Santa resting just after finishing Chicago's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Here it is! ...as promised.
This is the first Santa Story from the longer interview with my uncle, Santa Claus.
So here's the start...
I've been moving, so the project has taken a backseat to the mayhem of realizing I have too much stuff.
These are a few very short clips pulled from longer interviews. They are all in response to the question...
"Do you believe in Santa Claus?"
These are all adults whom I questioned. I chose not to ask this question to the kids for fear of that one loudmouth to start explaining that Santa is a sham, a hoax, an elaborate story made up by their parents.
Energy takes many forms.
Energy can be powerful.
When energy takes the form of electricity: power is born.
I'm slightly ashamed to admit that my afternoon consisted of one thing...sleep. A late night party dj'ing for twenty-eight sugar-induced, spoiled little 13 years old girls, followed by an early morning radio gig = an afternoon of slumber.
Happy Cinco de Mayo...
After waking...I noticed an eerie sense of calm in the neighborhood. No police sirens, no loud stereos, no random shouting in Spanish...just this constant humming.
.....hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm.....
It was everywhere! The sound was coming at me from seemingly all directions.
Turning on my desk lamp, I realized what the sound was...energy. Raw, powerful energy. So naturally...I recorded it.
I give you...ENERGY!
You must listen very closely to hear it...it's not the immediate...it's buried in a symphony of city sounds.
DAMN!! ...so close.
I'm on the train heading home after work. Huge guy in a neon green shirt gets on the train and begins, what I for-see to be the usual sermon-esqe rant..."Can y'all help me with some change?" "God sees your actions!" "I got kids to feed!" "I haven't eaten in three days!" ........but this guy was different. He starts as usual proclaiming he needs everybody's help. Then he goes into a story about how he just got let out of prison...he's looking for a job...is there anyone on the train who needs an employee...he's got resumes he can give out. And my mind starts thinking, "I NEED to interview this guy." There's no question about it. So, where's my new recorder, the one I promised myself I would take everywhere?
It's in my car...7 blocks from the EL stop.
Luckily, the man gets off at the same stop as
me. So I approach him and tell him I'll buy him lunch if he'll let me interview him. He agrees, and I explain to him I need to race home and get my recorder...so just stay put. He seems OK with this as well. I race home, grab the recorder, race back...and what?...he's gone. POOF!!! I begin asking people in the area if they saw him, and I come to the realization nobody who lives in Pilsen likes answering questions from a sketchy Gringo on a green Schwinn cruiser. So that's it. I rode around the neighborhood for half an hour or so looking for an intimidating man in a neon green shirt, but then I ended up ordering off the dollar menu at McDonald's...and writing this blog.
It's Official...
I will be spending 2 months of my summer as a "Radio Specialist".
Camp Chi as it's called will be my home for this time period. Located in central Wisconsin, the summer camp has been a learning place for 9-16 years old boys and girls for over 80 years. It is a Jewish camp that offers its campers everything from sailing...to fine arts...to tennis...and radio.
It will be a learning experience for both the campers and myself. I hope to show them radio can still have some sex appeal. Not the Maxim, Stuff, and FHM magazine type sex appeal...but sizzle. Radio used to be mentally arousing. I like to think/hope that it still can be.
Thank the gods for NPR!
The campers will do everything (hopefully...if they find it interesting) from playing DJ...to field interviews...and some WILD radio theater. Summer camp is a time that creates unforgettable friendships and fantastic memories. I hope to tap directly into this summer camp life-blood. I hope I can give these campers the most random, weird, and amazing summer experience they've ever know.
*check out this episode of "This American Life"...it's all about the magic of summer camp.
http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=109
Here it is, my first REAL post. A few weeks ago, my lady and I took a little trip out to our nations capitol. The home of the President, the International Spy Museum, and XM Radio. Strolling down M Street in Georgetown, we came across many desperate souls. By this I mean we were bombarded by numerous members of numerous groups looking for our support. The most interesting of which happened to be the Zendik group.
This isn't a division of Greenpeace looking for money to save the planet. As the young man we spoke to put it, they're "40 artists living in the woods of West Virginia...trying to create a society that doesn't suck." Cult may have been the first word that came to mind when you read that, but this outside-the-box group of guys and gals isn't predicting the coming apocalypse...they're just creating a new society.
Simple, right?
Think about that...an NEW society. I can understand a frustrated country wanting a new government or an ousted former klan member starting his own meeting of bigots behind his tool shed, but a new SOCIETY? Of all the established ideas the Zendik's could have taken on...they choose SOCIETY?
Talk about a well established ideology.
Good luck guys and gals!
*to learn more about the Zendik movement, go to www.zendik.org
Good Day!
Today is the start of something random.
Today is the start of something fantastically amazing.
I have absolutely no idea what this web spot will eventually blossom into...but that's what makes it fun.
Random is fun.
Random keeps the excitement.
I'll be posting some writings, audio, and the occasional photos.
There may end up being some underlying connection...but for now - it's random.
