Just A Spoonful is kicking off a new 2021 season with Brisbane-based musician and broadcaster Scott Mercer, a JASP fan turned JASP guest. Scott was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in his late twenties, and obviously his very first thought was 'Sweet, now I'm eligible to be on Kaitlyn's podcast' (citation needed). The frontman of Slumlawwd talks about how playing music played a part in his diagnosis, and how he's trying to fit as many gigs in as he can before it gets too hard to hold a guitar. We also talk about our experiences presenting at Brisbane's anarchic community radio station 4ZZZ, Scott's goal to interview Corinne Grant, and why Melbourne is like Valhalla (it's not a compliment). We sat down to record this chat in June 2018, making this possibly the longest I've ever taken to upload an interview to this podcast. Look, it's been a weird few years.

This is actually a crossover episode with Scott's podcast Gimme Empathy (http://gimmeempathy.libsyn.com/). While Scott was touring in Melbourne in 2018 we sat down and recorded two conversations back-to-back interviewing each other. You can hear me on episode 39 of Gimme Empathy, 'An Element Of Unknowableness', which Scott uploaded two months after we recorded making me look terrible that I'm uploading this three years later. I've been on Gimme Empathy once before, too – episode 13, 'The Void Screams Back'. If you can't get enough of us going on tangents.

Scott's band Slumlawwd (http://slumlawwd.bandcamp.com/) recently released a single 'Withdrawn Failure' off their upcoming album Fuckburg, which comes out in October 2021. Slumlawwd is signed with music label Off The List Records, a new Australian label created with the aim to make the music industry more accessible to disabled acts and disabled audiences. Had to mention Off The List because that's a pretty rad (and much needed) aim. You can also hear Scott presenting 4ZZZ show Live Delay (http://livedelay.com/), broadcasting live gigs (something we vaguely recall down here in locked down Melbourne).

I'll be appearing at the National Young Writers' Festival next week. This year the whole festival in digital so you can access it online from anywhere, and as always the festival is free. On the first night of the festival, Thursday night 30th Sept, I get to be an Agony Aunt, and on Saturday night 2nd Oct I'll be doing a reading of fan fiction. There are heaps of other great young writers involved, so I recommend checking it out. http://youngwritersfestival.org/artists/kaitlyn-blythe/

If you'd like to support me to keep creating this podcast and doing other things like paying rent and buying food, consider supporting my Patreon! http://patreon.com/BlytheByName

Podcast artwork by Melbourne-based artist Erin Michelle

Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O

This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.