Electric Sky

Interview with Shawn MacDonell

Mark — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:55:19 +0000

Shawn MacDonell grew up when computers were gaining popularity in the home and the Internet had not yet extended beyond military and academic circles. It was a time when guidance counsellors and aptitude tests pointed high school students like sheep toward computer science degrees.

That didn’t cut it for Shawn. He abandoned that path after taking his first few steps and, somewhat accidentally, he developed a program to teach children how to read. With baseballs.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Shawn MacDonell (blog)

This episode of Electric Sky is published as part of the Canadian National Day of Podcasting, initiated by the Canadian Podcast Buffet to bring dusty old podcasts out for a shine for a one-day reunion-like festival on December 1, 2010. Somehow it became an annual event.

Interview with Neil and Jeff of the Arrested Development Documentary Project

Mark — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:18:07 +0000

Come on! The publication of this interview is LONG overdue. I originally recorded it on August 24, 2009, just six days before my wife (Andrea) found a lump in her breast — a lump which turned out to be cancer. It’s been a heck of a year. We’re now a happier, healthier us!

I’ve been looking forward to publishing this interview. Besides being related to Andrea’s and my favourite television show, it’s about two people (Neil and Jeff) following their passion, curiosity and creativity to embark on the ambitious Arrested Development Documentary Project (a documentary about the television show Arrested Development). You can watch a trailer for the project here.

According to Neil, “The project has been on hiatus for a number of months, but for good reason, director Jeff got hitched up, married, he took the plunge. In addition, we have been ensuring all our legal ducks are in a row. Too bad Bob Loblaw is not still practicing law, we could really use his legal advice. The project is far from dead, it is just going a whole lot slower than we expected.”

Show ID and intro
Interview with Neil and Jeff of the Arrested Development Documentary Project

This episode of Electric Sky was published as part of the Canadian National Day of Podcasting, initiated by the Canadian Podcast Buffet to bring dusty old podcasts out for a shine for a one-day reunion-like festival on December 1, 2010.

Photo from the Arrested Development Documentary Project photo collection.

Interview with Marian van der Zon

Mark — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:00:20 +0000

I grew up with a romantic view of radio pirates; ordinary people using public airwaves to build communities from locations offshore, from basement studios and from mobile transmitters in the backs of vans. As passionate as I am about radio, I never knew pirate radio had a Canadian scene.

Then I found out my good friend Bob Goyetche was a host on CNOT (a Montreal-based pirate radio station) in the early 90s. And then I met Marian van der Zon at the Radio Without Boundaries conference in Toronto last year. At the time, she was editing a book about the Canadian pirate radio scene. That book, Islands of Resistance: Pirate Radio in Canada, is now available.

Show ID and intro
Audio clip from Radio Barrie Lake
Interview with Marian van der Zon

John Meadows interviewed Bob Goyetche about his experiences in pirate radio and has published the discussion on his On the Log Podcast. Click here to listen to Rebel Radio.

Also, check out this story about an Ottawa boy who set up his own pirate radio station this past winter. And I thought the younger generation didn’t care about radio anymore!

Interview with Andrea Ross

Mark — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:53:24 +0000

I’ve often heard people say they’re fighting or they’ve beaten cancer. It was a shift in my thinking when, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, my wife talked about healing and being a survivor.

Six months, three surgeries and six rounds of chemotherapy later, I understand.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Andrea Ross

You can follow Andrea’s incredibly inspiring online breast cancer journal at WeCanRebuildHer.com. The site features regular blog posts from everyone in our family as well as audio podcasts that document various stages of our journey, and videos that celebrate life and fun during a stressful time.

Andrea and I also collaborated on the children’s book podcast JustOneMoreBook.com, now on hiatus.

Hey! Electric Sky is five years old!!!

Interview with Dewitt Jones

Mark — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:34:52 +0000

One of my favourite lessons taught by Dewitt Jones is to study your tools and how to use them so you can capture the extraordinary no matter which tool happens to be in your hand at the time. Dewitt knows this well. His extraordinary photographs have graced pages and covers of National Geographic magazine for seventeen years.

I had the privilege to meet and speak with Dewitt at a small private event designed to create a space for conversation. The conversations hinged on creativity, curiosity and the extraordinary.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Dewitt Jones

Interview with Hugh Brewster

Mark — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:45:42 +0000

A new all-ages book by historian and author, Hugh Brewster, explores the valour and determination of the Canadian forces as one problem after another stacked against them for the raid on German forces at Dieppe. His book includes details on the planning and execution of the raid, as well as the incredible stories of survival of Canadian soldiers that became German prisoners — several of whom escaped through (patiently) hand dug tunnels.

Relevant books by Hugh Brewster:

Listen to more with Hugh Brewster on JustOneMoreBook.com.

Photo of Hugh Brewster from HughBrewster.com.

The Leadership Summit 2009: Leaders and Followers

Mark — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:55:12 +0000

We tend to be myopic when we face challenges — it’s much more comfortable to focus inwards. Leaders are no exception. So, when leaders talk about thinking out of the box, they should be first in line.

This concept has been embraced by Bill Hybels who founded The Leadership Summit fifteen years ago. While the event has faith-based overtones, the concepts that are discussed are relevant to leaders of any community. In fact, this year’s program included Chip and Dan Heath, David Gergen, Bono and Tony Blair.

Show ID and Intro
Taber Bucknell
James Drew
Gina
Pastor Dave Kornelsen
Julie Osborne
…and several anonymous contributors

Relevant links:

Special thanks to Lois Warren for all of her logistical help.

Bye, bye amazon.com

Mark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:45:36 +0000

In response to Amazon’s decision (something they’ve called a “glitch” in their swift and misguided damage control campaign) to remove books about gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transsexual lifestyles from their ranking system (both adult and children’s literature), I have joined a growing number of people who have removed all of the links to books and other merchandise sold by amazon.com from their sites.

You will no longer find links to amazon.com on this site. I encourage you to make your online purchases from an online retailer of your choice. For books, I recommend both Powell’s Books and Chapters.

Commentary on the Remembrance Day episode

Mark — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:26:49 +0000

I’ve published commentary on the Remembrance Day episode on my blog site, markblevis.com. In the commentrary I talk being fearless in gathering ‘streeters’, scraping ceremonial coverage from the radio, getting permission to use music by Bryan Adams and The Duhks, and making audio elements fit together tightly like an elaborate puzzle.

Relevant links:

The Remembrance Day episode

Commentary on episodes

Mark — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:06:34 +0000

During the month of August, I will be recording commentary on a small selection of my own podcast productions that are near and dear to me for any of many reasons. These recordings will be published on my blog site, markblevis.com. The first of my Producer’s Commentary series was published earlier this week.

If you have a particular Electric Sky episode you’d like hear my commentary on (e.g. guest and question selection, recording process, editing decisions, production techniques, etc…), send an email (electricskypodcast@gmail.com) or call the Electric Sky Podcast listener hotline (+1.206.350.6487) and tell me which one you’d like to hear.

Stay tuned – Electric Sky will be back

Mark — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:02:48 +0000

In order to make time available for some personal projects, I have decided to put Electric Sky on hiatus. The site (including a recent wave of new shows) and RSS feed will remain online and fully functional.

Stay tuned. Electric Sky will be back!

Stephen Gritt on Art Restoration and Conservation

Mark — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:01:16 +0000

It’s amazing who you can meet in a park during your child’s soccer game. I was introduced to Stephen Gritt on one such occasion last summer by someone who knew that Stephen would make a great guest for Electric Sky. They were right.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Stephen Grit
National Gallery of Canada
Piet Mondrian (on Wikipedia)
Paolo Veronese (on Wikipedia)
Dead Christ with Angels: Fragment of the Lendinara Altarpiece (1565)

Outtakes from this interview can be found at MarkBlevis.com.

Jennifer Barnaby and Cakes for a Cause

Mark — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:52:42 +0000

During the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale (a huge community garage sale in Ottawa), my family stumbed on Jennifer Barnaby, a Cordon Bleu Chef who was serving baked goods she’d made while her husband, Jim, brewed up espresso and handled the transactions. Every single cent collected from the sales went directly to charity. They didn’t even recover their expenses.

That’s how I met Jim and Jennifer. I had one of their espressos and a piece of the most incredible cake I have ever had to kick off my garage sale spree. It might have been 9:30am.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Jennifer Barnaby (Cakes for a Cause)
Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation

Brad Blanton and Radical Honesty

Mark — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:00:10 +0000

I’ve wanted to produce a documentary on honesty for almost three years. In preparation, I gathered some street audio on honesty and dishonesty, definitions of the ideas and self-analysis (unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced some of this audio). I also conducted an incredibly insightful interview with Brad Blanton whose book Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth I was reading at the time.

When I conducted this interview in 2005, Dr. Blanton was preparing to pursue a political career as an independent, green candidate on a platform of honesty.

I still have designs on producing a documentary on honesty. At the same time, I can’t keep this interview to myself any longer.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Brad Blanton
Anonymous ‘streeters’
Audio clips from Sage Tyrtle and Charles Cadenhead

Bracelets of Hope

Mark — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:00:22 +0000

While in Perth, ON last August, I learned about Bracelets of Hope, an initiative to raise the money necessary to build a medical clinic for a Village of Hope in Harare, Zimbabwe — all by selling handmade bracelets. Even more impressive is that the initiative was dreamed up by a ten-year-old.

I met with Carrie-Anne Bauer and her mother, Pamela, in a park in Ottawa last August (2007) and conducted this interview. I’ve been beating myself up for not having released this interview sooner. That was before I received an update from Pamela this past Friday (April 4, 2008) . Her update inspired me to publish the interview now. I think it has more impact this way.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Carrie-Anne and Pamela Bauer (August 2007)
Update on Bracelets of Hope fundraising (April 2008)

Relevant links:

Photo of Carrie-Anne and the Bracelets of Hope provided by Pamela Bauer.

Whale Watching on the Jolly Breeze

Mark — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:00:31 +0000

Our family vacation in August 2007 was a two-week, unplugged, extravaganza down the Fundy side of New Brunswick. The camping was fantastic and we were able to witness the awesome vertical tides of the Bay of Fundy.

The highlight of our trip was a whale watching expedition on the Jolly Breeze, a tall ship based out of (beautiful) St. Andrews by the sea.

Soundseeing tour of the Jolly Breeze
Interview with Rob Carney
Interview with Captain Troy

Photo: Derek Beardsworth

Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity and Education (part 2 of 2)

Mark — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:00:14 +0000

In the conclusion of this two part series, Sir Ken Robinson explains what ‘back to basics’ means, offers ways in which parents can help foster creativity in their children, and outlines his ideal school.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Sir Ken Robinson (part 2 of 2)

I recommend Sir Ken Robinson’s book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative and a video of his presentation Do Schools Kill Creativity? which he delivered at the TED conference.

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity and Education (part 1 of 2)

Mark — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 01:30:52 +0000

I first learned about Sir Ken Robinson and his research on creativity and the decline of creativity in education when I saw a video of a presentation he delivered at the TED conference (Do Schools Kill Creativity?). His book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative is an in depth analysis of education systems and the role of creativity as part of our ourselves and our education.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Sir Ken Robinson (part 1 of 2)

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Promo: Recovery Program Documentary

Mark — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:09:59 +0000

In March 2006, I took a day off of work to spent time with the residents of Harvest House, a recovery program based in Ottawa. It was an incredibly educational and emotional day.

I am currently producing a thirty-minute documentary based on my experiences that day. The program will be available at Electric Sky later this summer.

Music for the documentary and the promo by Dawn Tyler Watson (used with permission).

Relaxed release schedule for summer 2007

Mark — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:59:16 +0000

You may have already noticed that I haven’t been releasing shows regularly for the last few months. I needed to forgive myself the weekly production schedule during a particularly busy spring. I plan to produce a few shows over the summer on no particular release schedule and will be back into regular production in September.

Have a great summer!

Michael Kositsin and his amazing honey bees

Mark — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:07:06 +0000

Ottawa Valley Honey is one of the popular attractions at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market. Children and adults flock to this booth to study the section of beehive that is always a part of the display.

I had the opportunity to interview Michael Kositsin, one of the beekeepers, about his amazing honey bees.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Michael Kositsin of Ottawa Valley Honey

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

William Hawkins and connecting with people

Mark — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:11:53 +0000

In the same way that many people figured Wayne Gretzky would always play hockey, I cannot imagine a time when William Hawkins, Bill, will no longer be driving his cab. And driving a cab is only one of the many lives he has led.

Bill was part of the Ottawa music scene that centered around the Cafe Hibou. Among the drops ins to the scene were Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, John Hammond and Frank Zappa.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with William Hawkins
Song: Royal Boost
Final thought from Bill

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Photo of William Hawkins by John Garner.

Tod Maffin made me do it

Mark — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 03:06:57 +0000

I released my very first Podcast on April 29, 2005. Tod Maffin made me do it. That is to say, I heard him talk about podcasting during a technology segment on CBC Radio. That, combined with Brent Bambury’s announcement that he was leaving CBC Ottawa resulted in the launch of Electric Sky.

Electric Sky led to The Canadian Podcast Buffet (which led to Podcasters Across Borders). Some brainstorming at home led to Growing Enthusiasm. Podcasters Across Borders led to Just One More Book. Do you see the pattern yet?

In addition to all of my hobby podcasts, last year I started to produce a number of Podcasts on contract through my company, Third Storey. Suddenly this little seed that Tod planted had become an all encompassing way of life.

To celebrate my second anniversary as a podcaster, I invited the creator of the monster I have become to talk a bit about podcasting and how the movement looks two years later.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Tod Maffin
- Todbits

A long version of this interview will be released on MarkBlevis.com later this week.

The Electric Sky logo, second anniversary logo and website created by Nico.

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Alex Overwijk and the perfect freehand circle

Mark — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:43:39 +0000

In many respects, Alex Overwijk reminds me of my own high school math teachers – passionate, a good sense of humour and a unexpected skill that everyone knows them for. Alex is an unlikely celebrity for a viral YouTube video of him drawing a perfect freehand circle.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Alex Overwijk
- Freehand Circle Drawing Society
- YouTube video

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Scrabble Tournament for Multiple Sclerosis

Mark — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:18:06 +0000

Since 2002, Pam Hunter has been organizing annual Scrabble tournaments to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I dropped in on this year’s event and learned that, like baseball, Scrabble is rich with strategy and language including speed games, board-vision, heavy tiles and “box scores”.

Show ID and Intro
Interviews with participants and event organizer, Pam Hunter
- Ottawa Scrabble Club
- Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
The search for ‘qi’

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Photo: Valeria Huber

Episode delay

Mark — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:44:30 +0000

This week’s episode of Electric Sky is heavy on the editing and production side. As a result, I will be publishing this week’s episode in the evening of Monday, March 26.

Thank you for your patience.

Jeannie Hunter and the World Voices Choir

Mark — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:42:34 +0000

Quite by chance, my family and I learned about the CD release party for The World Voices Choir, an event that took place just over a month ago. We made it a family event — that includes our two daughters ages five and seven. It was an amazing and inspirational experience, and it raised money for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Choir Director, Jeannie Hunter
Song clips:
- Our Voices
- Dubula
- Ipharadisi
- Somagwaza
- The Drinking Gourd
- Freedom Is In Your Hand
- Funga Alafia
- We Shall Not Give Up The Fight

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

June Creelman on creating museum exhibits

Mark — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:30:12 +0000

On a recent visit to the Canadian Museum of Nature, we were polled for our opinions on a proposed exhibit on water. A display of four concepts were on display for public comment. I had never considered how museum exhibits were conceived, planned and pulled together.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with June Creelman of Apropos Planning
- Canadian Museum of Nature

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Thomas Wartenberg and Philosophy for Children

Mark — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:00:48 +0000

Thomas Wartenberg has created an entire program for his philosophy class at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The program teaches his students how to facilitate a philosophical discussion with grade 1 through 5 students using picture books. The results are amazing.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Thomas Wartenberg
- Philosophy for Children

The full length version of this interview is available at Just One More Book!!

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Photo: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~twartenb/

Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner George Da Pont

Mark — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:17:21 +0000

For no apparent reason, I have always assumed that any coast guard operation was a military outfit. It turns out I was wrong. To learn more, I sat down with the Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, Mr. George Da Pont.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Commissioner George Da Pont

Search and Rescue
Ice breaking program
Active fleet (including self-righting vessels)

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Crest of the Canadian Coast Guard: http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/

Electric Sky is returning from holidays

Mark — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:33:08 +0000

A two-week break has turned into a one month break. Electric Sky will be returning from holidays this weekend.

Thanks for your patience!

