My Next Podcast: Ideas?

I'm not sure what I'd like to do for my next podcast, so I'm leaving it up to you. Vote for what you'd like to hear next by using this MicroPoll. If you'd like to post this MicroPoll to your blog or website, you can do so by clicking on the "Add this poll to your blog" button on the botton of the poll window. Once you vote, you'll be shown the results of how other people have been voting. You can also go to the MicroPoll site to see from where in America they're voting and a bunch of other interesting stuff. So next week, based on your votes, I'll either post .... 1. an interview I conducted with Jimi Hendrix a couple days after he died (only known posthumous Hendrix interview ever) 2. New rock from Liam Finn, Mates of State, Lord Alfred Hayes and the Pandemoniums Breaking Loose, and Vampire Weekend or 3. a concert review of the Beta Band show I saw last weekend.

Windows: Open Within Earshot Vol. V

It’s been a quiet few months for the Within Earshot podcast. I attribute the lull to the failure of an external hard drive, the loss of an iPod, the failure of a back up external hard drive, and the failure of a PowerBook (among other excuses). Needless to say, winter pretty much sucked. Things are finally back in order. The phoenix is rising and Earshot is almost proud to present volume five of the Within Earshot mix series, a just-in-time-for-spring collection called Windows: Open.

Here’s the rundown:


1. Snow is Gone - Josh Ritter
2. Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townsend
3. Attitudes: A Bar With A Bunch Of Dumbasses Hanging Out - Earles & Jensen fea. Joe Pernice
4. Moon Palace - Luna
5. Wild Mountain Nation - Blitzen Trapper
6. Pure And Easy - The Who
7. Dialoguing Excerpt From Moviefilm 1 - Borat
8. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
9. Nobody Told Me - John Lennon
10. Doors - Baby Cakes (Brad Neely) fea. Split Enz
11. Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Ted Leo
12. A 12oz Roll - Randy Taylor fea. Moondog
13. The Auctioneer - Leroy Van Dyke
14. No Comply - Studio
15. Ad Nauseum - Professor Brothers (Brad Neely)
16. Não Vá Se Perder Por Aí - Os Mutantes
17. Microscopic View - The Pernice Brothers
18. Between Dark and Dawn - Nick Lowe

As always, email me for a free copy. Enjoy and Happy Spring!

The Cedar Room #2: Mr. Bagg

This audio podcast is the last installment in the short-lived Catsitting podcast series. The Catsitting experiment supposed to last for a full year obviously fell short and this 6 minutes of audio explains what happened. Thanks very much to Andy "Mothergrabbin'" McCarthy, who will be lauded for his patience, good nature, and encouragement if I ever accept a Tony award.

The Cedar Room #1: December 8, 2006

This month, Earshot Radio is producing from the Cedar Room in Watisfield, Vermont. The first podcast in the series features music recorded a year ago on December 8th, 2006 in New York City. Alejando Escovedo and his string quartet played Zankel Hall, the beautiful, wooden recital hall of Carnegie Hall. If you ever have an opportunity to see a musician you enjoy at Zankel Hall, go and you will get your money's worth (unless it's one of those benefits, in which case you really can't complain if you don't get your money's worth).

The stunning performance ranks as number 4 on the list of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, I recorded the evening and can remember it all with pretty impressive fidelity. The players with Escovedo were Matt Fish and Brian Standefer on cellos, David Pulkinghan on acoustic guitars, and Susan Velz on violin. Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople was introduced during the encore for a few beautiful duets including I Wish I Was Your Mother and Irene Wilde, two songs that Escovedo has recorded on albums in the past. Below are links to Escovedo and Mott’s versions of those two songs.

Alejandro Escovedo’s Irene Wilde
Mott the Hoople’s Irene Wilde
Alejandro Escovedo’s I Wish I Was Your Mother
Mott the Hoople’s I Wish I Was Your Mother

The second half of the program features some recordings made at the Cafe Pierre, the bar of the Pierre Hotel. After the Escovedo show, a date and I had a cocktail there and enjoyed the piano music of regular Kathleen Landis. She was joined in song by a birthday boy named Julio for several numbers. It was very, very amusing.

WE.4.5: Happy Thanksgiving from Earshot Radio

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year marks my fifth annual Thanksgiving eCard. For a couple of years now, I've wanted to do my own eCard instead of using the uber-cheesy Blue Mountain eCard service, and am proud to have taken the necessary step.

I recently invested in SoundSlides, a slideshow software that enables users to create very nice looking Flash slideshows with relative ease, and this is my first project, inspired by the postcards used in the first ten slides. The postcards, mostly from 1910-1920, were being thrown out at my workplace and I was thrilled to find them. The music used is "We Gather Together", a precious Thanksgiving ditty performed here by the Countdown Kids. It can be found on their CD of sacred songs called Chronic Shizzle for Thanksgizzle. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

You can view the slideshow by clicking here and can send the link to your friends by clicking on the turkey below.

WE.4.3: Cat Messages, etc.

Wondering what happened to the CatSitting podcast? Turns out that Andy doesn't actually have cats. And then the guy on the Upper East Side -- the guy with whom I had the arrangement for most of this month and next canceled on me. I think I'm hanging up my cat hat, but there's sure to be more weird stuff soon.

WE.4.2: Radio Shack for sale.

The "Radio Shack" was a loft structure designed and co-created by architect Tom Simister and myself in 2004. Its modular design allowed for it to be moved from its original home at 233 Leonard Street around the corner to Grand Street, but when I moved my belongings from Grand Street to storage a few months ago, I decided to sell it. I produced this slideshow and had intended to post it to a few places. I didn't actually end up posting it, though, because when I sent it to a few close friends, Amy bought the structure in a New York minute.