This is one of those conversations I won't forget easily. I spoke the unbelievably honest, vulnerable and thoughtful Leilani Squire about her childhood as a Navy brat during the Korean War, her deep dive into nefarious activities during her early adulthood, her iron-willed classical dance training, and, ultimately, her highly disciplined and inspiring writing career as a poet and playwright. Leilani is the winner of our inaugural 10-minute playwriting competition. About her play 15 DEAD SOULS, t...
Aug 01, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Ep. 39
This week on the Savage Wonder podcast… Phanésia Pharel is our third-place finalist in our inaugural full-length playwriting competition for her drama LUCKY. About her play, our judges said, "Beguiling, moving, deeply satisfying — and genuinely original. Her theatrical devices were both enchanting and extremely credible. She offers a fresh look at Creole and Haitian cultures and how both have been affected by wartime. The pacing and dialogue are terrific, and the end of the play delivers a richl...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 38
J.F. Holmes is a retired Army Senior Noncommissioned Officer, having served for 22 years in both the Regular Army and Army National Guard. During that time, he served as everything from an artillery section leader to a member of a Division level planning staff, with tours in Cuba and Iraq, as well as responding to the terrorists attacks in NYC on 9-11. From 2010 to 2014 he wrote the immensely popular military cartoon strip, "Power Point Ranger", poking fun at military life in the tradition of Be...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 37
Anthony Torres is a writer, performer, and Executive Director of Combat Hippies , an ensemble of Puerto Rican military veteran performing artists based in Miami, Florida. A grandchild of Puerto Rican immigrants, Anthony was born in New York City and raised in Utica, New York. Following high school, he enlisted into the military and later deployed to Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq where he provided mental health treatment to deployed troops, coalition forces, and Iraqi detainees. The Combat Hippies was ...
Jul 11, 2022•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 36
Keith Rousseau is an Air Force Veteran who is an actor, model, writer, photographer and abstract artist. His path has been tumultuous, unpredictable yet successful. I had a great time talking with this hard-working artist who is juggling five artistic pursuits at the same time while maintaining his inspiration and his passion. Follow Keith here .
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 35
Out of over 180 full-length plays, Anton Sattler's poignant drama LOCAL GODS placed second in our playwriting competition. Our judges said the following about LOCAL GODS: "Authentic, panoramic, fascinating. Lots of terrific detail and dialogue and chock-full of story and characters. A haunting story about the interaction between the services and how humans can and can’t show care for each other." It is a promising start for a playwright only two plays into his career. But then, Anton has been a ...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 34
It is a real thrill to interview our first finalist from our inaugural playwriting competitions - Arthur Boatin. Arthur's play NOW DEPARTED placed third in our inaugural 10-minute playwriting competition. A character-driven piece, NOW DEPARTED is the story of a chance meeting by small-town natives Rhonda and Clayton. They learn who have in common and compare notes on parenting, drinking, and losing a partner. Our judges described the play as a "subtle and effective slice of life mini-drama. Real...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 33
It's ironic that the festival spawned by this podcast is the very thing that caused this podcast to go dark for the past two months, but thank you all very much for staying with us as I got thru the final months of festival planning to pull off a successful year 1 of the Savage Wonder Festival of Veterans in the Arts. That said, I knew we needed to come roaring back with a kick-ass guest. We got one. Phillip Kennedy Johnson is an Eisner-nominated writer and musician living in the Washington, DC/...
Jun 13, 2022•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 32
Derek Stoner is the kind of veteran artist that stands out on paper. He is a former Green Beret who is now a country/Southern Rock Nashville recording artist. But what you can't fully appreciate until you hear him is what a talented singer he is. For someone who only recently retired from the military, he has found a new platform incredibly quickly and has the talent to make as big a splash as he wants to make. And yes, on May 29, at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center in Chester, NY, you can ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 31
Scott Mann is a professional storyteller. His play Last Out is a full-spectrum treatment of our war in Afghanistan. It is not an anti-war play. It is not a pro-war play. It is simply a play about war and all its complications - the toll it takes on the warfighter; the way it impacts the warfighter’s family - both positively and negatively; the intersection of cultures in this particular war; finding - or failing to find - a strategic equilibrium that worked and was sustainable. It short Scott gi...
