Introducing: Awakened Underground: Recent Episodes
David
The Awakened Underground podcast is an investigative talk show that explores the ancient art of healing yourself with plant medicines and psychedelics.The Awakened Underground is a production of Cavalry Audio, in association with iHeart Radio, created and hosted by filmmaker and Psychedelic thought leader Cody Blue.
Adriaen Block reconnoiters the northern seaboard and sets up trading relations with the local Algonquins. This requires him to master the complex concept of trading with wampum. The Europeans think these shell beads are money, but for the Native Americans they have a spiritual meaning. To strengthen the mutual understanding, two native young men travel to the Netherlands as emissaries.
Sailing back to Amsterdam, Adriaen Block brought along two sons of a Manhattan sachem as proof of the good relations and the trade that emanated from it. Block understood the art of diplomacy better than others. But that would not be enough to guarantee good relations. Soon trouble sailed through the Narrows, as new competitors followed in Block’s wake.
Juan Rodrigues stays on Manhattan, while in Amsterdam competing merchant companies gather evidence and prepare for litigation. As reconciliation fails, they hasten to send ships out again, this time equipped to set up a small trading post. Back on the Hudson River, competition for the lucrative fur trade becomes fierce, leading to violent clashes. Tempers flare up and a conflagration ensues.
An investigative journey through one of the biggest cases of art fraud in US history: The Knoedler Gallery. Written by VANITY FAIR reporter Michael Shnayerson and hosted by Alec Baldwin, ART FRAUD exposes the scandal of dozens of disputed paintings, and over 80 million dollars in profit that led to the stunning collapse of one of the oldest and most revered art galleries in New York City.
Ohio native David Raterman, a longtime journalist and former author for National Geographic, spent 18 months researching this, interviewing Rhoden survivors and friends as well as hundreds of others in the small community. He even spoke with prosecutors and police officers who were officially gagged by the judge, visited the crime scenes countless times, and pored through records at courthouses throughout the region.