Cringe With Marc Van Bulck

     Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, drummer for "Weird Al" Yankovic, joins the Cringe podcast! Bermuda will be performing around the country and beyond this summer as part of the Mandatory World Tour with Weird Al. Their latest album, "Mandatory Fun," won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts! This episode, we cover a wide range of topics from Bermuda's long career in music as well some hair-raising behind-the-scenes stories from being in Al's band! Bermuda also takes your questions from social media, e-mail, and Facebook - including specially submitted questions from the Close, Personal Friends of Al Facebook group!      If you'd like to find out more, you can catch Bermuda on the web at:      http://www.bermudaschwartz.com/      http://www.weirdal.com/ 

     Are human beings inherently bad or inherently good? Or are we more shades of grey? How do we understand brilliant artists like David Bowie and Woody Allen who create art that moves people but who have also faced allegations of abuse? This episode my good friend, Carrie Nelson, Skypes in to the podcast to discuss how we understand these complicated nuances - not just in celebrities but also in our own lives during the season of Lent. Carrie Nelson is the creator of Gender Across Borders. She is a writer for the Lifestyle section of "The Daily Dot" and the Entertainment section of SheKnows. She is also the creator, director, and producer the Greyscale Project.      If you would like to learn more about Carrie's work, you can find her at:      The Grescale Project: http://www.greyscaledoc.com      SheKnows: http://www.sheknows.com      Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieANelson 

     Angie Haze of The Angie Haze Project performs live on the podcast! Angie Haze is a recording artist and producer based out of Cleveland. She has been seen performing at the Akron Civic Center, the House of Blues in Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and countless other venues in and around the Cleveland area. This episode, Angie brings her guitar and bell shoes into my living room(!) and plays several of her songs off of her album, “Heat to Cold” live right here on the podcast. She also plays a sneak peek at a brand new song coming off her forthcoming album!      We talk about the creative process and how imposing limitations on ourselves can actually help us to become more creative. We discuss how making art can help us tap into emotions that we’re not even aware of, and Angie shares some of the stories behind her own lyrics. Strap on your bells! Angie Haze joins Episode 13 of the Cringe podcast!

     Rob Asghar is an author and contributor for Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the Washington Post's "On Faith." Rob joins me this episode to discuss a number of topics including how Christians and churches can honestly and relevantly engage in thought and dialogue about our relationship with the Muslim world. He talk about his experiences growing up in a family of Pakistani-American immigrants and his journey through both Islam and Christianity. We also discuss some of the questions facing scholars today about this historical Jesus, as well as his complicated feelings about scholar, Reza Aslan, author of the book, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth."

     The Force A̶w̶a̶k̶e̶n̶s̶ Cringes! Actress Katie Cofield ("Sleepy Hollow" [FOX], "Once Upon A Time: The Rock Opera") joins me this episode to nerd out about the future of the "Star Wars" franchise in anticipation of the release of "The Force Awakens." Katie recently appeared as an elementary school teacher who helps Ichabod Crane on the hit drama, "Sleepy Hollow," on FOX. She shares what it's like being on the set of a major network drama and also offers some behind-the-scenes insights in the competitive field of getting gigs for television and film. We also talk about her recent experience starring in "Once Upon A Time: The Rock Opera," and what it was like performing from a pirate ship at Comic-Con!

     David LaMotte is an award-winning songwriter, speaker and writer. He has performed over 2,500 concerts and released eleven full-length CDs of primarily original music, touring in forty-eight of the fifty states, as well as extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He is a peacemaking advocate and the founder of Peg Partners - a non-profit that supports schools, libraries and music programs in Guatemala. He is the chair of the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee and the author of three books, "S.S. Bathtub," "White Flour," and "Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness."      This episode, David joins the podcast to tell stories behind some of my favorite songs and his creative process. He talks about how his new book, "Worldchanging 101," came into being and how he and his wife, Deanna, developed Peg. We nerd out about Biblical interpretation and theology and of course involve you, the listener, in the conversation by answering your social media questions.

     The President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians performs magic on the Cringe podcast and discusses the illusion of aggressively polarizing politics. Joe M. Turner has been seen on Good Morning America, Nightline, and CNN Headline News. He is the president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, but before that, he was named him Greater Atlanta’s Magician of the Year by the International Brotherhood three times. He is a columnist for Genii Magazine and has performed Off-Broadway in Monday Night Magic – the longest-running magic show in New York City. He is a member of the Academy of Magical Arts, the Society of American Magicians, the Magic Circle in London, and the first Georgia magician to play all three showrooms in the Magic Castle in Hollywood.      Joe and I disagree about a number of topics politically, theologically, and artistically in real life, but this episode we talk about how the theatrical arts like magic can help people overcome the urge to be vitriolic and engage in he

     Dr. Marcia Y. Riggs is the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary. This episode, Dr. Riggs joins the podcast to discuss helpful ways that people of faith can process and respond in the wake of the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Riggs is interested in the relationship between social oppression and socio-religious ethical praxis, ethical discourse that bridges the gap between womanist religious scholarship and the church`s practice of ministry, the moral foundations for public policy, and the church's role in social justice ministry. She is the Founder of an applied ethics non-profit center called Still Waters: A Center for Ethical Formation and Practices, Inc. Still Waters' mission is to provide education in conflict transformation theory and practices, particularly focusing upon the intersection of religion and violence.

