Welcome to the Neon Nonsense neighborhood.
A PLACE WHERE THE CITY CODE ENFORCER CAN'T HEAR YOU SCREAM!
Our goal with this podcast is to bring to light the trials and tribulations of building your own neon shop from scratch, making long-lasting units, and keeping the neon fires going for future generations. Won't you join us?
This podcast is sponsored by our buddies at FMS Sign Products!
Check out their wide variety of neon related nonsense here: https://www.brillite.com/index.php (https://www.ventextech.com/product-category/neon-power/)
We invite you to join us for the second episode of our supply chain series this season. In this episode, DJ and Alleson interview Mike Sweet from FMS Sign Company. They will discuss the intricacies of our specialized supply chain, the changes in phosphor availability, and the various developments his family has observed over nearly a century of business in our industry.
8 Jun 2024
S.2 Ep. 3 Art is the Way Through w. Zoelle Nagib
On this episode of Neon Nonsense, we welcome our friend, artist, and all around cool person Zoelle Nagib. Zoelle was raised on neon. She grew up in her family's neon shop (LightWriters Neon) and spent much of her life exploring many artistic mediums. Art sustained her and eventually brought her back to neon in 2020. Now she's building something new and special in Chicago. Tune in for her beautiful story, a little astrology and hope for the future of Chicago neon.
21 Mar 2024
S.2 Ep.2 Thinking Beyond the Finished Product w. Steve Pettit
The highly anticipated second episode of our second season is here! In this episode, we chatted with the wonderful Steve Pettit from West Coast Custom Designs in Phoenix, Arizona.
This episode kicks off our new Suppliers Series, where we will be featuring various suppliers and behind the scenes folks in the neon industry. We covered so much with Steve: Everything from phosphors in glass, electrode production, Mercury staining and monster trucks!
We had such a blast learning about the fascinating world of neon supply chains, and we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thanks for tuning in!
1 Jan 2024
S.2 Ep.1 Best Coast: Welcome to Season 2
Aaaand we're back!
Happy New Year and happy second season of Neon Nonsense to you! Ring in the new year with your favorite neon besties! On this episode we share a bit of what we've been up to the last several months and try to convince each other to move to the opposite coast.
25 Jun 2023
Ep.14 Live Laugh Lava w. Jacob Fishkow
Welcome back! In this episode we have the pleasure of interviewing Jacob Fishcow of Ozone Gifts (https://www.ozonegifts.com/), a lava lamp extraordinaire who has been fascinated with these mesmerizing light fixtures since a young age. Jacob shared with us his insights on the lava lamp community, history, as well as his work of crafting completely unique lava lamps. Lava lamps have been a cultural icon for over 50 years, rising and falling in popularity throughout the decades just like neon. We hope you enjoy.
Neon Nonsense is sponsored by FMS Sign Products
https://www.brillite.com/index.php (https://www.brillite.com/index.php)
14 Feb 2023
Ep. 13 Be My (Neon) Valentine w/ Amy Zachariah & Bill Horwood
Happy Valentine's Day Neon Nonsensers! We're celebrating the Hallmark holiday with our crush, Neon Valentine! Amy Zachariah and Bill Horwood are learning to make neon in the UK. We talk through their journey from musicians to neon makers, their experience trying to find a space to set up shop and one of their largest barriers to entry - a genuine lack of professionals to teach new neon folks in the UK. We're so proud they're sticking with it and keeping the neon torch lit across the pond!
31 Dec 2022
Ep 12. Viva Las Vegas w. Ash Melendez
Neon Nonsense does VEGAS!!!!
DJ and Alleson met in Las Vegas for an adventure a few months back. We reunited at the Neon Boneyard where we met our amazing tour guide and new bud Ash Melendez. They gave us our most favorite tour of the Boneyard to date and so we invited them to join us to talk all things neon. Ash is a terrific historian, podcast guest, new parent and general human! We invite you to enjoy some amazing neon knowledge from Ash and a bit about our ridiculous neon escapades in Sin City. If you make it through the whole Donnie“rap” you get a gold star… you next year friends!
