Today's interview is with Kathryn Oosterhuis, archivist intern at the American Craft Council Library.

What is your favorite/most-read art or craft book in your personal collection?
Unfortunately, my personal collection has dwindled to almost nothing after my last move. I used to have a paperback book on men and knitting, from the mid-1960s that I just loved. I can't remember the specific title, but the cover had a cowboy sitting on his horse, knitting. The book itself had a tone throughout that suggested "even manly men knit!" It was a hoot! I wish I hadn't weeded it from my collection. Now every time I go antiquing I search the musty book stacks for another copy.

What book or magazine would you like to sneak out of the ACC Library?
There are so many to choose from! I personally love the older books in the collection, materials you can't just go pick up at your local library or bookstore. One of the books I would love to add to my personal collection would be The Furniture of our Forefathers, written by Esther Singleton and published in 1901. The page edges are jagged and brown, but it has some fabulous black and white furniture plates scattered throughout. It's obviously a book that has been read and truly appreciated. The 1901 edition is rather rare, but it's the book's charm that appeals most to me.

What book(s) are you currently reading? Any kind of book is fine!
Currently I am reading several, during my J-term break from classes at St. Catherine University. The list includes books for fun, what one could call "book candy." Right now, I just have a stack of books that I pick up as the mood strikes. Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton, The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander, Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine by Marcus Samuelsson.

What hooked you on craft? What's the first craft you remember seriously catching your eye?
I appreciate craft for its individuality. So many of the objects we encounter in our modern daily lives are cookie-cutter, bland, and expected. Craft offers useful objects that can be beautiful - and unexpected - which enriches one's daily life, beyond art that hangs on the wall and must be admired from afar, with little interaction. I don't remember the first craft that really got my attention, but my latest lovefest is for Nick Cave's work. When I was in Sweden in 2010, I first saw his work in person - the Dead or Alive group in Goteborg. His work is just so amazing, thought-provoking, and overwhelming all at the same time!

If you could master a new craft, what would it be?
I would love to learn woodworking to make my own furniture. I am in love with mid-century designed wood furniture, and the juxtaposition between the clean, modern lines and working through the messiness of natural materials really appeals to me. But I will have to wait until finish graduate school and have crossed off the first few things on the master plan to-do list. That, and everyone in my household gets nervous when I have sharp objects in my hands....

A weekly shout out to the printed word, From the Stacks highlights what's new and what's loved in the American Craft Council Library. Five Questions is a brief Q&A about books and craft, with people who love and use the American Craft Council Library.

Is it just me? Or does everybody find red invigorating? Especially if it's a cherry red, hanging out with its color-wheel kin, pink, orange, and violet.

Jilli Blackwood is a Scottish fiber artist, weaver, and textile designer whose work celebrates this palette more than anybody I've seen in a long time. Blackwood uses embroidery, layering, and unlikely combinations (silk, leather, linen, for example) to create wearables and other textiles that are beyond dimensional. Crimson, puce, cerise, plum, perfection.

Can't get enough craft? Neither can we. Heck Yes Craft is a series of visual blog posts with a simple mission: to show off amazing work. Come back every Friday for more.

Over the weekend I had a chance to sit down and watch Eames: The Architect and the Painter. It's definitely one of the best documentaries I've seen in recent memory (another is Foo Fighteres: Back and Forth, if you like rock and roll).

The parents of modern design, Charles and Ray Eames, are fully-examined through archival footage, the Eames House, and interviews with those who knew the couple. The Eames lived creative lives, and their unbridled passion for design in all facets of life is inspiring.

I was well aware of the couple's work in furniture design, but I had little idea about the extent of their many other creative endeavors (Cold War propaganda films or an ad campaign for IBM, for example), or that they had an office full of junior designers whose work on projects often went without credit.

The documentary also provides insight into the personal lives of Charles and Ray, Ray's struggle for recognition in the male-dominated world of the 50s and 60s, and even Charles' infidelity.

You can watch the trailer below, and head over to PBS to stream the whole documentary or check your local listings for rebroadcast.

The December/January issue of American Craft focuses on education, and particularly on art schools that encourage students to use their skills in their communities.

We profiled a program in which California College of Arts students make ceramic shelters for endangered seabirds.  We talked to North Bennet Street School students who teach neighborhood schoolchildren the basics of woodworking. For this blog, we talked with the director of a Maryland Institute College of Art program in which students work on campaigns to prevent drunk driving and promote healthy eating. And now we've spoken with students who help the loved ones of people who have died of AIDS.

For the second time since 2009, students at the Cleveland Institute of Arts joined forces with MetroHealth hospital to work with the community to design quilt panels alongside families and friends of AIDS victims. In late November and early December, CIA students helped with two full-day quilt workshops, producing panels that were then exhibited at CIA in early December.

I spoke with Julia Chepke and Ivy Garrigan, both 2011 CIA graduates, about the program.

How did this initiative come about?

In 2009, the Fiber and Material Studies department was approached by Jennifer McMillen Smith, a Cleveland social worker focused on AIDS patients whose husband, Matthew Smith, happens to be CIA's director of student life and housing. McMillen Smith wanted students to get involved with a quilt-making project sponsored by her employer, MetroHealth, and associated with the national AIDS quilt Names Project.

What did she want students to do?

She wanted them to provide creative consulting to the families and friends of people who had died of AIDS, whether recently or sometime ago. She wanted students to help those loved ones to translate their vision, their memories, into a 3 foot by 6 foot panel that could be displayed at CIA and later incorporated into the national AIDS quilt.

How did students actually work with those families and friends, in 2009 and then again last month, in 2011?

Each met with a group of loved ones at MetroHealth for two daylong workshops, during which they listened to them recall the people they had lost. Many people came to the workshops with photos, items of clothing, and other objects from the life of the person they had lost to AIDS. The students helped workshop participants translate those items, and the pictures in their minds into quilt panels, picking out fabrics and determining the overall design.

After they helped to craft a design, what came next?

Volunteer seamsters from Stitch Cleveland came in to actually construct the panels, do silkscreening, applique, and so on. At the end of the day, we had constructed a number of panels, each memorializing an AIDS victim. Those panels were showcased at CIA in late November and at MetroHealth in early December.

Were students trained to have what must have been sensitive conversations with people who had lost somebody to AIDS?

No, not really. Jen [McMillen Smith] gave us a pep talk, but that was all. I think everybody understood that our job was to be mediators, to lend our talents rather than to focus on making the panel look good. We knew our role was to be sensitive to their situation and how the families and friends wanted the panel to look. It was their work, not our work.

Clearly, the students provided an important service to people who wanted to express their grief and love but maybe didn't have the tools, skills, or materials to do so. What did the students gain from the experience?

It's a different way of looking at making art. Normally in your studio you don't think about the impact art can have, the reach it can have. This project was a completely different way of engaging our practice. We made a difference in the community through out talents. It helps us realize not to take our education for granted. We had the skills to help somebody realize their vision. It was very fulfilling.

What is the lesson for art educators?

It's good to get schools involved with the community they are part of. It was a really good opportunity to participate with people living in our city while still being in school. It was so different from our normal experience as art students.

Today's interview is with Kearstin Roy, archivist intern at the American Craft Council Library.

What is your favorite/most-read art or craft book in your personal collection?
My favorite photographer is Nan Goldin. Her book The Ballad of Sexual Dependency chronicles her life, the people she loved, and her struggle. I appreciate it because every time I look at it I see something new, and I see insight into Goldin as an artist and as a person who was trying to make sense of her surroundings. Goldin does an outstanding job of making this photography book a visual story and not just a place to house her photos for the public. She never let go of the whole vision of her art. I also love looking through this book backwards; it moves in every direction.

What book or magazine would you like to sneak out of the ACC Library?
Art Nouveau, 1870-1914 by Jean Paul Bouillon. I have never seen such a comprehensive history of Art Nouveau! The writing and images are fantastic! I love art books that encapsulate the whole picture: the era, the people, the history, the method/reasoning behind the art... this book does exactly that. It depicts a time when art seemed to be revolutionary and in every aspect of daily life. Imagine a massive art revolution today. This book is very inspiring!

