In this episode it's all about the music as we feature instrumental hits from the 50's-80's. No lyrics, no singers, just the band.

Please Note: This is the LAST episode of this podcast to be produced.

The "What IS This?" podcast was created as a personal project for me during a time of career transition coupled with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and was never intended to become an ongoing, perpetual project. As I upload this final episode I wanted to make a point of saying "thank you" to those who subscribed and listened faithfully, you've made this a fun, therapeutic way to weather the last number of months.

Blessings and thanks,

Deane (with an "e").

In this episode we open a musical time capsule from a changing era in the world that began in earnest in roughly 1965. These records are just a few among the soundtrack of cultural change, political dissent and the desire above all for peace as one decade ended and another dawned.

What makes a teen idol? Looks? Talent? Great marketing? On this episode of the "What Is This?" podcast we’re looking at a handful of teen idols from the 50's-70's found in my own record collection.

In this episode we'll hear some 45's from artists who recorded these records as tributes or shout-outs to other artists and THEIR records.

(It's a very "meta" episode of the "What IS This?" podcast!)

Canada has contributed more than our share of incredible musical talent with the world (see episode #8)and in celebration of Canada's 153rd birthday on July 1st, this episode is dedicated exclusively to "CanCon" (Canadian Content) from my personal record collection.

This is potentially the first podcast episode where EVERY song included could be a stand-alone "What IS This?" installment of its own. The one thing these songs all have in common is their release and success(?) in the 1970's.

In this episode we turn the tables on Episode 2 which examined actors turned singers. Today we're looking into my re cord collection for singers who became actors (with some mixed results!)

They say that success is less about what you know than it is about WHO you know.

In this episode we explore some artists who musically benefited from songs that John Lennon and Paul McCartney opted not to record with The Beatles but that still became hits for some of their friends and acquaintances.

With hits that included "Tutti Frutti", "Ready Teddy" and "Good Golly Miss Molly", Richard Wayne Penniman blazed a path for rock and roll music and left a legacy of music that inspired generations of musicians. In this episode we remember Little Richard.

When I first looked at this single I thought “written and produced by George Harrison, released on the Apple Records label and sung by one of the most powerful and distinctive female rock and roll voices ever...this is going to be great”.

And then I played it...