As the Ale House Turns Podcast Debut and Review
When I arrived at the Ale House at around 7pm
for my first ever podcast experience, I kicked open the door, clapped my hands
together and yelled, “Let’s get ready to podcast!” The few patrons planted on the bar rail turned to look at me
with what could be construed as a mild disgust, but not seeing anything worthy to
maintain their interest, turned back to their drinks. You see, the Old Town Ale House, among many other things is
a drinkers’ bar. Many of the
regulars prefer to be left alone to their thoughts and most won’t bother
themselves by paying attention to the shenanigans that are constantly unfolding
around them.
The podcast, As
the Ale House Turns, is hosted by the bar’s proprietor Bruce Elliott,
aka
the Genius, and his “go-to girl”, Pub Crawl Liz. When Bruce saw my grand entrance, he came over from the
front window where the crew was setting up the equipment for the show.
 |
| Bruce and Liz holding court at the Ale House |
“Hey Ukraine Mike, are you ready to make some
podcast magic?”
“Of course, I’m really looking forward to
it. You know, I used to host a
radio show in school, so I’m not too worried about it.”
When bartender Kim came over to get us some
drinks, Bruce told her I was going to be their podcast guest.
“Oh really, do you know what you’re going to
talk about?” she asked Bruce.
“Of course, we’ll start with how Ukraine Mike
compares the Slavic chicks with American ones.”
I immediately jumped in, “Whoa, whoa, whoa- I
don’t want to hear this. I don’t
do the pre-interview. I don’t want
to know any questions or points of discussion. I need to go in cold otherwise the conversation might come
out stilted. It has to be spontaneous;
the listeners deserve that.” I
told them. Bruce looked at me the
way you’d look at a Trump supporter defending why taking refugee children away
from their parents is the right and proper thing to do.
I decided to hit the bathroom before any other indications
of where they might take the discussion emerged. I’ve learned this little broadcasting trick by being a good
listener to Howard Stern growing up and contrasting his interview style with
those of late night TV talk show hosts.
Even now, watching hosts like Jimmy Fallon tediously walking his guests
through prearranged questions and discussion points ruins the entire interview for
me. I just cannot enjoy prepackaged
dialogue.
When I returned from the toilet, I sat with
Bruce at the bar and drank a beer.
Finding the Ale House and befriending Bruce has been a godsend for my
acclimation back into U.S. society after spending 20 years in Eastern
Europe. I find it somewhat telling
that the best new friend I’ve made since my return home is someone in his
mid-70s, but then again, I’ve never been an ageist and the guy has many
interesting tales and strong opinions.
For me, friendship has always been about what
someone brings to the table. I
don’t care if you’re 20 or 90, if you’re intellectual, entertaining, have some
good stories to share or thoughts to inspire, that’s all that really matters. Sadly, so many people these days are
just so terribly boring and narrow minded. It’s as discouraging as it is depressing. I still cannot believe that in today’s
world such a virulent and racist strand of anti-intellectualism can undermine
our entire society like it has. I’ve
never seen or expected such cultural and racial divides in America. For me, the country is in a tailspin, a
mad dash to the bottom.
Against this broad and disturbing backdrop, there
are some souls trying to make a difference. Trying to raise their voices loud enough to reach some of
the people lost in the crowd.
Bruce is one of these people.
He’s been regularly calling out and dissecting the political disaster on
his entertaining and insightful blog, the
Geriatric Genius and in countless discussions at the bar. I see the podcast as another tool in his
arsenal to further these thoughts and ideas.
When I was recently invited to be a guest on the
show, I jumped at the opportunity.
The interview started with Liz pushing the opening discussion into what
she thought would be a point of conflict- the recent ending of my guest blogger
role on Bruce’s blog, but that was easily avoided. One cannot inspire animosity between people if it isn’t there
to begin with. We then delved into
some of my background and history, which led to many good tangential
conversations and anecdotes. I was
surprised that we barely touched the surface of the politics during the show,
but after hearing the final product, I think it’s safe to say that that wasn’t
needed and we all had a blast.
I think it’s a great podcast and the feedback
has been very encouraging. Why do
I say this? Because it was full of
laughs and interesting discussions about history, culture and the world
at large. We talked about real things
in a fun way while also being self-deprecating and shooting zingers back and
forth. It’s actually the way we
always talk to each other, the only difference this time is we had microphones
in front of us and a guy named Jordan working a soundboard to put the conversational
magic into the digital bottle.
After we wrapped, we continued the discussion at
the bar for a few more hours. It’s
relationships like these that keep me going. They constantly force you to defend your positions,
hear new ideas and learn new things.
I like being intellectually challenged. Sartre once said that many people didn’t like him because he
believed it was the role of the citizen intellectual to probe the metaphysics
of peoples’ beliefs and by doing this he often found hostility because so many
people did not like to be forced to think about why they actually believed
something. That quote jumped out
at me when I first read it years ago and it stays with me today. I get the feeling that Bruce kind of
follows Sartre’s belief himself.
Of course, one needs to employ tact when trying
to reach others with conflicting thoughts and ideas. I’m still learning these finer conversational tactics, as
you can read in other blogs I’ve posted here, especially my first blog, Schlitzed, when I was trying to uncover
the metaphysics of a young woman’s rabid anti-Obamacare beliefs only to find a
full glass of Schlitz being poured over my head and then the girl running out
of the bar in tears. I’m still
sowing the garden though with the hope that some seeds will take and we will
all be better off for it.
Regarding Pub Crawl Liz, she’s the ground wire
of the show, as she keeps the interviewees (and the Genius’) feet on the ground
and the discussion moving along an easy to follow trajectory. She has a good feel for this. I glad that our friendship is deepening
as we get to know each other better.
That’s about it this week. I think the podcast is worth a listen. I attach the SoundCloud link below and
you can also find and follow it on Itunes. I hope you enjoy the banter- let’s keep pushing ourselves
forward and cultivating our gardens---
The Podcast:
Also, for those who want to read about the
“Schlitzed” incident mentioned above, here is the link to that blog-)
Some Reviews of the Episode:
“The kid’s a natural.” Humphrey Bogart on my first podcast performance.
“We are all so much together, but we are all
dying of loneliness. Ukraine
Mike’s appearance on As the Ale House
Turns has alleviated some of that loneliness and we are grateful for that.” Dr. Albert Schweitzer-
“Loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a
broken nose and that podcast is part of the romance.” Nelson Algren-
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