Election Special! Not.🎶
It's only Tuesday...+Reincarnation, Hacks, and Stevie Wonder plus top 5.
Hey Poddy People!
Hope you are chilling out this week. We need it. Exciting news on the website front. I’ve acquired the talents of a student-led engineer to work on the next steps of the foundations of GreatPods.co. Now I’m opening up user interviews/discovery to improve the site. If you have 30 minutes to spare, we would love to talk to you about your podcast listening. Thank you in advance.
Also, this isn’t an election special except for one recommendation. I’ll leave it at that.
Let’s GOOO!!
The Round-Up
Drama from Intuit (Turbo Tax/Quickbooks) and The Verge’s Decoder podcast episode:
First-person response from The Verge here. I watched the podcast clip and what made me smirk is that Intuit’s CEO nonchalantly says, I’m paraphrasing here, “Oh ya, we are good people because have free filing” with no irony that it was Intuit lobbying hard against having free filings.
Leaving Coming Soon (Catching up): Céline: Understood, Spolitics, Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond, The Best Idea Yet, In Good Companies, What in the Winkler?, Flula Makes Five, Born To Love with Ellie Kemper and Scott Eckert, Nocturno: Tales From The Shadows, Extrasensory, Fitz & Whit
New to Coming Soon: Arts Educators Save the World, Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire, The Optimist Project with Yara Shahidi, 16 Sunsets, Generation Barney, Faraway, Terms of Service with Clare Duffy
Previously, Handsome with comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin, ad sales were under Headgum’s Gumball division. Now they have officially joined the Headgum family. Read more here.
I just read Nicole Byer’s Why Won’t You Date Me? just joined Headgum as well. WWYDM? was previously with Team Coco’s network. Read more here.
Serial Productions is dropping hints on their next series and taking guesses. I have no clue. You can try!
Podcaster Meetup: While
is on hiatus, a few folks are putting together a meetup on November 13th. Los Angeles Podcast Industry meetup next week. Free to attend. Sign up here. I’ll be there.On my side quest recap/rewatch podcast Chai After Dark (
), we are now covering Kundalini Yoga drama from HBO Documentary’s Breath of Fire.If you haven’t yet listened, we had one of the bright spots from Indian Matchmaking, Vyasar, on the pod. He even gave us breaking news in life since the show ended. He’s engaged!
If you’re wondering (you weren’t) what I was for Halloween, I was Commander Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation with Ear Hustle podcast socks.
Resonate Podcast Festival popped off in Richmond, Virginia last week. I wasn’t able to attend, like many East Coast functions, but podcaster Tania Mohammad (Undiscarded) was kind enough to share her thoughts and pictures from the weekend. Read it here on the GP Blog.
A nice read from colleagues in the space. On
’s , she interviewed Podcaster and more importantly, Podcast Critic, Rebecca Lavoie of Crime Writers On. You’ll see me curate podcast reviews from the Crime Writers On team every now and then. Read the interview here.Good Tape (printed newspaper magazine) released its latest edition. Grab a copy here.
For the first edition, I attempted to do an ASMR opening of the newspaper. My video sucked, but you can be the judge of that. Content creation isn’t easy.
Do you see value in Great Pods want to help? Hit reply!
On to this week’s picks…
Podcast: The Wonder of Stevie
Genre: Music, History
Podcast: Audible, Higher Ground
About: The year 1972 saw the beginning of a five-year span in which Stevie Wonder released five groundbreaking, critically acclaimed albums, garnering him more than half a dozen Grammys and more than 10 million albums sold, securing his place as one of the most important American musicians and songwriters in history. For the first time, uncover the untold story of an extraordinary artistic journey that shaped the greatest creative era in popular music history. Hosted by New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic Wesley Morris, The Wonder of Stevie revisits Wonder's iconic creative evolution, his transformative spiritual path, and the profound inspiration he drew from both the beauty and pain of the Black American experience—driving his eventual emergence as his generation’s most unflinching and uplifting artistic voice.
Be warned, host Wesley Morris comes in hot with his enthusiasm. I am thankful for it because on my drive listening to the podcast is filled with music history and joy. The advantage of this kind of podcast is the access to licensing of the music to coincide with the conversations. That doesn’t mean the content is all joy though.
In The Wonder of Stevie, the 70s is full of randomness and politics (which decade isn’t?) but reflected in Stevie’s music. Surprisingly he was just starting in his 20s in Motown. Every episode I am floored at the age and what Stevie put into it. His reflection on society and experimentation in music. How he used a synth as a tool to help make music. I would compare it to the way ChatGPT is used as a tool to assist us in today’s age.
