We are proud to announce another very cool new resource, our first foray into podcasting: “PZ’s Podcast”! A weekly transmission from the world of, you guessed it, Paul Zahl. To subscribe (and listen to the first three installments), click here. But first, a word of, um, introduction from the man himself:
This will be a series of talks, most of them about 35 minutes in length, which try to bridge the gap between Old Ancient Teaching (the phrase is from an epic religious poem entitled “Mexico City Blues”) and popular culture.
“PZ’s Podcast” is the voice of a lost Space-Child, who, it turns out, is broadcasting live from the New York World’s Fair of 1964. PZ ventures out weekly from Flushing Meadows to find answers from various heroes of his, beginning with the American playwright Thornton Wilder; then the ‘Beat’ writer Jack Kerouac; then the English muse Terence Rattigan; then to the misanthropic and now forgotten philosopher-novelist James Gould Cozzens. Each of these people gives to PZ whatever he can.
At one point, our Space-Child, almost demented by loss, is reduced to reflecting on giant crab movies, so desperate has become his search.
PZ seems to travel from the ridiculous to the sublime in no time at all, and doesn’t always know which is which. He has to trust that Ancient Teaching, too, as he circles back each week in search of antidotes for human miscreance and mourning.
Initially, PZ will publish three of his reports. Then, on a weekly basis, he will publish new pages from his Diary of a Madman (de Maupassant and Vincent Price). We have high hopes for these ecrits. We’d bet they’ll be lively, maybe even worth telling someone else about.
Luckily, it’s “Only the beginning, only the beginning, only the beginning” (The Phantom Planet, 1961).
“PZ’s Podcast” is brought to you proudly by Mockingbird. The podcast is free, of course, but if you wish to make a much-needed contribution in support of it, please go here. And to obtain one of our last few copies of his New Persuasive Words DVD, go here.
COMMENTS
2 responses to “Announcing PZ’s PODCAST!”
Finally, an unbridled creative undertaking from the man himself. And thanks to M'bird and all involved for making this possible. I'm so excited about these! D/Ling 1-3 now.
I'm so excited, I'm doing the Turkey Lurkey Dance!