Thank you for listening.
Support the podcast here:
https://www.patreon.com/neonnonsensepod
12 Nov 2022
Ep. 11 Lights, Camera, Poo Poo w. Nick McKnight
Welcome to the new and improved Neon Nonsense. We finally figured out our microphones and nailed down a respectable intro. Sampled from this cool video here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhv_6tg71bc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhv_6tg71bc))
But more importantly we had the oppertunity to sit down with our good friend and fellow guild member Nick McKnight to shoot the poo poo. Nick is a neon bender in Providence Rhode Island. He makes killer neon signs for the silver screen and gallery walls alike and we are very excited to chat with him.
https://www.instagram.com/nick_mcknight/ (https://www.instagram.com/nick_mcknight/)
https://nickmcknight.com/home.html (https://nickmcknight.com/home.html)
3 Nov 2022
EP. 10 "I've always been a science guy" w/ Mike Poulton
We have been a little quite for the past few months over hear in the Neon Nonsense neighborhood. We were shocked and heart broken to learn that a few short weeks after our interveiw with Mike, he passed suddenly. We first met Mike the day before the GAS conference in Tacoma and immediatly upon our first interaction, he re-wired Alleson's old bombarding equipment and threw so much techincal knowledge as us....we knew he was probably one of the most brilliant people we've ever met. Mike loved to teach and loved neon so that is what this episode is, a memorial to the memory of an amazing teacher and a one of a kind neon buddy.
Rest In Peace Mike
29 Jun 2022
Ep.9 Neon Supplier Bingo!
Love neon!? Doy, so do we! On this episode of Neon Nonsense, let's play Supplier BINGO! Walk through some of our favorite neon suppliers and generally cool neon adjacent companies too. On our socials you'll find a “BINGO card” to note which suppliers you've used. Share it to your stories, note which you've used and tag your favorite suppliers. Without supplies we're sunk. Join us in showing our suppliers a little love and keep'em supplying us. Did we mention we're talking about supplies?
6 Apr 2022
Ep.8 Artists Teaching Artists: 40 Years of MONA w. Corrie Siegel
Join us on our galavant around The Museum of Neon Art (MONA) with Corrie Siegel! The Museum of Neon Art was founded in 1981 and is one of the longest running artist run museums in the world. We had the pleasure of teaching a class at MONA and after, we wandered the gallery with our travel recorder. Corrie wandered the gallery with us and shared the history and stories behind many of the signs in their collection. We bathed in the glow and basked in the chorus of mechanical animators throughout the MONA gallery.
We want to give a special thank you and shoutout to Corrie, MONA's Executive DIrector. We are grateful for your role at MONA and we're so thankful you spent the day with us.
This is a new format for us. We move quick and it might be hard to keep track of which sign we're discussing. To make it easier to follow along, we put together a little time stamped photo guide. You can view it here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J2beoOlLoaONMH1hOzSqBalQiaswkIyF/view?usp=sharing) or on our Instagram feed. We promise to keep polishing our travel episodes.
Neon Nonsense is sponsored by Ventex Technologies. We're truly #PoweredByVentex!
11 Feb 2022
Ep.7 The Great Plumbing Episode
On this episode, DJ and Alleson walk through the brass tacks of setting up neon burners for working with soft glass. We walk through the differences between using natural gas or propane, the types of manifolds and how many trips you should expect to take to the hardware store. It's important to note that we're sharing our experiences based on our local rules and regulations. Be sure to check your regional rules and regulations before setting up your shop - if you listen to this episode it means you agree to not sue us or hold us responsible if something goes awry with your setup.
