My speakers, pulpits of prophets, of holy vibrations.

During the day, after the caffeine seeps into my bloodstream, I often have a constant soundtrack of hip-hop, bee-bop, indie rock, and electronica to give my workflow a steady rhythm. Music, as much as the caffeine, affects what and how much I am able to get done in a single day. It lays the path for hours and hours of analysis, reflection, writing, revising, listening, observing … all those things that, after eight ours a day, make up the knowledge economy.

I hear the music, but I do not listen to it.

Which is why, for one hour every night, I lay down on my bed with none of the props that follow me during daylight like shadows - the laptop, the books, the iPhone. Just me, my boxers, sometimes a cold beer or glass of wine, and Eastern Europe’s warm summer breezes drifting lethargically through my bedroom windows. What do I do for this hour? I listen. I don’t think. I don’t plan. No regret, no gratitude, just thousands and thousands of little sound waves making their way from my speakers to my eardrums.

I close my eyes, blocking the unnecessary visual sensations, and strain to hear every single drum beat, the vibrations of each guitar string, the quivering emotive vocals, the perfect imperfect pause, the unexpected note, the anonymous background vocal. I take it all in, like how some take in a glass of chardonnay or the perfect joint or the good word of the holy books.

I have not yet seen Kurt Vonnegut’s tombstone, though I imagine that one day I might. Just one year before he died, however, he wrote this:

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC

This podcast isn’t for everyone. Far from. But for those who listen to it, lying in bed alone, eyes closed, I salute you.

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(You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes by clicking here.)

1.) Introducción a ConVerGentes por Diego Ospina.
2.) Los nombres y blogs de los participantes de ConVerGentes.
3.) Gabriel Montoya cuenta la historia de Campus Party. Algunos otros comparten sus expectativas por la conferencia.
4.) Cómo se distingue Bogotá y Medellín?
5.) Deneiber presenta Ay Amor, Cuando Hablad las Miradas por Guayacán.
6.) Cómo se distingue La Loma del centro de Medellín?
7.) Eliana presenta Crimen por Gustavo Cerati.
8.) Qué es el Metrocable de Medellín?
9.) Catalina presenta Heart of Stone por Rolling Stones.
10.) San Andres presenta Primer Dia por Julieta Venegas.
11.) Luisa Fernanda Alvarez presenta Autosuficiencia por Parálisis Permanente.
12.) Qué significa “Ave Maria”?
13.) Catalina cierra el primer podcast.

Pueden seguir escuchando los podcasts de ConVerGentes en su pagina de Blip.tv o, mejor, suscriban al podcast con iTunes.

Este año Revaz ha estado trabajando como maestro ayudante en Oakland, California. Les dio a sus alumnos dos talleres al fin del año - el primer enfocaba en la historia de la música de rap y el segundo en como producir un podcast. Se puede escuchar las resultas entretenidas del segundo taller en el blog Experiments in Podcasting.

En la foto están Ben, Johnny, y ‘R’, tres de los muchachos que hicieron un podcast de sus canciones favoritas:

Este viernes Revaz me va a acompañar a San Javier La Loma para enseñar a los muchachos de ConVerGentes como hacer un podcast. Cada uno va a llevar una canción y la idea es divertirnos mucho. Les dejo con unas fotos de los chicos que pronto pueden escuchar en el podcast.

Xady

Milton

Viviana y Luisa

Que lo disfruten.

It’s been a while without a podcast from Sparky and Oso. With much pleasure, and a little pride, we present you with 10 songs to start the month of June out right. As always, I sent Sparsh five tracks that I’ve been digging recently and he chose the other five and edited the podcast.

Enjoy it.

1. The Panderers - Come On
2. Moby - ooh yeah
3. Jamie Lidell - A little bit of a feel good
4. ???? - when it breaks
5. J Dilla - believe in God
6. Atmosphere - Wild Wild Horses
7. Minizza -Winning A Battle, Losing The War
8. Orgone - Funky Nassau
9. Codec & Flexor My Lady Story
10. Anthony and the Johnsons - My Lady Story
11. Gregory Isaacs - Kill Them With Music

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Me, Alex, Mario … 3/4 of the G5.

But first, Revaz and I tried to impress one another with some hidden musical gems. Here’s what we came up with. Enjoy.