Is there life after layoff? Today, former creative director Carmen Acosta, aka Jane Dope, joins us to talk about resilience, the lessons she learned during her recent career transition, and how she found renewed passion in creative pursuits after leaving her corporate job. 

As the former creative director at Sofi Stadium, Carmen played a key role in shaping the stadium’s brand identity with her innovative ideas. From her debut group show in Los Angeles in 2008 to curating over 25 art exhibitions in various locations, Carmen’s story is one of purpose and dedication. 

In this episode, we dive into her unique experiences and her commitment to uplifting local artists while navigating the challenges of the entertainment industry. Carmen opens up about a major turning point in her career—her transition into voiceover work after a layoff—and shares her excitement about exploring this new avenue of artistic expression. 

We also touch on the idea of resilience—Carmen shares some personal and professional challenges she’s faced while adapting to change. Her journey is a powerful reminder to stay flexible and embrace new opportunities. Whether you’re an artist, an art lover, or just someone who enjoys a good story, this episode is packed with advice for navigating the ever-changing art ecosystem.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Arterial

ArtsvilleUSA

Carmen Acosta Website

First Friday Exhibitions

NOT REAL ART

NOT REAL ART Podcast

Remote Video Series

For more information, please visit https://notrealart.com/carmen-acosta

The Not Real Art podcast is intended for creative audiences only.

The Not Real Art podcast celebrates creativity and creative culture worldwide.

It contains material that is fresh, fun and inspiring and is not suitable for boring old art snobs.

Now let's get started and enjoy the show.

Greetings and salutations, my creative brothers and sisters.

Welcome to Not Real Art, the podcast where we talk to the world's most creative people.

I am your host.

Faithful, trusty, loyal, tireless, relentless host.

Sourdough coming at you from Crew West Studio in Los Angeles.

Man, do we have a great show for you today.

The one and only Carmen Acosta here, AKA Jane Dope.

Jane Dopeness in the house.

Can't wait to get into this with her.

Her reputation precedes her.

But before we get into this conversation with the one and only Carmen Acosta, I want to thank you for tuning in.

I also want to thank you for, you know, loyalty and support.

We do this for you.

If it wasn't for you, well, then, you know, I'd just be talking into a microphone.

That would be sad.

So thank you very much for showing up.

I also want to thank our presenting sponsor, Arterial.

Arterial.org Arturial is a nonprofit.

They're our fiscal sponsor.

They allow you to support us with tax deductible donations.

So if you want to support our work and support the show, any little bit helps.

You can certainly go to notrealart.com and donate through there.

But you can also go to arterial.org and donate through there.

So please consider supporting our work.

We greatly appreciate it.

Of course.

As always, I want to encourage you to go to notrealart.com and check out all the good, healthy stuff we've got for you.

Lots of gluten free, organic, free range content for you that you're going to love.

Content sounds so boring.

But you know, our website's exciting because we've got amazing artists and art that will inspire you.

And we have the first Friday's exhibition, new shows every month.

We have the Remote series with Badir McClure.

You gotta check it out, man.

It's.

It's great stuff.

So please go there and make it happen@notrolart.com all right, the one and only Carmen Acosta's in the house, people.

Carmen, as you might know, was formerly the creative director at Sofi Stadium in Hollywood park here in la.

She helped define and implement the brand identity for SOFI Stadium and Hollywood park through art and design.

In addition to art curation, still represents two local LA artists and consults on various creative projects in the entertainment industry.

It was there that she discovered her passion for voiceover and decided to start classes to hone her skills.

Now, after recently being laid off from from her creative director role at SoFi Bo, Carmen is excited to pursue a career in voiceover professionally and see where this new path takes her.

As you'll hear on this podcast, her voice is fantastic.

I love listening to her voice and I love talking to Carmen because she's so fun, she's so cool, she's so entertaining, she's so smart, so creative.

And I'm lucky that, you know, she took time out of her busy schedule to come in and hang out with me and chop it up.

And I think we had a lot of fun.

I know I did.

So, without further ado, let's get into this conversation with the one and only Carmen Acosta.

Carmen Acosta.

Welcome to Not Real Art.

So is it.

Is.

Is it.

Do you prefer Carmen, Jane Dopeness?

Like, I mean, you know, I answer to both.

Someone recently was like, bye, Jane.

Well, sorry.

Bye, Carmen.

Sorry, I always want to call you Jane.

And I'm like, well, I answer to both, like, whichever one, you know, you're like.

And I've been called worse.

I've been called worse.

But I was thinking, what is the.

Worst thing you've been called, Carmen?

Oh, my gosh.

God, I can't.

Can't do this.

No, let's not go there.

Let's keep, let's keep it.

Let's.

Let's keep it positive.

Let's keep it clean.

So when we were texting the other day, you were, you know, on a.

On a.

On a very sort of interesting gig, you were apparently creating fabricating wallpaper in a bathroom.

I was.

I just finished it two days ago.

And what was supposed to be just like, pages of the magazine up on a wall became this, like, thoughtful, like, placement of lowriders in between ads for rims.

Like, I got really into it and started to, like, go page by page and pull, like, the best content to look at while you're using the bathroom.

I guess you're such an artist, taking a very specific scope of work and going way beyond expectations.

Hold on, I've got all these black and whites.

How am I going to balance this?

Yeah, that's where my brain goes for sure, that's.

That's a beautiful thing.

So just to be clear for our viewing audience, we're talking about a bathroom.

Not just any bathroom, right?

But.

But at least one of the bathrooms in a place that we all know and love.

AKA Titmouse Studios.

Like, come on.

Yeah.

I think I've done at least 18 bathrooms in their LA office.

I did about 12 in Vancouver and the one that just got built was in Hollywood.

So they were like, we can't have an empty bathroom with nothing on the walls.

So I don't know how that started, but I've done everything from Mad magazines to Dazzler comics to vintage women's pattern making forms fun.

So, yeah, it's super fun.

