Contemplatin' Podcastin'

I probably consume podcasts more than any other form of popular media these days, something abetted by my long commute. I've toyed with the idea of doing one, then an anonymous commenter yesterday mentioned it would be good for me to do a podcast.

The main issue, beyond time and resources, is how to conceptualize it. My blog, as those who are regular readers knows, goes all over the place, from academia to politics to music to autobiography to parenting. This scattershot approach probably doesn't help me build an audience, but hey, I write this blog so I can get to write about what I wanna write about. My podcast should probably be more limited.

I was thinking that my podcast should be something music-related, specifically music and the memories associated with it. I could keep it broad, and do episodes similar to my blog posts, where I might highlight a particular Top Ten from a past year, or go through an album track by track, or dig into a specific song and its associations. A more specific idea I had was to do episodes centered around obscure vinyl records I've managed to dig up. Another was to have episodes about music associated with specific memories, and if I was able, to include guests talking about their music-related memories. Most blogs are pretty high concept, with very clearly defined episodes, and usually with more than one person. I resist the high concept thing, but then I remind myself it will make the podcast just as obscure as this blog happens to be.

Another thing to contemplate is the name. This is the thing that draws people in on their first listen. Here are some ideas I've had:

Old Jason's Records (a play on "Old Dan's Records" by Gordon Lightfoot, and hence good for a vinyl-related podcast for people who like outdated music)
Vinyl Madelines (a Proust reference to memory. Could also be "audio" or "musical.")
Notes From The Ironbound (obvious)
More Cowbell (I bet it's been taken already)
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (hokey)
The Dad Rock Podcast (concept would be I dig out dad rock records and talk about them, plus I'm a dad)

Anyway folks, let me know what you think, or if there's a title or concept that looks good.