Something That Happened.

"Dream Job (Part 2)"
[mp3 audio post; stream or 5.7MB download]

This is a repost of a podcast from 2004 titled "Dream Job (Part 2)"; a brief phone conversation between my friend and I about his job working on a national passenger train and the opportunities available to me.

Stay tuned for the as-yet-unheard Part 3 in this series.

Hi Reed,

I want to express to you how valuable I found your feedback, the audio comments MP3 you emailed me last December. Something that Happened has always been an experiment of sorts, beginning as a place to write stories (both fictional and nonfictional), commentary, random nonsense, some audio forms of all the above, and more recently, alot of audio forms of all the above.

It's an outlet, so to speak. This is not an excuse for being sloppy or anything; I just want to let you know that I use the space to vent, to express, to entertain, to record the events (and dreams) I wish to remember (through audio and written words), and as a place to experiment. So I'm constantly using the space in new - though related - ways.

I guess I'm contacting you because I'm wondering if you're still listening. Please be honest with me; I can take it. If you're not, perhaps you'll enjoy my recent output. I haven't been polishing up my recordings, as I've been posting directly from remote locations via phone quite a bit these past few months. Most of my audio, in fact, is not included in the podcast feed, since the quality of the recordings isn't (in my mind) podcast-quality. Yet they are accessible at the site. Most of these recordings are quite personal, though some are journalistic-like commentaries.

The conflict I am always facing, however, has to do with my ultimate goal. My ultimate goal is to create a storyscape-type deal similar to what Joe Frank has been doing for 30 years. I'm not going to try to be Joe; I'm going to be Harold, and that means my "show", or "podcast", or whatever we want to call it, is going to be my own story (or stories, rather), and in my own style, using Joe's model as my launchpad. Others have done it: Benjamen Walker with his Your Radio Nightlite and now Theory of Everything radio programs; Ira Glass with his This American Life; David Sedaris with his David Sedaris thing.

As much as I enjoy listening to those dudes, however, I find myself looking for something different, perhaps more personal and less traditionally formattable (Is "formattable" even a word?). Something more like what Joe Frank continues to produce. I enjoy Ben Walker's current show tremendously, but I enjoy his previous work even more (some of which can be found at his current website), and his new work when he returns to that more personal style of performance. Perhaps I'm too experimental-minded; I simply really want to create something different. I mean, doesn't everyone?

I've gone on way too long here, so I'll end this here.

Sincerely,
Harold

I'm being paid approximately $1 per article I write for an organization called Niner Niner, which is attempting to establish another weblogging cooperative. That's right, one dollar. It's a ridiculously measly amount, especially when you take as much time as I do composing your pieces and then editing them to perfection. But then again, what else am I getting paid to do right now? It's good writing practice, as I'm posting on a variety of topics I normally wouldn't write about, and I'm not forced to post every day or anything. (If I was, I certainly wouldn't be doing it for this amount of change.)

Here's my latest commentary, a piece about an Alaskan coffee shop I spent some time in about ten years ago. Writing this piece brought back some memories of my monthlong stay in a small town called Eagle River, just outside of Anchorage. (You can read their local paper online, the Alaska Star.) It also got me thinking - perhaps I should write more commentary like this for my own blog(s). I consider Something that Happened an experimental space, not one entirely mimicking a traditional blog, but it may do well to have some conventional pieces here as well. What do you think?

I drink way too much coffee, so I pee every half hour, it seems, and sometimes more often than that. At least I'm not boozing, 'cuz then things would probably be flying out from every orifice.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Caleb for nine freakin' years of sobriety! That's beautiful. Listen to his podcast to find out how to stay sober so goddamn long.

(Continuing from last recording)...and, clearly seeing what needs to be done, I do so.

While at the Festival of Books, I witness an old man fall on his face, blood spilling from his head...

Anyone want to hire me to write? Hey, I'm not a terrible writer--I can put together a decent article, even on a topic I know very little about, such as search engine optimization. You don't have to agree with my point of view, but at least I can put a few words together in a relatively comprehensible and, uh, entertaining order. (Not here, goofballs--on my other sites, such as that podcasting resource and that blog about Internet radio!)