I love that they think of me for those random projects, so.

Great.

Well, I just love the fact that they want to pimp out their bathrooms.

I know.

Well, so many, like, voice talent go in there and producers and writers.

Like, it's a little bit of a talking point when you get back from the bathroom break, you know, it reminds.

Me of the bathroom.

I don't know if you ever went.

I'm sure you've been there.

I haven't been there in years.

Jones on Santa Monica, right.

And their bathroom, at least the guy's bathroom was just, like, covered in.

Well, actually, now that I think about it, I'm trying to.

Maybe I'm getting my bathrooms mixed up because I feel like I've been in a bathroom that was sort of covered in kind of vintage, shall we say porn?

Vintage porn.

Yes.

What was that?

Yes.

What is that?

Can't think of it either.

But someone sent me.

People send me photos now they're in bathrooms.

Yeah, yeah, there's a bath.

But then I think.

But I think the bathroom in Jones is covered with photos of.

Of Jones patrons, female patrons, flashing.

Got it.

Themselves.

And then of course, those photos end up in the men's bathroom.

Got it.

Got it.

Okay.

It's called audience participation.

Amazing.

Well, that's.

What's the.

What's the coolest, dopest bathroom you've done?

Like, the one that you're, like, most proud of?

This one, the lowrider one.

Yeah.

They were like, what are we.

What are we doing?

Mad magazines.

And I'm like.

I was kind of thinking lowrider magazines.

This is before I had even sourced them or even, like gone online.

But I thought, how hard could it be, you know?

Well, that was my next question because I was like, when I saw your social media post, I thought, wow, she's got a lot of where'd she source all these?

Because, I mean, you've got a huge stack of these lowrider magazines, dude.

Some dude in Norwalk on ebay, and he, like, hand delivered them.

Like, who on earth wants these?

I need to meet this girl.

That's super cool.

That's super cool.

Well, I won't, you know, ask you to go on record to disclose the high cost I'm sure that you had to pay to acquire said vintage lowrider magazines, but I hope you got a good deal.

Dude, it was like a hundred bucks for 36.

What?

What?

That guy didn't know what he had.

I know.

Nice.

For real.

Nice.

Well, that's so cool.

So you're done?

Is it done?

Is it all done?

It's done.

And then I kind of go, now what?

And then I remembered that Titmouse also hired me to plan their 25th anniversary party.

So that's coming up, and you have to come.

I would love to come.

That'd be amazing.

Yeah, it's like, the coolest party in town.

Oh, yeah.

I love a good party.

Yeah.

Did you ever go to the party?

Well, you can't disclose, but I'm just saying, like, what are you.

What are.

What are some of the.

Some of the exciting ideas you're kicking around for their Twitter?

Well, the whole entire thing revolves around a cage.

And they used to have a thing called a smash party, where you'd go into a cage and there was bleachers on both sides, and you would hit something that you brought, whether your old TV or ex boyfriend's phone or whatever.

Like, you'd bring something, you smash it.

And now, because it's become, like, kind of a dangerous thing, and, you know, it's just kind of.

We don't need the waiver situation.

You will now go into a cage with a pool noodle drenched in fake blood, and blindly, I think there's a blindfold involved.

Hit someone else with a white shirt, and it's like, who gets bloodier?

It's called Branded by Blood.

It's gonna be fun, I promise.

It sounds weird, but it's gonna be so fun, and you should do it.

Oh, well, the weird.

Yeah, I mean, fun.

Fun Isn't.

Isn't.

Aren't those two sides of the same coin fun and weird?

The weirder, the better.

Totally.

By the way, I want to make a coin that you can flip, and one side says weird, and the other side says weirder.

Like, what would you use it for?

I don't know.

I mean, what do we.

What what are we looking for?

Weird or weirder?

I don't know.

Let's find out.

There you go.

I like it.

So you're.

You are such a renaissance human.

You, you, you, you.

You are this multidisciplinary artist creative.

I mean, you.

Is there anything you can't do?

I mean, from pinatas to bathrooms to launching the SOFI arena.

I mean, I can't sing song.

Voiceover talent.

Let's not forget the amazing voiceover talent that you are.

More of that this year, please.

Okay.

That'd be amazing.

I just want that.

I just want to wake up and do that, you know?

Right, right.

Do you have an agent?

How do you.

How do you.

Yeah, yeah, I'm with avo, so I have three technically for animation, commercial, English and Spanish, and some on camera stuff, which I hope to be doing this year as well.

Right on.

Are you.

How often are you auditioning for things?

Oh, my gosh.

Like, I'd say like there's like 10 a week at this point.

10 a week?

Yeah.

Great.

It's a lot.

It's fun.

Lots of fun.

When you audition, do you have to go in or do.

Can you send in.

Do you have to send in just the audio file of from home?

Yeah, yeah.

You just gotta have a nice setup at home and you know, self direct and all of that, which is fun.

But yeah, it's all from home these days.

I wish it was going in.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

You know, originally we did this once before this podcast, but it was like.

Well, we did.

I was gonna bring that up because we.

We recorded it.

And then you left the company.

I did.

And I was like.

It was still at such a weird, like, point where I was like, oh my God, who am I without this creative director title?

You know, and this Friday, so like in two days will be an entire year of this like, freelance hustle dude.

Without that position.

Without that title.

Right.

So when you asked me to do this podcast again, I'm like.

And talk about what?

And I'm like, the thing maybe people don't always talk about, which is like everything that comes outside of this corporate.

Yes.

You know, constraint really well.

And you were.

You know, it's funny, the kind of sex appeal that.

That when you.

When you have a job, like.

Right.

Like when you're the creative director for SoFi, you know, or name your brand, but, you know, it sounds so glamorous, it sounds sexy, it sounds amazing.

And there are moments, right, certainly where it is those things.

But.

But at the end of the day, Right.

You're in a corporate environment.

You're navigating politics, you're navigating God knows what else.

And as a creative artist person, that can be incredibly stifling and frustrating.

