Episode 31: Hill Valley, CA (Imagined Geographies)

Tim Cresswell wrote that "even a totally imaginary place has an imaginary form in order to make it place like." Name one town so firmly embedded in American pop culture that isn't named Hill Valley in 3...2....1... we're going to assume you couldn't do it.

A couple months ago, Tyler had this funny notion of how the Back to the Future trilogy detailed the geographic development of not only the fictional, oxymoronically named Hill Valley, but also collective perceptions of Everytown, USA through a multitude of lenses. In each of the three films, we see such now-iconic landmarks like the clock tower, Hill Valley High, the Twin Pines Mall at various stages of their growth into the landscape fabric behind Marty McFly, Doc Brown, Biff Tannen, and the other assorted characters. Fortunately, one Tree (Teresa of 'Episode 25: Seattle' fame) and one Inky (David, of 'Episode 18: Chicago' fame) jumped on board with this idea, and now it's becoming a reality.

And what better way to promote this... reality than with an appearance on The Casual Geographer? Well, we can imagine plenty of better ways, but that doesn't mean this episode was any less fun. Grab your hoverboard, set your time coordinates, and hold on. Once you hit that play button, you're "going to [hear] some serious s&#t." Even if you don't enjoy it, "your kids are gonna love it." Is that enough references? Of course not, there's no such thing as too much Back to the Future.



Produced by Tyler S. for Sonic Geography
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Featured:
Huey Lewis & The News - "The Power of Love"
The Penguins - "Earth Angel"
Michael J. Fox (or whomever dubbed it) - "Johnny B. Goode" (Live at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance)

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Episode 30: Cal State Puvungna (Native America)

[clearing throat] One second.

EPISODE 30!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Okay, thanks for indulging us for a minute. Now, on with our regularly scheduled bloggramming...

We would say "How" to greet you, but guess what? That would be ignorant! In fact, almost anything you base off of the 1950's-1970's in American TV about Native Americans/First Nations is pretty much a guarantee not based on anything but weird ideas that were shoehorned into John Wayne movies. Even when we try to educate our kids about the history of North America, we can't help but piping all sorts of random misinformation about the way this world was before Leif Erickson and Cristobal Colons' minions stumbled onto the shores. The reality, obviously, was a lot different. But how does one dig into a good scene of where Native American culture has moved to in 2013, particularly in Southern California? Why, the Cal State Puvunuga Pow Wow, of course!

From CSULB.edu

The weekend of March 9-10, Native Americans and First Nations denizens from all over the place convened on the CSULB campus to catch up, eat, laugh, and put on one hell of a show for the forefathers whose spirits rest underneath their feet in Puvungna (the Tongva word for the land that Long Beach now sits on, and beyond). If you didn't know at least that fact, you seriously need to listen to this week's episode. Even if you did, then maybe you still do need to hear it. Interviews, insights, and music, LIVE from the Puvungna Pow Wow.


Special thanks to James, Cindy, Darren, and Jaleel for their time during a crazy big Pow Wow.


Produced by Tyler S. for Sonic Geography
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan

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Episode 29: The American Civil War

If there's one thing we know about the American Civil War, it's that it had to do with slavery. Also, Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. And thanks to the wonderful American public school history programs, that's about all that we remember. 

It's strange, considering how over-reenacted this was remains to this day, how often blowhards still talk about "secession," and how successful the Daniel Day-Lewis Lincoln film did, that more of the people involved in the US Civil War aren't still household names. 

Did we even bring up how this was likely the first major war to be photographed?  Man, we're bad at this.

But, that's where our friend, fiction writer, geographer, and entertaining personality Andy comes in! A self-professed "Civil War nerd," his head is a vault of fascinating info on the people, places, and motions of the War that, really more than any other, has influenced the way our great Nation-State looks today. Ever wonder what it really took to become a Union General during the 1860's? Want to hear Tyler screw up a bunch of facts, then swallow his pride and correct them? Listen no further than Episode 29: The US Civil War! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah indeed.

Yup.

Produced by Tyler S. for Sonic Geography
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Featured:
"The Battle Cry of Freedom"
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
Deathmole - "Meade's Army"

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Episode 28: The Geography of Hip-Hop (Ya Don't Stop)

We ain't no joke.

Don't you ever wonder why half of the hip-hop songs begin with some dude loudly bellowing out a place name? "Brooklyn!" "North Carolina! Put yo hands up!" Well, when we're talking about popular musical forms firmly rooted in place, there is no better place to go than the deep, storied, and cartoonishly commercialized world of hip-hop.

 

 It grew, pretty categorically, out of the Bronx in the late 60's and early 70's and took all of two decades to basically own the popular music landscape, so who's to say that place doesn't matter when you've got (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) MCs and one DJ (or two)? Many of us grew up fondly(?) remembering an era when they loudly bragged about shooting each other, depending on which coast they were from.

If any of you ever meet Ice Cube or Dr. Dre, $100 to whomever shows them this photo.

