Cotolo Chronicles

Thanks again to Dusty Nathan for his expert-and-entertaining contributions to the April 27 program. Read one of Dusty's pieces on the Kentucky Derby, as mentioned on the program, by clicking here.

You can download that show or the RSS feed on the left of this blog. As well, download the mp3 and feed or stream the show at the Podomatic site.

Thanks to all who are finding the program through Podomatic. The podcast of the show has almost 600 feed retrievals (podAmigo, iTunes, etc...) as of this writing, since March 29. Downloads and new subscriber numbers near 100.

Over the weekend, don't forget to check out the Digital Slob Pod.
And be ready for the May 4 show by perusing the Alan Watts site. His son, Mark Watts, is our guest on the next broadcast. More about that as next week ensues.

It's that time of the year again. Not that time, that time. It means Dusty Nathan on the show, April 27, to talk about that time of the year--Kentucky Derby time. Mr. Nathan, the longtime Courier Post and Gannett chain horse-racing columnist, had his own radio show, Dusty Nathan's Winner's Circle, on WNWR 1540 AM.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a run-of-the-mill sports talk show. This is the only talking program that acts first and asks questions later, no matter the topic. And do not underestimate this topic.

The Kentucky Derby is not just a race with horses and riders and more than the most exciting two minutes in sports. Find out what else it is, was, can be and why it affect every move you make on earth.

It starts at 9 p.m. EST in the United States.
You can tune in on my stream from Shoutcast -- and/or ...Listen live, too, at:
Attitude Radio
Extreme Radio1077
Network Powerone
US Radio X
KJAG Radio
KPDC Radio
Mondays-Fridays, replays
True Talk Radio
Fridays, replay
Rant Radio
Saturdays, replay
Network Powerone
Flash Radio
Sundays, replay
TyneFm
Network Powerone

Get on the Cotolo mailing list by clicking here!

I been going back, back, back ... Late nights under the covers with the radio on. Strange voices and music battling static through a small plastic speaker. Those sounds, so near and yet so far. Comfort ensues; it's as if I am in a womb, connected to the entire universe by penlight batteries.

These days I lay in the darkness late at night and I move the radio dial wheel like Jimmy Valentine turning the safe's combo nob. I hear stations from distant cities, I hear voices, I hear ... nothing. I cannot tune in because there is nothing to hear that can rile my soul, beat my brow, bust my gut, roll my rocks nor rock my rolls.

‘I don’t care if
I die’

Considering the current atmosphere
across this world, including, of course, the reverberations of a post-Sept.
11 global population and the swarm of hatred that fuels it all, I think
of the Wolfman.
Click here to read more

Thanks again to Dan Acree for making April 20's episode a great one. The mail is coming in, the verdict is unanimous: Great show.

You can download the mp3 or the RSS to hear it again or for the first time by clicking the links on the side. You can stream it at http://cotolo.podomatic.com.

Here are a few things you could peruse over the weekend. First, relating to the photo above, check out the hijinx on video by Llori Stein at SpringLoadedChicken. It's over at the 'net's 24/7 theater, YouTube.

Great photos and words of wit and wisdom are complied at There Out There. Look around and learn what is exciting the Chinese people, who have swarmed to this site even when it was illegal to have an internet connection.

Next week's show, April 27, is our annual Kentucky Derby program. Don't stay away because you think you know too little about thoroughbred racing. This is a show for the masses, co-starring veteran sportswriter Dusty Nathan.

April 20 presents a rare conversation with Dan Acree, a man with 35-plus years experience in media, advertising and marketing, with a background that spans a number of industries and disciplines.

As one of the youngest radio personalities in Los Angeles in the 1960s and later as one of the most respected marketing directors in his industry, Dan understands media—inside and out—better than most. And, along the way, he became close friends with the man whose name adorns the title of Cotolo Chronicles. That he cannot seem to live down! (Pictured is Dan with music-giant James Brown, circa 1992.)

What you can learn about being a successful player in the digital community is priceless when you are listening to Dan. If he were to give seminars, like a lot of others in his field give, Dan could easily charge $45,345 a session. I think you get the picture.

It starts at 9 p.m. EST in the United States. You can tune in on my stream from Shoutcast -- and/or ...Listen live, to, at:
Attitude Radio
Extreme Radio1077
Network Powerone
US Radio X
KJAG Radio
KPDC Radio
Mondays-Fridays, replays
True Talk Radio
Fridays, replay
Rant Radio
Saturdays, replay
Network Powerone
Flash Radio
Sundays, replay
TyneFm
Network Powerone

Get on the Cotolo mailing list by clicking here!

