The EPS Podcast: Recent Episodes
Eric Paul
The analysis of a primary source helps us to learn about the time period and the place from which it came. Too often we limit the term "primary source" to mean just newspapers, letters, diaries and such, when in reality EVERYTHING, from toy packaging to movies, websites to toothpaste, restaurant menus to , well, podcasts, can be dissected. This podcast focuses on American Popular Culture and treats films, songs, food, comic books, toys, games, TV shows, clothing...& etc as artifacts waiting to inform us about the time period and society that produced and embraced them.
To learn more about the process, see materials and follow the episodes, go to epspodcast.club
Join the EPS Podcast Facebook Group to follow new episodes, see announcements and offer up suggestions for future episodes.
S3E1: "Back Back Back Back Back! -Chris Berman"
Season 3 Premiere!
ESPN's SportsCenter as a document of history with Deremy of the Bigger than the Game Podcast, plus a reminder that EVERYTHING is, indeed, a primary source with drop-in guest, Trey, recorded live at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH.
Part I of "Trailblazers" with Dan R. Morris aired on April 20, 2023
To be fun and educational was the goal for all the versions of Oregon Trail from day one. Back in April I spoke with Dan of the Tracing the Path podcast to learn about the origins of the game and see what it can tell us about the past—not necessarily the 1840s, but of the 1960s and 70s.
Welcome to the 11th installment of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast’s “Part 2 Palooza”. Today we pick up where Jeremy Ebersole and I left off in early April talking about neon signage, as well as Society for Commercial Archeology, of which Jeremy is a board member, as primary sources.
It was through this podcast that I was invited to do my first ever virtual podcast karaoke with the SCA’s annual conference back in June . The conversations that resulted from that event will be aired during season 3, which begins in about one month from now. But for now, here’s the second half of “I am a Neon Light”
Listen to Part 1 of "Suburban Rebels" published on March 30, 2023
Rob Vater took time away from his DND podcast We Met in a Tavern to speak with me about the role playing game and how it can inform us about the time period in which it entered American pop culture.
This episode aired just as the most recent Dungeons and Dragons movie was released and it turns out the movie was just as Rob predicts on the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast
Part 2 of my discussion with Buddy Holly biographer Gary Lynn Clevenger where we discuss the short-lived career as a product of his times.
Please refer back to March 23, 2023 for Part I of "Not Fade Away" to learn why we speak of the Ramones just as much as Buddy Holly!
Part I of "A Strong Figure for Children's History" published March 16, 2023
Part 2 with Christopher Bensch of Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY goes further into the analysis of how and why a museum of toys and games can tell us so much about our society and culture.
Part I of "A to Z of the www." was posted on March 9th of this year.
With Christopher Mims of the Wall Street Journal
Find him at Mims.club
Unlike most of the other topics covered in the Everything is a Primary Source podcast, Amazon has not remained static by any means. On the contrary, not only has the eCommerce giant grown to offer far more than the books Jeff Bezos originally set out to sell, but it has influenced Americans’ day to day lives like few other pop culture artifacts.
Part I of this episode aired in March of 2023
With Scott of Diner Day in the USA
When it comes to roadside Americana there are few things on a higher pedestal than diners. Simultaneously mass-produced and individual, these eateries have been serving locals and passers-through across the country for well over a century, and their various looks, settings and signage draw the eye like nothing else.
Part I of "Johnny Hit and Kick Bullies" aired on February 23, 2023
With Adam of The Raised on Film Podcast
At the time of this interview back in February I hadn’t watched much more than the trailer for Cobra Kai. However, while talking with Adam of the Raised on Film podcast about the show, a sequel series to the Karate Kid movies of the 1980s, I couldn’t keep away, and I've since become hooked.
Part I of "More Than a Disco Movie to Me" aired on February 16, 2023
With Kevin of I Helped Make That Podcast
When he’s not in front of the camera Kevin Higgins hosts a podcast called I Helped Make That, a show dedicated to learning from the cast and crew members of movies and TV shows themselves about the stories they’ve helped tell. So who better to talk to to get the inside scoop behind how and why this iconic 70s film was made, and what it can tell us about the time period?
Part I of "Opening Drive" aired on February 9, 2023
With Deremy of Bigger than the Game
Unless you are a diehard football fan, the week before the 4th of July doesn’t really set the scene to talk about the sport, but the second half of the conversation takes some significant tangents into a variety of topics including Star Wars, the Articles of Confederation and grunge music.
