Origin Stories: Us, Our cover Art, and Our Music
Welcome to Unverified Claims,
the drunken podcast where three weirdos come together
and share urban legends, myths, and folklore from around the world.
Who are we?
LEO ST. JAMES
Leo St. James is America's favorite transboy and wannabe stand-up comic. Originally from Seattle, WA, he now haunts the great borough of Brooklyn. When he's not recording the podcast, he can be found slinging coffee or walking his pup, Captain Max (featured in many episodes).
You can follow Leo on instagram @defenderof or @instantlyleo
ADAM STOCKER
Outside of the podcast, Adam is a costume maker living in manhattan. Every so often, he makes the trek to Leo and Sarah's to spew some info and gulp some drinks. His favorite part of the podcast is the research and writing, and is SO excited to write mini research papers every week! Please excuse his excessive wordiness.
You can follow Adam on Instagram @astockk or @theboycostumer
SARAH CONSTABLE
Sarah is the spear-head of this operation. As the kind of person who ALWAYS needs her friends directly next to her, she decided to take her two funniest friends and make them talk to each other, while recorded. When she's not annoying listeners with her drunken shenanigans, Sarah can be found working with Adam in a costume shop in Manhattan, doing her own costume design work on the side, and aggressively failing at tinder. She's truly embracing the "Broke in Brooklyn" artist lifestyle. You can follow her poor life choices on instagram @sconstable3
Why the podcast, and why Unverified Claims?
COVER ART AND MUSIC
This photo, our cover art, is by our good friend, Kendra Boblett.
Our cover art deserves its own origin story, as it really solidified our trio coming together and MAKING a podcast.
Based off of the Caravaggio painting, Boblett recreated Medusa for us in a fiercer, witchier tone; adjectives that could DEFINITELY be used to describe us. I asked Kendra about her artwork, and here's her take on her twist:
"I wanted to portray Medusa in a more direct style. I feel as though many of the interpretations of Medusa’s story have been about showcasing her in a monstrous and one dimensional way. Even though she is also decapitated in my version, there is still a human-like warmth within her gaze and features. A slight smirk to hint at more beneath the surface than what first meets the eye. And when delving into mythology, folklore, and other tales, we can’t just take things at face value. It’s important to dig deeper, ask questions, and have conversations about why these tales were created in the first place."
I know what you're thinking: Why Medusa?
While Sarah and Leo were flipping through the flip book, Medusa's photo (by Caravaggio) was the one that they landed on just before their podcast epiphany.
The original Caravaggio painting was also chosen because:
- we love medusa
- she's making a comically dramatic face
- it made us laugh
"In 1598 Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte gave this painted shield to the Grand Duke Ferdinando I. It was put in the Armory of the Uffizi without any attribution; in 1631 it was registered as a work by Caravaggio and was displayed as part of a suit of Persian Armor worn by a mannequin seated on a wooden horse The Medusa is painted on canvas applied to a wooden shield. The subject is mythological referring to the shield from Athena which was cunningly used to exploit the the Medusa's power to petrify people. This iconography was often used by the Medici to represent their military power. Rather than use ancient sculpture for inspiration, the painter captures the expression on the Medusa's face, deformed as it is in horror at having been beheaded while even the mane of serpents writhes in all directions; it is the passing moment between life and death."
I left the blue link for Caravaggio, just in case any artsy nerds wanna go down their own rabbit holes; we not only approve of rabbit holes, we encourage them! Every episode, there's a special nugget of information that we learn from going down blue-link related rabbit holes. It's exciting for the three of us, and hopefully for all of our listeners.
And if you're wondering, YES, Medusa gets her own episode on our podcast (obviously). In Season 2, Episode 3, Don't Lose Your Head, we discuss Patriarchal bullshit, and the unfairness that was Medusa's life and death. Pour one out for her, she deserves it.
For more information about Kendra's artwork, or to see more artwork from Kendra, follow her on instagram @krenda_blobett AND check out her Etsy page KendraBoblettArt, https://www.etsy.com/shop/KrendaBlobettArt. I left the blue links in her Kendra, too, so there's no excuse not to visit her site.
Our intro + outro music is Contemporary Fairy Ballet Dance by Shaun Frearson through PremiumBeat.com: you can get DIRECT access to his music when you click on his hyperlinked name; he's also available to listen to on Youtube. Here's Shaun's bio (via PremiumBeats):
"Shaun Frearson is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist. Shaun began learning the guitar and piano over 20 years ago when he was just a young boy. His love of music led him to study music throughout his educational life, specializing in composition, performance and studio recording at University, graduating in 2000. Shaun composes in many styles and has learned how to play several instruments over the years, specialising in both orchestral and contemporary styles."
After a particularly laborious recording session, which included hearing too many songs; we listened, over and over and over and over, to our top 10 (we started with around 50), slowly crossing them off one at a time until finally landing on Frearson's elegantly modern tunes. It felt the most "us," as a whole. It spoke to our classical + Classical stories and information, as well as our love of old and ancient things, while keeping us grounded in modernity, as if our filthy mouths and overused slang couldn't do that for us. We wanted a beat to bob your head to while driving, walking, or working, that also hints at the overall theme of the podcast--urban legends and myths. We found that! The three of us are theatre workers, and our ties to classical ballet helped inform our decision. Something a little spooky, invoked by the dreamy magical notes, really made us feel at home with this song. I find those spookier tones to be a lovely signature of Frearsons's; he takes holiday and classical sounds and mixes them with something slightly sinister, creating complex and unique emotions for the listener.
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