Otis Brown's Podcast

Otis

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. read less

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My Last 20 Summers In The Sierra: aka Happy Anniversary To Me

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

Episodes

My Last 20 Summers In The Sierra: aka Happy Anniversary To Me

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

A bit of news about my decision to walk the Earth--at least while I heal from shoulder surgery.

OBP Update and Wayne Thiebaud

OBP Update and Wayne Thiebaud

Hey! Hope you are well. Here's a little update on the state of the Otis Brown Podcast!

I Ain't Dead, I'm Just Busy!

I Ain't Dead, I'm Just Busy!

A quick note to my listeners.

Otis Brown Classic: Woodscrewed Two

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.Hope you enjoy. If you remember this podcast and don't care to listen to it again, please be patient. NEW CONTENT COMING SOON!!Thanks, as always.

I'm Going Through Changes: the future of the Otis Brown Podcast

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!

The Memory of the Memory: an old friend makes a surprise visit

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, Seymour: An IntroductionEugen Herrigel. Zen in the Art of ArcheryLooking Glass "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"Dixie Fire

Take Me In Your Lifeboat: or, put on the lifejacket

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 do . . .

Bezos Buys Moon: Let's All Eat Cake

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 centibillionaire space race and make the (rather obvious) observation that Jeff Bezos is no John Glenn. Key words:Jeff BezosRichard BransonJohn Glenn Friendship 7 Gil Scott Heron: "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," "Whitey on the Moon"Lightnin' Hopkins: Walking This Road by Myself, "Happy Blues for John Glenn"

Don't Be Fooled, It Really Is a Wonderful World

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."

Summer of Soul: the revolution is in your mind

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 own unique thing and its invisibility in the American cultural landscape has been a tragedy. The podcast is intended as a primer for the film and doesn't really contain any spoilers and, I hope, it also offers some useful insights to those who have already seen it.Enjoy.

Mighty Armstrong: wonderful world of live music coming your way soon

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!) . In this week's episode of Otis Brown Podcast, I think about Ralph Ellison's assertion that there was a Charlie Parker in every town. I also encourage my listeners to embrace local music and discuss a painting by the NOLA artist Todd Lyons.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July

Episode description not available.

Truck Yeah: some thoughts on transportation and country music

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. Keywords:Blake Shelton "Boys Round Here"Tim McGraw "Truck Yeah"Jerry Jeff Walker/Ray Wylie Hubbard "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother"Steve Goodman/John Prine/ David Allen Coe "You Never Even Called Me By My Name"Jefferson Airplane "We Can Be Together"Amiri Baraka "Black People" Patty Hearst Popeye's Classic Chicken Sandwich

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It

Episode description not available.

Standing in a River Waiving a Stick: a lifetime of fly fishing

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 provided a practical handbook for much of my early life. The text I engage most this week, though, is Richard Brautigan's wild and scenic Trout Fishing in America. I hope I do justice to my passion for catch-and-release fly fishing by translating it into something edifying or at least enjoyable for you.As always, thank you so much for supporting the podcast!

(Fisher) Friends of Mine

(Fisher) Friends of Mine

Episode description not available.

Bloomsday: you don't own the moon man

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 out loud why so many people celebrate a novel that so few read.

Arcanum Nexum: Mysterious Connections To Bob Pickering Expand

Arcanum Nexum: Mysterious Connections To Bob Pickering Expand

Episode description not available.

Listen To Bob Ross and Do A Terrible Job: don't poison your hobbies with a grade

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 doing something for its own sake. I also discuss the circus, Bob Ross and paint-by-numbers paintings.I hope you enjoy it!Thanks for sticking around for Season II of the Otis Brown Podcast.