And, you know, you and I, we didn't really know each other too much, but then somehow, you know, it was like, oh, I.

To have her on the podcast.

You know, she's, you know, chief, you know, creative director for Sofi.

And then we have.

We have our interview, and it was go so well.

And then I think literally it might have been the next day or something.

You're like, yeah, dude, maybe you won't want.

You don't want to release that because I quit.

Scratch that.

It was actually mass layoffs, right?

Which, you know, at the time was, like, so weird.

I'm like, what can I talk about?

What can't I talk about?

And I'm like, let's just not talk about any of it.

But now I'm like, let's get into it.

Yeah, yeah.

The whole, like, you mentioned the glamorous part of it all, or, you know, people on the outside looking in, it was like, this whole thing.

And I look back over this past year of not having that title, and the people that fell off who thought I was maybe gonna be able to help them in some way or they were gonna be able to bring in their brand or I had any kind of pull in that way, and what they didn't realize was I was struggling to get my ideas, you see, online.

That I was able to push through was like, killed me to, like, scream, you guys, we have to do this.

Like, we need to do this.

It's gonna be so cool.

Trust me.

And they'd be like, okay.

And then it totally was just, like, unappreciated.

I mean, the team there was cool, the creative team, but it was just like we were.

We were constantly just hitting roadblocks and red tape every single day.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Working for the man.

Yeah, he's a dick.

Or she.

Yes.

Well, thank you for clarifying, because she could be a dick too, for that matter.

Yes.

Yes.

Those are some of my.

My favorite women.

It's like, badass bitches coming your way.

As a girl dad.

People.

People ask me, so, what's it like being a girl dad?

I said, I feel like my job is to raise the baddest bitch in the room.

Thank you.

Yeah.

No.

Bullshit.

No, don't bullshit.

Bullshit.

So, yeah, so you just.

And I know it's, like, always scary, right, when you.

You sort of, you know, Liberated from your, from your corporate gig and that steady paycheck or the whatever so called security that comes with a corporate gig.

And then suddenly you're flying without a net and doing a high wire act as a independent creative and you don't know where your next dollar is coming from.

And that in your case.

It seems like you've been pretty busy this last year, my friend.

I've been busy and you know, the first few months were terrifying.

And then I realized later in the year, staying home, being depressed, ignoring calls, all of that was not helping me go out.

You don't want to go out, but go out.

And guess what?

Someone's like, oh, you know what I thought of you.

I had this thing and like things just started coming up and it was like, hey, want to do this thing for Jo Koy S?

You know what I mean?

Things that you, you know, maybe they would have still called me, but like staying out and keeping that energy going.

And you gotta get out there, you just.

Yeah, man, you do.

I mean, if for no other reason, it's just healthy to fucking get out of your four walled box.

Called in a home or whatever.

Yeah.

See some air and rub elbows with interesting people and then, you know, so it's positive, healthy stuff.

But then you get a gig or two.

Yeah, totally.

And in the beginning it was more about, I don't want to answer questions, what happened, what are you doing?

Or where did you end up?

And it's like nowhere.

Still looking for, you know, like, it just, I didn't want to answer any of that.

And then I was like, fuck it, I'm doing a bunch of shit on my own terms, right.

I'm picking my own.

I'm picking my project.

I'm saying no to things.

I'm not just like so desperate, you know, to pay rent that I'm gonna do some dumb shit that goes against everything that I'm about.

So there was, there's a ton of freedom that came from this in the last year.

But the unpredictability of course is stressful.

But it's minor in comparison to like the joy that I get from being alongside my peers and making art and like curating and all this stuff so well.

And it really is about picking your battles and picking your poison more to the point, because the reality is, you know, yeah, sure, it might be incredibly stressful not to have that steady paycheck, but at the end of the day, you know, as you've learned, as we all have learned on some level, it's like just because you have a secure corporate gig.

I mean, the security is like, like, you know, like all it takes is one bean counter to say that, you know, you got to cut costs and next thing you know, your 20 year career is done.

Because some, you know, they had to lay off, you know, a bunch of people.

I mean, think about these, you know, federal workers that are just getting axed.

You know, they thought that, you know, they had a secure job at the federal government.

Guess not.

Yeah.

You know, so securities, you know, it's.

It's a myth.

It's a myth.

And so one of the things I've appreciated about your approach to security in the last few months is that, you know, you decided to sort of dimensionalize that beyond just kind of professional career financial security, but you've actually embraced the security that comes with being able to kick ass and taking boxing classes.

You know, fight club shit is happening.

Like, remind me not to piss you off, like, now.

Your right hook, I heard, is a killer.

Oh, my gosh.

It's been the coolest thing.

I never thought I would do something like this, but a neighbor signed me up so that I would go with her, and then I felt like obligated.

And it was like four to five times a week, solid month of this.

And what ended up happening was I was like, oh, shit.

Like, I'm getting in shape and I'm learning this new skill, like boxing.

Like, who would have thought?

I never gave a shit about it, you know what I mean?

And now I have all this, like, under my belt, no pun intended.

But it's been incredible.

This place is called Mad City.

Every single trainer there is fucking so nice and helpful, and it's quite the little community they have going.

So, yeah, it's been really fun.

Great.

Look at you, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee.

Stop, stop.

That's great.

That's great.

Yeah.

I need to do something.

I need to, like, get, get.

Get violent.

What, you.

You do stuff?

Yeah, what do I do?

I drink pretty well.

I'm pretty good.

But this muscle, as you know from our last drinking session.

Oh, I know.

How many, how many cocktails did we have?

How many.

How much tequila did we drink that night?

I lost count after 10.

And that's no exaggeration.

And I have not been that drunk since.

But we were like, we were still.

Like, we're highly functional.

Like, that's highly functional.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, that's where we're, you know, we're professionals.

That was so fun.

What was that place called?

It was a summer Night, the weather was great.

We're on the rooftop.

Capitol Records is within there farms distance.

