Audio Pod Chronicles

65 DNC Preview

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:39:00 GMT

Chris Lopez, communications director for the 2008 Denver Host Committee, took time out of a VERY busy day today to preview what's ahead in Denver once the Democratic National Convention gets under way this weekend. He seemed remarkably serene, and he was optimistic that the convention's protests will be peaceful and full of the good energy of democracy. Me too!

UPDATE: I forgot to include the following links mentioned by Chris in the podcast:

The Presidential Experience

Click here for information on Convention events at the Denver Convention Center in the mornings.

Dialog:City

Cinemocracy

2008 Rocky Mountain Roundtables

65 DNC Preview - mp3

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:38:00 GMT

Interview on August 19, 2008 with Chris Lopez - .mp3 version.

64 Jeff Cutler Unplugged - mp3 version

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 19:44:00 GMT

This is the mp3 version of this week's Audio Pod Chronicles interview with Jeff Cutler.

64 Jeff Cutler Unplugged

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 19:31:00 GMT

Writer and podcaster Jeff Cutler was one of the only Boston Media Makers without a device feeding him information from the Internet at our meeting on Sunday, August 3, 2008, at Doyle's Cafe in Jamaica Plain. It turns out his laptop was in the shop. This prompted him to lead a lively discussion among the 22 of us at the meeting about how much we depend on being connected at all times to the Internet.

Jeff is a thoughtful guy who is on what he calls a one-year "Writing Sabbatical" during which he is aiming at a new phase of his career that will involve more commentary and opinion writing.

He uses his podcast, "Bowl of Cheese" in an effective and unusual way as a supplement to his blog of the same name. All in all, Jeff Cutler is doing creative, original work in the new media space, and it's always good to connect with him, even when he's unplugged! I think you'll enjoy this profile of a writer from Hingham, Mass., who is using new media to full advantage.

Music for my podcast is âGoing to the Sunâ composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon. Itâs from their excellent Glacier Journey CD .

Photo of Jeff and me is by Steve Garfield of SteveGarfield.com .

Iâd love to hear your feedback on this topic or any other. You can leave a voice comment at 206-666-2713 or you can send me an email to PodChronicles@gmail.com or leave a comment here.

NOTE: If you are a Kindle owner or merely intrigued, I hope you will check out my new weekly podcast, The Kindle Chronicles, uploaded each Friday. It's also available for free subscription at the iTunes Store.

63 PodCampers Pick Podcasts - mp3

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:49:00 GMT

mp3 version of today's Audio Pod Chronicles, "PodCampers Pick Podcasts."

63 PodCampers Pick Podcasts

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:30:00 GMT

At PodCamp Boston 3 this past weekend, I asked 12 happy campers to identify their favorite podcasts. Here is what they came up with:

Sarah Vela - Push My Follow, You Look Nice Today.
Chris Cavallari - Nature Stories, Little Bit of Nonsense.
Robert Blatt - Let's Go Out Tonight, twentyhood
Doug Haslam - For Immediate Release, Inside PR, 10th Wonder
Amrita Chandra - Ricky Gervais
David Fisher - Diggnation, The Totally Rad Show
Bill Wilder - Hanselminutes, What What Don't Tell Me, Grammar Girl
David Beaudoin - Push My Follow, Get It Done Guy
C.C. Chapman - Six Pixels of Separation, Scott Sigler's Nocturnal, Steve Garfield
Steve Garfield - Epic Fu, Moblogic.tv, C.C. Chapman
Joyce Bettencourt - Managing the Gray, Accident Hash, Running Man Radio, AC Radio

Dan Patterson (Creepy Sleepy podcast) - The Brookhaven Chronicles, On the Media, Slate Political Gabfest, Buzz Out Loud, This Week in Tech, In Over Your Head

62 mp3 A Dilly of a Denver Police Commander

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:58:00 GMT

mp3 version of Episode 62, A dilly of a Denver Police Commander.

62 A Dilly of a Denver Police Commander

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:51:00 GMT

Denver Police Commander Debra Dillly heads District 6, the core downtown area. On July 8, 2008 she addressed a meeting of homeowners from three downtown condominium buildings, including the one I live in. She gave the best overview I've heard so far of what it's really going to be like in my neighborhood August 25-28 when the Democratic National Convention comes to town. Now I will how to tell Obama's motorcade from President Carter's, how regular police work will be handled, the effect of the convention on Denver's homeless population, and what NOT to do if I get tear-gassed.

Note: The audio calls this episode 61, but in fact it's number 62. Credit the error to sleep deprivation.

61 mp3 Breakfast of Videos

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:44:00 GMT

mp3 version of Episode 61, Breakfast of Videos.

61 Breakfast of Videos

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:24:00 GMT

Social Media Breakfast 8, hosted by Bryan Person and Bob Collins June 24, 2008 at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, Mass., was all about video. An audience of nearly 100 heard excellent presentations from Larry Lawfer of YourStorys.com and Jeff Glasson of PerkettPR.com and two other presentations excerpted in this episode of the Audio Pod Chronicles. Those two were by recent Emerson College students Ben Grossman and Emily Belyea, who created a winning video-based proposal to resuscitate AOL's AIM social media programs, and Rob Lane, founder and CEO of Overlay.tv , who is making videos interactive.

It was impossible to listen to all four presentations and not sense the energy in Internet video, and the creativity. I came right home and started playing with Overlay.tv and can't wait to do more.

60 MP3 Waiting for iPHone 3G

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:27:00 GMT

MP3 version of this week's podcast.

60 Waiting for iPhone 3G

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:08:00 GMT

On June 10, 2008, the day after Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 3G, I attended a meeting of the Boston PDA User Group (BOSPDAUG) at MIT, where the next iPhone was Topic Number One among the developers and users in attendance. After the meeting, I interviewed the group's founder, Al Willis, who spoke about the iPhone in China, Apple's stock price, and when I'll be able to sync my Getting Things Done (GTD) lists between my Mac and my iPhone. (Answer: soon!)

Music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig, and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

59 MP3 Among the Libertarians

Fri, 30 May 2008 05:21:00 GMT

59 Among the Libertarians

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:02:00 GMT

I visited the Libertarian Party national convention this past weekend in Denver. On Sunday night I spoke with Bob Sullentrup, who the next morning was reelected national party secretary. On Monday I returned in time to catch one of the candidates for national chair, Ernest Hancock, and in the hallways I spoke with several delegates who freely expressed their love of freedom, small government and low taxes. I found it invigorating to be among people who hold their beliefs so passionately. It was a refreshing break from the never-ending horserace between my candidate, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, with John McCain waiting in the wings.

The full video of my interview with Bob Sullentrup is available here.

EXTRA Montana Arts Council workshop

Sat, 17 May 2008 17:59:00 GMT

A terrific group effort by arts organizations attending the Marketing Tune-Up workshop in Great Falls, Montana. Thank you all!

58 mp3 Where There's Smoke There's Podcasts

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:11:00 GMT

58 Where There's Smoke There's Podcasts

Wed, 14 May 2008 18:57:00 GMT

On May 13, 2008 I gave a talk on podcasting at the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. Just as we were getting started, my host Beth Dunn of the Foundation spotted smoke coming out of an electrical outlet. Thus began an even more exciting evening than the one we'd planned. A Delicious list of tags for the talk is here.

Thanks to Beth's quick working of her local network, she found alternate space for my presentation at the Cape Cod Community College. The MacBook Air was not playing nicely with the college's AV system, so as the audience made its way into the new venue, I quickly transfered my presentation to the trusty MacBook Pro I brought along as a backup.

57 mp3 Waiting for the Democrats

Thu, 1 May 2008 04:35:00 GMT

57 Waiting for the Democrats

Thu, 1 May 2008 04:19:00 GMT

Chris Lopez, communications director for the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee, spoke with me two days ago about preparations for the Democratic National Convention August 25-28 in Denver. He's got a big job, coordinating an expected 15,000 or so journalists who will cover what he calls the Superbowl of Politics. Our conversation provided an intriguing look inside the massive effort going on here in Denver to get ready for an historic event.

On Vacation

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:22:00 GMT

I'm going to travel light to the islands for a break in my podcasting and other Internet life. We'll be on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, until April 25th.

56 mp3 version - Mario Ajero

Thu, 3 Apr 2008 02:47:00 GMT

This is the mp3 version of Episode 56, Pianocaster Mario Ajero.

56 Pianocaster Mario Ajero

Thu, 3 Apr 2008 02:19:00 GMT

Mario Ajero is Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Coordinator of Class Piano at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He also hosts The Piano Podcast. He was in Denver this week for the Music Teachers National Association conference, which gave us a chance to meet for the first time in person after two years of knowing each other on the Internet. In this interview, he talks about how he uses technology to advance the role of music in people's lives, especially related to the piano. He also describes a beta evaluation he's doing for a new product making it possible to teach piano via the Internet. After the interview, Mario took me to a performance by famed pianist Lang Lang at Trinity Methodist Church, which was incredibly great.

I first came across Mario's music when I was looking for something to go with this video podcast from Maine nearly two years ago, and I returned to him again for this one.

Music for this episode is Mario playing Robert Schumann's Piano Novellette in D Major, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

55 Reaction to Obama's Big Speech - mp3 version

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:33:00 GMT

55 Reaction to Obama's Big Speech

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:21:00 GMT

Republican Albert Maruggi, founder of Provident Partners and host of the Marketing Edge podcast, and Democrat Kesler Woodward, a renowned painter friend of mine from Fairbanks, Alaska, responded to my Twitter invitation today and gave their takes on Barack Obama's speech yesterday on race relations.

Albert mentioned the New Communications Forum April 22-25, 2008 at The Vineyard Creek Inn & Spa in Sonoma County, CA.

Check out Kes's art and accounts of his creative process here.

I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave an audio comment at 206-339-4717. Or e-mail me at PodChronicles@gmail.com.

Music for the podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

54 Leaving Texas

Wed, 5 Mar 2008 14:18:00 GMT

My wife and I drove from Denver to the Panhandle of Texas to help out with the Obama campaign. This episode contains interviews at the watch party last night and some observations of where things stand the morning after. We leave as soon as I get this podcast finished for the long ride home.

53 Conversation with Steve Garfield

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:36:00 GMT

Video evangelist Steve Garfield met me this morning at Sweet Finnish at 761 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, where each month for the past two years he has hosted Boston Media Makers in a back room filled with fascinating media creators, artists, and gadget freaks who have a chance to meet and share enthusiasms and info. BMM meets the first Sunday of the month at 10 a.m. for two hours. In this interview, Steve remembers how he first got into blogging, then video blogging, a genre he pretty much invented, and now live mobile "storycasting." Steve shows how a playful, experimental, happy engagement with new technology can yield results far beyond a mere effort to "monetize" internet innovation. He does talk about the nuts and bolts of moving toward making a living in this space, as well as what he's learning right now about the new frontier of mobile live broadcasting.

The music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

52 Colorado Caucus

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 03:42:00 GMT

Last night I participated in a Democratic caucus in Denver as a Precinct Captain for Barack Obama. This podcast contains interviews with fellow caucus goers and the general sounds of a very full school auditorium My precinct, 521, went 60-40 for Obama, and Colorado gave Obama a tidy 67% share of the caucus votes. Music for the podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD. Further information at http://earthpassage.com/glacier.htm

51 The Phoenix Concept

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:45:00 GMT

This is an audio portrait of The Phoenix Concept, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility for homeless men. Contributions may be sent to The Phoenix Concept, 2162 Lawrence St., Denver, CO 80205. The phone number is 303-293-3620.

Music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig, and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

Please feel free to send your feedback to PodChronicles@gmail.com or leave a comment here on the show notes page.

50 Hydromechanics 101

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:17:00 GMT

Jerome (Jerry) Lau of Construction Support Services, Inc., in Centennial, Colorado, has spent 50 years developing expertise in hydromechanics. Jerry has never written a poem about water, but the depth of his understanding of the topic struck me as similar to the level of attention an artist must devote to his or her subject in order to succeed. He recently finished a water-leak study of our building, and this morning he spoke with me about his work. The power of his expertise means he doesn't have to advertise or market the services he and his partner provide. His customers find him by word of mouth (and the occasional podcast). If you'd like to contact him, email me at PodChronicles@gmail.com.

Music for the podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

mp3 version

49 Home is Where Darlene Is

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:14:00 GMT

A special Christmas week interview with my wife, Darlene, in which we discuss strategies for spouses married to social network addicts, quilting compared with podcasting, how to live in two cities, and how to transform Christmas shopping from a form of torture into an ordinary challenge, compliments of author Harville Hendrix and the dialog technique described in his book How to Get the Love You Want.

I'm a big fan of The M Show podcast featuring John Wall and the lovely Carin, his wife, so this interview is indirect homage to them.

The music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

48 An Alarming Visit to Utterz.com

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 04:31:00 GMT

An interview in Maynard, Mass., with Randy Corke, left, president and chief marketing officer of RPM Communications, and Simeon "Sim" Margolis, co-founder of Utterz.com and head of new media at RPM. They credit Christian Burns, Eric Rice, and Chris Brogan as among the key users who helped Utterz gain impressive early success since its official launch in September. I love Utterz, because it enables me to use my iPhone to transfer immediate photos, audio, and text (and video as soon as the iPhone has it) to my blog, to Twitter, and Flickr, as well as to the Utterz website. In classic startup style, our interview was punctuated by a really loud fire alarm, due to construction in the building, but we finished the interview with a different mic and I eventually was able to find my way out of the building. Thanks to Twitterers KityKity, ConnieReece, AverageJoe, and BethDunn for great questions, not all of which I had time to use in the podcast. Sim gave shoutouts to Utterers Robert, ChrisBrogan, ThePete, iJustine, LauraBelle and Tojosan. If YOU want to be herd, check out Utterz ! You might also be interested in their related product, Foonz for easy group calls from your mobile phone.

New Comment Line: 206-350-8045

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:02:00 GMT

The comment line number for my podcast has been changed to 206-350-8045. Sorry for the confusion!
--Len Edgerly

EXTRA Nolan Bowie Interview

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:45:00 GMT

An interview November 27, 2007 at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard with Nolan Bowie, senior fellow and adjunct lecturer in public policy, after a class in his course, "New Media and Democracy." Addressing issues of propaganda and the internet.

47 Breakfast with Jeff Pulver

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:37:00 GMT

Jeff Pulver hosted a social networking breakfast this morning at the S & S Restaurant and Deli in Cambridge, Mass. This podcast episode contains excerpts of conversations I recorded during the two-hour event. Included are Bryan Person, Israel Drori, Chris Brogan, Joyce Bettencourt, Michael Mikek, Oleg Puzyreff, Ian Carpenter, Steve Garfield, and Jeff Pulver. That much creativity in one room left me energized and glad for the chance for face-to-face time with people I find so intriguing when I encounter them on my computer screen. Many photos were taken and uploaded, mostly to Facebook, as well as some to Flickr.
The music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig, and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

46 Paul Foley Goes Multimedia

PodChronicles@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:18:00 GMT

I met Paul Foley through Steve Garfield's Boston Media Makers, and today Paul joined me for a conversation about his explorations of multimedia tools and the Internet. An accomplished freelance environmental portrait photographer, Paul sees a squeeze developing in the market for such work, especially in print. In his mid-50s, he is ready to cross the digital divide into story telling through still photography, video, and audio. He's also looking to social networks such as Twitter for worldwide distribution. After our interview today at my Cambridge place, Paul e-mailed me a handsome portrait of himself that I used as the thumbnail for this episode.

Music for my podcast is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig, and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD.

EXTRA Loic Le Meur Interview

Thu, 1 Nov 2007 03:59:00 GMT

LoÃc Le Meur, the charismatic Frenchman who is starting a video conversation startup named Seesmic, spoke with me in the hallway today at Video on the Net (VON) in Boston.

LoÃc explained why radical transparency in his venture is not a risk, but a competitive advantage. That's why he and his team are posting videos five times a week, showing every detail of the startup and asking for help from the approximately 2,000 people subscribed. They give lots of it. Tres interessant!

The waiting list to join Seesmic stands at about 5,000 and I'm right in there, hoping to get a chance to try it out. LoÃc is wisely waiting until the alpha program is well tested before opening up to everyone who is eager to join the video conversation. He says in this interview that we will only have to wait another month or two.

Photo by Nate Aune. Thanks, Nate!

45 Dean Whitbread Interview

PodChronicles@gmail.com — Thu, 1 Nov 2007 03:23:00 GMT

Veteran Podcaster Dean Whitbread, a founder of the UK Podcasters Association, was in town this weekend for Podcamp Boston 2. We met online mainly through Twitter, and I enjoy following his smart and artful blogs, The Blog of Funk and Dean Whitbread. The iTunes Music Store contains his audio podcast, the Pod of Funk, and his video podcast, deek deekster: innit, both highly recommended. He also introduced John Cleese to podcasting. All this gives Dean lots of experience in podcasting and blogging, so it was a great opportunity to learn from him.

Also on this episode, I hear from Simon Young of Auckland, New Zealand, who left an audio comment at the Pod Chronicles line, 206-202-0890. Simon and his wife have a new consulting venture, iJump, helping organisations jump into the social media playground. I first heard about him in an interview he did with Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand podcast, and I was very impressed with what he had to say about different kinds of writing styles.

Music is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon. From their Glacier Journey CD.

44 Denver's Rocktoberfest

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:44:00 GMT

I'm glad I had a quick trip scheduled to Denver this week, because it gave me a chance to experience the stunned joy of Colorado Rockies fans looking forward to the club's first-ever World Series. I turned to two of my most baseball-savvy friends for explanations, Kes Woodward who was in town from Fairbanks, Alaska, and Michael Drummy, a longtime Red Sox fan who moved to Colorado 10 years ago. This episode has other voices, all helping tell an amazing sports story.

Music is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon. From their Glacier Journey CD .

43 Lessons from Harvard Business School

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 18:05:00 GMT

At my 30th reunion of the MBA Class of 1977 from Harvard Business School last week, I asked 13 of my classmates what was the most important thing they had learned at HBS. The answers were as varied as the people with whom I shared the B-School experience. Was it the people? Was it a way of thinking that amounts to applied common sense? All of the above and more. It was fun and enlightening to be with these folks again, and I'm grateful to everyone who spoke with me for this podcast episode. See you in 2012!

42 The Creative Capital of the West

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:51:00 GMT

Erin Trapp, director of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, talks about how a new cultural center could reinvigorate Denver and help establish the city's claim as the Creative Capital of the West, as Mayor Hickenlooper likes to say. In this interview in Erin's office today, I learned some things I didn't know about the historic Carnegie Library/McNichols Building, where a cultural center might be created in Civic Center Park.

The Audio Pod Chronicles theme music is "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon, from their Glacier Journey CD

41 The Podcast Solution

Thu, 6 Sep 2007 04:16:00 GMT

Rob Simon, the founder 30 years ago of Denver's well-known alternative weekly, Westword, has in the past few years turned his creativity and entrepreneurial talent toward podcasting. His company, BurstMarketing, created the impressive Cherry Creek Arts Festival podcast and continues to help business clients find solutions in podcasting. In this interview on Sept. 4, 2007, at Common Grounds Coffee Shop at Wazee and 17th Streets in Denver, he talked about what makes a successful podcast and about what he's looking for in the podcasting contractors whom he's hiring to help keep up with the opportunities. Special thanks to Twitter friends Goldiekatsu and Genuine for suggesting questions to ask Rob!

40 For the Love of Trains

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:53:00 GMT

Yesterday I took Amtrak's Downeaster from Boston to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, hoping to capture words and sounds reflecting my lifelong love of trains. I also hoped I'd find someone to interview. Enter Peter McHugh. I think you'll enjoy his story.
Flickr photo by Eric Olson (username: broccolbee)
"Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon. From their Glacier Journey CD

39 Barack's N.H. Birthday Gift

Tue, 7 Aug 2007 18:15:00 GMT

August 4, 2007 was the 46th birthday of Barack Obama, and the New Hampshire campaign celebrated with a canvass in several cities. I answered the call to go to Portsmouth, where I spent four hours in very hot weather knocking on doors in nearby Dover. My partner was Will Gattis of Falmouth, Maine, who happens to be a terrific singer-songwriter, as well as a young man who believes Obama is a dream candidate who just might change the country. You can hear "Christopher," Will's song that closes the podcast, and several others at his MySpace page .

38 Baratunde Thurston Interview

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:15:00 GMT

Via phone, I caught up last night with Baratunde Thurston, a Boston-based writer, comedian and vigilante pundit whom I first met on Twitter . It turns out that Baratunde and I share a couple of common experiences, more than twenty-five years apart in Cambridge. In this interview, he talks about his personal history, his approach to comedy, his podcast, Twitter, and the recent Democratic presidential debate.

