VANCOUVER, Wash. – Re-Imagined Radio continues its exploration of imaginative audio storytelling with “Breakfast @ Epiphanies,” premiering at 1 p.m. Oct. 19.
The latest episode from Portland storytellers Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose presents a collection of spoken word, poetry, sound design and reflection drawn from creative ideas first conceived more than 40 years ago. Together, the longtime collaborators describe the work as a sonic gallery of “fears, inspirations and meditations” spanning “musings and revelation, dead ends and beginnings.” Unlike many Re-Imagined Radio productions that rely on dialogue-driven narratives, “Breakfast @ Epiphanies” foregrounds spoken word performances, using voice, sound effects and music to create meaning and spark the listener’s imagination.
Through 13 pieces performed by one or two voices, the episode explores themes of longing, technology’s influence, artificial realities, historical memory and existential questions. The result is a deeply personal yet broadly relatable collection of observations and reflections shaped by the mysteries of existence, the passage of time and the accelerating pace of modern life.
“Breakfast @ Epiphanies” continues a tradition for McQuen and Rose, who have partnered with Re-Imagined Radio in recent years to revisit and reimagine stories from their alternate world of Farwan while uncovering previously unheard creative treasures. Previous collaborations include “Frequency 43” (2025), “Night of the Eclipsoid Man” (2024), “Asezhia” (2023) and “Twisted Epiphanies” (2022).
According to McQuen, the material featured in the episode has evolved across decades and artistic forms.
“Way back in the antediluvian 1980s, these ruminations started as a collection of intended lyrics,” McQuen said. “Eventually I realized that the best lyrics sum things up in a single line. The later material became poetry. Now, in our beleaguered 2020s, this material has become spoken word.”
The result is a collection shaped by the mysteries of existence, the passage of time and the accelerating pace of modern life, inviting listeners to reflect on both personal experience and shared human questions.
“Forty years of musings and revelation, dead ends and beginnings,” McQuen said. “It’s a big, wide weird world out there, and in a shorter than it should be single lifetime, you can only scratch the surface of the existential strangeness.”
John F. Barber, producer of Re-Imagined Radio and faculty member in the digital technology and culture program at Washington State University Vancouver, describes the episode as another example of McQuen and Rose’s distinctive approach to audio storytelling, where language and sound merge to create experiences that unfold inside the listener’s imagination.
“Every episode shared by Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose is a language-guided sonic bomb exploding on the widescreen of your imagination,” Barber said. “For decades, McQuen and Rose have been collecting questions, observations and sparks of inspiration. In ‘Breakfast @ Epiphanies,’ they’re finally uncorking some of that creative energy. Consumed straight. No chaser.”
The episode invites listeners on a journey through memory, imagination and discovery. As the Grateful Dead famously sang, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” For McQuen and Rose, that trip continues.
“So dive in and sample the wares,” McQuen said. “They span a broad range of stimuli and reaction. I hope you enjoy the journey.”