During a moment of personal turmoil, Rocky Villanueva gets an email from a long-time client. His client is in his final weeks of life, and is getting his last wishes taken care of. One of those wishes: to look like himself when he dies.

Rocky says that many hairdressers and barbers have similar experiences: helping their clients through the last stages of life and letting them look the way they want to look for a final time.

Rocky packs his haircutting tools and bikes across Berlin to spend an hour with his client, giving him a haircut and receiving advice on love and grief.

Producer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: The Black Spot, Serocell, Phantom Fauna

Sponsor: The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist

The sponsor for this episode is The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist. It’s a fictional illustrated diary of an artist navigating love and hatred.

The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist is now available at all online book stores.

See Jeff’s favorite images from the book, on the podcast website

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Jeff walks to the edge of Berlin and explains why the Here Be Monsters feed has been quiet for so long.

On the way, Jeff talks about plans for upcoming episodes, looks at the ways that moving to Berlin has changed him, and discusses a pair of films featuring Tilda Swinton: Cycling the Frame (1988), and The Invisible Frame (2009). Both movies feature Swinton riding a bicycle around the entirety of the Berlin Wall—or, in the case of the latter, where the Berlin Wall used to be.

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Field recordings heard in this episode (starting around the 17:20): a former site of the Berlin wall in Marienfelde ~ birds and insects near Portbou, Spain ~ canoe paddling near the in Germany’s Spreewald ~ geese and peacocks calling on Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel) ~ dusk crickets near Locarno, Switzerland ~ a massive pipe organ that was part of Italy’s submission to the 2024 Venice Biennale ~ public transport boats in Venice revving their engines ~ Jeff singing in a bathroom while a faucet drips ~ Water splashing against cement in Banyuls-sur-mer, France ~ Hiking the Walter Benjamin memorial trail on the France / Spain border ~ Baby goat at the peak of a mountain on the France / Spain border ~ A canal boat passing in Amsterdam, Netherlands ~ An announcement bidding visitors to be quiet while visiting France’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg.

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

n the midst of a stressful move, HBM producer Jeff Emtman finds comfort in the phasing techniques developed by minimalist composer, Steve Reich. 

Note: this episode contains sounds that cannot be accurately represented by speakers.  Please use headphones.  

Steve Reich compositions excerpted in this episode: 

Clapping Music, performed by Steve Reich and Wolfram Winkel

Violin Phase, performed by Jonathan Morton 

Pendulum Music, performed by Joan Cerveró, Víctor Trescolí, Isabel León, and  Estefanía Sánchez

Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman