Tamara Yajia, Susan Rice, and Anna Tivel

Summary

Live Wire with Luke Burbank

Episode: Tamara Yajia, Susan Rice, and Anna Tivel
Date: December 5, 2025
Venue: Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland, OR

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Overview

This episode of Live Wire blends comedy, memoir, and music with a late-night radio spirit. Host Luke Burbank welcomes comedian and writer Tamara Yajia discussing her chaotic international childhood as chronicled in her memoir; stand-up comedy from Susan Rice who riffs on aging and the indignities and joys of late life; and a stirring musical performance from folk artist Anna Tivel.

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Key Discussion Points & Segments

1. The Best News We Heard All Week (02:28–09:19)

Screaming to Heal and Dairy Farm Survival

• Elena Passarello shares the story of "Scream Club," started by Manny Hernandez in Chicago as a group therapeutic screaming practice, now a chartered club nationwide.
  • “He and his partner, whose name is Elena Sobolova, they went down to Lake Michigan with a couple of friends one Sunday and just scream. They just let it rip.” (03:14)
  • Cost is $250 to charter a club, spurring the "Shouting Society" as a cheaper alternative.
  • The audience participates in a collective cathartic shout.
  • “Even though in these austere times, our public radio show cannot pony up the $250 for a charter membership, I have invented something called the Shouting Society.” (04:52)
• Luke Burbank tells of a Minnesota family dairy farm diversifying into "cow cuddling" to compensate for plunging milk prices.
  • “For $25, you can cuddle Maui [the cow] for 30 minutes. That’s it.” (08:18)
  • Cow cuddling is described as soothing and heart-rate-lowering.
  • Alaina: “I love that your story about coping in these hard times is about cuddling a big soft mammal, and mine is about screaming your head off.” (08:54)

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2. Tamara Yajia: On Childhood, Family, and Stardom (09:19–26:13)

Memoir Highlights & Family Chaos

• Introduction: Tamara’s journey includes a grandfather dealing drugs, migration between Argentina and the U.S., and a childhood Madonna tribute at a Hebrew school — all featured in her memoir Cry for Me: My Life as a Failed Child Star.
  • “A grandfather who sold recreational drugs, multiple moves between the US and Argentina, and then successfully pulling off a jaw dropping Madonna tribute performance in front of an audience of rabbis. And this was all before the age of 12.” (09:19)
• Social Media to Publishing: Tamara describes how her Twitter presence (mainly tweeting about her eccentric family) led to her book deal.
  • “A literary agent found me because I would tweet a lot about my family. I have a very strange family…He was like, you have a story to tell. And I was like, I do.” (10:30)
• Therapy & the ‘Failed Child Star’: Tamara’s aunt’s octogenarian therapist in Argentina coins the "failed child star" moniker (via unmuted Zoom).
  • “She said, ‘Ugh, I’m talking to the failed child star again.’ And I was like, wow, she’s so right.” (11:52)
  • Zoom session mishaps (therapist’s husband falls in the bathtub, leaves Tamara alone on video for 20 minutes).
• Growing Up Between Worlds:
  • Moves to the U.S. at six, first stays in motels among sex workers before the family finds their feet.
  • Grandparents (described as loving but “psychotic”) follow them to the Valley.
    • “My grandmother on her honeymoon… He came back one day, and she had shaved half her head.” (13:33)
  • Parents open a failed mall food stand: "Sexy Chicken."
    • “My parents were like, well, maybe let's bootleg [El Pollo Loco]. But we’ll make it sexier.” (17:19)
• Illegally Living in a Senior Home (‘Yiddish Land’):
  • Family squats in a Jewish retirement community in Buenos Aires, guided by her grandmother.
  • Befriends Bubala, an elderly seamstress.
    • “She just took me under her wing, her breast.” (18:31)
    • They watch films like Yentl and Sophie’s Choice together.
• Obsessed with Madonna:
  • Feverish epiphany watching Madonna on MTV, linking her bicultural identity.
    • “Madonna, La Isla Bonita, which…was the bridge of my two cultures…” (19:42)
  • Performs a dramatic, risqué Like a Prayer lip-sync at Hebrew school, aided by Bubala’s custom Velcro costume (21:15–22:34).
    • “When the choir kicks in… I pulled [off my t-shirt], and underneath, I’m wearing a garter belt.” (21:43)
    • Forced to write an apology letter — ghostwritten by Bubala.
      • “Bubala was ride or die.” (22:48)
• On Generational Trauma & Humor:
  • Therapy and family oversharing made Tamara resilient but also shaped her sense of boundaries.
    • “Now I have the insight now to pinpoint when something… before I didn’t as a kid.” (24:56)
  • Reflects on not wanting to repeat her parents’ habits if she becomes a parent herself.

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3. Listener Segment: Childhood Performances Recalled (27:23–30:59)

• Prompt: “What was your most memorable experience performing as a child?”
  • A grandmother sits hours for a trumpet concert ("played every note wrong"); a kid plays Jesus while secretly atheist; dramatic carrot-eating magic show; “The crops are failing!” screamed in a school play.
    • “I had one line as villager number three... and I screamed it like I was announcing the apocalypse.” (30:25)

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4. Susan Rice: Stand-up Set – Life, Aging, and Family (32:12–40:48)

Aging in the Modern World

• On Medical Bureaucracy:
  • “I spent three days on the phone with my Medicare provider just trying to sign up for hospice, for God’s sake.” (32:15)
• Nieces’ Oversight:
  • Family’s concern about her well-being: Tupperware “microplastics” panic.
    • “You can eat microplastics…it’s bad for you…I used to follow the mosquito fogger truck on my bike, okay?” (34:26)
  • Mail-ordered gifts after pandemic drawer-purging: “My nephew called me up. He goes, I got a dental bridge. It was your grandfather’s.” (35:21)
• Technology & Online Dating:
  • Nieces sign her up for Silver Singles without permission.
    • “I didn’t know it. All of a sudden I started getting emails from sweet, desperate old gentleman, and I don’t know if this guy likes me or he just had a tremor and swiped right, you know, I don’t know.” (37:34)
• On Late-Life Choices & Family:
  • Jokes about end-of-life arrangements: “After you die, do you want to be buried? Do you want to be cremated? Do you want to be composted?” “I want to be pickled.” (39:10)
  • Story of her parents' end-of-life years and their codependent longevity, with gallows humor:
    • “If one’s going down, they’re taking the other one with them. Nobody gets out alive.” (40:21)
• Closing:
  • “They never developed dementia, either one of them… They just woke up happy… We’re going to Costco. They’re having a twofer on coffins. Let’s measure.” (40:41)

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5. Anna Tivel: Touring Life and Musical Performance (45:18–53:19)

Interview — On Touring and Writing on the Move

• Life on the Road:
  • Anna loves the solitude, slow passage, and serendipity of touring — especially by train.
    • “I think I love it…It’s such time to just watch the world go by, watch the country go by, and you’re sort of thinking your thoughts and you’re having all these experiences at rest stops and gas stations and weird little diners...” (45:57)
  • Touring by train described as a "joyful mobile DMV":
    • “Everyone from everywhere is on the train... It’s gritty and wonderful and there’s microwavable hamburgers.” (47:25)
• Writing Songs While Traveling:
  • Lack of WiFi creates a bubble for writing and observing — “they’re arguing…they’re telling long-winded stories about their divorce.” (47:33)
• Song Introduction:
  • The song performed is inspired by her recent train travels, weaving personal perspective and stories overheard with a panoramic look at America:
    • “It’s sort of a song about traveling across this country as it does what it’s up to and meeting people and kind of watching the landscape go by and feeling the way we’re all sort of in this interwoven story…” (48:07)

Live Performance: “The Feeling” (49:00–53:19)

• Lyrical, cinematic folk song about movement, strangers' lives, American landscapes, and shared longing.
  • “The train rolled on forever, I slept there in my seat…The woman right behind me is hanging up the phone. It’s so hard to get an answer when you need someone...”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tamara Yajia (on therapist’s accidental honesty):
  “She said, ‘Ugh, I’m talking to the failed child star again.’ And I was like, wow, she’s so right. I was a failed child star and suddenly all the wheels started turning in my head.” (11:52)
• Susan Rice (on her nieces protecting her):
  “I used to follow the mosquito fogger truck on my bike, okay?” (34:26)
• Anna Tivel (on the emotional geography of touring):
  “It makes the world feel tangible and tasteable because you’re just in it and you can’t get out of it.” (45:34)
• Luke Burbank (reflecting on childhood coping):
  “You know, like, I don’t want to imagine a different version of me… So my parents telling us that the earth was 6,000 years old and could end at any point. I don’t love that about my childhood, but, like, here I am making jokes about it.” (25:47)
• Audience participation:
  The entire theater lets out a five-second primal scream. (05:22–05:36)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Best News We Heard All Week – 02:28–09:19
• Tamara Yajia Interview – 09:19–26:13
• Listener Performances Segment – 27:23–30:59
• Susan Rice Stand-up – 32:12–40:48
• Anna Tivel Interview & Performance – 45:18–53:19

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Tone & Atmosphere

Consistently irreverent, confessional, and heartfelt—this episode thrives on the weirdness, adversity, resilience, and humor in everyday lives, as told by people who have learned to use laughter and art to cope and tell enduring stories.

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Guest Details

• Tamara Yajia: Memoirist, comedy writer, author of Cry for Me: My Life as a Failed Child Star
• Susan Rice: Veteran comedian with new special Silver Alert
• Anna Tivel: Acclaimed singer-songwriter, performs “The Feeling” from Animal Poem

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For Further Listening

• Tamara Yajia’s Cry for Me, My Life as a Failed Child Star is out now.
• See Susan Rice live or stream her special Silver Alert.
• Anna Tivel’s Animal Poem is available now.

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Live Wire continues to find the humor, music, and poetry in unexpected places—this week, in childhood trauma, failed business ventures, cow cuddling, and heartfelt trainsongs.

Transcript

[A]

Hey there. Welcome to Livewire. I'm your host, Luke Burbank. Today on the show, we are going to be talking to the very funny Tamara Yahia about her failed pursuit of childhood stardom. Meanwhile, she was very successful at having an unusual childhood, including moving between Argentina and the United States multiple times and at one point illegally living in a retirement community as a seven year old. To she will explain how this all went down. Then we are going to hear some comedy from the very funny Susan Rice. She'll talk about the challenges of dating as a 73 year old and why she thinks her nieces need to calm down a little bit about how worried they are about her ingesting microplastics. Then Anna Tivel will dazzle us with a song, which she always seems to do when she comes on the show. You do not want to miss it. Stick around. We've got a great episode of Livewire coming your way, starting right after this.

[B]

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[C]

This week, comedy writer Tamara Yahia.

[B]

She said, ugh, I'm talking to the failed child star again. And I was like, wow, she's so right. I was a failed child star and suddenly all the wheels started turning in my head.

[D]

And comedian Susan Rice, Honest to God, I spent three days on the phone with my Medicare provider just trying to sign up for hospice, for God's sake.

[C]

With music from Anna Tivel and our fabulous house band, I'm your announcer, Elaina Passarello. And now the host of Livewire, Luke Burbank.

[A]

Thank you so much, Elena Passarello. Thank you, everyone for coming out to the Alberta Rose Theatre.

