THIS IS NOT A TEST

[mjp]

This is not a test!

Some of you heard it last week when I was talking about the tragic rape, but this week it's closer to home because I'm talking to Carol Es, Los Angles artist and the woman who actually lives with me, If you can imagine that such a thing is possible.

Go deh!

 

[bospress.net]

listening now... cool...

 

[mjp]

250 downloads of the Bukowski episode already.

And as of today, 12,024 people have read the blog post.

Those numbers are really nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it's good for what we're doing here. Considering that 1,100 people go to the main site every day and another 800 come here to the forum, twelve thousand article views is a lot.

The current episode might also interest some of you. Ostensibly I'm talking about Internet trolls, but I also talk about my evening at the Huntington museum with Linda Bukowski, and if you haven't heard about that, it's worth a listen.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

I have, but it's still worth a listen...:wb:

By the way, I don't see a simple way to access all the different podcasts on each podcast page. Is there a centralized location for them? Maybe a link for each on each podcast page would be a good idea. Or am I just an Internet idiot?

 

[mjp]

If you go to the site - thisisnotatest.com - rather than to a specific episode, you can scroll through all of them.

The easiest way to follow a podcast is to subscribe to it. Either through a dedicated podcast app or by email. Willing victims can subscribe to This is not a test via email and get a notice when there's a new one. Which is every Saturday. Or late Friday night, depending on where you are.

 

[jordan]

i'm thinking of restarting my podcast. it's nowhere near as interesting as mjp's, and i only did 3 episodes and then got tired of it. but now i feel like doing some rambling into a cheap headset microphone for 30 - 45 minutes at a time telling jokes that only i think are funny, so i may drop episode four on you soon.

mjp's podcast is good, though. i suggest you listen to it if you haven't yet.

 

[zobraks]

I've heard about podcast five or six (probably more) years ago and I'm still not sure what the fucking thing is for.
Yeah, I'm an old foggy hopelessly run over by modern times.
Sue me, kids.

 

[skiroomalum]

I always thought podcasts were just for leather fags. Now I know they're for me too!

 

[bospress.net]

I have really enjoyed all of these podcasts.

Great to put a voice to the face...

Bill

 

[d gray]

...and who would've thought he'd sound so mellow?

 

[mjp]

i'm thinking of restarting my podcast.

You should. If those were unscripted you have a real talent for speaking off the cuff. That's pretty rare.

 

[the only good poet]

I'm an old foggy

No, you are an old foggie.

I've enjoyed the podcasts, too.

 

[mjp]

I've heard about podcast five or six (probably more) years ago and I'm still not sure what the fucking thing is for.

They've been around for more than 10 years, but they really became a thing when more and more people started carrying around smart phones.

As for what they're for, what's any of this for?

To me it's just another way of storytelling. The big advantage of a podcast over a blog (or a book or a magazine) is it's still a relatively uncrowded field. It's a lot easier to get people to listen to a decently-made podcast than it is to get them to read a well-written blog.

It's easier because there are 175 million blogs (really), but only about 250,000 widely available podcasts. And of that quarter million, maybe 2% are listenable (sound-wise and content-wise). That 2% is probably applicable to blogs too, if you're looking at quality. So if it's 2%, when you say to someone, "Go read my blog," you're competing with 3.5 million other blogs. When you say, "Go listen to my podcast," you're competing with 5,000 other podcasts. Slightly better odds, yeah?

And it will probably be that way for a long time, because you can set up a state of the art blog for free in 15 minutes, but it's harder - and more expensive - to set up a podcast and get all the parts working together so people can actually listen to it without jumping through too many hoops. It doesn't look that difficult, but I can say that it was a hell of a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

I'd still do it over again though, because I think the potential benefits are worth the trouble. Generally speaking, the connection to a listener is much stronger than it is to a reader, because listening to someone's voice in your ears is a more intimate thing than reading words on a page or a screen.

How cool would a Chance Press podcast be? Or a Bottle of Smoke podcast? I'd love to hear those guys talk about what's involved in making those books. And Justine has a wonderful accent that makes everything she says sound fancy.

Really, I'd listen to anyone who does anything interesting.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

The easiest way to follow a podcast is to subscribe to it.

I did that last night; that's when I noticed that you were already onto #7.

