Lost and Rewound

The episode linked above, the final recorded episode for Lost & Rewound appears in the playlist “Nonseason 12 - Onward.” All of the other Radio Free Brooklyn connected seasons and Nonseasons that followed have culminated in a final year end wrap-up or best-of clip show. Since this one did not, and to make up for my lack of one, please find below links to ten of our 2021 guests.

Matt Finch Eddy Marshall Golden Alphabet Placeholder Confidential LRS Laura Merli Mia Mera Jimmy Hoffman Subcontinents Semita Serpens

Thanks to everyone, musically inclined or not, for contributing their time earlier this year. And now, on to some words.

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I began cultivating Lost & Rewound as a showcase of mine and others’ childhood audio beginning in 2012. Over time, amid a move from independently produced podcast to weekly streaming content, with an ever changing cast of additional voices, and a gradual broadening out from the podcast’s original mission statement, an “anything goes” weekly experiment took shape.

Were Lost & Rewound not on Radio Free Brooklyn to begin with, not only would I not have given myself the chance to see something through until the very end, but I also would not have been given the autonomy to do so. Simply put, I was given a lot of chances and expectations, until I became the one pushing myself (as I am want to do). Practically all of the editing, planning, researching, preparing, and correspondence that occurred off mic went through me. 

In May of 2021, a couple of things happened. First, on Thursday the 8th at 3pm, L&R streamed on RFB for the very last time, after 5 solid years amassing over 240 episodes. 

Then on May 20th at 12:17 pm, I became a father. As an extension to all the other domestic obligations that have been merely heightened by co-parenting, my son Julian became the center of my universe. Nothing else mattered nearly as much, especially during the first few weeks. I had been preparing for his arrival like any excited expectant parent, and when he arrived 10 days early, I fell in love at first sight. 

For 12 years my wife and I were but rocks floating together out in space, navigating many new frontiers, until one day we found ourselves as moons in orbit, watching over and circling a brand new world. And with such a strange timeline we have found ourselves in, staying the course with this new development felt all the more imperative.

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The truth is that I have long had so much to say, with the acute awareness that I don’t have a decent handle on how to be concise about it. At least in writing. Information consumption is already a quagmire. We live in a dystopian hell that not even the greatest science fiction writers could have penned. Chiming in with my thoughts into the public void during an age of eyeballs glued and ears plugged into devices would be at my own discretion, and what if anything was I to say after so much time passed?

Ultimately, I was the only one who cared about what I was doing creatively. Adding to the noise, or trying to be noticed felt like a futile exercise. 

While there has been an unbelievable change to society as a whole, there has simultaneously been an almost unbelievable lack of change in our culture. Misinformation in all of its ugly forms are more rampant than ever. Racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and that good ol’ fashioned nationalist demagoguery  just to name a small handful remain entirely too present, albeit now with way more visibility.  

And so, I began to feel disengaged and quite frankly, justified in disappearing a little bit. As a result of this, I have remained generally happy. Whether it be admirable or come off as ignorant to be unplugging from the rest of the world in exchange for justifiably blissful distractions, I feel like Lost and Rewound has at the very least fulfilled the one part of me that wanted to be heard, even if I made it a point to scale back entirely from my at one point innate fixation on social media promotion.

Now I have reached the peak, the beginning of a self-imposed plateau, where all this content is sitting primarily in Soundcloud, dormant. While I do hold some interest in general maintenance of the page so as to make it easier to navigate (check out the B-Sides, Highlights, Extras, and Outtakes section!), I have also flirted with this idea of devoting time to an Instagram page for sharing past episodes. After all, there are certainly enough posts I could generate on this concept alone. [update - it will be a substack! stay tuned.]

And then I remembered that, even going as far as the typing up of this entry, which has taken me a few days to get through finishing, my time is more precious than ever before. I barely even touch my laptop anymore. Some of my gear got damaged by flooding last September in the first of two dreadful hurricanes, and the surviving gear is tucked away in storage for the indefinite future. I am co-parenting a small human. And I got very, very lucky working two flexible jobs including one from home that in its own twist of fate practically requires me to be on a computer less.

