PZ's Podcast

About the show

From "Telstar" to "Vault of Horror," from Rattigan to Kerouac, from the Village of Bray to the Village of Midwich, help PZ link old ancient news and pop culture. I think I can see him, "Crawling from the Wreckage." Will he find his way? This show is brought to you by Mockingbird! www.mbird.com

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Episodes

  • Episode 172 - Phony Wars

    August 20th, 2014  |  31 mins 16 secs

    The subject is reality vs. ideology. 'Pet' Clark wanted to be something, I wanted to be something, 'Helen' wanted to be something. We all failed. "Sorry, it's not possible." And yet, a little child led me -- lower case and upper case.

  • Episode 171 - If You Can't Stand the Heat

    August 7th, 2014  |  36 mins 36 secs

    In which is made a principled decision to OPT OUT, of all manner of causes and notions. Yet, too, the injunction that in order to heal, you have to feel. Eric Clapton starts us out. The House Band brings it on home.

  • Episode 170 - Farewell to the First Golden Era

    June 10th, 2014  |  25 mins 29 secs

    This is one to celebrate, the 170th, in which are offered some Summer reading, a concluding un-scientific postscript, and the best song ever recorded by a certain Wonder.

  • Episode 169 - Wooden Ships

    May 23rd, 2014  |  41 mins 53 secs

    This is about Meister Eckhart and Rudolf Otto, and CS & N. But it's REALLY about how and whether to engage the world -- given what we now know. I'm skeptical, and was surprised to find myself dissenting from the Master. First time!

  • Episode 168 - "Generation Zahl"

    May 18th, 2014  |  29 mins 27 secs

    A penetrating and courageous television program from Germany opened me up recently. It was what Stefan Kolditz, who wrote the screenplay, called a "non-ideological access" to a tragedy. Not just their tragedy. My tragedy. Yours, too, maybe.

  • Episode 167 - Emotion

    May 9th, 2014  |  30 mins 10 secs

    This is all about One Thing, and for me it's the core. It didn't take Melanchthon to teach it to me, nor Thomas Cranmer. No. It took Burton Cummings to teach me. And life. So Stand Tall; and for God's sake, don't do something foolish.

  • Episode 166 - The House That Jack Built

    April 30th, 2014  |  27 mins 34 secs

    Well, the glass ceiling is finally breaking, and it's taking place right in front of our eyes. But Aretha's going to help us see the "Kehrseite," with a boost from wonderful Lesley Gore. "Come and See" (John 1:46).

  • Episode 165 - Cosmic Recension

    April 11th, 2014  |  23 mins 18 secs

    Meister Eckhart, meet Burton Cummings. And Randy Bachman. And me.

  • Episode 164 - Happy Clappy

    February 19th, 2014  |  30 mins 34 secs

    "No use calling, 'cause the sky is falling, and I'm getting pretty near the end." This concerns the practical consequences of (near-)death in life. Join forces with Wolfman Jack (R.I.P.) and The Guess Who; and 'Charlie Kane.'

  • Episode 163 - Deetour

    February 13th, 2014  |  32 mins 50 secs

    It's getting bigger. Bigger, at least, from where I sit. The Contraption, I mean. And thank you, Karen Young! And thank you, Mike Francis! Episode 163 is dedicated to the Minister of Edits.

  • Episode 162 - Rain Dance

    February 5th, 2014  |  27 mins 55 secs

    Thinking about Obamacare, the circular argument of the century, got me onto this. But it's not about Obamacare! It's about Reality. And Guess What?

  • Episode 161 - PBS

    January 9th, 2014  |  33 mins 51 secs

    That's Percy Bysshe Shelley, with a little help from Eric Burdon, and from B.T.O., and from John Harris Harper. And MAY this meditation on termination not be half-baked.

  • Episode 160 - Who Is Going To Love Me?

    December 20th, 2013  |  27 mins 14 secs

    How can we know God? Where is God locatable? With a little help from Dionne Warwick and a little from St. John, I want to answer. Podcast 160 is dedicated to Jono Linebaugh.

  • Episode 159 - The Happiest Actual Life

    November 17th, 2013  |  28 mins 58 secs

    It's really possible. To have "the happiest actual life", I mean. The phrase is from Booth Tarkington, who portrays something like that life in his novel "Alice Adams" (1921).

  • Episode 158 - Changing Social Conditions in Indianapolis

    November 11th, 2013  |  34 mins 28 secs

    Boy, we need a miracle. And such things really happen: as in Tarkington, as in Galsworthy. As in me and you. And as in: The Buckinghams.

  • Episode 157 - Every Mother's Son

    October 19th, 2013  |  29 mins 32 secs

    Taking a break now for a few weeks, but wanted to leave a white-pebble trail, not of tears but of hope. "Come on down to my boat, baby" -- and I'm talking about you, Miss Wyckoff; and you, Mr. Rutherford; and you, Mr. Zahl.