The Wizard of Monadnock Radio Hour: Recent Episodes
Jay Monaco
Today’s guest is train conductor extraordinaire, New Jersey paisan, and pop culture blogger John Palmucci. John and I first connected online more than two years ago as fellow members of the Socialist Party USA. Over time – despite the fact that when we both attended the party convention in NYC in late 2017, he went on disastrous Tinder dates instead of drinking after hours with me – he’s become an extremely close friend. Today, we talk about who killed Tony Soprano, what happens after we die, and how we survive between now and then.
Find John here: https://awinnerisme.com/ The Day Tony Soprano Died: https://awinnerisme.com/2018/08/14/the-day-tony-soprano-died/
Featured Music - "Good Bye" by Dee Yan-Key
To close out the old year and ring in the new, we bring you our second Liturgical Episode. Synthesizing the thought and wrestling and writing of December and indeed the entire fall, this episode is a journey of contemplation, prayer, and meditation. Everyone gets their time - from Christians to Pagans to Waldorfs.
Take a minute to contemplate the nature of this world and your existence. Transition intentionally - join us.
Music Featured: "Alo Alo" by Sri Chimoy; "Cosmic Dream" by Arthada and Friends; and "Sleep Now Gentle Jesus" found on musicforliturgy.org.
This episode brought to you by Toaster Unplugged - check out the classic Shades plus new expanded lines of apparel at toasterunplugged.com. Enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for a solid discount!
Support the Wizard of Monadnock Radio Hour at patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
Happy Halloween to everyone and your ancestors!
So, while Episode 19 - our next long-awaited adventure episode - is finishing production, here's the recording from last Saturday's special Wizard of Monadnock performance opening for Winterland NH's Halloween Extravaganza at the Marlborough House in Marlborough, NH. I deliver a rousing, if unusual, semi-motivational cosmic speech backed by the sounds of Pink Floyd's Echoes (musicians noted below).
We'll be back next week with the next full episode - and it's an adventure.
Featured musicians: -Jonel Reilly, Keys -Seth MacLean , Bass -Geoff Williams, Guitar -Seth Stafford, Drums
Catch the entire Winterland performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqPAVQfo1II&index=2&t=7270s&list=LLSbuCVs8-I1DNAt_2HlCJOw
In honor of the solstice (yes, this is late), we bring you our most experimental episode to date - by far. In an attempt to properly commemorate Midsummer, this episode is constructed as a complete liturgy. You know, like an actual religious service. To listen to this episode is to take a journey through a space very different from the one you think you're in right now. And it can't readily be described in episode notes. You just have to buy the ticket and take the ride.
Visit Toaster Unplugged: toasterunplugged.com (enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for $10 off)
Patreon: patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
Tell your friends!
To commemorate and build upon her appearance almost exactly a year ago, we're joined by the one and only Psychedologist, and my dear friend, Leia Friedman. And this time, we get a little...CONTROVERSIAL...in our discussion of the nature of the Second Psychedelic Renaissance and the different currents of thought within it. Anyone connected with such things might be interested in our explorations here.
Getting the tough stuff out of the way early, we spend the second half of our talk performing a live exercise for all of you in which we visualize our inevitable conversation a year from now, in 2019. This episode is a real treat - there's even a cameo by a baby cow. They're called calves but I prefer the term "cowlet." Anyway.
Stop what you're doing and search for The Psychdedologist in your podcast app and subscribe. It's an even better show than this one.
Visit our sponsor, Toaster Shades, for one-of-a-kind custom artwork sunglasses. Toastershades.com - enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and free shipping!
Lastly, pop on over to patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock if you wanna catch a little glimpse of what it's like on the inside of the wizard's circle. Then you can even get in on it if you want to.
Are you looking for bad agricultural metaphors and mystical ranting? We've got you covered.
There's even a cute fluffy forest creature thrown in the mix.
This is the episode where I tell you what I was up to all winter, clue you in to the spiritual practice I've been building and trying to follow, and give you the chance to GET IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR.
It's good to be back.
Pick up your Toaster Shades: toastershades.com (use promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and free shipping) Brand new subscription scheme: patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
After a long absence, we return in DRAMATIC fashion with this EPIC, feature-length narrative. Rejoining our heroes once more, we travel this time to the Boston Garden on November 17 of last year for yet another Dead and Company performance...and so much more.
We've got blood sacrifice, cardigan sweaters, (at least) two extraordinary things, fancy cocktails, brand new archetypes, and direct encounters with the divine (maybe).
Link to the show described in this episode: https://archive.org/details/DeadCo2017-11-17
Support this crazy thing we're doing at patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
This episode sponsored by TOASTER SHADES - coolest sunglasses of 2018. Go to toastershades.com to score your custom, one-of-a-kind pair and enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and FREE SHIPPING.