Happy Holidays

Mark — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 02:24:51 +0000

This is an unusual episode of Electric Sky in which I cut loose with my other Rogic Conglomerites to bring you a festive song.

Thank you very much for being a part of the Electric Sky audience.

All the best to you and yours for a happy, healthy and safe holiday season – no matter how you celebrate it.

Server and feed problems

Mark — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 00:48:25 +0000

I had some pretty severe server problems yesterday – Friday, December 8 – which resulted in all sorts of problems, most of which were resolved around 5amET today. As a result, most of my sites were down, and my feeds went crazy for a while.

My apologies for the inconvenience!

Mark

Stephen Hardiman on storytelling as a business tool

Mark — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 01:28:36 +0000

During a recent conversation about social media, my friend, Stephen Hardiman, started to talk about storytelling as a business tool. It was one of those times when I cut people off and tell them to save it for when the tape is rolling. Since Stephen has a radio background – he hosted Expert Radio, a radio show on Radio America – he completely understood.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Stephen Hardiman
Projects Stephen is involved in

Gibby Media Group
Discovery School

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Experiencing a Shuttle Launch

Mark — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:01:10 +0000

As a gift for his fiftieth birthday, Suzanne Roy-Seguin helped her husband, Yves Seguin, realize his dream of experiencing the launch of a Space Shuttle. I spoke with them about how they experienced this incredible event given that Yves is blind and Suzanne is legally blind – both from Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP).

Show ID and Intro

Audio of STS-115 launch (recorded by Yves Seguin)

Interview with Yves Seguin and Suzanne Roy-Seguin

Information on Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Tell Me About Honesty

Mark — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 01:39:06 +0000

I’m finally putting some energy back into creating a documentary on honesty and I need your help – this after a year-and-a-half of threatening to do so. I’m looking for email and audio comments that will be used anonymously on my program.

I’m looking for you to provide any of the following information:

What is your definition of honesty?
Are you an honest person?
Have you ever lied?
Did you lie today?
What is the worst lie you’ve ever been caught in?
What is the worst lie you’ve ever caught someone in?

Please send your typewritten or audio (MP3) comments to electricskypodcast@gmail.com, or call my voice feedback number 206-350-6487.

All comments will be used anonymously! Thanks for your participation.

Sheree Fitch and The Theology of Nonsense

Mark — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 02:43:38 +0000

Sheree Fitch is the author of more than twenty children’s picture and poetry books, a young adult book called Gravesavers, and several plays.

During a conversation with Sheree for Just One More Book (another Podcast I produce with my wife, Andrea), Sheree introduced an idea she has called The Theology of Nonsense. I had to have it on Electric Sky.

Show ID and Intro
Sheree Fitch explains The Theology of Nonsense

Conversation with Sheree Fitch on Just One More Book

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Electric Sky goes to Afganistan

Mark — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:12:21 +0000

Thanks to Jill Pyle for alerting me to this…

Canada AM ran a piece this morning about the ‘Red Fridays’ organizers having created some scrapbooks to document rallies they organized and inspired, and media coverage they attracted. The scrapbooks have been sent to Canadian troops in Afganistan.

During the segment, CTV split the screen to show the interview with Red Friday co-organizer Lisa Miller in one window, and pages of the scrapbook in the other. It was hard to miss my yellow jacket when they showed a photograph of me interviewing Lisa and co-organizer Karen Boire for an episode of Portrait.

Best wishes to all of our troops for a safe return, and thank you to all of Canada’s veterans!

Model Railroading

Mark — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 23:00:14 +0000

I attended the Railfair 2006 at Algonquin College in Ottawa. The setups were incredibly elaborate and the exhibitors were more than happy to talk about their hobbies.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Neil Hutton of Cumberland Third Rail

Railfair 2006 video on YouTube

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Thomas Grande on Qui Tam

Mark — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:16:05 +0000

Sometimes a chance meeting can take place when you grab the wrong airport shuttle. That’s exactly what happened to me when I arrived in San Francisco this past June. I shared a shuttle with Thomas Grande and his wife. Mr. Grande practices Qui Tam law and he gave me a brief education before we arrived at his hotel. I was able to recapture a bit of that discussion earlier this week when I called Mr. Grande at his office in Hawaii.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Thomas Grande of Grande Law Offices

The Qui Tam Online Network

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Note: At the time that this interview was conducted, Mr. Grande was a partner with Davis Levin Livingston Grande Attorneys.Â This post has been updated to reflect that change.

ES2 is moving

Mark — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:35:27 +0000

Some time ago, I figured out how to use the category-casting feature of the PodPress plugin.Â It was the perfect motivator for me to create a second, category-based feed for Electric Sky.Â I called that feed ES2 and used it as a way to share outtakes and behind the scenes talk about Electric Sky.Â Things worked well for a while.Â Then, I upgraded to PodPress v6.7 and met with significant problems in the category-casting feature.Â So, I downgraded back to v6.6 and ran into different problems.

After three months, there is no immediate indication that the category casting feature is under repair.Â So, I am moving ES2 to www.markblevis.com and making it part of a relaxed and similarly irregular Podcast at that site.

Ashley LaFave

Mark — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 03:26:07 +0000

There’s a certain irony with the timing of this episode. Nevertheless, I am amazed by Ashley’s passion for, and commitment to, her rabbits.