We have an absolutely fabulous show in store for you this week. But we've got to kick things off the way that we always do with a little segment we call the best news we heard all week.

Here's the premise of this segment. It's that most of the time, the news is absolute trash. And we would like to remind folks here at the Albatross Theater and out in listener land that there Is in fact, good news happening in the world. Some weeks it's harder than others. This week we didn't have to dig as deeply. Okay. But we wanted to present a couple of good news stories to you. Alaina, what is the best news you heard all week?

[C]

Okay. I want to tell you a little story about a gentleman named Manny Hernandez. A recent.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes. I see we have some Hernandez heads here.

[C]

It would be really cool if that was true. But Manny is a lot life coach and a breathwork practitioner in Chicago. Had a kind of a tough summer, and knew from his work in holistic healing that sometimes it feels good just to kind of get that emotion out, get it off your chest. And so he and his partner, whose name is Elena Sobolova, they went down to Lake Michigan with a couple of friends one Sunday and just scream. They just let it rip. And they're like, oh, that feels really good. Why don't we do this again next Sunday? One Sunday after another. Sunday after another. They have invented this thing called Scream Club. It is now it's like a club that you can buy a charter for in your town. There are scream clubs that meet weekly in California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona. The closest one is in Seattle in Lincoln Park. Okay, but that's a little far. I was thinking maybe we could start Scream Club here. But no, no, no. I went on the website and it cost $250 to charter your membership.

[A]

We're not allowed to start our own Scream Club without paying the proper fees to be official.

[C]

And there's also a really lengthy vetting process. But I know how good this feels. I know how good it feels to scream. I know how good it feels to let something off of your chest. Even though in these austere times, our public radio show cannot pony up the $250 for a charter membership, I have invented something called the Shouting Society.

[A]

Okay, that's.

[C]

And I think you know, this is our first streaming show ever. It's the anniversary of the first time I ever screamed on Livewire. I feel like we all need to have just like a five second collective shout for the Shouting Society and just to see how that makes us feel. Okay, so when I say, I'll say 1, 2, 3, and then we'll all just let it out. Sound good?

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

All right.

[C]

Everybody at home listening. Hopefully you're shouting, too.

[A]

Here we go.

[C]

Shouting Society commences. One, two, three.

[A]

Wow. Does anybody have a cigarette?

[C]

I feel better.

[A]

I don't know.

[C]

I feel much better.

[A]

Wow. That was very that was very freeing, very cathartic.

[C]

SHOUTING Portland, wow. We're gonna get that charter soon enough.

[A]

The best news I heard all week, actually, I read about it at the website of Minnesota Public Radio. By the way, shout out to our network in Minnesota that plays the show, the NPR News site, talking about the town of Corcoran, Minnesota, where back in 1958 there was a guy who started a small family dairy farm. He had like, I think he had 20 cows and a horse, but he loved it. He just loved the dairy farming lifestyle. And so when he eventually couldn't do it any longer, he gave it to his kids and then they gave it to their kids. And their kids are named Quincy Schmidt and her brother Caleb Sherber. They, they've grown the operation to like about 120 cows. They say they're not in it for the money. They just like they love again being part of the dairy community. There is a problem, though, which is that there is apparently the price of milk is cratering right now. You have more milk than people need for some reason. So there's more supply than there is demand, which means the price goes down. They talked in this NPR story to an economist at the Agriculture Department at Cornell University, a guy named Christopher Wolf. He said inflation is still being kind of stubborn and everything that's happening right now doesn't look like it's going to do much for curbing inflation. To which I say, no, Sherlock, I could be an economics professor at Cornell with that kind of.

Incredible insight. What they're doing right now is not curbing inflation. So they're trying to figure out what to do because they don't want to lose the family dairy farm. It's been in the family for generations. And so they were, according to this article, reading a dairy newspaper recently, which is the first I'm hearing of that.

[C]

That sounds very Minnesota.

[A]

Like, what is the sports section of the dairy newspaper?

[C]

Probably something involving like a pasture, like a bingo card and where the cow poops.

[A]

I'd read that, you know, they were reading in a dairy newspaper and there was a dairy farmer in New York who had gotten this idea for how to like, supplement the income while the price of milk is down. And what this guy had done is he'd turn his calf nursery into a cow cuddling business.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is exactly what Quincy and Caleb have decided to do with their four of their cows that are, I believe, calves, actually May, Mandarin, Zelie, and then Maui, I believe we have a photograph.

[B]

Maui the cow.

[A]

For $25, you can cuddle Maui for 30 minutes. That's it.

[B]

Less than a dollar a minute.

[A]

Also, there's a group, there is a group rate for $100. It's all the cuddling you can do for 30 minutes. All the people that you can bring to cuddle Maui or one of the other cows, you can brush them, you can feed them hay. Apparently, a cow's heartbeat is much slower than ours. And they think that there is something about putting your head kind of against the cow and its heartbeat kind of regulating you a little bit that people find very comforting.

[C]

I love that your story about coping in these hard times is about cuddling a big soft mammal, and mine is about screaming your head off.

[A]

You know, we all process trauma in different ways, Elaine. That's right. That's right. For me, cow cuddling in the Midwest. That is the best news that I heard all week.

All right. Our guests journey to this stage this week. It kind of sounds like a fever dream, but it is all very true. A grandfather who sold recreational drugs, multiple moves between the US And Argentina, and then successfully pulling off a jaw dropping Madonna tribute performance in front of an audience of rabbis. And this was all before the age of 12. It's all detailed in her fascinating and very funny memoir, Cry for Me My Life as a Failed Child Star. Booklist calls it crass, cringe, and absolutely hilarious. Please welcome Tamara Yahia to Livewire.

Tamara, welcome to Livewire.

[B]

Thank you. I'm so happy.

