Rob Walker writes my favorite New York Times column, "Consumed" in the Sunday Magazine. Each week, he looks at a consumer and marketing phenomenon; this week's it's Zune.
Rob and I have corresponded since I emailed him a couple years ago about how much I like the column, and when he was prepping for this one, someone mentioned to him what big Zune fans Jordan and I are. He gave me a call, and the final result was probably my most important contribution to American culture thus far: getting the phrase "rocket up your Zunehole" printed in the Newspaper of Record. I'm really grateful that Rob took the time to accurately and reasonably affect my feelings about Zunes. Here's what he wrote:
But the most salient feature of the Zune seems to be that it’s not an iPod. Jesse Thorn, host of the public-radio show (and popular podcast) “The Sound of Young America,” is a Zune proponent, praising, for instance, its ability to sync wirelessly with a computer. Plus he was able to update his first-generation Zune with the improved software and firmware designed for the newer version — in contrast to Apple’s charging iPod Touch owners for upgrades, he makes a point of saying. Turns out Thorn has always resisted buying an iPod, having been put off initially by the price and later by the ever-growing number of “self-satisfied people carrying a ubiquitous object.” That sounds hostile, but Thorn is actually quite good-humored. On “Jordan Jesse Go,” another (less formal) podcast he co-hosts, he and his friend Jordan Morris regularly joke about the song-swap feature, inventing the term “rocket up your Zunehole” to describe the practice. Thorn also seems to take pleasure in examples of product-design oddities, like the inclusion of brown among the device’s first-generation color choices.
The kind folks from Weekend America were nice enough to invite me to appear on their popular radio program this week. It was interesting to be on a show where they actually edit things and make you sound better than you sounded in real life. Also, to be on a show that has a real radio studio. And producers. A receptionist, even. Basically, it was interesting to be on a real radio show.
The Sound Of Young America From Japanese toy experts to Miles Davis's missus, it's like Start The Week with cool people
Let's face it, UK radio doesn't talk well about fun stuff - the glowering spirit of Lord Reith tends to make Radio 4 err on the side of worthiness. When pop culture does get a look in, it constantly has to justify its presence while someone like John Humphrys or James Naughtie sniffs disparagingly in the background.
Jesse Thorn's The Sound Of Young America is the complete antithesis of this. Billed as "a public radio show about things that are awesome", it features the San Franciscan comedian-presenter simply talking to people who make or do cool stuff. Whether it's crime novel king Elmore Leonard, porno-soul legend Swamp Dogg or Tank Girl/Gorillaz creator Jamie Hewlett, Thorn talks to them all in an easy, informed style that assumes the listener is hip to their output or at least the field in which they work. While that can make conversations with some of the more obscure stand-up comics a little excluding, most of the time it means there's a connection and a conversation worth listening in to. MATT HALL http://www.maximumfun.org, podcasts via iTunes
Thanks Matt! (By the way: Blowfly is porno soul, Swamp Dogg is... Swamp Dogg).
There's a very nice piece in the UCSC Alumni magazine about me and The Sound of Young America this issue. Scott Rappaport writes about how the show has gone from campus radio to PRI, and I think he did a great job of encapsulating the journey and conveying what TSOYA is all about.
Hopefully some rich UCSC grad will now become my patron.
Here I am visiting G4TV's Attack of the Show on Friday (they actually changed the name of th program to "Attack of Jesse's Enormous Head"). Everyone was really nice, especially our old pal Chris Hardwick and host Kevin Pereira, who is a big TSOYA fan, and threatened to prove it by busting out his iPhone and playing an episode.
Being on live TV is weird and hard, and you can see me sputtering a bit, but it all worked out OK. Maybe I'll be back sometime!
In conclusion, if you have a TV show, yes, I will be on it, just ask.
The Sound of Young America's gracious underwriter, Metafilter, has a podcast. I was lucky enough to be interviewed by the show's host (and MetaFilter's owner), Matt Haughey about how I use MetaFilter on said podcast. I had a great time, and as I've mentioned before (I think), I was a MetaFilter member and fan before they started underwriting the show.
