A very cool excerpt from an in-person interview with the talented, eclectic, versatile guitarist Ben Misterka from the San Francisco Bay area starting on page 82 of the May 2025 issue of AKR Magazine by Raine Jordan.. The full audio version of the interview is also available on AKR Magazine on page 86 Take a listen!
My interview with Ben Misterka is one of my favorites.. His authenticity, tenacity and talent as an independent artist is pure inspiration. Especially now, as he focuses more on his journey as a solo artist. The path of the independent musician is a labor of love. (there is not a better idiom). The music industry is radically changing and the fate of independent musicians depend on musicians themselves. “We” have to keep at it, because as Steve Connor of the Sound Café so eloquently writes,” the true power of independent music lies not in its commercial success but its ability to connect with people on a deep, emotional level. Independent artists create music because they have something to say, something that cannot be silenced by the challenges they face”. In a culture that commodifies almost everything, the artist must be the antidote. We are going to need the high vibration of live music during these times. So let us gather together as a community of music lovers, artists and friends to listen to live music. Let it be our act of resilience in the face of an unenlightened dying paradigm and have faith that we are conduits for a higher love.*
*AKR Magazine, A Higher Love by Raine Jordan, May 2025
