Big Daily Blend

A great way to kick off National Literacy Month, we're sharing this conversation with award-winning journalist and author Michael J. Seidlinger who joins Big Blend Radio's "Toast to The Arts" Podcast to talk about his satirical horror novella, "Brokeula." It's a story of James Sugre, a vampire who's been broke for centuries and finally cracks under the weight of it, launching a multi-level marketing scheme to turn humans into vampires for a fee. 
Michael talks about flipping the classic vampire trope of old money and aristocracy into a story about financial strain, greed, and late-stage capitalism, and how the idea came together during a joking conversation with his brother-in-law and nephew about immortality and being broke. 
The conversation also digs into AI hype and marketing, the psychology of MLMs and scams, Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," and why horror is such a good vehicle for social commentary.
"Brokeula" (CLASH Books) is out now. Learn more at https://michaeljseidlinger.com/ 
Read our Big Blend Radio Review o "Brokeula": https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/author-michael-j-seidlinger-brokeula 

Happy National Matchmaker Day! Jeannine Wolfe, CEO and founder of Soulmate Quest, joins us on Big Blend Radio to talk about what it really means to work with a professional matchmaker. 
Jeannine shares how her own search for love after becoming single at 35 turned into a career, why she describes her process as "an executive search for your heart," and how she blends matchmaking with relationship coaching to help clients move past their own blind spots.
The conversation covers dating app red flags, the rise of AI-generated fake profiles, why meeting the family matters, how politics and values factor into compatibility, and Jeannine's take on "uncoupling" before you're ready for a new relationship. 
Jeannine is also the author of Soulmate Quest: A Matchmaker's Guide to Find True Love. Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GGB1YX1Y 
Learn more about Jeannine Soulmate Quest at: https://www.soulmatequestmatch.com 

Travel writer Eva Eldridge joins Big Blend Radio's "Parks & Travel Podcast to share her firsthand visit to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon's only national park and home to the deepest lake in the United States. 
Hear how the caldera formed after Mount Mazama's eruption 7,700 years ago, why the lake has no inlet or outlet, the striking clarity and blue of the water, hiking trails around the rim, the volcanic Pinnacles, and how Oregon's lush west side gives way to high desert on the east. 
Eva and host Lisa D. Smith also swap stories about accessible ways to experience national parks, snowy encounters at Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a great listen as National Park Week 2026 comes to a close.
LINKS & RESOURCES:- Read Eva's full article on Crater Lake National Park: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/crater-lake-national-park-2026 - Plan your visit to Crater Lake National Park: https://www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm - Learn more about Eva Eldridge and her writing: https://evaeldridge.com/ 

This episode of Big Blend Radio's "Getting to Know You" series was recorded back in April with Phyllis Bitner, Chair of the Miners Hall Museum Foundation in Franklin, Kansas.
Phyllis shares how Miners Hall Museum grew out of the 2003 tornado that leveled the town's community center, why the museum's twelve exhibit categories focus as much on the immigrant experience as the equipment, and the story behind the Page 618 Walking Dragline — a massive, one-of-eighteen-ever-built machine now being moved piece by piece into a new free public park along the Jefferson Highway. She also talks about the historic 1.7-mile Franklin-Arma sidewalk, the site of the 1921 Amazon Army March, and why the museum's research library keeps surprising visitors with their own family history.
Then Phyllis plays a round of our Lucky Seven Questions — sharing her spirit animal, her NASCAR bucket-list dream, a life lesson from her father, and more.
P.S. — Phyllis will be one of four storytellers at "Night at the Friendly Tavern" on September 3rd, part of Pittsburg, KS's 150th birthday celebration, and Miners Hall Museum is a featured stop on the Jefferson Highway Association's "Miner's Drive" caravan, September 17–19.
Resource Links:- Miners Hall Museum: https://www.minershallmuseum.com/ - Night at the Friendly Tavern Tickets (Sept 3):  https://memorialauditorium.ludus.com/show_page.php?show_id=200542773 - Jefferson Highway "Miner's Drive" Caravan (Sept 17–19): https://jeffersonhighway.org/event-6661501 - Jefferson Highway Travel Guide — Miners Hall Museum page: https://www.jeffersonhighwaytravelguide.com/travel-directory/kansas/miners-hall-museum 