What book(s) are you currently reading? Any kind of book is fine!
I have a stack of books next to my bed, in my living room and a few floating in every bag I carry - most of which are poetry. But, of all of them I am loving The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician Dr. Li Zhisui. Dr. Zhisui is so brave in having written this book. His intimate knowledge of the details of such a mysterious person make for an odd transcendence of understanding where you'd least expect to find it. Reading the book is becoming a real experience.

What hooked you on craft? What's the first craft you remember seriously catching your eye?
When I was growing up my mother always had an art room in our home with everything I could ever imagine wanting to play with and create. I remember being really obsessed with making homemade play dough and trying to copy the forms out of the Morton salt catalog (Dough It Yourself Handbook - mine was the 80's version) I made a lot of sunshines with all sorts of creative rays. Mostly, it was about that odd texture of the homemade salt play dough and how I could add food coloring, glitter, etc. I loved playing with the materials.

When I was about six I got a Klutz paper making kit and it's never been the same... the play dough was merely a transition into the wonderfulness of texture that is paper. In the years to come my grandfather made me paper screens out of chicken wire and old wood from around the farm. My love and creating of paper has never died and now I make books too!

If you could master a new craft, what would it be?
This question is daunting. I actually find myself thinking about this a lot. I often think I would simply become a true master of something I already love to do... but, that's too easy. I have always wanted to blow glass. I even seriously dreamed of going to glass blowing school instead of college.

Glass blowing presents to me a huge physical challenge and it's dangerous. To be able to overcome the circumstances of the medium and still make something significant would be incredibly rewarding. A blown glass object to me is representative of endurance, strength, and beauty that has to overcome.

A weekly shout out to the printed word, From the Stacks highlights what's new and what's loved in the American Craft Council library. Five Questions is a brief Q&A about books and craft, with people who love and use the American Craft Council library.

For students at the Maryland Institute College of Art, changing the world for the better is more than a "someday" dream-it's a deeply hands-on, here-and-now commitment, part of learning to be a better artist and person. As part of our look at real-world art education, we spoke with Karen Stults, director of the Office of Community Engagement at MICA, an institution on the leading edge of the emerging field of community arts.

How does MICA define community and social engagement? What's driving interest in this direction, and when and why did it become a focus at the college?

At MICA, we view working in community and social engagement as pursuing issue-oriented initiatives that have the potential to transform communities. The work is purposeful and outcome-focused, not simply volunteerism.

More than a dozen years ago, MICA's trustees made community engagement and Baltimore revitalization a strategic priority of the college. At the same time, students have increasingly wanted to be outside the college "bubble" and have pushed for engaged projects.

This type of project-based learning provides opportunities for professional, urban and partnership development throughout the region. Community engagement is interwoven into virtually every facet of the college-from curricula and extracurricular activities to vice presidents chairing local cultural and economic development boards.

What form has it taken within the school curriculum?

Nearly all academic programs offer community and social engagement opportunities. The M.A. and M.F.A. in Community Arts, M.A. in Social Design and M.F.A. in Curatorial Practice graduate programs are dedicated to this cause as is the Concentration in Sustainability and Social Practice on the undergraduate level. Last year, more than 50 undergraduate courses were dedicated to partnering with communities to problem solve real-world issues. MICA also offers the Community Art Collaborative (CAC), an AmeriCorps-funded program that places community artists in year-long residencies with nonprofits, schools and community centers in Baltimore City, and Community Arts Partnership (CAP), a similar program on the undergraduate level.

Tell us about a few of the student projects.

Common issues explored in student projects have been public health education, urban development, historic preservation and the empowerment of communities. I'll highlight two examples from the past year.

Loss and Consequences: The Drunk Driving Project, a two-semester partnership between MICA, Urbanite magazine and the Maryland State Highway Administration, engaged MICA students in creating work aimed at influencing attitudes and behavior for the greater good of society. Hundreds of students and/or student teams participated in the launch, citywide traveling exhibition and statewide highway safety campaigns. I think the success of this awareness program can be recognized in part from the interest we've received from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Addiction Services and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

MICA's Center for Design Practice (CDP)-a multi-disciplinary studio that collaborates with outside organizations enabling students to use design to make an impact on society-helped Real Food Farm-an urban agricultural enterprise developed by Baltimore's Civic Works-mobilize its healthy food offerings for Baltimore's Clifton Park neighborhood. Those communities house about 27,500 low-income residents with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Looking to create a design that would increase public awareness of Real Food Farm's produce, entice shoppers and be easily useable, students developed a new visual identity for the farm's website, stationery, advertisements, reusable shopping bags, and most significantly, a former Washington Post delivery truck converted into a mobile farmers market. CDP recently received a Sappi Ideas That Matter grant of $15,000 to continue its work with Real Food Farm.