Part I of "Moses Deliver Us" was posted on February 3, 2023.
With Chance Kelly
Part II goes from the Westchester County parkways to Robert Moses, Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt's roles and legacy in and around Manhattan.
Part II "Hojo's/ Holiday Inn" posted on December 15, 2022.
With Rolando Pujol, The Retrologist
Part II explores even more about how the the two motel chains, as well as other familiar franchised companies from America’s highways and byways, adjusted as the 20th century, which created them, came to an end.
It’s December first, the holiday shopping season is well underway, and if it was December at anytime between the early 70s and the early 2000s you’d probably be at the mall right about now. Afterall, malls were the centerpiece of commerce and social life for many suburban communities during that time period, and whether or not they are still standing, their existence acts as great reflections of time and place.
I was so happy to have my friend and frequent podcast collaborator Kyle join me to talk about malls as primary sources, especially since together we frequented one in particular throughout the 1990s.
I try to connect my short and long episodes in some way each week, so seeing as how Thursday’s episode is all about shopping malls, I figured a source that comes from the early 2000s, the last hurrah for mall culture, made sense.
Skylor, my on-the-spot guest last month at Defiant Records and Craft Beer in Laconia, NH, dove into the business’s extensive stacks of vinyl and selected a record from turn-of-the-century rockers, Taking Back Sunday. It’s fascinating to see an album of songs that were probably first listened to on CDs, (which were on their way out 20 years ago), as well as mp3s, (which were on their way in) on vinyl record, one of the original formats for recorded sound.
The holidays bring up at least a few opportunities to pull cookbooks off shelves in order to find the perfect recipe for an occasion. These collections of cooking directions are often dog-eared and bulging from the newspaper and magazine clippings that act as addendums to the original text. Pencil marks cross out parts of recipes that don’t work as well or offer substitutions based on what was in the pantry when the dish was last attempted.
Cookbooks are already outstanding primary sources of their time periods, but can become even better, more individualized documents when analyzed complete with these alterations. And if anyone will wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment it is Erin E. Moulton. Erin is a genealogist and researcher as well as an author and presenter. She joined me earlier this Fall to take a deeper look at the Out of Vermont Kitchens cookbook to see what it can tell us about the people and times that produced it.
I have a shelf surrounding my breakfast nook at home where various knickknacks and junk store finds are displayed, and items get regularly selected to go with me to my EPS Podcast Live! Exhibits. One such artifact, a Stickney and Poor’s allspice container from the first half of the 20th century, caught the eye of Jeff from Loaded Question. You may be amazed how such a random item sparks a conversation involving Calvin and Hobbes and Homestar Runner in less than ten minutes.
You know what they say, one man’s expired, discarded allspice tin is another man’s primary source.
McDonald’s has two origin stories in the United States. The first came in the 1940s as a product of the economic boom immediately following the Second World War and the harnessing of efficiency and quality by Dick and Mack McDonald involving their San Bernardino, California burger stand. The second is the franchised McDonald’s, spearheaded a few years later by Ray Kroc and built alongside the expanding network of Interstate expressways. Both iterations are documents of the same general time period and inform us greatly of American society, economics, government, and culture of that era.
But what about when the Golden Arches found their way outside of the United States, to completely different continents? What is that a product of? What can McDonalds becoming part of other nations’ popular culture tell us about the time period it happened? To answer these questions and more, I turned Johan of Edutainment Daily, who is a historian in Sweden. As you’ll learn, McDonald’s in Sweden and Europe at large is reflective of much different circumstances than in the US.
Jurassic Park is the ultimate blockbuster movie, and what blockbuster movie’s marketing would be complete without collectible cups from a fast food restaurant. John, our resident dinosaur expert, and creator of much of the music you hear on the eps podcast, sat down with me to break down one such cup from McDonald’s (which might be one of the only such items to feature Wayne Knight).
This week has been all about the stars and anniversaries, so a good combination of the two is releasing an episode all about the PBS program Cosmos on the anniversary of its creator and host, Carl Sagan’s, birthday. This is the EPS Podcast and I’m glad to have you listening.
