73. Mike Stax on Craig Smith

Today, my co-host Madison Nadine and I sit down with Mike Stax joining us remotely from his home in San Diego. For kicks, Mike records and tours with his band, the Loons, but he’s better known as a writer, having published the magazine UGLY THINGS for 40 years and running. In 2022, he started an excellent new podcast bearing the same name. Ugly Things is an established authority on the golden era of obscure underground rock music, and today we’ll be talking to Mike about Craig Smith, also known as Maitreya Kali.

Smith was a rising star in the LA music world in the 1960s— He was on The Andy Williams Show as a member of The Good Time Singers, filmed a TV pilot, and formed a band called Penny Arkade, championed by Michael Nesmith. While traveling in the middle east, Craig’s life was thrown off the rails by a tragic incident. Smith rebounded from the trauma by taking on the spiritual name Maitreya, a self-proclaimed deity among men, and would-be cult leader… had he found a devoted following.

He faded into obscurity after self-releasing a pair of records, and Mike Stax took it upon himself to track down Maitreya-- or at least, as much of his story as possible. His findings resulted in the 2016 book “Swim Through the Darkness: My Search for Craig Smith and the Mystery of Maitreya Kali.” Mike shares about his experience in living out this mystery novel, the people he met along the way, further developments since the book’s completion, hamburgers, Ugly Things, and the Loons.

74. Califone

72. Phil Elverum and Matt Fenton