[A]

I'm so happy that you're here. I started following you on Twitter long, long ago, back when it was still called Twitter officially. And I just thought you were so funny. And then backstage we were talking and you said that basically your Twitter following and your work on Twitter is sort of how you got the book deal.

[B]

Yeah, a literary agent found me because I would tweet a lot about my family. I have a very strange family. And I would say things like my dad's hemorrhoid, this, or my mom. Well, we'll get into my mom later. But he was like, you have a story to tell. And I was like, I do. And we sold the book about my life because of tweets.

[A]

I mean, it is such a fun read. And I mean, I grew up in a pretty not as chaotic as yours, but a fairly chaotic family environment. So there's so much in here that really resonates with me. Let's kind of start, though. At the beginning of the book, you write that you had like, just you were about to turn 40 maybe, and you're sort of struggling with this question of, like, do you want to become a parent or not? And so your, like, rich aunt says, I have a great therapist for you, but she is in Argentina, and she is in her mid-80s and has a very limited understanding of how Zoom works.

[B]

But the sessions were only $20 per session because she was in Argentina and the currency exchange and on Zoom. And I was like, let's do it. She can help me figure out if I want to have offspring.

[A]

But she also. Did she really. At one point, because she didn't really understand the mute function on Zoom, she said to her husband, no, I'm talking to the failed child star.

[B]

Yeah, she fully talked about me.

Without muting. And then she said, oh, I'm talking to the failed child star again. And I was like, wow, she's so right. I was a failed child star. And suddenly all the wheels started turning in my head. And then, like, the next session, I heard a big fall, like a thump.

[A]

Uh oh.

[B]

And I was like, what was that noise? Someone is screaming. And she was like, ugh. My husband fell in the bathtub, and he's bleeding. And then she left for 20 minutes, and it was just me staring at my own reflection on Zoom. And at that moment, I was like, aw, you're cute. I was like, maybe you should have kids.

[A]

You were born in Buenos Aires, but then you moved to the U.S. you.

[B]

Were about how old the first time? Six.

[A]

And what were your impressions of the place you landed in? Like, Northridge or something?

[B]

Yeah, first we lived. We moved to California. My parents had no money, and we didn't know anybody. Except there was this one guy, and he was in West Hollywood, so we moved to a motel in West Hollywood. It was like, sex workers. And then me and my parents, and then we got an apartment, and we slowly built our lives in, yeah, the Valley in Northridge.

[A]

But then, like, after you get this apartment in Northridge, your grandparents move from Argentina into the apartment next to the one your parents are in.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, this book is really about crazy families. So if you have a crazy family, you will relate to this. My grandparents have had absolutely no boundaries whatsoever. And there's a reason my parents outside from the economic issues in Argentina that they wanted to leave because we had no money. They also wanted to get away from their parents, who are. I loved them because they were my grandparents, but they were psychotic. I mean, my grandmother on her honeymoon because my grandfather was going gambling too much and leaving her alone in the hotel room. He came back one day, and she had shaved half her head. Because she was mad and she was like, and if you keep gambling, I will shave the other half.

[A]

Honestly, that might be an improvement at that point. I would take fully dealt with.

[C]

Then send them straight back to the casino.

[A]

Yeah, right. Seriously, we gotta take a very quick break. When we come back, we're gonna talk more to Tamara Yahia about her really funny, really interesting book, Cry for Me, My life as a failed Child star. We'll get into the failed child star part as well here on Livewire. Stay with us much more in Just a Mom.

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Welcome back to Livewire from prx. I'm Luke Burbank. That's Elena Passarello. We are at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, Oregon this week and we're talking to Tamara Yejia about her book Cry for Me, My Life as a Failed Child Star. You write in the book that your family really loves malls. Like, it's really your happy place. And so much so that your parents, during one of your rounds of sort of being in the US.

Started this like a food cart kind of a thing in a mall called. What was it called again?

[B]

Sexy Chicken.

[A]

What was the concept exactly?

[B]

We didn't, we had saved some money to start a business and they were like, well, what it, what should it be? And I was like, I love El Pollo Loco. Does El Pollo Loco exist here?

[A]

No, not enough of them.

[B]

It's chicken.

[A]

Yes. Well, it's chicken that's dealing with mental health issues.

[B]

It's an unwell chicken. But I related and I was like, we were at a mall. I was like, I want El Pollo Loco. And there's no El Pollo Loco here. And my parents were like, well, maybe let's bootleg it. So they.

[A]

But we'll make it sexier.

[B]

But we'll make it sexy. Because they were like, but what will sell Sex?

[A]

Yeah. Did it sell?

[B]

No, it went bankrupt after like two months.

[A]

So then you go back to Argentina and you and your family kind of like to get resettled. You end up, I think, sort of semi temporarily in a place that is called Yiddish Land.

[B]

I love Yiddish Land. It was a retirement community for Jews over the age of 65. So we were like illegally there.

And it was called Yiddish Land.

[A]

And it was. Somebody in your family, like an apartment had been left to somebody in your family?

[B]

Yeah, I think somebody had died. And my grandma had inherited it and we didn't have money to get our own place in the city yet. So my grandma was like, stay here until, you know, my dad found a job.

[C]

And that's how you met your best friend?

[B]

My best friend Babala, she had boobs that were.

I don't know the size, but they were like a quadruple giant.

Like this.

And I had no friends because I was a 7 year old or 8 year old at this senior retirement home. And I was just walking around bored until I met Babala. And she just took me under her wing, her breast.

She taught me how to play Rumi Cube. And we would go to the community screening room where we would watch really uplifting films like Yentl and Sophie's Choice.

[A]

Some real kid friendly stuff.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

About what time did you sort of discover your love for Madonna?

[B]

I became obsessed with Madonna when I was like 8 or 9. I was really sick with a really, really bad fever.