Yeah, we'll do it again.

And the good thing about you is like you're stumbling distance from that place.

So like you didn't have to drive or anything.

That's probably why I went overboard a little bit.

So you're home.

I can't believe you had time for me today.

What do you mean?

Oh, you know what though?

Right after this.

Yeah.

Here's another thing on my resume that I don't ever do.

I redesigned an artist's website.

I'm not a web designer.

I just am like computer savvy and I have an eye and I know I could hear.

You know, I listened to what he wanted and I made this cool thing for him.

But his name is David Otis Johnson and he has shout out.

David Otis Johnson.

Do you know him?

I don't, but okay, now I want to.

His show is all of his neon work.

How fun is that?

I love neon.

Yes.

So I'm going there right after this to take some install shots and just do some fun content for him.

Wow.

Yeah, I might want to buy some of his neon art.

I love neon art.

I got to go to the studio with Heidi, our friend Heidi Johnson, and she and I got to video visit and watch the entire process, which was so fun.

I still do not understand the different gases and how that plays into it, but it was fun to watch him like create the structure for it all.

And yeah, it's so interesting.

And it's actually had a neon artist out of Brooklyn fabricate a sign for me that hangs above.

Speaking of bathrooms.

Hangs above one of my toilets in one of my bathrooms.

And the sign says, you got this.

That's all it says.

That's all it says.

You got this.

You got this right above the toilet.

No thumbs up or anything?

No, no, no.

Just you got this.

Okay.

You know, I would just feel good about that.

It's a good, positive message.

Yeah.

You know, when people are doubting their.

Their flow.

Well, that's super cool.

So you're doing the website.

So you're gonna go over there.

Gonna go over there, learn about how to make me.

You'll be.

You're gonna be making neon.

Knowing you, you're gonna be like, yeah.

I did ask him.

I'm like, where can I, like, take a starter class?

He used to teach.

He used to teach.

So maybe he'll like private lessons.

Come on.

Yeah, apprenticeship.

It sounds like a really expensive medium though, doesn't it?

Gas and shit.

Come on.

Yeah.

Where do you even go buy gas?

It.

It.

Well, there are industrial, chemical.

I'll ask companies that.

You will, you know, you'll get some, you know, blue collar guy that'll come bring you gas and, and he'll be a handsome strapping man and, you know, who knows what kind of sparks will happen from the gas.

Smell like a long day too.

Which is I smell like a long day.

Wait, I have a question for you.

Okay, I don't think I know turning the tables on me.

I don't think I know the answer to the sourdough nickname, because.

Might I make a suggestion?

Can it just be Scott Power Dough?

No.

Talk to me.

Well, okay, so there's a short version and a long version of the story, and since it's my show and there really isn't a time limit, I will give you the both versions.

Okay, go for it.

Because the.

And clearly you haven't been to my website because if you'd been to my website, you would know the answer to this.

I knew that was coming and I took a risk and I asked anyway.

Google me next time, Carmen.

I like the organics of how we met and how this podcast is going.

Okay, There you go.

There you go.

Nice.

Safe.

So the short answer is that I am the author of a sourdough cookbook.

Stop.

That's the, that's the short, quick answer.

Okay.

The, the, the more interesting question might be, well then why the hell.

Why, why the hell did you write a sourdough cookbook?

I moved about 500 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and it was about 120 miles away from the polar bear capital of the world, which is Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

And I chartered a bush plane with my buddy and we flew in and the bush plane dropped us off on a frozen lake at.

Okay.

And I had to get.

Because we're 120 miles away from the nearest anything, let alone grocery store bakery.

I had to get real good at making bread.

Okay?

Sourdough is a brilliant thing to have when you're in the middle of nowhere trying to survive and trying to eat well, because with sourdough you can make, as you know, all kinds of amazing bread products, whether just it's bread or Pizza dough or fucking donuts or pancakes, of course.

And so I became very good at sourdough cooking.

A publisher got wind of that and offered me a publishing deal to publish.

You know, so.

So.

But there's another kind of nuance to this because.

And during the Klondike gold rush of the 19th century, okay, when prospectors were heading to Alaska to strike their fortunes, you know, many of them were, of course, shocked to.

To realize that Alaska is a fucking harsh place to live.

And many of those people left immediately.

Many of those people died because they froze to death or got, you know, attacked and eaten by a bear or something like this.

But those prospectors that stayed, those prospectors that continued to live there season after season, winter after winter, became known as sourdough.

Got it.

I love it.

There you go.

That's the story.

Sourdough is my favorite type of bread.

I could easily just crack open a loaf and just like, stick my nose in it.

Oh, yeah, it's so good.

Like, I don't want to.

Like, you can't stop.

It's so good.

In fact, I saw something today and I thought of you and I saved it.

It says Sweden has a sourdough hotel.

Do you know about this?

I have heard about this, yes.

Tell me more.

Yes.

Where people can leave their sourdough starters to be fed and cared for while they're on vacation.

Amazing.

Are you kidding me?

That's fantastic.

Is that real?

Because that's the problem with sourdough.

Sourdough.

It's like a.

It's like having a pet.

You have to.

It's living organism and you have to feed it, you have to care for it.

It will die.

True.

That's amazing.

A sourdough hotel.

The fact that there's enough sourdough being used in anywhere in this world that would.

That would require and sustain a hotel or your sourdough.

You know, one of the fun facts about sourdough is that because it is a, you know, leavener and.

Yeah, you know, is a living organism is that builds up gas, you know, and so in the container, you have to.

If you're storing, you know, there's all kinds of ways of storing sourdough.

I mean, obviously it's become a little more sophisticated over the years with technology and refrigeration and so on and so forth.

But there are stories that I've read of you know, because there's a whole part of my life which you might have, you know, picked up on based on my last story that is very much rooted in what you'll call sort of, you know, outdoor adventure and outdoor recreation and what have you.

And so I'd read these stories, these old explorers or.