The Onion's show preview of Monday's TSOYA Live! in San Francisco show:
"The Sound of Young America calls itself 'a public radio show about things that are awesome,' but the show is pretty awesome in and of itself. Made in the living room of "America's Radio Sweetheart" Jesse Thorn, a host whose voice sounds way too seasoned to belong to a 26-year-old, The Sound of Young America is everything a podcast (or public radio show for that matter) should be: insightful, funny, snappy and above all, not stuffy. The show covers all forms of entertainment, from books to music to TV, but casts an especially focused eye on comedy, which means lots of interviews with comedians like Louis CK, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and even Shelley Berman. Here, Thorn tapes a live TSOYA program with guests Morgan Murphy, Rogue Wave's Zach Rogue, Merlin Mann and others."
Public Radio International's "Sound of Young America" is one of the best podcasts I've heard. The wife discovered the free podcast on iTunes and it was literally all we listened to on our long drive through Florida this Xmas. Hosted by self-proclaimed "America's Radio Sweetheart" Jesse Thorn, the show features interviews with all manner of hip cats like comedians Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis, authors Nick Hornby and Simon Rich and scads of others. It's available for free from Maximumfun.org and iTunes.
I've been following The Sound of Young America (TSOYA) since its days as a plucky little public radio show in Santa Cruz, California. Since then, the show has harnessed the power of podcasting to garner the kind of following that can only be found via the Internet, not to mention coverage in publications like Time and Salon. Each week the show's host, Jesse Thorn, presents interviews with some of the most fascinating, insightful, and hilarious names across the pop-culture spectrum.
Since Merlin keeps bringing us up on MacBreak weekly, we're looking pretty cross-platform right now. Anybody out there writing for Amiga Enthusiast? NEXT User? Osborne 1 Monthly? I'm feeling completist.
Thanks to John for pointing out that there's a little piece on The Sound of Young America in this month's Esquire. It's part of their Esquire 100 feature, which chronicles "emerging ideas, trends, discoveries, products, people, and obscene gestures you should know about before everyone else does."
Finally, a public radio show that's specifically designed not for the kind of people who carry around canvas NPR tote bags. The hour you'll spend listening to host Jesse Thorn interview guests (like Terry Gilliam and Elmore Leonard) with youthful humor and enthusiasm won't feel like a civic duty.
Find it on page 44 of the October issue, which features a handsomely beardo-ed Benicio Del Toro squinting into your soul on the front cover.
Thanks to a couple of astute listeners who pointed out that we're featured in the Summer issue of Filmmaker Magazine. If you take the magazine, flip to "The Super 8: Eight things that will keep you in the know."
Here's what you'll find:
#8: The Sound of Young America. The handmade radio show, The Sound of Young America, is a bit like "Fresh Air" for Generation Y. Hosted by 25-year-old Jesse Thorn, the show provides casual in-depth conversations with figures as diverse as writer Chuck Klosterman, "H.R. Pufnstuf" creator Marty Krofft and Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier.
I just did a nice interview with Mo Ibrahim of the Long Island Press. You can find it here. I reveal, among other things, which podcast is the most fun for me to do.
I have recently been interviewed a couple of times, and I thought I would share them for those who don't have a google news alert set up for "the sound of young america" yet. (Which, I sincerely hope, is everyone on earth who isn't me). Here I am on this morning's "Moldawer in the Morning" podcast. The charming David Moldawer and I discuss a few interesting news stories, as well as how much we love SkyMaul. It was a very fun show.
Here I am being interviewed in The Coming, which is the new LA affiliate of The Apiary. I talked with Megan Berru about the roots of TSOYA and the Los Angeles comedy scene.
Also and additionally, Dr. Tim Anderson posted this small piece in the online journal "In Media Res" about the show. It's about how TSOYA covers hip-hop, and specifically about portrayals of "the game" in our interviews with Killer Mike and Peedi Crakk.
Oh! And I've been hosting the Slate Daily Podcast the last couple days. That's mostly me reading a story from Slate, but Friday's show was an edition of the Political Gabfest, so I actually had some agency in it. It was fun!
Also: because I don't have any "marketing budget" or "publicist," I'm pretty much happy to help you out with any press project. If you want to interview me or use me as a resource, I'm happy to help. I even have high-quality photos (thanks Noe)!
"Rust, a fungus disease, sapped the
wheat crop. Production of durum wheat dropped from the 10-year average
of 31,547,000 bushels a year to 4,976,000 bushels."