Show ID and intro
Interview with Ashley LaFave of the Spencerville Hillside Rabbitry

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Red Fridays

Mark — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 06:32:53 +0000

It’s a simple idea: wear red on Fridays to show support for the troops and families of the Canadian military. It’s not about politics or ideology. It’s about people. It’s called Red Fridays and it was organized by Karen Boire and Lisa Miller.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Karen Boire and Lisa Miller
Married to the Canadian Forces
Audio clips from Red Friday on Parliament Hill (Ottawa, Canada)

Steve Madely (CFRA)
Gen. Rick Hillier
Prime Minister Stephen Harper

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Transcripts available

Mark — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:30:22 +0000

I am gradually rolling out transcripts of all of my Electric Sky Podcasts. I am launching this new feature today with the release of the transcript for my interview with Stewart Copeland.
I will add transcripts to the existing show notes for each episode. Once the transcript is added, you can access the transcripts by clicking on the “Read on…” link in the show notes.

As always, comments are suggestions are welcome.

***update September 20: I have added transcripts for my interviews with Miles Copeland and Lee Edward Fodi.

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Mark — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:00:22 +0000

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is touring the world as part of the celebration of the Art of Living Foundation‘s twenty-fifth anniversary. I spoke with him during his stop in Ottawa.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

How to SUBSCRIBE to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Transcript of “Portrait – His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar”

[Portrait theme music] Podcasting visual insound, this is another edition of Portrait on Electric Sky.

Mark Blevis: In February of this year, two-and-a-half million people including religious and political leaders of all faiths and backgrounds gathered in Bangalore, India to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Art of Living Foundation. I’m your host, Mark Blevis. On this edition of Portrait, humanitarian, spiritual leader, founder of The Art of Living Foundation and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Things are in concept in the mind about peace and love, but how to bring that in day-to-day life and how to get rid of all the negativity, how to break down the barriers and prejudice against each other?

What was bothering me was the prejudice that people had between urban and rural, between different religious groups or gender or race. I want to break down this prejudice in the minds of people and to become like children again and relate with each other with heart, sincerity and love.

We find that stress is the main cause that blocks people. Lack of understanding is testimony to that. So, we put together this program, The Art of Living. It all began very simply. I just started teaching whatever I knew to a bunch of people in the drawing room and then word of mouth, it kept growing.

Mark Blevis: It grew to two-and-a-half million people in one place.

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yeah.

Mark Blevis: You have mentioned religion. In your mind, is there a distinction between religion and spirituality?

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. Spirituality is the essence of all religions. There is some common trait between all religions, it is spirituality, but in spirituality, you are in contact with the divinity deep within. Spirituality is honouring life. Spirituality is love and compassion, service. See?

The communication or communion with God can happen only in spirituality. Religion is the external thing though the central part of every religion is spirituality, but unfortunately people are more stuck in the outer periphery rather than reaching the center chord.

Mark Blevis: Do you think the concept of secular spirituality is threatening to religious leaders?

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: They shouldn’t because they must be tired by now with all the conflict, you see.

A religious leader cannot afford to think “only these people belong to me.” When a Catholic priest prays, he should pray for the entire population of the world, not just for only Catholics; or a Buddhist monk when he prays, he doesn’t pray only for his people. Or even for that matter, a Muslim imam or a Hindu priest. I feel when a swami prays or a priest prays, they pray for the entire world and if they are not, the prayer is not very fruitful.

Mark Blevis: The other interesting point that I see mentioned in a lot of your literature is the blame culture. Do you think that we can get past the blame culture and what are ways that we can do that?

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A stress-free mind will stop blaming. If you are stressed, you start blaming; either you blame yourself or blame somebody else. Wherever you begin you end up in the other. So, to get over the blame culture we need to be more compassionate.

When you see a culprit is also a victim, when you broaden your horizon, you will see that every culprit is also a victim. So then you can’t be angry on a victim. You will not take revenge on a victim. Inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help. We need to heal that victim. Help them out. Non-violence and compassion should be the guiding force. If this is prevalent in our society, we can definitely make a difference. It may sound very impractical, but we will have to move in that direction because non-violence is — nobody likes violence for themselves, but we need to bring those values in life. It has to come from education and from culturing.

Just for example, nobody litters in Ottawa, but if you go to third world countries, people are littering. What is the difference? Because that has been a part of education. Everyone, mostly, follows the rule and they drive on the right side here and left side in England and that’s a matter of education. Similarly, dental hygiene, the physical hygiene we teach, but we are not teaching mental hygiene where you should handle rage and anger and frustration and depression and these sorts of antisocial feelings. That’s where yoga, meditation, breathing, all these techniques will be of immense help to bring such a balance in the mind and softness in the heart and behaviour.

Mark Blevis: At your Silver Jubilee back in February, you had two-and-a-half million people in India and among them were religious and spiritual leaders and people of backgrounds of every sort. What was it about the Silver Jubilee that drew all these people to one place and to one mind?

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, Silver Jubilee was to be celebrated and we have known people would all be coming from all over the world because anywhere we had to celebrate, somewhere we had to begin that. So, we had to make the big arrangements for that and we invited religious leaders. They readily accepted and we had nearly one thousand religious leaders of all denominations and many political leaders and three-thousand-eight-hundred musicians all on the same stage.

Yeah, I know, you look back now and see it’s a humongous task. Mind you there was no traffic jam even. There was no incident. That was what somebody asked me in the Belgium Parliament. He said, “Here in Belgium, we have a soccer game where ten-thousand people coming, there are a hundred casualties. We need to have five hundred police. How could you manage 2.5 million people?” I said, “The peace and silence and the non-violence as main theme and goal will make everyone move in that direction.” I think it’s our intention when we want to bring that non-violence and meditation as part of our event in the society, people will get into it.

Mark Blevis: Has anything changed in the world or through your organization since the Silver Jubilee?

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A Silver Jubilee is just an event, but a lot of social work is happening through the organization whether in tsunami or recent flooding in parts of India or earthquake or bomb blast, train bomb blast. Trauma relief work is going on. We are keeping the temper cool on the planet wherever we can reach. Of course, Israel and Lebanon we are not able to reach as much as we would love to. We need more volunteers.