Intro and outro music from "Going to the Sun" composed and performed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon. From their Glacier Journey CD. Used by permission.

37 New Initiatives for Native Arts

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:28:00 GMT

I'm at a board meeting of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) in Northampton, Mass., where today we focused on the organization's new Native Arts program to support Native American artists in New England and across the country. I was struck by the role arts and culture have played in preserving the identity of native people through centuries of incredible hardship. Before dinner, I interviewed Pamela Kingfisher of LarsonAllen, who is working with the Ford Foundation to help create an entirely new national foundation to support native arts. In this episode, she provides some context and emphasizes the importance of the New England initiative, also supported by the Ford Foundation.

Background music is taken from the live performance before dinner by Thawn Harris and his wife Elanor Dove Harris, members of the Narraganset tribe in Rhode Island.

36 The Obama-Romney Connection

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:52:00 GMT

I think I've uncovered something that connects Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, in an odd sort of way. I'm an unabashed Obama backer, but I am also intrigued by Romney. This episode contains excerpts of a huge conference call with Obama, as well as Romney on Leno and a famous quote from Romney's father, George.

(Note: Despite what I say in the audio, this is Episode 36)

35 Harvard 35th Reunion

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 03:02:00 GMT

Last week I attended my 35th reunion of the Harvard College Class of 1972. It was a lively, poignant event which featured an address by the school's most successful dropout, a reminder by the Rev. Peter Gomes that we are a community of the living and the dead, an anti-war ditty, real good music by Livingston Taylor, and a classmate's words of wisdom at the final brunch in Eliot House.

34 Headed to the Islands

Wed, 23 May 2007 06:03:00 GMT

http://www.maho.org/Tomorrow morning I leave for St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, to spend two weeks with my wife and her family at Maho Bay Camps. It's a very rustic setting, and I've decided it's not worth the hassle to try and keep to my weekly podcast schedule while I'm there. So I'll be back with the podcast in early June.

33 Evening at Plus Gallery

Sat, 19 May 2007 05:16:00 GMT

This evening at the Plus Gallery at 2350 Lawrence St., Denver, three artists gave talks about their work, and afterward I spoke with gallery owner Ivar Zeile about how he groups artists in a show and what he hopes to hear in Artists' Talks. The artists were Bruce Price, John McEnroe, and Evan Colbert.

32 Web 2.0 and the Arts

Sat, 12 May 2007 03:40:00 GMT

At the Salt Lake City Airport before flying home to Denver, I begin a recap of the presentation I gave today at the Mountain West Conference on the Arts. My talk was titled "What the Heck is Web 2.0 and Can It Save the Arts?" The room was filled to overflowing, about 60 people, and they seemed to enjoy the tour I took them on of seven sites showing new ways the internet is being used to connect people. I hope lots of seeds were planted that may help arts organizations leaders and artists at the conference experiment with these new capabilities. I'm exhausted after a short night last night, and I can relate to the little girl crying in the background here in Terminal 2.
I have links to the seven web sites I presented here. And here are another seven I didn't have time to discuss.

31 Interview with Mike Daisy

Fri, 4 May 2007 20:14:00 GMT

After Mike Daisy's powerful one-man show, "Monopoly" last night at the Zero Garden Street Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., I spoke with him briefly about how he came to be fascinated with inventor Nicola Tesla, and I found out he makes none of his material up, including inside stories from his friend Ray who works at Microsoft. "Monopoly" continues for three more shows, followed by a final monology, "Tongues Will Wag," Daisy's take on pets, to be performed Tuesday May 8. Highly recommended!

30 The Art of Interviewing

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:37:00 GMT

Drawing on examples from Adam Curry, David Allen and Adam Weiss, I arrive at five rules for good podcast interviews. Tim Donovan of Mowhawk Shade & Blind Co. in Cambridge was here at the house while I worked on the podcast, and he agreed to an interview. This gave me a chance to practice my new rules!

29 The Art of Being Regional

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 04:14:00 GMT

Leaders of the six regional arts organizations in the U.S. gathered during the past two days at the Admiral Fell Inn, in Baltimore, for a planning meeting led by Toby Herzlich of Santa Fe. This podcast episode comprises thoughts about the future by the executive directors of the RAOs, in this order: David J. Fraher, Arts Midwest; Alan W. Cooper, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; Gerri Combs, Southern Arts Federation; Mary Kennedy McCabe, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Anthony Radich, Western States Arts Federation, and Rebecca Blunk, New England Federation for the Arts. Major funding for the RAOs is provided by the National Foundation for the Arts.

28 New Art for Denver's Airport

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:36:00 GMT

Yesterday I attended the first meeting of a Project Evaluation Panel at Denver International Airport, convened to guide the process of choosing three new, temporary artworks from emerging Colorado artists. Two will be on a median strip of Pena Boulevard leading to and from the airport. The other will be on a new Regional Jet Facility nearing completion on Concourse B. This podcast contains interviews with panel members after our meeting, as we took a hardhat tour of the Concourse B area.

