I’m pleased to announce that one of my songs is being used as the theme music for a really cool new podcast entitled, The Stolen Hours Podcast. The 11th episode, featuring a professional storyboard artist, dropped this week.
The song is entitled “Free of this Disease,” and is a machine-driven indie electronic tune with melodic synth layers and a lazy drum machine beat.
The non-instrumental version is being mixed as we speak and will be released as a single soon. It will mark my first official release in 13 years, and begins a series of new songs I plan to release monthly.
Get a taste of the new song by listening to any episode of The Stolen Hours Podcast which features “Free of this Disease” generously throughout.
The Stolen Hours Podcast is the brainchild of host Dennis Dalelio, a visual artist and high school photography teacher from New Jersey. It’s a collection of conversations with creative or passion-driven people whose mild mannered alter egos range from postal workers, teachers, sales people, moms, dads, husbands and wives.
Dennis is a close friend and artistic collaborator of mine and he and his wife Kitchen’s work has been featured on my album covers and in Flygirl, the fanzine I once published. He interviewed me for an upcoming episode, so look for that soon.
Dennis explores themes of faith and family life in his own work amid the sounds of five children: squeaky toys, laughter, karaoke, and lots of superhero movies. This ambience is heard in the beginning of the podcast, and contributes to its charm as Dennis steals time to carry out the interviews.
Dennis has long been a champion of artists and his guests include former students, colleagues, mentors, and friends he and Kitchen have met on their life’s journey or have admired from afar.
“The recording of these conversations comes from a hope to encourage and appreciate creative and passion-driven people, and to create a legacy of media that is about living honestly and sharing stories and insights from that life with everyone else out there just living life, but trying to do so… in a creative way,” Dennis said of The Stolen Hours Podcast.
One of my favorite episodes is episode 9 (Spotify or Apple Podcasts) which features a great conversation with a retired creative writing teacher colleague of Dennis’. The talented wordsmith reads some of her original poetry for the first time in public. You can read one of the poems on The Stolen Hours Podcast website here.
This is part of what I love about Dennis’ podcast: how it highlights his penchant for encouraging the people in his life to strive for excellence in their work and in their own lives. He also has a knack for discovering interesting and talented artists, including a highway evangelist who creates collaborative art pieces all around the country.
I have to credit Dennis for giving me the swift kick in the butt I needed. Because after he interviewed me for one of the upcoming episodes, I rushed to get my back catalog up on all the streaming platforms, and to update my website – two things I had put off for some time.
I know I’m not the only person Dennis has inspired, and The Stolen Hours Podcast is a showcase for how he does that, and for how he interacts with his creative community.
The Stolen Hours Podcast cover image is by Mike Ferrari and was reprinted with permission.