 

[jordan]

You should. If those were unscripted you have a real talent for speaking off the cuff. That's pretty rare.

they're minimally scripted. i plan out the segments in advance and have a general idea of what i might say (such as: "i'm going to interview a guest and the joke will be that i don't differentiate my voice at all while playing the guest and 90% of the interview will be me not getting the guy's name right"). but i don't rehearse it, and everything is done in one take.

i hesitate to call it a talent, since it's nonsensical rambling... i'm more impressed with people like mjp who can speak cogently in a soothing voice about interesting things.

 

[justine]

And Justine has a wonderful accent that makes everything she says sound fancy

an ex once told me i had the most annoying voice he'd ever heard, and i've been self conscious about it ever since.

 

[mjp]

People who are supposed to love us can have such a negative effect. I think your voice is wonderful, so don't let some jankey-ass Kiwi twat get you down.

i hesitate to call it a talent...

Talking without a script and without a lot of stumbling or pauses or ah...ah...ah...uh...um's is something most people can't do. So whether it's nonsensical or not is secondary.

90% of what I'm saying on those things I'm reading. So if it's cogent, it's only because I thought about it before I said it.

I suppose the art is making the parts that aren't spontaneous sound like they are. ;)

 

[justine]

do you go off pretty bare-bones notes? because i wouldn't have guessed that you were reading.

 

[mjp]

Well, maybe I'm not strictly reading. The main parts are mostly pre-written, the beginning and end of each one is more freestyle. But really, by the time I've typed the main parts out and thought them through I don't really need to read them. It's all there in front of me when I record though, if I need it.

I'd like to do them without the writing - it would make the whole process a lot easier - maybe I'll get there. That's why I keep saying that Jordan has something going for him that most other people don't. Besides his James Bond kind of vibe, I mean.

 

[Bruno Dante]

Listened to the first four yesterday afternoon at my desk. Liked the conversational style. I think MJP made a very good point when he talked about how it's a shame that kids now have so much choice that they listen to what they want to listen to, whereas in ye olden times we had the radio and not much else. This meant you were forced to listen to a load of dross but you were also able to discover a load of new artists that you would never normally have chosen to listen to. It reminded me of being young and tuning into John Peel on late night radio. He would play some dodgy stuff but he was prepared to play such a wide variety of acts that you inevitably stumbled across something obscure which would blow your mind. I remember hearing Beaumont Hannant on there for the first time (obscure but very talented electronic artist who was active during the 90s) and subsequently becoming a big fan. MJP's comments reminded of that Canadian DJ listening to Nickleback for 168 hours for charity. Obviously that's extreme and it's being done as a joke too but I can imagine young kids listening to hour upon hour of music from within a very small niche.
Incidentally, I'm not suggesting that's the only interesting topic that was raised ;)
I guess it just resonated with me.

 

[mjp]

Yeah, even the stuff that didn't "blow your mind" at the time is still imprinted and it can come back to surprise you later. It's like discovering that you like to eat broccoli when it made you gag as a kid. Not that I recall my mother ever making broccoli, but you get the drift.

Thanks, any time someone listens to more than one episode I consider it a win. ;)

 

[Johannes]

Listened to three of them so far. Very interesting.

The one about your life reminded me about a novel in progress you once spoke about, about your time in the bands? Do I remember correctly?

How is this coming along?

 

[mjp]

The first draft is pretty much finished. I just need to go back through it and make up some exciting lies, throw in some jokes, that kind of thing. You know how it is.

 

[d gray]

at what point will Bono be appearing?

 

[mjp]

Bono is writing the foreword.

Linda King will be signing.

 

[Johannes]

And will somebody be shockingly disclosed as bisexual?

 

[mjp]

Of course. Though I don't know how shocking it will be...

 

[d gray]

Linda King will be signing.

sweet! maybe she'll 'sculpture' a bust of you for the cover...

btw the podcasts are really good - it makes you sound kinda like smart, or something...

 

[mjp]

It's a good microphone. Makes anyone who talks into it sound smart. You pay extra for that, but it's worth it.

 

[d gray]

don't know if you saw this - i haven't read it yet - but it relates to one of your p-casts

http://www.laweekly.com/music/why-cds-may-actually-sound-better-than-vinyl-5352162