There are excellent creators on that service, no argument there... but some of our readers let us know that it has an ugly underbelly.
We weren't aware of the hurtful and hateful voices on that platform, and worse, that they kinda seem like they're being coddled by Substack. Not a very pretty corporate decision.
We’re all for free speech, but we prefer to not participate in a system that allows hate to thrive if we can avoid doing so. Despite whatever goodness is also in the mix.
We went with Beehiiv instead. We found some reviews that griped about monetization issues (not something we're worried about), and a couple about being deplatformed — it's encouraging to know that bad actors are being actively removed.
The Prohibited Content section of their Acceptable Use Policy says that they strictly prohibit content that "promotes or encourages violence, discrimination, or harassment based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic. This includes content that incites violence, spreads hate speech, or uses dehumanizing language to target individuals or groups."
We can get behind that.
Not sure what address this will be delivered from — possibly [email protected] (which does not accept incoming mail, we tested it; however, it appears that the reply-to address will be [email protected] in which case everything should be hunky dunky. We just don’t know yet. This is all a work in progress. There will be tweakage.) If something is super-wonky in your display, you can let us know at [email protected]
Kray Van Kirk with John Fealy, a 3:00 matinee on May 17
A fine fingerstyle guitarist with a precise baritone roaming from Alaska, Kray Van Kirk set his Ph.D. in fisheries population dynamics modeling aside to write songs, tell stories, and summon heroes.
Van Kirk is not the average crying-in-your-coffee singer-songwriter… he’s a charming, Quixotic, decidedly eclectic character.
“We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart,” he says, “and the stories are all true. The quest is to journey inside, find what burns at the core of your soul, and bring it back into the light. Everyone gets to be the hero. Nobody is left behind.”
His song Thunderbird resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner in the American Southwest… The Queen of Elfland plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him and the Queen into a subway car… The Library Song has Superman moonlighting among the stacks… Rosa and Hector ride through Sherwood Forest on canes and a wheelchair… The Midnight Commander celebrates an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.
Kray's newest album, Empire, was released in February.
“The Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but was certainly why I stayed late.”
John Fealy is a Vermont folk singer, and his acoustic music — made on finger-style steel string guitar, banjo, ukulele, and piano — is rooted deep in his heart and aims to share his love of humanity, nature, and the greater forces of life.
He’s a father, husband, and a dedicated street outreach worker. And also the lead singer of the band Ox Child.
Kray Van Kirk with John Fealy at Stage 33 Live in Bellows Falls, Vermont, on May 17, 2026 in a 3:00 matinee. Tickets are $15 in advance through stage33live.com, or $20 (cash) at the door as available. Advance tickets guarantee entry. Only 40 tickets will be sold. Advance sales will close at midnight the day before the show, or when 40 tickets are sold.
Promo video!
We get a lot of folk music in the room. Most of it might be considered contemporary folk. Every now and then, though, we get somebody with deep, deep, deep roots in the best of the American folk revival of the '50s and '60s. This guy, Kray Van Kirk, could nestle right into that scene... the writing, the voice, the politics. But he's also thoroughly of right now. He's ours.
Here's a full performance from 2014 — a dozen years ago! — filmed in front of a studio audience by Juneau, Alaska Public TV station KTOO. It stands up.
Howdy from Mark, the person behind the Royal We of these newsletters.
I write from Minnesota, the place where I was born and bred, and more recently where my nonagenarian mom took a spill and broke her shoulder. She’s recovering well, but my sister’s been with her 24/7 since she got out of rehab so I’m here to hang with my good mom a bit and give my good sis some caregiver respite. I left a couple days after the most recent show, and will be back a couple days before the next one. In the meantime, I’ll be herding ticket sales and promo outreach and all the other things from here — I’ll try to be timely, but if I’m slow to respond, that’s why.
This edition and much of the underlying infrastructure was largely diddled and composed on my janky refurbished laptop that doesn’t always boot up properly and has a frustratingly fussy keyboard… if I can do that on this thing, I surely can do it faster and better on the Stage 33 Live computer back home going forward. Here’s to optimistic perseverance in the good work of trying to make things ever better (in the broadest sense possible).
A hearty Thank You to our seasonal underwriters!
We're entirely run by volunteers from stem to stern, and all donations go toward the costs of keeping the wheels on this thing. We squeeze every penny, and we'd be so happy to squeeze yours.