Another thing I shouldn’t admit is the amount of Stevie knowledge I don’t know about. My intro was the 80s Stevie and appreciating the Cosby Show episode where Vanessa and Theo get into the car accident. I’m happy they got that out of the way in the first episode.
The podcast is produced by Obama’s Higher Ground company, in which they do make appearances. It’s easy to listen and to learn the genius of Stevie. I can’t believe he wrote his initial hit songs, like Signed, Sealed, Delivered at 17. I mean I could’ve easily looked it up on Wiki, but that’s boring. Having it delivered to me in audio form from the source is better. So far, I think the most surprising interviews to me are Ray Parker Jr.’s (Ghostbusters Theme Song) stories about touring with The Rolling Stones and being part of Stevie’s band!
Touré • The Grio
"It’s a smart, fun deep dive into Stevie’s greatest period. The show reminds me of the way we often sit and talk and commune and argue about music. The Wonder of Stevie is a work of beauty about works of beauty. It’s a joy to listen to and a fitting tribute to our beloved Stevie. Don’t miss it."
Podcast: Extrasensory
Genre: Documentary, True Crime, Mystery, Family, History
Publisher: AppleTV, Blanchard House Productions
About: Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) hosts a mind-bending real-life story of reincarnation and a spooky tale of family secrets. In 1950s England, milkman John Pollock makes a sensational prophecy: His dead daughters will be reborn. At first, even his own wife says he’s a crank. But then she gives birth to twin girls who have uncanny similarities to their sisters who died. Suddenly, the world sits up and takes notice. Pollock’s prophecy attracts the attention of a serious American scientist who crosses the Atlantic countless times to study the twins. And his conclusion is astonishing. So, what if death is only the beginning? Extrasensory goes in search of the two people who know the truth—the twins themselves.
I had the opportunity to have a conversation with the producer of Extrasensory Rosie Pye (Co-founder of Blanchard House), about the podcast.
The short of it. I got to listen to the full season of Extrasensory, and it was a lovely conversation about the twists and turns of the podcast. Especially, how we question ourselves in times of crisis, mentally and in our spirituality. Are there mere coincidences? How do we investigate for truth when trauma is built up?
Will does a great job hosting as a celeb host and the story goes along the timeline from the beginning.
I thought I could edit the video of the interview and blog post in time, but it’s a lot more work when you do it yourself and not a trained writer. The link for that is in the next newsletter. In the meantime, listen to the podcast.
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times
“...with a sparky script that blends curiosity with scepticism…A spooky seasonal mystery, it is, above all, a family story, one that shows how fiercely held beliefs often come loaded with baggage and that memory is a matter of interpretation.”
Podcast: Hacks on Tap
Genre: Politics
Publisher: Hacks On Tap
About: When David Axelrod and Mike Murphy get together to talk politics, it’s not academic. They speak from the perspective gained through hundreds of campaigns for offices from City Hall to the White House. So if you want to know what’s really going on behind the scenes, where strategic decisions are being made, pull up a stool for Hacks on Tap. Incisive, sometimes uproarious and always entertaining, these political warhorses and their guests will give you insights you’ll only get from folks who have spent a lifetime in the political trenches of both parties.
FYI:
Mike Murphy is one of the Republican Party's most successful political media consultants.
David Axelrod is an American political consultant and analyst, best known for his role as the chief strategist for Barack Obama's successful presidential campaigns.
Oh, there’s a US election that EVERYONE is stressing about? I didn’t know that. Just kidding. In this case, it’s my only curated political podcast. Why? Because of the glowing review from The Times UK Podcast Critic, James Marriot. Reminder: He rarely gives 5-star reviews.
I had to drop it into my queue.
I didn’t want an echo chamber to listen to, so I’ll give David and Mike credit for trying to keep this a centered podcast. Where critical aspects from their points of view can go both ways. One additional note, in my case, the podcast conversation sounded like these two guys were on an AM radio talk show. Thus, there was a nostalgic factor for me in listening.
James Marriot • The Times UK
"...the best podcast about American politics by miles and one of my favourite podcasts about anything. Amid the nastiness of American politics it is disarmingly genial. On top of all that, Murphy and Axelrod know as much about political campaigning as there is to know."
‘Top of the Pods’ this past week on GreatPods.co:
5. Talk Tuah w/ Haliey Welch - Betr
4. Sweet Bobby - Tortoise
3. Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire - Lemonada *New*
2. Mind Your Own w/ Lupita Nyong’o - Lemonada
1. Sidebar: A Suits Watch - Stitcher
Stay safe, be kind, and do something nice to your neighbor…if you have one.
Listening with you,
Captain Ron
Great Pods is your best friend in podcast discovery. Get immersed in engaging critic reviews and ratings to help you decide on your next podcast listen. Tell a friend!