Out Of The Box

What a boss! Blair Palese is the CEO of 350.org. She came in during our Business Time supporter drive to talk about being in the business of saving the world; from exposing the dumping of nuclear waste in the ocean, to getting banks to divest from mega mines in Australia.

During FBi Radio's 'Business Time' supporter drive, boss bitch and Executive Director of Vibewire Cass Mao conveniently played lots of business-related rap songs. She also told us what it was like being a prodigy and skipping Year 1 and Year 3 and about young people starting up their own dang businesses.

Dr Stefan Popescu is the co-director of the Sydney Underground Film Festival, an academic, an artist, and a bogan property tycoon. He made the leap to academia from growing up in Cabramatta, and talked about his experience of gangs there in this episode on Out of the Box.

This Out of the Box sees Emma Maye Gibson, also known as Betty Grumble coming in for a chat. A former child pageant star, beauty queen, and master of the burlesque, Emma is also interested in hyperfeminintiy and breaking down normal conventions of gender.

Olafur Arnalds came in for an hourlong special music interview with longtime fan and host, Ash Berdebes. In it they talked synths and Chopin, minimalism and the Tao te Ching, Mossfellsbaer, the beauty of imperfection, and playing games to create 'happy accidents' in music. Olafur gives some insight into how songs from his collaborations with Alice Sara Ott, Arnor Dan, Nico Muhly, Nils Frahm and Janus Rasmussen (Kiasmos) came about.

Double trouble on Out of the Box today with Jo Wallace and Heidi Haydon, locals of the inner-west area. Jo photographed Heidz as part of her rather successful Humans of Newtown. Heidi is paraplegic, after being hit by a ute while riding her motorcycle. Now, she's a motivational speaker and works to empower people with a spinal cord injury. Like what these ladies are doing? There are plenty of ways you can get involved. Humans of Newtown has been so popular that the blog has been turned in a book. This Saturday, is the Book Launch at Newtown Social Club. Heidz is running an online fundraising campaign alongside her brother this October. It's called Sing for Spinal Cord Injury and they want to raise $10, 000 for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia by encouraging musicians to record and upload a cover song every day in the month of October. You can donate here!

Roslyn Helper was our guest on Out of the Box for this last week of August! She's just recently decided to call herself and practice as a performance artist full time, though before that, she's was doing a whole range of bits and bobs, including life as a flautist, an accounts manager and a journalism student. Most recently she's been the Human Google Project at Underbelly Arts and she's now curating the Electrofringe 2015 showcase this November. She's also one half of Zin, who worked with Marina Abramovic during her residency here in Sydney.

Lovely local lady Georgia Woodyard is our guest on Out of the Box this week. She's the gal behind Scout's Honour cafe in Redfern and in a previous life was a commercial lawyer and played basketball for Australia. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming months for her brand new bar in Redfern!

Today the interviewer interviews the interviewer: Fenella Kernebone brought her music expertise and good yarns to Out of the Box! We discussed her new podcast Trackwork, which unpacks one track per show - the samples, the ideas, the stories - with musicians like Fishing, PVT & Caitlin Park.

On today's show of Out Of The Box we have the ultimate powerhouse - Jaimie Leonarder. Jaimie's worked as a nurse, a social worker, (the kindest) film critic, and general Sydney cultural legend for over thirty years. With a distinct focus on stretching how music can be constructed by individuals, Jamie found a way to converge the world of mental illness and music, founding The Mu Mesons, a band from the 80s and 90s that was comprised of individuals with schizophrenia and depression. Jaimie is now beginning his new project - Toho Nights - a weekly alternative club night with no musical restrictions or genre preference. Check out the Facebook event here!

While Nic Warnock works at Repressed Records in Newtown, is founder and director of R.I.P. Society Records and is part of the band Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, what it all comes down to is that he just really LOVES music. He share this love with us on Out of the Box this week, bringing some of his faves.

An artist, an academic and a media archaeologist walk into a Sydney bar... Ultimate slashie Pia van Gelder was our guest on Out of the Box today. What's a media archaeologist? Want to know more about electrotherapy? Or like ethereal tunes (plus a bit o' pop)? Check out Pia's work next weekend (August 1-2) at Underbelly Arts Festival on Cockatoo Island. What's a media archaeologist? Want to know more about electrotherapy? Or like ethereal tunes (plus a bit o' pop)?

It only feels fitting during Dry July to discuss a film about giving up the booze. Our guest today on Out of the Box was director and writer of Ruben Guthrie, Brendan Cowell. Brendan spoke about his experience of giving up alcohol for a year, one that sparked Ruben Guthrie, his new film released in cinemas today and about how being too Sydney, can be too bad.

Our guest on today's episode of Out Of The Box, Nic Newling, chats to Ash about his experiences with mental illness growing up. After experiencing a fairly rough childhood (a gross understatement), Nic eventually became an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention, working on Bite Back, a national online wellbeing and resilience program for young people through the Black Dog Institute in Sydney. He also works in suicide prevention initiatives as an ambassador for R U OK?.

On this episode of Out Of The Box we've got Warwick Levy, founder of independent clothing brand The Lonely Kids Club. Lonely Kids Club houses a bunch of alternative and limited edition t-shirt and clothing designs, ranging from themes like Seinfeld to Pokemon. Warwick chats with Ash about lying on his resume, growing up, and starting up his own label from scratch.

If you're interested in how porn impacts the brain, how race functions, or even why people believe in God then today's guest has you covered. She's an expert when it comes to bringing science to the real world, working on Radio National, Triple J and 702 ABC Sydney. She's written tonnes of articles for New Scientist, and has worked on Catalyst, The Checkout, and The Project. She's probably one of the only people that can make science seem interesting, and nothing is off limits for her. Move over Bill Nye the science guy, we've got Wendy Zukerman the science chick.

Onstage injuries, tackling fans, performing at bar mitzvahs, making a kids show for kids and making a kids show absolutely not for kids - it's always an interesting time to be the Umbilical Brothers.

"I think it's okay to lie about having two dads." "It's not normal. You're not normal. They're the kind of things which go around my head." When we discuss marriage equality and the impact of same-sex parents on children's development, why don't we talk to the kids? Gayby Baby brings out a rarely-sought perspective. On today's episode we have a chat with Maya Newell, director of the film. The sold-out premiere is this Friday night as part of the Sydney Film Festival. Wanna watch it? Keep checking the website for the next opportunity!

Aria award-winning artist and electronic music royalty, Paul Mac (aka one half of Itch-E and Scratch-E, aka Stereogamous) joined us for a fab hour of tunes (albeit being blasted with fumes taking over the FBi studios). He spoke about those pointy trophies, his album ten years in the making, Holiday From Me, working with unconventional artists and good good tunes.

It's a baptism of fire when you join FBi... welcome to this legend Jase Spiller, our new head of partnerships & integration! It was his fourth day, so of course we shoved a mic in his face and demanded some of his favourite tracks. Ash grilled him about community radio, work, travel and we were treated to some rad tunes not heard on radio for close to a decade... Great to have you in the FBi family, Jase!