James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
As promised, here's a special Halloween treat. James Lileks has graciously allowed us to post his podcast The Diner on Ricochet. From James himself:
I’ve been sitting at the counter of the Diner for a long, long time. Wrote my first dispatch almost 30 years ago in my column at the college paper. Had a late-night two-hour radio show on a 50,000 watt flamethrower station in the 90s; resurrected the show in podcast form in the middle of the previous decade. There’s a lot of backstory to the show, but I did this episode as an introduction for new patrons. It’s just a rambling, unplanned chat with musical interludes - a guy at the next stool at the counter, talking about this and that. This installment concerns old radio horror shows and Halloween music from the 50s. Have a seat. Try the pie.
The direct link to the episode is here (if you're a subscriber to the Ricochet Podcast or if you listen on Stitcher, it will also appear there).
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Comments:
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
I am having some trouble with iTunes. The Diner is not showing up in my Ricochet subscription, and neither is the new Young Guns. Is there a problem? Or is it me?
Jan '11
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Just to keep all podcasts true to ricochet... The price of Starbucks is mentioned in the first 2 minutes of the podcast.
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
It's you. Seriously, Dinner's at the top of my Podcasts Recent playlist.
I love these podcasts, although is it just me, or does 40's music (Glenn Miller, e.g.) just make one mournfully sad? It makes me think of my aunt, now in her 80's, who lost her husband not too long ago, ans a lost world. ANYWAY....
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Sometimes it take a few minutes for a podcast to appear in iTunes. Go to our feed, right click on it and choose update podcast. It should start downloading.
On The Young Guns, we did move the feed last night so that only members could listen to it on a mobile device. Delete the feed you currently have in iTunes, then click here and re-subscribe by clicking on the iTunes logo. You can also simply subscribe to our SuperFeed® and you will automagically get all of the podcasts we produce as soon as they are released.
Jun '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Thanks, Blue Yeti, for putting this up. I saw this link at the "I Love James Lileks" post.
Strangely, though, I can't get the podcast from James's own site's podcast feed -- which I also subscribe to. What gives? Is this a special for Ricochet only? Or is it an early release for Ricochet?
(P.S. Tell James he needs a Superfeed for all his Diner episodes.)
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
I came back twenty minutes later and The Diner was there. Now downloading Young Guns. Thanks Yeti. I need something to do on the snowy day, besides laundry.
Edited on October 29, 2011 at 9:01pmMay '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Great stuff, Mr. Lileks (the sad intro music not withstanding).
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Sad? Really? I don't hear that. It's "Let's Dance" by Benny Goodman, by the way. Same tune ends the show.
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
These are the best modern examples of a one-man tour de force. I'm still back with shipping the screen gazebo ordered from Target. And the casino downstairs.
I really think that James needs to open up an old fashioned night club in Minneapolis. Maybe not open all the time, sort of a "Holiday Inn" periodic venue, formal dress required, Glenn Miller and other big bands entertaining (as in a '40's movie), artificial cigarettes that puff out Febreze powder or powdered sugar. Only marbled, cholesterated meat and a lot of butter for the food (Manny's can cater....)
Do it on a subscription basis, in advance. John Hinderaker can buy a table of six, etc. And after the ballroom slow dancing, James can come on, sit on a stool in a lone spotlight, and do a Diner monologue.
Ricochet fans from far and wide would come.
Dec '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
No,no,no,no no no,no.
I hear the podcast, just fine, but I have resisted, for years, listening to James Lileks' Diners, because I was sure they would be just this way.
I was sure. And I was right.
James is at his best, interacting with others, or with an audience. The "Diners" were, perhaps, his practice and personal passion.
However, this is not the Lileks I hear in my head.
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
CJ Scrooge, say "Bah, Humbug!" for us.
I've been listening to Lileks for 20 years- since he was a little known militant moderate, before moving Right, and there is no way that this kind of forum isn't every bit as fun as any interactive event.
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
Mr. Lileks. I'm wrong on the artist, but right on the feeling. Maybe you're so into mid-20th Century culture that it still lives for you in some way? For me, it's just a scratchy record of lost civilization. It feels like it might as well be 1900. I am lamenting this...
Jun '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
I am of such an age that your replaying of the E. G. Marshall introduction brought back a flood of memories. I heard it many times. Sadly, none of those memories ever included listening to a full segment of the radio shows that followed.
You must admit: he had a great voice.
Loved the podcast. I grew up in a rural area that had a diner very like the one James describes. Sadly, someone remodeled the place a few years ago.
Feb '11
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
I was absolutely psyched to see a new Diner; just two slight issues, though:
1) It really loses something without the background noise of dishes, silverware, and talking (including the one guy in the background who every now and then says something which sounds vaguely like "rabbit!")
2) One thing that's bugged me since first hearing the 2006 Haunted Diner episode. In The House of Frankenstein, there is a distinction made between Frankenstein and the monster. The first verse, for example, says he has a "friend who's 6-foot-9". Later, the monster is referred to specifically. So, the house, it appears, does belong to the doctor, not the creature.
Plus, I just gotta know: what was the chef dressed as this year?
May '10
Re: James Lileks' "The Diner:" Halloween Special
I was on the road over the weekend, and missed the fact that this gem had been posted to the SuperFeed™. James, I hope there are more Diners to come to the Ricochet audience - they should get to enjoy the exploits of the Dark Chef, the 9-foot tall Pillsbury Doughboy Terminator Robot, Jimmy Leeks, and all the other motley band of characters out on Old Highway 23 as much as I have.