 
This week, our buddy Fernando joins us to talk about the ever-changing geographical face of hip-hop, the genre that constantly battles (verbally and metaphorically) over authenticity, representation, and in the case of Lil Jon, DRAAAAANK! WHAT! And you best believe we freestyle here, too. By "freestyle" I mean go off on tangents about hip-hop coming from all over the world, our own experiences getting into it over the years, and drawing the ideological parallels between hip-hop and punk music. This was a fun time.




Produced by Tyler S. for Sonic Geography
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Featured:
Mos Def - "Hip Hop"
Bliss n Eso - "Eye of the Storm"
Jurassic 5 - "Improvise"
Atmosphere - "Get Fly"
Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars - "Young, Wild, and Free"

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* I should comment that we somehow got through an entire hour without discussing Public Enemy, Common, or Wu-Tang Clan. For this, we wholeheartedly apologize and hope that this doesn't deter you from listening to our next episode on the Geography of the American Civil War. We won't leave out Josh Chamberlain! Dude was badass!

The Casual Geographer Episodes 26 and 27!

What's that? 2 New Episodes in one post? The hell you say!

Well, the two episodes make up for the definitive lack of graphics or fanfare. We apologize for not updating this blog recently, but as the crow flies, we need to change our hosting plan, and sort out the iTunes situation. For now, though, we are excited to post the new episodes right here. Spread the love/RSS and we'll be back with you soon.

Episode 26: Bret's Journey to Japan and Korea


While Tyler was lame and remained stateside over the holiday break, Bret took matters and transpacific flights into his own hands and went to Tokyo, Suwon, and Seoul. What happened? Well, listen here to find out, kids.



Episode 27: LA's Ethnic Enclaves

So, Tyler and Bret still have a lot of work and research to do, but in their time bouncing all over the LA region, they've spent quality time in enclaves brought to you by various tempers of immigration. We're talking Little Ethiopia, Little Armenia, Chinatown, and various others. Hear them babble about them here, and then go eat some delicious Kefta and listen to System of a Down.




Produced by Tyler S. for Sonic Geography
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan

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The Casual Geographer Ep. 25: SEATTLE

A few things about this weeks’ guest/Seattle expert, Tree, that we completely forgot to touch upon in this week’s episode.

• It’s not her real name, but it may as well be.
• She witnessed authorities remove the body of late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley from a University District neighborhood in April of 2002. She didn’t know it was Staley’s remains until after the fact, but still…
• She lived in the building that serial killer Ted Bundy had once lived in.

Given those sordid factoids that we omitted, one may assume that this week’s episode wasn’t completely awesome. Do you know what happens when you assume, though? That’s because this week’s episode on Seattle and the Pacific Northwest was completely awesome. And given what we do learn in chatting with Tree about her native lands, those three facts imprint here even more into Seattle/Olympia/western sound lore as a permanent O.G. than we even thought possible. So, that’s why we were ecstatic to have her on board for this.

Twenty years after Seattle exploded onto the American consciousness as the city of flannel, coffee, and grunge, it is easy to forget that it had long been an all-American city of flannel, coffee, and intensely local hard rock and punk bands for years before that. In fact, many would argue that the 1990’s killed a lot of what made Seattle special. Yuppies poured in to work for Microsoft and Starbucks, driving up real estate in certain neighborhoods that had long been pockets of immigrant culture (e.g. Ballard, long known as a Scandinavian stronghold). Regardless, it remains a somewhat isolated jewel of American culture, buried up there in a pile of recycled coffee cups, next to all of those friendly people who don't really want your number. This will all make perfect sense after you have a listen. Download the episode on itunes or listen right here!




Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Alice in Chains - "Them Bones"
"The City It is a Changin'" (Bob Dylan parody) from Almost Live!
Woody Guthrie - "Pastures of Plenty"
Modest Mouse - "Bukowski"
The Postal Service - "This Place is a Prison"
Jimi Hendrix - "Castles Made of Sand"

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Presenting Episode 24: The Geography of Winter Sports!!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry it took us forever and a day (if "forever" was just short of a week) to get this one online, but it's a busy time for us and we imagine all of you, too. Anyway, on this episode, we deferred to our resident expert on Snowboarding, Skiing, and things that involve snow and certain human injury, Bret, for a lively chat about the encroaching late-Fall and Winter seasons, and what those of us who are planning to strap our feet into clamp-boots, attach them to planks, and accelerate down icy slopes should know and expect! 

Don't think this doesn't include you, no matter where you live. Granted, our focus from last week, Florida, isn't exactly a winter sports haven (unless the Lightning or Panthers weren't actually in a contract dispute), but even, say, our Moroccan friends have plenty of ski slopes in the Atlas Mountain range. Californians always have Lake Tahoe, Mammoth, and a handful of other places to perform those moves you practiced on 1080 Snowboarding for the N64 back in the day. The cool thing about Bret's experience is that, despite growing up in Southern California, he's been snowboarding for most of his life. Tyler grew up in New England, but prefers ice skating and hockey over anything involving slopes, mostly due to a bad injury he once sustained, and also because he's kind of a wuss.

Anyway, grab some hot cocoa, pull up a chair next to the fire, and hope you enjoy!

Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Labyrinth Ear - "Snow White"
Matt Pond PA - "Snow Day"
Frodus - "The Earth Isn't Humming"


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