What tangible impact have MICA students had on the Baltimore community?

Economically, the college has been impactful through opening buildings in transitioning neighborhoods. The energy of our students working there has helped to turn these areas into vibrant cultural destinations. MICA has been an early and continued anchor for the Station North Arts & Entertainment District, the first state-designated arts district in the city, through Studio Center activity and student projects taking place on the thoroughfare of North Avenue. Most recently, our graduate students in social design and community arts who live and work in the new MICA PLACE building in East Baltimore have begun transformational work, partnering with nearby nonprofits, organizations and after-school programs.

To give an example of our activity through last year's numbers, Community Art Collaborative (CAC) members served approximately 1,000 K-12 students in after-school programs through the facilitation of about 200 community art projects, including workshops and discussion groups. CAC members also engaged 323 volunteers in sustained service to the program's host organizations, which run the gamut from the Refugee Youth Project to House of Ruth Maryland.

So you can see, students are making a positive impact throughout the city. A poignant example is a CAP partnership with the pediatric oncology unit at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins that enables interns with an interest in art therapy to work with hospitalized children and their families.

How does community and social engagement make better artists and designers?

Community and social engagement encourages artists and designers to look outside themselves and focus on outcome-based problem solving. Art and design can be used as tools for change. Being able to ask questions, conduct research and work in teams are great, transferrable life skills to have, especially in today's job market.

What are MICA's goals for the future in this area?

The Office of Community Engagement is seeking to provide tools and resources for students, faculty and staff; support a culture of engagement on the MICA campus; and maintain and enhance MICA's role as a national leader in community engaged art, design and education. The sky is the limit. However, one objective we're currently pursuing is collecting data so we can map our initiatives and partnerships.

On a citywide level, we've launched Baltimore Art + Justice Project, the first project of its kind in the United States to identify, amplify and connect arts-based practitioners advancing the cause of social justice in a particular city. This project is being conducted with support from a citywide advisory committee and Open Society Foundations and in partnership with Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts that seeks to answer a similar set of questions on a national scale through its Arts & Social Change Mapping Initiative.

I'd like to emphasize two other aspects of community and social engagement at MICA: research and global impact. MICA was the first art college to establish a vice provost position responsible for research, so we have a culture of detailed inquiry and contemplative work here. The college was the driving force behind this fall's publication of the Community Arts Journal: Cultural Practice, Research & Higher Education, the only online journal of its kind dedicated to the community arts field, as well as the national Community Arts Convening held here in March 2011.

And through active international recruiting, exchanges, programming, class projects and Fulbright couching, MICA not only works to revitalize Baltimore but strives to positively affect communities around the world. One exciting class example, funded in part by the Office of Community Engagement, is a transitional shelter project to aid in Haiti disaster relief. After conducting comprehensive research-including a visit to the country-the students are constructing a prototype that addresses the need for housing as well as broader issues faced by cultures in transition, such as encouraging economic growth and allowing for situational change.

Joyce Lovelace is American Craft's contributing editor.

The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) recently gifted the library a treasure trove of ceramics resources, including print and video materials. They capture the breadth of the medium, and showcase the history of some influential ceramic artists.

Linda Arbuckle is known for her majolica-glazed earthenware. In her DVD, we get a tour of her home, studio, and classroom, offering us an intimate glimpse into her life, and into the personal relationships and everyday beauty that inspire her.

John Utgaard was the demonstrating artist at the NCECA 41st Annual Conference Meeting in 2007. In his DVD, Utgaard discusses his motivations and processes while demonstrating hand-building by working in a variety of scales, showing the conceptual beginning of a form, and using wheel-throwing in support of sculpture.