Which brings me back to the idea of disappearing. When one has not posted anything online in quite some time, there’s this anticipation as to what they will say. In 2022, I’m likely going to be continuing to lurk like a creepy swamp monster that looks hideous but really has a heart of gold--- misunderstood, but that’s only partially their fault. 

I haven’t gone anywhere. I have been staying put, locked in orbit with another moon, blanketing our light onto this growing, babbling planet who is soon going to realize where he is, who he is, and who his parents are.

And Julian is going to have over two hundred episodes out there to listen to when he’s older, should he ever be interested in learning about what his dad was doing in his 30′s.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening. Thanks again to Radio Free Brooklyn, for being my home away from home until my home was all I knew. Much love to Tom, Noel, Rob, Shane, Lisa, Michele, Mike, Calvin, Amanda, Angelica, Colby, VC, Orie, and Kathryn even though she long ago canceled me because I allegedly clogged her toilet (once).

Also thanks - 

To Jimmy for stepping up to the plate like Mariano when he needed to. To Rachel for believing in me. To Alyson, who was game to join, affable all the while, and inarguably responsible for some of our funniest episodes. To Doug for putting in the work and knowing what podcasts sounded like. To Will, for letting me edit out his spiels and non sequiturs and, like me if I were in his shoes, not being offended by it. To Melissa, for opening her space to our earliest recording sessions alongside big, sweet pitbulls. To Brooks and Ryan for being lifelong friends and frequent players of blocks on countless episodes with me. To Ben and his 11 year old self who played “Long Long Ago” on his grandparent’s keyboard somewhere in Connecticut, which eventually found itself as the L&R theme song to open nearly every episode.

A special thanks of course goes to Robin for putting up with my hours upon hours of editing in Audacity, sometimes until way too late at night, and sometimes all throughout the morning.

And to every single guest who ever appeared in some form be it virtually or in person, you are remembered, and appreciated for getting lost and rewound with me.

I am wrought with the inability to be brief after far too long a post. I will attempt to keep this to the point!

1. Podomatic is no more. We are now posting on Megaphone! Check out the amazing new player through the L&R profile page up on Radio Free Brooklyn!

2. Jimmy has officially bowed out as co-host of the show in light of creative differences. We are however still on good terms, and he will be back as a guest soon enough.

3. Writer/director/improviser friend Will Hasty has taken the mantle as co-host.

More soon!

Here’s the deal: I’ll be back for blog posts but new episode updates must go elsewhere! This site will otherwise remain here for archival purposes, and from now on you really should check out our new website on Podomatic. It’s gorgeous, easy to use, and it’s got all the episodes from Season 5 you’ve missed and more.

New episodes do not go up on Audioboom anymore.

Soundcloud will still be updated though, and iTunes just as well. So for sure, please seek those out if you wish. I gotta say though, the ease of downloading or streaming on Podomatic is so convincing that it’s definitely worth the push. Plus, we could use the traffic.

Looks like Soundcloud and Tumblr have settled their differences. I guess that means audio posts can happen again. So I’ll be sure to add the last handful of episodes soon. Seasons 5 is beginning this week! Hard to believe it’s been one year since we started on RFB. Thanks for listening.

If you’re curious to learn more about what Tinder Tales host David Piccolomini was up to growing up in Delaware, here’s your opportunity. We had a blast with him, dissecting three completely unorthodox musicals for a kid to be in, with the audio to prove it.

Sorry I meant to post this last week! I suppose Tumblr and Soundcloud don’t like each other anymore.

Initially I met Ryan Parker several years ago at a local haunt in Brooklyn, a deeply missed Park Slope open mic spot called Bar 4. Ryan continues to play open mics in and around Brooklyn, when he isn’t playing in a “dad band” called Turnpike or teaching music (website under construction). One of these open mics happened to be the one Jimmy hosts on Sunday nights at J’eatjet?, located over in the South Slope/Greenwood section, a neighborhood Ryan has called home for over 10 years.

Lucky for us that Ryan found the time to schlep up to Bushwick with guitar in hand to appear on our show to talk about his early music projects while growing up in Boston. He also played one of his new songs. It’s pretty amazing to hear just how versatile and prodigal a musician Ryan Parker is and always was.

We hope this inspires more of our fanbase of former musicians to come out of the woodwork with their early music projects. I’m sensing a trend as of late, and I really like the direction in which this show has been going. Thanks again to Ryan! Let’s keep it up with these teenage band submissions!

- Elann

I mean...I think this says it all, no?

Thanks so much to Baby Crow Productions and Squire Lane Theatrical!

This episode is dedicated to the Long Island kids who were making music in their basements, not caring how good the music was but doing it anyway because it was fun and it gave them joy. Katie Rose Leon and Jeremy Hammond are long time friends, and having them on the show was truly a delight. Thanks to Hannah Cowger for introducing me! And thanks to Jeremy as well for providing us with some killer tunes from the scene of which he took part.

One day I went to grab coffee at Bushwick Public House and ended up chatting with the guy behind the counter about L&R. Immediately he seemed keen on the show’s concept, informing me that he had some tapes of his own. So I told this man who introduced himself as Matt Finch that he should e-mail me what he had ASAP. He barely scratched the surface with the contribution for this episode, so be on the look out for him in future episodes. And check out his label too while you’re at it!

For this round, we got Doug Bleggi back on the show, in addition to Doug Johnson’s inevitable return for a male-centric roundtable about adventures in DJing, how porn entered our lives, and the movies & music videos alike that titillated our middle school minds. 

An old friend from high school named Nick Zimmermann returned back to NY, so I was lucky to get him to come by the studio to talk about a mess of tracks he produced during his college days. They sounded amazing, and although he may seem embarrassed by them, Jimmy and I were both pretty blown away. Coming soon: supposed Nick and Jimmy collaboration rap track! Be on the look out.

Watching history repeat itself with even worse implications is frustrating. Add onto this an additional baggage of social media ropes pulling in, at least my feed, a very uniform direction (in this case really, really high), and the need to feel somewhat grounded feels self-centered. I mean c’mon, it’s an airship pulling you into the sky away from bottom feeding trolls, right?

Look, I have plenty of opinions about the current climate. I’d even argue those opinions are grounded in factual, rational thought. When the very nature of this show is to look back at what was, how do I maneuver around fixating on what is?

Humility. Vulnerability. Taking responsibility for our past transgressions. In other words: admitting we’re wrong. This is a human quality we must. never. relinquish. And what better venue to be shameless than an episode about our teenage music tastes?

I can’t promise what the tone will be for our next episode. Hopefully we’ll take you out of your head for an hour, so that when you come back to it you’ll be energized, and not further exhausted. Listening should be a cathartic experience, so with my nasally voice and Jimmy’s voice of God, hopefully we’ll break even to, at the very least, keep your attention for an hour.

Joining us for our Top 10 Albums from Our Teen Years list conversation is one of Radio Free Brooklyn’s own hosts, Face Girl from Art Star Scene Radio. Thanks for listening.

My friend Josh Ruben, whom I had been lucky to act alongside during my formative years growing up in Woodstock, is one busy guy these days with a whole lot of new projects in the works. He called in to the show to talk about them, as well as to look back at how he got his start. We also got to do a little spur of the moment acting along with Jimmy, in a dry run of something that may end up coming back: Reenactment Theater.

You can check out more of Josh’s characters on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshrubensnaps/

I only met Hannah a few months ago, and I was immediately intrigued by her to the degree that I had to ask her if she would be down to be on our show, in so much that she had anything relevant to discuss i.e. please tell me you have yourself recorded on tape. Luckily she did, and she brought one hell of a goodie from high school to add to what is already an abundant array of topics discussed. Happy listening!

We want to thank everyone who was a guest on the show in 2016, and especially to those who came through to leave me voicemails and email me mp3s of their New Year’s Eve memories from years past. This was a fun episode to work on, including the strategic application of music segues in between stories. Happy new year!