The Relief Valve Podcast

Relief Valve - Episode 38 - Birthright

Taglit is the Hebrew [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language] word for 'discovery'. The Birthright Israel program was initiated in 1994 and is funded by private donors, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Government.  To be eligible you have to have at least one parent of recognized Jewish descent, or who have converted to Judaism through a recognized Jewish movement and be between the ages of 18 and 27. As of 2022, more than 800,000 participants from 68 countries [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora] had participated in a Birthright tour.  A Birthright Israel trip includes airfare from a major gateway city, room, board and transportation associated with touring the country for a ten-day trip.  On today’s show, my guests are Nina Levinson who works in the entertainment industry creating localizations, literally the foreign language versions,  of popular TV shows and movies.  And Jason Rochlin who is the Lead Features Editor at Game Rant, a popular web blog site covering news and interest stories of the video gaming industry.  (And yes, he is my son)   Authors Personal Note: When I started Relief Valve in August of 2020, it was all about getting through a challenging time during the Covid outbreak.  I was looking for work and like most others locked in my house waiting for the first vaccines to come along.  I wanted to see how others were coping and while I was at it, learning more about who they were, what they did and how they were dealing with the world.   I paused in October of 2021 after 37 interviews, realizing that we were really beginning to move on from Covid, and after a year and a half, I discovered I really miss talking to other people about what they do and how they go there. So, today, I want to rededicate this podcast to sharing the experiences of others.  Hopefully with interesting stories and maybe the occasional inspiration along the way.   Music in this episode is: Title: Degenerate Blues Artist: Alexander Nakarada First release: 24.04.2019 Source: https://filmmusic.io/song/4781-degenerate-blues [https://filmmusic.io/song/4781-degenerate-blues]

Relief Valve - Episode 37 - Jeff Prang - L.A. County Assessor

Jeff Prang was elected in 2014 as the 27th Assessor for the County of Los Angeles and re-elected in 2018.  Raised in Warren, Michigan, Assessor Prang is a graduate of Michigan State University. After graduation, Mr. Prang relocated to California where he served nearly 18 years as a council member for the City of West Hollywood, including four terms as Mayor, among many other positions in his public sector career.  Assessor Prang is a State Board of Equalization licensed appraiser and administers the largest office of its kind in the nation with 1,300 employees that provides the foundation for a property tax system that generates over $17 billion annually.  https://assessor.lacounty.gov/forms [https://assessor.lacounty.gov/forms]   --- Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://www.jrocksgarage.com/ [https://www.jrocksgarage.com/]

Relief Valve - Episode 36 - Mitch Ziegler -Teacher

Mitch Ziegler retired last June from a 35 year career in teaching. For 31 of them he was the adviser of the award winning newspaper and yearbook at Redondo Union High School, where he also taught AP English and photography.  The recipient of numerous advising and service awards over the years, Ziegler was named the H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association. Ziegler has been married to his wife Julie for 33 years, and he has two adult sons.   Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/

Relief Valve - Episode 35 - Larry Blake - Motion Picture Sound Editor/Re-Recording Mixer

Larry Blake is a supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer of feature films. He has worked on over 80 features since 1989 and won an Emmy for his work on “Behind the Candelabra” in 2013.   He has been working with Film Maker Steven Soderbergh since the beginning with 29 features and three television seasons, plus multiple films from Victor Nuñez, David Gordon Green, and the Duplass Brothers. He has written extensively on film sound, beginning in 1981 for Recording Engineer/Producer and then in Mix; these writings total over 110 columns and 35 feature articles. Right now, he is working on a book on the digital archiving of motion pictures called “Solving the Digital Dilemma”.  From 2000-2016 he owned Swelltone Labs, a post-production sound facility in New Orleans, where he lives and works. Learn more about his work on IMDB:  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086626/   Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/

Relief Valve - Episode 34 - Bobak Roshan - Owner - Demitasse Cafe/Kindred Spirits - Santa Monica CA

Bobak Roshan is a recovering lawyer who opened his first coffee bar 10 years ago in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood.   While that store has closed in the pandemic, his Demitasse cafe continues on Third Street in Santa Monica where he uses unique brewing methods to make fine drinks from his own coffee roastery.  In addition to Demitasse, Bobby now has a cafe and a dessert/mocktail bar called Kindred Spirits in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade.   Find him on-line at: https://cafedemitasse.com [https://cafedemitasse.com] @cafe_demitasse   https://www.eatkindredspirit.com [https://www.eatkindredspirit.com] @eatkindredspirit __________ Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/