Community Feasthouse – Spiels and Convos

Andrew McLuhan, noted poet, scholar, punk rock guitar player, projectionist, hockey dad, and keeper of the scriptorium, {and The McLuhan Institute} etc hosts a radio show on 99.3 County FM from Picton, Ontario, Canada called “the Spoken Word” and, after returning from a far-flung foray into the world speaking about the important media study work he continues on from his father Eric and his grandfather Marshall, in his October 20th, 2024 broadcast, he dove into my visual poetry book “Items, Forgotten (in drawers)” which arrived by post from Japan as #3 of 5, full-color print editions, inscribed of course

The poems are visual as they are literally cut and pasted onto various substrates, mostly hotel stationery and also aerogrammes, sometimes are typewritten, sometimes added onto envelopes or in passports with stamps, both inky and postal and other ephemera

Andrew jumps right in with a variety of the poems – after the usual intro music, radio station ids and blurbs – and with a tender hearted reading, rolling with some of the steps, typos and place names like a gentle dignified champ. The canonical source is https://archive.993countyfm.ca/ – archived here as unsure if the shows *expire* after a time (btw, the studio is location at: 2 – 38 Cold Storage Road beside the County Farm Centre)

Written in various forms at an Ayurvedic clinic in Nepal for the most part and also while transiting from Abu Dhabi to Rome via the Suez Canal on an ocean liner, then combined with other bits found in lost notebooks reuniting along the way – later transcribed from originals (from menus backs to coasters to notebooks) and printed out on standard paper with default typeface thinking i would work through and correct or change or whatever but instead, following the inspiration of William Burroughs, David Bowie and others, eager to make the words alive, i cut up and pasted in a way which made sense to my swirling brain – typos, digressions, hard turns, coffee stains and watermarks and all, onto the substrates, many of which were acquired at a Greek monastery shop in Mile End neighborhood of Montreal (thanks BM)

The poems explore themes of identity, geography, cartography, history… All combining to wonder “Who we really are? Who did we come from? How do we choose the way in which our societies are structured?”

I imagined hanging these up on telephone poles and grocery store bulletin boards next to lost cat posters and leaving them on bus seats and whatnot, in the meanwhile, printed some basic copies and personalized on a ferry from Newfoundland to Cape Breton, and mailed around

Later scanned, compiled with some other found items from my archive and crafted hand sewn chapbook series (letter-size cardstock in color, thank you brother Andrew for use of your printer in Vegas), folded and hand-stitched and shared with friends, mostly in Utah. Not sure if anyone read but i had fun in Marty’s yard putting ink stamps and thumb/toe prints to make each unique

Thinking about it, some of them are water colored “telegrams” made at drawing room at the Majestic hotel in Kuala Lumpur, others on Nusa Ceningan, Indonesia – now 7 or 8 “volumes” [update: 10 volumes, named thusly]

PS There’s also a page in this edition which is kind of dedicated to Andrew himself in a roundabout way featuring some of the artifacts he mailed to me combined into a collage as another “item, forgotten”

Dave presents part 2 the invite-only workshop series “Social Marketing Kung Fu” (May 2013) with this session titled “Listening Everywhere,” which covers the mechanics of efficient listening and its benefits & emphasizing the importance of listening in social marketing to an audience of entrepreneurs from various sectors, including breweries, bike builders, and software developers – especially highlighting common mistake of focusing solely on output without considering the response from the audience. Let’s listen and enjoy!

PS Did you catch “Starting Your Story, part 1“?

Download: “Listen Everywhere, part 2” – Social Marketing Kung-fu / workshop & spiel (1:07:02, 98.7MB, .mp3)

Notes follow:

The workshop, “Social Marketing Kung Fu, part 2” emphasized the importance of listening in social marketing. Key points include: using search tools and RSS feeds to monitor brand mentions, leveraging Twitter lists for targeted engagement, and geolocated searches for local insights.

Dave emphasized the significance of responding to both positive and negative feedback to mitigate PR issues and convert detractors into supporters. The utility of metrics like sentiment analysis and the impact of reviews on brand reputation were discussed. The session also covered the value of documenting and sharing user-generated content to foster relationships and build a community of advocates

The session ends with a reminder of the value of listening and the impact it can have on the success of the brand while Dave concludes by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the importance of listening in social marketing and encourages participants to apply the strategies discussed and continue learning.

Community Feasthouse podcast feed – All manner of discourse from media interviews to various lectures and presentations. Topics include social web fu, creative culture, podcast making, DIY publishing, community cultivating, art making and related adventures.

Artifacts from Social Marketing Kung-fu – workshop / spiel Notes and riffs from original “Social Marketing Kung-fu” series at Bootup Garage, Vancouver, 2011

Personal archaeology pod storytime with Kevin on Just Japan

Holy smokes pals! hold onto your toques & trilbys – 2 Canadians scattered in Asia, talk about Amsterdam, Indonesia, Utah, driveway cars, one-way tickets, shakedowns, Grateful Dead, punk rock, Cub Scouts, science fairs, personal archaeology, drum corps, and dad life #FullOn

I hope you have a blast listening to it as there are definitely stories that rarely get shared as well as some “all-time classics” – after all I hardly hit Olympia, skipped Belize, Jamaica, transpacific ocean liners, Strait of Hormuz, and Suez –  but maybe a part 2 :)

Download: Just Japan Podcast – 226: A Life of Creativity and Adventure from Canada to Everywhere to Japan with Dave Olson

Coming to you from a leisurely bed, with an elevated leg – buckle up for some twists and turns and hopefully some laughs and possibly a bit of inspiration

Hope you all have a chance to tune in and hang out with Kevin and I for an hour and a half of sidetracks, depressions, switching countries, remixing careers, saying “heck yes” adventures, plus tracing similarities, unexpected inspirations & even some tender moments

So much packed in & still have much more to discuss as the future is going to be even weirder / The next 50 are going to put the first 50 in the dust like whoa! I savour every year despite all the rocky turns and dodgy decisions but that’s what you get for saying “yes yes yes!” to everything :) buzzing from the convo / It is long but loads to get lost in no matter what your interest. thanks so much, Kevin for giving me a chance to share these stories as “we are the stories that we share”

Host Kevin O’Shea (xtwr: @madformaple), says:

“In this episode, we get to hang out with Okayama-based Dave Olson. This inspiring Canadian shares many amazing stories, insights, and worldly experiences. From his adventures as a youth to mushroom farming in Tottori, to internet startups in Vancouver, he’s done so much. Now Dave lives in Okayama with his beautiful family and shares his experiences and thoughts on personal archeology and much more with all of us.

You’ll all want to follow Dave and see what he’s up to next!”

Thanks to all your lovely folks for sharing this around, it’s a real treat for me in amongst all the commotion going on in my life at the current 

Questions accepted (within reason :-)) and requests for supporting evidence are encouraged + I truly hope you find some sparks of goodness in my meanderings

In November 2022 I was very pleased to be a very lousy guest on the very gracious Jason Emde’s podcast (broadcast in Gifu rock city) in which writers share their “early, unripe… etc. etc.” work along with Jason’s curious questions, amusing banter and general graciousness.

Note: i riffed about Jason’s most excellent book in a Beat Sushi video dispatch “Curiously Punctuated” and we enjoy a prolific mostly-postcard-but-sometimes-passport correspondence.

We spoke for something like four hours which is a world record for me of late, yes I was a little spun out and it’s not my finest moment *but* gave me an opportunity to dig deep into the archive to find things from my legit early days. Of course about an hour makes it into the finished program but my goodness, is it a lot of action in an hour. Leaping wildly from topic to form, location to era, anecdote to musing. A bit rant-y sure so hold on to yer cap.

In this case I pulled items from: fourth grade King Tut mimeographed hand out from my (award winning :-)) science fair project at Prince Charles Elementary; newspaper editorials and chapbooks at the Orem (UT) high school; early stories at Utah Valley community college; and, the beginning of the *disgruntled with the literary establishment years* at University of Utah years.

Yes there are many digressions, rapid speaking, a few shots fired, salvos really, a bit of sweetness and a bit of tenderness as I figured out who I thought I might be when I was already completely myself.

Find it all at:

Writers Read Their Early Sh*t S2/E5 – Dave Olson (aka Uncle Weed): priorities & bad decisions

Blurb:

Jason welcomes under-qualified window-washer Dave Olson & his fantastic beard & beautiful hands for a natter about punching or hugging Dostoevsky, see-through loincloths, meeting REM, borrowing mustard from Allen Ginsberg, dodgy Greyhound stations, working out the writing life math, and how cheerleaders are people too.

There’s ropey Egyptian history, a savage polemic, the details of hippy teacher Mr Boris’s new motorized home, a few bits & Brother Bobs of Dave’s early poetry & prose, & Jason getting his Tutankhamun timeline wrong by only 3700 years. An unnerving—if not terrifying—time is guaranteed for all.