Two demonstrations are given by Val Murat Cushing in his DVD, where he throws a lidded casserole and a roll top jar. Cushing describes measuring, throwing, trimming, and assembly in detail. There is a slideshow of his work, and information about the artist.

American Craft Council College of Fellows honoree Cynthia Bringle has been a full-time studio potter since 1965. Her DVD opens with fellow artists speaking about her influence, generosity, and work, and continues with demonstrations. She throws a pitcher and a tall carved vessel from her home in Penland, NC. A slideshow of her work completes the recording.

NCECA publishes an annual journal, and included in their donation to the library was the 2011 edition, which chronicles NCECA events and issues up to the March 30 - April 2, 2011 conference entitled "Tidal Forces - The Next Wave." This issue contains the panels and lectures of that conference.

Finally, there is the 2009 NCECA Clay National Biennial Exhibition catalog. This contains the 55 works that exemplify excellence in the wide range of approaches possible in contemporary ceramics. This catalog features images on glossy cardstock of each piece, with an accompanying CD.

To enjoy these print and visual resources on ceramics (and the rest of our collection), please stop by the library!

A weekly shout out to the printed word, From the Stacks highlights what's new and what's loved in the American Craft Council Library.

"This Month in ACC History" is a new monthly blog series focused on the history of the American Craft Council. With nearly 70 years of organizational history, the organization has greatly impacted the continuing evolution of the American craft movement. Here are some ACC history highlights that occurred in the month of January:

January 21, 1967 - Death of William J. Barrett, ACC President, 1963-1967.

William J. Barrett was associated with the American Craft Council for many years beyond his ACC presidency from 1963-1967. Barrett served on the board of trustees before being appointed president upon the death of David R. Campbell on September 1, 1963. He expressed a "deep interest in the American crafts movement and the people who formed it," according to ACC founder Aileen Osborn Webb. Upon his appointment, Barrett acknowledged, "an organization is strong only as its membership is strong and actively participating toward attaining its objectives. With the help of a dedicated staff and an interested and active board of trustees, we can attain these objectives."

While Barrett's tenure as president was short, his strength of vision carried the organization through a difficult time after the death of ACC president David R. Campbell, another crucial leader of the organization. Barrett was able to continue Campbell's efforts to strengthen the ACC's organizational structure and increase relevancy for members at the national level. Upon Barrett's death, Aileen Osborn Webb said of him, "He himself was not a craftsman nor an artist, but he had a deep understanding of the role the crafts might play in the life of the individual and society."

Barrett's untimely death left a hole that impacted the ACC for several years thereafter.

January 28, 1971 - America House closed.
January 20, 1972 - Opening of the American Crafts Council Gallery.

America House, the retail sales outlet founded by ACC founder Aileen Osborn Webb in New York in 1940, closed its doors on January 28 after 30 years of continuous operation. Webb said of the closing, "The main purpose in establishing America House was to prove to public and buyers alike that the work of American craftsmen is merchandise of consequence. When America House opened in 1940, the bulk of hand work sold in the United States came from Europe. We set out to offer American craftsmen a place to sell their work and at the same time to encourage them towards even higher standards."

The organization was experiencing growing pains, and while America House fulfilled Webb's vision for a retail channel, the urgency of providing increased space and facilities for the ever-expanding activities of the ACC ultimately led to the decision to close the doors.

Although America House closed in 1971, the ACC recognized the value of having gallery space to exhibit work and potential event space to add to the revenue stream. On January 20, 1972, the American Craft Council Gallery opened, on the main and mezzanine floors, at the 44 West 43rd Street location, the headquarters of the Council at that time. A smaller space than the America House, the main purpose was featureing changing sales exhibitions of unique works in all craft media. In a December 3, 1971, ACC press release, Donald Wyckoff, executive vice president of the ACC at that time, announced "the gallery is a logical outgrowth of ACC's commitment to the crafts and to the public, and our intimate involvement with the artists and their work puts us in an excellent position to recognize and select the most outstanding and truly significant contemporary American craft works."

January 19-20, 1990
A symposium is held at the American Craft Museum as the initial event in "The History of the Twentieth-Century American Craft: A Centenary Project."

This project included conferences, exhibitions, articles, and books, examining the American craft movement from 1900 to the end of the century, with the goal of establishing a definitive history. Initially supported by grants from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, NEA, and the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the project was suspended after just three shows.

