The Preamble
And that leads precisely toward my point.
(I hadda point? Oh, yeah! I was writing about music! You could tell that, right? Okay, I’m back on track.)
The Kool Aid
It’s partially because of this red sports car that I drank the Podcast Kool Aid this year. You see, red sports cars just call all kinds of attention to themselves, and not just from the orderly side of the law. This cute li’l red car has been broken into twice (that I know of). Which is why the essential parts of it’s stereo system (times two) are long gone. 
And this, combined with the vehicle’s (shall we say) robust vintage -- hence my firm intention to buy a newer car “any day now” -- is why I have resisted the temptation to buy a new stereo for my little red one. In short? My car has no radio.
And this, combined with the vehicle’s (shall we say) robust vintage -- hence my firm intention to buy a newer car “any day now” -- is why I have resisted the temptation to buy a new stereo for my little red one. In short? My car has no radio.Well, given the generally sad state of radio broadcasting in America, you’re probably thinking: no great loss. And, believe me, I hear ya! But my mobile lifestyle sees me routinely driving 300-500 miles at a stretch.
Plus I grew up suckled on rich media. If I’m driving those kind of miles (usually all night long and all alone), I need some kind of aural stimulation. Luckily for me, somebody (or other) came along and invented podcasting, just about when I needed it.
Plus I grew up suckled on rich media. If I’m driving those kind of miles (usually all night long and all alone), I need some kind of aural stimulation. Luckily for me, somebody (or other) came along and invented podcasting, just about when I needed it.
So, pour all these factors into a Tupperware pitcher, along with the special colored smack powder, a great heap ‘n’ a half o’ sugar, and top it off with good ol’ American tap water -- and stir vigorously with the knowledge that I’m a (fairly) 
early technology adopter -- and you can see how my long road trips first got me hooked on podcasts. (That is, unless I’ve stretched this metaphor beyond all recognition.) With either my iPod or my laptop loaded up with podcasts, and perched on the empty seat beside me in the car, I’ve got my own private on-demand radio network, playing whatever sort of show I’m in the mood to hear. Thus entertained and informed, the hours fly by nearly unnoticed. At this point, I don’t even want a radio in my car; I just want to connect my iPod directly to the speakers.
early technology adopter -- and you can see how my long road trips first got me hooked on podcasts. (That is, unless I’ve stretched this metaphor beyond all recognition.) With either my iPod or my laptop loaded up with podcasts, and perched on the empty seat beside me in the car, I’ve got my own private on-demand radio network, playing whatever sort of show I’m in the mood to hear. Thus entertained and informed, the hours fly by nearly unnoticed. At this point, I don’t even want a radio in my car; I just want to connect my iPod directly to the speakers.As you may read elsewhere in this journal, if I’m in for 2 cups of sugar, I’m in for (at least) a whole pound. Which is to say, I’ve been subscribing to dozens of quite varied podcasts this year, checking them out, discovering what’s out there. And, as podcasting is a new and rapidly expanding media universe -- while my potential listening hours are limited -- this exploration is gradual and on-going. But I do have some immediate favorites. And among them are a few new ways that I’ve been discovering...
The New Music
If you live in the City of Angels, over on the left coast, you may already take this for granted. But, being a lifelong resident on the other side of the continent, most of the original programming on public radio station KCRW has only become usefully accessible to me with their recent embrace of podcasting. And, among the score of podcasts they offer, one of my favorites is “Morning Becomes Eclectic”. You can subscribe to it right from iTunes, if you like.
I also like NPR’s “All Songs Considered”, especially when they occasionally do live netcasts from Washington DC’s Nightclub 9:30. You can also subscribe to it right from iTunes.
A more widely syndicated show (at least in the mid-atlantic region) that you may have heard on public radio, produced in the city of my birth, is “World Cafe”. In iTunes, you can subscribe to both the regular show and the emerging artist edition.
For something beyond this merely eclectic fare, you can listen to three hours of improvised audio sampling on KPFA and Negativland’s nearly weekly “Over the Edge”. (You can also listen to it as an audio stream.) Try listening to it while you sleep, and see how it seeps into your dreams. Fair warning: this is not necessarily music, and certainly not to everyone’s taste. When you were growing up, did your parents call your music “noise”? Well, they ain’t heard nuthin’ yet!
(BTW, for my Washingtonian friends, KPFA is a sister station of DC’s WPFW, both part of the Pacifica Radio network, that rare voice of the American left. While WPFW does not offer podcasts, KPFA does.)
A very good weekly music show “Eclectopia” comes from West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Unfortunately, it is not available as a podcast. I listen to it on the radio at home. Come and sit on my front porch, some evening, and you can listen too.
Well, those are few things I listen to. I occasionally bookmark others at del.icio.us. To tell me about your favorite musical podcasts, click on...