James Maynard, the host of the Cosmic Companion Podcast, draws a direct line from watching “Cosmos” when it first aired in 1980 to his career as a writer, astronomer, historian and scientist. And since I can do the same with another PBS series that came out 10 years later, Ken Burns’s The Civil War , we made for a perfect pair of analysts of how a documentary series can be looked at as a primary source of its era.
As you know from yesterday’s full-length show, Star Wars was a cultural phenomenon that no one could have predicted, least of all toy makers. In fact, Kenner, the company which received the contract to make Star Wars toys, barely had any ready in time for Christmas 1977.
Bernie, my very first guest at Loaded Question Brewery live podcasting event, was glad to talk about his personal connection to Luke Skywalker’s speeder and the entire toy line.
Not long ago, in various places around my house and on my commute to work, I began listening to Star Wars Minute. The conversational podcast dissects each Star Wars Movie by the minute, producing some of the most interesting and entertaining content in the podcasting galaxy. The fun that co-hosts Comic Book Alex and Pete the Retailer have with their guests shines through in each installment of the show, and directly inspired not only the style of my program, but the creation of it in the first place. Star Wars Minute is directly responsible for The EPS Podcast.
I could not and cannot be any more grateful to Alex for agreeing to be a guest on my show to dissect the original Star Wars movie from 1977 as a document of its time period. I hope you enjoy this anniversary episode of the EPS Podcast, where everything is a primary source.
Star Wars was a direct product of the desperate times in which it was made, and the message and spirit that the movie instilled in the public may have saved aspects of society and culture from the brink of collapse. That’s quite a bit of credit to give to a movie, but considering the circumstances, it is deserved. Star Wars biggest audience, children, had spent much of their youths receiving mixed messages from pop culture and media regarding good and bad, and right and wrong. Star Wars tore through the clouds of doubt and delivered a moralistic story of heroes and villains at just the right time. It marks the time period, in many ways, but one of which is by being the antithesis of everything else in media in the late 70s.
In January 2001 a BBC documentary crew filmed the everyday goings on in a typical workplace. Now, nearly 22 years later, we return to find out what has happened to the employees of …The Office.
Of course this program is not actually a documentary, but rather a brilliant TV mockumentary series. And just like any other piece of media, it stands as an excellent primary source of the time and place that produced it. The guys from the Wernham Blogg podcast were gracious enough to join me in dissecting this groundbreaking British TV series.
Who doesn’t like a good mystery? Following along with the adventure of solving a puzzle is fun for all ages and manifests itself in many forms of media, all of which are primary sources, by the way.
Frank and Joe Hardy have helped their Detective Dad, Fenton, solve mysteries for the better part of a century now. And each iteration of the Hardy Boys, and their pal Nancy Drew, is a reflection of the time period in which the stories were written.
My last guest at this Summer’s exhibit at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH sat down to chat about the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Murder Mystery Dinners and so many other entertaining options for amateur sleuths.
Halloween is just around the corner which means this week’s episodes of the EPS Podcast will involve things that relate to the spookiest time of the year. And who better to discuss the season of witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and goblins than the pumpkin king himself, Nick Vincent Barbera, aka “Jack Skellington” at New York’s Beetle House.
The Haunted Mansion at Disney Land, and later Magic Kingdom, is considered by many as one of a handful of “original rides” along with Dumbo the Flying Elephant and the Mad Tea Party. But, even though the spirit of a haunted house was there from the start (what amusement park is complete without one?) it really didn’t materialize until over a decade after the park initially opened. Nick, who recently went viral with his Hatbox Ghost recording session video, joined me to break down this iconic Disney park staple.
Halloween is almost here which means this week’s episodes will involve things that relate, at least to some extent, to the spookiest time of year. First up, Tuesday’s short: what could be more eerie than light being emitted after what sounds like the crack of a bone? And what goes better with Halloween than masks, or in this case, Jim Carrey’s The Mask?
Generation X is pretty easy to identify, and everyone knows the Millennials, but what of the people born right on the cusp of these two groups? Tim "Elvirus Outsider" Aballo stopped by my podcast studio...er garage...this summer to compare ideas about how those of us who arrived in the very short window of the late 70s and early 80s constitute a "microgeneration," and what that tells us about the era we have grown up through.
Trading cards have witnessed an ebb and flow to their popularity over the last one hundred years or so, but the late 80s into the 90s mark a period when they were enjoying the spotlight.
