I'm a fellow travel podcaster and journalist (The Big Travel Podcast) and came across this podcast when reviewing other travel podcasts for an article I'm writing. Eric has such a lovely way of telling a story and a brilliant voice. Love it. This is exactly what I've been looking for and sounds amazing. Can't stress how great this show sounds enough. Great show + great host = Home Run Podcast. Subscribed! Fascinating! Love indigenous music and listening to Chuck’s vivid descriptions were as close to being there as possible. I am so intrigued with these off the beaten path places and this podcast offers a glimpse into realities otherwise unknown. He really captures the “spirit” and Eric, your podcast connects us to that world. Wonderful! e-travels with e. trules is a very informative and entertaining podcast about Mr. Trules travels across our planet over the past many years. But it's more than just that. It's also about his life beginning in New York and how he created a life for himself, his wife and now their adopted son in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles.
What's especially enjoyable about his accounts of his life is not just what's going on in the present but also the historical knowledge he imparts with a sense of humor.
He probably remembers Gene Shepard from many many years ago on WOR A.M. Radio in New York City and I as a young child back then would listen to him on the equivalent of podcasts back then. Younger people may recall the movie "A Christmas Story" and the famous saying about not getting a Bebe gun because he will shoot his eye out. Well that was written by and voice overhead by Gene Shepard.
Mr. Trules has a similar ability to tell a good story and to do so in such a way as to bring you right there.
I only recently discovered podcasts and this has got to be one of the best ones out there! Well worth a sub, DO IT NOW, i did! Listen to this podcast and the man who makes it. He will rekindle your desire for adventure, knowledge, and just maybe teach you how to catch a ride on the train of opportunity. I love travel and foreign cultures, and it was great to find a podcast that adds an entertaining, offbeat angle to a genre that can quickly become stale. Highly recommended. If you love travel you will certainly love this podcast! Eric is an amazing story teller and he will transport you to another world every time. I definitely recommend this podcast to all travel lovers. This podcast transports me evey episode to a entertaining adventure that lets me leave my current reality and allows me to see this crazy world as told by the euthusiastic, talented, and engaging storyteller, Eric Trules. I find his travel stories enlightening and very relaxing to sit back and listen to. Besides Trules mastery of telling his stories, the podcast is well-produced with excellent audio and sounds that help in making this such an addictive listen. Can't wait for more! This was a delightful and entertaining narrative. I tuned in thinking it was a podcast about one of Eric's wild travels only to find out that this was a piece about marriage, and a damned good one at that. Love the story telling aspect of the early episodes: the score, the performance. It's really engaging. As a podcaster, I love the behind the scenes episodes as well. Looking forward to where this show will go! Trules' voice and the sound design make E-travels with E-trules a lovely soundtrack when working. His stories will transport you to another world while you tap away at your cubicle. I hope he post more and more often! Highly recommend. Love the interplay between discovering new places in the world that are ancient and making new personal discoveries. Yes, he's crazy to be taking some of these trips, but what else is new? He's being truly Trules. His inner clown is always smiling.
Thanks a bunch.
Mark Berger and Rain Worthington A great listen. Transported me. Looking forward to more! I love it! 5+ I was lucky enough to be in Echo Park, Los Angeles this November and heard some of Eric's podcasts before they were even available on itunes. He has the perfect pitch and tone of the seasoned traveller and raconteur, I slipped comfortably away and was lost in distant lands and times. A real treat to hear Eric's voice among hoards of podcasts out there. His point-of-view, cadence, and energy makes for trascendent listening. LOVE it! Trules has such a great radio voice. Truly enjoyed the podcast, as it got me yearning to backpack again. Really high-quality production, with great music (and I dig the whistling at the end). Eric Trules is a natural born storyteller. He also happens to be an ever-searching, wonderfully curious, thoughtful and profound individual, with a unique perspective on the wide world -- a world which he's circumnavigated far more than I could even imagine. Though, after listening to his podcast, it's inspiring me to attempt to catch up someday and ramp up the timeline on my exploration of this mysterious, beautiful world.
