Rootabaga Podcast

Hometown friend Daniel “Cappy Dee” Herbst has been a concert tour manager for major acts for over 30 years. Dan talks about going from schlepping gear for Uncle Tupelo to managing tours for music icons like Wilco, David Byrne, LCD Soundsystem, Alabama Shakes, Ray LaMontange, Gary Clark Jr. and the post-Covid outlook for live music. 

 

Video version of this episode coming soon. 

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When Covid-19 first walloped the world, I was on a short vacation in Cambodia from my job in China. Deciding whether to go back to where I had called home for the past few years or take refuge in Cambodia or Vietnam during a pandemic wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

In episode 6 I just recount some of the places and people I encountered and the process of dealing with the corona virus that broke out during my short Chinese New Year vacation. I ended up staying in Cambodia a bit before going to Ho Chi Min City and eventually buying a bicycle and attempting to ride to Hanoi.

Here are a few images related to the stories in the podcast:

Pre-Covid on a pristine island

Boat floating in Cambodia

Chinese casino development in Sihanoukville

An alligator gar, a prehistoric fish native to the Americas, jumped out of a pond and put a huge gash into my finger at a posh little boutique hotel

imported alligator gara few days of healing

Kampot rocks

Saigon for a month

First days on the bike, sleeping on the floor of a brothel

Up the coast

Tobacco curing & a hot springs reward

Buon Ma Thuot & Happy Homestay

If you have ever taught English in a foreign country, there’s probably no way you don’t know all about Dave Sperling and his Dave’s ESL Cafe, the website that “launched thousands of careers”. Here’s the scoop behind this ESL legend’s own life as an early internet entrepreneur, teacher, traveler, tech geek and family man and how he created the website that seems frozen in time. Even if you don’t know Dave from Adam’s house cat – you’ll want to hear about the site that has helped legions of young native English speakers get their first jobs in foreign lands and set them off on life-changing journeys.

If you like Rootabaga, your reviews mean A LOT. And please follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube and help spread the word if you like what you hear.

Links to music in the podcast:

Special thanks to Light Organ Records for letting me use the music of We Need Surgery and to Zion Train and Cha Cha for I Believe!

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

Lion – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

I Believe – Zion Train Feat. Cha Cha (I saw Cha Cha perform at a small venue in Shanghai. Amazing performance melding her hypnotic voice with elements of reggae, R&B, electronic and hip hop. Check out my other faves: Swimful by Shanghai Blue feat. Cha Cha and You Me (Downstate Ya’nan Mix) by Hamacide and Cha Cha.

All songs used with permission 2019

California native (Dr.) Jordan A.Y. Smith talks about his prolific life in Japan as a professor, translator, poet and sometimes rapper, about poetry as an antidote to loneliness, the key to surviving multiple 5,000-mile moves with his multi-cultural family, creating poetry for BBC Radio 4 with three Japanese poets in Mt. Fuji’s legendary Sea of Trees, and some of his new music and poetry.

Check out more about Jordan wordSmith’s work with the Sea of Trees: Poetic Gateways to Aokigahara project at BBC Radio 4 and Tokyo Poetry Journal. Thanks to Jordan for all his time and awesome music and poetry. And to Light Organ Records for letting me use the music of We Need Surgery in each episode. Listen to Jordan’s full songs and other original music featured in Rootabaga episodes on SoundCloud.

And Jordan shared links to some of the Japanese poets he has worked with or been inspired by. Check it out if this episode has made you curious about Japanese poetry.

Yumi Fuzuki – catranslation.org & poetryinternationalweb.netHiromi Ito – poetryinternationalweb.netMizuta Noriko – poetrykanto.comTokyo Poetry Journal

If you like this podcast, your reviews mean A LOT. Please leave reviews. And please follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube and help spread the word if you like what you hear.