And I awoke from a fever dream where I remember God in the dream.

God asked me to count all the human beings on earth.

[A]

In the dream.

[B]

In the dream. So I kept counting, counting, counting. But then people would immigrate, so I couldn't keep track.

So I woke up from that dream of counting people and I projectile vomited. And then in the background was MTV playing Madonna, La Isla Bonita, which was a music video that was like. She was singing in English and Spanish, which was like, oh, it's the bridge of my two cultures, America and the US.

And she then had just released Erotica, her album. So they were having like a Madonna only music video day. So it was just all the Madonna videos. And I just. I found my guiding light.

[A]

But then you decided to interpret that guiding light to like Hebrew school type of atmosphere, a bunch of rabbis where you did Like a lip sync. A really intense lip sync version of Like a Prayer. Yeah, Take me through that.

[B]

It was my chance to stand out in the school. I had no friends because we had just moved back to Argentina. And Like a Prayer happened to be my favorite Madonna song. It was something in the lyrics, really, because I'm Jewish, and it's not like, the imagery, right. But I was like, I love this song. So I got Bubala, my big breasted friend, to. She was a seamstress. And I was like, bubala, let's talk about what I'm gonna wear. And she was like, I got you, girl. And, yeah, the day of the performance, I.

Stripped down at a temple.

[A]

And you again, remind me, you're how old here?

[B]

I was 8 or 9.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And, like, I did the whole thing of, like. I started with a big black overcoat. And then I took out a knife from my pocket and I pretended to cut my hand, like, to do the stigmata thing, like she does in the video. She does that in the video. And then when the choir kicks in, in the big part.

Babala had sewn Velcro strips onto the side of my T shirt. And I pulled them off, and underneath, I'm wearing a garter belt.

There was a rabbi in the front row. I remember Rabbi Groysman. And he was like this.

[A]

For the radio listeners. Tamara's making a horrified look. I do feel like you only got away with this because it was Hebrew school and not Catholic school. Because everything that Madonna's pushing back against is Catholicism. But it wasn't, like, from a sort of religious standpoint. It was. This was mostly not related to what was going on in Hebrew school. Right.

[B]

100%. And also because no one really understood the lyrics because they were in Argentina. But, like, they did see the striptease.

[A]

So.

[B]

I had to. I was forced to write an apology letter. And Bubala wrote it for me.

[A]

Dude, Bubala was ride or die.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Shout out.

[B]

She was. I have to tell you something that's so funny. I'm trying to have kids right now. And so I set up this sort of.

[A]

So the therapy worked?

[B]

It did, except now I have to have them. And it's been hard because I'm 41. So I was like, you know, I'm gonna set up a shrine of all of my ancestors. Cause I'm obsessed with my grandparents and with Bubala. So behind my bed, I hung, like, 20 pictures of Bubala and my grandparents and all. And so as me and my husband go to town, he's gotta look at.

[A]

Them all.

[B]

Which may be why it's not happening.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Now I'm realizing.

[A]

Now. I mean, you talk about being in therapy and you talk in the book about all of this conversation that was always going on that would be considered maybe inappropriate or just like oversharing within the family. And yet it also helped you develop your sense of humor. There's a lot about it that has maybe made you like a more open minded, less fearful person. I don't know. How do you feel like it came out for you? Are you glad you were raised in that kind of home? Or do you wish that they would have been a little less sort of oversharing?

[B]

About that stuff, there's nothing I would take back. You know, it was what it was. It made me who I am today. Now here's the. The difference. I won't do that with my kids. Right. Like, it's okay that it happened to me and that I had the insight to make changes and to get therapy and to analyze. Like, this was inappropriate. That was inappropriate. You know, it's crazy because I just went through IVF and it's a very taxing thing on your body, your boobs grow your whatever and shout out, bubala. Shout out. I'm becoming. I'm becoming.

But like, I saw my dad and as a joke, he was like, ah, your tits are huge. And I went, I don't like that. I don't like that you're saying that. And I told him and he was like, ah, you're suddenly so serious. And I said, no, I'm not suddenly so serious. I have the insight now to pinpoint when something before I didn't as a kid. That's the kind of stuff that will piss me off sometimes or make me kind of, you know, just angry about the way I was raised. But I also wouldn't take it back.

[A]

Because it makes us who we are.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you know, like, I don't know, I don't want to imagine a different version of me if I didn't, like, in my case, think that the world could end at any moment because of the rapture.

So my parents telling us that the earth was 6,000 years old and could end at any point. I don't love that about my childhood, but, like, here I am making jokes about it.

[D]

So.

[A]

Ain't life grand?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

This book is so. It's so funny and also so human. I'm so glad you wrote it. The book is Cry for Me, My Life as a Failed Child Star by Tamara Yahia. Tamara, thank you so much for coming on Livewire.

That was Tamara Yahia right here on Livewire. Her hilarious, and I say this in all sincerity, unforgettable memoir. There are passages from the memoir I can't forget even if I wanted to. Alaina?

[C]

Yeah, same.

[A]

It's available now. It's called Cry for Me, My Life as a Failed Child star.

Special thanks this week to Chad Snyder of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Pat Blumenthal of Portland, Oregon. Chad and Pat are part of the Livewire member community and are generously supporting our show with a donation each month. And we are very grateful for that support because it is literally how we're able to keep doing the show. So thanks, Pat and Chad, for keeping Livewire going.

You're listening to Livewire. I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. Of course. Each week on the show, we like to ask the Livewire listeners a question based on Tamara Yahia's truly original childhood. We have asked the listeners a related question. Alayna, what have we asked them?

[C]

What was your most memorable experience performing as a child? Oh, Lord, where do I start?

