The Pod Piper: December 3, 2021
I've been listening to Sondheim all week; some of my favorite scores - the 2007 Company revival, the 2004 Assassins revival, the original Sunday In The Park With George - along with Sondheim Sings Volume I. And of course, as I'm wont to do with anything, I sought out Sondheim pods. None of them made The List, but this one and this one stood out. Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone, and while that can hardly be said of Sondheim, widely recognized during his life as quite possibly the the musical theater GOAT, I'm not sure I fully appreciated his influence on my life until he passed. All that said, and with the impending END OF YEAR MUSIC LIST EXTRAVAGANZA I guess I've been in more of music listening mood lately. But don't worry, there are pods a plenty for which to give thanks (dang, that would have worked a bit better a week ago).
THE LIST
Don Katz has led the kind of charmed professional life I could only hope to lead. Studying literature at NYU with Ralph Ellison, a whimsical journalism career that included writing a piece on Spain for Rolling Stone, and a mid-career shift to founding a tech startup that eventually birthed urban revitalization?! This may be my favorite HIBT yet, and the most jealous I’ve ever been of anyone who has started a company (something I hope to never do).
Even when John Green is the subject and not the host of a show, he totally captures my attention. Very impactful and deeply personal, hardly surprising given the pedigree of both these podcasting welterweights (I don't really know what that term means and I have a sneaking suspicion it doesn't make sense, but to call them heavyweights seemed too obvious).
A history of the music of my youth. So many great nostalgic cuts and band names that took me back to a different time. Now Hit Parade needs to hone in on turn of the century Christian rock, showtunes, and modern/post-modern indie to fully cover my lifelong musical aesthetic.
I once thought it would be a good intellectual exercise to read one book each year about a seemingly mundane object and all the surely interesting history behind it. Something like a pencil or a tape measure or a chair. Turns out I'm a slow reader and there are a ton of other books that are more compelling. But thankfully Avery Trufelman brought me an even better study of the mundane in the second season of Nice Try! All the episodes are good, but "The Doorbell" has an extra level of social commentary that makes it really hum.
The story of Adrian's Kickback is the first time I've felt very old. See also "Absolutely Devious Lick" if you are looking for a sort of companion piece to see just how wide the chasm extends between yourself and the youths.
Friends who talk about poop together stay together. But tread lightly, because many people absolutely do not want to talk about it.
HONORABLE MENTION
SOMETHINGS NEW
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill
Some podcasts are salacious and predatory, relying on juicy real life scandals to shock an audience into submission. Most of these are true crime shows, some of which make no pretense about being a vehicle for uncovering the truth or righting some historic injustice. That's kind of the vibe I initially got from The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, but I was compelled because the crime at the center was not some grizzly murder. Rather, it’s about the rapid ascension and even swifter descent of a power-crazed preacher and the toxic work environment he begat. The workplace happens to be a megachurch, and the charismatic leader at the story's core makes this closer to a cult documentary than a reopened cold case.
The man at the center of the pod is Mark Driscoll, a conservative pastor with regressive theology draped in a modernity that so many found to be incredibly compelling. He’s got bravado that masquerades as confidence, and I’ll admit that the sermon audio presented here makes it easy to see how the right crowd would eat it up. Unfortunately he channeled it into a hyper-complementarianism - essentially a philosophy that God assigned gender roles - which evolved into corruption and a culture of “spiritual abuse.” Those sermon clips are a nod to the church capitalizing on media production at the dawn of the internet age that gave Driscoll a much broader reach than just his in-person congregants - both satellite campuses that had his sermons beamed in, as well as downloads accessible all over the world.
