Susan, Tim, & Me – Hollywood Comes to Bali – Episode 36
Today I find myself at a cremation ceremony in Ubud, Indonesia, the cultural capital of the magical island of Bali. Thousands of locals and tourists are watching a Hindu-Bali ceremony… where the bones of Balinese men, women, and children, who have never received a proper burial, have been dug up, placed in giant coffin-boxes topped with carved wooden bulls, run through the streets, surprisingly like the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and then set afire in a giant Hindu-Bali ceremony of flames and celebration. Amidst the humbling crowd are Susan, Tim, and… me.
Behind the Scenes with Reggae Aficionado, Roger Steffens – Episode 35
Roger Steffens is a reggae expert and collector extraordinaire. Also a poet, photographer, raconteur, and personal friend of Bob Marley. Which means… Roger’s been to Jamaica many times, mon. If you know anything about reggae, you probably know that Roger co-hosted “The Reggae Beat” on KCRW radio beginning in 1979, the first and only reggae show in Los Angeles at the time. And I consider myself extremely fortunate to be presenting some previously-unreleased Bob Marley music from the singer’s personal “Bedroom Tapes” that Roger has graciously allowed me to mix into our interview, “on loan” from “The Archives”….along with several original “dub tracks” by The Wailers themselves. Enjoy….
Moon Over Chefchaouen, Part 2 – Episode 34
If you remember, I last left you at the end of Part 1 getting off a hot, crowded bus which took me from Tetouen, Morocco to… Chechaouen, Morocco. It turns out that not all “ouens” are the same. I’m getting off the bus when I see a seated Islamic man dressed in all white, staring intently at me. He has a computer in his lap, and it’s not too long after 9/11. He points at me and I’m…. terrified… expecting the explosive worst…. only to find out that he’s pointing at my blue plastic CD player which I’ve left in my seat. “Shokrun”, I say, “thank you”, the only word I know in Arabic, as I get off the bus, the victim of my own racial profiling.
Behind the Scenes with Ethno-Musicologist, Chuck Jonkey – Episode 33
Chuck Jonkey is an adventurer, composer, and musician who transforms his off the beaten track travel experiences into sound, music and film. Chuck’s exotic adventures have taken him to the furthest reaches of the planet where he seeks out some of the world’s most isolated tribal groups, embeds himself in their cultures, and records their music. His musical explorations have taken him from the deep rain forests of the Peruvian Amazon to the Far East Asian jungles of Cambodia. Along the way, he sometimes has to steel his will and politeness to endure a special dinner…. of RAT.
Moon Over Chefchaouen – Episode 32
This adventure — is about my trip to Morocco, after I finish my travels in Andalucia. I take a boat from the southeastern tip of Spain’s port, Algeciras, across the Strait of Gibralta, to the northern-most tip of Africa, Ceuta, still Spanish territory… until I cross the Spanish-Moroccan border – by foot – and end up in Tetouan…. Morocco… at the base of the Atlas Mountains. This is not your typical tourist trip to Tangier, Fez, Marrakesh, or Casablanca, but more like a Paul Theroux personal odyssey to see the green cannabis fields and rising moon over…. Chefchaouen.
Behind the Scenes with Adventurer and Explorer, Jim Dorsey – Episode 31
Greetings from the Outback, Maties! Today I’ll be talking with James Michael Dorsey, explorer, photographer, lecturer, and award-winning author, who has traveled to over 47 countries in the last 15 years. “Jim” has been called a “combination of swashbuckling adventurer and spiritual seeker” because he visits and documents disappearing indigenous tribes by embedding himself in their cultures. He told me “when you contract with a remote tribe, you roll the dice on whether you’re going to come back alive.” Exciting travel, Maties!
Me-hee-co – Episode 30
It was a crazy idea. Loco. No, a good one. Bueno. Driving thousands of miles in my white Toyota Celica, which stood out like an automotive sore thumb… all the way from LA to… Ciudad Juarez… to Chihuahua… to Real de Catorce, an old silver mining town in the sacred hills of the Huichol Indians. Along the way, Miguel and I discovered many things… the most outstanding of which… was not only the immense beauty and variety of Me-hee-co herself, but even more striking — the ageless differences between ourselves, me, a 50 year old gringo… and him, my young, Mexican-American amigo.
Behind the Scenes with Kate Erickson from EoFire – Episode 29
Kate Erickson emanates all the sunshine and positivity of Southern California. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs create freedom in their businesses and lives – through developing systems and processes that can help their business scale and grow. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but Kate explains it all in this episode…. along with talking about plans for a new EoFire travel podcast about “audio walking tours of the world’s greatest cities”.
Welcome Back to Deadwood, Part 2 – Episode 28
We’re back in Deadwood, South Dakota…. where you last left me in Episode 26…. in jail. It’s September, 1970 and I’ve been arrested for reckless driving,,,, by Sheriff Deadwood Dick McGraff. I’m in Wild Bill Hickok’s jail cell, on the day after Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose. I have long Jewfro hair just like Jimi, and my jail mates have taken a distinct dislike to me. I’ve just woken up the day after my arrest. I’m lying on a cot next to a gigantic Native American Indian named “Neck”. His arms are the size of tree trunks.
