famous example is probably Marchese’s 2018 conversation with Quincy Jones, during which he revealed, among other things, that he used to date Ivanka Trump. But there are countless examples of other eyebrow-raisers in Marchese’s ouvre; in his interview with Eminem, the rapper said he frequented strip clubs and Tinder to find dates post-divorce. Or, there’s his recent interview with Whoopi Goldberg, where she admitted that hosting The View is not “enough.” 

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Q&AJake UittiInterview Magazine
Sonics Great Detlef Schrempf On Music, Money And Matrimony
Sonics Great Detlef Schrempf On Music, Money And Matrimony

It’s been 20 years since Seattle SuperSonics legend, Detlef Schrempf, suited up in the green and gold, but that hasn’t stopped the former All-NBA player from making a home in the Emerald City area (Bellevue, technically), where the German-born sharp-shooter lives, plays golf and works at an investment firm, Coldstream Capital. I caught up with Schrempf at Third Culture Coffee in Old Bellevue to ask him about the music he listened to when he hooped, his favorite Seattle bands in college and who decides on the soundtrack in an NBA locker room.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Monarch Review
Talib Kweli On Freestyling, Reading, Black Star And Lauryn Hill
Talib Kweli On Freestyling, Reading, Black Star And Lauryn Hill

If you came of age in the 90s or early 2000s, backpack or underground hip-hop was likely a large part of the music in your favorite CD binder (and later your iPod). That being the case, one of your favorite rappers was likely Talib Kweli, the Brooklyn-based emcee who rose to fame with his brother-in-rap, Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey) and other fellow mic rippers like Common Sense and The Roots. Since those years, Kweli, who plays Nectar Lounge July 27, has solidified himself as an important voice when it comes to socially conscious ideas and practices. To preview his upcoming Emerald City show, I caught up with Kweli to ask him about those early years, if he read a lot as a kid and when he first began to write and perform.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Monarch Review
TONY MILLIONAIRE’S JOURNEY FROM DISHWASHER TO NOTORIOUS CARTOONIST
TONY MILLIONAIRE’S JOURNEY FROM DISHWASHER TO NOTORIOUS CARTOONIST

Before becoming a renowned cartoonist, Tony Millionaire struggled to find any work at all. But after quitting a middling dishwashing job, he had an epiphany. He decided to go door-to-door in wealthy neighborhoods and draw the manicured mansions and sell the pictures to the people who lived there, earning a living one $25 piece at a time. In the winter, though, the drawing work dried up and Millionaire had to scramble to find new income, eventually landing a job as a demolition man.

“The people who had money to spend on drawings lived in big, fancy houses,” recalls Millionaire, a nationally syndicated cartoonist. “If you have a nice, big old house, the garden comes in perfectly, the roof is fixed, the flowers are coming in nicely. How do you put a period on that? You have somebody draw a picture of it. But you can’t really do that in winter. So, I had to find a job in construction. I used to do the demolition inside houses. I’d tear them down in winter and draw them in summer.”

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ProfilesJake UittiBARE MAGAZINE/TMR
UPPER HAND: THE MOST NOTORIOUS CARD COUNTER IN AMERICA
UPPER HAND: THE MOST NOTORIOUS CARD COUNTER IN AMERICA

Professional card counter, David Drury, began his career calculating odds and beating casinos because of a little “divine intervention.” Dury, a regular churchgoer, had picked up a few card counting tricks from books and was instantly hooked. Not long after, a friend from church started a high stakes blackjack team (“What are the chances?” Drury says). Dury joined and honed his skills and since, he’s flown the country, stayed in suites and bet thousands of dollars of other people’s money. For a time, he was even known as the Most Notorious Card Counters in America.

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ProfilesJake UittiBARE MAGAZINE/TMR
Nurse Opens Domestic Violence Shelter That Gives Free Healthcare To Homeless and Uninsured
Nurse Opens Domestic Violence Shelter That Gives Free Healthcare To Homeless and Uninsured

It’s hard to know where to begin when talking about Asma Inge-Hanif. The hardworking, selfless caregiver, who is the director and co-Founder of IBM/Al-Nisaa Healthy Solutions Medical Center, has done so much for others throughout her career. She is a nurse, a chaplain, and has started countless initiatives to help underserved and forgotten people and she does so having seen so much sadness in and around her life over the years. 

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Q&AJake UittiNurse.org
Seattle's Supremely Lovable Adra Boo on Pride and Playing GAYEXP
Seattle's Supremely Lovable Adra Boo on Pride and Playing GAYEXP

Seattle’s Adra Boo is supremely lovable. Just ask anyone who’s spent time with her in any creative capacity. She’s buoyant. She’s thoughtful. She’s honest. And she’s integral to the Emerald City music community, whether she’s fronting a project like Fly Moon Royalty, emceeing a festival like Timber! or giving advice on the side in the green room. We caught up with the musical dynamo to preview the gig and to ask her who she’s listening to these days, how her identity as a queer woman informs her art, and when she started singing.

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP
LEFT AT LONDON ON BEING YOURSELF, NO MATTER WHAT
LEFT AT LONDON ON BEING YOURSELF, NO MATTER WHAT

Seattle’s Nat Puff – aka Left At London, aka l@l – makes beautiful, often spare pop music. And while the songwriter is open about very personal things in her life, like depression, mental illnesses and her identity as a trans woman, Puff’s music is more than the sum of even these vast and nuanced parts. Her song, “Revolution Lover,” off the Transgender Street Legend Vol. 1 EP, sounds like an early Kanye West track with high-register samples and it’s followed up with the acoustic and drum-driven, “I Split My Ribs Open,” featuring the beloved renowned rapper Open Mike Eagle. Puff’s first EP includes the bubble gum sticky, “Felt Like I Had Died,” and hearing it, you know Left At London is destined for great sonic things. We caught up with the artist to ask her about recording her very first song, spending time in a mental hospital, writing poetry and what the idea of love means to her.

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Q&AJake UittiArtist Home
Seattle’s Merrilee Rush Looks Back at Her Hit "Angel of the Morning"
Seattle’s Merrilee Rush Looks Back at Her Hit "Angel of the Morning"

Just over 50 years ago, the song, “Angel of the Morning,” hit the national airwaves and turned Seattle’s Merrilee Rush into a household name.

The song, composed in 1966 and released in 1968, rocketed up the charts and has since been recorded by dozens (read: countless) of other artists. Rush, who came up in the Emerald City, singing popular teenage dances in local venues, lends her giant, golden voice to the track, which has since been placed in television and movie soundtracks like 1978’s Fingers, starring Harvey Keitel. We caught up with Rush, who recently turned 75, to talk about her origins as an artist in the Northwest, how she came to sing the iconic track and what she learned throughout her career. 

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP