Hadn’t mentioned these on the blog yet — though I’m not sure how many people end up at the podcast from here. I had two really good conversations recently. TES #11 was a chat with Oakland restaurateur Jay Porter, who was first on the show back in June. Since then, Jay has opened a restaurant in Fruitvale called the Half Orange, and still has plans for a second on Market at 42nd Street. We caught up about how things are going with the restaurant, his involvement in the Eat Real Festival, and his thinking about Oakland’s upcoming minimum wage increase ballot measure.

TES #12 was with Oakland-based artist Sue Mark. Sue’s work turns local history and local culture into public artworks and performance pieces that help capture the unique story of a place. She’s worked locally and internationally, and we talked about her experiences in Bulgaria, Germany, and Portugal, as well as what she’s up to now in Oakland. Sue has a lot of insight into what it takes to make a living as an artist, and we talked about what makes that challenging and how she addresses it.

Having good guests makes it a lot easier to have good conversations. Listen, subscribe, and let me know what you think, and if you know someone that I should have on the show, tell me! I’m always looking for interesting East Bay people to talk to.