As much as the travel adventures are wonderful to hear on their own though, the real treasure here comes in his thoughtful reflection on humanity in its many garments and idiosyncracies. He certainly could have been a cultural anthropologist if he didn't become a theatre professor...but I'm glad he went toward the stage; now we get the benefits of his runminations on humanity through the vessel of a uniquely gifted, entertaining storyteller.
I've seen him perform many times, but this podcast is a great reminder of how much character and warmth his voice carries with every phrase as a trained performer. Trules is a cultural treasure, and I can't wait to hear more installments of this powerful travelogue. The podcast is a delightful medley of travel, history, and Trules! His voice over the music and sound makes it easy to picture the fantastic stories. The storytelling is as hypnotic as the music. For those who love traveling but don't get to do so as often as you wish, this is the go-to podcast! Eric creates a sense of place like no one else. I felt like I was right there alongside him on all these amazing journeys. What an experience! Love, love, LOVE this! Inspires me to keep exploring the world with our new little family addition. Great first episode. Trules has a natural knack for storytelling, and exploration. Looking forward to the new show! The widely traveled Trules is also a gifted writer, performer and teacher — and this podcast benefits from all those talents Trulles is a unique, funny, and intelligent guide in the world of travel, life, and love. Between the music, sound design, and pleasant low rumble of Trules' voice, this is a podcast that will satisfy that craving for a story that lets you live by your mind's eye. In the introduction of the podcast, Trules begins laying down the different stories and inspirations that he has quilted together over his life. From his natural curiosity in history to his appreciation for the unforeseen, you get the sense that Trules has a narrative that bridges his personal discoveries with the shifts the world has undergone throughout his life.
I'm looking forward to seeing how these stories flesh out. I can tell that we're in for a treat. Really great and entertaining podcast. Hooks you from the first episode. I'm very impressed with the content in this first episode and can't wait to hear more of Eric's stories. I am thrilled that I came upon this podcast. Trules has a wonderful quality for engaging his listeners, and will transcend you from your living room couches to vast corners of the world. The podcast's professional quality, coupled with Trules' creativity and natural skill for storytelling, will keep you coming back for more. It's a must - can't wait for more! Based on the promo episode of this show, I've subscribed and am definitely looking forward to more! This podcast is extremely well-produced, with audio that excites and amuses. I love the concept of unique, personal and engaging travel stories from the host's real-life experiences, combined with audio scapes that bring listeners directly into the story. I have a feeling this show will be one to keep an eye on, as it holds a great deal of promise for future success. Can't wait to hear the many places Eric Trules will take us! Ooooookaeeeeeeeeey! Amazing podcast. It’s so great to hear travel stories and really unique histoires from Eric Trules life.
Listen Now
Please listen to the entire episode to hear a nostaligic recap of 6 excerpts from Season 1… PLUS… the title story, “Tear”, at the very end…. at 12:21…. a travelogue actually not about… me!
End of Season 1
Well…..as much as I hate… and hesitate… to announce it… this will be the last episode of Season 1.
But don’t worry, there will definitely be a Season 2.
However, this episode is designed to celebrate Season 1…. during which we created 10 unique travelogues over the last 10 months, all with original music and sound design… a sampler Welcome episode, and 9 Behind the Scenes episodes, interviewing my production team, fellow podcasters, travelers, and friends from all around our complicated and beautiful planet.
Just click the ARROW below “LISTEN NOW” at the top of these show notes, to listen to Episode 19, “End of Season 1, with a Tear”.
…and if you haven’t heard all of Season 1, please go to iTunes (now “Apple Podcasts”)… to Stitcher if you have an Android phone, or to the “e-travels” Library on my homepage to hear the Whole Season.