Or, you know, woodsmen or whatever, and they.

There are these stories of them having sourdough.

But the.

The.

They.

They.

They didn't have a way of the.

The container.

The gases got locked in the container and would explode like a bomb.

Yeah.

But like, when people, like, go, oh, I brought you some starter or whatever, and you're like, great.

And it's in a jar.

Like, what am I supposed to do with that?

Yeah, well, the.

Yeah.

So the sourdough crock, right, is like the famous.

Here, I even have one.

No way.

Hold on.

I have it somewhere.

What?

Where did I put it?

Hold on.

So this is sort of a classic sourdough crock.

Can you see that?

And it's a, you know, stone, you know, crock kind of thing.

And usually they come with, like, a rubber.

Like a rubber seal that, you know, but you want to take that off because you want it to be able to breathe.

Now, this is very impractical, you know, to really haul around, but it's wonderful to kind of have in your fridge or have on the container on the counter or something.

It's old school.

It's classic.

There are probably better systems now, but.

Yeah, this is kind of a classic sourdough crock for.

There was a minute when I thought I would create, like, the world's largest collection of sourdough crocks because I had, like, probably over a hundred of these things at one point.

Yeah.

But the problem is there's just so many, like, commercially branded crocs out there.

I mean, like, I wanted, like, vintage, like, real, you know, antiques, and there's just a lot of, like, commercial out there.

But.

Yeah, so.

So, you know.

So do you have sourdough right now or do you.

Are you currently in possession of the dough?

I can't be trusted.

You can't be trusted.

All day?

Just all day?

Well, yeah, I mean, bread baking.

Well, I mean, sourdough is one of those things.

It is a little, you know, requires time, energy, thought, you know, because it is this living organism.

But there are all these wonderful things you can make with it.

But, you know, it just adds.

It's a little bit trickier.

Pancakes are obviously the easiest, you know, but bread baking in general is just more complicated.

I want to try it someday.

Have you.

Do you.

Have you baked bread before?

Do you know how to.

Have you.

I have not.

You have not.

No One creative endeavor that Jane Dopeness has not managed to master yet.

There it is.

Yeah.

Next time you see me, though, I'll be, like, well versed.

If you.

If you're really good to me, really nice to me, maybe I'll give you a copy of my sourdough cookbook.

Maybe I'll even sign it.

But, yeah, it's.

It's.

It's a delicious little.

Little wonderful, amazing thing.

Yeah.

Sounds good.

Yeah.

Are you a pancake person?

Fuck yeah.

Fuck, yeah.

Pancakes.

Fuck yeah, Pancakes.

I've been on those, like, Kodiak protein Power Jacks lately.

Oh, those are great.

They're good.

The dark chocolate is like cake.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you cook?

Are you.

Are you.

Are you comfortable in the kitchen?

I cook 95 of my meals.

Look at you go.

What do you like?

This.

Originally on the first time he had me on, I had lost a bunch of weight at that time.

Right, Right.

And so because of that, I've learned what my body, you know, does well with and doesn't do well with.

So I, like, make sure that, like, I know everything.

That obviously I go out to eat and, like, we'll try, like, the new Smash Burger place.

Like, I'm not, like, that strict, but 90% or 95% of my food is cooked here.

Meal prep.

I do all that shit.

Do you like to entertain?

Do you like to cook for groups?

I do, yeah.

I just had Heidi Halo Pig.

Do you know Halo Pig?

I don't Halo.

He works at thinkspace.

Okay.

And an artist named Ian Robertson Salt.

I had them over for Cincinnati Chili.

Ooh.

Which I didn't even know was a thing.

They brought me the Cincinnati chili pack back from Blink when they all did Blink last year.

Right.

And so I made it with all the fixins on the lazy Susan.

Like, ironed my tablecloth, like, ironed the fancy net.

Like, had cocktails.

So fun.

Cute little lighting and, like, music.

It was.

It was like, only two weeks ago.

It was so good.

But I guess the thing about Cincinnati chili is like the sweet sort of chocolate cinnamon situation that they add.

Right.

Do you know about that?

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So it was my first time.

A little brown sugar, too, or.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, I do.

So good.

I'm the hostess with the mostest, for sure.

There you go.

Of course.

Of course.

You said something.

What was it?

The chili made me think I Don't know.

I'm just jealous I wasn't there.

Like, next time you got to invite me to the fucking chili.

Chili off.

You know, entertaining is no joke, man.

To do it well, to do it right, let alone cook for a bunch of people.

Yeah, I get insane about it.

I'm like, oh, my God, my playlist.

And like, everything's gotta be perfect.

Are you.

Are you.

Are you anal retentive?

Are you type A?

I wouldn't go that far.

But things with, like, entertaining, I think to myself, if I were going somewhere, what would I need?

What would be nice to have?

Like, what's a surprising thing that the host might go, here's one.

And you're like, oh, shit.

Like, thanks.

You know, like something that makes you feel like you need nothing.

Like, you lack zero.

This is like the perfect thing, right?

You turn around and they're pigs in a blank blanket.

Yeah, yeah.

Who doesn't love pigs in a blanket?

Yes.

Two different types of ice.

I don't know, maybe you like crunch ice.

Wow.

Not that wow.

Different varietals of ice.

I'm joking.

That's how good you are.

That's amazing.

Well, you know the.

You mentioned the lazy Susan.

That's what it is.

Like, that's for me, though.

For me, the lazy Susan isn't lazy enough.

I need the super lazy Susan.

I need the.

I need the one with just the whole table turns, you know why?

So you can try someone else's bite.

Yeah, I figured, why not?

Like, why.

Why do I have to reach over and spend.

Like, let's just have the whole table spin and then we just try each other's dishes.

Like, invent it.

Super lazy Susan.

Yeah, super lazy Susan.

Extra lazy.

Extra lazy.

When.

When the lazy Susan just isn't lazy enough.

You must get all kinds of fun product ideas from time to, like, you know, in a given.

