I first met John Reidy about ten years ago when he approached me about a radio talk show idea he had called Pop Autopsy. I was familiar with John’s work as Editor of the Denver underground ‘zine, the Hooligan, and was anxious to hear a “demo” of the show.  At the time I had an Internet radio station and was always on the lookout for good talent.  John definitely has talent. The demo was a bit rough, but it was a no-brainer to give him a slot on the station.

Pop Autopsy Intro:

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John had the only talk show on the now defunct Alpha Radio. At every show he had a room full of people, five or six guests at a time, and would lay to waste any-and-all pop culture figures. It was quite entertaining.  My favorite segment of Pop Autopsy was the movie reviews based on the trailer.  I loved that.  They were spot-on with every review, all based on nothing more than a 2 minute trailer.

South Stands Denver Fancast

John recently started a new radio venture at South Stands Denver.  And it’s very good.  John hosts a podcast every week with Colin Daniel and producer Aaron X (who also produced Pop Autopsy).  It is a Denver Sports podcast, or as they call it… the Fancast.  Most of the talk so far has been dominated by the up-and-down season of the Denver Broncos, but they also discuss other Denver area sports teams like the Nuggets, Avalanche, Rockies, DU Pioneers, and CSU Rams.  It is the only area sports podcast that despises the Colorado Buffaloes, which earns them extra points in my book.

In addition to the sports talk, they delve into pop culture.  Perhaps my favorite segment of the South Stands Denver Fancast is “Raiders Fan or ICP Fan”.  I have learned it is very difficult to tell apart a Juggalo from a Raiders fan.  I also enjoy the conversation about commercials.  Local Yokel is always fun, too.   They came up with my favorite new sports nickname recently, which is BM “The Turd” for Brandon Marshall.   It’s a clever, entertaining show and one of the few podcasts I listen to every week.

South Stands Denver posted their 18th show this week which features the fantasy football guru, Cecil Lamey from Footballguys.com and 9News.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t much fantasy football talk.  But that’s what I like about the Fancast.  I find my self laughing out loud (the kids do the LOL) while driving to work.  By the way, the South Stands Denver Fancast is available for download at iTunes.  The only trick is that they break up the podcast into two segments, so you must manually add the second segment to download the entire show.  Here is a link to the latest show:

1st half of the Fancast: 

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2nd half of the Fancast:

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I must add that the Fancast is not appropriate for all ages.  The language can be a little rough.  The topics can also can be a bit suspect, especially the talk about what happens to young men in prison.  But hey, it is certainly not your average sports podcast.  Give it a listen!

Sawbones by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen:

I’m not sure how I missed this, but back in August of 2005 Sirius Satellite Radio “aired” Theater of the New Ear, two radio dramas recorded live at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

The first radio drama is Sawbones, written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.  Both radio dramas were recorded in front of a live audience, with actors in front of microphones and composer Carter Burwell conducting a band onstage.   Sawbones is essentially two stories happening at once.  First, there is the television show “Sawbones”, based on Veterinarian Varlan Smith (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the coward Frank McCready (Steve Buscemi).   Second, there is the drama of those watching the television show.   Including that of a traveling vacuum salesman (John Slattery) and a dysfunctional married couple (John Goodman and Brooke Smith).  It’s brilliant and odd.  You can download or stream the radio drama by following the link below:

Hope Leaves the Theater by Charlie Kaufman

The second installment of Theater of the New Ear is Charlie Kaufman’s Hope Leaves the Theater.  Now, this one is just straight-up nuts!  Instead of following the drama of those watching television, we’re now following the inner and outer thoughts of a woman named Louise (Hope Davis) going through a mid-life crisis,  a theater critic (Peter Dinklage) sitting next to her, and the actors on the stage (Meryl Streep) during a theater performance.   And of course, all the characters converge into one coherent story until breaking back off into three and coming in-and-out of character.

I can’t even begin to explain this radio drama, seriously, it’s crazy.  So it’s best you give it a listen.