This week I visit Eric Aleman, owner of the storied King of Kings Barber Shop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I’ve been going to him for a couple years and it’s always an odyssey which begins on my scalp and ends in my heart.
Eric, like a lot of good barbers, is able to step in and out of conversation. He’ll talk if you want to talk. Or he’ll just step back and keep working on your hair. That’s part of why I like him.
He’s not only a really solid barber, he’s also a talented lyricist, hip-hop artist/ whatever you want to call it. He’s a founding member of BLKLYST. Who you can check out playing at Littlefield’s or here on youtube.
If you listen real close here you can hear him shaving my neck at one point. It’s pretty hard to talk w a knife to your neck, but I did my best.
-
SN1:EP3 “Present French”
I hope that this conversation with one of the best and brightest French people I know makes up for my lack of insightful commentary on the situation in France. Sami Bronowski is a NYC comedian who walked around Manhattan with me back in April. (I’ve been sitting on this episode because I was worried you guys might think it’s too difficult/distracting to listen to a lively conversation which sometimes battles the sounds of dump trucks and helicopters.) We talked about the usual stuff: girls, mimicking people, food, death, and a lot of other very French type stuff. It’s worth a listen. Very John Cage-esque if you go in for that sort of thing. @SamuelBronowski -
SN2:EP2 “Walking to an Audition”
For better or worse, this episode is likely one of the first podcasts ever to provide an audio chronicle of the day before a colonoscopy. Today my walking companion is Katina Corrao. Much has been written about her positivity, but what is sometimes left out is just how much loss she has experienced in her life. We bond over the grim and I marvel at the horsepower of her attitude. I hate the word “attitude,” but she helps me accept it again. This episode was recorded on January 27, 2016 and February 22, 2016 and is one of the longer ones I’ve done with a guest. And for good reason. Hang on until the end, or just treat it like two back to back episodes, maybe. Check out Katina’s album Hot Date that debuted at #1 on iTunes or stream the live performance here. I enjoyed having her part my clouds for a while. Music this week by Aaron Campbell, A guy drumming at the West 4th Stop, and Direwires. -
SN5:EP1 “Six Foot Feelings
Season five’s inaugural episode is just me and you (a reasonable distance from each other) at an Aldi in Omaha, a Safeway in Denver, and notes from one of the most purgatorial weekends in the history of standup.