Check out Dave’s creative life archive at https://daveostory.com—much to enjoy there. Music by the outrageous DJ Max in Tokyo.

Olympics are over if you want it. Pod’d some thoughts with Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin a few days ago about the lay of the land here in Japan and the cognitive dissonance between Tokyo2020 Olympics on TV and for the people hosting / paying for it.

As such, i call it “The Lonely Olympics”.

But first listen in browser or you know, all those *other podcast places*.

Breaker.news Podcast: The Games are over, but Tokyo’s problems aren’t

I was sorta the “warm-up act” for Jules Boykoff, authour of NOlympics. who has rocked the media during Tokyo 2020/1 including this riff on my pal Bob Mackin’s heavy news pod.

I had *a lot* fo say and maybe said “too much” but felt a lot of frustration being a “regular resident” on the ground in provincial Japan awaiting vaccinations and paying taxes while the IOC’s debacle continued with excuses, conundrums and constant bubble-breaking. But, nobody asked me… well, except for Bob :) .

Mostly though, I’m curious about your opinion from wherever you are.

The Tokyo Olympics are over.

Postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, but they happened in the pandemic anyway. 

The International Olympic Committee is claiming success, because the Games eventually opened and closed on time. But the Japanese people are stuck with the bill and more coronavirus infections than there were when the cauldron was lit in an empty stadium surrounded by protesters. 

On this edition, hear expert analysis from ex-Vancouverite Dave Olson in Okayama, Japan and Jules Boykoff,  political scientist, author and Olympics industry critic from Portland, Ore.

Plus commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

More: Japan Times ran a series of articles with various names and reactions… & some very enjoyable Deep Dive podcasts

Episode 93: Week 1 at the Tokyo Olympics: Gold, Covid and Naomi Osaka

Episode 94: Week 2 at the Tokyo Olympics: A marathon in the heat

Episode 95: Theremins and gold medal wins: Farewell to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Get your ears on and listen to Tokyo Olympics “scene report” chat with Jody Vance on Vancouver news/talk radio 980AM from July 12th afternoon PST, July 13th 9-ish AM JST.

A few notes to go with: 

Covered a lot of ground but so much more. Looking forward to keeping you up-to-date from regular folks’ point of view as #Tokyo2020 gets underway.

Tokyo 2020, for many reasons will be a very unique iteration (understatement!) of the Olympics with very few spectators, loads of precautions and a host city in 4th state of emergency.

Importantly: truly hope events occur w/o public health consequences.

Lots of anxiety / frustration about IOC hubris & government waffling.

(I realize) it’s not unusual for Olympics to get off to a rocky start that’s for sure and once they get going, a lot of the negativity fades and good times prevail.

For record, at +/- 16% vaccination rate in Japan.

In “better news“: Since anybody watching (aside from oligarchs & bureaucrats) will be watching on TV (regardless of all the things going outside of the sports venues), fancy new technology will make sports (including a few new ones *skate, surf, rock*) look really great on TV – might as well get to know crazy tech – cameras, clouds, microphones etc. 

Hey that was fun! could talk with Jody Vance for an hour (one tech hiccup when my phone *automagically* connected to wife’s car via bluetooth – ooops :)) 

We didn’t get to riff about the extra challenges for athletes coming from Delta-heavy countries, the onerous participant waivers athletes have to sign, and IOC chief Bach’s visit to Hiroshima and other gaffes…

Any Vancouver or elsewhere media on the ground needing a high-five, hit me up. Happy to listen to any comments, questions, musings, concerns about Tokyo2020 and IOC / Olympics in general.

{possible more notes and memos will paste here}

Beyond the obvious lack of benefit (tourism impact on small business and global reputation through shiny images and/or *needed* community infrastructure) the messaging from #IOC has been demeaning, disrespectful and completely tone-deaf / Leading up with hubris and threats.

zero enthusiasm whatsoever on the ground in #Japan. Nothing but disgust, frustration, anger (& a bit of embarrassment). Japanese folks have diligently worked to keep cases down (despite government waffling) these last 18 months and appalled by new risks & hubris

Dude (Bach) is getting roasted in Japan bigtime. #IOC sparking vitriol ive never seen here before. “Sacrifice” bah!

##

Listen in embedded player above or direct mp3 if preferred: 

https://daveostory.com/wp-content/uploads/British_Columbians_among_those_caught_in_Japan_s_state_of_emergency_as_Olympics.mp3

Description: Dave Olson, Grew up in Whalley – lived in Lynn Valley – and now living in Japan, Attended several Olympic Games and Ran a social media aggregator during the 2010 Games called True North Media House joins the show.