While sports fans have had their niche carved out with the four major North American sports represented in card form for a very long while, making a series of cards became standard with any mass marketing blitz starting with the late 1970s. Any movie, TV show, musical act, comic book, or toy line that had even the remotest chance of entering popular culture had to have a set of cards.
This episode takes a look at two non-sport card sets from the late 80s /early 90s,--New Kids on the Block and Desert Storm, both from Topps--and what they can tell us about that era.
It’s odd to consider 2012, just ten years ago, as part of history, but technically everything in the past is. Likewise, Everything is also a primary source, including—or in this podcaster’s opinion, especially—movies . 2012’s Django Unchained was the second of three Quentin Tarantino-directed movies to dabble in the Western genre (the first being Kill Bill Volume 2 and the third is The Hateful Eight), and as all movies do, this Western, a piece of historical fiction, tells us more about the time period from which it was produced than it does about history itself.
Laura Cayouette assisted me in dissecting this picture, and the Western film genre itself. She should know a thing or two about Django Unchained as she starred in the movie as Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, and her expertise in film and film history shines through from her career as an actor, director, producer, writer and teacher.
The two segments that make up this, the sixth short episode of Season 2, were recorded a few weeks apart from each other during two separate visits to Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, and the subject matter of both parts are separated by about six decades. But what’s interesting is that while Charles Lindbergh’s famous solo flight across the Atlantic is quite a bit different than the release and popularity of the sitcom Frasier, both are commemorated using dining ware, a plate and a coffee cup respectively. Take a listen to what each of these items tell us about the time 1930s and the 1990s.
To the casual observer, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, may come across as little more than modern gladiatorial combat. However, a closer look will reveal that the mixed martial arts tournament that began in 1993 is far more complex and regulated. UFC, meet EPS on this episode of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast
Professor Dan Hipp is a neuroscientist as well as a practitioner of jujitsu. I was happy to have him appear on my program again, this time to discuss how the First Ultimate Fighting Championship acts as not only a document of the early 1990s, but also marks the start of a revolution in spectator pugilism.
Aka "Beach Boys and Little Women"
“Brothers and sisters” is the common thread between the two segments that make up this week’s EPS Podcast Short episode. Brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson made up the core members of the Beach Boys, the group responsible for the many rock n roll hits collected on the first segment’s topic, “Endless Summer,” While the March Sisters, Jo, , Beth, Meg,& Amy are the focal point of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 classic Little Women ,whose 1954 Scholastic books abridged version is analyzed on the second part of today’s episode.
This episode is dedicated to the memory of my Aunt Lyn, who was a first class beach boys fan.
It is important to ask the experts when it comes to certain primary sources as there are details that casual observers will miss. That’s why I turned to Jon McCormack to stop by my home and record a podcast about the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, because if guitars were rifles, he’d be a sharpshooter.
Jon’s resume as a guitarist is extensive, having been in several bands over the years, including Fly Spinach Fly, as well as recording and performing his solo album Paintbox a few years ago. He stopped by this summer to talk and play guitar, and christen my garage as a podcast studio.
What do Mr. Potato Head, an Abraham Lincoln Finger puppet and a plush bald eagle mascot of the 1984 LA Olympics have in common with each other? Seemingly very little, other than the fact these three items were chosen by kids during my EPS Podcast Live exhibits this summer at Strawbery Bank Museum in Portsmouth.
Listen to the following segments and you’ll agree that kids say the smartest things.
Dawn is a fellow podcaster and her fabulous show, Dawnversations, is a lot like mine in that she’ll be glad to talk about most anything with her guests. When I approached her about doing a podcast together the brainstorming for a topic began. A side mention that she had been a contestant on "Wheel of Fortune" solidified it for me, and what follows is what we came up with
Word games and puzzles have been regular features in newspapers for well over a hundred years, which indicates a literate society with leisure time built into the day across all socio economic areas. When TV showed up after world war II, game shows were not far behind. This was also the era of Merv Griffin, who thought up "Wheel of Fortune", as well as its companion show, Jeopardy! A smart population well-versed in phrases, titles and the ability to effectively use the letters RSTLNE is revealed thanks to the long-term success of Wheel of Fortune.
EPS Podcast Season 2 Short #3
Segment 1: Postcards are not as common as they once were thanks to technology allowing us to make custom images of our travels and post them to social media. But throughout the 20th century these mailable documents of tourism grew in popularity thanks, in large part, to an ever growing cohort of people going places.
Those of us who grew up in the 20th century can recall looking through our Viewmasters and seeing far away places, still images from movies, or scenes from history as we cycled through the white photo discs. We could see what others saw even if we couldn’t go there ourselves.
S2E2
Everyone has a story, but what they do with that story speaks volumes about who they are. Leah Angel Daniel’s story is one of obstacles and trying times as she navigated the foster care system in Western New York through the 80s and 90s. Her experiences make her story a document of the time period and place in which she has lived.
Leah is the author of I Shall Not Be Moved: My Extraordinary Journey from Trauma to Triumph,a book she has written so that her story can be a haven to those who have or are currently dealing with traumatic experiences. I was so happy to have Leah on the EPS Podcast to investigate how her life story, and the new book , are both exceptional primary sources.
EPS Podcast Season 2 Short #2
I knew I’d get at least one person wanting to sit down and talk about Grease when I packed my copy of the Soundtrack LP and brought it to EPS Podcast Live a few days after Olivia Newton John passed away, and I was right, actually getting two different people wishing to share their nostalgia for this nostalgia film.
Take a listen to what my guests had to say about seeing the movie for the first time and carrying the music with them for the past four decades.
Season 2 Episode 1:
Monte A Melnick was with the Ramones as their tour manager for their entire 22 years trotting all over the globe. In 2003 he released a book called On the Road with the Ramones which chronicles the period from the mid 70s to mid 90s through quotes and anecdotes of those who were there. He joined me for a conversation on the EPS Podcast to dissect the band, as well as his book” as primary sources of their respective time periods.
Just like so much other media in the tumultuous times of Watergate, soaring prices, energy shortages and the end of the Vietnam war, the Ramones’ music is steeped in nostalgia for the era following World War II. While the Ramones’ sound was loud, angry and raw like the time period during which the band was formed, you can still hear the remnants of the bygone era they clearly held in high regard.
The book, is a collection of primary sources from the period the band toured, but as such is a great document of the post-9/11 era. That was the age of Barnes and Nobles and Borders, Amazons and online book exchanges. People like me, who discovered the Ramones a little too late, were constantly searching for more to learn about the band whose sound and attitude is so timeless. Bypassing unofficial or unauthorized biographies that crowd the shelves, genuine accounts like this one met the demand of a curious microgeneration that was coming of age between the Gen Xers who always had the Ramones and Millennials who never did.
Season 2 Shorts Premiere:
Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH is unique in the realm of living history museums in that the vast majority of the buildings that make up the museum are original to the spot where they stand. Also, unlike its peer institutions such as Colonial Williamsburg or Old Sturbridge Village, Strawbery Banke interprets each of the homes to a different time period, so visitors can find themselves visiting a tavern set in 1777 and then go into 1942 simply by crossing the street, or continue around the corner and walk into the 1950s, the last decade before the neighborhood was converted into an outdoor museum, which opened in 1965.
It meant the world to me that Strawbery Banke welcomed my podcast to have its first EPS Podcast LIVE! Event in one of its houses for two days in August. Before I recorded with visitors I sat down with the museum’s Director of Education to analyze Strawbery Banke itself as a Primary Source.
Later, Strawbery Banke’s Archaeologist stopped by to continue analyzing the museum, this time regarding the intended audience
This is the last Summer Short that was recorded live at the NH Maker's Fair in Dover. A very nice family stopped by and the 8-Track of Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits stuck out to them. We had a great conversation deciding just what this version of the album tells us about the time period in which it was made.
Go to www.epspodcast.club to learn more about how to have the EPS Podcast Engage, Educate, & Entertain at your business, library, museum or festival!
I knew when I chose to bring along a handmade Raggedy Ann doll from the 1940s to my remote recording session that it was going to be selected by a visitor for a podcast episode. The character is probably one of the most enduring figures in American Pop Culture, and the fact that, unlike most toys, she can made from home, means that each version of the doll tells a story of the time period in which it was made.
This is the fourth installment of conversations recorded at the 2022 Makers Fest at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in Dover. I was very happy to speak with Nathan Grey of Plastic Recycled and Caitlin of UNH Cooperative Extension 4-H.
