Budapest: The Podcast

Interviews and banter with Hungarians and non-Hungarians working in creative fields in Budapest. Made by Brandon.

[budapestpodcast]

Jonas Togay, Kozpont, NVC promoter, episode 27

As the public face of Kozpont, the chilled and popular Budapest hang-out, Jonas Togay is well-known to the city’s Madách tér warriors. A distillation of Hungarian, Finnish, and Turkish ancestry, Jonas also promotes for the NVC crew, known for the expanding Electronic Beats festival in addition to a variety of other bookings. Recently we sat down at the podcastle to discuss his melting pot background and associated visit to Turkey, a bit of sport, a typical day in the life of Jonas, some refugee crisis (what conversation can’t touch on that these days?) and, most importantly, our shared appreciation of turn of the century so-bad-yet-so-good pop music. It was a pleasure to talk and hope you enjoy!

[budapestpodcast]

Craig Hull, photographer, creative entrepreneur, episode 26

After a too long hiatus, Bp da P is back in action! This time around we chat with Craig Hull, an English-born and long-time Budapest resident who has observed his fair share of Hungarian reality over the past decade-ish. At first (and still) he did this through the photographer’s lens in the fashion, artistic, and documentarian arenas. Of late he is re-constituting his myriad interests through an upstart record label called People Say, which is hoped to develop into a fully-fledged artistic clearing house centered around the Budapest experience from loads of perspectives. Our talk was fun -- it was interesting to have “bitch session” of sorts with another foreigner about Hungarian politics and policies -- later we had a more creatively minded discussion, diving a little into Craig’s background, as well as photography theory.

[budapestpodcast]

Bence Simonfalvi, interior designer, Position Collective, episode 25

Bence is an interior designer and one of the founders of the Position Collective (aka Pos1t1on). From its origins in design, architecture and installations, Position has evolved into a company offering a full suite of services around the applied arts. Most recently, they have focused on interior and furniture design, with production and sales of the latter. In our chat last month, Bence and I covered topics such as the odd nature of the Hungarian holiday, Position’s office space, their focus on furniture accessory production (lamps and vases of late), good Hungarian manufacturing quality, and dealing with bitchy clients. Viva Position!

[budapestpodcast]

Ildi Amon, editor, We Love Budapest, English, episode 24

Ildi Amon is an Australian of Hungarian origin and a journalist, as lead editor of the English side of the increasingly popular We Love Budapest website. The English language version of WLB has become a goto Internet site for both newcomers to Budapest as well as long term residents. Ildi and I had a thorough chat about the expat scene in the city, the evolution of WLB, how they balance the English versus Hungarian versions of the website, journalism vs. travel information, where to go to brunch in Budapest, the proliferation of temporary markets in every city square, and WLB hot wine recommendations! Enjoy her soft Australian accent in opposition to my nasally American timbre :)

[budapestpodcast]

Tom Select, DJ, Girls and Mathematics party, episode 23

Tom Select is a fixture in Budapest if quality house-oriented music parties is your thing. His Girls and Mathematics party series first started in mid-2000s, around the time he moved back to Hungary from London. In addition to one-off dates and awesome summer gigs (like at Aliga) Tom now has regular sessions at Toldi and Larm. We covered a range of fun topics in our chat, including how best to transport tons of sand to a venue, what to do when you have to pee during a long DJ set, the importance of actively theme-ing your parties, the origins of the Girls and Maths party, and what it means to have artistic parents.

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Andrea Giuliano, gay activist, photographer, episode 22

Andrea is a long-time Budapest resident, gay activist, photographer, and DJ who I had the pleasure to meet a year ago when we both hosted a Halloween party at Vittula. He also happens to the second Italian i’ve now had as guest of the pod (first being Paulo). Andrea and I sat down to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being a guy with a name most associate with a girl, all the letters of the alphabet associated with modern gay activism, the Westboro Baptist church, naked people in ancient art versus modern art, his photography and the sexuality(?) of the cock, and anti-gay protests in France done by bare-chested men. Finally, if his drag queen name is the same as his real name :)

[budapestpodcast]

Rita Balogh, Budapest International Documentary Festival, and Johnny Burke, documentarian, Tashi and the Monk, episode 21

