Phone Messages: Recent Episodes
Paul Mason Fotsch
This podcast will play and discuss old phone answering machine messages. In the late 1980s, while living in Chicago, I selected certain messages to be duplicated using a double cassette recorder. Playing them back leads me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology. New episodes will be posted Sundays.
In 1977, the Fonz jumped over a shark on the TV show Happy Days. Although the show went on to have six more successful seasons, it became a symbol of decline and something that everything from baseball teams to podcasts should avoid.
In the initial years of Television, Game shows were a popular part of networks' prime time schedule until a 1959 investigation revealed they were often scripted. During the 1970s and 80s, daytime TV broadcast shows like Password and 25,000 dollar Pyramid. In 1999, Who Wants to be a Millionaire brought the genre back to network Prime Time.
In the summer of 1990, a series of murders spread fear across Gainesville Florida. Nearly eighty years earlier, the collapse of a small bank led to tragedy on the lower east side of Manhattan.
In the mid 1990s, a Destroy All Music Festival held at the Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in Wicker Park featured bands like Carnival de Carnitas, Scissor Girls, Blowhole and DragKing.
Batteries Not Included in Lincoln Park, had a brief life in the 1980s showcasing scrappy young bands ready to surprise. The 1980s club Gaspars in Lakeview, became Schubas and continues to host live music several days a week.
In the 1920s, JR Stewart was one of many companies that manufactured banjo ukuleles during the first uke boom. Ukes became popular again in recent decades thanks in part thanks to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole.
The life of a pastor's wife in mid twentieth century midwest involved missionary work and potlucks but also social clubs to discuss books and hear lectures about graphonalysis.
Billy Joel's Piano Man was inspired by playing at a bar in Los Angeles. Two classic piano bars from that era, Nye's Polonaise Room in Minneapolis and The Red Fox Room in San Diego continue to thrive after more than fifty years in business.
In the 1990s, Chicago indy label bands like Dragking would sell their discs on consignment at Ajax Records, Dr. Wax, Wax Trax, Tower, and Reckless Records. The last of these is the only one still in business.
The first comic books were just collections of the cartoons from the Sunday funny pages. The 1930s saw the origins of superheroes and then crime, horror and romance that contained explicit sex and violence until the Comics Code forced a move to mostly kiddie comics in the 1950s.
The Chicago International Film Festival claims to be the longest running film festival in North America. Three years before it began, The University of Chicago's Documentary Film Group put on its own festival.
Trixie Records was a Chicago based label that released eight records in the early nineties, including by DragKing and Sabalon Glitz.
The 1980s was the last decade when most college students still relied on typewriters, but recently there has been a revived interest in vintage machines.
In 1966 a summer tradition of outdoor concerts began at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Over the years it featured bands such as Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Ramones and Devo for very cheap.
The late eighties saw a burst of ads for 1-900 numbers that promised to relieve your feelings of loneliness. But the phone sex business can be traced at least back to the 1970s.
In 1971, Hyde Park had seven second hand bookstores, including Chicago's oldest bookstore. Today, Powell's on 57th is the only one still in business.
Zen Buddhism became popular in post WWII San Francisco, especially among beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Tram Combs. The influence of Zen extended into cookbooks, when Edward Espe Brown began baking at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.
Speed Kills was a Chicago based zine that published seven issues from 1991 to 1995. Its contents inspired the name for the Chicago based band Dragking.
The Regenstein Library opened in 1970 and soon became the center of social life on the University of Chicago campus. One reason for its popularity were the comfortable study areas, including window alcoves with Pfister Lounge Chairs.
Four years after Disco Demolition Night, the Police performed at Comiskey Park. In the Quad Cities, 80s entertainment included the Bix Beiderbecke festival and cruising on Saturday Night.
The Chicago Defender played an important role in the Great Migration of African Americans fleeing the violence of the Jim Crow South. Beginning in the 1970s, digital technology like VDTs had a big impact on newspaper production, including at places like the Defender.
In 1979, Methuen Press published Subculture: the meaning of style by Dick Hebdige, the first academic book to address Punk culture. In 1984, the University of Chicago Press published Paths of Neighborhood Change whose lead author was Richard Taub, a section of which discusses Hyde Park's urban renewal.