27 Book Report: The Laws of Simplicity

Sat, 7 Apr 2007 03:25:00 GMT

This book review of The Laws of Simplicity by MIT professor John Maeda follows David Tames's compelling recommendation of the book at last week's Boston Media Makers meeting. I loved this book and plan to read it again and maybe again. The writing is playful and clear. The concepts are subtle and powerful. Highly recommeded.

Flickr photo of John Maeda by Keith Jenkins, Picture Editor of the Washington Post.

26 All About Me.dium

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:35:00 GMT

This week I visited the corporate headquarters of Me.dium in Boulder, Colorado, and spoke with Dean Steadman, left, community management director, and Tobias Peggs, business development director. This startup is in beta, available by invitation . It adds a window to your browser that shows who else is visiting sites you might be interested in, and where you can follow them and chat online.

I loved the high energy of their funky offices, filled with bicycles and more than 25 (to me) very young employees. When I suggested a photo, Dean and Tobias left the conference room to don company T-shirts, a spontaneous bit of corporate enthusiasm and pride that I never saw when I worked for a natural gas utility.

Me.dium is a potent evolutionary advance for browsing the internet. When the Twitter buzz dies down, I can imagine an even bigger phenomenon: people realizing they don't have to browse the internet alone anymore. If as many people cross over as Dean and Tobias and their gang hope, one day in the foreseeable future it may well be all about Me.dium.

25 Flying with the Twitterati

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 04:04:00 GMT

OK, I admit it. I'm hooked on Twitter, the deceptively simple site that asks "What are you doing?" and gives you 140 characters to answer the question. I can't help posting these microblog entries, and I look forward to receiving them from my friends on my Motorola Q phone, a steady stream of innocent little posts which delights me, especially when I hear from my "real-world" buddy Kes Woodward in Fairbanks. Others on my list include Dave Winer, Cali Lewis, Kris Krug, Will Pate, Leo LaPorte, and Stephanie Booth of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Music: "Going to the Sun"on the Glacier Journey
CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon Link here. Used by
permission.

24 Friends and Strangers

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 02:51:00 GMT

I've been thinking about how the internet is changing what we mean by "friend," and how technology such as podcasting makes it possible to reach out to strangers despite differences in geography, ethnicity and other ways by which we separate ourselves from others. For specifics, I turned to a new friend on the excellent Me.dium site, and to a few strangers on the Boston subway's red line this morning.

Music: "Going to the Sun" on the Glacier Journey CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon Link here. Used by permission.

Photo of a Boston subway station by Michelle Barrette of Kingston, Canada, courtesy of Flickr.

23 Mothers' Club Considers China

Fri, 9 Mar 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Merle Goldman, professor emerita at Boston University and an associate at the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Resarch, last night addressed the Mothers' Club of Cambridge Thursday night open meeting, hosted at the Cambridge Historical Society on Brattle Street. My mother has belonged to this club for decades, and I can see why she seldom misses its events, even in bone-chillingly cold weather like we had in Cambridge last night. This episode contains a brief interview I did with Prof. Goldman during the reception after her talk, in which she put China's incredible economic growth in historical perspective and posed questions about whether the nation of 1.3 billion can make political changes fast enough to sustain the ongoing economic phenomenon.

Music: "Going to the Sun" on the Glacier Journey CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon Link here. Used by permission.

22 The Architect's Tale

Fri, 2 Mar 2007 22:49:00 GMT

Blake Allison of Dingman Allison Architects in Cambridge, Mass., has begun work on our home remodeling project. After our first meeting this morning with our contractor, I asked Blake some general questions about the role of an architect. Afterward, we had a chance to admire his and his partner Nancy's work in a completed remodeling project, also in Cambridge, courtesy of Polly, who showed us through her remarkable transformation of a 110-year-old home.
Music: "Going to the Sun" on the Glacier Journey CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon http://www.earthpassage.com/glacier.htm . Used by permission.

21 Cambridge Rhythms

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:56:00 GMT

This visit to Cambridge marks the beginning of our remodeling plans for our new home here that will complement our base in Denver. I've combined two artistic impressions of Cambridge in this podcast, a poem I wrote about the birth of my grandson a year ago, and an anthem sung by the Fellows of the University Choir this morning at Harvard's Appleton Chapel.

20 One Guy's Take on The Audacity of Hope

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:03:00 GMT

John Joseph of Denver responded to an invitation to a podcast interview that I posted through the Mile High for Obama group at BarackObama.com. Having just finished The Audacity of Hope, I was looking for someone to discuss the book with me. John, who is 27 and a programmer, met me at a Starbucks and shared insightful perspectives on the book and what he thinks may be ahead in the long campaign. I liked the originality and nuance of his opinions. For example, near the end of the interview he revealed why, even though he is a huge fan of Obama, he might actually prefer another Democrat to win the nomination this time, with Obama as Veep. Not that he wouldn't be thrilled to see Obama elected president in 2008. Anyway, it was great getting to know John through the Obama web site, which is smartly designed to make it easy for Obama supporters to connect and share ideas and activities.

19 How Su Teatro's Art Changes Lives

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:39:00 GMT

Denver's Su Teatro, the nation's 3rd oldest Chicano/Latino theatre company, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year with an exciting move to a new and bigger location at 215 South Santa Fe Drive. At the kickoff this week, I interviewed longtime Artistic Director Anthony J. Garcia and visiting Hollywood actor Jesse Borrego about the importance of Su Teatro's work. Tony at one point says, "You realize that what you ended up building is what you wanted all along." This is a terrific example of the power of art to change lives, and I urge anyone interested to consider helping out with Su Teatro's $3.5 million capital drive now under way.