The first segment is all about how, while recycling has been part of pop culture since the late 80s and 90s, it is so often misunderstood. Then, Caitlin and I break down The Sims and how it reflects the coming of age of millennials.
Seeing as how the Children’s Museum of NH Hosts the annual NH Maker’s Festival it only makes sense that several of visitors to my booth were kids. This week’s summer short is regarding a wide range of topics, ranging from baseball cards to Little Shop of Horrors to hand drawn maps.
Darren Windham, who is the economic developer for the Town of Exeter, NH stopped by at my booth at the Makers Fest 2022 for an impromptu conversation. We had a very nice chat about how craft breweries have really come into their own in the last few decades, elevating their status in society and local economies.
Teacher and author Carolyn Watkins sat down with me at the NH Maker's Fest to chat about her book The Knock: A Collection of Childhood Memoriesand how it, as well as how it was made, is a reflection of the time period in which we live.
Episode 30: "Nature's Balance" - A few years ago I spoke with Psychic Sara Moore on a phone reading regarding my household's animals. By the end of the conversation she was encouraging me to pursue radio broadcasting as she felt that I had a story to tell. There is no one better to have on as a guest to close out my first season of the EPS Podcast.
Our topic is mixed, but boils down to how people treat animals and how that is a reflection of a society's culture and values in any time period. We talk at length about the era that produced leagues to counter animal abuse and cruelty, all the way up to the present day when animal rescues are needed more than ever before. And, of course, the best source on what animals think about this is someone who can communicate with them.
Episode 29: This episode is comprised of two conversations I had with two different comic book artists that were featured at the Free Comic Book Day event in Rochester, and is the last of my episodes recorded that day. The first segment is my conversation with Jim Lawson, who is best known for his work in the early days of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, famously creating the character Rat King. We wonder if the timing and location of the Turtles creation had as much to do with their pop culture success as how genuine and unique they are.
Next is my chat with artist Matt Smith, who is known for his work with such titles as Hellboy and Barbarian Lord. However, in true EPS Podcast fashion, instead of talking about his artwork, we decided to talk about the modern reboot of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks as our pre-recording conversation was proving to be so much fun.
Episode 28: This is the second podcast to come from Jetpack Comics' Free Comic Book Day event.
I sat down with Hemlock Inyx, organizer of the Pop Cult Anime Con in Boston to talk about this year's event, how Japanese animation has opened the door to Americans to learn more about Japanese culture, and the way that conventions promote a sense of community and safety for attendees.
Stay tuned afterwards for a short analysis with a table visitor named Caleb who did a quick dissection of an ALF picturebook!
Episode 27: This is the first of a series of episodes I recorded at the Jetpack Comics Free Comic Book Day extravaganza in Rochester, NH. I was so happy to meet Spencer from Dime Comics Bros. Podcast and record an episode about the very first, and very best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Is the auspices under which it was made make it the gold standard of comic books-turned-movies? Listen in to find out.
Stay tuned after the conversation to hear an on-the-spot primary source analysis from two very nice FCBD visitors!
Episode 26: Like everything else, stand-up comedy has a history, and like all things, it can be treated as a primary source. The trouble is, which era does the current art form reflect?
I am joined by LA-based comic, historian and podcaster Dawn Brodey to dissect stand-up and determine what it tells us about the last century or so.
Be sure to follow Dawn's History program, The HILF Podcast.
There are countless stories to be told about people and places from America's past, but the pace of modern life doesn't always match up well with visiting traditional historic sites and museums. I am joined by paranormal investigator Kristy Sumner, PhD, founding member of Soul Sisters Paranormal , to talk about how the shift from "Woo Woo" ghost hunting to legitimate scientific investigation of the paranormal is not only a product of the times, but a way to draw people into learning about otherwise overlooked history.
Episode 24: Free Comic Book Day is fast approaching so who better to turn to than the New Hampshire comic store who has made the day into a city-wide festival? Ralph DiBernardo, founder and owner of Jetpack Comics in Rochester joins the EPS Podcast to talk about the origins of FCBD, what motivated him to develop it the way he and his store has, and the ebbs and flows of the comic industry over the last forty years or so.
*Be sure to stop by and see the EPS Podcast at Rochester's Free Comic Book Day on May 7th, 2022*
Episode 23: The Queers are the perfect combination of two of the greatest rock n roll groups of all time, The Beach Boys and the Ramones. It's only appropriate that the band's leader, Joe Queer, learned directly from the King himself, Joey Ramone.