[A]

I mean, I think you and I could fill this whole segment out ourselves. Of course, the idea is to hear from the Livewire listeners, but let's just say hysterically laughing as Moses.

In a kindergarten play at a church school called Pillar of Fire elementary School.

[C]

Pillar of Fire.

[A]

That tells you everything you need to know. I could not contain my giggles, and I laughed for probably five straight minutes in the production.

[C]

Laughing Moses.

[A]

That's right. All right, what are the listeners saying about memorable performances as children?

[C]

Marcus says that my grandmother drove three hours to watch me play trumpet in the school band, and I played every single note wrong. She told me it was beautiful. Anyway.

[A]

I always wonder where the line is between being supportive of our children and then maybe launching them on a career path that makes no sense like does. Is Marcus's email signed Professional trumpet player currently out of work. Professional trumpet player.

[C]

Marcus, do you remember that spelling bee documentary from about 15 years ago?

[A]

I sure do.

[C]

This kid went to the nationals and he got out, and his dad was like, I still think you spelled it right.

[A]

Love it.

[C]

Support.

[A]

That's a kid who knows his parents are in his corner. What's another memorable childhood performance one of our listeners wants to talk about?

[C]

How about this one from Natalie? In eighth grade, I played Jesus in my Catholic school, Stations of the Cross. I was secretly an atheist, but, man, I put my all into that performance. Hey, man, commit to the bit, right?

[A]

That's acting right there. That's what it's all about. How about you? You know, you're actually a very, very talented actor in adult life. But, like, were you in any kid productions that were memorable?

[C]

Like, millions of them, my poor parents were always having to go to. And then I would put them on at home, too, so it was always a performance. I did a. A magic show for my family once, and the magic trick book said that you should take slivers of carrots and put them in your goldfish bowl, and then it would look like you were eating the goldfish. But I didn't have any goldfish, so I just got a bowl and put a bunch of shaved carrots in it and then just kind of, like, ate them in front of my family.

With a top hat on that I'd made out of some poster board.

[A]

Did you charge admission for this show?

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

Absolutely. I feel like you get two kinds of kids. You get the lemonade stand kid, and you get the we're putting on a show kid when somebody wants to come up with a couple of dollars of loose change. We were always putting on little performances when I was a kid, and it was always there was a charge for admission.

[C]

Yeah. Pay your artists.

[A]

And by the way, nothing has changed. Here we are doing Livewire, our show where we sell tickets to our little program. Okay, one more memorable kid performance before we move on.

[C]

Olivia says, I had one line as villager number three in the school play, the crops are failing, And I screamed it like I was announcing the apocalypse. My dad still quotes it at Thanksgiving.

[A]

The crops are failing. Does seem like a big deal, though. Like, what do you want someone in the town in this village to just be like, hey, by the way, low key. The crops are failing? No, that needs to be screamed. This is a big event.

[C]

That's a screamable line. Totally. I understand your vision, Olivia, and I would like to belatedly reward you for your commitment to the character.

[A]

Absolutely. And also we'd like to thank everyone who sent in their response of memorable childhood performances. We really do appreciate it.

You're listening to Livewire. Our next guest could have been forgiven for thinking she knew how her comedy career was going to go. Okay. She started off in the 1980s, and she performed at clubs with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and Sam Kinison. But the comedy industry sort of changed and evolved over 40 years, and so she started focusing more on hosting charity events and creating comedy opportunities for other comedians. And then Elena, at the tender age of 72, that all changed when one of her comedy clips Went viral, as they say. That led to America's Got Talent and then to her debut comedy special, Silver Alert. And now here she is, living proof that the best punchlines come with the experiences to back them up. Take a listen to Susan Rice, recorded live at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, Oregon.

[E]

Wow.

[D]

I really want to say thank you for coming out and choosing to entertain yourself, to laugh and to be entertained and be part of something because we've been so depressed. You know, honest to God, I spent three days on the phone with my Medicare provider just trying to sign up for hospice, for God's sake.

Evidently, there's criteria.

They're coming after our Social Security.

I'm gonna have to sell my eggs.

There's gotta be a couple up there, don't you think?

Everybody likes a good deviled egg.

Anyway, so.

I don't have kids that I know of.

Well, the 80s are a little hazy, anyway.

Yeah, at least we had a choice. Anyway.

I know I'm in Oregon. I said that in Alabama. Not so much of a response. Anyway, so.

I love my nieces and my nephews. They take care of me. I'm that auntie. Is anybody else an auntie? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm that auntie. I'm the one that they whisper about in the kitchen. Now, you know, she is not living with us.

I am not wiping one thing on that woman.

They're always trying to help me out. They were over the other day, and I came into the kitchen. I go, what are you doing? They took out all my plastic, all my Tupperware. It was all in the garbage. And I go, what are you doing? And they go, suze, microplastics.

I said, what? You can eat microplastics. It's bad for you. I said, you know, I used to follow the mosquito fogger truck on my bike, okay?

One of the things my nieces did during COVID is, you know, and I was so glad to come out of COVID but I kind of missed some of that being quiet and stuff, you know, you didn't have to go do stuff that you didn't want to do and stuff like that. And I cleaned out drawers. That was the only reason Covid was great for cleaning out drawers. Yeah, you did that, didn't you? Yeah, I called it shopping. I did. I took out stuff from the drawers and just saved it and wrapped it up at Christmas and sent it to my nieces and nephews. My nephew called me up. He goes, I got a dental bridge.

It's vintage. It was your grandfather's.

And baby pictures I found. You know, back in the day, people used to send you your baby pictures in the mail with Christmas cards and stuff you get. Now the Internet, you don't have to do that. But I found like 2 1/2 inches of baby pictures in a drawer. I don't know who they are.

I thought I should get rid of these in case there's a felony conviction or something.