So I'm still working on Session 03 of my downtempo podcast; I've stepped away from the project a few days and I'll most likely be completing it today. I'd also like to create and additional podcast, sort of an extended version of Tempo. We'll see how much time I'm willing to spend on this...

In the meantime, and for your reading pleasure, Corey Deitz tries to scare up some traffic by writing about the possibility of the RIAA targeting podcasters next. Corey's right; it'll probably happen, sooner or later. So make sure you're podcasting safely.

I missed T.C. Boyle at this year's Festival of Books. Not that Prob wasn't there (read his latest novel Inner Circle to find out why I'm calling him that); I simply chose to attend a different panel this year. Besides, perhaps Mark Sarvas or someone else blogging about the event will post photos and transcripts of the panels that took place at the event.

I know other writers missed the event, such as Gayle Brandeis, author of Fruitflesh : Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write. This is the first year Gayle missed the event, so perhaps she'll be glad to know I have some goodies I may be posting here over the next few days, such as this recording of the "Young Adult Fiction: Not Just for Kids" panel discussion.

Returning to the annual Festival of Books in L.A....

I have a new website and project, Personal Audio, which I am currently putting a great deal of time into developing. If things work out the way I intend, I'll be able to make a living, in part, through the new site.

Personal Audio is not intended to replace Something that Happened, by the way. Something that Happened remains my artistic endeavor, my (relatively) unknown creative inhabitance, my love child of distress. (Whatever in Hell that means. Hey, gimme a break, it's three in the morning here in L.A. and yesterday was an eventful day. Did I mention I may have helped save a life? I'll speak on that later, once I'm rested...)

Aztec Dance and Music by Danza Azteca Xochipilli, recorded at the Festival of Books.

Today: the Festival of Books. Don't forget, it's free, and it's for two days! So if you're in Los Angeles...

Yesterday we found our stranger sleeping in the livingroom again. Today the management let him know that he's not living here--the party's over, so to speak. Right now I'm heading to the restroom to brush my teeth. I'll be passing through the livingroom, so I guess I'll be finding out if our stranger took heed of the manager's advice.

If I don't return, it was nice sharing with you all. Don't forget to read some of my other works as part of the Niner Niner network.

Privacy in a public restroom, or the lack thereof.

A stranger is sleeping on the living room couch again. When I head to the head, I can hear gangsta rap pumping from the stranger's vicinity; must be a portable radio or something.

I just posted an audio recording here on SomethingthatHappened.com that I had already podcast a couple of days ago. I'm posting it here so that anyone not subscribed to the podcast feed won't miss it.

In case you're still not clear on what a podcast is, I've created a whole other website devoted to informing everyone about audioblogs and podcasts. The site is titled audioblogs.info: information on audioblogs. A good introductory article on the site is "How to Use This Site to Learn About Podcasting". Check it out!

My piece "On Sampling and Licensing" was recently featured on Ourmedia.org in the Audio section alongside J.D. Lasica's Napster CEO interview and Andy Carvin's report about his visit to the E.R. I mentioned Ourmedia here before; it's a community site that offers free hosting of digital media. Anyone who joins the service can post their audio, video, images, and text there and point to it from their own website. Did I mention it's free?

I posted more information on Ourmedia at audioblogs.info.

It's nice to have someone say goodnight to you. So, goodnight to you. Now say goodnight to me.

Eric Carbon (?) sings Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" on Sunset Boulevard--or on the sidewalk, really.

A spontaneous bit of lyrical expression (poetry?) made while walking along Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, California.

"Festival of Books"
[5.5MB stream or download]

Early Sunday morning in Los Angeles, going through my annual pre-Festival of Books ritual...

