Sofa King Podcast

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the history of the Underground Railroad. Some people estimate that this unofficial network of abolitionists helped 100,000 slaves escape to Canada. Key figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglas, and John Brown helped this movement grow and served as a beacon of hope for millions of American black slaves. The Underground Railroad was of course neither underground nor a railroad, but it did use railroad terminology to help code what they were talking about. In fact, everything from the roles people played to the religious songs that slaves would sing on the plantation served a purpose. Some songs would give directions North and others warnings to nearby slaves on the run, all in the guise of religious music. Pretty ingenious. There was no central leader or even a formal group that was the Underground Railroad. Instead, it was just a whole lot of like-minded individuals who wanted human lives to matter and par

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the largest volcanic eruption in the modern history of the United States, the eruption of Mount St. Helens. This volcano started grumbling and causing a superstring of earthquakes in March of 1980, but on May 18, the volcano erupted. Two hundred and thirty square miles of forest were destroyed instantly as the equivalent of 1500 Hiroshima level nuclear bombs went off. Even though it was being watch closely by volcanologists, photographers, and the world, it’s violent explosion surprised almost everyone. Luckily a scientist who died in the eruption convinced the government to keep people away; this action is thought to have saved as many as a thousand lives. The destruction was inconceivable, but it may be in forms you weren’t expecting. For example, much of it was a tsunami like flow of water as called a Lahar that turned 46 billion gallons of glacial melt into several rivers of cement. The ash plume circled the globe and erased all geological feat

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with a little urban guerrilla true crime and look at the kidnapping, crimes, and domestic terrorism or Patty Hearst. Patricia Hearst is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. In 1974, she was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. While she was with them, she helped them rob a couple banks, shot up a sporting goods store, and made homemade bombs. Was she abused, drugged, and raped to become a victim-participant, or did she willingly join forces? Patty Hearst was born to a very wealthy family, obviously, but she was nowhere near granddaddy rich. She lived a normal life and eventually went to college at UC Berkeley to study art history. Meanwhile, a man named Donald DeFreeze was starting a terrorist group called the SLA. Their goal was to fight for the poor in America. Or something. After a few months, Hearst released recordings of herself saying she had joined the cause and shortly after that, she

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the all-time fascinating medical cases, the story of Joseph Merrick--The Elephant Man. Due to a hardcore medical condition, Merrick was deformed beyond recognition as a human being, with a massive head, huge protrusions all over his body, and even skin lesions that smelled. Add a dash of Victorian superstitions, and you have a man who was destined for misery at every turn. None of us are likely to have heard of him if it wasn’t for a world famous play and then a movie called The Elephant Man, but his story is one of sorrow, perseverance, and a surprisingly happy ending. The narrative in those fictions has some truth to it, but the real story varies quite a bit. What we know about him is that he wasn’t born like this. As a young child, he started to get deformities that only increased up till the day he died. His family eventually kicked him out, and even the work he could do got taken away once he was too deformed to perform skilled labor. By then,

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we visit the dark king of techno, Trent Reznor. Many people don’t know him by name since he is the front man for Nine Inch Nails, but in a way, he IS Nine Inch Nails. The other band members come and go, but his writing, his producing, his ideas and lyrics are what the band really is. He is considered by many in the music industry to be one of the most influential artists alive. He has won Grammys and Oscars, and he has done sound tracks to some of the most popular movies of the past decade, all while taking shots at the hypocrisy and ignorance of typical American Culture. Trent Reznor was a talented child, and by high school was a master of the piano and could play just about every other instrument out there. He started college as a computer engineer, but he dropped out to try to make it with music. He got a job as a janitor at a music studio, and he was allowed to play around in the booth when they weren’t booked. Here, he taught himself to be a produce

On this episode of the World Famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a strange bit of true crime, the case of Dr. Quincy Fortier. He was a fertility expert for four decades, and he’s known to have impregnated at least 26 women with his own sperm. Aside from dozens of unwitting children across the nation, he also molested his own children, even impregnating one with his own sperm! This monster died before any strong legal action could be brought his way, but he impacted so many lives He started as a Norman Rockwell type Americana doctor. He took interest in medicine watching the cows give birth back home on the farm, got into medicine, and then served as a field surgeon in World War Two, making it all the way to the rank of Colonel. Once back in the states, he opened his own women’s hospital, and that’s where the dirty deeds were done. One by one, he would impregnate women with his own sperm, instead of random sperm from donors. In some cases, he was supposed to use the husband’s sperm but used his own inste

