One thing I have learned as Conservative politicians ignorant of the facts surrounding harm reduction scare up fear of drug users, overdose prevention sites, safer supply and people who need compassion and mental health support; some people want to learn more about what harm reduction means and how it can help their loved ones before they become another overdose statistic. The most popular episode of the Woodstein Media Podcast is its debut episode. It features an interview with Joe Amero, who, at the time of the interview, was working in Toronto providing harm reduction services to help save the lives of Torontonians. He has since started working in Hamilton.
The episode dove into his story of drug use, the overdose death of his brother, which hit him extremely hard, and how he channelled those experiences into helping vulnerable people.
The second episode of the podcast Hit Parade is the eleventh, in which I talk to former Chumbawamba member Dunstan Bruce about aging while maintaining that fire associated with youth. Some people might call that energy purpose. We chat about his brilliant documentary I Get Knocked Down and his one-person show Am I Invisible Yet? and how he discovered his place in the Chumbawamba legacy through them. Bruce also talks about Interrobang‽ His new band is currently recording and playing a lot of concerts. Hopefully, they will make it to North America!
Here’s an alternate video version of the podcast interview.
The third most popular episode was the first of a two-part series on one of the more obscure bands from the Lookout Records roster. Most people know Lookout as the record label that helped launch the careers of bands like Operation Ivy and Green Day, but that’s not where I felt the light needed to be shined. This episode put the spotlight on the birth of vaginacore a cappella rap. What is that, you may be asking yourself? Well, it was given form and function by a group of women who hung out, volunteered, and helped shape the Gilman Street scene in Berkeley, California – The Yeastie Girlz.
I have allowed them to tell their own story as best as possible; it is a fantastic tale. I was originally planning a single episode, but the Yeastie Girlz had so much to tell that I could not fairly do them justice without breaking it up. Woodstein Media Podcast episode 19 dives into the group’s origin story and the reasons they felt the East Bay scene needed to be infused with vaginacore a cappella rap.
As I said in the opening of this post, some people don’t want to be fed lies about harm reduction. Some people want to share the information the public needs to make informed decisions about harm reduction. Garth Mullins is one of those people fighting the good fight to inform people as host of Crackdown, an award-winning podcast created by drug users to share their stories fairly and honestly.
On episode 14 of the Woodstein Media Podcast, Mullins was kind enough to share his knowledge and experience with me. It has been a popular episode, so it seems to me there are a lot of people interested in knowing more about harm reduction and the drug poisoning crisis, the challenge of distributing a safe, unadulterated drug supply, defunding the police, the positives and negatives of British Columbia’s decriminalization pilot which has recently been rolled back, starting a grassroots drug user activist group, and Mullins’ new band Low Dead Space.
The fifth most popular episode of the podcast has already been referenced in this piece. It’s part two of the Yeastie Girlz story and tells the tale of how vaginacore a cappella rap hit dance clubs and stadiums and went viral on social media.
The Yeastie Girlz talk about the group’s legacy – how the songs and ideas have aged, connecting to new fans via social media and old-fashioned postal mail, books, bookshops, bands, and the possibility of new raps.
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