On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Fishman, author of "To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse", published in May of 2023. It's part biography, part detective story, as Fishman combs through the facts and myths behind singer and guitarist Connie Converse, who made music in the 1950s that went unreleased in her time, and then vanished in the mid-70s at age fifty, never to be heard from again. Fishman meets her family members, friends, people who saw her play, and more, making the case for her music as important and unique, and painting a picture of a singularly creative person.

As Howard writes, "The more I listened to her music, the more my curiosity grew...In short order, I stopped writing my own music and became devoted only to Connie Converse – to learning more about her; to piecing together her life; to spreading the gospel of her particular brand of genius everywhere and everyhow I could; to, eventually, inserting myself into the life she left behind to the point that – at times – I felt that I'd become part of the plot."

You can buy "To Anyone Who Ever Asks" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Howard Fishman!

On this episode, Marc talks with Matthew Blackwell, author of "Plunderphonics," part of the 33.3 "Genres" series of books focusing on specific musical styles and movements. "Plunderphonics" covers artists who use other people's recordings in their music without permission, often to make a statement about copyright law, the idea of fair use, and so forth. Blackwell focuses primarily on four artists - John Oswald, who coined the term Plunderphonics, Negativland, Avalanches, and Girl Talk - but he also covers many more who've played a vital role in this genre, such as Evolution Control Committee, the Tape Beatles, and Dangermouse.

As Matthew writes, these artists "tried to change the system. They did so by creating music that was deemed illegal, responding to lawsuits with daring media blitzes, and educating their audience about their own right to adapt and transform media."

You can buy "Plunderphonics" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Matthew Blackwell!

On this episode, Marc talks with Seth Neblett, author of "Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic," published in September of 2025. It's a fascinating oral history of the female members of Parliament and Funkadelic, particularly those in the P-Funk sister groups Parlet and the Brides of Funkenstein: Mallia Franklin, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva, Debbie Wright, and Shirley Hayden. Seth is the son of Mallia Franklin, who, along with being an important musician in the P-Funk story, was responsible for the inclusion of many members of the collective; most famously, she introduced Bootsy Collins to George Clinton and convinced him to include Bootsy in P-Funk.

As Seth writes, "The Brides of Funkenstein and Parlet, were, along with Bootsy Collins, the most successful groups to come out of the P-Funk Empire. The women sang and contributed to all the organization's in-house projects...In an era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, detouring through disco, and cresting on punk and new wave of the eighties, this critical "female" piece of the music history puzzle is as important as any other."

You can buy "Mothership Connected" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Seth Neblett!