Mike Giant Podcast

Mike interviews Damon Soule, a fine artist based in Grass Valley, California. Recorded in Mike's home in Bouler, Colorado on February 15, 2019.

Topics discussed include: Live painting at Mirus Gallery in Denver, collaborating with Oliver Vernon and Mars1, the Denver art scene, growing up in Atlanta in the 1970s, H.R. Puffnstuff, childhood influences, combat play/drawings, moving to New Orleans, Varanasi, public school, mathematics, fractals, skateboarding, Thrasher, Florida, Colorado Springs, being a teenage felon, New York City, Ron English, graffiti secrecy/beef, LSD epiphanies, moving to San Francisco, communal skater living, BC Surf’N’Sport, freelance jobs, Astro, racking, Maximum Rock’N’Roll, Twist, New Deal, realizing dreams, printing skateboards, Fit Skateboards, Sam Flores, Oak Street house, Burning Man, Food Not Bombs, the first Dot Com boom, Internet Yellow Pages, buying domain names, Fabric8, 214 Clara Street, Pete the Tweak, breakdancing, Q-Bert, Club Deco, subcultural variety.

Mike presents a mix of jazz vinyl records featuring outstanding percussion. Recorded on Monday April 13, 2020 by DJ Artistic at the Lower Left Studio in San Diego, CA.

Playlist: (Artist, Album, "Track Title”)
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Mosaic, “Mosaic”
Max Roach, Bitter Sweet, “Mendacity”
John Coltrane, The Africa brass Sessions - Vol. 2, “Africa”
Buddy Rich, A Different Drummer, “Barney’s Bugle”
Gene Krupa, Percussion King, “Valse Triste”
Elvin Jones, Mr. Jones, “One’s Native Place”
Buddy Rich, A Different Drummer, “Back of the Bus"

Mike recalls memories from living in San Francisco in 1996. Topics discussed include: Ben Lovejoy, apt at 8th and Geary, worst roommate ever, coke fiend girlfriend, blood splattered walls, Damon Soule, Oak Street house, anarchist John, Food Not Bombs, feeding soup to the homeless, Burning Man, Masako, internal allergy, Maseo, pulling off a daytime non-permission spot, Jeff Rafnson, X-Files, Alysha, hospital stories, Barbie cool heads, Chris Woodcock, Scribble Jam, Dalek, Jaser (aka Rapes), Lead, Emit, Pose, East, El Paso, Aug, Fokis, dark freights, colorblind/night vision, oversized photocopies, paintings freight Big5 and Amaze, refrigerator cars, sideshows, Twist (aka Barry McGee), USF wall, C4, Cycle, photo trading with SMK, Gaze, Evade (aka Dave Schubert), Oakland Tracks, Dream, Vogue, Jase, using a messenger bag to hop a fence, inspirations from LSD, ACID piece, Susan Farrell (Art Crimes), Krash, windowpane, GIANT simple piece, stamp, Persué, Nyse, Zane, Heroin, Juxtapoz graffiti interview, Kelly Krantz, Adrenalin skateboards, vagina monster on Front Street and Adore (aka Reyes).

Mike recalls more memories from living in New York City and San Francisco in 1999. Topics discussed include: East Side Inc, Nalla Smith, Dash Snow (Sace), Agathe, Wall Street heist, John the Fencer, Kunle (Earshot), Tom of Finland cop tattoo, Titpig, Sarah Lawrence girl, Brendan Fowler, Ashley Macomber, Isaac Ramos, Wes Lang, Hoboken, layering tattoos, Body and Soul, European tourists, Joe Claussell, Danny Krivit & François K, seamless mixing, thunderstorm, Buter, Laura Ward, Sarah’s visit, lightning storm at Empire State Building, Rocksteady Crew party, Bobby Tribal, Martin Luther King and Hip Hop, “show and prove”, Kevin LeBlanc, cultural appropriation vs client satisfaction, Bill Canales, Jason McAfee, Regina, tattoos with sexual meanings, Flyrite Tattoos, Elio España, Kelly Krantz, Dan Higgs, Rule of Thirds, re-using needles, McAfee’s hand tattoo, The Heart Design, friends choosing flash for each other, Wane COD, bucket fill pieces, CoOp housing, 7A restaurant, out past dawn, Brett’s house party, drinking with Sace, cities at 4am, walking home drunk and shower of shame.

Mike Giant in conversation with Dalek at Mike's studio in San Diego, California on June 21, 2024.

Topics discussed include: Tyke, pickup basketball games, Hurley (2009-2015), Mark Parker, Roger Gastman, Black Dot, fashion world, Spacemonkey racing yacht, apartment mural, Cycle, dominatrix girlfriend, sex in SF in the 1990s, unintentional harm, painting freights at night in Chicago, closing out bars, interaction with Chicago PD, etiquette with cops, backing away from a sketchy girl, exhilaration of release, picking up Semz and Nekst from jail, referrals from fellow graffiti writers, writing to T-Dee, meeting Kaws (1995), car stolen in Queens, The Limelight club, Leeway, Sume, flow among creatives in NYC, Alphabet City, squatters, Sidewalk Cafe, Z Bar, East Side Inc, 111 Minna Gallery, Move shows by Rich Jacobs, Chouinard, location flexibility, disinterest in public school, DODDS, 16 years old in Japan (1984), 6’6” white hair, sexual standards, 1982 World Cup trip to Spain, teenage drinking and topless beaches in Europe, Iron Maiden “Number of the Beast” Tour, engaging with a new culture, Japanese cartoons, food mascots, Naval Academy in Maryland, family roots in Annapolis, new wave/punk, MTV, Oceans Two record store, confrontational attitude to punks, trip to Ocean City, meeting skaters, acting out, sleeping on floors, Espo arriving in a limo, lack of compassion/discussion from parents, parenting, honest conversation with children, self discovery through trials, processing childhood trauma as an adult, pressure of life clouding clarity of mind, Let It Go meditation to help sleep, medication, blood disorder, masking vs fixing, chaos bringers, Old Souls, difference in how sons first responded, Shannon’s past lives, realizations on road trips, people watching, investigating emotions, discovering new places, memory recollection, casing neighborhoods before writing graffiti, mind mapping, Web3, global anonymous community, Tunny and Joe, importance of meeting in-person, Art Basel, Buffmonster, Bobby Tribal, Nate Lyons and Kris Markovich, Jay Strickland, Duffs team manager, Shepard Fairey, mailing canvases to artist friends, making connections, pulling off life as an artist, the blessing of support and the impact of murals.