KCRW's The Urban Man Podcasts

PodcastDirectory / Variety / Public Radio
PodcastDirectory / Regions / NA / USA

Every week, The Urban Man sets out to fathom Los Angeles: its mystery, its poetry, and its beautiful conundrums. Along the way, he often gets personally involved with his subject and fraternizes with the natives. Primary Format : Public Radio Also Listed as: Los Angeles NPR Public Radio Regional City : Santa Monica State/Province : CA Country : USA Country : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: Poetry | Regional | View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of KCRW's The Urban Man Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of KCRW's The Urban Man Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of KCRW's The Urban Man Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. Mastering 'It' Mastering 'It' Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Evading Mere Logic Here in L.A., we're good at evading logic. Usually this only requires high production values and snappy dialog. I mean, if the explosions are big enough, the audience will forget that the car ran out of gas before the last commercial break. Give the hero a black leather trench coat, and no one will realize that he could have, you know, gone to the police three scenes back. And yes, if the lyrics of her song are well-phrased, no one will notice that the heroine has no way of actually suppor ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Palace of Distraction Like most Americans, the Urban Man tries to stay as distracted as possible throughout his day. There's coffee, there's YouTube, there's email, blogs, Brittany, Brad, Hillary, Barack, and Angelina. And if all that fails...which it never does...there's the ceaseless reconfiguration of my digital devices... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Spring Flu Last week, when the world financial system got a spring flu, so did the Urban Man. I also found myself in bed, one moment spiking 104, the next shaking with chills. I also tuned in the BBC at 3 a.m. and fell prey to fever dreams. The markets got a $200 billion shot from Ben Bernanke. Me, I made do with over-the-counter drugs... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website An Unwelcome Revelation Every now and then the truth leaks out. You know, the way the universe is really organized. Maybe you knew it all along, or maybe you suspected it long ago. Still, when you accidentally hear the inner ticking of the gears or glimpse the secret action of the levers, the mind does tend to reel... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Not for Everyone It's not easy to get attention at a social gathering in this town. Each of us has his own virtues and agendas to discuss, but we have to wait impatiently through the virtues and agendas of others. The Urban Man, however, has one no-fail way to engage even an Angeleno's full interest... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Figuring the Value-Add People like to say that Angelenos are materialistic, but it's not true. Actually, we're far more sophisticated than we at first appear, and we deal in currencies far subtler than dollars or real estate or jewels. For example, we know the exact price of a wry look, a happy nod, a returned call, a moment in the sun. We know the precise rate of exchange for clout, juice, shimmy and, of course, lunch reservations... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fighting Peter Pan Fighting Peter Pan Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wild Thing Wild Thing Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Serengeti of Expectations This Thursday is Valentine's Day, but because my mate believes that romance should be spontaneous, we have made no reservations. With reservations, she says, come expectations. With expectations, comes disappointment. Love, claims the Mate of the Urban Man, requires sudden adventure and hot, sweet surprise. So again this year, we'll simply head into the glittery night, and see what turns up... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Real Thing Every day it may get harder to separate the real from the dramatic, the genuine from the theatrical, the costumes and lights from the heartfelt McCoy. But even here in L.A., we crave authenticity. We don't want knock-offs, we want Diors; not just directors, but auteurs; not mere relationships, but sometimes, by G-d, marriage... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website My Old Friend Marcus Martialis Like many Americans, the Urban Man often worries about Rome. Not the modern Rome, but the ancient Rome---as in, "Will America suffer a similar fate. Will our empire fall to barbarians or zealots." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Little Paper Masks All last week, the Urban Man was having his hardwood floors refinished; so today, my listeners have every right to expect some amusing tales. You know: The dust. The fumes. The language barrier with the workers. And yes, I've already milked the topic in social settings. For example, I have some great shtick about the arguments with my wife... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Predictions for 2008 While most of the city whoops it up tonight, the Urban Man will be closeted with leading psychics and well-known experts so I can complete my predictions for Greater L.A. in 2008. I know that everyone from politicians to financiers have come to depend on this forecast, which has always proven just as accurate as they expected... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Like an Unexpected Thing Tonight, as the Urban Man goes hurtling toward a holiday party on the westside of Los Angeles, he again finds himself looking for metaphors of redemption. As usual, I ignore the tinseled displays, outlined houses, and giddy malls. Not for me the rhythms and candles of the season... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Superior Gifting Moments, Part II Over the millennia, humans have devised many methods of communication: Heiroglyphics. Smoke signals. Moveable type. But in our day, none have become so subtle or problematic as the holiday gift... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Superior Gifting Moments, Part I Tomorrow, out across the city, loyal listeners will receive the Urban Man Signature Holiday Catalog for 2007. Like other catalogs, you can expect extremely long descriptions of superior gift objects. But your friends and loved ones expect more this year. In fact, 20% more... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wisdom The other day I was at a party, sorting through the candidates in the upcoming primaries, when out of the blue my friend Dave says, "You know what we need. We need a president who has more than positions---we need a president with wisdom..." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Enough It's almost Thanksgiving, and the Urban Man wants to make sure he has enough. Not just enough sweet potatoes and folding chairs, but enough of ---everything... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Clarity of Intention Yesterday was Veteran---s day, and today---s the federal holiday. The Urban Man missed the parade, but I spent hours looking for a picture of my father, taken on an aircraft carrier in 1944.-- I tore apart closets and rummaged through boxes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website House of Cards I don't know about you, but here in the modern world, the Urban Man often finds himself building a house of cards. You have to be fast, and you have to be agile if you want it to stand for long. Today I've got a whole deck to assemble, right in the middle of a shiny black conference table---that is to say, eight or ten folks from a potential partner company sit around watching me try to make a deal make sense... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Our Own Private Iowa When a European arrives in L.A., he's often baffled. Where, he asks, is the Mediterranean city he expected. Here are the light and the palms, but no boulevards to stroll, few sidewalk caf--s to lounge, no great sun-drenched plazas to cross at mid-day... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Dream of Open Space, Part II A person should not look at old photos of the Los Angeles basin---not really old photos. I mean, once you could stand on Sunset and gaze down at a grassy plain cut by a shifting river, rolling hills, and vast groves of citrus. Me, I've been prepping for L.A.'s first open space summit, a public event coming up this Friday, October 26, so I had to look---and I admit the experience has brought on a foolish kind of nostalgia... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Dream of Open Space, Part I Last Thursday, caught in the L.A. evening commute, the Urban Man began to dream of open space. This can happen to even the most dedicated Angeleno. I mean, there you are, creeping happily in your sealed car past perfectly good Chevron stations and Del Tacos, when suddenly you get the urge to leap like an antelope across a green and windswept hill... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Traces Left Behind Here in the city, we'd all like to leave behind some permanent mark. You know: A famous name. A thriving institution. A really excellent kitchen remodel... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A New Lease on Life A New Lease on Life Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Calm Above the Storm I don't know about you, but here in the land of perpetual self-invention, I'm always on the lookout for a new role model. Sometimes I crave the wiry self-possesion of a Clint Eastwood or the smug chin of some new streak of success. When I see a tough dealmeister wearing a Hawaiian shirt, I think: where can I get a Hawaiian shirt.... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Nowhere I figure a well-trained urban man can find poetry anywhere: down the smoggiest boulevard, along the aisles of a mega-store, or sitting in the orange booth of a fast food restaurant. With a slight attitude adjustment, I'm sure we can all become cheery Huell Howsers, finding gold in the dust of technical civilization, even as it clouds the better part of our lives... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Light in August L.A. may be a theatrical town, but of course, theater requires just the right conditions---a darkened room, the proper music. Too much light at the wrong moment, and the illusion disappears... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Summer Sign-Up 2007 Support KCRW's Summer SignUp: (http://www.kcrw.com) Summer Sign-Up 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pleasure Before we get started today, I'd like to announce a change in the format of this commentary. The Urban Man has decided to give up worrying about the soul of L.A. and become a luxury lifestyle reporter. From now on, you'll hear me speak brightly from inside gated estates. You'll hear me report on the handbags of elegant women. Sometimes I'll rhapsodize about the curves on the rear ends of fine automobiles or speculate on the meaning of the double G in the Gucci logo... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website An Ugly New Word Late the other night, while I was lost somewhere between Google News and the Huffington Post, or maybe while clicking from YouTube to some random blog, the Urban Man learned an ugly new word... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Power of Intention The Power of Intention Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Ragged Edge It's high summer, and the Urban Man has gone to check on the ragged Western edge of American freedom. Meaning, of course, that I---m visiting L.A.'s Venice Beach. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fireworks for the Nation-State Fireworks for the Nation-State Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Masters of the Unnecessary, Part II A couple weeks ago, the Urban Man joined thousands of his fellow Angelenos on the Culver City Art Walk. No kidding, thousands. They came four-abreast, 20- and 30-something, in carefully-chosen clothes. At the peak, we were jostling each other off the sidewalks of Washington Boulevard... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Those Annoying Paradigm Shifts The other day I went hunting for paradigm shifts, you know: basic changes in the human landscape. Naturally, I followed the geeks. You see, geeks invent things: steam engines, television sets, nuclear fission, MP3 players, online dating... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Those Annoying Paradigm Shifts The other day I went hunting for paradigm shifts, you know: basic changes in the human landscape. Naturally, I followed the geeks. You see, geeks invent things: steam engines, television sets, nuclear fission, MP3 players, online dating. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Those Annoying Paradigm Shifts The other day I went hunting for paradigm shifts, you know: basic changes in the human landscape. Naturally, I followed the geeks. You see, geeks invent things: steam engines, television sets, nuclear fission, MP3 players, online dating. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Those Annoying Paradigm Shifts The other day I went hunting for paradigm shifts, you know: basic changes in the human landscape. Naturally, I followed the geeks. You see, geeks invent things: steam engines, television sets, nuclear fission, MP3 players, online dating. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Those Annoying Paradigm Shifts The other day I went hunting for paradigm shifts, you know: basic changes in the human landscape. Naturally, I followed the geeks. You see, geeks invent things: steam engines, television sets, nuclear fission, MP3 players, online dating. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Mood of Mother Nature, Part II Now, you may wonder why I even care about the weather when I work in a sealed high rise. Why I worry about drought when some guys in orange overalls pipe my water in from ...somewhere. Don't I have automatic sprinklers for my lawn. And of course you're right. I can't explain my interest exactly. Probably some nostalgic fixation... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Mood of Mother Nature, Part II Now, you may wonder why I even care about the weather when I work in a sealed high rise. Why I worry about drought when some guys in orange overalls pipe my water in from ...somewhere. Don't I have automatic sprinklers for my lawn. And of course you're right. I can't explain my interest exactly. Probably some nostalgic fixation... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Mood of Mother Nature, Part I Like most Angelenos, I worry that Mother Nature doesn't actually love L.A. That despite the illusion of paradise, she would have preferred we build our megacity somewhere else. She always provides too little or too much water. And of course, she sends the occasional quake, as if she wanted to chase us away... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Honest Ambition Sometimes I like to watch the videos produced by L.A.'s leading gangster rappers. You know: The men in hooded sweats and shiny medallions, their women dancing half-naked beside expensive cars... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Blackberry Event Horizon The ancient prophets described life as a movement from birth toward salvation. Einstein spoke of the space/time continuum. But the Urban Man rarely experiences time as a curvature of space or a journey toward heaven. No, like most, I usually see it as a To-Do list--a series of uncompleted tasks... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Smoking Magritte's Pipe Like most people I know, the Urban Man lives a life of illusion. I keep multiple identities online, clever clothing on my back, and DVD's about more elegant worlds on my flat-screen TV. Yes, I try to remember that substance is more important than image, but it's not easy--so sometimes, when I really I need to be chastised, I go to exhibits of modern art. There I let my eye pass over disassembled words and shattered mirrors so I can learn how my truths are actually frauds, my values mere pai ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Last Days of Costco You may not have noticed, but the peak of the American consumer society came and went last Tuesday afternoon... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Out-of-Town Romance It's almost Valentine's Day, and once again Angelenos will set out toconjure sparks of romance in the metropolis. We'll make reservations,drive the hills--but as usual, it won't be easy... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Innocence Like most people in the modern world, the Urban Man is always trying to recapture lost innocence.---- Fortunately, despite the apparent cynicism of the age, innocence has never been easier to recapture. Nowadays, even while waiting in line at the checkout of the most rapacious grocery store, I can pick up an old Jimmy Stewart DVD. Even while doing my taxes, I can download the joyous youth of Simon & Garfunkel in MP3 format.. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website