Make sure to subscribe to my podcast feed so you won't miss any future podcasts. Today I'm posting an audio recording of a SkypeOut call with my dad, Harold Sr., in which we debut "Harold's Hot Tips", Sr.'s racetrack advice. This podcast was inspired by a recent Morning Coffee Notes podcast in which Dave Winer, Robert Scoble, and a fellow named Kosso shoot the breeze in a SkypeOut call. [5.7MB MP3 stream or download]

I love hearing Dave Winer laughing from the belly on yesterday's edition of Morning Coffee Notes. It sounds like he's found someone he's really enjoying hanging out with in Kosso, the gentleman working on a podcasting project he calls Podbat. Listen to yesterday's Morning Coffee Notes and you may find yourself laughing from the belly, too. It's a great feeling.

Man, I have this old blog that get's hardly any traffic these days, though I write it well and take my time carefully composing thoughtful and informative articles, such as this one about Sea Monkeys and this one about mojo.

Seriously, though, that Sea Monkeys post is really a carefully-rendered linkspost to info. about the SeaMonkey project, which has nothing to do with suspended-animation (unless you consider the project a revilization of sorts). The mojo article is also a linkspost (my name for a blog post which is more of a referral to other sites/posts than it is a commentary piece), the post referring to Om Malik's article, "How Yahoo Got It's Mojo Back", and Dave Winer's exception to this view. (Elsewhere, Dave reminds us what Muddy meant when he was singin' 'bout his mojo.)

Anyway, check out that old blog of mine, which really isn't so old since I've been posting to it regularly again these past few weeks and I plan to keep it up. It's a blog about Internet radio, and that includes podcasting, so you may learn a thing or two or even find it interesting. I know it's not too pretty, but hey, you can also subscribe to its RSS feed and have the words delivered right to your desktop without ever having to see the site.

Laying in bed eating corndogs while watching Anna Kournikova take singing lessons on The View...how's that for a self-portrait? Not a pretty image, is it?

(Continuing from my last post)

Explaining my behavior in an Association of Music Podcasting forum.

Why downloading television programs via BitTorrent is generally okay; explaining my behavior in an AMP forum.

Man, I get excitable sometimes--like when I'm participating in conference calls. I believe I changed the entire dynamic of this last one due to my incessant speaking; maybe next time I'll make up for it by not speaking at all. (I'll just listen. Burp now and then, make bird calls.)

Last night's call was a Planning Meeting for PodcasterCon, an event which is being designed to bring together podcasters and folks interested in podcasting, to learn and educate each other about the craft. That's the general direction of the event, though it's still in the early stages of planning so alot can change--even its overall purpose--between now and early '06. (The event is tentatively scheduled for late January or early February of next year.)

Anyone is welcome to participate in the planning of this event; if you'd like to join us during the next Planning Meeting, make sure to add your name to the growing list of Planning Group members. You will be sent an access number that you'll need in order to join the conference call. We're using the Free Conference Call service to enable the session, so the call is free; you'll simply need to call a phone number which will most likely be long-distance from your location. Last night I called in from my cell phone to avoid any long-distance charges (since I've got a ton of unused cell phone minutes.)

Join us at the next meeting! In the meantime, listen to a recording of one of the previous meetings:

• Planning Meeting #2


• Planning Meeting #1

It's official: people don't read anymore. Most people, that is--but not you, of course, since you are, after all, reading this. (Wow, alot of commas in that sentence, huh? I wonder if that's legal...)

You know how I know people don't read anymore? Because the good people of Salinas, California nearly allowed all three of their public libraries to be closed down.

I'm sure John Steinbeck, the late author of The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row, is exhuming himself right now in order to give his hometown folk a wake-up call. Maybe the good people of Salinas stopped reading once their famed author passed on...

I'm through with this podcasting nonsense. Now that Clear Channel has entered the fray, I will never again place my recordings online, in any form whatsoever. I simply can't handle the thought of competing with those professionally-established broadcasting organizations. It's too much for me to bear. I would rather voice my thoughts and stories to an empty notepad than to risk being lost in a sea of commercialization.

Yeah, right. April Fools, suckers! I'm not going anywhere.