In a given day or week, like, you know, we should make this.

I have two things in the works that I'm gonna tell you about in person that I can't talk about because they're so cool.

Are we.

Do I need to sign an NDA?

Like, are you gonna make me sign an NDA?

Am I?

That I can't wait to show you.

I feel like if I show you, you're gonna be like, this has legs.

Do it.

All right.

Wow.

Yeah, so, yeah, I do.

And one of em was something that I've been searching for for years.

Like, doesn't someone make this?

Doesn't someone make this?

And finally I'm like, Carmen, just make it.

Yeah, right.

So, yeah, gotta, you know, don't wait, don't.

Nobody's coming to save us.

We gotta save ourselves.

Exactly.

So did you.

Did you see the thing that I got that I made for Heidi for her birthday?

I don't think so.

I made her a teeny tiny wearable gallery complete with spotlighting a sculpture and every photo she took at.

At Freeze Art Fair inside a tiny pinata gallery that you could wear on your head as a headband.

What the fuck are you even talking about?

I have to show it to you.

I have to show it to you.

It's one of those things like this freelance life, man.

I'm telling you.

Like sometimes you think of something so fucking weird and you're like, just make it.

Yeah.

No one's hiring you to do it, but just get it out of your head, you know?

Yeah.

And she loved it.

Manifest it and make it happen.

I love that.

And what a thought.

I mean, you know, there's nothing better than a handmade gift.

I mean at the end of the day, let alone something that's like so damn clever and appropriate.

For Heidi, of course.

For Heidi.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Thoughtful.

Yeah.

Well, you mentioned Freeze.

What'd you think?

I didn't go.

You didn't go?

No.

You were supposed to call me.

You didn't call me.

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

Did I drop the ball?

I'm so sorry.

I went to Felix one night.

You went to the other art fair.

And then we tried to link but we didn't.

Right.

Yeah, because I went.

So I went to.

There was an event.

Creative Capital didn't event their 30 year anniversary party at the Proper.

I think it's the Proper in Santa Monica.

That was the night you and I were texting, I think, and then you were.

You were home already or whatever it was.

Because I was maybe going to come to Hollywood.

Yeah.

And then.

And then I think the next day we went to Freeze Man.

Juan and I and a couple friends.

And then the next day I went to the art.

The other art fair.

Uh huh.

That Friday night, was it the Friday night.

But anyway, what'd you think about Felix and the other art fair?

You see anything that made you smile?

I only went to Felix.

And of course the star of the show at Felix was Megan Barnes.

Do you know her?

I don't.

Ceramic artist.

Oh my God, you would love her work.

Okay, turn me on.

Come on.

You know how like ceramics are.

Like there's all these beautiful imperfections because it's just sort of an unpredictable medium, right?

Like, totally, totally make this thing.

It goes in, it comes out, maybe something totally different, color wise and structure wise.

But she does LA monuments, like Capitol Records, about this big.

Wow.

Teeny tiny little Red Hot Chili Peppers with the socks on their dicks.

Like, that's how detailed her work gets.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

I love this.

I love this artist.

You're gonna love it.

The Old Tower records.

Yeah.

Hollywood Roosevelt.

Like, the list goes on.

But, like, she sold it out first night, right?

And she was with One Trick Pony Gallery.

So that was definitely my favorite thing I saw.

See, this taps into a bigger thing, which is, like, there are just so many amazing artists that I've never heard of.

Like.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, there's just so many.

And it's.

The discovery factor is.

Is.

Is so hard sometimes, right?

Unless a friend knows or unless you get out a lot and really are out there, you know, discovering.

I mean, it is just.

There's just so much talent out there that just goes, you know, undiscovered sometimes.

At least for me.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

I did.

I did buy a piece of art at the other art fair.

Do you want to see it?

Yes.

Wait, did you post it?

Do I know this?

No, I haven't.

I just got it.

I just got it.

He had to ship it.

Let's see.

Because I didn't.

I didn't want to.

I didn't want to carry it.

I couldn't carry it.

And I said, do you mind shipping it to me?

Because he's from Austin.

And he said, yeah, I'll ship it to you.

So I just got it.

But you gotta, like.

I gotta.

I gotta go get it.

So will you wait it like.

Like two minutes?

Yep.

Pause.

All right.

I'll be right back.

Pause.

All right.

Ready for this?

Yes.

I gotta get back so that you can see the whole thing.

Shit.

Is that a rug?

A rug, baby.

Oh, my God.

That's amazing.

Are you gonna hang it?

Like, are you gonna frame it?

I gotta.

I.

I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do exactly.

But it was so the story, like, so much of this, right?

Like, you're walking around, right, and you just see something that, like, you can't shake.

Yeah.

You know, and it's like.

And I don't know how you do art fairs, but, like, the way I do art fairs is I like to skim.

I like to walk through and just skim and take it all in.

I don't talk to anybody.

I don't Even try to make eye contact, right?

I just, I'm trying to look at the art and feel the art to see what resonates and what grabs me, right?

Well, this fucking thing, this red faced monkey on a cell phone rug just grabbed me, right?

So like, I was like, oh, fuck, you know, I probably have to have that, you know, and, and.

But I keep walking and you know, then I, of course, I, you know, like by the third time around, you know, I'm like, all right, what's the story here?

You know, So I started talking to Tuck.

His name's Tucker.

Tuck Rail is the artist.

And.

Well, actually that's better.

Easier to read yuckplanet.com and so I started talking to Tuck and he's a filmmaker and he started making rugs during the pandemic because he was stuck, you know, and couldn't make films, couldn't do anything.

And so he started like learning how to make rugs.

But he's also like a visual guy and an artist and he had this script for a movie that he had been working on and it was kind of like, how did he describe it?

But basically, long story short is like this, this guy gets lost in a jungle and he loses his cell.

His wife is worried, it doesn't know, hasn't heard from him.

And so she calls his cell phone among a monkey, answers, shut up.

