Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight - A History

Some cultural recs, attempts at end of the year sanity, and Vin's last days at WPLJ, featuring his run ins with Bob Dylan, Elton John, Randy Newman, John Lennon's first solo album, and a very special New Year's Eve with Cousin Brucie.

Some cultural recs, attempts at end of the year sanity, and Vin's last days at WPLJ, featuring his run ins with Bob Dylan, Elton John, Randy Newman, John Lennon's first solo album, and a very special New Year's Eve with Cousin Brucie.

When Leonard Cohen died this past Nov. 7, Vin immediately flashed back to the interview he did with him on June 13, 1993. We knew we had to play it in its entirety for this episode of our podcast. This originally aired live on the Sunday night sojourn of Idiot's Delight on WXRK (92.3 KROCK) in New York. The first attack on the World Trade Center in late February 1993 was still on everyone's mind; thoughts and questions about the nature of "the terrorist mentality" were very much in the air. Leonard's latest album was "The Future." He was in New York for a concert. His thoughts on the subject were vivid and have proved chillingly prescient over the years. Note : The music played that night has been truncated for this Podcast; same with the commercial breaks. Otherwise this is how it went down. Leonard Cohen was unique ... it was a great privilege to spend this time with him.

The new PLJ hires take a bus trip to some radical media makers at ZBS in upstate New York, Vin learns to make counterculture commercials, and engineers vs DJs

And we're back! Still suffering from some technical problems forcing us to do this one over the phone, so apologies for the phone-syle audio. We've got some book recs, the history of Vin's doomed first foray into mainstream radio as WPLJ attempted to co-op the counterculture with less than successful results, and a story about DJ/professional character Zacherley's revenge upon the corporate radio format.

Vin and Kate listen to and discuss Vin's interview with David Bowie that was recorded in 1993 for a program called One on One that, up until now, had been thought to be lost forever. It was found by producer Jim Villanueva, and Kate and Vin talk with Jim about his memories of that program and of Bowie.

Bonus ghost visitation: Listen for the static at the end that comes in with Vin's "experimental" clarinet track. That static continued to feed into the computer after we were done recording and everything had been turned off. No audio component or source was in operation, yet the distorted static continued to emanate from the entire digital system - computer, control board, speakers. For a while we thought it had actually corrupted the whole recording file.

Kate and Vin catch up on how 2016 has been going so far. Kate was on tour in Chile. Vin claims to not remember that Kate once went to a bullfight. TV recs are mentioned, listener mail is read, and Vin's lost Bowie interview is discussed. ALSO (plug alert) - the ebook of Kate's novel "Fans of the Impossible Life" is on sale for only $1.99 on all platforms until 2/15 !! Wow!

A seasonal treat for the listeners of The Kate and Vin Scelsa Podcast: a rare recording of The Roches performing holiday music on "Vin Scelsa's Live at Lunch," recorded at Vin's studio at J+R Music World on December 20, 2000. Engineered and produced by Bill Kollar. With an intro in which Kate and Vin discuss the subtle but important differences between the classic holiday films "White Christmas" and "Holiday Inn." Thanks so much to Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche!

Vin and Kate introduce Vin's 1996 interview with legendary author Kurt Vonnegut

Vin and Kate recommend their current reads, Kate goes on a rant about pop stars and feminism, and we cover the next chapter in Vin's radio history, when he left his doomed teaching career for his first commercial radio job.