Kalamazoo-based creative Marcel Fable Price drops by Keep Your Voice Down to promote his book “New American Monarch,” and perform an excerpt from the title ahead of its October 8 release. Alek, Doug, and Fable also settle the Chicago deep dish versus New York style pizza debate, discover the link between Fable’s love of nature and Louis Armstrong, and discuss the myriad of ways one can process trauma and grief.
Keep Your Voice Down
Alek and Doug are joined by Watershed Voice staff writer Frank Stanko for his long overdue Keep Your Voice Down debut. The trio discuss Samwise Gamgee and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, Frank’s journey from Michigan to North Dakota and back again, the challenges, rewards, and current state of journalism, and Frank’s passion for theatre.
In true Watershed Voice fashion the Keep Your Voice Down (wrecking) crew brings the news in this week’s episode. Doug and Alek discuss the fourth annual Artist Showcase lineup announcement slated for next week, the Huss Project Farmer’s Market that kicks off on Saturday, June 1 (according to Doug’s Fitbit), and the official end to Watershed’s paywall, making content accessible to all regardless of financial circumstance.
Doug and Alek dusted off their mics and got back into the game this week after nearly five months away, explaining where they’ve been, why it’s been so long, and what not to do when it comes to retrieving DoorDash orders or cleaning up dog pee.
As we approach the final days of 2023, we are taking a look back at Keep Your Voice Down’s most listened-to episodes of the year. Check out the list here.
Hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. are joined by Watershed Voice’s resident holiday expert Steph Hightree for a very special episode of Keep Your Voice Down. After a brief NewsMatch update, the greatest trio since Garfield, Holland, and Maguire discuss elves on shelves, new and old traditions, the legitimacy of ham, Christmas cats, their favorite holiday films, and more. So grab your egg nog and glorified rice because it’s about to get real — festive.
Keep Your Voice Down Presents: This interview with Matt Erspamer, a journalist, copy writer, and film and television critic, who also happens to have went to Central Michigan University with hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears, Jr. The three CMU journalism school alums discuss a new partnership between Matt and Watershed Voice, the pros and cons of streaming services acting as movie studios, the origin of Matt’s passion for cinema, and why only one of them is currently practicing journalism.
On this week’s episode of Keep Your Voice Down, Alek and Doug are joined by Washington-based hip hop producer and artist Blake Alford. The Anderson, Indiana native talks about his latest project Domino Effect, and the added effort that went into producing the album’s first single, Oxygen, which is set to drop on November 10.
The trio also discuss how Blake has evolved as an artist, why community and collaboration are vital to any creative process, and answer the question on everyone’s mind, “what kind of music does Alek listen to when playing video games?”
Following a totally planned and not at all unintentional 80-day hiatus, Keep Your Voice Down is back! Alek and Doug return to their respective mics to discuss the 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards in North Carolina, mental health, and Watershed Voice’s upcoming NewsMatch fundraising campaign.
Alek and Doug attempt to recap the magic that was the third annual Watershed Voice Artist Showcase, while Alek grapples with the authenticity of certain pop culture references and idioms used by characters in Ginny & Georgia. Would a teen in the 2020s reference Ghost (1990)? How often does Pinky & the Brain (1995) come up? Is Casper the Friendly Ghost on the typical Gen Z-er’s radar? We ponder.
Doug and Alek are, in fact, alive. After a lengthy hiatus the duo return to preview the third annual Watershed Voice Artist Showcase (Saturday, July 15, 6 p.m., The Huss Project, Three Rivers), recap all that has happened between the last KYVD episode and this one, including Three Rivers Pride, Alek’s first tattoo(shout out to Portfolio Ink and Amber Ward), and how Alek’s wife Deborah is the Tom Hagen of Watershed Voice.
Andrew George of Three Rivers Pride stops by Keep Your Voice Down to chat about the upcoming and first ever Pride Festival in the City of Three Rivers on Saturday, June 24. Andrew, Alek, and Doug talk about how a Pride flag ban protest and the community support it garnered spurred on the creation of Three Rivers Pride Festival, how it all came together in under six months, and details on what to expect at the event.
Kim Moffat, executive director of We Are Voters and prolific podcaster (Here’s What’s Happening, Dawson’s Darlings, My America), joins Alek and Doug on Keep Your Voice Down this week to discuss all things voting. We Are Voters is a nonpartisan nonprofit that aims to reimagine civics education, reestablish a healthy dialogue concerning government and politics, and build stronger, more informed voters regardless of political affiliation.
With the recent passing of Dr. John K. Hartman, a professor who impacted Alek and Doug‘s lives and a great many others, the Keep Your Voice Down hosts decided to honor Hartman with a special episode. Fellow Central Michigan University alums Chad Livengood (Detroit News Politics Editor) and Steve Coon (CMU instructor, Grand Central Magazine advisor) join Alek and Doug to reflect on the life and impact of a truly great journalistic mind, and a loving friend, mentor, husband, and father.
Alek’s childhood friend and standup comedian Rio Riojas stops by Keep Your Voice Down to discuss his recent foray into the world of standup comedy and his upcoming show in Kalamazoo (Wednesday, March 22 at Final Gravity Brewing Company, 8 p.m.). The Bay City native and East Lansing resident tells Doug and Alek about how he got started, how his act has evolved over the last year, his comedic style, how becoming a father has influenced the way he performs onstage, and why you shouldn’t bring your kids to see his act.
Three Rivers Public Library Director Bobbi Schoon returns to Keep Your Voice Down to discuss the library’s involvement with the Smithsonian’s Spark! Places of Innovation program. Spark! explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. The Three Rivers Library will be hosting its very own exhibit alongside a traveling Smithsonian exhibit that will make its way to the library this summer.
Alek, Doug, and Bobbi also discuss Women’s History Month, National Reading Month, and the myriad of ways citizens of Three Rivers can engage with the library.
Watershed Voice columnist Charles Thomas writes, “Because ChatGPT can write essays, I thought it would be interesting to ask it to write a couple of essays for Watershed Voice about recent issues we’ve reported on. (The following) is an edited transcript of my conversation with ChatGPT, along with ChatGPT’s first work for Watershed Voice.”
Alek and Doug welcome poet, community activist, voice actor, author, and Watershed Voice columnist and board member Aundrea Sayrie. The long awaited interview with one of Watershed’s founding members doesn’t disappoint as Aundrea talks the origin story of Three Rivers Open Mic, her Black History Month series on WSV and why she decided to change the format this year, her ongoing health concerns and how they have changed her outlook on life, and an upcoming book she’s written about professional voice acting.