And that's when she knew that things weren't going so well for her husband.

Right?

And I was like, oh my God, now I really have to have this rug.

I love it.

So, yeah, so good.

I have to figure out, figure out what the, where the hell I'm gonna put it.

Yeah, but it's like.

And then, see, old school cell phone too.

Like, it like deserves its own custom frame.

That's a really good point.

You're right, it does.

Yeah.

Yes, yes.

So anyway, we should do like show and tell.

Like bring your favorite piece of art or, you know, you should do that.

Yeah.

Add that to the.

By the way.

By the way, that could be like a fun kind of thing to do at a bar.

Like, it's like open mic, right?

It's open mic, show and tell.

You know who would love, for adults drinking, you know who would love that?

Is the place that you did your party at, The Oaks.

Yes.

That would be perfect spot for this.

Yes.

I love that so much.

You want to do that together.

Yes.

Because you know, people have done that, like, oh, come read your page from your childhood diary.

Like stuff like that, you know?

Right.

Oh my gosh.

Have they done a show and tell.

No, and definitely not show and tell art.

Oh, my God.

Fuck, yeah.

It's on.

It's on.

Whoo.

Now we have.

We have something else.

Yes.

Add it to the list.

We're excited about.

I love that.

I'm serious.

Let's fucking do that.

Hell, yeah.

Watch tonight I'm going to come up with some fucking catchy ass name, because that's just who I am.

Let's do it.

I mean, because.

Because it is.

It is so in line with everything we're about.

Right?

Like, because, I mean, fundamentally, it's about promoting an artist we love.

Right?

You were just saying introducing people to new art they might not have seen.

Yeah.

It's like this.

Here's this object I love, but, you know, here's the artist that made it, and you got to check them out.

And the story.

Because your story.

It's all about the story, right?

It's just.

Yes.

Hell yeah.

I'm so excited about our new idea.

Fucking show and tell.

The drinking game version.

Yes.

Drink.

If you like this piece of art and everyone's wasted.

That would.

Yeah, that would be great.

Did you have fun at our party?

Yeah, we did.

Good.

Do you know that, like, weeks later or like a week later.

Carmen, calm down.

Someone else had a Christmas party there.

Like some, like, it was like a goth night or something.

And someone tagged me in their photo reel because it still said Jane Dope on that chalkboard behind the Christmas tree.

I was like, yes, I'll show it to you.

It's funny.

Yeah.

You've been there before.

Leaving your mark.

Totally.

That's so fun.

Yeah, no, that's great.

I mean, thinking about just different ways to bring people together, connect through the arts, you know, Fucking give us a good reason to listen to amazing music and get drunk.

Yeah, that would have to be like.

There'd have to be some sort of, like, music break.

Yes.

Because otherwise it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or like, yeah, well, you could do.

I mean, I don't know.

We're spitballing, but like, it could be, like, alternation.

Like, alternate.

It's like one show and tell, one song, one show and say.

So it's like on, off, on off.

Or maybe.

Maybe that's too much.

Maybe you need, like, I don't know, 15 minutes on 15 minutes music.

15 minutes.

You know, we'll figure it out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But keep it flowing.

I love it.

Have you ever.

Speaking of, like, open mic stuff, have you ever.

Do you, like, listen to Moth radio?

No.

So moth radio, you.

You dig it?

Moth radio is really just.

It can be super funny, it could be super sad, but it's on, you know, it's something you'll catch on like NPR or whatever.

And it's the Moth Radio Hour.

Right, okay.

And it's people coming up and telling a story.

Right.

And in fact, there's like, it's.

There's like a whole cultural, whole world behind it.

They've even published a book, how to tell a story.

It's the moth radio.

You know, it's like how their little formula for.

Cause there's a real, like.

Like a real way they do it.

And it's love, it's powerful, it's lovely.

And you would get into it, I think, because a.

Well, as an artist, as a creative.

But.

But for you, it'd be great too, because of your.

You know, you're obviously have an amazing sounding voice and then you could.

You'd find like an incredible dope story to tell and then you go on there and then there's like local chapters, you know, and then.

But then I guess people get elevated.

Like stories get favorited and then you then get to go to like, like the big show and they record it and then it's on npr and so there's.

You know, it's really great.

It's fantastic.

So anyway, the moth.

I'll send you the link.

Okay.

I wrote it down too.

So if you could only tell, like if you.

If tomorrow you were gonna go do an open mic and it was for Moth Radio Hour, and you had to tell a story, just one story that you felt like would move the audience in some way.

Would you tell.

Would you tell a funny story?

Would you tell a sad story?

What story would you tell?

I think I would tell a funny story.

Yeah, I think I would tell a funny story.

But again, like, you're right.

Storytelling, there is somewhat of a formula to not like, lose people and like, keep them engaged and like get to the punchline and all of that.

So, yeah, I'd have to.

I'd have to think about what that was.

But it's.

Yeah, it's an interesting challenge.

I sort of have a secret desire to do a moth radio.

You do?

I do, I do.

You'd be great.

Oh, I don't know about that, but thank you.

But it'd be fun, right?

It'd be interesting.

I mean, assuming that you told a good story.

Yeah, yeah, Lots of stories.

Yeah, man.

Lots of stories to tell.

Did I ever tell you the one about the time that Spike Lee flew in to buy a piece of art from me.

Let's tell.

Yeah, tell me that story.

Well, I'll give you the short version, but I used to curate this art show called Eat yout Art out.

And it ran for.

It ran for 10 years.

We had over 100 artists every year.

It was a one night only show at Titmouse, right?

And the 10th year, I was like, I can't do this anymore.

It was myself, my friend, it was a lot.

Six months to plan, one night only, six months to recover.

Over and over for 10 years, like, done, right?

But the final year, we did this thing called Neat street.

And it was puppets and hip hop.

That's all the artists were told.

That's what the criteria is.

Puppets and hip hop.

That's the theme.

And we had actual professional puppeteers and like puppets and like, we did a whole play on Beat street where the logo looked like it, but it was Neat Street.

