THIS IS NOT A TEST

Starring Mary Ellen Mark, Bukowski's LouJon press books, book art, letterpress, getting your hands dirty, kissing the paper, manual typewriters, nostalgia, home tanneries in Brooklyn, synthesizers, late 50s Les Pauls, craftsmanship, Kalamazoo Michigan, robots, green wood, perpetual motion, Detroit steel, making rich people more rich, buying Bukowski's boyhood home, gentrification, turning all of Los Angeles into one big Universal back lot, Giza, slaves, lunch trucks and the Library of Congress.

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.