Listen:
On the podcast show description - available wherever you consume fine podcasts - I describe the show as being about positive talk, with diversions into music, history, spirituality, etc.
That's today's episode in a nutshell.
Can sports be a spiritual testing ground? Any Arsenal fan will tell you they can. If you need lessons in letting go, releasing your attachments, living in the moment, managing emotions, having gratitude, and having faith in the way things are, support Arsenal Football Club. If you can do that, if you can stand in that crucible and not come apart at the spiritual seams, you have achieved mastery, grasshopper. I'm still hopping over here, and I tell you all about it on the episode.
Then we get into the historic phenomenon of bone music - music pressed onto discarded X-rays in the former Soviet Union. This is what the kids had to do to hear rock music during the Cold War, when music from the west was banned and illegal. It's a fascinating story, and it informed the Bone Music EP that I recorded with Hiroshima Hearts (Jenn Marino & The Hearts) a few years ago. It also provides a compelling backdrop for a harrowing and wonderful experience I had playing in Schmölln, Germany with the Sarah Smith band on one of our European tours.
See below for the Kane Roberts thing. Click the following if you want to check out Paul Reed's terrific WW1 podcast The Old Front Line.
Once in a while on your travels, when you're trying to find a cool record to talk about on your podcast, you stumble upon a gem. That's what happened last week when I checked out the new Dead Daisies album Holy Ground. You can sample it below and do indeed have a listen to the episode to hear my thoughts on it. Nutshell: it rocks and Glen Hughes is the man.
Thanks as ever for tuning in. Feedback welcome here!
And now, here's Kane Roberts being the ultimate '80s rock star:
And one of many bangers by The Dead Daisies: