Shows
The Smoking TireHanna Farah on Matt, Cars, Cats, and MoreMatt's wife Hanna answers your questions about Matt (and cars) and has a few of her own. A hilarious episode, trust me. - Zack Recorded March 25, 2025 Get TWENTY PERCENT off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://www.joindeleteme.com/TIRE and use promo code TIRE at checkout. To listen to DRIVE with Jim Farley, just search for “DRIVE with Jim Farley” in your podcast app. https://www.youtube.com/@Jim.Farley New merch! Grab a shirt or hoodie and support us! https...2025-03-251h 37
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 44: Brandon Feldhouse (Arsenal Yards)Meet Brandon Feldhouse! He's the General Manager over at Arsenal Yards here in Watertown. For this conversation, we get into his early years in malls (including Copley Place in downtown Boston), how using history and art helped build the character of Arsenal Yards, how he views building a dynamic mixed-use community, how he helped lead an initiative to divert 100% of the property's waste from landfills, and we end with his thoughts on the future of Arsenal Yards.Find out more about Arsenal Yards at www.arsenalyards.com or reach out at hello@arsenalyards.com or bfeldhouse@wilderco...2025-02-1428 min
Little Local ConversationsLocal Government Update, February 2025Listen to this local government update podcast where I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Director of Government and Education Media at Watertown Cable Access. We discussed what's happened at some recent city meetings and some upcoming city initiatives for Watertown.Links to things mentioned in the episode:Special City Council Meeting - January 21st (on winter parking ban)311Civics AcademyCapital Improvement ProgramSchool Building Committee Meeting - January 29thOther City Council Meetings:...2025-02-1138 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 43: Swati Biswas (Artsy Way of Life)Meet Swati Biswas! She's a scientist, dancer, and arts advocate here in Watertown. We chat about her origins with the arts, what led her to seek out supporting artists in India while bringing their skills to folks here to learn (and the challenges of working with people on the other side of the world), we scratch the surface of the innovative natural methods of art creation in traditional Indian art forms (burned your rice? make it into black pigment!), the story of the women artists her advocacy is helping, and we wrap up with her connections to the Watertown...2025-02-0735 min
Little Local ConversationsCreative Chats With Guest Liz Helfer (Art as Business Vs. Art as Lifestyle)This is a recording from a series for the podcast that just started at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. Listen to learn more and hear the conversation with Liz on the topic of where the boundary between art as lifestyle and art as business lives. Come join us at the next Creative Chats on Friday, February 28th at the Mosesian Center for the Arts with guest Jamie Kallestad!Listen to Liz's earlier appearance on Little Local Conversations to hear more of her story.Support the showHead o...2025-02-0432 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 42: Kim Hewitt (Director of the Watertown Free Public Library)Meet Kim Hewitt! She's the Director of the Watertown Free Public Library. In this conversation we chat about her early experiences with books and libraries, her career journey from leading oral history projects to helping people search for unique news stories from the late 1800s, some behind the scenes on how the library processes materials and thinks about larger values such as access to information, privacy, and censorship, then we finish with some updates such as what's going on with the cafe, One Book One Watertown, and the patron survey that's wrapping up at the end of January.2025-01-3141 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 41: Justin Hanrahan (Watertown Police Chief)Meet Justin Hanrahan! He's the Police Chief here in Watertown. In our conversation we get into his unconventional childhood and how the Watertown community was important in getting him through it, his early experiences in policing from protecting "boothies" to a career defining moment that instilled in him that policing is much more than just catching criminals,his rise through the ranks in Watertown and the shift in culture he's been a part of, his impact in teaching and training departments all over the state, the changes he's enacted in his time as chief and the programs and...2025-01-2448 min
Little Local ConversationsLittle Local Weekly? A Few Updates and a Message From MattBoston Gold Kings GameMovie Night Monday with the Chinese American Association of WatertownCheck out other news and events sources in the city:Watertown NewsWatertown Cable AccessNicole Gardner's NewsletterPublic Arts and Culture BulletinSupport the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown...2025-01-2204 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 40: Bevin Croft (Policy Researcher / World in Watertown)Meet Bevin Croft! She's a policy researcher and board member of World in Watertown. We chat about her early experiences working at group homes for people with mental health disabilities, what policy research is and some new alternatives it's exploring, a recent history of human rights organizing in Watertown, and the Unity Breakfast coming up on MLK Jr Day.Learn more about the Unity Breakfast on January 20thLearn more about World in WatertownSupport the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and...2025-01-1731 minLittle Local ConversationsLittle Local Weekly (January 15th - 21st, 2025)Listen to hear updates from past podcast guests about things going on with them and Watertown this week.My first in-person podcast event Creative Chats is this week! (Friday, January 17th, 830am-10am)Too many links to fit in streaming description! See the page for the episode on the website for the full list of links mentioned in the episode.Support the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations...2025-01-1417 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 39: Alyssa Cecchetelli (Addgene)Meet Alyssa Cecchetelli! She's the Associate Director of Plasmid Services at Addgene, a nonprofit life science organization here in Watertown. We chat about her origins in science including spending 6 years studying a transparent worm (and making pretty pictures with calcium), she explains what plasmids, CRISPR, and viral vectors are and why they're important for scientific research, Addgene's unique position as a nonprofit that supports scientists around the world (111 countries!) and lowers barriers to scientific resources, then we finish with Addgene's role in the community and Alyssa's involvement with CoLAB and mentoring students at the Watertown High School....2025-01-1035 minLittle Local ConversationsLittle Local Weekly (January 8th-14th, 2025)Hi there! This is my first attempt at a Little Local Weekly episode where I give headlines, updates, and other insights from previous guests for the week ahead. Let me know what you think!Links:Gore Place Puppet ShowMosesian Center for the Arts Winter ClassesMosesian Center for the Arts Summer ProgramsRiver of Light Lantern ParadeResolutions Bingo: Website | Instagram | FacebookOne Book, One WatertownCraft Supply SwapCreative Chats!Support the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out...2025-01-0715 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 38: Cameron Labrecque (Boston Gold Kings)Meet Cameron Labrecque! He's the GM and Director of Hockey Operations for the Boston Gold Kings, a semi-professional hockey team here in Watertown. We talk about his personal hockey journey, the challenges of the semi-professional hockey world, the experience of coming to a game, and more.Find out more about the Gold Kings (and find their schedule):InstagramFacebookSupport the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email...2025-01-0321 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 37: Sophia Suarez-Friedman (Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist / Wayside Youth & Family Support Network)Meet Sophia Suarez-Friedman! She's a clinical social worker and coordinator of the Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist Program at the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network. We talk about her early experiences with social work in DC and why the field is interesting and important to her, coming to Wayside in Watertown and how she fell in love with the community and its people, we dig into what Wayside does and its history in Watertown, the resources and ways she helps support people, housing in Watertown, being part of a group that started the community fridge, and more.2024-12-2733 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 36: Matthew Stephens (Mount Auburn Cemetery)Meet Matthew Stephens! He's the President and CEO of the Mount Auburn Cemetery here in Watertown (yes, it's mostly in Watertown!). We chat about his background in horticulture including planting 1 million trees in NYC, how Mt Auburn was the first designed public landscape in the country and for many years was the #2 tourist attraction (behind Niagara Falls), why Mt Auburn is a place just as much for the living as the dead, how the country's best mature tree collection serves as the lungs of Watertown accounting for 1/3 of all tree canopy in Watertown (2/3 of all public space), and more!2024-12-2034 min
DJ HannaLAST CHRISTMAS, I Gave You My...... - mixed by DJ HannaWham! - Last Christmas - Kevin McKay Re-Edit Block & Crown - Midnight TrainMaya Blandy - Disco Nights (Mannix Primetime Dub)Harvey Ross - Magic (Original Mix)Pacha - One Kiss (Dave's Heavenly Star Mix)Celestial Being;Citizens Of The World Choir - Raise The Vibration (Crackazat Mana's Dub)N9ne Lives - Falling (Original Mix)Purple Disco Machine - Paradisco (feat. Dabeull) (Hifi Sean Remix)Ladies On Mars, Fer De Leo - Sunny (Extended Mix)Urban Blues Project - Your Heaven (I Can Feel It) (Micky More & Andy Tee E...2024-12-191h 25
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 35: Nicole Gardner (Watertown District A City Councilor)Meet Nicole Gardner! She's the City Councilor for District A (East End) here in Watertown. We chat about her years of work in the management consulting world, how shifting into HR opened her eyes to the importance of diversity and inclusion and informed a lifelong human-centered philosophy, her diving into the Watertown community (from helping at the Perkins School for the Blind to starting the Watertown Buy Nothing Facebook group), and we of course dig into what it's like being a city councilor and the issues affecting the present and future of Watertown. Learn more about Nicole...2024-12-1345 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 34: Elan Rohde (Campolongo Cookie Company)Meet Elan Rohde! She's the owner of Campolongo Cookie Company right here in Watertown. We dig into how she used her anthropology and archaeology background to learn the science of baking and hone her cookie recipe over the years, the importance of knowing her ingredients and making her own vanilla extract and brown sugar, the lessons learned from running a food business without a brick-and-mortar location (and doing it while raising 5 kids!), and more!Find out more about Elan and her cookies: www.campolongocookiecompany.comI have a new website! I'll be using it to...2024-12-0641 min
DJ HannaI Hear Music In the Street - Mixed by DJ HannaUnlimited Touch - I Hear Music In The Streets (Michael Gray Remix)Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens - Ivy (Jimpster Extended Remix)Franco Moiraghi - Party People (Original)James Haskell, Mark Knight, Gene Farris - Go Deep (Extended MiX)Tommy Morgan - Soul (Original Mix)JP Chronic - Electronic Shake (Original Mix)Mark Knight, Darius Syrossian, James Hurr - I Got All This Love (Extended Mix)The Ones - Flawless (Low Steppa Remix)CASSIMM - Valerie (Extended Mix)Matt Caseli, Matt Lightbourn - Showed Me Love (Extended Mix)Bushwacka...2024-12-051h 18
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 33: Arto Vaun (Project Save Photograph Archive / Musician/Poet)Meet Arto Vaun! He's Executive Director of Project Save Photograph Archive and a musician and poet here in Watertown. We talk about his own journey as a self-described late bloomer in owning his artistic identity to now getting public acclaim for his music, how he came to be interested in joining Project Save and his vision for reimagining it for the future to have a broader scope outside of just the Armenian community, and we dive into the backstory of Project Save and its founder and how it's a truly incredible 50 year old cultural collection that is unique not...2024-11-2249 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 32: George Proakis (Watertown City Manager)Meet George Proakis! He's the city manager for the City of Watertown. There's a lot to talk about in Watertown! We scratch the surface with:His background and early experiences with civil engineering, public administration, and city planning from corn fields to Assembly Row.The unique strengths of Watertown from its strong fiscal foundation to its regionally exceptional wedding venue.The documents and frameworks that influence how he approaches his job as city manager.The process of building a budget for the city and how the city council has chosen prioritizing new growth over raising taxes.There's extra...2024-11-1552 min
Matt Lewis Can't LoseHanna Trudo on What Dems Should Do NowHanna Trudo is a senior political correspondent for The Hill, where she established a new area of coverage focused on the Democratic Party’s left wing. During this conversation, she talks with Matt about how Democrats can win again after Kamala Harris's devastating 2024 loss to Donald Trump.
Support "Matt Lewis & The News" at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattlewis
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhSMpjOzydlnxm5TDcYn0A...2024-11-1552 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 31: Ernie Thebado (Watertown Director of Recreation)Meet Ernie Thebado! He's the new Director of Recreation for the City of Watertown (though he's no stranger to rec in Watertown!). We chat about the people and moments that shaped him (as a kid and an adult) at Boys and Girls Clubs in Marlborough and Watertown, what he loves about working with kids, how he thinks about the future of recreation, and of course we delve into the programs you can find in Watertown including the typical sports fare, but also robotics, chess, cooking...and more coming down the road!Find out more about Ernie and...2024-11-0832 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 30: Steve "Nookie" Postal (Revival Cafe + Kitchen)Meet Nookie Postal! He's a chef and co-owner of the new Revival Cafe and Kitchen here in Watertown. We get into a conversation about his culinary journey:From growing up where a nice night of food was going out to a chain restaurant to studying at the Cambridge School of Culinary ArtsHis early years in the area cutting his teeth at Casablanca, Chez Henri, and IcarusBeing sous chef at Oleana when it first opened and the lessons he learned Playing poker to make his living while in Spain for 6 monthsWhat it's like being executive chef at Fenway Park f...2024-11-0134 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 29: Ruth Rappaport (Musician)Meet Ruth Rappaport! She's a musician living here in Watertown. Listen to hear about:Being a self-taught guitarist and growing up surrounded by the folk revival and cowboy musicHow running a coffeehouse and working at record labels helped propel her into the string band music scenePlaying in a well-known band in her genre, The Poodles, and how they once had Julia Child kicking up her heels Her personal greatest contribution to Watertown as the driving force behind the reconstruction of Nonantum RoadHer day jobs in the nonprofit world including one with an organization that won the Nobel Peace P...2024-10-2535 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 28: Erin Rathe (Watertown Senior Planner for Economic Development)Meet Erin Rathe! She's the Senior Planner for Economic Development for the City of Watertown, a brand new position for the city. We talk about her journey transitioning from pursuing a PhD in English literature to owning a handcrafted gift shop to shifting into the world of economic development. We get into what it is that an economic developer actually does, the importance of storytelling and communication in her role, balancing short term pain with positive long term outcomes, and what the economic landscape looks like in Watertown.Find Watertown economic resources and reach out to Erin...2024-10-1838 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 27: Ryan Nicholson (Watertown Fire Chief)Meet Ryan Nicholson! He's the Fire Chief at the Watertown Fire Department. We chat about his Watertown roots, then his journey from early experiences on ambulances all the way up to fire chief with stops as training officer, fire inspector, deputy chief, and more along the way. Listen to hear about:- What firefighters do when they're not dealing with emergencies- The procedures they follow to deal with 7,500 emergency calls a year- The recent shifts in firefighter culture- Ryan's goals for the future of the departmentLearn more and contact...2024-10-1137 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 26: Peter Pyne (Olespaña)Meet Peter Pyne! He's the executive chef and owner of Olespaña, a Spanish bar and restaurant here in Watertown. We talk about growing up as a farmer in northern Spain (but also studying economics), the cultural differences between the US and Spain and how those play out in the restaurant business, how he's put a lot of thought into the interior design of the place (including Victorian bathtub chandeliers, antique radios, and drink taps installed in pianos), the challenges of managing food with a restaurant that makes fresh homemade meals, the history of tapas, and more!F...2024-10-0435 min
MONSTER PARTYHANNA-BARBERA!!! With GREG EHRBAR!MONSTER PARTY GETS... WAY OUT! WAY OUT! SHAWN SHERIDAN, JAMES GONIS, LARRY STROTHE, and MATT WEINHOLD, pack their audio pic-a-nic baskets, for a journey through animation history! Join us for a wacky race into the exciting world of... HANNA-BARBERA! WILLIAM HANNA and JOSEPH BARBERA were the innovative team behind many of the world's favorite cartoons. Over their long career, they were responsible for such memorable characters as TOM & JERRY, THE FLINTSTONES, YOGI BEAR, THE JETSONS, SCOOBY DOO, HUCKLEBERRY HOUND, TOP CAT, SECRET SQUIRREL, HONG KONG PHOOEY, THE WACKY RACES, ATOM ANT, SNAGGLEPUSS, JOSIE AND THE...2024-10-022h 28
Settle the Score#192 with Brandon Hanna and Alex MarzonaIt's a showdown of old friends and former roommates on Settle the Score this week as host Matt Knost and musical director Andy Merryweather have invited Brandon Hanna and Alex Marzona on to the show. We had a grand time spending an hour with these two fine gentlemen and we implore you to check out their projects!
Our patreon is now LIVE!!! Head over to https://www.patreon.com/settlethescoreshow and join one of our 5 tiers! We're offering all kinds of perks, backstage access, exclusive shows, and more. We can't wait to have you be apart of...2024-09-051h 04Little Local ConversationsA Quick Update From MattHi there! This is just a short message saying that I'll be taking a short break from releasing new episodes, but I'll be back at it in a few weeks. Until then, take care!Support the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.2024-08-3002 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 25: Sally Young (Artist-Activist / Edible Watertown)Meet Sally Young! She's an artist and art activist here in Watertown and the mind behind Edible Watertown, an initiative of the Watertown Public Arts and Culture Committee. She's had a winding journey to get where she is now that includes being in the Peace Corps in Tunisia, doing social work in Philadelphia, and being the program coordinator of the Loeb Fellowship for the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. We start the conversation talking about growing up on a farm where she had a sheep named Troubles following her around the kitchen and end it with a discussion...2024-08-2336 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 24: Joel Giacobozzi (Watertown High School & Middle School Principal)Meet Joel Giacobozzi! He's the principal for the Watertown High School and (at least temporarily) for the Middle School as well. He has some surprising stories you might not expect for a principal such as stints living alone in the Yukon and studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Brazil. We talk about those stories as well as his 3-day career in finance, his love of music (he actually minored in classical trumpet in college), his enjoyment of construction and repair work (and how that helps him with the new high school building project), and of course his path to his current...2024-08-1629 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 23: Tyler Cote (Watertown Community Engagement Specialist)Meet Tyler Cote! He’s the Community Engagement Specialist for Watertown, a new role in the city. We get into a conversation about his days working in a nonprofit teaching kids about online safety and a particular day there that forever changed his view on community engagements, we chat about what a community engagement specialist actually does and how it’s become a much larger role than he originally thought, and we dig a little into his history in bowling (including being part of a 3x state champion team back in high school).Reach out to Tyler:...2024-08-0937 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 22: Stephanie Venizelos (Watertown Community Wellness Program Manager)Meet Stephanie Venizelos! She’s the Community Wellness Program Manager for the City of Watertown (which includes managing the farmers market!). We chat about her early years teaching health in schools and her transition into broader thinking roles around helping people thrive and do well, what drew her to Watertown and how getting involved in the school community led her on a path to her current role, and we dig into all the things that Live Well Watertown focuses on from food security to mental health to movement to social well being and more.Find out more ab...2024-08-0230 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 21: Christian Dallas (Dallas Insurance Agency / Watertown Rotary Club)Meet Christian Dallas! He's an insurance agent at Dallas Insurance Agency here in Watertown and is the president-elect of the Watertown Rotary Club. We chat about his experience working his way into the Watertown community and how the kindness of the already established people led him to start wanting to give back even more, what it's like stepping into a longtime family business focused on going the extra mile (literally in some cases), and we get into his Dancing with the Watertown Stars victory and his stand-up comedy history (and possibly future?).Learn more and get in...2024-07-2630 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 20: Gideon Schreiber (Watertown Director of Planning and Zoning)Meet Gideon Schreiber! He's the Director of Planning and Zoning for the City of Watertown. We chat about his early experiences in the wilderness of Northern Idaho and the cold of Fairbanks, Alaska (where he once spent a month with temperatures never being above negative thirty degrees), his interest in the history of Watertown from its industrial roots with the world's fastest car to the invention of the flat-bottomed grocery bag to discovering that there used to be farms in the city not that long ago, and of course we talk about the process of planning in Watertown and...2024-07-1931 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 19: Steve Owens (Massachussets State Representative)Meet Steve Owens! He's the State Representative for the 29th Middlesex District which includes most of Watertown and part of Cambridge. We chat about missing the boat on the Silicon Valley gold rush, his history in freight transportation management, why a former state rep going to the RMV led to his first moment realizing he was making some actual important political decisions, insights from knocking on people's doors, the challenges of getting information to constituents and getting constituents to reach out to him, and how he approaches information gathering to be able to vote on thousands of bills each...2024-07-1229 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 18: Tia Tilson (Watertown Community Foundation)Meet Tia Tilson! She's the Executive Director of the Watertown Community Foundation, a place-based philanthropic organization here in Watertown. We chat about her early grassroots organizing and fundraising experiences and the lessons learned, how biking and gardening grounds her and allows her to recharge, and we get into the wide range of things the Watertown Community Foundation helps support (including some that you might not have known about!).Learn more about the Watertown Community Foundation, what they do, and how you can help here: www.watertownfoundation.orgSupport the showHead on over...2024-07-0528 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 17: Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (Painter/Printmaker/Collage Artist)Meet Julie Fei-Fan Balzer! She's a painter, printmaker, and collage artist here in Watertown. We chat about her winding journey as a self-taught artist from her early rejections from scrapbooking magazines to snowballing hard work and luck into becoming a professional artist with tens of thousands of online followers (though we also talk about vanity versus practicality with social media numbers and how she views it now at this point in her career), her view of using failure to fuel you rather than defeat you to combat perfectionist inclinations, and the importance for her of helping people make the...2024-06-2836 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 16: Darren Farrington (Mosesian Center for the Arts)Meet Darren Farrington! He's the Executive Director at the Mosesian Center for the Arts here in Watertown. We talk about his roots in the arts including a stint as an entertainment lawyer and interning for Les Mis in New York to arts advocacy and running educational theater in Connecticut, we discuss his transition to his current role in 2020 and dealing with all those challenges, and of course we talk about all the things you can enjoy at the MCA including comedy, improv, open mics, jazz, art exhibits, theater, classes for children and adults, and more!See everything...2024-06-2126 min
Little Local ConversationsEpisode 15: Kristen Kenny (Artist / Arts Organizer)Meet Kristen Kenny! She's an artist, arts organizer, and Chair of the Watertown Arts Market. We chat about how her wide-ranging artistic interests were a result of a childhood surrounded by musicians and artists, creating and running her own fashion business for over 20 years, learning to read (and find the tricks in) contracts and dealing with difficult people while booking bands for venues all over the Boston area (Paradise, Orpheum, Tweeter Center), the origins of the Watertown Arts Market, and her vision of the future of arts in Watertown.Find out more about the Watertown Arts Market...2024-06-1427 min