THEN, we head to Tokyo at 5:30 and speak to our friend Dave Olson. He’s from here, but lives in Japan and will bring us the boots on the ground perspective as the countdown to Tokyo 2020 begins in earnest. That’s straight ahead on @CKNW Afternoons. @alan_regan pic.twitter.com/zxaIpMp1EW

— Jody Vance (@jodyvance) July 12, 2021

Previous hit with Jody Vance: Talking Tokyo Olympic conundrums on CKNW Radio, Vancouver

More on The Breaker.news pod: Tokyo Olympics (+ Beijing) and IOC Hubris on theBreaker.news podcast

I was guest on JJ Walsh’sSeeking Sustainability in Japan live video streaming show (which transmits via YT, FB and several other channels using Happs.tv) from Hiroshima. And now, there is also an audio podcast version of Seeking Sustainability for your aural convenience.

https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/17cfcb17-bbfb-494d-8103-23deef4605d6/daveo.mp3

ergo: “New podcast now UP from my talk last week with Dave Olson about his career as a social media visionary for Hoostsuite in Vancouver, and his current projects with house remodel and designing scrapbook style postcards to create social connections during Covid. Look forward to a future chat (when it’s not rainy) more on his house remodel project + look forward to a future chat with his arborist partner about her interesting passion for trees.”

You can listen on any podcast player you like (Episode 259) or on InboundAmbassador.com/ssl-podcasts/

&/or

Pulled out a lot of stories that I’ve kept it hidden for sometime. Thanks for the space to riff out the long jams. Topics around building a holistic life in Japan, i.e. our generational house project, story making as a biz, living cheap and cheerful, possibly fermenting, and yeah my arborist/jazz singer wife Ryoko and my exceptionally adorable almost 1-year-old Ichiro Stanley.

Even a pitch for my DaveOShop at Buy Me a Coffee and mentions of loads of other creative output you’ll find in this very archive. 

theBreaker.news Podcast: Five-ring circus controversy in Japan and China

https://episodes.castos.com/theBreaker-Podcast/theBreaker.news-Podcast-188.m4a

I talked about the Tokyo Olympics with Bob Mackin – who I first connected with leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics when he did an article featuring Kris Krüg and I talking about citizen documentation campaign which eventually became True North Media House. This segment also explores the human rights issues about Beijing 2022 Winter Games. (off record, we talked about IOC scrambling for relevancy). 

Since then, I interviewed Bob for the Olympic Outsider, podcast (as we both headed home on the Seabus amongst revellers to Lynn Valley, North Vancouver and i also appeared on his TheBreaker.news podcast in August 2020 talking about these same subjects + baby Ichiro Stanley Thorvald. 

Anyhow, i’ve shared a lot about this topic on other channels including recent convo with Jody Vance on CKNW 980AM radio Vancouver but a few notes:

In brief, pushing ahead with Olympics in Japan call into question:
* health & safety of residents
* economic “handcuffs” & sovereignty
* fairplay for all athletes (esp from countries in crisis)
* funded junkets for dodgy operators
* rude / vague double-talk & IOC hubris
* no fun for residents who made this happen

Curious to hear your views after listening.

My riffs start at 6:00-ish mark (and consider supporting Bob “the hammer” Mackin as he holds governments to account).

May 30, 2021:  Should the Tokyo Olympics be postponed or cancelled?

Should the Beijing Winter Olympics be moved or boycotted?

The future is now for the five-ring circus. On this edition, host Bob Mackin ponders the pandemic in Japan and China’s human rights abuses. Guests Dave Olson in Okayama, Japan and Ivy Li of the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong.

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

theBreaker.news Podcast: Five-ring circus controversy in Japan and China

https://episodes.castos.com/theBreaker-Podcast/theBreaker.news-Podcast-188.m4a

More notes (social riff round-up): 

A lot of the “IOC family” are wealthy, privileged, vaccinated and aren’t necessarily worried about the impact they have on Japan after they leave. They’re staying in hotels, not a bubble, using public transportation and surely will be going out and about.

Easy to tell them but very difficult to enforce in any way. And punishment? These wealthy/privileged folks don’t give a fck about a fine. IOC Officials roll with basically diplomatic immunity during the games

…Especially the athletes coming from countries currently in crisis. What a dilemma for them to leave their families and support networks behind in such bad situations! Then possibly bringing variants back to medical systems which are unable to handle more chaos. :(

I am less concerned about the athletes who will likely be diligent about staying in the bubble and way more concerned about the “IOC family“… 60,000 executives, fat-cats, VIPs and sponsors rolling in with no quarantine requirement or vaccination and no bubble. Stay home IOC!

