Julie Carr married my dad, Frank Ryan in 1960, and had me two years later. My sister, Beth, was born four years after that. While raising us, she worked as a teacher in Middle and High Schools and in various administrative positions. She’s smart, sweet, and a hell of a mom. She doesn’t do social media, bless her heart, but you can leave her messages when you order swag from “the cottage,” as many of you have done over the years — much to her delight.
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Intro music: “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range; “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.
Please extend my gratitude to your mom for letting us the listeners know her a little better.
I realize comparisons are odious, but this beautiful gift is akin to when Duncan Trussell had his own mom on his podcast, which to me are still THE best podcast episodes I’ve ever listened to. It also reminds me of that scene in Dennis McKenna’s biographical book The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, in which he and his brother Terence had a chance to invite their mom to partake in a bit of Cannabis (first and only time she ever tried it) and had a REAL conversation with her –not as siblings with their mother, but as two young men and an older, very intelligent woman. How many people live with their parents throughout some of the most crucial moments of their lives, without really getting to KNOW them.
I also know Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower is an unbeatable classic, but personally I’m very partial to this version by Bear McCreary, which was used in the TV series Galactica BSG, of which I’m a great fan –and mind you, in the series the song was not just used to add music to a scene, it was actually a VERY important part in the plot of a rather bold and memorable TV show, which perfectly captured the zeitgeist of George W. Bush’s America:
https://youtu.be/BigolJfoANw