The mix of orange juice and rice can be used in a wide range of savory and sweet recipes. Before college students had cell phones, dormitories hired receptionists to direct calls to a phone in each resident hall.
Pure Hype began on WHPK in 1986 as a way to promote upcoming indie rock shows with free tickets and interviews with musicians. By 1988, the show also began hosting live performances in the middle of the radio station's record library.
The Indian Termination Policy from the 1940s to 1960s encouraged Native Americans migration to cities like Chicago, where they often settled in the Uptown neighborhood. In the 1970s, a movement for self determination inspired public school programs meant to reintroduce native children to their heritage.
The Seminary Coop Bookstore began in 1961 when a small group of students grouped together to buy academic books at a discount. In 2013, it moved from the basement of the Chicago Theological Seminary to the McGiffert House, a former CTS dormitory.
In the 1980s, video stores sold eighteen inch statues with oversized heads of celebrities from music, TV and film. From the 1950s to the 1990s, Esco Products of Brooklyn fabricated hundreds of different figures, from Groucho Marx to Louis Armstrong.
The mixing of entertainment and news can be traced back to the penny press, but for the model of New Yorker style personal journalism, we might look to The Spectator column from the nineteenth century magazine The Outlook.
In 1996 a scene from the film That Old Feeling was shot in the lobby of Toronto's Royal York Hotel. The Empire Room at Chicago's Palmer House was a legendary supper club that feature vocal greats from Frank Sinatra to Peggy Lee.
The first pancake mix in a box was made by Pearl Milling Company, but soon other companies would follow such as Pillsbury and General Mills, which came out with the multipurpose Bisquick in 1931.
In 1988, Pussy Galore released a tape covering the entire Exile on Main Street. Not long after that, the Minneapolis trio Zuzu's Petals performed their own cover of a Stones song at the 400 Club.
The building for the old Minnesota Club is now occupied by a restaurant dedicated to Herb Brooks. The St. Paul Athletic Club building now hosts wedding receptions and special events, and guests can stay in its boutique hotel.
The Music Man got his start in Rock Island, Illinois. The horns he sold likely came from Elkhart Indiana, the drums from Gretsch, the pianos from Wurlitzer and the violins from a Sears catalog.
Rod McKuen was one of the best selling poets of the late twentieth century and recorded hundreds of albums both singing and reading poetry. His also introduced Belgian singer Jacques Brel to a wider audience by translating many of his lyrics into English.
Lynn Throckmorton was known for his research comparing the evolutionary speed of fruit flies, but from 1986 until his death in 2009, his academic career appears to be lost.
The word "Man", was used as a form of greeting back in the 16th century, but in the contemporary U.S. it most likely comes from African American jazz musicians. Willie Mays inspired a song by The Treniers and a generation to say "Hey" instead of "Hi".
The term Fanzine was coined in 1940 to distinguish fan created publications from professionally produced Hollywood fan mags. Later, the shortened term zine became associated with a punk rock DIY aesthetic and often featured interviews with iconoclastic musicians like Weasel Walter.
As part of an effort to integrate Milwaukee schools, in 1976 Rufus King High School became a magnet school focused on college prep and welcomed students from far away suburbs, including Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2007. A lesser known attraction, also located in Mexico City's Coyoacán borough, is the home of film director El Indio Fernández.
In the 1990s, the Daley administration ended a program that had successfully reduced gang violence in neighborhoods such as Pilsen and Little Village. Today, organizations like Enlace Chicago continue to struggle for the resources needed to address the problems produced by political neglect.
In the Spring of 1990 Andrew Apter and Moishe Postone were relatively new faculty at the University of Chicago. Both would go on to become highly regarded teachers and scholars.
Songs about intoxication have a long history, from NWA's Dope Man to Loretta Lynn's Honky Tonk Girl to Henry Purcell's The Macedon Youth.
The terrace at University of Wisconsin's Memorial Union is a spectacular place to study with a pitcher of beer or read a copy of The Onion.
In Providence, Rhode Island of the eighties one could buy a Coffee Cabinet before going to a hear music at Club Rocket, or take Amtrak south to see the same band at d.c. space in our nation's capital.
Little Italy's San Gennaro festival has been the backdrop of multiple movies, including Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, where an intern got to spin cotton candy.
A swindle involving American Express Travelers checks allows purchase of a portable stereo with double cassette tape player.
In 1975, President Ford signed a law allowing women to enter the service academies. Facing enormous hostility, almost half of the women who entered West Point in these early years, dropped out, but one woman who made it through was Sara Potecha.
Porky's drive in opened on St. Paul's university avenue in 1953 and closed in 2011. It's space age building and neon pig's head now reside at The Little Log House Pioneer Village in rural Hastings.
From 1983 to 1992, Medusa's nightclub just south of Wrigley Field welcomed kids of all kinds to celebrate their freakiness on the dance floor.
In the nineteenth century, phone companies began training operators to speak with a telephone voice. These vocal techniques soon became expected of all callers, but women especially were told to discipline their tendencies to be shrill.
In 1997, the Chicago City Council exonerated Catherine O'Leary for the Great Fire of 1871. For the fire's 150 year anniversary, the Chicago Historical Society has an exhibit that includes the model painting for a grand Cyclorama of the fire displayed in 1892.
Party lines, where more the one home shared the same phone line, required a certain telephone etiquette. Although they were phased out in cities like Chicago by the 1980s, as late at 2000, thousands in the U.S. still shared a line with their neighbor.
Democratic Socialism has become increasingly popular among young people, in part thanks to Bernie Sanders, whose activist career can be traced back to his time as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago.
Mervin G. O`Melia was the first director of the Illinois Local Governmental Law Officers Training Board. His driving skills were otherworldly.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago produced great artists like Ray Yoshida, great rock bands like Shrimp Boat and an artist's colony on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
In the 1920s Major General George Owen Squier designed the technology for piping muzak into homes and businesses. Ray Conniff's orchestra perfected this easy listening sound.
College wrestling can be nasty. Only a few triumph, and even fewer go on to become head coaches at Division I schools.
In the 1990s Barack and Michelle Obama could often be found dining at a Hyde Park favorite, the Medici on 57th, whose owner Hans Morsbach was also a carpenter, tree farmer and author of a book on sustainable forestry.
The 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health dramatically increased public awareness of tobacco's deadly consequences. But over two decades later, smoking at the University of Chicago remained popular, especially at the Regenstein library.
When it opened in 1926 The Shoreland advertised itself as The World's Finest Residential Hotel. From 1976 to 2008, the University of Chicago used it as a dormitory.
From 1962 to 2000, Ciral's House of Tiki was a popular late night hangout in Hyde Park. Its former location is now occupied by a luxury apartment tower.
Prank calls continue to be popular even though most of us have the ability to filter unwanted solicitors with caller ID and voicemail.
In November of 1988, Grant Hart visited Chicago to see an exhibition of William S. Burroughs' Shotgun Paintings at the Klein Gallery and Prop Theater's adaptation of The Last Words of Dutch Schultz.
Sometime around the release of the William S Borroughs album Dead City Radio, the Chicago based ensemble Nihilator, performed a piece inspired by the story Ah Pook the Destroyer.
In the 1980s Fakir Musafar helped popularize body modification. By 2017, 38 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 had at least one tattoo.
Ken Dunn, founder of Hyde Park's Resource Center, purchased a building at 61st and Blackstone to redistribute discarded goods. In the 2000s, as the Experimental Station, the same building became home to diverse community activities, including a union drive.
Ohio State has a notorious history of overenthusiastic football fans, especially when it comes to their rivalry with Michigan.
A high school disaster proves fruitful for a course on orality and narrative with Professor James Fernandez.
After the destruction of Flytown, the Short North became the name for the area just short of the Ohio State campus and north of downtown Columbus. Mike's Grill is the oldest bar in the neighborhood, and at one time had a very rough reputation.
A PK is a Pastor's Kid. A PGK is a Pastor's Grandkid. A Super PGK has grandparents and great grandparents as Ministers and Divinity School Professors.
A frequent trope in movies and TV shows, is for someone to give a potential suitor a fake phone number as a way to avoid further contact. One must be careful not to write the number on something of value.