Apr 25, 2022•2 hr 21 min•Ep. 30
Jericho Hill is a metal band with catchy hooks and a twinkle in their eye. Former Navy corpsman McClain Potter and former Army soldier Steve Schneider sat down with me to talk about their lives, their musical journey, and the process of being Jericho Hill. Listen to Jericho Hill here . Follow Jericho Hill here ....
Apr 18, 2022•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 29
From the Cold War navy to the dizzying heights of the booming hip-hop scene of the mid-90's, Auguster D. Williams Jr. 's life was a success story until drugs and burnout turned him into a statistic - a homeless veteran with a growing rap sheet and a legacy a disappointment. His life could have ended there. But it didn't. Instead, Gus became an award-winning collage artist who takes reclaimed materials destined for the landfill and turns them into something beautiful. He sees his art as a metapho...
Apr 11, 2022•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 28
This week, Mason Rodrigue returned to Savage Wonder to talk about his debut book, Rock Eater . Our conversation spans everything from granular details about the book to foreign policy to the emotionally significant events in Mason's life. But the real takeaway should be what a fine piece of literature Rock Eater is. An autobiography disguised as poetry, I truly believe it will go down in the annals of military literature as one of the most jarring, vibrant, real looks at lower enlisted Marine Co...
Apr 04, 2022•2 hr 45 min•Ep. 27
Benjamin Fortier 's writing is not for everyone. It can be shocking, disturbing, wildly imaginative, jarring. There is no doubt it is well done, though. But much like understanding the history of a wine gives you an appreciation for it, understanding Ben's background - from his time in Iraq to his love of metal - gives you the context you need to enjoy his work. I can't wait to hear him read some of his selections at the Savage Wonder Festival - and after listening to his story, I think you'll l...
Mar 28, 2022•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 26
Jesus Daniel Hernandez may have the most Dickensian life story we have ever featured on the show. Jesus immigrated to the US at 14 from Mexico, found himself working a string of low-end jobs as a young father, enlisted in the Army, deployed to Iraq...and then magic happened. He was plucked from the military and thrust into the top tier of classical singers by Placido Domingo and Carlos Slim. It is an inspirational story that continues to unfold. A true pleasure to discuss everything from CBRNE s...
Mar 21, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 25
My guest this week was Stephan Wolfert. Stephan left a career in the military for a life in the theatre after seeing Shakespeare’s Richard III . Stephan Received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. On Broadway, Stephan created and directed the military segments for Twyla Tharp & Billy Joel’s Tony-Award winning production Movin’ Out and a character coach for Cirque du Soleil’s, Mystere. He also co-created a touring Shakespeare Compan...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 24
My guest this week was Elize McKelvey . Introvert. Art school graduate. Marine (makes Staff Sergeant in 6 years). Combat artist. Elize McKelvey managed to excel as a truly "martial artist" - capturing the stories of Marines as rendered by a Marine. There may be other introverts who became wildly successful freelance artists, but few, if any, did it through the Marine Corps. She and I chase shiny objects in a wide ranging conversation that goes from the technical - how many paintbrushes do you pa...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 23
Scott Mann is a professional storyteller. His play Last Out is a full-spectrum treatment of our war in Afghanistan. It is not an anti-war play. It is not a pro-war play. It is simply a play about war and all its complications - the toll it takes on the warfighter; the way it impacts the warfighter’s family - both positively and negatively; the intersection of cultures in this particular war; finding - or failing to find - a strategic equilibrium that worked and was sustainable. It short Scott gi...
Feb 28, 2022•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 22
Savage Wonder episode 21 with guest Shairi Engle . Our first veteran playwright - finally! There are a few reasons it took us a while to finally book a veteran playwright. The biggest reason is that I didn't want to book someone whose play was under consideration in our playwrighting competitions. Fortunately for this episode, Shairi has been too busy with residencies and work to submit any work, so I felt free and clear to book her for the show. And I'm glad I did. Shairi first came to my atten...