Curiously, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is produced by Christianity Today, and every episode reminds listeners that this is in part a story of the mystery of God working in broken places. But is it really? And does that matter? I’ve heard a progressive critique that says host Mike Cosper leaves too much ambiguity about Driscoll - hinting that the massive success of the church elevated him to power too quickly and that a more mature Driscoll may have been more discerning and diplomatic. On the other hand, the show really doesn’t provide much evidence of this supposed holy work that happened at Mars Hill. Apart from relaying a couple of isolated anecdotes about Mark helping some individual in need, the pod leaves little doubt about Driscoll’s culpability for the destruction he left in his wake.
The show has an excellent intro song from King's Kaleidoscope, which interlaces thematically poignant lyrics with interview clips from the series. Choice tracks from a variety of lesser known indie Christian bands feature throughout - fitting, given the theme of highlighting voices that are not household names. The release schedule has spanned 6 months, with bi-monthly episode drops amidst a couple longer hiatuses and the 12th and final episode yet to be released. While this could be frustrating, I have really enjoyed experiencing something as it’s being made. Narrative wise, it’s a bit scatterbrained - from some really detailed storytelling about specific events, to some pretty tangential reaches (including the culture of abuse from Bobby Knight?!). I’m curious to see how it wraps. Hopefully there will be a better takeaway than the typical "what does it all mean" pontificating at the end of similar exposé pods… But that might be inevitable given that Driscoll has since moved on to pastoring a church in Phoenix as if this whole thing never even happened. Wild.
Some podcasts are salacious and predatory, relying on juicy real life scandals to shock an audience into submission. Most of these are true crime shows, some of which make no pretense about being a vehicle for uncovering the truth or righting some historic injustice. That's kind of the vibe I initially got from The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, but I was compelled because the crime at the center was not some grizzly murder. Rather, it’s about the rapid ascension and even swifter descent of a power-crazed preacher and the toxic work environment he begat. The workplace happens to be a megachurch, and the charismatic leader at the story's core makes this closer to a cult documentary than a reopened cold case.
The man at the center of the pod is Mark Driscoll, a conservative pastor with regressive theology draped in a modernity that so many found to be incredibly compelling. He’s got bravado that masquerades as confidence, and I’ll admit that the sermon audio presented here makes it easy to see how the right crowd would eat it up. Unfortunately he channeled it into a hyper-complementarianism - essentially a philosophy that God assigned gender roles - which evolved into corruption and a culture of “spiritual abuse.” Those sermon clips are a nod to the church capitalizing on media production at the dawn of the internet age that gave Driscoll a much broader reach than just his in-person congregants - both satellite campuses that had his sermons beamed in, as well as downloads accessible all over the world.
Curiously, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is produced by Christianity Today, and every episode reminds listeners that this is in part a story of the mystery of God working in broken places. But is it really? And does that matter? I’ve heard a progressive critique that says host Mike Cosper leaves too much ambiguity about Driscoll - hinting that the massive success of the church elevated him to power too quickly and that a more mature Driscoll may have been more discerning and diplomatic. On the other hand, the show really doesn’t provide much evidence of this supposed holy work that happened at Mars Hill. Apart from relaying a couple of isolated anecdotes about Mark helping some individual in need, the pod leaves little doubt about Driscoll’s culpability for the destruction he left in his wake.
The show has an excellent intro song from King's Kaleidoscope, which interlaces thematically poignant lyrics with interview clips from the series. Choice tracks from a variety of lesser known indie Christian bands feature throughout - fitting, given the theme of highlighting voices that are not household names. The release schedule has spanned 6 months, with bi-monthly episode drops amidst a couple longer hiatuses and the 12th and final episode yet to be released. While this could be frustrating, I have really enjoyed experiencing something as it’s being made. Narrative wise, it’s a bit scatterbrained - from some really detailed storytelling about specific events, to some pretty tangential reaches (including the culture of abuse from Bobby Knight?!). I’m curious to see how it wraps. Hopefully there will be a better takeaway than the typical "what does it all mean" pontificating at the end of similar exposé pods… But that might be inevitable given that Driscoll has since moved on to pastoring a church in Phoenix as if this whole thing never even happened. Wild.
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