18 Being Around People Changes Everything

Sat, 3 Feb 2007 05:35:00 GMT

I am working on a presentation to the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs about how we might use Web 2.0 capabilities to advance the arts in Denver. As part of my cogitations, I spent some time learning about Me.dium, a Boulder-based startup which hopes to transform the way we browse the web. A more modest Web 2.0 initiative, goodreads, pointed me to possible communities in Denver which could be brought together using these new internet tools.

17 Podcasting for President

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 03:42:00 GMT

Which presidential aspirants are taking the best advantage of podcasting's potential? A review of the candidates' offerings on iTunes shows John McCain and Rudy Giuliani as no-shows. Hillary's well-done video chats don't show up in iTunes, but there is an old podcast in the directory which doesn't do much to help her, and she should take it down ASAP. At the head of the presidential podcasting class are Tom Vilsack, John Edwards, and Barack Obama. Mitt Romney has an effective enthusiast's site up, MyManMitt.com featuring the MittCast, hosted by Justin Hart. This episode of the Audio Pod Chronicles, recorded in Denver, contains excerpts from the podcasts and thoughts about what works and what doesn't in this powerful new medium.

16 Tea for Two Steers

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:41:00 GMT

Each year the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver hosts the top steer from the National Western Stock Show. This year's top steer was deemed too skittish to make a solo appearance in the ornate hotel, so his runner-up came along for company. I interviewed the hotel general manager, Miss Colorado Rodeo, the boy who raised Titan, and my friend Michael Drummy and his sister-in-law, among others. I love this event for combining Denver's elegance with its cow country history.

15 Deleted Episode

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:28:00 GMT

I have deleted the original episode 15, recorded a week ago after my return from Macworld Expo in San Francisco. What happened is that the person I interviewed ended up feeling very nervous about having his words up on the internet, so he asked me in very strong terms to take it down. He needn't have pressed so hard, because I had no intention of making him uncomfortable. I'm sad, because I loved his story and have listened to it several times for my own pleasure. But I completely honor his desire for privacy, so I immediately deleted the episode when I received an e-mail from him. I'm putting this episode in its place, so my numbering isn't thrown off, and to explain what happened.

14 Tale of Two Voices

Sat, 6 Jan 2007 06:49:00 GMT

Can Hillary overcome the shrillness of her voice? Can Obama demonstrate substance worthy of his own charismatic voice?

I pondered these questions as I spent much of today listening to a speech which Hillary Clinton delivered last October to the Council on Foreign Relations, comparing it with the latest episode of Barack Obama's weekly podcast. What I thought would be a simple win for Obama turned out to be a little more complicated. If all goes as expected, this will be a most interesting contest.

13 Obama & JFK

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:22:00 GMT

I didn't think much of a criticism that Gary Hart made about Obama in a recent podcast interview with Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review. But it roused me to prepare this consideration of Obama in light of John F. Kennedy's leadership during the Cold War. And I did agree with most of what Hart had to say in his Times revie w of Obama's The Audacity of Hope.

I can't say enough good things about the three-part podcast from which I excerpted audio on JFK and the Cold War. I found it on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "The Best of Ideas Podcast" hosted by Paul Kennedy. The web site says the links won't be up permanently, so grab them soon if you're interested. Here they are: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

"Going to the Sun" by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon is from the Glacier Journey CD. Used by permission.

12 Uncle Bert's Secret for Success

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 05:16:00 GMT

My uncle Bert Tighe in 1963 began a new water works supply business, Ti-SALES, in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He and Aunt Edna this morning talked about the single quality which seems to have led to that company's current success: the refusal to quit. We also heard from Peter, my cousin who worked for the family company for 18 years, and Kevin, who is now president.

I remember when Uncle Bert's office was in the basement of their house, and we kids had to be quiet around the stairway, because he was working hard down there to get his new venture going. Now the company employs 29 people and has annual sales of more than $20 million. It's a great story of the value of persistence and the wisdom of figuring out new ways to do things when the old ways won't work.

Music for this episode is "Until Dusk" from "When You're There" by Frank LoCrasto, courtesy of the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) Promonet.

11 Winken Blinken and JetBlue

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:00:00 GMT

Every time I fly the JetBlue red-eye from Denver to Boston, I hope I will sleep. This week, I armed myself with a geeky audio eyeshade from Brookstone and a horseshoe pillow made of space-age material, and I interviewed several fellow passengers in Denver, asking for their sleep tips. The result was maybe an hour of sleep, or was it an hour of simply tossing and turning in a row I had all to myself? In any event, I'm still looking for ideas on how to sleep on planes. Feel free to add your own suggestions!

The photo is from JetBlue's Flickr photos, taken on the company's first flight to Tuscon. The music is âSeven Days of Fallingâ? by Esbjorn Svensson Trio, courtesy of IODA Promonet.

10 Wally Walk

Tue, 5 Dec 2006 02:33:00 GMT

On a visit to Hartford, I thought I was following in the footsteps of Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), the renowned poet, on the two-mile walk he took each day from work at the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company to his home at 118 Westerly Terrace. In the way of poetry, things didn't turn out the way I planned, and my walk ended up being as disorienting and oddly satisfying as a difficult Stevens poem.