Music in the podcast:

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

I Want Magic – Lyrics/vocals Jordan A.Y. Smith, Music d. dahlinger

Not the Point of No Return – Lyrics/vocals Jordan A.Y. Smith, Music d. dahlinger

Red Threads and Blue (poem) – Jordan A. Y. Smith, from Sea of Trees: Poetic Gateways to Aokigahara (Smith, et al) originally written for BBC Radio 4

Naked Angels Didn’t Descend – Lyrics/vocals Jordan A.Y. Smith, Music d. dahlinger

When luthier Marc Chavaneau left his 15th century violin workshop in Orléans, France in 1997 for a one-year contract to make and repair violins and cellos in South Korea, he never expected that he wouldn’t be returning for good. Find out how that one year working for a dodgy employer in a work-visa black hole would change this craftsman’s life forever.

Big thanks Marc and his family for the nice meal and time together for the interview. To Wendy Tennery for her support and contribution to editing this episode. And to Light Organ Records for letting me use the music of We Need Surgery in each episode. Listen to full songs in the links below.

If you like this podcast, your reviews mean A LOT. Please leave reviews. And please follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube and help spread the word if you like what you hear.

Songs in the podcast: (click to listen)

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

Why’s It Gotta be This Way – We need Surgery – Light Organ Records

You Won’t Be Alone (demo) – Brandon Butler

All songs used with permission

Rootabaga offers up its first ever full episode with a trip from Hong Kong to Seoul, South Korea to interview Linus Kim – a fellow Alabamian who has gone from a job in Hollywood – to finance – to serving up his Alabama-style barbecue in South Korea (with a few other gigs along the way). Linus is one of many guests on Rootabaga who seized on that certain kind of freedom and inspiration that the expat life can provide to find his niche and finally do something he really had a passion for.

If you are in Seoul Check out Linus’ Bama Style Barbecue. They don’t have a website but here’s a glowing review and here’s their Facebook page.

Big thanks to Light Organ Records for letting me use the music of We Need Surgery as a the theme in each episode. Listen to full songs in the links below.

Also, each episode would be a hell of a lot more boring without the awesome tunes contributed by my friends. The groovy and sonic instrumental vibes (MK ii demo) in mid episode are compliments of Valentino Avignoni in Tokyo, who has an EP on the way soon, and the custom outro diddy is from the prolific Miso Stefanac in Toronto. There’s a bonus song (not in the episode) by Miso Stefanac – an old demo he made called I’ll Never Win – over at Rootabaga’s SoundCloud page. 

If you like the podcast and the concept, your reviews mean A LOT. Please leave reviews. And please follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube and help spread the word if you like what you hear.

Songs in the podcast in order of appearance: (click to listen)

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

MK ii (demo) – Valentino Avignoni

Lion – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

All songs used with permission

Episode 1 of Rootabaga takes you on a little tour of upcoming interviews with some of the more creative and interesting expats I’ve met in my 23 years living in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vancouver and mainland China. You’ll meet musicians, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and assorted colorful characters who chose to call foreign countries home. You’ll also hear some great original music along the way.

Gratitude:

Special thanks to Wendy Tennery for all her contributions, hard work, and ideas. Huge thanks to all the interviewees who gave their time and energy to help me out. Thanks to all the friends and colleagues who supported and encouraged the idea.

Huge props to all the people who are letting me use their music in this podcast. I get so much of a buzz editing the parts with their songs that it makes me want to do a podcast dedicated to the music I love. I am seriously honored to know so many talented musicians and I got more music sent to me than I can actually use – for now.

And a big thanks to Light Organ Records, which is letting me use the music of We Need Surgery in each episode.

If you like the podcast and the concept, your reviews mean A LOT. 

Check out our SoundCloud page for links to some full versions of songs you hear in episodes.

Songs in the podcast in order of appearance: (Click to listen)

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

Why’s It Always Gotta be This Way – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

Wasting (Demo) – Valentino Avignoni

Money Is Your Answer – Paul Johnson/Steve Johnson

My Turn – Lim Jungkyu/Mineri

Fall – We Need Surgery – Light Organ Records

All songs used with permission

Your one-minute crash course in Rootabaga – a bi-weekly podcast about expats with unusual stories or unusual jobs. Follow me as I travel the globe to tell their stories.