Naturally, I want to give a shout out to my Team who has helped me create the podcast: Alysha Bermudez, my intrepid sound designer who has been here since Day 1 in the studio. Amanda Yamate, my composer of international musical tapestries who has been here since Day 2.
Scott Barber, owner and sound engineer in the Barbershop Recording Studio right here in Echo Park Los Angeles, and Harry Duran, my producer, without whose podcast knowledge, expertise, and pep talks I would have never been able to get this far.
I admit, it’s kind a drag to stop here, just when our listening numbers have been climbing so rapidly over the last few months. It seems like the podcast is really spreading by word of mouth and social media, and that the whole library of back episodes is getting a good listen to. I really appreciate that.
The title travelogue at the end of this episode, “TEAR”, is one of a kind. A travel story… actually not about… me! It’s about a young Chicano boy named Alejandro Chavez and about a bus trip he made with his cousin, Huero, across the Mexican-American border at Tijuana in 1995. Alejandro was my “mentee” for 5 years in the Fulfillment Fund, from his last year of middle school in LA through his high school graduation, before he was accepted to UCLA, a short distance in miles from his home in Pico-Union, one of LA’s best-known Mexican-American barrios, but still an immeasurable distance from Mexican-American border.
Alex, as he liked to be called, told me this story, and I’ve tried to capture it here. I think it’s a love story about the distance between countries and cultures, in our modern age of… President Trump and all the challenges of immigration. And I think it’s a bitter-sweet, but appropriate ending, to Season 1 of “e-travels with e. trules”.
Support SEASON 2!
Now for the hard part. Or at least the part where I need YOU, my loyal listening audience.
Funding for Season 2.
As you may know, I got a generous Capstone grant from USC, the university from where I just retired after teaching for 31 years, but now the grant is done with the completion of Season 1, and I still have to pay for studio time for Season 2, and pay the Team, who work incredibly hard for incredibly little money.
So that’s where you come in – with donations to support Season 2.
Each musically-scored travelogue episode costs about $500 each. Each Behind the Scenes episode only costs about $50 each. So if you do the math, 10 travelogues, 10 Behind the Scenes interviews, that’s $5500.
(And now you know why independent podcasters do interviews, not sound-designed and musically-scored shows… unless they’re NPR public radio or podcasts with hundreds of thousands of downloads… and sponsors…. which we are not quite… yet.)
So please…
***Sponsor a travelogue for $500 and get a generous shout out on the weekly show’s closing credits.
***Sponsor a Behind the Scenes interview for $50 and get a nice mention on a specific episode.
***Contribute $200 or more, be the first to guess the lucky number between 1 and 21, and win a $60 gift voucher to Tumanyan Kikhali Restaurant in Glendale, one of Pulitzer Prize winner, Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best LA Restaurants.
Rest assured, there will be more giveaways than grants next season, so get on board. It will be much appreciated… not only by me and my Team, but by the thousands of listeners we have out there.
HERE is the link to donate.
Tweetables
Production Credits
Sound design by Alysha Bermudez.
Music composed by Amanda Yamate.
Recorded by Scott Barber at the Barbershop Recording Studio in Echo Park, Los Angeles.
Produced by Harry Duran at FullCast.
Supported by a USC Capstone Grant, with special thanks to Professor Phil Allen, Director of the Sound Design Program at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts.
Episode 19 PHOTO credit: Daniel J. Smith and Mario Martinez.
I’m afraid that I recorded “Tear” so long ago…. over a decade ago in the NPR Marketplace sound studio in downtown LA… that I’ve lost the sound designer’s name and contact information. Dumb, Trules. But if you’re out there, talented designer who created the eerie and beautiful score for this last podcast travel tale, please contact me – so I can give you the credit you so richly deserve.
Please leave your COMMENTS about this episode at the bottom of these SHOW NOTES,
or any of the previious 18 Episodes HERE.
Contact me with any questions or ideas…………….
and…
Happy Trails…………
See you in Season 2!!!!!!
Trules
