Otis Brown's Podcast
Interesting Stuff: reflections on the American place with side trips into literature, art, music, culture and language.Otis Brown's Podcast is a weekly 20 minute monologue podcast often addressing current issues through the lens of personal anecdotes and American Art and Culture--think of it as a radio show you can listen to whenever you want. With free-ranging stories built around cultural figures from John Lewis to Dolores Huerta, musicians from Little Richard to Dolly Parton and painters from the cave painters of Chauvet to living artists like Wayne Thiebaud, Otis Brown's Podcast attempts to construct literary narratives that try and make sense of the beautiful American mess we walk with in the world.
Episodes
100 episodes
My Last 20 Summers In The Sierra: aka Happy Anniversary To Me
Just a few thoughts on defending my doctoral dissertation twenty years ago today.Dedicated to the memory of Michael T. "Timo" Gilmore
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7:37
Walk The Earth
A bit of news about my decision to walk the Earth--at least while I heal from shoulder surgery.
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8:45
OBP Update and Wayne Thiebaud
Hey! Hope you are well. Here's a little update on the state of the Otis Brown Podcast!
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8:20
Otis Brown Classic: Woodscrewed Two
This week on Otis Brown Podcast, I rerun an (unfortunately) still relevant Podcast from July 15, 2020 on the state of the pandemic and some of the ways our response to it continues to be cultural rather than medical or epidemiological.H...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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21:52
I'm Going Through Changes: the future of the Otis Brown Podcast
Some news on the podcast along with my apologies for (finally and inevitably) missing my (self-imposed) deadline.Thanks!
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10:26
The Memory of the Memory: an old friend makes a surprise visit
In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I recount a chance meeting with an old friend and explore the complex feelings we have when new information does violence to old memories.Key words:J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye, ...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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20:59
Take Me In Your Lifeboat: or, put on the lifejacket
Wear your lifejacket! In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I tell only the latest story of having to help pluck someone out of a would-be watery grave. I also talk about a bunch of old dead New England writers and painters, just because I always ...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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20:31
Bezos Buys Moon: Let's All Eat Cake
Hey, what do you do if you get a tax break? Pay down your credit card? Go out to eat? Bezos and Branson build cool rockets that the rest of us can look at on our phone! What fun! In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I offer some thoughts on the c...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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21:49
Don't Be Fooled, It Really Is a Wonderful World
Just a little coda to the Wonderful World podcast. Image is Joe Everson's amazing "Louis Armstrong."
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2:27
Summer of Soul: the revolution is in your mind
In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I explore the new Questlove film Summer of Soul, which makes visible, for the first time to a large audience, the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. Dubbed the "Black Woodstock," the HCF was truly its ...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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20:33
Mighty Armstrong: wonderful world of live music coming your way soon
The Louis Armstrong of your time might be living in your town right now, and if you don't find him, you will still come out more than conqueror (just to be clear, a reference to Zora Neale Hurston and the great song of the same name by Estelle!...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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20:31
Truck Yeah: some thoughts on transportation and country music
An ad for Popeye's classic chicken sandwich? A rant about the Toyota Prius? No! It's this week's Otis Brown Podcast, wherein I think about my life behind the wheel of a pickup and the contemporary "list" country songs about trucks.
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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20:42
Standing in a River Waiving a Stick: a lifetime of fly fishing
This week's Otis Brown Podcast borrows a title from the great fly fishing essayist John Gierach's 1999 book of the same name. Gierach's humorous and insightful writing casts a long shadow over the podcast and his 1986 book Trout Bum pr...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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20:17
Bloomsday: you don't own the moon man
James Joyce's great novel Ulysses is set on today's date 1904; the date is observed around the world in what are called Bloomsday celebrations. In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I reflect on my experiences with Bloomsday and wonder ou...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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20:54
Listen To Bob Ross and Do A Terrible Job: don't poison your hobbies with a grade
In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I think about why I get hung up on assessing my hobbies in terms of economics or A though F grading. I reflect on the toxicity of allowing academic or professional standards to rob us of the simple joy of doin...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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20:48
Never Leave a Friend Behind: Why I Pick Up Junk On The Side of The Road
In this first full episode of season two of the Otis Brown Podcast, I reflect on why I picked up a shabby little cabinet on the side of the road and put more time and money into restoring it than I would have spent on making something good! Thr...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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20:39
How I Started a Podcast and Found a Year
Reflecting on the first year of Otis Brown Podcast!Thanks so much everyone for supporting the podcast. It means so much to me that any of this has meant anything to you.
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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20:27
Spring and All: How the Urban Chicken Movement Turned Me Into a Poultry Rustler
In this week's Otis Brown Podcast, I discuss the Urban Chicken Movement, William Carlos William's poem "XXII" (aka "The Red Wheelbarrow") from his 1923 collection Spring and All, as well as an earlier poem, "To a Solitary Disciple," th...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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20:33