Generally, I feel the stress and depression level wherever we have started working have tremendously changed. I still feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. There is a lot be done, a lot to be done in this field to educate people, to handle their emotions and to be happy and compassionate.

Mark Blevis: Show notes and links to resources discussed in this episode can be found on my website, electricsky.net. While you’re there, be sure to check out my podcast archives. The theme song for Portrait is Bigfoot by Robert Farrell. Electric Sky is a proud member of the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate. Thanks for listening and please stay subscribed.

Send feedback to electricskypodcast@gmail.com.

The rebuilding begins

Mark — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:39:02 +0000

Thank you to everyone for your kind words, good wishes, and offers of help. My family and I have been touched by the generosity and concern.

I have begun replacing what was stolen and hope to be back in production in a week or so. I have also started to identify some of the recordings that are now gone forever. This includes some personal data and recordings, and interviews with Stomp (they performed with some Tic Tac containers), Kayaking for Cancer and four episodes of Just One More Book.

I’ll be back, soon.

We interrupt this program

Mark — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 22:00:56 +0000

Unfortunately, we were the target of a robbery and, as a result, I will be unable to produce Electric Sky until I replace my stolen equipment. Everyone is okay.

I hope to be rolling again as soon as possible.

Lee Edward Fodi

Mark — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 23:00:01 +0000

Imagine a children’s fantasy book that entertains, inspires and illustrates the magic of facing ourselves. Imagine that book enjoys enough success to merit a sequel. That book is Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Lee Edward Fodi

Hear a review of Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers on Just One More Book.

Photo: www.leefodi.com

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Transcript of Portrait – Lee Edward Fodi

Lee Edward Fodi: I am Lee Edward Fodi and you’re listening to Electric Sky.

[Portrait theme music] Podcasting visual insound, this is another edition of Portrait on Electric Sky.

Mark Blevis: Every picture tells a story. Some tell a book, and then another. I am your host Mark Blevis. On this edition of Portrait, author and illustrator Lee Edward Fodi.

Lee Edward Fodi: I think in a visual way and I get so many of my ideas either by looking at other peoples’ art or to my own art. With this book, I had actually just finished writing my first book, which had been published by a different publisher, a small press out of New York. It was quite exhausting.

So I was just in my studio painting one day just trying to let my imagination unravel and relax and I was painting this picture of these small characters sneaking past a giant eye. You couldn’t necessarily tell what the eye belonged to but I worked on this painting and I ended up with these small characters sneaking past the giant red dragon and I realized when I was done painting it that I actually had a story in this painting because I had some tiny characters. One of them was carrying a box that was glowing and another had a key and what-not and I realized when I sat back and looked at this, I went, “Wait a minute. There’s probably some kind of story going on with this painting.”

So I began asking myself a few questions like ‘why are these characters in this situation?’ and ‘what is in this box?’ and just from that whole painting I ended up with the book Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers. So I like to say that in my case the picture is worth 43,000 words, more than a thousand words.

Mark Blevis: In the story — I do not want to give away the Box of Whispers, the ending anyway, because it’s quite unexpected. Where did you come up with the concept of having a message built into the book that wasn’t preachy and really delivered a good foundation?

Lee Edward Fodi: Well, first I’m glad that you don’t think it’s preachy because that certainly wasn’t my intent and I can say that I… You know, I don’t put a lot of conscious thought – I do not think I do anyway – into messages during the writing process. I think with this book I really did start out with writing a story about some characters who had to go find their precious box that had been stolen by this thief.

As the story developed, I began to realize – as the characters began to grow as they inevitably do during the writing process – certain dots became connected. Of course what we know that what is inside the box are all the secrets of these characters and originally they went and they found the box and the ending is pretty much as we know it.

It didn’t pack much punch in the very first draft. What I realized as I was writing the story along the way, I had that adventure where Kendra saves the life of the monster, the Unger called Trooogul and she decides to keep that a secret. Of course, as soon as that happened in the story, it really took the book to a new level and it really made Kendra have a personal journey in this book whereas before it was very much a generic one. I’m just delighted that it actually turned out that way.

It hit home for me and I am glad to hear that it hit home with a few of my readers. A lot of the readers really loved the ending where she confronts that box because it is such a personal situation now whereas in the very first draft it was just, oh I don’t know, a little bit more action packed, but not so much emotionally intense.

Mark Blevis: Did you consider that this would lead to a series of books or at least a sequel?

Lee Edward Fodi: I did with this book because for one thing I knew that there were a couple of plot elements if you will that I just didn’t have room to tie up with sufficient — I could not tie them up sufficiently. There is the whole subplot in this book of Kendra’s quest to find out what became of her family because as we know she lives with her Uncle Griffinskitch. He’s her guardian. She drew out the book as wondering what became of her mother, her father and her brother. I couldn’t give that sufficient detail on the book. I didn’t want to throw it in at the end, “Oh, by the way, here’s what happened to her family.” At the same time, I thought well if it is not ever revealed in this book that’s okay and if I never write another book it ends happily enough.

The book has been fairly successful. I get so many e-mails from kids wanting more. It really seems to connect with Kendra Kandlestar and some of the other characters and it is the number one question I get. Is she going to go on another journey? Is she going to solve the mystery of what became of her family? I never really thought about what the answer to that question is while I was writing this first book. Now, I have started asking those questions and I have started coming up with few of the answers.

