OpenMic

Sing a song, break some bread, make a friend. Singer-songwriter Emily Laliotis is pioneering this warmer take on a house show. Song Soup is a house show, a bowl of homemade soup, and a curated setlist of songwriters who are equally as talented writers as they are performers. It started almost by accident in December 2024.

There’s a version of this story where Grace Miranda is just a college student who makes music for fun. And technically, that’s true. She’s a fourth-year at Ohio State, studying nutrition and dietetics, heading into grad school in the fall. Music “isn’t the plan.”

That something is GAFF — a debut collaboration between the two, released this year and already the kind of record that feels like it was made by people who genuinely like each other. Which, it turns out, is exactly how it was made.

The source of the frustration for these authors comes from the lack of transparency within the culture at Grammy events. As far as we’ve been taught, the more of these events you attend, the higher your musical social status—right?

Push-Up Bra LA: A community built to uplift and support femme creatives in LA.

Here’s what Zadikow’s scene has given me: email chains of legendary YouTube performances, an insider perspective on NYC venue do’s and don’t’s, and a reminder that giving up is more of a pipe dream than going for it. His biggest push? “People just have to play.”

“No one should have to sacrifice their safety to create art.”

“You have to let people know that you know who they are,” she emphasizes. “And it’s not just what TV they were on or what they’re famous for; it’s what’s near and dear to their heart.”

"I really just want to foster this idea that you don’t actually have to do it all." It’s actually really cool if you spent your whole life perfecting your craft on this instrument and then you can let other people who spent their whole life perfecting their craft do the other part. You don’t have to do everything.”

“We have to get creative about the way we are making money,” she explains. “If there’s any way that we can help people in the process and focus on another revenue stream, all the better.”