Author Archives: beerlit

Episode #2: Guest Author Toussaint Morrison

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This month Michael and Laura welcome Toussaint Morrison – writer, poet, musician, lyricist, actor…and more – about his multiple artistic endeavors.

Toussaint writes and produces scripts for YouTube, has toured with multiple bands, has written lyrics and music for nearly 200 songs, and participates in slam poetry—among other things. Stop by and hear Toussaint reading and performing some of his work!

Toussaint Morrison is an avid mentor for youth, working as a paraprofessional in special education classrooms and leading spoken word workshops primarily in middle schools. He is also an Emmy award winning host of PBS’s civic engagement web series, America From Scratch. Graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Theater, Morrison now spends his time writing & producing film for majority casts of color.

www.toussaintmorrison.blogspot.com

Youtube.com/toussaintmorrison

Youtube.com/urbanhomecinema

Patreon.com/toussaintmorrison

Toussaint’s Readings:

  • The Fight that
    Never Was – 12:35
  • Escaping Nina’s – 28:15
  • Baby Gots Venom –
    44:40

Michael’s Beer Pairings:

  • Miller High Life,
    Miller Brewing Company – 9:50
  • Ninja vs. Unicorn,
    Pipeworks Brewing Co. – 26:40
  • The Abyss,
    Deschutes Brewery – 41:38

Interview Highlights:

  • The impact of New
    Orleans on Toussaint’s writing. – 19:25
  • Managing time—how does
    one person do so much? – 22:25
  • Urban Home
    Companion and Toussaint’s beef with Garrison Keillor! – 32:10
  • Influence of Charles
    Bukowski and elevating the mundane moments – 36:35
  • How different
    styles of writing lend themselves to different stories or messages – 50:45

Upcoming Events:

Toussaint is performing a live spoken word show at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 22nd.

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Bob Miller, Author and Magician

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

Michael, Laura and Toussaint

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

HELP US GROW

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefited from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

  • Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.
  • A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode.
  • Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
  • Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN
  • Books and Brews products:
    https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
  • Sponsor an episode to promote your product or service: contact us booksandbrewslive@gmail.com

Telling Stories from the Great Wall of China to Minneapolis: Loren Niemi, Episode #1

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This month Michael and Laura spoke with Loren Niemi about his newest book, a collection of short stories entitled, What Haunts Us.

Loren is a storyteller with 40 years of creating, performing and teaching Stories that Matter. He has told stories everywhere from China’s Great Wall to the backrooms of German restaurants and the theaters of Minneapolis.

His work has been called “post-modern,” pushing the boundaries of narrative form “with a dark beauty of language that is not ashamed of poetry.”

Loren is also an author. His books include the award winning The New Book of Plots, an examination of oral and written narratives; and the critically acclaimed Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories, which he co-authored with Elizabeth Ellis. In 2016 he received the National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award. His collection of original and collected ghost stories What Haunts Us came out in February 2019.

www.lorenniemistories.com

Loren’s stories:

  • Remodeling the Kitchen – 10:59
  • Barbecue Bus – 26:53
  • The Hungry Carpet – 47:23

Michael’s beer pairings:

  • Oh Fudge!, Prairie
    Artisan Ales – 9:02
  • Aecht Schlenkerla
    Rauchbier Märzen, Brauerei Heller-Trum – 24:14
  • Kriek Boon, Brouwerij
    Boon  – 44:45

Interview highlights:

  • The impact of
    growing up moving on storytellers – 15:54
  • Becoming a
    storyteller – 17:33
  • Storytelling…on
    the Great Wall of China – 21:05
  • Why we tell
    stories – 22:55
  • Why we’re drawn to
    ghost stories and other dark tales – 36:53
  • Telling stories
    vs. writing stories – 51:00

Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.

If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:

HELP US GROW

If you enjoy our interviews or have benefited from them, we invite you to help us continue our work. It takes a great deal of time and money to produce Books and Brews. We’ve been doing interviews since January 2017 as a free service to authors. We continue to promote those authors on our social media for years after their interviews.

  • Subscribing, following, liking, commenting and sharing all help us to keep doing what we do.
  • A $5 tip helps us pay for our many expenses: Libsyn hosting, web hosting, Google meets, providing the drinks for the interview and the many hours of preparation and editing that go into each episode.
  • Patreon: patreon.com/BooksandBrewswithLauraVosika
  • Tip Jar: paypal.me/booksandbrewsMN
  • Books and Brews products:
    https://www.zazzle.com/store/books_an… (more to come)
  • Sponsor an episode to promote your product or service: contact us booksandbrewslive@gmail.com