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we get our Golden Girls on and talk about the life of the one and only Betty White. While most of you known her from her role as Rose on that smash hit show, some may know her from her life in game shows or any of the endless rolls and Emmys afterward. She is the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live (was 88 at the time), and she was pioneer for both women and black actors in Hollywood. She started off wanting to be a forest ranger. Why? She loves animals and the outdoors. But turns out, back in the day, women couldn’t be rangers. So, she set her sights on acting and entertainment. After a bit of a dis, some movie execs told her she didn’t have the looks for film, so she started in Radio. She took off, landing lots of local jobs in LA, then a local TV show in LA, and then finally a national show on NBC called Life With Elizabeth. In her role as head of the show, she pissed off the south by insisting a black actor stay in the show, even though it may be what got t

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a somewhat unique show and do a deep dive on the Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma. What exactly is the dilemma? Well, for one it’s privacy and the way that apps like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the rest use our data and manipulate us. Worse, however, is the ability to the platforms to isolate us in ocean of our own making, where our own politics, fears, prejudices, and hopes are the only thing we see. These apps distort our world view to the point where there is no more truth, just bias and a divide that keeps putting a wedge between us more and more. We talk about the three main goal of the apps—engagement, growth, and advertising. The algorithms used by these companies are far more sophisticated that we could dream, and even the creators no longer have control of what their AIs do or how they do it. More to the point, the social media apps are leading us to a dystopia where we all hate each other and only see one narrow world view. If you

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk one of the all-time legends of the music industry, the one and only Quincy Jones. He wasn’t just a music prodigy, he understood the business in a way nobody else ever has. He worked with some of the greatest of all time, from Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Dizzy Gillespie and Elvis Presley. He created the sound of Michael Jackson’s three biggest albums, and has won a whopping 28 Grammy awards. He created The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Mad TV, and worked on film with greats like Steven Spielberg. But he started with humble beginnings in Chicago. After his mother went insane, his father moved to Seattle, and he started to learn music. At 14, he met a young Ray Charles, and they broke into the music world together. He got into a prestigious music school and then transferred to another one, but ultimately left, so he could tour with legendary Lionel Hampton’s big band. From there, he met and worked with bigger and bigger stars until he was hired by Mercury record

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look back at a little known group from World War Two called the Night Witches. Known as the 588th Night Bomber Regimen, this all female group of Soviet pilots were such a terror to the Nazis that any German who could shoot one down would instantly receive their prestigious Iron Cross medal. Over the course of the war, they flew around 30,000 missions. They were the most decorated unit in the entire Soviet air force. Their story is a very interesting one. At first, women couldn’t serve in the Soviet air force, but a woman named Major Marina Raskova (The Russian Amelia Earhart) convinced Stalin to let it happen. He signed in three women regiments, including the 588th. Ironically, the biggest difficulty they faced was also the biggest part of their legacy and infamy. They flew the worst planes. They were given old plywood biplanes meant for crop dusting. They had no armor, no radio, no parachute, no light. However, they were so old and slow, that they f

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the one and only kings of rock, the immortal Run-DMC. Composed of DJ Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels), Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizzel), this trio set the world of Hip Hop on fire and managed to take it from streets and dance clubs to the entire world. Without Run-DMC, Russel Simmons, and their unique take on style and marketing, the rap world would be an entirely different place. The three of them met each other as teens in Hollis, Queens, New York. When Run was only 17, he worked with the legendary Kurtis Blow thanks to his promoter/producer brother Russel Simmons. Eventually, Run, DMC, and JMJ wanted to record together, but it took them some convincing to get Russel on board. He changed their name to Run-DMC, insisted they keep a street looking style, and the rest was rap history. They started release hit after hit, becoming the first rap albums to make national attention and even get played on MTV. They had a lucrative deal with Adidas since

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at two of the most famous train robbers and desperadoes from Cowboy Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These two are linked through all of U.S. history, but they were really part of a much larger game called The Wild Bunch (and weren’t even that good of friends). The Wild Bunch led the most successful career of train robbery in the American West, and some scholars say they were only brought down by the hiring of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Butch Cassidy was born Robert Parker, but took his name from a mentor he met, who probably taught him how to steal and sell cattle and how to shoot a gun. Cassidy frowned upon violence, ironically, and boasted to have never killed a man. The other famous member of the gang was The Sundance Kid, aka Alonzo Longabaugh. Both of these men did various crimes from petty to preposterous and eventually joined forces in the Wild Bunch. They were joined by a cast of characters with amazing names: “Elzy