It’s a pleasure to have two back-to-back guests in this episode, both related to the upstart Budapest International Documentary Festival (BIDF). I first spoke with festival organizer, Rita Balogh, who together with a friend in London, turned this idea into reality in a mere eight months time. Her hard work has finally put Budapest on the map of the documentarian festival circuit. I next spoke to a producer of one of the films accepted to the festival, Johnny Burke. Hailing from the UK but currently residing in Budapest, Johnny and his partner created the fascinating “Tashi and the Monk”, detailing a community in the Himalayan foothills brought together to support abandoned children, and led by a Buddhist monk whose life story is fascinating from start to finish. I encourage all those interested in quality factual film to check out the debut of BDIF, taking place September 24-28 in Corvin Mozi. Budapest now has its own Sundance. :)

[budapestpodcast]

Tamas, TMX, episode 20

Tamas, known by his DJ moniker TMX for almost a decade, has been making parties and music since his teenage years. These days in addition to DJing solo, he organizes several party brands, most notably Kollektiva (with Fullstereo) as well as Sticky Beats with your dear host, Brandon. :) We sat down in the grass at Erzsebet ter to talk about his early days in Székesfehérvár, working in the IT sector and the amusement of early technology including the Commodore 64. Later, onto the vagaries of the party life including the confidence of youth, meatheads and drugs, recreating analog sounds with digital devices, and the frustrations of “getting famous” in Budapest versus other cities.

[budapestpodcast]

Tibor Varady, Espresso Embassy and artisanal coffee, episode 19

Tibor is a trained lawyer who had a change of heart after finishing university and transformed his life into one devoted to coffee. His is now the owner of one of downtown Budapest’s favorite coffee haunts, Espresso Embassy. The shop is among the “third wave” of coffee purveyors, paying special attention to quality and avoiding the mass-produced and massively-sized cups as so often seen these days. Tibor and I spoke about the history of coffee popularity, the worldwide hotspots for consumption (including recent kings, Australia), his successful participation in barista championships, the life cycle of a coffee bean, the technicalities of roasting, what makes a flat white, and much more!

[budapestpodcast]

Gergo, Gustave Tiger and The Moog, episode 18

Gergo is a sound engineer by day, musician contributor extraordinaire to many bands by night. I’ve known him as part of some half-dozen bands/projects over the years, but his most notable role to date is probably as drummer of the Moog, while he’s currently strumming chords for a power trio turned power quad called Gustave Tiger. We sat down in the podcastle to cover a variety of topics, including Hungary’s obsession with wine spritzer variation (aka, froccs), his recent remix of English remix of Boggie’s Nouveau Parfum, how to train a Hungarian to reduce their accent, how Hungarian indie artists make money (or at least try to make money), to finally the setting up of his current Gustave Tiger tour in Czech, Germany and Poland.

[budapestpodcast]

Gergely Kovari, Csak a Jo Sor and craft beer, episode 17

For a long time, beer lovers in Hungary have been out of luck as they live in a country renowned for its wines and spirits. Craft beers were almost unheard of here a decade ago. Fortunately for us, for Gergely Kovari, beer has been a way of life. In his earlier years he collected bottles of exotic beers he drank while visiting foreign countries. Then later, after studying fermentology and getting a degree in beer brewing, Gergely set off to stake his claim as Hungary’s beer focal point. Csak a Jo Sor (“only good beer”) was originally just an online shop, but soon Gergely opened a brick and mortar shop as well. Its current location on Kertesz u. is practically an institution. On any given day, from the late afternoon onward you’ll see Hungarians and foreigners alike, young and old, pour into the shop for a few quiet ones before heading home or beginning their evenings. Gergely and I sat down on two occasions to discuss his early days as a novice beer brewer, through to his current status as Hungary’s beer king. Egészségére!