To listen to Stevens reading "The Idea of Order at Key West," click here, courtesy of the Academy of American Poets .

"In an Instant" from the CD Make or Break by Incognito courtesy of IODA Promonet.

9 Book Review: The Varieties of Religious Experience

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:18:00 GMT

Last night I finished reading The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (at right in photo, with his brother the novelist, Henry James).

In this book review, I describe how the book inspired my own variety of religious experience, and I offer some musings about what James's approach implies for the religious landscape in America 100 years after he delivered the 20 lectures on which the book is based.

8 Alternate Routes: Living with ADD

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 02:38:00 GMT

My sister's partner, Tim, talks about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and the type he has, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), in an interview this morning in a quiet corner of the Radcliffe campus in Cambridge, Mass.

Show Note Links:

The Hoffman Institute

The Hallowell Center

Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.

Delivered from Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.

7 Book Review - 'Pass it On' by AA World Services

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 21:12:00 GMT

'Pass It On' is the authorized AA biography of co-founder Bill Wilson. It's a well-told story of the early days of AA, making it clear that this program for recovery from alcoholism did not drop from the sky. It developed in quirky ways, influenced hugely by the personalities of the co-founders.

This podcast opens and closes with a bit of seasonal music, "We Gather Together" as sung by my family yesterday at our Thanksgiving gathering here in Cambridge, Mass., at my parents' home.

I am going to try posting new episodes to these Audio Pod Chronicles each Monday and Friday. On Wednesday I will upload an episode of my video podcast, Mile High Pod Chronicles. My most recent videoblog episode is "Joy of Great-Grandparenting," starring my grandson James and my parents, who happen to have the same names as AA's first couple, Bill and Lois.

6 The Practice of Zen

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:03:00 GMT

This is the full audio interview I did two days ago with Danan Henry Roshi, my Zen teacher who is spiritual director of the Zen Center of Denver. You can see the video version at Mile High Pod Chronicles.

5 The Alexandre O. Philippe Show

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 05:59:00 GMT

Alexandre O. Philippe, a Denver film maker who is a friend of mine, has an 11-minute short in this year's Denver Film Festival. It's titled Left and it portrays, without a single word of dialogue, a deep sense of loss of a loved one. At tonight's screening, I happened to sit down next to two stars of Alexandre's last feature-length film, Earthlings: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water, and they agreed to a quick interview. Earthlings is a documentary of an institute devoted to preserving the Klingon language created for Star Trek. The podcast concludes with excerpts from Alexandre's introductory comments for Left. After the movie, I recorded an interview with Marilyn Auer, who stars in Left, but my unfamiliarity with my new Edirol R-09 recorder led to the painful discovery that I hadn't actually been recording when we spoke.

4 The Lives of Others

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 04:51:00 GMT

If all the rest of the movies I see at the Denver Film Festival stink, I will still count the festival a success because of "The Lives of Others," a German film released this year about a Stasi agent responsible for spying on a writer and his friends in the mid-1980s in East Germany. The agent becomes moved by the artists and this poses complications which unfold in a terrific plot, acted to perfection. The photo is of Gerd Wiesler, the Stasi agent played by (Ulrich MÃhe).

3 An Architect for Clyfford Still

Tue, 7 Nov 2006 18:17:00 GMT

Last night three architects presented their visions for the new Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. These three finalists brought very different experience and talents. Denver's interest in architecture was evident in the approximately 550 people who attended. In this podcast, I give my impressions of the competitors and offer a guess as to which one will be selected.

UPDATE: Although Still did live in New York City from 1950 until 1961, I erred in calling him a "New York artist," because he was born in North Dakota and studied and taught in Washington state and worked in California before moving to New York. In 1961 he relocated to a farm near Westminster, Maryland, where he remained most of the rest of his life, largely cut off from the rest of the art world. (I gleaned this info from the Wikipedia entry on Still.)

2 Denver's Artful Mayor

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 04:03:00 GMT

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper this afternoon gave a stirring presentation of his vision for the city in the area of arts and culture. The forum was a meeting of the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs, of which I'm a member. I flew from Boston last night to attend the meeting and am about to head to the airport now to fly back. All this time and effort was well rewarded by hearing the Mayor's talk. It inspired me to value my work on the Commission and to be glad I can divide me time between two such great areas, Denver and Boston. Gotta run...

1 Heart of Darkness

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:07:00 GMT

This is the first episode of an all-audio podcast named Audio Pod Chronicles. Since December, 2005, I have published a combined audio and video podcast, Mile High Pod Chronicles, which will now comprise only videos.

I am a grandfather, a poet, former journalist and retired natural gas company executive. I serve on the boards of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs. My wife and I live in Denver but travel about half the year, mainly to New England, St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and France.

All these experiences and passions flow into my podcasting. I'd love to hear from you at PodChronicles@gmail.com or here at my new Libsyn blog. Show notes for the video podcast are here, and my general blog of writing and photographs is here.

This first episode of Audio Pod Chronicles offers my thoughts on finishing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness as we near the end of a seven-week Fall Foliage RV Ramble to QuÃÂbec and New England. We return the rented 32-foot Southwind motorhome to its owner on Monday.

Good listening.