Related: 

*Of course* there are lots of articles discussing the Olympic topic from various “major media expected new sources” like Japan Times, Washington Post, Asahi Shinbun blah blah blah but this one from Teen Vogue with particularly awesome so I’m gonna share this *and definitely not* gonna get carried away with a laundry list of resources. {If curious, you can check my various Twitter channels, I’ll assume you can figure that out (look in right side bar if needed) oh and follow for Olympian and author of NOlympics @JulesBoykoff and former VANOC comms guy @GraemeMenzies who wrote a treatise about modernizing the event.

Anyhow, Teen Vogue is slaying, ergo:

The Olympics Devastate Host Cities and Need a Permanent Location This op-ed argues that the impact of the Olympic Games on host cities has become too devastating to ignore.

BY EMILY BURACK
JUNE 1, 2021

The Olympics are broken. Nowhere is this clearer than in Tokyo, where polls have indicated more than 80% of Japanese citizens oppose the upcoming Summer Games and the Japanese government has declared a state of emergency. As of late May, just 3.7% of the population had received at least one dose of the vaccine and Japan is grappling with a “fourth wave” of COVID-19. There’s never been an Olympics so deeply unpopular with a host city — and so dangerous to hold — and yet by all indications, the Tokyo Games will go on as scheduled.

Even without a pandemic, the impact of the Olympics on host cities has become too devastating to ignore.

Oh listen… i talked about Tokyo Olympics and various conundrums with Jody Vance on CKNW AM Radio in Vancouver.

Wanted to share the feelings of deceit and frustration the the residents of Japan are feeling with IOC’s demands for “sacrifice”, more doctors, volunteers and threats of penalties if cancelled/delayed. Suggestions: delay until Oct or later and/or IOC “family” stay home. Also thoughts about athletes from countries in crisis. Is it fair for them to leave family to try to focus on competing. Sigh. Anyhow, was a treat to share as an erstwhile representative of my new home country. Get your ears on…

Listen above in browser (skip the creepy news bit at the beginning) and/or download archived audio via John B below. 

https://daveostory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021.05.24-CKNW980-Lynda_SteeleJody_Vance-Tokyo_2021_Olympics-Dave_Olson_in_Japan.mp3

Note: awarded from Jay S “Bonus points for the use of the words “bromide” and “coterie”” and happy to get in namechecks of Whalley, Lynn Valley and Ichiro Stanley as well as my home city Okayama, Japan. 

UPDATE: 

Just did another audio hit on theBreaker.News with Bob Mackin about Olympics conundrums and IOC hubris in Japan. Now featuring more Dick Pound (ugh) thwarting sovereignty and lack of fun times and excitement. Seems much of the world doesn’t know the low-down in Japan and other Asian locations.

If you have questions (&/or need a guest to riff), hit me up at the “studio”.

PS check my (rather prescient) previous convo with Bob about Olympix etc last August (and our convo on the Seabus during Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

I was recently a guest on (my occasional co-conspirator) Bob Mackin’s excellent PC/Pacific Rim/Cascadia news podcast called “The Breaker” talking about the postponed/cancelled Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as riffing about personal archiving project, life lessons at 50, and birth of Ichiro Stanley Thorvald Olson. 

https://daveostory.com/wp-content/uploads/daveo50-the-breaker-podcast.mp3

In this 6-ish min. trimmed excerpt, i offer a few audio annotations about what i learned about myself, life as we know it etc whilst curating #daveo50, i.e.: how we really are who we are at a young age (in my case anyway), the importance of being kind, fostering and nurturing long-term relationships, that hobbies are the real thing, and the Internet is for communication not just a business construct.

Bob and I both celebrated birthdays this week so that came into the conversation as well. This episode – theBreaker.news Podcast: Socially distant birthday fun – I appeared in also featured Burnaby city councillor and punk rock legend, DOA’s Joe “Shithead” Keithley and other guests and riffs in Bob’s unique style. 

Consider listening to the whole episode and subscribing to Bob’s great podcast plus show him support especially if you live/vote in British Columbia.

Also available as: “DaveO Personal Archive Project on The Breaker on Soundcloud“

Listen also: Oly-nomics and Goodtimes w/ Hammer Bob – Olympic Outsider #24