[budapestpodcast]

Marton Perlaki, photographer, episode 16

You might not know Marton Perlaki’s face, but there’s a very good chance you know a face that he’s photographed. Marton (affectionately known as Marci in Hungary) has shot for the Room Magazine since its inception, and has since moved to New York to do editorials and commercial work for countless high-profile editorials and campaigns. We sat down at the Room headquarters to chat about the notion of home and what it means, living out of a hotel, the importance of natural light, having stuff versus not having stuff, and client expectations (or lack thereof) in art direction for his shoots. In general it was a thoughtful and contemplative conversation, so put your thinking caps on and buckle in. :)

[budapestpodcast]

Fatum Tattoo (Dorca), episode 15

Fatum Tattoo is the new kid on the block of Budapest’s tattoo salons, but it has quickly established itself as to goto place for Hungarians in-the-know and foreigners alike. I sat down for a second time with one of the artists originally affiliated with the shop, Dorca. I say second time because the first time I went in for a tattoo myself, and recorded the interview while the needle buzzed away. It made for an entertaining chat, but unfortunately wasn’t usable. So on the return visit we sat down in the staff room and spoke about Dorca’s background including her conservative tattoo-less brother and informing her mom about each new one, the origin of Fatum, how it differentiates from most salons in Budapest, good tattoos, bad tattoos, tattoo health tips, and Fatum’s relation to Telep as a good recruiting station.

[budapestpodcast]

Szabolcs Berger, aka Bergi, DJ/promoter, episode 14

Bergi’s life has been synonymous with music. At the moment he wears many hats for the A38 party boat: as DJ, promoter, organizer, ticket taker, or maybe all at once on some nights. Previously in Pecs as a youngster, he recorded music off Viva television and took any opportunity he could for vinyl shopping. He parlayed his early party organizing and radio hosting days in Pecs into what is now a career in all things party and music in Budapest -- with his Monkey6 crew the primary vehicle behind it. In our chat we surveyed the broad strokes of that story, touching on his ethical approach to the entertainment industry, our mutual appreciation for “assholes with hearts”, and his burgeoning relationship with his mother that was forged out of a formidable challenge, but which has transformed into a heartwarming tale. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry -- it’s me and Bergi. :)

Please excuse the occasional mic issues with Bergi, it was brushing onto him directly from time to time.

[budapestpodcast]

David Ungvari, filmmaker/producer, episode 13

David is a freelance filmmaker and producer who’s been working on movie sets -- ranging from blockbuster Hollywood, to independent Hungarian -- since childhood. At the moment he is working on the set of Spy and thus rubs shoulders daily with the likes of 50 Cent and Jude Law, but his long-time dream is to create a “speculative sci-fi” film all his own. We sat down in the podcastle and had a good chat about his formative years spent in Los Angeles, 2D vs. 3D vs. 4D cinema, the beauty of Her and Bladerunner, and of course a bit of celebrity gossip, just because. Hint: he’s reinforced my longtime man crush on Jeremy Irons. David also organizes parties and DJs for an outfit called Hypnosis.

[budapestpodcast]

Márton Miovác, The Four, episode 12

Marton couldn’t wait to graduate to get started on his next phase of life. Two years ago, he and two classmates began building a nascent clothing brand called “The Four” (one of the original members left, just like Destiny’s Child ;)). Now, with several major fashion shows and a few distribution points under their belt, The Four is poised to make even bigger waves. Marton and I spoke about the craziness that is his current pre-graduation life, the essential nature of Hungarian grandmothers to Budapest fashion, his nice moustache, inspiration points, Asia, his Serbian birthplace, and learning through the “university of life.”

[budapestpodcast]

Sophie Rotas, NERO homme, episode 11

After working for several years in the magazine editorial and photography world, Sophie Rotas decided it was time to blaze her own trail and is now the primary publishing force behind NERO homme, which focuses on male fashion and erotic contemporary art. Sophie also blazed a trail for this interview in the sense that she had a rotating entourage of charming young ladies (her colleagues) accompanying her. Buoyed by our mini-audience, we set forth on a range of topics including her early days as flatmate to an old lady with many cats, and later as a techno promoter, to her continued distrust of authority and predilection toward meat and late nights. We then ventured into her current day activities that include the aforementioned magazine along with a fascinating coffee table book on the topic of “sex magic”, as well as series of small reportages on Hungarians and their creative endeavors. All in all, Sophie is keeping quite busy, and whether in New York, Paris, London, or Budapest, you’ll be seeing even more of her creative output soon.