Living in the city sometimes means dealing with neighbors whose music might be great at a club, but not so great coming from an adjacent apartment.
Before phone books emerged in the late nineteenth century, many U.S. towns had city directories. In recent years, cell phones and the internet have made printed directories obsolete.
In the 1960s Pierre Capretz developed his technique of mixing illustrations and movie clips into his classroom. In 1987, his method was realized in the TV series French In Action, which continues to have dedicated fans.
The WHPK DJ Arkansas Red is one of many quirky characters in a possible future Wes Anderson film.
Disneyland opened in 1955. Although it is not the oldest theme park, its position within a media empire helped create the power of its myth.
In 1920, the United States ratified the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. A growing number of women also attend college and join literary societies, where intellectual clashes could be intense.
The first radio soap opera was probably Painted Dreams, which began on WGN radio in 1930. The daytime soap reached its peak in 1981, when millions tuned in to watch the wedding of Luke and Laura on General Hospital.
The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 brought widespread destruction and many deaths, but some who survived found it thrilling.
Like George in the Seinfeld episode "The Burning," sometimes you feel there's nothing more to say.
In the fall of 1989, Marshall Sahlins taught a class titled Structure and History with a level of humor comparable to his brother's Second City Theater.
The sitcom Sanford and Son starred Redd Foxx as a Junk Dealer in the Watts neighborhood of L.A. A year after its premiere, Sly and The Family Stone released the album Fresh, whose songs can still inspire cheer on the subway.
Although attachment to material things causes suffering, sometimes a pair of clogs can bring happiness, at least temporarily.
Although the Film Forum lacked a listing in the New York Times for the second week of September 1989, Ingmar Bergman's Persona was likely shown there on Friday the fifteenth.
Artists have often struggled for time dedicated to their craft while being forced to earn a living. A Universal Basic Income could resolve this conflict.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and soon afterwards ATW Magazine, founded by Düsseldorf based artist Jårg Geismar, published images to celebrate German reunification.
The sale of vinyl records surpassed CDs in 2020 for the first time since 1986 as listeners find new appreciation for the visual delight of album cover art.
The National Ski Areas Association likes to emphasize that catastrophic ski injuries happen less than 1 in a million visits to the slopes. But a study from The Colorado Sun found an average of 10 skiers or snowboarders transported to emergency rooms each day during ski season.
Food a la Floyd was a series that ran on the Lifetime Channel from May to October 1989. It starred Keith Floyd, who made his first cooking series for the BBC in 1984 and continued to make new shows until his death in 2009.
Thirty four years ago I took a painting class with Vera Klement, but only a few fragmented memories of the experience remain.
In 1991, the University of Chicago ranked number 10 in U.S. News and World Report's list of top universities. Two years later it ranked at the bottom of Inside Edge Magazine's survey of schools where students have fun.
In July of 1989, The University of Chicago hosted Spike Lee for a preview of his film Do The Right Thing. The film's acclaim renewed interest in his earlier work, including Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, which he made as a student at NYU.
Even before the pandemic forced us into isolation, some worried we faced a loneliness epidemic. Surveys have shown we have fewer close confidants, and some scholars argue that new media technology limits our ability to connect. Other research has challenged the handwringing about isolation and suggested the impact of social media is more complicated.
In 1991, Arnold Schwarzenegger made a guest appearance on the Saturday Night Live sketch Pumping Up with Hans and Franz. Charles Atlas, legendary bodybuilder from an earlier era, appealed to kids with a comic strip story of sandy revenge.
In 1989, only one in four U.S. households owned an answering machine. A decade later, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! began offer a prize of Carl Kasell's voice on contestants' answering machines.
Inspired in part by New Orleans greats like Sidney Bechet, members of The Hall Brothers performed at The Emporium of Jazz from 1966 to 1991.
Rural Illinois may lack microbrews, but The Barrel Society in Princeton specializes in craft beers and whiskey. A small midwestern town was also home to an engineer who designed the modern sealed bicycle hub.
In 1975 The Foundation for the Community of Artists published a Health Hazards Manual, an early effort to warn painters about the risks of poor ventilation. Another risk involved being stranded somewhere in Chicago after midnight without a ride home.