Deconstructing the program ...
In response to inquiries, here is the next in a series of annotations relating to our broadcast/podcast.

The opening-and-closing theme of Cotolo Chronicles is a production of a turn-of-the-century German composition titled Bahn Frei.

It was composed by Eduard Straus (pictured), a brother of Johann Straus III, known as the "Waltz King."

Bahn Frei is translated to English as "clear the track" or "clear the road," which is more of a warning than a statement.

It is technically a polka, however, it fits better in a sub-genre of polkas, called "galops."

Cotolo Chronicles is not the first radio show to use Eduard's piece as a theme. Diehard radio fans can explore radio-program history to find out where else Bahn Frei was used.

Deconstructing the program ...
In response to inquiries, here is the first in a series of annotations relating to our broadcast/podcast.

Every Cotolo Chronicles show ends with the line, "I have nothing more to say."

"The idea of nothing has confused mankind for centuries, especially in the Western world," according to Alan Watts (pictured), one of the most widely read philosophers of the 20th century."We have a saying in Latin, 'Ex nihilo nuhil fit,' which means 'out of nothing comes nothing.' It has occurred to me that this is a fallacy of tremendous proportions.

"It lies at the root of all our common sense, not only in the West, but in many parts of the East as well. It manifests in a kind of terror of nothing, a put-down on nothing, and a put-down on everything associated with nothing, such as sleep, passivity, rest, and even the feminine principles. But to me nothing -- the negative, the empty -- is exceedingly powerful. I would say, on the contrary, you can't have something without nothing. Imagine nothing but space, going on and on, with nothing in it forever. But there you are imagining it, and you are something in it. The whole idea of there being only space, and nothing else at all is not only inconceivable but perfectly meaningless, because we always know what we mean by contrast."

For more about nothing and lots of other "things," click here for the Alan Watts website and check out the Alan Watts podcast, featuring talks on "things" that we all shouldn't think about.

Impulsion, compulsion and propulsion. What is the difference?

Dr. Gary Popoli returns to our show for another bout of psychological wisdom, which is a phrase some people claim is, in and of itself, self-serving. However, if you would be kind enough to point those people out to me I would be more than happy to pitch in a few bucks for the price of a hitman. However, the April 13 program begins with a topic that is close to the fiber of the lifeblood of our presentations--impulse.

Why is one person's spontaneity another person's descent into self-destruction? Why is self-destruction always descended upon and not risen upon? And how many among us (not amongst, that is hoary English) can spell spontaneity correctly the first time we try?

Studies are linking impulsiveness to higher risks of smoking, drinking, drug abuse, suicide, sexual misbehavior, personality disorders, gambling disorders, orderly disorders, attention deficit disorder and an inability to sing Happy Birthday without crying. So, we will ask Dr. Popoli about this and how it relates to our digital society.

It starts at 9 p.m. EST in the United States. You can tune in on my stream from Shoutcast -- and/or ...
Listen live, to, at:
Attitude Radio
Extreme Radio1077
Network Powerone
US Radio X
KJAG Radio
KPDC Radio
Mondays-Fridays, replays
True Talk Radio
Fridays, replay
Rant Radio
Saturdays, replay
Network Powerone
Flash Radio
Sundays, replay
TyneFm
Network Powerone

Get on the Cotolo mailing list by clicking here!

Some readers have asked me if there have been any recent interviews published that have to do with pop-culture figures. I responded as I always do, saying, "Yes." Then they ask me if I can post some URLs that will guide them to the interviews. So, I do. Here now are some links to a few conversations with pop-culture figures that may have eluded you, or simply gotten away.

Jodie Foster talks about the kinds of characters she likes to portray.

Jack Casady was the bass player for the highly drugged group, The Jefferson Airplane.

Neil Diamond, a mysterious candidate for superstardom, talks about his sadness and success.

Kathleen Turner, Sharon Stone and Madonna on the hopes of Hillary Clinton for President.

Prostitutes in Singapore are young and getting younger, now these girls open up to a reporter on spring break.

Here's another great passage from a long-lost book in our series of inspired writings from books rarely read.

Good morning. You think it is easy being a young, negro girl in the south? Think again. Come to think of it, stop thinking. It ain't easy being a young anything anywhere anymore. Any truth to that? And why do you think you know the truth? Didn't I ask you to stop thinking?

There was a car wreck down on route456 and someone said to me that it weren't no wreck, it was a shooting. A shooting what? I don't understand why people think that they communicate an idea when they don't do that at all. I don't understand why people think in the first place and that goes for no matter how many places there are or might be, you know?

