Tierney Talks

Welcome back Katrina Kemp! Katrina is an actor, producer, activist, DJ, and intuitive from LA. Katrina not only shares her own coming-of-age story as a person with pseudoachondroplasia but also speaks to the relatively new project of people with Dwarfism collecting their own history, free from the gaze of average-height people. She explains how people with dwarfism were enslaved for centuries and how being forced to labor as circus performers still inform how they’re treated in the modern movie industry (and the world at large) today. Katrina traces the relationship between erasure and exploitation in media and reflects on how vital it was for her to find representation and community online growing up. “We find each other deep, deep in the internet. But other people are finding us too,” Katrina says. This sets the stage for our discussion of “Dear Average Height People,” a film Katrina is producing by director Aubrey Smalls. As far as Aubrey and Katrina know, this is the very first documentary comedy special

Haewon Asfaw and Ale Lemus are friends, abolitionists, and pop culture enthusiasts. In this episode, they explain how practicing abolition together informs the way they watch their favorite Bravo shows together, especially The Real Housewives. Whether you’ve watched every episode of every franchise or have never seen the show, our conversation is for you. Listen to hear Haewon and Ale use real relationships from The Real Housewives to articulate ideas about conflict, punishment, and revenge. Using memorable moments from the Bravo canon, they also dissect capitalism, individualism and white dominant culture.  Haewon offers a working definition of abolition and advocates for the need to study whiteness as a mental health issue. Ale discusses intergenerational healing in the Bravoverse and makes me cackle with comments like, “Big Kathy is a figure that looms large in Beverly Hills.”Plus, they tell me about valuing your relationships as your currency and finding your resources within them. Listen for a fun medita

Rachael Finley is the author of the new book “Nobody Ever Told Me Anything,” a memoir and survival guide detailing her highly isolated childhood in South Florida and unique coming-of-age experience online. She tells me about exploring the duality of women through writing about her mother, surviving her 11-year-old year squatting alone in a vacation rental while her mom sought out mental health treatment, and broadening her horizons by hanging out at the mall. At the mall, she met strangers for the first time and began experimenting with the parts of herself she thought the world should know and the parts they shouldn’t… tailor-fitting parts of herself for an audience… a lifelong experiment that led her to write this unfiltered book.Follow Rachael on IG @instasteak and buy her book on Shop Hot Lava here. Thanks to Margot Padilla for engineering and editing this episode.  Recorded 10/3 at Pirate Studios Silverlake. Pirate is open 24/7 in Silverlake and West Adams, as well as all over the US, UK, Germany and Ire

Hi! Michelle Badillo is back. Watch her as Winnie, the sardonic astrologist in the latest season of "Search Party," streaming now on HBO Max. Michelle has also written for beloved shows including "One Day at a Time," "The Bold Time,"  "The Great North" and more. Watch her new project, "A League of Their Own," this August. We talk about our relationship and individual writing practices. Lots of chit-chat and tabloid musings. I drink a Coca-Cola and say Lacan when I mean Kristeva. I sound square despite my desire for narcotic freedom for all...fentanyl crisis much? Recorded on 5/27/22 at Pirate Studios Silverlake.Thanks to Margot Padilla for engineering and editing.  Our show music is "Let Me Love You" by Dis Fantasy.Follow me on IG: @TSTAR7 Write me: tierneytierneytierneytalks@gmail.comSupport the show (https://cash.app/$TierneyFinster)Support the show

I'm back from a prolonged hiatus with my very first solo ep! What a risk! Tell me how it goes! I talk about losing a friend, traveling for the first time since the pandemic began, turning 30, getting engaged, and more. I also discuss my love of Lindsay Lohan and Anthony Kiedis, the shameless way I engage with Bravolebrities, and my year of only reading memoirs. Please subscribe to the show wherever you're listening. New interviews coming soon! Follow me on IG @TSTAR7 and write me with questions and comments at tierneytierneytierneytalks@gmail.com. Thanks to Margot Padilla for engineering and editing. Our show music is "Let Me Love You" by Dis Fantasy. Support the show

Welcome back Beth Pickens! My favorite art consultant, art counselor & lesbian-feminist  money coach (she's a Capricorn too!) We celebrate her new book “Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles” and discuss some of its core topics — money, time, fear, grief, isolation, education, and asking for what you want. Listen for a chance to win your own copy! Beth shares tons of tips to enhance your experience of both your art and your life. Investing time and money into yourself, distinguishing isolation from solitude, and warming up for your own creative practice are all talked about. We also explore staying connected to stillness while an abundance of ways to spend time become available to us. Beth gives advice to artists with common fears like experiencing disappointment while pitching and avoiding promoting your completed projects. Beth says, “For artists, the hard thing is not attaining goals, getting the grant or getting the opportunity or the show or whatever, the hard thing is bei

Holistic esthetician ANDREA ÁMEZ returns to the show for the first time since launching the ÁMEZ Marketplace and developing her ANTI-POLLUTANT MASQUE w/ ALIANGÉ. We discuss building an independent skincare brand during the peak of the celebrity skincare boom, hand-picking products for her own retail platform and formulating her first masque with protective and reparative properties. We pour ourselves into the topic of perfume and luxuriate in memories of the defining scents of our pasts. We touch on hair brushing and hair serums, meditating and resourcing inner power.  Andrea talks about treating kilaris pilaris, identifying melasma, using microcurrent facial devices at home, double cleansing sensitive skin and more. She explains choosing mineral vs chemical sunscreen, protecting your skin from the sun while driving and incorporating smaller lines into your wellness rituals. There are tons of ÁMEZING tips! All rooted in Andrea’s interdisciplinary knowledge of holistic wellness, health, beauty and experiential

Alissa Nutting talks about adapting her novel "Made For Love" into a TV series and reflects on writing her singular first novel "Tampa" almost nine years after its release. She tells me about creating a character that engages with being loathsome and going over the top to make your point. We discuss eating breakfast at McDonald's and eulogize the Mexican Pizza at Taco Bell. Toward the end, I endorse a new drugstore lip product, share the perfect spring coffee order, gush about the documentary "Naughty Books" and more. Watch Alissa's new TV series "Made For Love" on HBO Max. Buy her books "Made For Love," "Tampa" & "Unclean Jobs For Women and Girls: Stories" on Bookshop. Subscribe to Tierney Talks wherever you're listening now. If you liked this episode, revisit my conversation with Michelle Badillo here. Follow Alissa on IG @nutting_alissa  & Twitter @alissanutting.Our show music is "Let Me Love You" by Dis

Niko Karamyan (@nikotheikon), Saturn (@saturnrisin9) and Katrina Kemp (@kueenkatrina) join us after watching "Framing Britney," the new New York Times documentary about Britney Spears. Saturn decodes Britney's ability to use performance as protest, Katrina recounts spending time with Britney and paparazzi in the Valley as a high-school stan and Niko raises questions about the role of the rose imagery in Britney's quest for autonomy. We discuss our emotional responses to the doc, explore what else we wish it would have touched on and tell precious Britney stories (including an epic dance battle). Also: the sick connection between Amanda Bynes and Jamie Lynn Spears (trigger warning!), the way Britney's torturous predicament led to the creation of a personal space bubble law in LA  and the Felicia Culotta of it all.  Katrina pulls an oracle card for the #FreeBritney movement. "Look at what white men do to their daughters," Saturn says, summarizing it all. Recorded on the annive

Erin Taj joins us to share astrological knowledge juicy enough for beginners and devotees alike. Taj breaks down fixed, mutable and cardinal signals, explains astrology as geometry and defines what houses mean in the context of your natal chart. She teaches what having planets “conjunct” and “square” one another means, expands on popular misconceptions of rising signs and discusses favorite parts of her own astrological makeup. Saturn Return, synastry and generational forecasting based on Pluto are also hot topics. “No one owns astrology,” Taj says, “It’s embedded in us to be curious.” Write to Tierney -- tierneytierneytierneytalks@gmail.com Our show music is "Let Me Love You" by Dis Fantasy. Recorded and edited by Margot Padilla. Hosted, written and produced by Tierney Finster. Support the show

Jane Ward is a feminist scholar and author of the books “Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men” and “Respectably Queer.” She teaches gender and sexuality studies at UC Riverside, specializing in feminist, queer and heterosexuality studies and creating “scholarship for the feminist revolution.” Jane joins Tierney to discuss her new book “The Tragedy of Heterosexuality,” a “lesbian feminist diagnosis” of heterosexuality that exposes the realities of heterosexual culture while encouraging its development into something deeper, more loving and less violent. Jane declares herself an ally to straight people as “they work to liberate heterosexuality from misogyny.” She’s an expert at revealing how weird most “normative” cultures and social identities tend to be. In this book, Jane contextualizes heterosexuality as the romantic arm of patriarchy and details how the heterosexual advice industry has been trying to help men and women in this country survive their marriages for the last 100+ years (not all that success

Today’s guests are Erin Christovale, Asuka Hisa, Suzanne Isken, Sarah Williams, Morgan Elder, Allison Littrell, Vanessa Zenedjas, Rudeness, Tatiana Vahan, Abby Kavanaugh, Katrina Carl, Laura Mart, Katherine Ross, Angelique Soave & Klaus Biesenbach. Tierney Talks hosted the first TELETHON For Your Art at Frieze Los Angeles in February. We brought the talk show to the art fair and broadcasted live from the ForYourArt booth on the Paramount Pictures Studio backlot, all Frieze long. The result is this collection of 60+ interviews about art, entertainment and community in Los Angeles. We had so much fun! This episode celebrates a handful of places and community spaces for art in Southern California. Erin Christovale (Black Radical Imagination, The Hammer Museum)Asuka Hisa (Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles)Suzanne Isken (Craft Contemporary)Sarah Williams (The Women’s Center For Creative Work) Morgan Elder and Allison Littrell (Murmurs gallery and cafe) Vanessa Zendejas (AZ West)Rudeness (Queen of Ange

Today’s guests include: Tini Stormberg, Trevor McFedries, Janet Taylor Pickett, Samantha Taylor Pickett, Chloe Coover, Zoé Blue M., Jiro Maestu, Jasmine Nyende, Irina Karamyan, Han Donovan, Toryn Seabrooks, Emily Barker & Peggy Noland. Tierney Talks hosted the very first TELETHON ForYourart at Frieze Los Angeles in February. We brought the talk show to the art fair and broadcasted live from the ForYourArt booth on the Paramount Pictures Studio backlot, all Frieze long. The result is a collection of 60+ interviews about art, entertainment and community in Los Angeles. We had so much much! This is the fourth in a five-part series of Tierney Talks episodes documenting TELETHON ForYourart.  Support the show

Tierney Talks hosted the very first TELETHON ForYourart at Frieze Los Angeles in February. We brought the talk show to the art fair and broadcasted live from the ForYourArt booth on the Paramount Pictures Studio backlot, all Frieze long. The result is a collection of 60+ interviews about art, entertainment and community in Los Angeles. We had so much much!   This is the third in a five-part series of Tierney Talks episodes documenting TELETHON ForYourArt. Today’s guests include: Saturn (Listen to their new single "Ready" on Bandcamp) Cyrus Dunham (Read his book "A Year Without A Name")Martine Syms (Subscribe to Scene Report) Jonny Makeup & Christopher Schwartz (View The Gallery @'s exhibition "Chips") Casey Jane Ellison (Watch this tbt of her talkshow) Lili Lakich (Take the Van Nuys Flyaway to see one of her public sculptures) Jason Correa (Visit his project space and gallery for some the best contemporary art, music, and performance in Van Nuys) Willy Boston (Remember t

Tierney Talks hosted the very first TELETHON ForYourart at Frieze Los Angeles in February. We brought the talk show to the art fair and broadcasted live from the ForYourArt booth on the Paramount Pictures Studio backlot, all Frieze long. The result is a collection of 60+ interviews about art, entertainment and community in Los Angeles. We had so much much!   This is the second in a five-part series of Tierney Talks episodes documenting TELETHON ForYourart. Use the chapter markers to skip around to specific guests, or just listen to the full episode :) Today’s guests include: Jennifer MoonJessica YellinEmily SegalKandis WilliamsAndrew MaxwellPretend Plants & FlowersGabriella Sanchez Jori Finkel Mandy Harris WilliamsTierney Talks is pleased to partner with For Your Art to present this series of talks. ForYourArt is a source of free information about L.A.'s art scene and ForYourArt’s mission is to inspire more people to make art a part of their daily lives. Follow FYA on IG @foryourart and check out htt