This episode is basically THE MOST EPIC WIZARD RANT OF ALL TIME!! . But it's actually even more than that. Each rant segment is interspersed with LIVE FOOTAGE from a very meaningful journey I took solo up the sacred mountain back in July. Makes things really interesting - and hilarious. . But really, this is the Halloween/Harvest/All Saints Day/Samahin episode that YOU ALL DESERVE. We talk seasons, we introduce a new CONTROVERSIAL METAPHOR and, wildest of all...for the very first time, we come close to explaining what a wizard of a mountain actually is. * Episode sponsored, as always, by our close friends over at Toaster Shades. visit toastershades.com for the coolest pair of one-of-a-kind, hand-painted sunglasses you've ever seen - and enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and free shipping! * Visit the Patreon - patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock - if you want to hook me up or get some karma points (yes, they're for sale here)
Music: "Paper Lanterns in the Dusk" by Springtide; "La Tapa del Martes" by Circus Marcus; "You'se a Viper" by the Underscore Orkestra; and of course, "Own World" by Ketsa
In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of my favorite podcasters, fellow NH native Joe Moore, co-host of Psychedelics Today. Let's just say...the range of this conversation is something you have to hear to believe. We cover everything from Marx to Pinchbeck to Tolkien to Jung, the costs inherent to trying to make a better world, and the reward - no, the necessity - of living the fullest life.
Best of all, Joe tells me it's okay that we've only cranked out 12 episodes in 12 months.
Find Psychedelics Today here: http://www.psychedelicstoday.com/ More Joe Moore: http://jomo5.com/ To enroll in the Psychedelics Today Navigating Psychedelics course, go here: http://psychedelicstoday.teachable.com/p/navigatingpsychedelics PT on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/psychedelicstoday/posts
This episode is sponsored by Toaster Shades - go to http://www.toastershades.com/ and enter promo code WIZARD to get $5 off and free shipping on the coolest pair of one-of-a-kind, hand-painted sunglasses on any side of the Mississippi.
If you like what we do, throw us a bone at our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
This is the most personal episode of this podcast thus far - and also, by far, the greatest adventure story.
When last we saw our heroes, they were on top of the world, having lived through one of the best, most joyous, life-filled nights in all their collective existence - but when on top of the world, the only direction to go is down, and all stories, followed long enough, end in chaos and death.
But its not all that bad - and if it is, at least this telling of it is hysterical (often at my expense, I'm afraid). Follow me and SB as we experience several consecutive misadventures in the course of attending a Dead & Company show on Midsummer's Eve, the most magical and mischievous night of the year. And boy did we feel that.
Welcome to Season 2 of the Wizard of Monadnock Radio Hour. It's been a long wait, but hopefully this episode will prove it was worth it. Love you all.
For music from the concert in question, go here: https://archive.org/details/deadandco2017-06-20
For a video of The Miracle (you'll have to listen to know what this means), go here: https://youtu.be/Gdf7BNKLKYs
To show how badly you feel for me and do your part to help, go here: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
This episode is sponsored by Toaster Shades. To tell the coming cold to go to hell by wearing the coolest shades on the market today, go here: http://www.toastershades.com/ And if you really wanna be cool, enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for free shipping and $5 off a pair of shades!
Fans of the Grateful Dead, psychedelics, and TRUE CRIME podcasts will have a field day with this special Summer Solstice episode! Unlike any other episode we've done to date, this one is, start to finish, a narrative story, with my Wizard's voiceover interspersed with clips and music actually recorded live in the moments it actually happened.
Join our heroes as they navigate through Boston and into the bowels of Fenway Park for the Dead and Company show this past June 18...and everything that entails.
This episode is brought to you by the heroic and artistic folks at Toaster Shades - visit toastershades.com to get your one-of-a-kind, hand-painted shades guaranteed to make THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER. Use promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and free shipping!
Here's a link to the full audio of the show described in this episode: https://archive.org/details/DC2017-06-18.MG21
Never mind the fact that we are four months late - at long last, here is your SPECIAL MAY DAY EPISODE! Today in this extra brief solo journey, we begin and end with the Grateful Dead/Dead and Company (sorry not sorry) and pack the middle with serious May Day Meat, plus the standard confessions, ponderings of mortality, and explorations of the meaning of life. This is the thing you need to get ready for the solstice - coming up in just a couple short weeks.
This episode sponsored by Toaster Shades - go to toastershades.com today, find the hand-painted, one-of-a-kind sunglasses of your dreams, and enter promo code WIZARD at checkout for $5 off and free shipping!
Episode Notes: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/06/05/notes-for-episode-9-they-let-him-sing-special-may-day-edition/
Hook me up, become a blessed patron pilgrim, I beg of you: patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Nick Sand, 1941-2017.
In honor of Bicycle Day 2017, we have the absolute privilege of welcoming Psychedologist Leia Friedman to the show. A clinically-trained therapist, Leia is now on the front lines of what she calls the Second Psychedelic Renaissance, dedicating her professional career to the use of psychedelics and other forms of expanded consciousness in serious therapy. Some among us might call this "God's work". She tells us how she came to this noble profession-on-the-edge, all about the Boston Entheogenic Network, and many salacious tales from the recently-concluded Psychedelic Science 2017 conference, at which she hosted a panel. This one will blow your mind - I hope you learn as much as I did.