And anyway, my friend Calder Greenwood is a cardboard artist.

Oh, my God, I love Caulder Greenwood.

Are you kidding me?

He's freaking unbelievable.

So you might know this part of the story then?

Yes.

So Caulder asked me, do you think it would fit for me to do Radio Raheem?

I've been wanting to do Radio Raheem my whole life.

Like, can I do it?

I'm like, yeah, totally, dude.

And Titmouse had this huge warehouse with like, you know, 20 foot ceilings.

And he's like, it's 12 and a half feet.

And I'm like, okay, let's do it.

So I'm so crazed with everything that's going on, I leave social media to everyone else.

So I wasn't posting and tagging the proper.

I wasn't doing any of that.

Someone took a picture of it that night, tagged Spike Lee, unbeknownst to me.

Next day we go there, we clean up a bit, and then we go celebrate this, like, retiring of this ten year show, right?

Yeah, sure.

I'm day drinking with all my friends.

My phone rings and my phone rings and says, maybe Spike Lee.

That's what the caller ID said.

And I'm showing everyone my phone going, oh, my God.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

I'm like too.

I'm like too drunk for this.

And my friend was like, calm down.

You got this.

Calm down.

I go outside and I'm like, hello.

And he goes, yo, Miss Dope.

The Spike.

Just like that.

Yo, Miss Dope.

This Spike.

And I was all, hi, Spike.

And he's like, yo, yo, yo, man.

Yo, What?

What am I looking at?

And I, you know, obviously knew what he was talking about.

I'm like, well, it's a 12 and a half foot sculpture.

Like, I went into curator mode real quick.

Yeah, it's made by Calder Greenwood.

Blah, blah, blah.

He's like, yo, so it's available.

It's for sale.

I'm like, yeah.

And he's like, well, how much to ship?

I'm like, well, I'll have to get you all that stuff.

It was Saturday.

I'm like, Monday morning.

I'll have it to, you know, whatever.

And he's like, all right, man, I need to come look at it.

And I'm like, yeah, come on down.

And if you've ever been to the.

If you've ever been to Titmouse, there is a giant gate, and it's like, I don't know, a football field length to get to the warehouse.

And we're all at the warehouse.

The gate slowly opens, and he's walking towards us, which took, like, 15 minutes.

And we're all just standing there, and little Spike Lee comes walking towards us by himself.

No one else, Right?

No entourage or posse.

Asks a few questions, and then proceeds to roll around in an office chair for two hours.

Two hours making phone calls.

His team is measuring his office, measuring his home.

Where's this thing gonna go?

And in the end, he's like, yeah, man, I'll take it.

And so he buys it.

We get it all packed up, and Caulder got to go there with his parents, which was so sweet, and install the thing.

So.

But, yeah.

Yo, Ms.

Dope, the Spike, it was amazing.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

So Caulder lives literally, like, across the alley from where Crewette Gallery used to be.

Yes.

Yeah.

On Winston.

On Winston.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The rad pad.

Yes, it is a rad pad.

I haven't seen him in a while.

Long overdue.

He's the best.

He's so talented.

What a fucking smart, brilliant mind he is.

Yeah.

Have him on the show.

You gotta have him on the show.

I do, actually.

You're right.

You're right, you're right.

That's so great.

The power of social media.

Yeah.

If you go on my Instagram, I have it all saved as a, like, story highlight, where you can watch Spike, like, rolling around in the chair and, like, looking at the art and everything.

It's so funny.

Yeah.

We're trying to get Spike.

So we're doing a thing.

I don't know if you know about this, but it's called Classic Black.

I'm working with the Steinway artist Ricky Pagio.

I mean, his bread and butter comes from playing for Madonna and Christina Aguilera and he's been on tour with Stevie Wonder and, you know, on and on.

And he's of Haitian descent, but he's.

We grew up in Montreal and he studied, grew up studying classical music.

But he was 35 before he ever heard the name.

Joseph Bologne, for example.

And long story short, you know, as a, you know, black musician who'd studied classical music, he was horrified in a.

In deeply hurt that there was this rich history of brilliant black composers that he never heard of.

And so he wanted.

Wants to, you know, he sort of take took it on as his own, like, personal, private passion project to kind of be an agent of change and help educate young kids coming up to.

About this rich history that young black kids may not know about.

So we've created this thing called Classic Black, celebrating black excellence and classical music from yesterday, today and tomorrow.

And.

But Ricky was.

Apparently he.

He just did.

I don't know, I don't know how it happened, but he did a.

He did a.

He had a part in a Spike Lee movie just recently and he and Spike hit it off and we're trying to get Spike to sit down with Rick to talk about this rich history.

But anyway, so cool.

Are you a classical music head?

Do you.

Are you a classical music head?

No, I'm not.

But if it's on, you know, enjoy it.

If it's.

If it's fire.

If it's fire, yes.

If it's a vibe, yes.

So on a given night, if you're home alone, and I'm sure the answer is depends and you know, whatever.

But like, what do you.

What do you.

What are you listening to?

Oh my God, I love reggae music.

Right on.

So much.

I mean, obviously, like, I'm a huge hip hop head and like, for sure, like through and through.

But when I'm chilling at the house, like cleaning up or whatever, like working on a project, it's reggae.

It just like puts me in such a good mood.

I've only been to Jamaica one time, but every time I think of like a super fun, like, party theme, I'm like, I want to go on one of those, like Long Beach Jamaican steel drum boat rides or something, you know, And I'm not even that big of a, like weed smoker or anything.

Like, I'll partake in an edible every now and then.

But like, I'm not like a smoker, you know.

Yeah.

Right, right, right.

You know, you're not rolling spliffs and.

No, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No.

But I do really love Jamaican music of all types.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah.

No, I totally get that.

Because it's like, that's.

That's music that you can work, to play, to hang, to dance, dance, to chill, to, whatever, Right?

Yes.