Feb 21, 2022•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 21
Savage Wonder, episode 20 with Keith Walter Dow . Probably no segment of western society over the past 10 years has seen a bigger spike in creative writing as the veteran community. So it makes sense that an entity like Dead Reckoning Collective exists to capture and publicize so much of that writing. But that spike is also a byproduct of folks like DRC bringing so much literary education to the veteran community - through workshops, writing prompts, peer groups, etc. I had a great time sitting ...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 20
It's not every 30-year veteran that will leave the military as an equally pedigreed poet. But, with an MFA degree, multiple professorships under his belt and a Pushcart Prize-nominated debut book, that is just what Anthony Thomas is. Articulate, erudite and thoughtful, Anthony and I nerd out on the various forms of poetry, analyze the intersection of sobriety and art, and dive into what brought him to the brink of suicide. From the mechanics of poetry to the beauty of a life well lived, this is ...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 19
Savage Wonder episode 19 with guest Brad Thomas. Army Ranger, veteran of the Battle of Mogadishu, Delta Force operator…guitarist and composer for metal band Silence & Light. There are a lot of reasons I couldn't wait to sit down and talk with Brad. For one thing, he embodies the warrior-artist characteristics we like to celebrate here. I've listened to Silence & Light's debut album a lot. We both spent time in Somalia - his was a lot more eventful. And like him, I was greatly influenced ...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 18
Amy's debut book, Poppies , covers a lot of ground - West Point, motherhood, war, loss, toxic relationships, femininity, and all the places she's peed...the list goes on. I could say Amy's work is unpretentious and brilliantly executed with real insight into so many personal moments and structured in enough of a chronological narrative to make it a page-turner. But what really struck me about her writing was her ability to surprise the reader almost every time with a misdirection or right-turn i...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 17
From his bodybuilding ambitions in South Africa to writing poetry in his native Afrikaans while deployed to Helmand Province, Neville Johnson has lived enough to fuel his writing for as long as he wants. Still so early in his writing career, he has attracted a lot of attention in veteran poet community for his moving descriptions and honest memories. Our first Five Eyes veteran on the podcast, Neville opened up about everything from his father on the South African police force to when he knew it...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 16
Savage Wonder, Episode 15 with artist Sarah Rossetti, or, as she is known on Instagram @_invadergirl_ . Sarah finds a way to create mythic canvases that capture the nobility and struggle of military and first responder lives without becoming propagandistic or shallow. A former Air Force brat she comes to her admiration of the military and first responder community honestly. Her decade tending bar for troops transiting through Guam made her a witness to resilience and nobility of purpose that she...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 15
Lani Hankins served for six years in the US Army, during which time she did one deployment to Afghanistan as a member of a female engagement team. A lot of veterans have experienced a significant amount of trauma that cannot help but infuse their art. That is certainly the case with Lani, but this episode felt a bit different. For one thing, Lani is an artist in many media – publishing books, poetry, starting a blog, hosting a podcast and creating visual art. But her art – so far – revolves arou...
Jan 03, 2022•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 14
Savage Wonder, episode 13 with guest William "Buck" Bolyard. Had a great time getting to know Buck. From his early days in juvie to his time as an Army infantryman to his lonely New Year's Eve in Guatemala with a missing toenail, Buck has always been a writer and a wanderer. His life has become a seething cauldron of experiences from which he draws inspiration. He is resentful of poetry’s consistent intrusion into his life - not to mention, disruption of his novel writing. Yet, at the same time,...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 13
s.p. burke has been one of the most prolific poets featured on the Savage Wonder literary blog - and for good reason. He has only just begun to deconstruct and unpack the significant emotional events of a 20-year Army career. I got the sense, in speaking with him, that his writing is just trying to catch a waterfall in a cup and he will be mining his life experiences for years. I was also struck by how nakedly partisan he is about poetry. He is a true aficionado of poetry - not just its poignanc...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 12
In a crowded field of veteran poets, Dex stands out. Sure, there are not a lot of former Marine MPs writing poetry, but that’s not what sets her apart. And she doesn’t just stand apart because of her eloquent, poignant writing. I think what makes her exceptional is the diversity of subjects she tackles: motherhood, family history, the expectations of being a wife, the expectations of being a woman - and the way they intersect, conflict, or harmonize with her warrior self. She was a rock star at ...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 11
Sure, he was a Navy SEAL. Yes, he's become an established actor and producer . But most of all, David B. Meadows is an articulate thinker, a trait cultivated after years of introspection and accumulated self-knowledge. What a conversation we had. His operating system - how he has managed to live two very different lives while blending the best of both together and avoiding the negativity - is more than worth hearing. By the end, our phones were buzzing with missed texts, emails and calls - our f...
Nov 22, 2021•2 hr 35 min•Ep. 10