For me, to write a book, it takes a lot of energy and it has to be a pretty enjoyable journey. I’ve got what I think is a pretty good idea for the sequel. I’m pretty excited about it. I’m hard at work at on it. I am probably about threequarters the way through the first draft and I think it’s going to be pretty surprising to my readers. There’s no shortage of surprises in the second book. All the old gang is going to be there, but there is a nice little twist which I hope pleases my readers. That is for sure.

Mark Blevis: Do you find that there is more pressure on you for the sequel?

Lee Edward Fodi: Yes, I do actually now that you mentioned that. Only in the sense that when I’m writing a book, obviously introducing characters that noone’s ever heard of, there’s obviously no expectations from my readers. For people who are to know the first book and want to read more, they have a certain expectation, you know?

You do become a little bit of a hostage to some of these things because I know I need to make sure — for example I need to make sure Captain Jinx is in the book because she is a character — the grasshopper in the first book is the tough one with all the weapons and the rather bad attitude I suppose, but she’s a fan favorite, so I know I have to make sure Jinx plays some sort of role in this book.

Mark Blevis: Your website suggests that you do a lot of public speaking, that you’re out and active in schools and communities, and there’s always pictures of you drawing the characters and you are wearing a fun hat. You really look like you are actively engaged with the audience. When you deliver your sessions, what is it like for you?

Lee Edward Fodi: Oh, it’s completely invigorating. I mean love doing it. Personally, I love the smaller ones, the smaller groups, a little bit better because it affords me an opportunity to connect with individuals better than when it’s a large group. I can’t see the kid in the back row, but I get in a real high and I have a real… You know it’s an energy — the energy goes both ways. I put all my energy into those sessions but I get a lot of energy back and it’s just a really invigorating experience for me personally.

Before I became an author, I never really thought about the public presentation aspect of this type of career and a lot of authors I think are somewhat notorious for not wanting to be in public or not liking to speak in public and I’m just darn lucky that I like it because I never — that was something I did not really know about myself until I was afforded this opportunity to start going into schools. Now, I actually teach creative writing to kids as well. That’s slightly a different experience because we’re working on more of a — with ten to fifteen kids at a time. It’s a little bit more — even more educational, a little bit more institutional. It’s the same thing. It’s a great exchange of ideas. It’s a wonderful experience. I don’t know if it inspires me in the sense that it gives me specific ideas for books, but it inspires me in a general sense.

I just love working with the kids and hearing their ideas. They’re so fresh and enthusiastic and sometimes they come up with ideas that are a hundred times better than anything I would ever come up with because they’re just that much more original and fresh.

[Portrait theme music]

Mark Blevis: Links and more information can be found in the show notes on my website, electricsky.net. While you’re there, be sure to check out my podcast archives and my behind the scenes and outtakes feed, ES2. The theme song for Portrait is Bigfoot by Robert Farrell. Electric Sky is a proud member of the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate. Thanks for listening and please stay subscribed.

Send feedback to electricskypodcast@gmail.com.

Immortalized

Mark — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:22:32 +0000

Pete Moss, narrator of the Uninformed Biography segment on AndyCast, has featured the uninformed story of my life on the latest AndyCast, Episode #32.Â How did he find out about the martial arts???

Miles Copeland

Mark — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 01:28:52 +0000

Miles Copeland has made a career of doing what others felt was crazy. In the process, he changed the music and entertainment business with acts such as The Police and The Bellydance Superstars.

Show ID and Intro
Interview with Miles Copeland

Electric Sky has interviewed Miles’ brothers, Ian (click here for Ian) and Stewart (click here for Stewart).

Photo: The Copeland Group website

How to subscribe to Electric Sky – it’s free.

Transcript of Portrait – Miles Copeland

Miles Copeland: This is Miles Copeland and you’re listening to Electric Sky.

[Portrait theme music] Podcasting visual insound, this is another edition of Portrait on Electric Sky.

Mark Blevis: It takes vision, confidence and a lot of passion to make an idea success especially when others think you’re crazy. I am your host, Mark Blevis. On this edition of Portrait, a man whose ideas and personal dedication have played a significant role in shaping the music and entertainment industries for 30 years, Miles Copeland.

Mark Blevis: Which three ideas are you most proud of?

Miles Copeland: The Bellydance Superstars, which is my current project, because everybody thought I was crazy to do that and it’s succeeding. I guess secondary to that would be my promotion of Arabic music which everybody thought was crazy after September 11th and, of course, getting involved in the whole punk-rock era of The Police and all of the bands that came out of that Wall of Voodoo and Oingo Boingo and Squeeze and all that sort of thing. I mean that was another period where, again, it was considered whacko to be dealing with this kind of music. So, those are really kind of the three areas that I would say were definitely out of the box.

Mark Blevis: And they’re all incredibly successful, which begs the question why aren’t more people daring like you?

Miles Copeland: Well, there are, but they’re in different walks of life. I mean there are people that are making huge successes in the computer world, in the Internet world, and all sorts of places and those people become successful, but it’s often; I’m actually writing a book at the moment called Marketing the Impossible and I sort of say that sometimes the most left feel things, the things that are mistakes that become the big successes.

In the laboratory, you put two chemicals together to try to make fire and it turns out it cures cancer. So, it’s sometimes mistakes that lead to great things and it’s a matter of being able to spot them and have the right attitude to be able to spot them.

I think there’s successes in every walk of life.

In the music world, people tend — the problem of the entertainment world is that people tend to want to follow successes. So, if a movie about a mouse is successful, then the next studio says, “Well, gee, we better have a mouse movie,” and if a French group happens then the next label comes along and said, “Gee, we need a French group.” So they tend to be followers. I think that usually means that you get one or two things in and then it’s like, well, it’s not unique and original. Most people do not want to venture out and do things on their own because it’s risky. There’s no guide. Like what I did to Bellydance Superstars. There was no other dance troupe like it in the world, so who are you going to point to as your template? You just have to just create it from scratch, but that’s what makes it exciting.