Michael Calhoun, a lifelong resident of Vernonia, Oregon and Board Chair of the Columbia Soil & Water Conservation District, joins this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Parks & Travel" Podcast — timed to National Park Week 2026 — to share the story of the Banks-Vernonia Trail, a 20-mile former logging railroad that became Oregon's first rails-to-trail conversion and later earned National Recreation Trail certification from the National Park Service.
Michael talks about growing up in a town shaped by the timber industry, the community debate that surrounded turning an old rail line into a public trail, and how that decision revitalized Vernonia decades later. He and host Lisa D. Smith dig into the balance between resource extraction and conservation, why community-led certifications like National Recreation Trail status can help protect public lands from development pressure, and how Vernonia is now pursuing Dark Sky community status to protect migrating birds and pollinators.
This conversation covers real, practical advice for any community sitting on an overlooked trail, railroad corridor, or public land asset — and why stacking certifications and designations can build long-term resilience.
Learn more and connect with Michael:- Banks-Vernonia State Trail (National Recreation Trail Database): https://www.nrtapplication.org/trails/banks-vernonia-state-trail - L.L. Stub Stewart State Park (Oregon State Parks): https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=104 - Michael Calhoun on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael--calhoun/ - Michael Calhoun for Columbia Soil & Water Conservation District on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Michael-Calhoun-for-Columbia-Soil-Water-Conservation-District-100086151820617/ 

Sasha Waters, director and producer of the new American Masters documentary "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World," joins Big Blend Radio to talk about bringing the life of one of America's most beloved and most private poets to the screen.
Mary Oliver was a bestselling poet and Pulitzer Prize winner whose work — including "Wild Geese" and "The Journey" — has reached readers far beyond the usual poetry audience. Waters discusses how Oliver's decades in Provincetown, Massachusetts shaped her writing, the restorative power of nature and dogs in Oliver's life, and her four-decade love story with photographer Molly Malone Cook. 
The conversation also explores how the film balances intimacy with the privacy Oliver so fiercely protected, the process of bringing in voices like John Waters, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter, and Stephen Colbert to read her work, and why Oliver's message about paying attention to the natural world feels more urgent than ever.
This episode also lands right in the middle of American Artists Appreciation Month — a fitting time to celebrate a filmmaker telling the story of one of America's great literary artists.
The film premiered as the opening selection at True/False Film Festival this year, and has since screened at the Berkshire International Film Festival and Provincetown Film Festival. It's out now in theaters — including IFC Center in New York and Laemmle theaters in LA — and expanding nationwide, with a digital and home video release coming August 25th. "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World" also premieres nationwide on PBS Tuesday, August 25 as part of American Masters.
🎬 Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/B7bfYkgotBM  📺 More on PBS/American Masters: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mary-oliver-documentary/37967/  🎟️ Theaters, showtimes & booking: https://kinolorber.com/film/mary-oliver-saved-by-the-beauty-of-the-world 

Lance Laber, Executive Director of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, joins Big Blend Radio's "Tales of Southwest Artist Ted DeGrazia" Podcast to preview two new fall exhibits opening Friday, September 4th at 5pm: "The Midnight Sketches of Ted DeGrazia" and "Saint Francis of Assisi." Both exhibits run alongside the current "Ted DeGrazia's Painted Ponies" exhibit through January 27, 2027.
The Midnight Sketches, created between midnight and 5am on prepaid U.S. Mail postcards and envelopes from 1955 through the mid-1970s, offer a rare look into DeGrazia's late-night creative process. The Saint Francis of Assisi exhibit spans nearly three decades of DeGrazia's work in drawings, prints, sculptures, and paintings.
DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is a 10-acre National Historic Landmark featuring over 15,000 original works of art, including paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and more. Learn more: http://www.degrazia.org  
🎙️ New episodes air every 4th Sunday. Follow the podcast: https://ted-degrazia.podbean.com  

It's National Park Week! Every fourth Sunday, Joey Stuckey joins Lisa Smith on Big Blend Radio's Music Talks — and this time they're diving into the music inspired by America's national parks and public lands. Recorded right at the start of National Park Week (August 22–30, 2026), the conversation marks the National Park Service's 110th birthday and the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Joey and Lisa dig into seven songs, starting with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and moving through Doreen Taylor, John Denver, longtime Big Blend guest Wally Lawder, Joey's own "Oceanside," Ed Tree's "Chaco," and closing with Yusuf/Cat Stevens. 
Along the way they talk studio gear, accessibility in the parks, bald eagles and the Endangered Species Act, the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and Hawaii memories — but they also get real about what's currently threatening these places: renewed oil, gas, and mineral leasing pressure around Chaco Canyon, a mining threat facing one of the largest bald eagle gatherings in the world near Haines, Alaska, and the border wall construction fight at Big Bend National Park.
📖 Read the full episode write-up with action links, songs, and more: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/music-for-our-parks-joey-stuckey 
🎵 Listen to the full "Music for our Parks" playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6td2w1P7IEUuyVSYsjEvyz 
🌐 Visit Joey Stuckey's website: https://joeystuckey.com/ 
🎙️ Joey Stuckey joins Big Blend Radio every fourth Sunday for Music Talks. Listen to more episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/joey-stuckey