It was great talking with Joe about the Queers' through the years and how for each era, the band has been the perfect reflection of punk attitude and culture of times.
Dr. Gwen Kay, author of Dying to Be Beautiful: The Fight for Safe Cosmetics , joined to break down the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act as a primary source of the time period.
This law was designed to repeal the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act as much had changed in American society and culture over the course of the three decades that separate the two pieces of legislation. Perhaps most notable, and the reason why cosmetics were included in the new regulations, was the rise of mass media, led by Hollywood.
Episode 21: It's really quite amazing how a collection of connecting blocks, originally marketed to children, have made such a lasting impression on societies and cultures all around the world It was so nice talking with Corey Samuels, Fox's "Lego Masters" competitor, one half of Brothers Who Brick, and owner of SamzBrego. We talked about the bricks that make the foundation for his work, and our shared admiration for Lego's status in the toy, art and engineering worlds.
Episode 20: Al Barr, lead singer of the Boston-based Dropkick Murphys, took the time on two occasions to talk with me about the group's 2001 record, "Sing Loud, Sing Proud."
The months after Y2K and before 9/11 make up a unique time period for American society for a variety of reasons, and popular culture, as usual, reflects the era. This album stands as a perfect document of the first part of 2001.
Special Preview Episode
Al Barr, lead singer for Dropkick Murphys, took the time recently to talk with me about the band's 2001 album Sing Loud, Sing Proud. The conversation was full of great stories like the ones here. I hope you enjoy this excerpt and be sure to keep a look out for the full episode being released soon.
Bonus Episode The Dream of the 90s was alive in Hartford this past weekend, or at least a part of the 90s . The Tie Dyed Librarian and I talk about our take on the first ever "90s Con," some of the high and low lights, as well as the fact that there were some glaring omissions in this TGIF, Nickelodeon-rich event.
I am glad to be joined by historian Briann Greenfield, PhD, author of Out of the Attic: Inventing Antiques in Twentieth Century New England to look forward to this weekend's first annual "90s Con" in Hartford, CT. While nostalgia for 1990s pop culture is what drives this event (for which I am very excited to attend), it is not unique to the 21st century. Dr. Greenfield helps compare and contrast our hyper-reminiscing modern culture with the Colonial Revival movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Episode 18: Food, glorious food! Food is the most delicious pop culture artifact, and this conversation was long overdue. Food has been the centerpiece and guiding force of my friend, Chef John Keller. He was kind enough to lend his story to be the first time for this podcast in treating a life as a primary source. By having the experiences in kitchens on both sides of the Atlantic, John is the product of the culinary world as it evolved in the 80s and 90s, and each dish he has prepared, and student he has trained, are documents of their respective places and eras.
Episode 17: If everything is a primary source, then everyday can be Halloween, right? Beetle House started as a Tim Burton-themed popup in 2016 but has rapidly become a fixture in New York City. I spoke with Nick Vincent Barbera, who portrays Jack Skellington at Beetle House, to analyze his workplace as a product of the times from which it came.
This is the first time on the show that I have been able to chat with someone directly involved in the subject at hand.
The Ramones are my all time favorite rock group, so choosing the cover art to their 1980 album "End of the Century" to analyze as a primary source creates a nerding-out fiesta. The cool, casual voice of my friend and music aficionado Kris is who you'll hear in between my blurting out of Ramonesmania.
Was 1980 the right time for the New York punk quartet to pull from the past for their sound and image? Kris and I weigh in on how a picture of a leather jacket-less Ramones may have acted as a turning point for the group.
Musical performances have the opportunity to convey the right ideas and feelings at the right time. This was true in 1968 when James Brown performed at the Boston Garden the night after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, and it was true in 2002 when U2 played the Superdome during the first Super Bowl after September 11th, 2001.
Episode 14: My friend, Professor Dan Hipp, is an accomplished cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist. So when I asked him to be a guest commentator on my podcast we, naturally, decided to discuss the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, Commando. Treating this violent, catch phrase-laden shoot-'em-up as a primary source of the mid 1980s produces some exceptional conversation about the era from which it came.
Remember when I told you I'd save this podcast for last? I lied.
