“Tired of being a deputy”: Michelle Fishburne of Who We Are Now talks about turning a one-two-three punch of pandemic life changes into a 12,000 mile road trip, a book deal, and a newfound calling as an oral historian.
Find Michelle on the web:
* Website:Who We Are Now
* Instagram: @WhoWeAreNowUSA
* Instagram behind the scenes: @MichelleFishburne
* Facebook: @WhoWeAreNowUSA
* LinkedIn
She’s on a journey, but not in a Bachelor way. Here’s to the band that plays the HELL out of air keyboards.
Thanks as always to M. The Heir Apparent, who provides the music behind the podcast – check him out here! ***This is a rough transcription of Episode 99 of the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. It originally aired on June 8, 2021. Transcripts are created using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and there may be errors in this transcription, but we hope that it provides helpful insight into the conversation. If you have any questions or need clarification, please email
[email protected] ***
Michelle Fishburne 00:01
Failure is something that I actually really embrace and look forward to because it means I get to innovate. It means that all those little gray cells in my head get to start spinning and creating something new.
Nancy Davis Kho 00:14
Welcome to Midlife Mixtape, The Podcast. I’m Nancy Davis Kho and we’re here to talk about the years between being hip and breaking one.
[THEME MUSIC – “Be Free” by M. The Heir Apparent]
Nancy 00:38
I want to take a moment before today’s episode to tell you about a brand-new book I just read that’s one of the latest entries in the long-running 33 1/3 book series, from Bloomsbury.
If you aren’t familiar with 33 1/3… Each volume in the series is written by a different writer and focuses on one album. I just ripped through one of the latest entries – on Duran Duran’s 1982 album Rio – I know all the Duran Duran ladies are screaming right now. The book was written by Annie Zaleski, the award-winning music writer whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, NPR Music, StereoGum, Time, and more. Now, of course I owned Rio, Duran Duran’s big breakthrough album, back in 1982, and I know some Midlife Mixtape listeners are big Duran Duran stans from way back. But I can’t say that I had listened to Rio all the way through during this century. After reading Annie’s nuanced and comprehensive take on the album, I’ve been listening to it nonstop.
The book details how Rio wasn’t a success everywhere at first; in fact, the LP had to be remixed and reissued before it found an audience in America. However, thanks to a combination of colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, as well as incredibly hard work and good timing, Rio established Duran Duran as one of the most innovative and beloved pop-rock bands of the ’80s. And the 33 1/3 book on Rio really opened my eyes to how seminal that album was – for the band and for the never-ending evolution of pop music. It’s available now via Bloomsbury, and you can also order wherever else you like to order books! Go to your local bookseller and ask them to get you 33 1/3 latest on Rio.
[MUSIC]
Nancy Davis Kho 02:20
