# Beginnings We all know the stories of how creative people get into the business of creating for a living, but how did they start using their imaginations in the first place? On the Beginnings podcast, writer and performer Andy Beckerman asks well-known and on-their-way-up comedians, musicians, writers, artists and thinkers about their earliest creative acts, their formative childhood experiences, and how they've developed both creatively and emotionally over the years. Beginnings is part therapy, part… Page: Feed: --- ## [Episode 730: Josh Olson](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-730-josh-olson) _2026-08-14_ On today's episode, I talk to screenwriter and podcaster Josh Olson. Originally from Philadelphia, Josh got his start in showbiz as a PA on Masters of the Universe and in 2002, wrote and directed his first film Infested. This gained Josh some attention, and in 2005, he wrote A History of Violence, which garnered him Oscar, BAFTA and WGA Award nominations. He's collaborated with Harlan Ellison,… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Josh_Olson.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 729: Blockhead](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-729-blockhead) _2026-08-07_ On today's episode, I talk to musician and producer Tony Simon AKA Blockhead. Originally from Manhattan, Tony grew up in an artistic household and started making music when he was a teenager. He went to Boston University for a year, which may not have worked out academically, but did artistically because this is where he met Aesop Rock and began making beats for him starting with 1999's Appleseed… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Blockhead.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 728: Emperor X](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-728-emperor-x) _2026-07-31_ On today's episode, I talk to musician Chad Matheny. Raised in Jacksonville, FL, Chad began recording music as Emperor X in 1998. Though he had a deep interest in science and pursued an advanced degree in physics, music was his true calling, and in 2012 he moved to Berlin to tour more easily. Chad has recorded almost two dozen albums and EPs as Emperor X, and his latest Unified Field was just… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Emperor_X.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 727: Daniel Bessner](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-727-daniel-bessner) _2026-07-24_ On today's episode, I talk to historian and journalist Daniel Bessner. Danny is a true renaissance man, but not in the Danny DeVito sense. As an academic, he is the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is also the author of two books, Democracy in Exile and… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Daniel_Bessner.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 726: Matthew S, founder of Illegal Art](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-726-matthew-s-founder-of-illegal-art) _2026-07-17_ On today's episode, I talk to musician and academic Matthew S. Originally from Fresno, CA, Matthew founded the sample-based label Illegal Art in 1998 and ran it under the pseudonym Philo T. Farnsworth for 15 years. In that time, Illegal Art released music from Touch People, Junk Culture and perhaps the most acclaimed of the roster Girl Talk. In 2012, Matthew shut the label down to concentrate on… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Matthew_S.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 725: Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-725-jonathan-meiburg-of-shearwater) _2026-07-10_ On today's episode, I talk to musician and writer Jonathan Meiburg. Born in Baltimore, MD, Jonathan started playing music in the early 1990s in Austin and towards the end of the decade began playing keyboards in Okkervil River. A year later, he formed the band Shearwater with Okkervil's Will Sheff as an outlet for their quieter songs, though by their fourth album Palo Santo, it became primarily… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Shearwater.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 724: Jeff Mueller of Rodan, June of 44 and Shipping News](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-724-jeff-mueller-of-rodan-june-of-44-and-shipping-news) _2026-06-05_ On today's episode, I talk to musician Jeff Mueller. Originally from Louisville, KY, Jeff formed the band Rodan in 1992 with his friend Jason Noble, releasing the seminal album Rusty two years later on Quarterstick Records. After Rodan broke up, Jeff formed June of 44, and they put out almost an album a year until they stopped playing together in 1999. Rodan's break-up also blossomed into a new… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Jeff_Mueller.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 723: Ron Regé Jr.](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-723-ron-reg-jr) _2026-05-29_ On today's episode, I talk to cartoonist Ron Regé Jr. Raised in Plymouth, MA, Ron began making minicomics in the late 1980s, and about a decade later, his first book Skibber Bee Bye was published by Highwater Books. For the next decade, he released comics and graphic novels through Drawn & Quarterly, but a frustration with comics changed his aesthetic focus, and starting with his next book The… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Ron_Rege_Jr..mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Episode 722: Dusty Reske of Rocketship](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-722-dusty-reske-of-rocketship) _2026-05-22_ On today's episode, I talk to musician Dusty Reske of the band Rocketship. Born in San Francisco, CA, Dusty moved around a bit as a child before ending up in Sacramento where he formed Rocketship in 1993. Their first album A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness came out a few years later on Slumberland followed by Garden of Delights on 1999, Here Comes... Rocketship in 2006 and Thanks to You in 2019.… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Rocketship.mp3?dest-id=73019) ## [Browse ThreatCrush Modules (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/rBY3AvXq416N) _2026-05-22 · **Sponsored**_ Install community-built security modules to extend real-time threat intelligence and monitoring ## [Episode 721: Michael Edison Hayden](https://beginnings.libsyn.com/episode-721-michael-edison-hayden) _2026-05-15_ On today's episode, I talk to journalist and writer Michael Edison Hayden. Originally from Port Washington, Long Island, Michael started out his career as a playwright before transitioning to journalism during a trip to India. This led to becoming one of the few reporters at ABC News covering far-right extremism, and eventually Michael became a Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson for… [Listen](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/beginnings/Beginnings_-_Michael_Edison_Hayden.mp3?dest-id=73019)