Too many questions, not enough answers.

I threw some out, I saved some, and I put some in Christmas cards to old boyfriends, you know.

This is timmy. He's 42.

During COVID During COVID I got calls from each of my nieces and nephews three times a day from each of them. It was like it was going. I was going crazy. They started signing me up for stuff. I started getting emails from YouTube that I was taking a macrame class.

Oh, don't laugh, Portland. You know what the hell macrame is? Don't give me that.

Just tie crap together and hang your dignity from it. It's like.

Anyway, they worry about me and you know, God love them, I'm so glad to have somebody worry about me. But you know, they signed me up for. They signed me up for the Silver Singles.

Yeah, see, well, yeah, they're upset I'm not in a relationship according to the restraining order.

Couple late night calls, couple drive bys, suddenly I'm the bad guy. Anyway.

You know, there's a really fine line between stalking and caring.

And they signed me up for the Silver Singles and I didn't know it. All of a sudden I started getting emails from sweet, desperate old gentleman, and I don't know if this guy likes me or he just had a tremor and swiped right, you know, I don't know.

Yeah, that deserves so much more than you gave me on that joke. I'm going to tell you that right now.

And you know.

Don'T you want to get married?

[B]

No.

[D]

No. Nobody gets married for the first time at 70, not without, you know, a verified pension and a diagnosis. And so.

And they. They're starting to worry about what's going to happen to me. And we had a big dinner party not long ago and I was sitting across the table from my niece, my oldest niece, and she goes, suze, we need to ask you something. I said, okay, honey, what. What do you need? Suze, we need to know what you want.

Well, I'd like some more gravy.

No, Suze, you have to. You're getting so old. We don't know what to do with you. After you die, do you want to be buried? Do you want to be cremated? Do you want to be composted?

I want to be pickled.

I remember having that conversation with my mom and dad. I was. My mom and dad's. We have caregivers here. Yeah. A lot of you.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

It's hard. It's a very difficult position to be. I took care of my mom and dad for 11 years.

I wasn't good at it. They died, but.

[B]

I tried.

[D]

One is invariably. One of them is always easier than the other one. My father was anything. Okay, honey, Whatever you want. You know, your mother's a different story. I mean. And let me just tell you this right now. My mom and dad lived to be very old. My dad was just shy of 99. My mom was 97. They died two months apart. Yeah. They held hands everywhere they went for 40. People would say that, and I would laugh because I knew the truth.

If one's going down, they're taking the other one with them. Nobody gets out alive.

They never developed dementia, either one of them. Neither one of them. They were there. They were there every day. They were there.

They just woke up happy. They woke up, you know.

[B]

What are we doing today?

[D]

We're going to Costco. They're having a twofer on coffins. Let's measure.

You guys. I gotta go. Thank you so very, very.

[A]

That was Susan Rice recorded live at the Alberta Rose Theatre. Her comedy special Silver Alert is streaming right now, or you can see where she's performing by going to susanricecomedy.com this is Livewire Radio. We have to take a very quick break, but stay where you are. When we return, we're going to hear from singer songwriter Anna Tivel. Stay tuned. More Livewire in a moment.

Hey, it's your friend Luke reminding you, as if you didn't already know, that Livewire has sort of always been a show that does not really work out on paper. The math doesn't totally math, as they say. We're a weekly national broadcast. We do dozens of live events that are produced on a budget that is mostly held together by, like, duct tape and determination, I guess. So as you have probably already heard, things are really tough out here in public radio, especially for shows like Livewire. Government arts fundings have been slashed. There are a lot of stations that can no longer pay for the show, and ticket sales and sponsorships are down across the entire industry. These are all the ways that we've been able to kind of balance our books over the years, and those are going away. We have somehow survived for two decades, basically by being too stubborn to quit. And we are not going to quit anytime soon. But we cannot do this alone. If you are hearing my voice right now, we need you to join us to make this radio show and this experience happen. Look, maybe you discovered a musician on Livewire that you weren't hearing on like the top 40 radio. Maybe you found like your next favorite book or author. Maybe you ugly laughed alone in your car or ugly cried. No judgment. Look, if this show has been there for you in any way, shape or form, we are asking you right now to help us build a version of Livewire that can't be defunded, can't be canceled and can't disappear because budgets get tight, which is what we're in danger of having happen now. Right now, if you can join our fully charged [e-mail] fullycharged, you will help us keep the lights on and keep the weird, wonderful conversations that Livewire is known for flowing. So thank you so much for stepping up and doing your part to keep Livewire going. We can't do this without you.

Welcome back to Livewire. I'm your host Luke Burbank, here with Elena Passarello. Before we get to this week's musical performance from Anna Tivel, a little preview of what we're doing on the show. Next week, we are going to be talking to Ken Jennings, who you probably know as the host of Jeopardy. All he had to do to get the job was win the show 74 times in a row.

I mean, a glide path, really. You've been on Jeopardy, Elena, you know how hard it is.

[C]

I was on it 73 fewer times than Ken Jennings.

[A]

It turns out Ken is also a writer and his latest book is called 100 Places to See after your Die, A Travel Guide to the Afterlife. And then speaking of writers, we're also going to talk to the writer Erica Berry about wolves, both the ones that live in nature and also the ones that live in our minds. And then we're going to wrap things up with some music from the incredible international rock and roll band. They're called Making Movies. It's going to be a fun, funny, interesting show next week, so make sure you tune in for that for this week. Our musical guest grew up in Laconor, Washington, learning fiddle and violin before heading on down here to Portland at the age of 18 to write and play her own tunes. And they are some really good tunes. NPR Music's Ann Powers calls her unmatched as an empath among her folk leaning peers. With the voice of a wobbly angel and a gift for making the poetic palpable. Her seventh studio album, Animal Poem, continues to explore the mystery, rawness, and inherently indescribable nature of this thing that we call the human experience. Here is Anna Tivel, recorded live at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

Anna, welcome back to Livewire.

