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We don’t want to freak anyone out, but … we had some time off this week! We spent it in Vermont, with Jamie’s family, doing a whole lot of not much at all. We needed it.

As a result, we only had two shows … so we only talked about tour for 25 or 30 minutes. But then we also accidentally spent 25 or 30 minutes talking about creeping authoritarianism, white supremacy, and positive things we can do about it. Because, you know, 2019. Enjoy!

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We had a super busy week! We played five shows and drove 1,500 miles – starting out in the Upper Midwest and ending up in Burlington, VT. It was a whirlwind! And it was wonderful. We got to meet a bunch of new people and we got to think about a bunch of interesting things, including:

• The hoops artists are expected to jump through
• Openheartedness, and embracing people who are different than you
• Faith-based rain backup
• Unitarian universalist church (who knew!)

We’ll tell you all about it. It’s a fun conversation.

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If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from our life experience, it’s that art has extraordinary power to redeem and to heal. So … what if we could apply those redemptive and healing powers to our criminal justice system? Well, there’s an organization in Missouri that has been putting that idea into action for the last two decades. They’re called Prison Performing Arts. And one of our house concert hosts from this last week is a member! So we’ve been learning about what they do. It’s an idea that’s radical in its simplicity, and which can serve as a critical bridge to restorative justice.

And then of course we’ll update you on all this week’s tour adventures! We had another wonderful group of shows. We’ll tell you all about it.

You can (and should) learn more about Prison Performing Arts at http://prisonartsstl.org/.

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What does empathy look like in practice? And where do our responsibilities lie when confronted with people whose lack of empathy threatens to dehumanize another person? We had both of those questions unexpectedly thrust upon us in real time this week, in a random coffee shop in Gresham, Oregon. We felt like we acquitted ourselves all right, although of course we also both felt afterwards as though there were more eloquent words we could have chosen in the moment, and the encounter left us with a lot on our minds. We talk in the second half of this episode about what happened and what we learned.

And then of course our tour is ongoing! The rest of this episode is devoted to talking about the people we’re meeting and the interactions we’re having. It’s been a wonderful week, and we’ll tell you all about it.

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A conversation at a house concert this week with a dear friend who lives in a polyamorous family gave us occasion to reflect on the enormous privilege that we enjoy – specifically, the privilege of being able to be non-confrontational in situations where others can’t afford to be. We ended up having a fairly eye-opening – and sobering – conversation about this in the second half of this episode.

Fortunately, the first half of the episode is tour recap! And therefore much less heavy. Don’t be scared of the second half, though; it was a really good, and we believe necessary, conversation. Hopefully it will spark some thoughts within you; if it does, please post them in the Misfit Stars private Facebook group!

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It’s Misfit Stars Tour Edition number three! And what a week it’s been. We played 6 shows in 6 days in 6 Northern California cities. Which is a lot. But it was so worthwhile.

A lot of our people in this part of the world seem to be in transition at the moment. It’s given us an opportunity to reflect on what our intersection with their lives at these unique moments means for us. We return to that idea over the course of talking our way through the week, as well as talking about some interactions with some wonderful new people we had the pleasure of encountering. Come along with us on this deep dive!

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What does ‘home’ mean? And what does it mean to make peace with the places you’ve lived, and the seasons of your life that those places helped define? We went back to our old haunts in LA for the first time since moving to the PNW, and it gave us a lot to think about. We go deep on this in the second half of today’s episode.

Plus we talk about this week on tour! We had a great week, met some excellent people, and got to have some really cool discussions. We’ll break it all down for you in the first half of the episode.

* We recorded this episode in the car while driving up I-5 through the Central Valley of California. If you’re listening in headphones, you can hear when Jamie uses the turn signal. 😂

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It’s the very first Misfit Stars Tour Edition podcast! 😮 We recorded this episode on our new headset microphones, sitting behind a VW dealership in Folsom, California, watching cars whiz by on Highway 50. Funny looks from passers-by: 3. Lizards: 1.

We have our first couple of shows under our belt, and they were both great, for very different reasons. We talk about what made each of them part of such a good start to our tour!

And then in the second half, we drill down on a pretty deep conversation that we found ourselves in at the end of the second night – one that touched upon some topics near and dear to our hearts, regarding boundaries and healthy interpersonal interactions, specifically when someone you love is doing something that you can clearly see they should be doing very differently.

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You know how sometimes you just really have to write a song about climate change? But, like, a really optimistic one? Or is that just Shannon? Anyway, we’re sharing two more new songs from Revolutionary Acts of Optimism in this week’s episode, and one of them is that song! Setting up the song turns into a good long talk about climate justice. More of a rant, maybe? You’ll love it. And that’s not even the best song we’re sharing with you!

Also, our neighborhood had a really good week in court. We’ll tell you all about it.

We’re leaving on tour TODAY … starting next week we’ll be recording our episodes from the road, and bringing you on tour with us! We can’t hardly wait.

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It’s all happening! Tour is coming at us like a freight train. We use it as an opportunity to talk about scarcity, process, and balance. We also spend some time touching upon emotional intuition in the recording process, apropos of the wonderful record that Jamie just finished producing. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a married pair of DIY working artists approaching the beginning of an album cycle? Have a listen.

Subscribe in your podcast app of choice to get our biweekly free episodes, and unlock access to member-exclusive episodes at patreon.com/misfitstars!