Episode 13: I'm joined again by Andrew to look at how the cover art for 1925's The Great Gatsby is just as useful as a primary source of 1920s America as the book it graces. Created fairly early in the history of graphic design, Cugat's painting was deeply intertwined with the story The Great Gatsby itself, and may have informed some of its most iconic components.
Episode 12: American movie audiences had their share of historical pictures to sort through by the end of the 1930s. Many fillms during the Great Depression displayed figures from American history overcoming obstacles and hardships as a way to inspire moviegoers in their own difficult times. But as war clouds gathered and erupted in Europe and Asia by the end of the decade, movies such as Northwest Passage shifted the commentary towards wartime propaganda.
Episode 11: Oo De Lally!
Adi and I talk and dissect a shared favorite, Disney's 1973 animated feature Robin Hood. Was its recycled animation a cost-cutting measure reflective of the company's restructuring in the era, or is it telling of something else? How is this retelling of the English folk tale perhaps a clue about early 1970s attitudes towards poitics and power? Listen for our thoughts on these topics and more.
Golly, what a day!
Episode 10:
Memorials, monuments, and markers tell us more about those who made them then they do of their subjects. While recently touring around our home state of New Hampshire, my family and I were attracted to Milford and what Atlas Obscura, the ultimate guide to destination primary sources, describes as the 1838 "Grave With a Grudge" in the Elm Street Cemetery. But I couldn't help but pay more attention to a memorial marker that was made in 1930, as it was placed directly in front the 1838 tablet, and focus on it as my next primary source breakdown.
The companion video can be found here.
(I have come to learn that Carrie Cutter is the alter ego for supervillian Cupid in the Green Arrow comic books. If you are a fan of that character and arrived here by accident, I hope you still enjoy this podcast. And who knows, maybe I'll end up doing an analysis on that character one day)
Episode 9:
Hello, New Year.What's the deal with all these podcasts?
Kyle returns to talk all things Seinfeld--its inception, influence, place in television history--but most importantly for this podcast, what does its success tell us about the society and culture in the era in which it was made?
Episode 8: Erin the Tie Dyed Librarian drops in on the Podcast to talk about the colorized version of 1946's It's A Wonderful Life. We discuss the motivations behind the update forty years after the movie's original release and how that reflects the society, culture and economics of the mid 1980s in America.
Episode 7: Just like Snoopy, I'm flying solo for this episode where I analyze this seemingly campy song about the Red Baron sparing the cartoon dog's life because he is overcome by the spirit of the season. It seems out of place when we hear it on the radio a lot this time of year in the current period, but when placed in the context of the late 1960s when it was made, "Snoopy's Christmas" reveals to us a much deeper meaning. The Baby Boomer generation had grown up with Peanuts, rock n roll and the Cold War, all of which had a hand in producing this primary source of 1967.
Episode 6: When I grow up and start podcasting, I'm recording alone!
By early 1991 I was the last kid in America who had not seen Home Alone in the theater. With the VHS release still almost a year away, salvation came in the form of steel cases on wheels that is the Scholastic Book Fair where I purchased the movie's novelization for a third the cost of a movie ticket.
Thrity years and at least seventy screenings of Home Alone later, I analyze the script-turned-novel, sans co-commentator.
Episode 5: Author Adi Rule joins to comment on a mutual Holiday favorite, "John Denver & The Muppets, A Christmas Together" on vinyl. What can this charming collaboration tell us about the entertainment industry, consumers and audiences in late 1970s America? Is it as mainstream as it seems or is there more than meets the eyes and ears?
Episode 4: After seeing a stellar local stage production of Peter Pan Erin the Tie Dyed Librarian talks with me about all things Neverland. The 1904 play by JM Barrie, the Disney film and Broadway musical of the 1950s, and other subsequent interpretations and uses of the story and characters are analyzed to determine the values, ideas and attitudes of each time period.
Episode 3: Pop culture enthusiast, long-time friend and all-around great guy Kyle joins to talk about how the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie not only tells us about American society of the 1990s, but may have done more than its source material video game in advancing the title into the mainstream.
Episode 2: In light of (another) new Batman movie being released soon, we go back to 1989 to look at a time when a dark and brooding Caped Crusader was a new concept. Guest commentator Andrew C. joins Eric Paul in addressing how 1989's Batman is an excellent primary source of the late 1980s.