Podcast Summary – Hyperfixed | “Two Birds, One Hundred Stones (UPDATED)”
Host: Alex Goldman
Production: Hyperfixed & Radiotopia
Date: January 1, 2026
Episode: Re-airing and updating the fan-favorite 2025 episode, originally performed live at On Air Fest, NYC.
Episode Overview
This moving episode explores regret, creativity suppressed by self-doubt, and the transformative power of sharing personal stories. At the center is Kenan Tamblyn and his mother, Megan Banning—a woman who hid her early-life songwriting dreams after silent rejection, and whose lost work is revived with the help of her loving son, a tenacious podcast host, and a cast of caring strangers. Blending intimate conversations, live music, and a powerful update, this episode is a testament to courage, connection, and the enduring value of artistic dreams.
Key Themes and Story Arc
- Unfinished Business: The pain of creative ambition unfulfilled, and the possibility of resolution decades later.
- Intergenerational Connection: A son's attempt to illuminate his mother’s hidden past.
- Vulnerability and Courage: The risk and reward of confronting personal regrets in public.
- Collaboration and Community: How personal quests become communal endeavors.
Main Discussion Points and Insights
1. The Listener Letter & The Episode’s Unique Format
(03:32–06:42)
- Alex Goldman opens by explaining the episode’s origins: a favorite live show from 2025, being reaired with a new update. Hyperfixed usually solves listeners’ problems, but this episode flips the format, revisiting a previously solved problem for its emotional resonance.
- Notable: Goldman teases a special bonus at the end, encouraging listeners not to skip ahead.
2. Introducing Kenan & Megan’s Story: The First Bird
(09:08–18:22)
- Kenan Tamblyn describes his mother Megan as candid, self-assured, and a lifelong media nerd, yet strangely silent about her youthful attempts to become a songwriter.
- In the early 1980s, Megan wrote songs and handed a demo tape to k.d. lang, after which she never heard back—an experience she internalized as rejection.
- As a result, Megan sold her piano, moved into film and TV production, and buried her music deep away. Kenan suspects unresolved regret and a secret longing in his mother.
“She really felt as though she had something to say through these songs. And... nobody’s ever heard it. I truly feel like that lingers, it still lingers with her.”
—Kenan Tamblyn (12:54)
3. Kenan’s Quest & The Podcast’s Parallel Crisis
(18:22–23:40)
- Kenan wishes to restore the old reel-to-reel tapes of Megan’s songs, hoping to offer her closure and perhaps even reignite her passion.
- Concurrently, Alex Goldman faces a creative jam: Hyperfixed is set to perform live at On Air Fest, but has no prepared story. He senses that Kenan’s story could be their shared salvation.
- Alex proposes: What if Megan performed her own song, live, for the festival audience? Kenan is excited, but realistic about persuading his mother.
“God, if this could happen, I would be, like, just over the moon.”
—Kenan Tamblyn (23:18)
4. Megan’s Emotional Interview: Pain & Possibility
(24:35–33:36)
- When Megan is finally interviewed, she initially responds with reluctance and emotion, signaling just how deeply her musical past wounds her.
- She reveals a childhood shaped by music as escape from family dysfunction: “Music was always a thing. There was a piano in our home... I could play and I could write music. Instantly, I went to another place. I went to a place that I was calm...” (25:50)
- Megan expresses regret and embarrassment, feeling as though she “let herself down.” Yet as the conversation deepens, she finds catharsis in voicing what she’d long avoided.
“It’s a regret. But in my heart of hearts, I’m a musician.” —Megan Banning (30:22)
- When asked about performing live, Megan demurs (“Oh, not happening. That’s never going to happen. ... I can’t sing anymore...”), but opens to the idea of someone else performing her music.
“To have my music heard, my song heard... I would die to hear that.” —Megan Banning (31:43)
5. The Community Rallies: From Tape Restoration to Festival Stage
(33:55–40:54)
- The team faces logistical hurdles: finding the cassette and sheet music, digitizing 40-year-old analog tape, locating a singer (Eliza McLam), and racing a Nova Scotia snowstorm.
- Miraculously, every challenge is overcome: an audio engineer (Rich O’Coyne) rescues the old tape, and Eliza records Megan’s song for the live event.