K's First Case, written by L.G. Alexander, is a Longman reader for students learning English as a second language. It's 1975 publication in Hong Kong helped inspire an act of self-naming.
The TV series Batman, starring Adam West, ran for three seasons, from 1966 to 1968. Each episode concluded with unanswered questions.
The first pager system was used by the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn. Although associated with drug dealers, by the 1990s beepers became popular among teenagers, who developed elaborate codes based on numerical displays.
Michael Jordan began playing for the Chicago Bulls in 1984. During the first several years of his career, one could see him play at Chicago Stadium for as little as three dollars and fifty cents.
Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story, the 1988 film directed by Todd Haynes, was prohibited from future exhibition in 1990, but bootleg copies continue to proliferate online.
Rolling Stones fans are legendary: some dedicate their lives to transcribing guitar solos from fifty year old live concerts, others to chasing down grandfatherly idols for an autograph.
When Thomas Frank moved from the University of Virginia to the University of Chicago to begin graduate school, the Baffler, which self identified as The Journal that Blunts the Cutting Edge, moved there as well.
In 1973, Robin Morgan addressed The American Home Economics Association as "the enemy." The organization changed its name to the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences in 1994.
Toys made of plastic were rare before World War II. Their late twentieth century ubiquity came to symbolize the excess of consumer society.
In the 1960s, most soda pop was sold in reusable glass bottles, but in the 1970s these were replaced by cans and plastic. The last Coca Cola plant to produce reusable bottles closed in 2012.
Back in 2006, Alison S. M. Kobayashi produced a video based on an answering machine tape she found in a thrift shop.
Moses Asch created Folkways Records in 1948 to document the beautiful and extraordinary diversity of human expression through sound.
From Chicago's Maxwell Street to Colorado's Rocky Mountains, it can be a dog eat dog world.
Harvey's Chicken Shack is one of many little restaurants in Chicago's Bronzeville that may have faded from memory. But with the help of archivists like those at the Obsidian Collection, the role these small businesses played in the community might be preserved.
In the late 1980s, Club Dreamerz on Milwaukee Avenue marked Wicker Park's transition from old immigrant neighborhood to trendy tech hub.
With the help of festivals like the New Orleans Jazz Fest, Cajun music saw a revival in the 1960s and 70s. Many of the voices from this revival were captured in Les Blank's poetic J'ai Été Au Bal and Alan Lomax's more historical Cajun Country.
In 1989, 1.4% of U.S. households had cell phones while 28% had an answering machine. In 2020, there are 1.29 cell phones per person in the U.S. and only 40% of households still have a landline.
Ted Williams was a hall of fame left fielder and a Sears label for certain sporting goods, including bicycles made in Austria by Steyr-Daimler-Puch.
The word "Dude" had a strange historical journey before becoming a popular sign of young male solidarity, and Dudeism is now a serious philosophy inspired by the 1998 film the Big Lebowski.
Some historians claim the mass killing of cats in medieval Europe led to the Black Death. These days, researchers have found domestic cats fail at urban rat control while harming billions of native birds.
Chinese restaurants came to the United States in the 19th century with Cantonese migrants who worked in mines and built railroads. But Chinese restaurants that were also Vegetarian did not emerge until the 1980s.
For the AACM 20th anniversary celebration, Cecil Taylor performed at Mandel Hall with Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart, Malachi Favors and Steve McCall. After the concert he recorded a station ID for WHPK.
Somewhere in the Wayne National Forest, a massive blue spruce memorializes a Florida flea market dealer from Fond Du Lac Wisconsin.
The Polk-A-Lay-Lee was a ukulele like instrument created for Polk Brothers Electronics in 1965. One could buy it for five dollars with the purchase of a tape recorder or TV.
Scholars debate the origins of the term y'all. It's usage typically but not always marks one as from the South.
In 1980s Chicago, Hyde Park's Promontory Point had a semblance of racial integration, but most of the city was marked by a history of severe segregation imposed by violence and racist institutions.