In 2011, the project was resumed by the Museum of Arts and Design, formerly the American Craft Museum, as "Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design."

Through the entirety of ACC's history, the organization's mission has remained the same: to champion craft. Next month's blog will highlight more ACC activities demonstrating the execution of that mission.

"This Month in ACC History" takes a look at events from the American Craft Council's 70-year history that shaped not only the organization but also the contemporary craft movement in America. 

Thank you for your continued interest and support of the American Craft Council. 2011 has been a pivotal year. We worked diligently to deliver consistent, high quality programming as we settled into our offices in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and hired a new staff. We began to revitalize the Council's programs, set new goals, and plan for the future. I want to update you on some highlights of our accomplishments and tell you about our exciting new work.

We are very proud of our many achievements this past year, including:

• ACC membership - ACC membership increased by 11%! This is a tremendous upsurge after several years of declining interest.

• ACC craft shows - Total attendance and artist sales at our four retail shows in Baltimore, Atlanta, St. Paul, and San Francisco grew for the second straight year. A creative outreach campaign and broadened media coverage helped draw attention to the fabulous work of the artists participating in the shows.

• American Craft magazine - Our revitalized approach, with stories that connect readers to great artists and their work, has drawn rave reviews from across the country. Members are telling us they are reading the magazine cover to cover and enjoying the high quality images. While it remains a challenging economy, advertisers are responding with growing interest in our increased membership and confidence in the quality of our publication.

• GOLD exhibit at SOFA Chicago - ACC established a major presence with our exhibition, "GOLD: American Craft Council Gold Medalists 1994-2011." Curated by Council trustee Michael Monroe, the presentation was visually stunning and drew nonstop visitors of all ages. It was a testament to the organization's past, present and future. We participated in SOFA's lecture series with a discussion between gold medalist Bill Daley and art historian and editor Janet Koplos, who wrote an accompanying catalog essay. I invite you to see the highlight video. It's not to be missed!

We have initiated changes to be implemented in 2012 to address issues impacting the quality of our craft shows and ACC members' experiences with the Council:

• We have introduced an invitational process to select a portion of our show artists, which will bring new faces and new work to attendees.

• We have planned reinvigorated educational programming and networking events at each show.

• We are re-launching our website in February to address the needs of our users and improve their online interactions. We will continue to add functionality to the site as we move forward.

Looking toward the future, ACC trustees have finalized a new strategic plan detailing our longer-term objectives. This is an exciting step forward for the organization, and all of us at the Council are excited about the opportunities to provide greater value to the craft field. We developed our new plans based on my conversations with the craft community at listening sessions held in eight cities across the country, as well as on almost 5,000 responses to our electronic survey of members and other constituents. The ideas generated in these discussions were critical as we outlined our future work.

Here are the goals and focus areas we will strive for that were developed during our strategic planning process:

• We will advocate for and promote craft as an important cultural resource. We will identify and promote the brand of craft, and we will expand the audience that supports and understands its value.

• We will strengthen economic opportunities within the craft field, support the professional development of established and emerging makers, and foster marketplace connections.

• We will provide thought leadership and cultivate critical thinking about contemporary craft, both on our own and through partnerships and collaborations with other organizations. We will identify, recognize and promote the work of exemplary craft practitioners.

We have accomplished a lot this year and look forward to working with you and other members of the craft community as we continue to build support and increased interest in American craft.

Some of this work is new for the Council, and other work is focused on revitalizing and expanding current programming. We have ambitious plans, and because we are a nonprofit we will need to generate resources in order to invest in these areas. We will keep you apprised of our progress as we develop and implement these plans.

Our success in achieving progress on each of these goals will have a significant impact on the craft community. I hope that you will continue to support the work of the Council as we champion craft!

Thank you for all that you do for the Council and best wishes for 2012.

We had a chance to talk with Heller Gallery's Vice President, Michael Heller, while we were at SOFA 2011 in Chicago. He's been in the craft world for a long time and has seen the studio glass movement grow and mature into the art form it is today, evidenced by breathtaking displays of glass work in Heller's booth and around the show. See what he has to say below.