6. Live Performance: “Rooms”
(40:54–43:30)
- At On Air Fest, Eliza McLam delivers an emotionally charged performance of Megan’s “Rooms,” while Megan and Kenan watch via Zoom.
- The lyrics evoke heartbreak, yearning, and lost love—a poignant echo of Megan’s own narrative.
Notable Quote:
"Meanwhile, I’ll be missing you, oh I’ll be missing you..."
—Eliza McLam, singing "Rooms" (41:30–42:30)
7. Aftermath and Reflections
(43:30–47:00)
-
Megan, moved and grateful, says:
“It was a bit much pulling this off in a week, going into Blizzard and finding all this memories 40 years ago of stuff I never thought would happen... And the fact that there’s people that are hearing the song. I mean, I got five more that are even better, by the way.”
(45:07) -
The experience inspires Megan to buy a keyboard and rekindle her songwriting:
“What has inspired me is I’m going to go buy myself a keyboard and get back to my music, because I’d love to play the piano, but the music is still in me.”
(46:59)
8. The Update: Where Are They Now?
(~47:00–62:51; Bonus Segment)
- Months later, Alex, producer Emma Cortland, and Kenan catch up.
- Kenan shares his wedding story, noting a personal sense of luck and new beginnings.
- Megan is thriving, recently offered a film job in Ireland, and has even gained some local fame—her song aired on CBC Radio, generating new musical opportunities (keyboards donated by listeners).
- She is writing lyrics again, though playing piano is challenging, and feels creatively reawakened.
- Kenan, now working as a gardener/landscaper, is also writing screenplays.
“One of my favorite things about the entire experience of us doing this was when I finally heard the song and I was like, oh my God... it’s actually good.”
—Kenan Tamblyn (54:33)
- The Hyperfixed team reflects on how this episode “proved what the show could be,” affecting both the participants and the creators on a personal level.
9. Original Recording: Megan’s 1980s Demo
(63:22–65:53)
- The episode closes with part of Megan’s original 1980s recording of “Rooms”—a full-circle moment, erasing decades of silence.
Notable Quotes & Moments (by Timestamp)
-
On Facing Regret:
“Because it’s when you let yourself down. When I didn’t do something that was I should have done. I didn’t do something I was supposed to do. And it’s a regret. But in my heart of hearts, I’m a musician.”
—Megan Banning (30:22) -
On Hope and Reawakening:
“What has inspired me is I’m going to go buy myself a keyboard and get back to my music, because I’d love to play the piano, but the music is still in me.”
—Megan Banning (46:59) -
On Community and Collaboration:
“Watching the pieces fall into place was like, oh, my God. And it could have fallen apart at any fucking moment.”
—Kenan Tamblyn (60:15) -
On Creative Fulfillment:
“It did feel like the first episode of Hyperfixed in a way. Like, it was the one where we were like, oh, this is what this show can be.”
—Alex Goldman (59:32)
Segment Timestamps
- Episode format and history: 03:32–06:42
- Kenan discusses Megan’s past: 09:08–18:22
- Alex’s live show desperation / “two birds” plan: 18:22–23:40
- Megan’s emotional interview: 24:35–33:36
- Story logistics, army of helpers: 33:55–40:54
- Live performance of “Rooms” (Eliza): 40:54–43:30
- Kenan & Megan post-performance reflections: 43:30–47:00
- Bonus update/interview (“Where are they now”): ~47:00–62:51
- Original 1980s “Rooms” recording: 63:22–65:53
Tone and Style
Alex Goldman leads with openness, warmth, and humor, while Kenan and Megan’s candor lends the episode deep emotion and relatability. The live storytelling is raw, improvisational, yet tightly edited. The community feels tangible—a podcast episode that doubles as a real act of bringing people together.
For New Listeners
This episode tells a complete story of loss, discovery, family, and the authentic act of returning to something unfinished. Even without hearing the performance or having previous context, listeners will be inspired by its hope, warmth, and generosity.
Listen if you:
- Appreciate stories about dreams deferred and reclaimed.
- Want a real portrait of family, vulnerability, and creativity.
- Like a podcast that is as much about its community as its subjects.