Tierney Talks hosted the very first TELETHON ForYourart at Frieze Los Angeles in February. We brought our talk show to the art fair and broadcasted live from the ForYourArt booth all Frieze long. The result is a collection of 60+ interviews about art, entertainment and community in Los Angeles. We had so much fun! This is the first in a five-part series of Tierney Talks episodes documenting TELETHON ForYourart.  Today’s guests include: Patrisse Cullors, Alexa Demie, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Liz Goldwyn, Sanam Sindhi, Peter Shire, Janicza Bravo, Rachel Lord, Seth Bogart, Sam Buck, Justice Singleton + Blaine O’NeillTierney Talks is pleased to partner with For Your Art to present this series of conversations. ForYourArt is a source of free information about L.A.'s art scene and ForYourArt’s mission is to inspire more people to make art a part of our daily lives. Follow FYA on IG @foryourart and check out http://foryourart.com/. Check out their curation of online exhibitions while you stay home.Follow Tierney on

Niko the Ikon is an artist and actor in L.A. Join us for a moody quarantine phone call. We invite you to eavesdrop. We discuss creating harmony between you and your living space and bringing intentionality to your interiors. We also alk about bringing love into day-to-day-life and how this time at home feels like a return to our pre-teen lives and friendship. “I’ve been living in a way that I thought was long gone,” Niko tells me. Niko motivates me to clean. We trip out on our relationship to time and space and reflect on sitting at home, spending time alone and how not being a fake bitch is a superpower. We meditate on the wealth of what we’ve shared together as long-time friends and get into cybersex, physical touch and healing our heart chakras. We talk about trusting ourselves, trusting our friends and how the shifting culture around mental health has impacted our relationship. Increasing our permission to be emotionally honest as we go. We encourage every actor to hold tight to their dream and laugh abou

Andrea Amez is a holistic esthetician, transformational glow-up practitioner and product concierge. Tierney talks to Andrea about taking care of herself while quarantining at home, opening her own skin studio in LA and infusing some expert know-how into your daily skin and beauty rituals. Andrea talks about avoiding obsessive self-grooming, reading your body by paying attention to inflammation and keeping centered as a self-employed person and small business owner amid economic uncertainty. Together they discuss beauty acquisitions and brands that plummet in quality after being acquired, the legend of Olaplex, and the mass beauty culture shift currently happening as people can’t maintain their fillers, extensions and other aesthetic treatments. They also talk about trying cannabis sheet masks and skincare and using CBD tinctures meant for consumption as a topical face treatment. Tierney reveals the beauty products she’s bought online while staying at home, including a certain cult-favorite hair supplement who

Molly is a writer and iconic Valley Girl. You can read her in tons of magazines like Elle, InStyle, the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. She also wrote the introduction to the newest collection of Eve Babitz essays, “I Used To Be Charming: The Rest Of Eve Babitz.” We talk about Comrade Britney, Mimi Zhu, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, Grace Jones, Madonna, Eve Babitz, Joan Didion, Susan Sontag and “The Murder of Laci Peterson.” We also talk about interviewing celebrities for magazines, clearing our heads at LA malls and pining for clothes at the old Betsey Johnson store in Sherman Oaks. Molly tells us about organizing Angelenos around housing inequality and describes how hosting the Olympics causes cities to fast track gentrification, escalate policing and further criminalize homelessness. She also shares the history of her grandmother’s own experiences as a Jewish-German Olympic athlete in pre-WWII Germany. Follow @NOlympics LA for more on that and @mollylambert on IG and Twitter <3 Also, listen to Mol

Tierney Talks celebrated one year of podcasting with a live show at Murmurs, a favorite art gallery, cafe, shop and community space in LA. The variety-show-esque program consists of readings, musical performances, conversations and a DJ set. Here’s the timing of everything, just in case you want to listen out of order: 2:15 - A karaoke-centric reading & performance by writer, sartorialist and Sisters With Invoices founder Amelian Kashiro Hamilton. 18:04 - PLUR poetry and pop music by artist, organizer and co-founder of Cosmo Visiones Ancestrales La Pachamami. 33:09 - A one-on-one conversation with State Assembly Candidate Fatima Iqbal-Zubair about how representatives outside of your own district can transform state-wide legislation, repelling corporate funding, running an independent campaign and housing and education inequality in LA. 57:06 - A one-on-one conversation with artist, activist, model and writer Emily Barker about the history of standardized and invisible norms in architecture, ableist design