Fading-Midwestern-Summer-Walk-Talk-Bob Davis Podcast 945

Summer Is Short Up Here

First of all summer in the upper Midwest is short. We all know that, right? Join me on a midnight walk and talk as the heat hangs in the balance in Fading-Midwestern-Summer-Walk-Talk-Bob Davis Podcast 945.

Walk and Talk Time

More importantly these occasional walk and talk podcasts are necessary.

Making Sense Of This Crazy World

Secondly every now and then I have to take the podcast machine out for some free association. It helps me make sense of the crazy world we’re living in.

Recent Podcasts

Even more late night walks serve to integrate some of the heavier podcasts I’ve done recently.

Lots of Feeds In July! Thank You!

Certainly July had some podcasts that garnered pretty solid download numbers.

Facebook’s Civil War

For example my podcast on Facebook’s diabolical approach to sowing disagreement and discord. In addition a podcast I did at the beginning of July on the economic situation.

Ahead Of The Curve

Above all my goal is to give podcast listeners and subscribers information they might not be aware of. And to give people something to think about a little ahead of the curve.

Summer Storms

In short I find investigating and commenting on ‘news’ that seems to blow up and disappear like a summer storm isn’t worth my attention, or yours.

Three Big Story Lines In August

So in Fading-Midwestern-Summer-Walk-Talk-Bob Davis Podcast 945 I outline the three big story lines I think we can pay attention to in the month of August.

Fair Time!

In conclusion in my part of the world we have something called The Minnesota State Fair. The fair is a ritual that helps us process the end of summer.

Weather Change

Finally the weather changes and you get ready for fall.

Cancel Culture

Unfortunately the fair has been cancelled, so it’s hard for us all to figure out what time of the year it is!

Surreal Summer

To sum up it has been a surreal summer. True, we have a few weeks left. In fact there are predictions of the return of heat before it’s all over. But I can’t imagine fall will be any less surreal.

(Photo Editor Note: On the river in Minneapolis. A stark difference from the usual photos and press regarding our troubles in Minneapolis. A night spent with people who care about their home and their community. Thanks guys for the opportunity to get that shot!)

Sponsored by Kim Nybo Insurance and Les J Hill Business and Personal Coaching

Fading-Midwestern-Summer-Walk-Talk-Bob Davis Podcast 945

State Fair-Anxiety-Relief-Bob Davis Podcast 857

Weather Already Changing

Seems like all the media does these days is react to the President’s Twitter Feed. This creates stress. In Minnesota, the weather is already changing as we head to fall. That means it’s State Fair time. Many Minnesotans head to the state fair for anxiety relief. We’ll talk about it in State Fair-Anxiety-Relief-Bob Davis Podcast 857.

Working At The Fair

I don’t go to the state fair anymore. For me the especially relevant fact is over years I’ve spent hundreds of hours working at the fair. I’ve seen it change from an agriculturally focused event to a food fair.

Millions of Visitors But Not Me

Not that there’s anything wrong with a food fair. If that’s what you’re looking for Minnesota’s State Fair is probably the best in the nation. Moreover, switching to a more urban approach nets the fair hundreds of thousands of visitors per day, for the ten days it’s on.

Lost State Fair Podcast

Back in the day I recorded an audio project with friends at the Minnesota State Fair. A podcast before there were podcasts. I used to do a state fair podcast every year and drop in my ‘lost state fair podcast’, since it less than fifteen minutes long. No need to do that again. If you want to hear the lost state fair podcast, click here.

Freeze Baby

First of all when the weather changes my focus shifts indoors. I am what Minnesotan’s call a ‘freeze baby’. I don’t like being cold. Moreover I already miss the heat and humidity of late July. This year the humidity and heat departed the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes early in August.

Shifting To The Horrible Experience Of Social Media

As a result I am in the studio for State Fair-Anxiety-Relief-Bob Davis Podcast 857, late on a Saturday night. I can’t help but shift from telling some State Fair stories to talking politics and the reaction that subject garners on social media.

Running The Country From Twitter

In addition I single out the media again for seemingly reporting on a twitter feed. These days it feels like all the media does is report on the president’s twitter feed. Consequently we don’t report on outcomes anymore.

Telling Audiences What They Want To Hear

Even more it’s necessary for me to reinforce the fact that I refuse to join the ranks of partisan commentators either predicting the future or telling their audiences what they want to hear.

Focus On Society and Outcomes

As I have been saying, in contrast, my focus is increasingly on society. I am looking for outcomes. Conclusions. Things we can talk about that have some concrete presence in the world. I think the social media experience is increasingly negative, promotes anxiety, and gets us all nowhere.

Play The Game To Find Out Who Wins

In conclusion I refuse to do politician’s work for them. I think they rely too much on media magpies to formulate the explanations and excuses. Sometimes we have to play the game to know the outcome.

Cheese Curds and Something On A Stick

Finally sometimes it’s just good to take a pause at the end of the summer for some cheese curds and something on a stick.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and Reliafund Payment Processors

State Fair-Anxiety-Relief-Bob Davis Podcast 857

 

Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660

There is a sudden nostalgia for the 1970’s. New TV Shows. Fashion. Summer’s end is a time of nostalgia. Something about the drier air and State Fair time in Minnesota. We’ll talk about it in Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660.

Where Were You in ’72?

Back in the day, the week before Labor Day we went to Sears. New Jeans as hard as concrete. Some collared shirts. Heavy t-shirts. New tennis shoes. New Hard shoes. By the end of the next summer those jeans would be tattered and worn. The shoes unrecognizable. T-Shirts worn out.

Summer’s Long Goodbye

End of Summer also meant new school supplies. Pencils. Notebooks. Things like protractors. Cartridge Pens. Fresh paper. The first day’s of school were hot and uncomfortable. They were also filled with hope and the promise of new romance. In Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660.

Midwesterners All Share

As summer winds down you can hear it. Feel it. Humidity goes out of the air. Trees start to change. Temperatures cool off. Doesn’t matter which decade you grew up in. This longing for more summer mixing with expectations and excitement for fall is something everyone of every age in the Midwest shares.

Hip Huggers and The Road Runner

As far as nostalgia is concerned. Steve Jobs once remarked that the 1960’s actually happened in the 1970’s. There were two parts of the 1970’s. The early part was good. Kind of like a continuation of the best parts of the 60’s. Muscle Cars and Bell Bottoms. Hip Huggers. In Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660.

1970’s Weren’t So Great, right?

The second half of the 1970’s wasn’t so good. Vietnam. Nixon. Violence and Protests. AM Radio and Black and White TV was fading. Things started to go bad. Inflation. Gas Lines. Watergate. Urban Decay. Racial Strife. Drugs. Why is the 1970’s suddenly imbued with all this power?

Nostalgia For A Strange Time

New shows about New York City in the 1970’s. Times Square a cess pool. Garbage in the streets. Bankruptcy. Perfect for the all seeing eye of dramatic television. The newest fashions these days are all throw backs to the 1970’s. How did the people who came of age in that time feel about it? In Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660.

Spinning Out Of Control

There was a sense, in that time, that things were spinning out of control. The 1970’s were not a fun time economically, especially the second half. Yet there was a sense of innocence. If you were born just after the 1970’s perhaps the decade holds a little more sway in the imagination.

Winter IS Coming

Something to think about listening to the sounds of summer, mourning the passing of the heat and intensity, welcoming the coolness and color of fall but not thinking too hard of the inevitable winter to follow. Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Hollywood Brings Back 1970’s-Nostalgia-End Of Summer-Podcast 660