Kites and Strings

Today’s guest is Johnny Crowder, who at 19 seemed to have what any kid in a metal band could dream of. He just got signed to a major record deal and was embarking on a career of recording and touring with a band he helped form and who'se name was tattooed on the body of many of his fans. But celebration was not in the cards. Johnny, who is an abuse and suicide surviver, with a mounting list of mental health diagnoses started to look at the business, the pressures, and the priorities of those who managed his career to make some sense of it all. From there, despite continuuning as a heavy metal singer (or was it death metal or black metal?), Johnny has found new ways to define himself and finds another, equally compelling path.
Johnny has subsequently become a mental health and sobriety advocate, who has graced the TEDx stage and who founded and is CEO of Cope Notes, which uses daily text messages that combine peer support and positive psychology to help improve mental and emotional health. In this episode he opens up about his journey and provides some really powerful messages that help us explore what it's really all about and how to keep our priorities focused on what is important.
COPE NOTES: https://copenotes.com/
Johnny Crowder on TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Zb_TLhPOw
The Forbes article about Cope Notes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2021/01/19/the-next-evolution-of-digital-mental-health-support/?sh=2b469af758f8
Twitter - @copenotes
Instagram - @johnnycrowderlovesyou
Facebook - @copenotes
Kites and Strings Website: https://www.kitesandstrings.com/​
​Facebook: @kitesandstringspodcast
Twitter: @Kitesandstrings
Instagram: @Kites_and_strings
Kites and String's is produced and edited by Steve Ploum at Turning Stones Counseling, Inc.
Our theme music is by Harrison Amir, and all other original music by purple planet music at https://www.purple-planet.com

"Go Paint, just Go Paint." That was the message our guest, Jodie King, received from an artist friend back when she was 35. At that time Jodie was a mom with two young kids and she had a job that paid the bills, but in this episode you're gonna hear just how amazing a message that was for Jodie. Fast forward 18 years to today and Jodie King's website says she's keeping it real and slinging paint on the regular. She also commits to the process of helping other artists, either just beginning or seasoned with years of experience by helping them create "honest art" or to learn the business of art. And although COVID posponed some adventures, she will be traveling to Sedona and Tuscany soon to teach honest art and to help people have a blast "turning themselves inside out" and making "fugly art. We have so much fun in this episode as we learn Jodie’s methods for getting a community of artists to grab their strings and to fly their kites, all while dancing and swearing in the splash zone.
Note: there are some adult words in this episode.
Jodie's Website: https://jodieking.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodie.g.king
Jodie's Instagram: @jodie_king_
Kites and Strings Website: https://www.kitesandstrings.com/
​Facebook: @kitesandstringspodcast
Twitter: @Kitesandstrings
Instagram: @Kites_and_strings
Kites and String's is produced and edited by Steve Ploum at Turning Stones Counseling, Inc.
Our theme music is by Harrison Amir, and all other original music by purple planet music at https://www.purple-planet.com

This is a re-release of an episode featuring visual artist, Luis Sahagun in anticipation of the exhibition that he mentions in this episode. The exhibition is call Unearthing: Magic, Mimicry, and the Mundane,
In this episode, Steve and Catherine have the distinct pleasure and honor to interview Luis Sahagun, an amazing artist who is tremendously candid in sharing how he discovered that his artmaking gave him, an undocumented at-risk youth from south of Chicago, a voice. He speaks on how he discovered that he is a creative, how he's received support for being an artist and how sometimes he recieved messages that weren't so supportive. He also shared about his earliest memories of his creative process, leaving a more lucrative design career, and how he learned that exploring and researching the images that came out of his creative process truly helped him process trauma and loss. You will learn on the tough decisions and sacrifices Luis has made to create his art and he speaks on how he teaches children that they too have a voices.
Luis has been featured in New American Paintings (Issue #111), and his work was showcased at the International Exposition of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. He has also held residencies at Arquetopia Oaxaca, Roswell New Mexico, Chicago Artist Coalition, Mana Contemporary in Miami, Michigan State University in East Lansing and the Chicago Cultural Center which featured his one-person show, BOTH EAGLE AND SERPENT.
Cate White when talking about his show, THE MOUNTAINS WHISPERED AND THE CANYON SANG, says that Luis Sahagun has one of these voices that carries far and wide. His realness allows him to connect with any social group—from the hood to the hills and whatever’s in between.
Exhibition Description:
This Exhibition celebrates the conclusion of Luis' time as a Michigan State University, Artist-in-Residence in Critical Race Studies. It runs from June 6th to Aug 6, at the MSU Union Art Gallery. It is open and free to the public.

Unearthing: Magic, Mimicry, and the Mundane, is a quest to widen the understanding of ancestral artifacts, the imagination, and art as vital sources for dismantling western forms of intellectual imperialism. Rooted in object-orientated ontology, the exhibition interweaves Mesoamerican archeological artifacts and contemporary artworks from Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Graciela Iturbude, Flor Garduno, and Luis Sahagun in order to conjure mystical teachings via spiritual mestizaje.

NOTE: This episode has a few adult words
Luis Sahagun - Website
Both Eagle and Serpent - Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago Gallery News article about BOTH EAGLE AND SERPENT
Kites and Strings Website: https://www.kitesandstrings.com/​
​Facebook: @kitesandstringspodcast
Twitter: @Kitesandstrings
Instagram: @Kites_and_strings
Kites and String's is produced and edited by Steve Ploum at Turning Stones Counseling, Inc.
Our theme music is by Harrison Amir, and all other original music by purple planet music at https://www.purple-planet.com

Today (May 3, 2021,) we re-release an episode from November 2020 with singer/songwriter Empress in honor of her newest series of songs; the Vixen series, which recognizes and honors strong females. recently the Music Video for the song "Snow Globe" has been winning awards all over the globe and we are on the look out for her newest EP, called We Own This Crown.
Our guest in this episode with Empress, we have a very enjoyable and enlightening discussion about ballet and Broadway. You see, prior to becoming Empress, she was Shannon Rugani and had an 11-year career dancing for the San Francisco Ballet before transitioning to acting on Broadway, which lead to her current music career. In this episode we hear details regarding the life of a ballet dancer, including diets, focus, ballet moms, shoes, the ballet dancer's drive to be quiet and to have the right shaped butt. Empress also shared about her unique transition in 2015 from ballet to Broadway as she joined the original cast of Tony Award winning An American In Paris, and we learn just how big a culture shock that was for her. After An American in Paris closed in 2017, she focused on an early love, music, songwriting, performing and the idea that drives her claiming the name Empress.
“I want to empower people to be their own empress or emperor – ruler of their personal world. That’s why I call myself EMPRESS – because I’m empowering myself to rule my own life.”
EMPRESS
Note: there are some adult words in this episode
the Empress Website = https://empress-music.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EMPRESS.music/
https://www.instagram.com/empress.music/
Empress Music on YouTube
Empress on Spotify

Amber Roper is a fibers artists, considered by Saatchi Arts to a "Rising Star" in their elite group of 35 under 35 international artists in 2020. She is founder of the Bluhen Studio in London, England, which translates to "Flourish and Blossom," and you will soon learn how perfect this name is for Amber.
Amber grew up in London, and despite initial wanting's to break free, like many a restless young-adult, she stayed-put given her being accepted to the prestigious Central Saint Martins University. She found the philosophy of that institution to be a perfect fit, especially given her needing a bit of a hand-up. Her background is modest, being first-generation-college from working class family, and with many siblings. Frankly speaking, many (including Amber) would not have called her university material. Complicating things more, she learned that she was carrying a diagnosis of Dyslexia, which answered many questions for Amber.
Amber Roper is amazing in her recognition that support in the form of having her creativity be not only be recognized and seen, but to also be "championed" by her parents, and more recently her musically-inclined partner.
Amber has since graduated from Central St. Martins, she has exhibited internationally, garnered critical acclaim, awards and notable, a tremendous sense of balance and appreciation for her role as a a new mom, and an artist. That is what drew us to her and it was a total pleasure to talk with Amber Rober.
Amber's website: https://thebluhenstudio.london/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebluhenstudio/ or @theBluhenstudio
Kites and Strings Website: https://www.kitesandstrings.com/​
​Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kitesandstringspodcast
Twitter: @Kitesandstrings
Instagram: @Kites_and_strings
email: [email protected]
Kites and String's is produced and edited by Steve Ploum at Turning Stones Counseling, Inc.
Our theme music is by Harrison Amer, and all other original music by purple planet music at https://www.purple-planet.com. Our logo-design is by Cole Monroe at Blue Stag Creative.