The University of Chicago's first radio station began broadcasting to Burton Judson Courts in 1945. In 1951 they extended to the entire campus as WUCB, in 1968 moved to the FM dial as WHPK and in 1985 increased their power from 10 to 100 watts.
In the late 80s, the artist Garry Hayes brought a couple of lucky kids to the happiest place on earth: a legendary Minneapolis bar called the Gay 90s.
In the Spring of 1989, a fatwa by the Iranian Leader called for the killing of Salman Rushdie. During his first few months in hiding, Rushdie moved dozens of times. Could one of these hideouts have been my studio apartment in Hyde Park?
The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the most highly rated art schools in the country. But is going to art school worth it?
Arthur Mann, whose class on American Social Movements was always packed, researched and practiced the ideals of urban order.
Les Misérables has been on London's West End continuously since 1985. Its first Chicago performance came in the Spring of 1989 at the Auditorium Theater, and at least two tickets went unused.
An old barn on the south side of Chicago's Midway Plaisance became the center of artistic creativity throughout the twentieth century.
When playing four square at Hyde Park's Promontory Point, be prepared to address the physical needs of toddlers.
Watching nineteen seventies television could be compared to eating cheeseburgers, but its screen angels should be taken seriously.
Can a 1980s answering machine function like a Star Trek transporter, moving me through space depending on the caller?
Chicago in the 1920s could be an exciting place for a young, church going woman of small town Michigan.
Lawrence Welk was born in 1903 in Strasburg North Dakota. His TV show started on a local L.A. station in 1951 and ended on PBS in 1982. After that, reruns continued to be shown on PBS hosted by Welk and after his death in 1992, by former cast members.
A parent's love can sometimes be expressed by saving old issues of the Grey City Journal.
These days it is difficult to find shops that repair vacuum cleaners, but Repair Cafés have opened around the world to rebuild a culture of conservation.
The University of Chicago's Regenstein Library was constructed on the former location of Stagg Field in 1970.
The lyrics to Pete Seeger's Turn Turn Turn come from the Book of Ecclesiastes. In 1965, the Byrd's version of the song topped the charts.
Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap opened in 1948. It was one of many Hyde Park bars at the time, and one of the few to survive urban renewal.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland Florida. He called it a Child of the Sun.
Sixteen Candles, performed by the Crests, became a doo-wop hit in 1958. The song's sentimentalism is ideal for a punk guitar to rip apart.
In the 1980s, the superb flute and saxophone player Hanah Jon Taylor performed regularly at the Cove and the Hotel Del Prado in Hyde Park. In the 1990s he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where in 2019 he opened Cafe Coda.
In the late 80s, The Grey City Journal staff also produced The Chicago Literary Review, a quarterly supplement to the Chicago Maroon.
The Canon Canonet was an affordable 35 mm rangefinder camera first released in 1961. The Canonet G-III, released in 1972, sold over a million copies before being discontinued in 1982 and was used by the title character in the 1998 film Pecker.
When we remember the past, sometimes we must confront behaviors that now make us cringe.
The Young Dogs, a poetry club that performed at the University of Chicago Reynold's Club Theater, welcomed odd musical groups, some of which later ended up on the stage of the Knitting Factory.
Sometimes the least common denominator between the corners of your mouth is a piece of chewing gum in the snow.
The Chicago Maroon could consume the life of a college student, but it could also launch a career.
The dictation machine can be traced back to Edison and Bell's inventions in the 1870s and 1880s. In the 20th century, the Dictaphone and IBM improved upon the technology.
Herbert George is an exceptional sculptor, and as a teacher. he inspired many students at the University of Chicago.
Chicago winters were notorious. Below zero windchills could easily overcome the weak radiator heat of a studio apartment.
When does a juvenile prank cross the line to cruelty? And can one make amends for past acts that crossed the line?
Before Caller ID, the answering machine was used to identify who was calling before picking up.
In the late eighties, publishing a college literary journal could be filled with late night stress.
Feeling bad is a relative thing, and according to Daniel Johnston, a better life brings better orgasms.
Daniel Johnston was a musician and visual artist who embodied the eccentric spirit of 1980s Austin.
In 1989 Richard Linklater filmed a love letter to the city of Austin and redefined the concept of Slacker.