Episode notes here: (as soon as I finish them)https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/05/08/notes-for-episode-8-the-second-psychedelic-renaissance-with-leia-friedman/
Support this podcast by becoming a Patreon Pilgrim (it's cooler than it sounds): https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
Happy Good Friday, everyone! This special Holy Week episode is going to be an absolute delight for Christians and non-Christians alike - probably even more so for the non-Christian set. Listen to me ramble for a couple minutes about the state of the world and the need for renewal and salvation before we get to the main event - old friend Pastor Dave Capozzi, who I think of as "the Christian who actually understands Christianity." He's cool as hell and the conversation is absolutely fascinating. You know you're curious.
Check out the episode notes here, once I actually finish writing them: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/04/14/notes-for-episode-7-holy-week-with-revolutionary-pastor-dave-capozzi/
Please support our lost cause on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
This week, I have the honor and pleasure of being joined by the massively talented artist Tom Jenks! He tells us about his experiences making live electric art with people's heartbeats, putting on live art therapy sessions, the experience of creating his pieces in hyperspace, the relation of psychedelics and creativity to the nature of existence, and he even shows us a killer heart-meditation technique, which I try live and on the air. This one is almost too much fun.
Check out Tom's stuff in our episode notes: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/04/03/notes-for-episode-6-piloting-the-spaceship-with-artist-tom-jenks/
If you dig this, won't you throw us a dollar on Patreon? We will love and bless you: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
He's been called "The closest thing to a superhero Boston has" - and while he may reject the notion, I don't. Today, we get an extended chat with The Weather Man, a weather being sent to this planet to highlight the fact that we are in our death spiral and urge us to repent to our weather lords. He's also the legendary chief meteorologist at WEATHER IS HAPPENING. We talk about this week's big storm, Julius Caesar, climate change, hope, and learn a little bit more about our planet, our galaxy, and the inner workings of a weather being.
Episode Notes: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/03/17/notes-for-episode-5-the-eyeds-of-march-with-the-weather-man-of-weather-is-happening/
If you think this show was worth a measly dollar, consider checking out the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
Tell me the idea of a love story at the end of the world isn't particularly relevant right now. Seriously.
As though we didn't cover the Meaning of Life enough in Episode 3, we now bring you Episode 4, featuring independent filmmaker and sometime film critic David Ashley. We're discussing the Terrence Malick film "The New World," which you may not have seen - and it doesn't matter. This is not like any conversation about a movie you've ever heard. We go deep into the nature(s) of reality, the choices we must make as human beings, and whether or not it is possible to choose a life filled with meaning and some semblance of peace. This is another one for the books, folks.
Episode notes: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/02/28/notes-for-episode-4-love-story-at-the-end-of-the-world-with-david-ashley/
For our very first guests, we've got two of my favorite people. Johnathan McEachin is a radical community organizer and underground brewmaster, and Derek Pelotte is a physics teacher and founder of Scientific Satanism.
Today, we talk about a bad day - perhaps a day when the events of the world seem really overwhelming, chaotic, and frightening - and from there, we go on to explore the entire meaning of all of life. We start with questioning whether Buddhism is legitimate, discuss the Myth of Sisyphus, ask ourselves if meditation sucks or is awesome, and decide once and for all if the machines can do it better than we can. Ultimately, we pose the question of whether or not personal and collective salvation lies somewhere other than the material and ponder starting our own cult together.
It's basically a Linklater movie, in a podcast.
Here's our episode notes: https://wizardofmonadnock.com/2017/02/02/notes-for-episode-3-on-a-day-like-today-with-johnathan-mceachin-and-derek-pelotte/
And if you like this or were somewhat unsettled by it and are considering calling the police, consider instead supporting the Wizard of Monadnock project on Patreon - a single buck gets you exclusive bonus material at least once every month, and the possibilities only go upward from there. I love you all. https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
What if Mount Monadnock is, in fact, a holy mountain? We may well answer that question in this episode - but first, what the hell does that even mean? We'll take a wild trip around the sun, through the holidays of the fall, to sacred mountains all across the globe, then finally, back to Monadnock where we settle this question once and for all - perhaps. Plus a couple special announcements and weird moments you will ONLY get to experience in your lifetime by listening to this episode.
Support the wizard: https://www.patreon.com/wizardofmonadnock
Do you need a laugh? Do you ever wonder if the world is much bigger and more mysterious than we see in our daily lives? Does the day-to-day sometimes bore and depress you so much you want to start making stuff up? Hosted by Wild Jay Monaco, our introductory episode will cover all that and talk about the importance of the autumnal equinox. Find out how you can become a wizard and learn why we all need to take a break and party. And meet, for perhaps the first time, the Wizard of Monadnock. This podcast will explore religion, mythology, mysticism, modern life, psychedelics, magic, film, literature, and the Grateful Dead - all from the hilarious and bizarre perspective only found in the wooded slopes in the shadow of New Hamsphire's sacred Mount Monadnock, third most visited mountain in all the world. Join the mountain's only wizard as he seeks to live a full and explosive life amid the chaos and confusion and against all odds.