     Kathy Fisher from the band, Fisher, joins the Cringe podcast! If you have the soundtrack to the 1998 movie, “Great Expectations," then you have Fisher on your phone or iPod as we speak. Their single, “I Will Love You,” made them the most downloaded band on the internet. That’s not hyperbole – that’s an empirical, calculable fact.      During this episode, Kathy and I go track-by-track, listening to some of my favorite Fisher songs both on their new album, "3," and from the back catalogue, and Kathy shares the stories behind how they were written. I wasn't sure if Kathy would be into talking about the Bible or theology, but she was totally into it, and it's great. We talk in depth about the music that she and her husband, Ron Wasserman, have written for television, film, and the EDM scene. Kathy also explains to Marcel van Grandpa what "EDM" means.      UPDATE:  This episode was remastered on April 4, 2018.

     The Real Live Preacher gets ready to Cringe. Gordon Atkinson is the blogger behind the popular RealLivePreacher.com (now GordonAtkinson.net). He is the author of the book by the same name and gives us a sneak peek at the forthcoming second edition. This episode, Gordon talks about writing, creativity, the emotional challenges and processes of his life in ministry, and his decision to finally leave it behind. We also talk in-depth about the Real Live Preacher blog, his fictional character, Foy Davis, as well as what he thinks about "The Last Temptation of Christ." Plus, find out why Gordon nearly became the first guest to get the podcast slapped with a parental advisory sticker!

     Author, theologian, and professor, the Rev. Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, joins the Cringe podcast to talk about the question, "What's the deal with prayer?" Why do we pray? Why is it important? Is it important? Is prayer about trying to change God somehow? Is prayer about changing ourselves? Or is there something else going on? During this episode, we also discuss the theology of Stephen Colbert during Lent, her lifelong fascination with India, and the challenges and joys of teaching as a seminary professor. She also finally answers the most elusive mystery at the heart of our theological quandary: Why does a theology professor raise chickens?

    The mad scientist of comedy and magic, Mike Bent, joins the Cringe Podcast! Mike Bent has appeared on HBO, Showtime, ABC, NBC, CBS, Comedy Central, and A&E. He was voted Boston’s Best Children’s Entertainer by Nickelodeon, was called one of the world’s best children’s magicians by the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He’s been on the cover of MAGIC Magazine, and he was called “one of the most creative and imaginative people in magic”...by the White House! This episode, we talk about how magic has the potential to be a legitimate art form for communicating real ideas as well as being entertaining...but why so many magicians often get it wrong. I talk about my constant struggle to resist doing magic tricks during worship services, and Mike Bent explains why a youth pastor once called him the devil!

     Is community theater important? That's really the question at the heart of this episode's conversation with Eric Bultman, professional actor, director, and executive director of the Sumter Little Theater in Sumter, South Carolina. When it comes to storytelling, what does community theater offer us in a media culture that with alternatives like Broadway, film, and cutting edge television like "Breaking Bad?" Is it possible that community theater is able to create life-changing impact in the local communities that larger entities such as film and Broadway don't...and even can't? That's the question that Eric and I explore in this episode - how local communities can discover their own stories in the theatrical text and how narratives define, shape, and even transform our identities.

     Fans of Warner Brothers Animation will recognize Celeste Green as the co-creator of "Gotham High." Based on the DC Comics character, Batman, "Gotham High" was an animated series created by Celeste Green and Jeffrey Thomas. The series was ready to receive the green light from DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation until a sudden changeover in studio management shelved all animated projects at that time. Since then, the concept artwork from the project has gone viral, appearing in online film publications such as Gawker, io9.com, ComingSoon.net, and SuperHeroHype.com.      Celeste is also the former president of the Lyric Music theater and serves as the executive director and co-founder of Cast Aside Productions in Portland, Maine. What's more important for artists? Achieving fame and recognition through the admiration of fans? Or finding authenticity, sincerity, and honesty? Can you have both? Are they mutually exclusive? How do artists find that balance? In this episode, we explore these questions and mor

     Welcome to the first episode of the Cringe podcast! As we move into the 2014 season of Advent, I sit down with my very first guest, the Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann. Dr. Brueggemann is one of the most influential scholars and theologians of the Old Testament alive today...      The conversation covers a wide range of topics from the emotional processes that may have been going on behind the writing of the Old Testament, "The Power of Myth" with Joseph Campbell, Neil DeGrasse-Tyson and the Cosmos, and perhaps most importantly, how art and storytelling can create space for covenant and fidelity between the storyteller and the listener.  I ask the questions that I've always wanted to ask him...and you have the opportunity to do the same! During the conversation, we take questions from e-mail, social media, and Facebook. Special thanks to Dr. Brueggemann for participating in this conversation and for sharing his time with all of us.