John Moschitta Jr. became famous for talking fast in a 1982 Federal Express commercial. His skill proved hard to imitate.
In Chicago, if you want to have a jam band in your apartment, it's helpful to have neighbors who are doing equally loud things.
Madison Wisconsin in the 1980s was a great place for campus activism, but personal experiences around this activism were often complicated.
Bob Marley died in 1981, Peter Tosh in 1987, but their spirits remain strong, especially in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush.
In fall of 1988 I went to visit my grandmother in Lakeland Florida. She was born not just before answering machines but also before the technology of automatic switchboards were widespread.
What happens when some Chicago kids confront a novel technology? The answering machine was invented in the 1940s but was still uncommon in 1980s homes.
Emile was my college dorm neighbor and a decent musician. He also inspired a song by Chris Pearson.
My pet rat Albert died in fall of 1988. He was buried in an empty lot behind Bret Harte Elementary School.
In the 1990s, Chicago became the center of a so called "post-rock" scene. Did my record collection, passed on to James Warden, play a role in this?
Brian Omelia hails from the Quad Cities, where my father's parents also have roots, specifically in Davenport's Germantown.
Madison Wisconsin, known for its hippie lifestyle and radical politics, also had great dance clubs.
Chris Pearson describes his life in 1988 Chicago and how he entered his career as a decorative painter.
Albert Ayler lived a brief high intensity musical life in search of spiritual unity. John Coltrane and a few other supporters saw him as visionary, but he was largely underappreciated in his time.
David Durenberger served as Minnesota Senator from 1978 to 1995. He fell in the moderate middle of the Minnesota Republican Party,
Was it Anne that left this message in Fall of 1988? If it was Anne, which Anne was it? And where was I that night? Did we go up north as planned? This and other mysteries are explored.
While living in Hyde Park, the north side of Chicago provided a space to escape our neighborhood joints and dance in nightclubs like Club Berlin and the Smart Bar.
In this episode I describe my low income life of 1988. This included an early morning job unlocking buildings on the University of Chicago campus using a little known passageway that went from Cobb Hall to the Business School.
This week we here a message from my friend Rekha, and I recount an incident driving through Wisconsin.
This week I discuss volunteering for Southend Musicworks, an organization led by Leo Krumpholz that brought alternative music to Chicago from 1987 to 1994.
In this week's message I talk about going to see Edward Wilkerson's Eight Bold Souls at Salon of Modalisque and Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble at Lower Links in September of 1988.
This week we here a song from Chris Pearson, fellow member of folk/punk/noise band Open Sauce.
This week I discuss my friend Jason Veitzer and our plans to see Sun Ra at the 1988 Chicago Jazz Festival.
This episode is the first in a trilogy about the 1988 Chicago Jazz Festival. I discuss the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
In this week's episode, I discuss an incident that took place near the University Apartments in Hyde Park leading to my appearance in a Chicago courtroom.
This week I discuss the desegregation of Minnesota schools in the 1970s. I also describe the open school design of Longfellow Elementary in St. Paul. Finally, I highlight the recent initiative by Mayor Melvin Carter to eliminate fines at St. Paul public libraries.
In this episode I examine the history of telemarketing and robocalls--from a 1942 Popular Mechanics article describing an auto-dialer to efforts by the FCC to address the recent resurgence of robocalls.
This episode recalls the old Maxwell Street Market and the first night game at Wrigley field.
In this episode I recall my time writing for the Grey City Journal and discuss the hymn that inspired the title of GCJ. The lyrics by Edwin H. Lewis were inspired by Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition and became the University of Chicago's alma mater.
This week’s episode leads me to discuss the “ship of fools” allegory from Michel Foucault’s History of Madness, a brief history of Illinois Central Railroad and the nineteenth century California writer Bret Harte.
Joel's first message leads me to discuss South Chicago's AACM and the 1987 World Series win of the Minnesota Twins.
This episode contains a message from my mom. Since last week was my explainer episode, this is the first actual message I play. The twenty second message provides a nice insight into my mom's personality.
In this episode I explain the origins and purpose of the Phone Messages podcast. I realized later that I had recorded only on one channel--apologies!