Mark Blevis: How do you create those processes by scratch?

Miles Copeland: Well, you just do it. You’re going to fail sometimes, you’re going to win sometimes, but I think if you believe in it and you think the thing is good there should be enough people — I always felt that I was not such a freak, but if something I really liked, that very fact was enough to make me think, “Well, if I like it, there must be some other people to. I just have to find those people.”

Mark Blevis: So thinking in terms of record industry then from your early days, well they even pre-date 1976, but let us go back 30 years for argument’s sake. What are the significant differences between 1976 and 2006?

Miles Copeland: Well the Internet has meant music is so available and it’s so free that it’s very hard to make money in the traditional ways where you could sell an album and that in itself would be a moneymaking business. Now you tend to think in terms of, “Well, I got to sell an album, I got to sell a T-shirt, I got to sell a concert ticket, I got to sell the program, I got to sell the sponsorship, I got to sell-” and it all adds up.

You have to now look at it as an overall business as opposed to compartmentalized where you just do the song, you do the album, you do this or that. That’s the major difference. I think that the advent of the Internet is exciting on one level, but it’s a problem on another and digital rights are very hard to protect.

Mark Blevis: To the outsider it seems that the music industry is far less creative than it used to be and perhaps even agile as well. Do you think the industry has the same sense of daring it once had — or do you think it ever had any sense of daring?

Miles Copeland: Well I think the industry had — I think there’s those who have been daring and those that are not. I think it’s as exciting today. It’s very easy to say, “Oh, well the music’s different now.” I think for an 18- or for a 17-year-old, he would not think so, but we tend to get older and we do not really know what’s going on.

I think there’s a lot of great music being made today but I would not necessarily know about it because I am not looking at it the same way I did when I was 18. I mean it’s always dangerous to say, “Well, you know, it isn’t the same anymore.” The structure’s different. The way you make money is different but I think music will always be — there will be always interesting music coming.

Mark Blevis: Does the music industry treat the, I guess the creative process of music and the promotion of music differently now than it did? I mean, obviously the Internet…

Miles Copeland: Well, it has to because they — it has to treat it differently now because the finances are different. It’s much harder to make money. The number one selling record in the United States about three weeks ago sold 85,000 copies. That’s a disaster. To sell only 85,000 copies and you’re the number one record in the country? That just means that the economics of advertising and marketing have just gone through the toilet. Eight years ago, a label might not have — they would have spent $2-3 million promoting a record and thought nothing of it. Now, they spent half a million and it’s an issue. It means the acts have to learn more about how to promote themselves than to rely on the label because the labels do not have the money anymore.

Mark Blevis: Okay. This actually brings up an interesting point. Do you think the balance of power has shifted from the majors to the independents or do you think that the majors still have the strength that they need to move to the next level?

Miles Copeland: There’s no set rule on that. I think a hot act is very powerful no matter what the situation is. I think if a label happens to be very strong and it has a lot of good relationships, they can open doors for people, but the problem is that the economics have made things very difficult right now for the majors and for smaller companies. Well, actually the very small companies and the very big companies I think always will succeed. It’s the ones in the middle who do not quite have enough money to really go for it, but they still got a big overhead and everything is a little scarier. I think a really big company who has got all the facility if they decide to push a button, the chances they can come through are greater than the middle company who puts the hammer down and then three weeks later isn’t working fast enough and they panic because they make a mistake they are out of business and here is where they pull the plug. A small company that has no overhead can kind of be risky, can take more risks. You’re neither a fish nor foul, that’s the real danger in this business.

Mark Blevis: Now I would consider and many people would consider the Bellydance Superstars to be an unqualified success and you basically rammed with that on your own.

Miles Copeland: Yeah, yeah. Well, that was not easy. I had to do it on my own because nobody would listen to me. They would all laugh at me and thinking, “Well this isn’t gonna work,” but we did it by keeping the costs down and being very careful where we went and building it step by step same way we did with The Police. If The Police had been a six-piece group and they all needed big salaries, we needed big road, trucks and big equipment, The Police would have never happened. The same with the Bellydance Superstars as if they had been –if I had to pay fortunes for everything, but everybody realized what we were doing and since nobody — it was the only professional troop in the world. The girls kind of rolled their shirtsleeves up and said, “Let’s make this happen,” because what was the alternative? It was the only game in town.

Mark Blevis: The Copeland family is clearly creative. I mean Ian documents that in his book Wild Thing, Stewart obviously his accomplishments speak for themselves and as do yours. Where does that creativity come from?

Miles Copeland: I think we were always encouraged when we were young that we could do anything if we just put our minds to it and I think it comes from that. I mean I say that because I have cousins on both sides of my family who are as smart, if not smarter than we are, on our side of the family but they never succeeded in doing anything because in both cases the parents were very cynical about their kids being successful.

My father and mother were always very encouraging and I think we never thought about it. We just thought, “Yeah, we can do music, why not? Let’s do it,” and nobody would stand there going, “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t do that. You’re stupid. You can’t do it.” I think just the basic positive attitude — and it’s whether you have certain good instincts and you are smart enough and you learn by your mistakes.

[Portrait theme music]

Mark Blevis: Links and more information can be found in the show notes on my website electricsky.net. While you’re there, be sure to check out my podcast archives and my outtakes and behind the scenes feed, ES2. The theme song for Portrait is Bigfoot by Robert Farrell. Electric Sky is a proud member of the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate. Thanks for listening and please stay subscribed.

Send feedback to electicskypodcast@gmail.com.