Workin’ for the Weekend #54: OK, Summer Vacation’s Over

Third Sunday pod scheduled TONIGHT for 8 pm ET. Also, getta loada ‘dat chat!

Aruba, and Lucca, oooh I wanna nuke ya

Poughkeepsie, Almonte, work, ya lazy donkeys!

Yeah yeah yeah, SHUT IT. By the end of this week you’re going to be begging us to turn off the content firehose, and we will respond by cackling, pointing at your Dog Days complaints, and cranking the water pressure up another notch. Beginning tonight at a scheduled 8 pm ET, when all paying subscribers are invited to join our Third Sunday Members Only Zoom recording of the podcast. Crossing fingers that some of our many Southern California pals can join in from the eye of the hopefully not-too-brutal tropical storm.

* You know what I discovered this week? That weird and fun things happen when you click on the “Chat” button of this here podcast! Who knew? I mean, besides Gabrielle G, and L Brown, and some of our other community stalwarts. It’s where I learned, for example (from Gabi G, natch), that Kevin D. Williamson (vet of Episode #44) guest-hosted this week on a RICO-tastic episode of Ink Stained Wretches, the “News About the News” podcast of Eliana Johnson and Chris Stirewalt (#396). Paying subscribers can start threads in Chat, though I think everyone can read them. Should I experiment with an A.M.A.-style thingie there, or something more interesting/clever that people can suggest in the comments? Also, pro-tip: If one of us co-hosts starts a thread, then it & the responses can be a notifications nightmare; you can manually click the stop-notifications-on-this-post deal for relief.

* Here’s Gabi G again in the Chat, just stone-cold writing up a Weekend ‘graf (though I added the hyperlinks & emphases):

Jane Coaston (Fifth Column guest: #108, #192, #309) hosting Ezra Klein's podcast is giving me life. Latest is with Mary Katharine Ham (Fifth Column guest #345)

* Didja like Volume 1 (#417) of the Philly-FIRE student event, starring Moynihan flame Lara Bazelon (#357, #369) plus Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Grand Poobah Greg Lukianoff (#216)? Well, apparently so did a student or three:

FIRE was excited to host “Fifth Column” podcasters Michael Moynihan, former national correspondent for Vice News, and Kmele Foster, journalist and partner at Freethink, as keynote speakers for the conference. Joining them was Lara Bazelon, law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and outspoken advocate for due process rights. Lara was also the keynote speaker at last year’s summer conference where she received a standing ovation. Returning students and interns were thrilled to hear from her again. 

In keeping with their typical podcast format, the “Fifth Column” podcasters’ keynote speech was a free-flowing conversation between Lara and the hosts. Students loved seeing this non-traditional keynote address, and one student said the keynote was “absolutely amazing [and] a great change of pace.” 

Another student said the keynote speech inspired them to start their own free speech podcast on campus. 

That’s how you do it. More on the joys of media creation in the very near future.

* Media destruction, on the other hand, can eat an enormous sac of Richards, at least when perpetrated by the dead-making hands of gubmint. My Reason colleague Robby Soave (#332) and his co-host Briahna Joy Gray were nice enough to bring me on The Hill’s Rising program this past week, to talk about my piece, “Why Kamala Harris Won't Be Asked About the Suicide of a Newspaperman She Persecuted.” Enjoy the barn/studio backdrop of Paloma North!

* Speaking of near-Hudson environs of upstate NY, as well as the polarizing musical content of Members Only #176, I followed McCaffeinated’s advice and wound my way (with proper soundtrack, of course) through Saugerties/Woodstock backwoods to find The Big Pink itself. And, yep:

McCaffeinated also linked to this charming little video of the now-last surviving member of The Band, Garth Hudson, returning to the legendary house nearly a decade ago:

* The Fifth Column Community Show podcast, which we continue to take neither responsibility nor credit for, posted an episode Aug. 11 titled “Our Favorite Commie’s Proxy War,” with guest Aaron Maté (#138 & #173).

* Comment of the Week comes from Bill Allen:

Apropos of abso-fucking-lutely nothing, I love this and now y’all should too. 

I am independently drunk, for those keeping score.

Outro music is Moynihan’s favorite unreleased Bob Dylan/Robbie Robertson collab: