Out Of The Box

On Out of the Box today our guests were Ash Maher and Jodie Fisher. They run the pitch-black zero-judgement dance experience that is No Lights No Lycra. We talked Dengue fever, odd jobs, youth work and dancing in the dark. Get in on the NLNL action here. Dance like no one's watching, because literally no one can see you.

Tattoo artist Jimmy Memento and his apprentice Tom Townend of LDF Tattoo Studio were our guests on the show this week, chatting all things tattoo plus some things free diving. The studio has an open day for consultations this Sunday 10 May, which also happens to be Mother's Day so head over to Newtown with yo mumma for a matching tattoo consult.

From Paris to New York to Sydney, James Gulliver Hancock has seen it all... and drawn it all, buildings, to be specific. An illustrator, author, hubby and dad, his creativity permeates into all realms of his life. His book All the Buildings in Sydney is out on May 1. You can also check out his previous book All the Buildings in New York created in his one-time home, New York. You can check out his workshop at the Finders Keepers Markets next weekend and James will help you draw your own home. If you want to win tickets to join him, tweet or insta @fbiradio and @gulliverhancock with a pic of something you've drawn around you! James will handpick the winner himself.

Penny Greenhalgh, resident funny gal, dropped by the station chat about her journey from uncomfortable boarding school kid to comedian and clown school graduate. We danced, we laughed, and she brought in some rad tunes (with a distinctive Frenchy vibe). Make sure you check out her show Pop Pop during the Sydney Comedy Festival at Enmore Theatre from May 12 to 15, 2015 - crowd surfing and ice dancing guaranteed.

Brain and merch guy Jaymen Elliott graced the airways this week. In a year's time he'll have his doctorate in neuroscience at UTS (by the time he's 25 - impressive!) so we spoke a little about his shift work research, sexuality and the brain, plus about his band tee sales at music festivals. We reminisced about life at Manly High and tunes his parents loved to crank. Check out the playlist here.

Emerging designer, pompom fanatic, chicken lover and all-round sweetheart Sofie Teh was our guest on Out of the Box this week. We chatted style, life without hair, rural towns, travelling in Asia all to an emotive soundtrack hand-picked by Sofie. Check out Sofie's work on Instagram or Facebook!

On this episode of Out Of The Box Craig Schuftan - writer of Culture Club, Entertain Us, and Hey! Nietzsche, Leave Them Kids Alone! graced us with a chat. You may already heard him blasting through your headphones on Triple J mornings, or public speaking at lectures on music history, pop culture, Star Wars, or even the philosophy of disco. He played us an intriguing range of music, from Elvis Presley, to Hole to Steve Reich. Check out the full playlist here.

Our guest this week, Michael Mohammed Ahamad, is director of Sweatshop: Western Sydney Literacy Movement and author of The Tribe. We chatted about how music influences the Western Sydney Community, the importance of literacy and a bit of academia.

Andrew Bluff (aka. Rollerchimp) is a software engineer and new media interaction artist. He develops musical instrument apps including Mobile Phone Orchestra and Drumstudio and in the past has created speech therapy games such as Yakman and Speech Invaders. Ash chatted to Andrew about idyllic moments in the Czech Republic, his previous life chained to a desk, former obsessions with kung-fu and tai-chi, and of course music that has influenced his interactive art, apps and studies. Andrew's showing a interactive fluid system as a guest artist at Genext: Light Show at the MCA on April 19 plus a live visualisation of an experimental live electronic drumming crew at Hibernian house in April.

Professional funny person as well as comedian, actor, writer and improvisor Susie Youssef brought in an upbeat collection of tunes this week that had us grinning from ear to ear. We had a chat about pre-show rituals, owls, asylum seekers and black comedy. You can catch her new show in April!

Typographer/letter lady/artist Gemma O'Brien brought in a wonderful mix of tunes this week and in between we spoke about tombstone writing, Comic Sans, design and a whole bunch of Gemma's weird and wacky experiences.

Today we went behind the news (reader) with SBS news anchor Janice Petersen who brought in a rad mix of tunes. We chatted women in the news, being in a power couple (being the partner Julian Morris of The Presets) and punk on the Central Coast.

Artistic director for the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival (March 3 - 22), Emmanuelle Denavit-Feller programmed a beautiful hour of music and spoke about her French background, French culture in Australia, French film and French stereotypes. Oh yeah and French music!

February 12 Margarita Sampson chatted this week about Norfolk Island, her sculpture, her art, losing all her posessions in the ocean and the music she creates to. Check out her exhibition Infectious Desires at Stanley Street Gallery, starting Feb 26 until March 14.

This week music critic for The Monthly Anwen Crawford programmed a fascinating hour of music on Out of the Box. Her book Live Through This about the Hole album of the same name has just been released in Australia. We chatted Courtney Love, New York, music and female confidence!

Evelyn Morris (aka Pikelet) programmed the music this week and in between we chatted new music, feminism, the name, the Listen project and the Noise in my Head. Liked the tracks you heard on the show? Evelyn had a few more up her sleeve that we didn't have time for. Take a look below for extra rad tunes. Bo Hansson - Leaving Shire Elephant Woman - Blonde Redhead C.O.B. - Eleven Willows Erkin Koray - Hale Yar True Strength - Black Song David Shire - No More Questions Chris Cohen - Heart Beat Beak - Battery Point Dick Hyman and Mary Mayo - Moon Gas

Chris Lego from Reclaim the Streets came in this week to talk about Newtown, WestConnex and Reclaim the Streets in between his music. Track listing here: http://fbiradio.com/programs/out-of-the-box/2015-01-22

Photojournalist Andrew Quilty likes to quote his mate and photographic mentor Dean Sewell as saying “There are only two types of photographer: Those who draw attention to their subject, and those who draw attention to themselves.” And, while behind the lens he keeps to that, Andrew has done so much lately to draw so much well deserved attention to himself. He came to fame covering the Cronulla Riots in 2005, covered Hurricane Sandy from the front lines in 2012 using Instagram and has spent the last two years in and out of Afghanistan. He topped it all a few weeks back by winning the Nikon-Walkley photo of the year. He came on Out of the Box to help us round out the year for our final show of 2014. We'll be back in early January 2015. Full playlist at http://fbiradio.com/programs/out-of-the-box/2014-12-18/

Comedian Dan Ilic made his name making Hungry Beast, Can of Worms, and A Rational Fear. Dan's been in and out of FBi since the birth of the station, and even hosted Out of the Box back in the day.  Real soon, though, he's jetting off to work in California for Al Jazeera's AJ+. Before he goes we're getting him in to say goodbye with an hour of his favourite songs. Playlist at http://fbiradio.com/programs/out-of-the-box/2014-12-11

ORIGINALLY BROADCAST JULY 18, 2013 Jonathan Harris is a storyteller has spoken at TED, co-designed the Vermont state coin and runs a storytelling site called Cowbird, among many, many other things. He was here in Sydney in May 2013 to talk at Vivid Ideas, but he took an hour to tell us all about the music that he loves. Full show notes and playlist at http://fbiradio.com/programs/out-of-the-box/2014-12-04/