[E]

Oh, hello. Thank you for having me.

[A]

It's nice to have you here. What have you been up to?

[E]

I've been roaming. I've been roaming all over the country on tour, all over the States and Canada, mostly driving many miles in a minivan.

[A]

I follow you on Instagram and I have to be honest, like, I feel exhausted when I see how much, like ground you've covered in a 24 hour period. Because I'm going like, she was there and now she's at this place. Man, that seems like a long drive. How do you like, what do you do to get through that part of being a touring musician? Just the, the distances.

[E]

I think I love it. I think I'm an introverted person. I mean, besides that, it makes me into like the most rickety van shaped human. I think it's such time to kind of just watch the world go by, watch the country go by and you're sort of thinking your thoughts and you're having all these experiences at rest stops and gas stations and weird little diners and bookstores and it kind of makes the world feel tangible and tasteable because you're just in it and you can't get out of it. And there's waffles and bed bugs and.

[A]

Oh my.

[E]

Exactly.

[A]

Does it work its way into the music, into the writing of songs? Because it definitely seems like you're generating new content.

[E]

It does, yeah. I did a tour in the spring all by train. Started in Portland and took the Empire Builder over to Chicago and then the California Zephyr back under and the Coast Starlight back up to Portland. It was all shows in people's living rooms and bakeries and libraries and visited schools during the day and kind of slept sitting up on the train and. Which I don't know if you guys are trained people, but it's sort of like a joyful mobile dmv.

Like everyone from everywhere is on the train and they're coming and going and they're. It's beautiful and.

Gritty and wonderful and there's microwavable hamburgers. Yeah, yeah. You can kind of sit there in your chair and write and listen. WI Fi isn't good on the train. And so everyone's talking and they're, you know, for better or for worse, they're arguing with each other over whose seat is whose seat, and they're telling long winded stories about their divorce.

[A]

See, I've monetized that, made that the radio show. It's working so far.

Well, tell me about the song that we're going to hear.

[E]

Oh, in the spirit of that, I'll play this song. I wrote most of it on the train. Yeah, it's sort of a song about traveling across this country as it does what it's up to and meeting people and kind of watching the landscape go by and feeling the way we're all sort of in this interwoven story, interacting in this moment, but also with what the country has been and will be all at once.

[A]

All right, this is Anna Tivel here on Livewire.

[E]

The train rolled on forever. I slept there in my seat while the oil rig sipped shadows and the cattle dreamed.

There's a place I know it's out there. I can almost see it.

Beyond the blue horizon line.

The woman right behind me is hanging up the phone. It's so hard to get an answer when you need someone. Heading out to west Montana to see her son through the visitation glass. Every wind Wednesday night.

O.

What a feeling.

American wind at your heels.

You gotta hold.

On to something.

If the truth, truth doesn't kill you, the sunrise will.

The tired flag unfolding A ghost town in the dark the skeletons of factories Radics kiss and point out stores While in distant shining cities they break all our hearts Drink their fine wine and whiskey Take the money and shake hands.

But the light, it bends the barley a painter couldn't guess oh, the shade to gold and oak the old farmer loves the best. There's a place I hope we're heading it holds all of this.

The sacred and the wreckage the future and the past O.

The feeling.

The hungriest nation house.

You gotta hold.

On to something.

This train isn't stopping for dreamers now.

It's quiet in the last car. Wild horses watch us pass till the whistle sends them running. White steam rising off their backs in the brightness of the morning on this brutal path through the country have always.

[B]

Lost.

[E]

Now the travelers get to talking where they're going, where they've been. How it feels to be in motion in the changing wind. I just lean back back and listen to all of it.

Watch the gold light back in and the wild horses run.

[A]

That was Anna T. Recorded live at the Alberta Rose Theater. Her album Animal poem is available right now. You have to go get it. It's incredible.

All right, that's gonna do it. For this week's episode of Livewire, a huge thanks to our guests, Tamara Yahia, Susan Rice and Anna Tivel.

[C]

Laura Haddon is our executive producer, Heather.

[B]

D. Michel is our executive director, and.

[C]

Our producer and editor is Melanie Seville. Eben Hofer is our technical director with assistance from Leona Kinderman. Trey Hester is our assistant editor, Valentine.

[A]

Keck is our operations manager, and Ashley park is our marketing manager. Tiffany Nguyen is our intern. Our house sound is by Dee, Neal Blake, and our house band is Danny Ailey, Ethan Fox, Tucker, Al Alves, and A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. The show was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Trey Hester.

[C]

Additional funding provided by the Marie Lamp from charitable foundation Livewire was created by Robin Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff. This week we'd like to thank member Chad Snyder of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Pat Blumenthal of Portland, Oregon.

[A]

For more information about our show or how you can listen to our podcast, head ON over to livewireradio.org I'm Luke Burbank. For Elena Passarello and the whole Livewire crew, thank you for listening and we will see. See you next week.

Dear Livewire, when we first met, I was really shy. I had no idea we'd spend so much time together or that you'd be one to fill my heart with joy and make me want to be a better person. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I was busy reading a review from one of our many, many rapturously smitten listeners. Oh, wait. Actually, no. Sorry. This is from Elena. Anyway, the point is, it would be really helpful if you wanted to leave us a review. Feel free to say really nice things about us and we'll even read them now and then on the show. So you might hear your review of Livewire read on the program. It itself. Reviews help other people hear about the show, and then we can keep doing this for a long, long time because we love having this job. Thank you so much. If you've left a review, and if you're about to leave a review, you can go ahead and do it right where you get the podcast.

From prx.