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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Presenting Episode 23: Florida!

Considering how, particularly in an election year, emotions become heated in light of this "red state/blue state" dichotomy that the media have resorted to ingraining in our collective psyche, it is no surprise that certain states catch an unfair amount of flak.

Take Florida: why do people hate it so much? Well, we don't know, but what we can do is give our 27th State a fair shake on the show. And why not? Not only is Florida the land that gave us plenty of good (Tom Petty, No Idea Records, Space Shuttles, Todd Barry, Oranges and more oranges), but the 2000 election fiasco was 12 whole years ago, and far be it from us to criticize a SOUTHERN STATE (people forget this about Florida) for being politically divided.

Hot Water Music

In fact, we could even venture to say that there are no other states (maybe even nowhere in the world) quite like Florida. You've got swamps, Gators, adorable towns, the world's most ubiquitous theme park and resort, tons of good colleges and the subsequent hipsters, some of the world's tightest sets of Jewish and Cuban populations. Also, raise your hand if YOUR state can boast the musical contributions of both Gloria Estefan and Chuck Ragan. Didn't think so.

Enjoy this episode, best taken in with a tall glass of orange juice (what you add to that OJ is up to you). If you're in the mood, subscribe to it on iTunes here!

Sunset in Mayo, FL

Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Miami Sound Machine - "Conga"
Little League (Tallahassee) - "Hope Go Round" & "Hot Knife"
Torche (Miami) - "UFO"
Rational Anthem (Sarasota) - "Blackout Magic"
Tom Petty (Gainesville) - "Deliver Me"
Merchandise (Tampa) - "I Locked the Door"
Hot Water Music (Gainesville) - "Moonpies for Misfits"
Radon (Gainesville) - "Wasting Time"


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Presenting Episode 22: St. Petersburg aka Санкт-Петербург

Felled by illness, the mighty Bret had to sit out this week's episode that just happened to be on a place that Tyler had never been to and didn't know a whole lot about. So what did we do? Lay down our sword and have them replay that episode from the time we talked about beer? NO! We forged on, inviting a friend of ours (Emily!) into the studio whose love of St. Petersburg and Mother Russia at large knows no bounds. 

What made this episode so great was that for the first time, we went LIVE to the East Coast (via phone) for an expert on our subject. Ted, an urban developer with a special eye for public transit (a great thing to have a special eye for), joins us on the phone to talk about his time and his program's (University of Maryland) work over in the original St. Pete this summer! (You can read their public final report HERE). He and Emily both really got going talking about this place...sounds like Tyler (and you, dear reader/listener) should consider spending some time there!

Een Soviet Russia, urban design work hard on you!

It's actually the world's northernmost city with a population of 1 Million-plus! Did you know that? Well, if you did, then there's still plenty for you to learn. So dust off your old Soviet knock-off pilots' hat, subscribe to our fine podcast on iTunes, and listen right here! You'll be saying "Спасибо" (Thanks) and pounding the vodka in no time!



Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Supergrass - "St. Petersburg"
Аква́риум - "Rock’n’Roll Heroes (Young Punks)" (Герои Рок-н-ролла (молодая шпана))
Пилот - "Времена Года"

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