Cozy Zone With Ben Weber

Renata Melillo Townsend is a fierce inspiration. She is a theater maker, a puppeteer, an applied theater practitioner, an arts administrator, a newlywed, and a dreamer. For our cozy zone, Renata invited me to the Kingdom of the Arts: Lincoln Center.  Enjoy Side C! Track One: Puppet Parade Track Two: Rooting for Sex Track Three: Permission to Crush Track…Read more EPISODE 45: Renata Melillo Townsend at Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza SIDE C

Renata Melillo Townsend is a fierce inspiration. She is a theater maker, a puppeteer, an applied theater practitioner, an arts administrator, a newlywed, and a dreamer. For our cozy zone, Renata invited me to the Kingdom of the Arts: Lincoln Center.  Enjoy Side B! Track One: You Have a Dark Power Track Two: Family Affirmations Track Three: Newly Wed…Read more EPISODE 45: Renata Melillo Townsend at Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza SIDE B

Renata Melillo Townsend is a fierce inspiration. She is a theater maker, a puppeteer, an applied theater practitioner, an arts administrator, a newlywed, and a dreamer. For our cozy zone, Renata invited me to the Kingdom of the Arts: Lincoln Center.  Enjoy Side A! Track One: Cozy Zone Intro by Danny Townsend Track Two: Episode…Read more EPISODE 45: Renata Melillo Townsend at Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza SIDE A

I love being around Cindy. I met her as a healer, specializing in craniosacral therapy, who told me that this modality helped her relieve the chronic anxiety she had been facing. She is gentle, playful, courageous, thoughtful, and engages with radical ideas with openness and generosity. I’m very proud of this #cozyzone. If you are…Read more EPISODE 44: Cindy at the Black Table

Marisol Rosa-Shapiro is a brilliant, little comet that effortlessly shines upon everything around her. She is a deft physical comedian, a courageous thinker, and a true feelings adventurer. I’m so lucky we got to spend the day together at Coney Island, gazing at the water, beholding the brave bathers, and eating some of the best pizza…Read more EPISODE 43: Marisol Rosa-Shapiro at Coney Island

Jennie Gruber is a writer, educator, friend extraordinaire, and a total babe. She is also the world’s leading expert on Tina Horn,  “a writer, educator, interdisciplinary media-maker, queer punk, and true karaoke believer.” Jennie invited me to her Red Hook, Brooklyn apartment to chat in the bath. We talk sex, podcasting, superheroes, and secret identities. I’m a huge…Read more EPISODE 42: Jennie Gruber in the Bath

Manny Delgado is a computer scientist, a movie lover, a video game enthusiast, a New York native, and a very handsome young man. He honored me by inviting me to his bedroom in the Bronx where he candidly discussed how he overcame social anxiety, his duties as the oldest brother, and his dreams of being…Read more EPISODE 41: Manny Delgado in his Bronx Bedroom

Emma is a fierce, brilliant young woman with an inspiring capacity for love. She is a writer, activist, sex educator and Burning Man mama. Since I was Emma’s orientation leader at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, I have known her to be a leader, an intellectual, and a champion of sex positivity. I entered our…Read more EPISODE 40: Emma on her Couch in a Onesie

Zach Brown is the Renaissance in a man. He is curious, joyful, insightful, vulnerable, and freaking adorable. I asked him to take me to his cozy zone so we went to the New York Public Library. We could not find a cozy spot, so we found a table in Bryant Park. We talk about creativity,…Read more EPISODE 39: Zach Brown in Bryant Park

KD Diamond inspires me with her talent, cuteness, and capacity for unbridled love. KD is a masterful illustrator. Looky here! katiediamond.com kddiamond.tumblr.com She’s also an award-winning pervert! Lend your ears! Episode 15: Why Are People Into That ?! Furthermore, I love her so deeply and she makes my artist self feel nourished, loved, and fabulous.…Read more EPISODE 38: KD Diamond Cleaning Boots

Skyler Sullivan is a dear tower of love. We met at the American Mime Theatre my first year in New York City. For 12 years, we have weaved in and out of each other’s lives until finally landing at the same theater for kids and families where our friendship fully bloomed. He recently moved to San…Read more EPISODE 37: Skyler Sullivan in his Ohio Street Bungalow

Mommy and me. My mom Sally Weber sits me down on our cozy living room couch and reads me some of my favorite stories from my boyhood. Get ready for the cozy zone realness.

It is a cold, soggy night. Sam Jay Gold invites me over to his Fort Greene apartment, right above a Chinese Food restaurant. He feeds me delicious and healing chicken soup and we talk about work and love. After, we bust out our shoeboxes filled with Magic: The Gathering cards, pump up the Lord of the…Read more EPISODE 35: Sam Jay Gold plays Magic: The Gathering at the Foot of his Bed

Anna Drezen is a young comedy guru. She is associate editor at Reductress. She is a member of Gentlemen Party Comedy. She co-writes the delicious blog How May We Hate You? (soon to be a book!) When she was an NYU Freshman, she got into Dangerbox Improv because I said so. Anna invited me to…Read more EPISODE 34: Anna Drezen on her Blanket-Covered Futon

Erik Nevala-Lee is a man whose life I love. I met him my freshman year at NYU as a fellow teammate on Camp Anawanna Swim Team, the improv group who would later be Dangerbox. Erik is an architect, a designer, a beekeeper, an environmentalist, and a baseball fan. He is chill, kind, sweet, classy, brilliant,…Read more EPISODE 33: Erik Nevala-Lee in his Harlem Rooftop Garden

I first met Emmett at Ox Cart Tavern in Brooklyn at a lovely dinner with my sweetie, Nicolette. I had heard a lot about him because he is also Nicolette’s sweetie. In early September, Emmett invited me over to his place to record our episode. It was emotional, scary, beautiful, vulnerable, and generous–everything I could…Read more EPISODE 32: Emmett in his Room

My buddy Billy Schultz, a virtuosic physical performer, theater and filmmaker, choreographer, teaching artist, and carpenter, invited me to spend the night at his place so that we could greet the dawn in his cozy zone. Billy’s bedroom window looks out over Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn. Every morning, he sits at the small wooden board…Read more EPISODE 31: Billy Schultz at the Morning Window

Each time I greet Ronja, I am always struck by the gentle magic of her presence. Her eyes sparkle with kindness. Her smile radiates with poise and wisdom. Ronja is an educator, an adventurer, generous partner to my buddy Tim Manley, and a dreamer questing for more perfect modes of creative expression. We met up…Read more EPISODE 30: Ronja Furiya at The Brooklyn Inn

On Saturday June 6, 2015 I spent the day in one of my coziest zones: FIGMENT NYC on Governors Island. On Side D, I chat with Dana & Emma about weird kids on Tumblr and what the future may bring. Dana and Emma recommend episodes #11 and #26 of hit podcast Welcome to Nightvale  and swoon over heartthrobs…Read more EPISODE 29: FIGMENT NYC 2015 SIDE D – Dana & Emma

On Saturday June 6, 2015 I spent the day in one of my coziest zones: FIGMENT NYC on Governors Island. On Side C, I become a Citizen of Earth! Artist Nick Kozak, transforms an old officer’s house into a place for the people of the world to register their global citizenship. Here’s what Nick says about the project: “This project…Read more EPISODE 28: FIGMENT NYC 2015 SIDE C – Citizens of Earth