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the strongest cases of UFO sightings, the Ariel School Encounter in Zimbabwe. What makes this one such a good case? For one, it was in a rural area, and it had over 60 witnesses. They were in such a remote location, they were not subjected to bias from mass media and popular culture, and they came from different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. What did they see? Well, common story is that several glowing silver orbs in the sky were flashing red lights. They lowered, and then two beings came out and bounced from the earth as if they were humans walking on the moon. They were riffs on a Gray Alien, almond eyes, short, thin bodies, but these had long flowing black hair. Once they were near the children, they looked at them with “evil eyes” and apparently sent a message to their brains. We are destroying the planet, and we need to stop. An African Ufologist named Cindy Hind was there the next day to investigate and reached out to

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most revealing figures of World War Two, Anne Frank. Born to a Jewish family in 1929, her story perfectly captures the plight and flight of Jews as they tried to avoid the pure evil of the Third Reich. Though her father fought for Germany in WWI, they had to go in hiding to save themselves. During their two year stay in what came to be called the Secret Annex, Anne kept her world famous diary. It shows the mind of a very bright young woman, and it captures the fear, dread, and hope that people felt during World War Two. Who all was in the Annex with Anne Frank? What types of things did she put in the diary? What things did her father not allow to be published? What type of friction was there as Anne fell in love with Peter Van Pels, leaving her older sister out of the loop? What happened to Anne and the others? Who survived and who died? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/activist/anne-frank https://www.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the meteoric rise, scandal, and fame of the one and only Hulk Hogan. Born Terry Bollea, this six foot seven inch monster became synonymous with wrestling for several decades. It is said that nobody ever sold as many tickets to a wrestling match as Hulk Hogan. Starting in humble beginnings, Bollea was a big guy who bragged about becoming a wrestler—so much so that on day one of his training, they broke his leg on purpose and sent him home. But this didn’t stop him. For the better part of a decade, he traveled to different wrestling territories. Eventually, he ended up in New York working for Vince McMahon Sr., and this is where he got the name Hulk Hogan and started to get real fame. However, he was fired for his work in Rocky III and went elsewhere. Eventually, the WWF was bought by Vince Jr, and he instantly hired Hogan as the most popular wrestler in America. Together, they broke all the rules and lit wrestling on fire. They conquered every

I will just leave this right here. Merry Christmas.

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families.  We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season.  Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. On this very merry episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we discuss Christmas. But it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t dig back the layers and come to some strange and ugly truths about the holiday that is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. You may think this topic is a no brainer (a recent Pew Poll showed that 65% of Americans believe the Christmas story to be true), but be prepared to learn some odd truths about this beloved holiday. For one thing, the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated date back to ancient pagan rites and were only adopted by the Catholic Church as a way to lure pagans to church membership. That’s right: gingerbread cookies, the Yule Log, a Christmas ham, Christmas

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. Hello and welcome to Brewing The 99 where we talk about all facets of the Magic: the Gathering’s Commander format. This episode we are giving you some ideas on how to play webmander, online live commander games.  We will also be answering a no stupid questions question asked by one of patrons.  And we bring you another week of hot picks.  Lastly, we break down our successes and failures collecting for Commander, so you can learn from our mistakes, and start your collection off right.  We hope you stick around for the show and we also hope you take something away from it as well. Follow us on Twitter! @Brewingthe99 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brewingthe99/ Follow us on Instagra

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. The old man lingered in the liminal place that presaged sleep, that space where reality had variable density and fluctuating tactile strength. Moments of clarity, of skies with a blue so sharp they caused him to ache, were interspersed with vagaries, memories, haunting scars and echoes of the psyche in which he was intruding. This episode of Mindframe is a Prelude of the whole story. It introduces you to some of the major characters as seen through the eyes of a very interesting “Old Man” who doesn’t have the best grip on reality. He travels from place to place and time to time, checking in on people who he knows. It may be trippy and seem innocent, but the key themes (such as WorldGov and the Worl

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a true-crime story. It is a case that feels like the plot of the next Grand Theft Auto game. The first character is a Ukrainian mobster named Tarzan who owns a strip club called Porky’s (named after the classic 80’s movie) and who used to be an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. Additionally, the second character is an elite car and power boat salesman/thief/grifter from Miami who starts to sell black market military equipment from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The third character? A member of the Cali Drug Cartel named, who is considered violent even among cartel members. What do they have in common? Well, for one, the rapper Vanilla Ice. Next, they love to make money and do illegal things. Additionally, they are pretty awesome. They try everything from selling Russian military helicopters to impersonating Pablo Escobar to trying to buy a Soviet era submarine to sell 40 tons of cocaine per trip. The characters are unbeliev