11 Jan 2022
EP 6. Hot Takes and Helium Tanks w/ Shawna Peterson
On this episode of Neon Nonsense, we're excited to have Shawna Peterson of Peterson Neon. Shawna is an amazing neon bender, a self proclaimed working stiff, former soccer player and sometimes fine artist. Shawna tells us all about her neon origin story. She schools us on everything from helium flushing, to how to save your hot glass from sneezes and offers hot takes on sign making vs craft vs fine art.
4 Dec 2021
EP 5. Strange Mentors
In our first episode we mentioned that sometimes we find neon mentors in strange places, “Strange Mentors” if you will. So on today's episode we invite you into our libraries - allow us to share some of the sources that help us on our neon journey.
We have exciting news! Neon Nonsense now has a #Patreon! If you wanna send us a cuppa' or help upgrade our technology, we'd be honored. Check it out, link in bio.
As always we want to thank our OG sponsor Ventex Technologies. We're so grateful you invested in us from the beginning. We're truly #PoweredByVentex.
Quotes and books we quoted:
“The neon Superguide” by Randall Caba
“The Neon Engineers Notebook by Morgan Crook and Jacob Fishman
Creative persistence quote, Ira Glass
“Glass Working for Luminous Tubes” by Henry Eccles
“ISA Bombarding CD” by Morgan Crook and Jacob Fishman
“A Lethal Dose of Art Criticism” The Neon News
10 Oct 2021
Ep 4. Electrode School w/ Robert Haus
Episode 4, Electrode School w/ Robert Hause
On this episode of Neon Nonsense, we welcome fellow neon nerd, historian, and collector of all things niche, Robert Haus.
Robert's knowledge of neon runs the gamut. He's been a guest lecturer at The Museum of Neon Art. He has personally helped both of us shore up our shops. We really like how generous he is with his knowledge. This episode he gives us a much needed lesson on electrodes and how Georges Claude's competitors may have circumvented his original patent. Including Moore tubes - on site neon, WHAT?!
We want to thank our sponsor, Ventex Technologies! Ventex makes so many terrific neon transformers and GTO. Our team here at Neon Nonsense is #PowerefByVentex
14 Sept 2021
Ep 3. The Mothership w/ Morgan Crook
Morgan Crook is an amazing tube bender, author, general helper, and teacher extraordinaire of all things neon!
He's been an amazing support for us both and can usually talk us down from our neon related panic on a given project. He's also casting a vision for a neon journeyperson mothership program with the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati. Look for updates on our social media and at AmericanSignMuseum.org.
Also catch Morgan and DJ on the last day of Neon Speaks this Saturday and Sunday, September 17 - 18th for an amazing story out Lawrence, NC. We've been working with the Echo Project for most of this year. Morgan and DJ's work on their new neon sign has been a beautiful beacon of hope for their organization. For more info on the Echo Project, visit RehabHate.org.
Morgans bok The Neon Engineers Notebook can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/The-Neon-Engineers-Notebook (https://www.amazon.com/The-Neon-Engineers-Notebook/dp/097165302X/ref=asc_df_097165302X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=532847142958&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17889737770189384835&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009752&hvtargid=pla-1393755969593&psc=1)
11 Aug 2021
Ep 2. The many talents of Eve Hoyt
Today we get to chat and talk shop with Philadelphia neon bender, artist, mom and badass Eve Hoyt!
The Eve links we promised:
https://www.eveningneon.com/
https://www.shebends.com/eve-hoyt
https://www.instagram.com/eveningneon/?hl=en
Check out the digital versions of The Neon News here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheNeonNews
Order yourself The Neon Engineers Notebook and learn something, it is available on Amazon.
17 Jul 2021
Ep 1. Womanifold
Welcome to the Neon Nonsense neighborhood?
A PLACE WHERE THE CITY CODE ENFORCER CAN'T HEAR YOU SCREAM!
Our goal with this podcast is to bring to light the trials and tribulations of building your own neon shop from scratch, making long-lasting units, and keeping the neon fires going for future generations. Won't you join us?
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