Oh well hell. But we're not done yet.
OK, we took a short break to allow a time for Covid to pass, and now it's a 3 years later.
But something really good happened.
You may or may not know that there was an earlier version of Roadside Attraction. It was a radio show produced in 1995 in Indianapolis. It aired all over the country on the Fine Arts Network. It was also the first show to stream on the internet through RealAudio servers in Texas. Then it went away. But it came back. One of the players on the show, Pat Webb, was a minor legend on the blues music tree (on the Lightnin’ Hopkins branch) and after he died the Indianapolis Public Library started gathering material to have a collection on Pat. They discovered Roadside Attraction in their research and said “Wow! This is great!” That’s a quote.
Much work followed, and now there is a permanent exhibit of Roadside Attraction as part of the Indianapolis Public Library collection.
We made history!
To see and hear it, go to www.digitalindy.org , follow the “Arts” Link, find the logo for Roadside Attraction, and click browse when you get there. Here’s a short cut: https://www.digitalindy.org/digital/collection/roadside/search
2020 Vision: Welcome to the Post-Information Age
October 11, 2020
2020 Vision means that you can see clearly and the year 2020 has made it possible to see many unfortunate and unfair things that were perfectly obvious all along. We have always treasured information but now there is such a glut of it that it has become almost meaningless. And yet we still aspire. Maybe something great is about to happen.
Click on the white Podbean Button to listen to this show and past shows. Or the black Podbean Button to find performances by guests.
Scroll down or click YouTube for video.
A Visit from The Dragon
Sept. 13, 2020
"Maps used to say 'There be Dragons here'. Maps don't say that now. But that doesn't mean there are no dragons" - Lorne Malvo.
Darkness settled over the midway. Roadside Attraction had a visit from a dragon. The same viral dragon that visited everywhere on Earth. It brought whiskey for kids and toxic ideas. We social distanced. We sought philosophical distance too. We considered distant learning and swapping in quantum masks instead of month after month of lockdown. When none of that worked we sought shelters which soon caught on fire, as variously reported herein.
The road to the attraction takes a strange turn this month. Different sounds and other approaches are seen and heard, but it's the same happy gathering of words and music. Debbie DeCassio is our guest. She sang "Can't think. Can't do. Can't be...responsible." The next day the pandemic came.
Life...Is a State of Mind
February 2020
Brandon Berry is our musical guest. He is usually handling the video part of the project, including running the camera, but he handed off a bit of that while he's performing. One of the songs he sings is "I Gutted My VCR". That explains a lot. In this show several things explain a lot. Bill Mooney's take on the word Yum is something to aspire to. Bill and Erich Reith did a drum and poetry jam that effectively balanced the stated attempt to balance which actually led to imbalance. Dude! Khryss Blank is back! Thaddeus played sweet music. The Cosmos piece went off to an island in Arizona after witnessing an ant invasion. Someone shouted "It's everywhere. It's everywhere". We edited that out.
Some Dance to Forget
January 17, 2020
It's pretty clear that we're at the end of an era. Less apparent - but perfectly obvious - we are at the beginning of a new era. These things get murky.
But we are happy to celebrate both endings and beginnings, so we do. Dimmy Jean performs the last holiday song. The cast at The Last Summer Ball at the Cosmos is up to 7 this time and it's pretty psychedelic. Thad Williams shows us what it means to be present. The Roadside Hobo Band swapped instruments with fun results. Bill Mooney offered reassurance and Michelle Allen delivered an angry poem.
More than once we've reassured a guest artist by saying, "Well, at least you don't have to follow Sharon Lane." This time we turned it around and gave Sharon a tough act to follow.
Conferring with the Flowers, Consulting with the Rain
December 11, 2019
For most of us music and literature types, December is a time to avoid nature and the great outdoors. We mostly prefer fires, comforters, hot chocolate and that sort of thing. But we thought we'd take a moment to consider wildflowers in winter. The Roadside Hobo Band does just that. The women's voices in Vivian blend beautifully. Visit the Live at Yellow Cab site to hear that. Marceia Cornwell borrows Hanna Peterangelo from Vivian to join him on violin. Dimmy has a product to cure anxiety. Bill Mooney spoke of windows on the soul and on the world. Maynard Beverly hit the road in Chapter Two of Scott Millsop's "Last Summer Ball at the Cosmos".
Dammit, It Does Matter
April 25, 2019
The Attraction is really strong in April. It's whimsical for a moment and philosophical for a time. The music can be comedy, cut it can also rock and it can ask questions. It visits the Phillippines then takes a blues break. Maybe the important thing is that - despite the mad havoc of the moment - we stand firm on affirmation. Dammit, it DOES Mattter.
March Madness Takes its Toll
March 10, 2019
Roadside Attraction is an American thing. And for most of America, March is a grim, soggy, temperature fluxing annoyance. That's why we had to invent March Madness. For fans, the basketball tournament is everything that March is not. It's thrilling, captivating, exhilerating, heartbreaking, thought-provoking and memorable. For fans of the final team, it's the thrill of a lifetime and when it's all over - it's Spring!
Georgia Goad has a voice like that first spring day. She's our guest. Kyleen Downs joined the Roadside Band on lead guitar and she can make a great tone. Marceia Cornwell found a lowdown groove with guest drummer Don Winegar. Matt Bayansky and Red Baumgardener delivered a big duet. Hanna Peterangelo, as always, conjures up another American place with sweet women in independent stances. Paschal DeAloia joined Scott Millsop in Charlieville for a discussion of drinking and driving. Dimmy Jean Products announced a new company. Paula Unrau delivered a thoughtful take on metaphorical landscapes. The poet Bill Mooney left us with a lovely image of a cello at sea.
Give it all a listen. You'll have more than one experience.
There are previous years of Roadside Attraction as podcasts.
The ones above are where we began with video.
To access the audio-only versions, which may or may not be better but are surely more portable, go to:
RoadsideAttraction.Podbean.com