This Is Not A Test - Books, Music, Movies, Art, Culture And Truth

If you listen very carefully you may also hear me say something about ripping CDs, Google Play Music, The Philadelphia train wreck, the World Trade Center, Hiroshima, Jesus H. Christ, Antonio Villaraigosa, death, The American Journal of Psychiatry, communism, chicken pot pies (oh wait, I didn’t talk about that, I’m just really hungry right now), religion, watermelons, the 1%, Vinnie Barbarino and some other things that don’t have anything to do with anything.

Kickstarter, Patreon, tip jars, donate buttons – some days when I’m bouncing around the web it feels like I’m idling at a freeway entrance ramp and the entire web is a cardboard WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign. I may also mention things like B. B. King, Charles Lindbergh, PayPal, fan sites, scanner bulbs, lyric sites, bots, forums, crime, gauze, three dollar bottles of wine, podcast networks and content creators, among other things.

You really deserve a gripping, original podcast every week. One where I’m rhapsodizing about something I love but that you just don’t understand, or me frothing at the mouth over (a perceived) grievous social injustice. That’s what you deserve, but this week I’m going to read you a bit of a book I’m working on instead. The book is called "A Passport and a Clean Pair of Socks," and it’s about being in a band. Sort of. It’s a lot like this podcast: a central theme that I can’t stick to. But variety is the spice of life, amigos. Never forget that.

You may also hear me talking about office chairs, Malcolm Gladwell, technical people not being great communicators, baking pies, fundamentalism, the death of white America, dinosaurs, carbon, Rodney King, living in a cave in the desert, heads on pikes, Mad Max, Goethe and Mozart.

I might also mention airport security, the lack of seasons in Los Angeles, VCRs, fish heads, what I would do if I was smart, the Pony Express, Mark Twain, Costco, giraffes, world travel and sitting and doing nothing.

Also in this action-packed episode: The Podcast Awards, what entrepreneurs do, chickens, gas stations, bars, rock concerts and room service hamburgers.

Why do we name things the way we do? How do we come up the terms we use every day? Language is a funny thing. I’ll also talk about asbestos, pizza, the military, news people, ASMR, scientists, stink bugs, audiophiles (again), Dianetics, being uneducated, Deadwood, artist’s statements, belonging, communicating, and the rise of our evil canine overlords. Warning: I should mention that I was kind of drunk when I recorded this one. Or more drunk than I usually am. So I would suggest that for the optimal listening experience, you also have two or three (or eight) drinks before you listen. Level the playing field. I was tempted to re-record it when I was slightly less drunk, but then I thought, screw it, so here you go.

This one is about the Podcast Awards (yes, that’s a real thing), but I might also mention Carol’s art show, NMX, NAB, what conferences and trade shows really are, Las Vegas, desperation, The Rose Parade, The Webbys, Smurfs, and a few other things along the way. What can I say, my mind wanders.

In part two of my interview with iconoclastic Los Angeles art writer and gallerist Mat Gleason, we talk about art schools, MFAs, philosophy, Catholic school, Nietzsche, Goldman Sachs, capitalism, mercantilism, consistency, selling out vs. sneaking in, loyalties, art about art, artist’s statements, Nicole Panter, CalArts, the cost of transparency, Art World Boot Camp, Tower Records, President Reagan and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

In part one of my interview with iconoclastic Los Angeles art writer and gallerist Mat Gleason, we talk about the Los Angeles punk scene, The Atomic Cafe, the new paradigm, SST Records, the South Bay, conservative culture, art-as-time-machine, feminism, diversity, tolerance, Greg Ginn, Mike Ness, Mr. Brett Gurewitz, prog rock, The Misfits, the burden of facts, The Velvet Underground, Coagula Art Journal, Grad school, Mike Kelley, Green Day and careerism. Among other things. In other words, a typical conversation with Mat.

Reality TV. You love it. You hate it. You watch it. Admit it. There’s no shame in it. Really. Stop beating yourself up.

"Marley Natural" is a new company created to sell legal herb with Bob’s name on it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

This is it, the only Oscar ceremony wrap-up you need. Forget the big networks, and even the tiny networks that no one watches, like E! You don’t need them. I cover all the bases, every category, every wonderful minute of the Hollywood’s greatest night! You don’t want to miss it.

The strange and terrible world of unboxing videos, Facebook, the Book of Revelations, Heaven’s Gate, Marketing, Betamax recorders, Internet communities, the discomfort of silence and more.

How does one live simply when there is so much junk everywhere? It’s a first world problem, having too much stuff, I know. But here I am talking about it anyway. On the way to that subject you’ll also get to hear about how to be an awesome podcaster, landlords, eBay, yard sales, people in the 1920s, credit cards, and a teaser about a pretty cool upcoming episode.

According to Wikipedia (my favorite source for quasi-truth and hamfisted misinformation) an Internet troll is: a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. I suppose that’s as good a definition as any. But did you know you can be trolled in real life too? It’s true. Let me tell you about it. By the way, why do we say “in real life” when we talk about things that happen away from the computer? Am I not participating in real life when I do things online? Am I in some kind of suspended life or pseudo life? I don’t like that term, but it’s better than meat world.

Carol: “What’s your podcast about this week?” Me: “Oh, you know, it’s about how CDs sound better than records, stuff like that.” Carol: “What? You’re crazy, I think you’re wrong…” Me: “I know, everyone thinks I’m wrong.” But hear me out. Maybe I’m not completely crazy. It’s funny, a lot of people sold, gave away or threw out their vinyl LPs in the 80s and 90s, and now they are out there buying them back from smug hipsters in tiny shops in Highland Park (or your city’s equivalent newly gentrified area). It would be a mistake to do the same thing with CDs, to ditch them because you feel they are as unfashionable as a glove compartment full of WHAM! cassettes. I don’t talk about that specific thing in this episode, but I probably should have.

Who am I? That’s not an existential question, though I suppose it could be. But it occurs to me that many of you who are listening to this may not know much – or anything – about me, so you might rightfully wonder why the hell I’m here foisting my views and opinions onto an unsuspecting and uncaring world. So here’s what amounts to my life story – the good bits anyway – in 30 minutes. Try doing that yourself some time. Though if you do, I should warn you that you may just realize that you haven’t really done much of anything. But that’s liberating in its own way. Right?

Wherein I talk about disco, Mad Max, the music business, Louise Brooks, disillusionment, boredom and death metal bands.

Wherein I speak to artist Carol Es about artists being put into boxes, process, music, the value of art and risk taking. You can (and should!) check out her art right here: http://esart.com