Been sleepin' badly. That means I ain't been sleepin' much at all. You can't sleep badly. You sleep or you are awake, right? So I gotta kink in my consciousness 'cause I ain't been getting into that alpha state. They say you spend two-thirds of your life asleep. Yeah, that's you, but how much do I spend?

All right, it's only Monday and I gotta be heading out to the barn. Of course I gotta build it first, 'cause I ain't got no barn. Man, talk about the blues ...

[Reprinted from After The Hammer Struck The Head, by Torny Scrape, Dunstile Press, 1856]

BENZINE, Ohio -- {Special to Cotolo Chronicles blog} -- Only days after a long-lost manuscript dating to the early Christian era offered a different view of Jesus-disciple Judas Iscariot, historians have found a painting (see picture above) that they feel is part of this "Gospel of Judas," as the document has been titled.

The 3rd or 4th century manuscript, written in Coptic on sheets of papyrus, was discovered in Egypt in the 1970s only to vanish again into an underworld of shadowy antiquities dealers and circus performers. But the picture, believed to be drawn by a top artist of the era, was not with the document then. The document portrays Judas as Jesus' favorite apostle. In this version, Judas is the good guy.

"You can see in the picture," said a historian, "that Judas was a happy, cool fellow, not the dark figure as his is always portrayed. He may have been the class clown of the apostles, cracking jokes and juggling wooden dishes to keep the morale up."

Speculations of the picture's painter are beginning to surface. One historian says it could have been created by Gionini Gionana, due to the style of the work. However, other historians say that was a common style, also presented by Luigi Sovanova, Mario Milonoma, Pasqual Piccanumero and even Salvadore Salami.

Nebraska's fossil beds and glacial deposits show that once it was an inland sea bed only to become, by some miracle of Nature, land above water. The area once had a tropical climate, but it being long before the invention of lawn chairs with umbrellas, people boiled to death in the heat. Archaeologists estimate that prehistoric people inhabited Nebraska between 10,000 and 25,000 years ago, but called it Umgowa. This is based on discoveries of stone tools, weapons and some fellow named Ernest, who claims he knows things that are 15,000 years old. The earliest inhabitants were hunters, but hundreds of years later, cooks arrived and were able to make handsome dinners from hunters' catches.

This is the land where our Midwest correspondent, Brock LeRobb, will be when we call him live on the April 6 program. A veteran reporter, journalist and part-time house-painter, Brock is also a member of the final alumni of the French Foreign Legion. We hope to talk to him periodically on the show and he debuts with a report from this historic American plains state or wherever the Witness Protection Program places him next. {Pictured is the skull of a former Nebraska resident, thought to have been a public official}

It starts at 9 p.m. EST in the United States. You can tune in on my stream from Shoutcast -- and/or ...Listen live, to, at:
Attitude Radio
Extreme Radio1077
Network Powerone
US Radio X
KJAG Radio
KPDC Radio
Mondays-Fridays, replays
True Talk Radio
Fridays, replay
Rant Radio
Saturdays, replay
Network Powerone
Flash Radio
Sundays, replay
TyneFm
Network Powerone

Author Michael Baigent's new book, The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History, is just one more theory that claims Jesus Christ was not what his followers say he was. There are also books by other authors: The Secret Supper, Labyrinth, The Templar Legacy and The Last Templar, to name a few. And of course, there is a new interest in a 40-year-old volume called The Passover Plot. Soon, the latest book in this genre will be released, offering another twist to the story of Jesus.

BRISBANE, Australia -- Author Beldar Smitebent says he has iron-clad evidence that his upcoming book, Jesus Christ--Stayin' Alive, proves Jesus of Nazareth didn't just live through the crucifixion and go on to have a family of his own in secret, but that the three brother members of the Bee Gees, the famous pop group, belong to a family that are direct decendants.

"Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, Robin Hugh Gibb and Maurice Ernest Gibb," writes Smitebent, "owe their pop music success to the Jesus bloodline, which included numerous musicians and high-pitched singers and has been traced to Douglas, on the Isle of Wight, where the Gibbs were born."

Smitebent is using the photo (above right) as proof that the Gibb family's resemblance to Jesus is undeniable. Not only that, but the author writes that the Catholic Church knows about the Gibb-family connection and it was secretly behind the negotiations that got the Bee Gees their assignment to score Saturday Night Fever.

"The church," writes Smitebent in the book to be released around Easter, 2007, "wanted to support the theme that Saturday night was for sinners, so that Sunday would attract more people to church."

In another part of the book, the author claims that Vatican insiders comically referred to the group as the Bee Jeesuses and that the phrase "bejesus" comes directly from the connection.