Everything is a Primary Source

"A to Z of the  www." Amazon.com as a Primary Source of the 1990s w/Christopher Mims Initially Amazon.com was a product of the existing infrastructure of United States, including the ever-expanding access to the Internet that Americans enjoyed. As time went on Amazon enjoyed utilizing the globe’s robust supply chains—themselves products of decades if not centuries of development—to then become the...

EPS Podcast Shorts "Picture it, Pizza Hut, 1992" You’ve just come back famished from a late Spring baseball game or it’s Saturday in the Winter and your Book It! pin is filled up. Maybe you’re celebrating a birthday or just want to take a look at framed black and white photos of Italy while you eat delicious deep-dish pizza. Regardless of the reason, Pizza Hut was the place to be in the 1980s and...

"Everyday is Diner Day in the USA" Diners as documents w/ Scott Given the choice, I’ll always go with the fresh-brewed-coffee scented, sizzling-griddle-sounding, sit-where-you’d like diner over any other kind of restaurant. Their straightforward menus and no frills aesthetics have always been a beacon to me, and I know I’m not alone. Scott hosts Diner Day in the USA an Instagram account which cele...

EPS Podcast Shorts "You Teach Me and I'll Teach You" My son and I started a new tradition a few months ago that when he stays home sick from school, and is feeling up to it, we record a podcast together about something he has interest in. With National Pokémon Day on the horizon, we decided to talk about the Japanese mixed media export, of which he is self-taught expert.

"Johnny Hit and Kick Bullies" Cobra Kai as a Primary Source w/ Adam of Raised on Film Reboots, sequels, prequels and reimaginations have been all the rage of late, and there’s plenty of reasons for the trend, most notably the power of nostalgia. Cobra Kai arrived in 2018 and seemingly out of thin air. As far as I can tell there wasn’t a widespread call for the Karate Kid storyline to continue, esp...

EPS Podcast Shorts "Kidz Bop with Cheeseburgers and Pop" Last week’s short centered around collectible Garfield glasses from McDonald’s that originated somewhere in the 1980s. It was determined that it was unlikely that these breakable pieces were inserted in Happy Meals because at that time kids received little plastic toys or small coloring books alongside their cheeseburger or McNuggets. This w...

"More than a Disco Movie to Me" 1977's Saturday Night Fever as a Primary Source w/ Kevin John Travolta is attached to two movies that define the 1970s, 1977’s Saturday Night Fever and the following year’s Grease . The former is an icon of the age of Disco, and therefore contemporary of its time, while the latter speaks to the feelings of nostalgia that ran (and continues to run) deep in American c...

EPS Podcast Shorts: "For the Love of Lasagna" It always looks like I’m having a yard sale when I set up for my live podcast karaoke events.  Everything from records to comic books, VHS tapes, toys, even glassware is laid out, hoping to catch the eye of an audience member turned podcast guest.  Back in November of 2022 Ashley spied a glass Garfield mug from McDonald’s that I’d brought along to my s...

"Opening Drive": Super Bowl I and Pro Football's Fight to Dethrone Baseball   w/ Deremy of Bigger than the Game The Super Bowl has become so ingrained in American popular culture that it is difficult to imagine a time before all the hype surrounding The Big Game existed.  That’s not to say that professional football’s popularity or the concept of a championship game for the sport was invented in 1...

"Moses- Deliver Us": NYC Parkways with Chance Kelly New York City commuters don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the history of the roads they use each day to get to and from work and home, but behind each paved throughfare is a story about the past waiting to be told.  You already know actor Chance Kelly from his roles in Generation Kill, Aquarius, and one of my favorites, Fringe, but he’s also t...

EPS Podcast Shorts: "Eric and Bob Revisit Highway 61 Revisited" Season 2 picks back up with a short that was recorded way back in October of last year at Defiant Records and Craft Beer in Laconia, New Hampshire.  What a perfect spot for a night of podcast karaoke; not only did I bring a slew of pop culture selections for tap room guests to choose from, but directly in front of me were the stacks o...

Special Bonus Episode "A Christmas Story Christmas, Christmas" This year’s, A Christmas Story Christmas has been presented as the official sequel to the 1983 contemporary classic, despite a few other pieces of media that have come out over the last twenty to thirty years which could make the vie for the honor.  My wife, Erin the Tie Dye Librarian, was the first member of my family to screen the ne...

"The House at Good Old Cleveland Street" - Analyzing  The "A Christmas Story" House as a Primary Source w/ Guide Ernie Scales It may come as a surprise that 1983’s “A Christmas Story” was not a big hit upon its initial release, a trait that 1946’s It’s A Wonderful Life shares with the now much beloved story of young Ralphie Parker’s quest to get a Red Ryder BB Gun delivered to him on Christmas Day...

EPS Podcast Shorts "Train of Thought" Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express has been a staple of the Christmas season since it was published in 1984, perhaps challenging The Night Before Christmas as standard bedtime read-alouds on Christmas Eve.  Its themes, images, awards and historical context all signal that this is an exceptional primary source of its time period and place—the early 80s in t...

"Hojo's Motel/ Holiday Inn" with the Retrologist, Rolando Pujol  I was delighted to be joined recently by the Rolando Pujol, to discuss and dissect two 20th century documents of American road culture , Howard Johnson’s and Holiday Inn.  And while I promote listening to the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast in any setting, I have to say that this episode is absolutely perfect listening for dri...

EPS Podcast Shorts: "Hitting the Road" Road Rash II was developed by Electronic Arts in 1992 for the Sega Genesis, the 16 bit video game platform that had itself been created to compete with home video game giant, Nintendo.  Both game and system were a product of commercial outlets trying to get the attention of the teenage demographic that Nintendo and other brands were falling behind with.   Bri...

Crystal Blue Christmas - Studying The Breaking Bad Store ABQ with owners Ed and Marq Admittedly, Breaking Bad has little to do with the Christmas season, but considering how much fun I had making this episode, I felt compelled to release it before the mid-season break which will arrive towards the end of December. House museums, themed restaurants, amusement park rides that simulate real earthquak...

EPS Podcast Shorts "The Ballad of Kevin McCallister" Home Alone was a topic for season one of the EPS Podcast last year, but honestly, as my guest Shay remarks, one could devote several podcasts and college courses to the story and still have more to say. Take a listen to what Shay and I discussed about the 1990 movie after she volunteered to talk about it at a recent podcast karaoke event held at...

"At the Mall!": Analyzing shopping malls as primary sources, with Kyle Lincoln It’s December first, the holiday shopping season is well underway, and if it was December at anytime between the early 70s and the early 2000s you’d probably be at the mall right about now.  Afterall, malls were the centerpiece of commerce and social life for many suburban communities during that time period, and whethe...

EPS Podcast Shorts: "And We're Putting it on Wax" I try to connect my short and long episodes in some way each week, so seeing as how Thursday’s episode is all about shopping malls, I figured a source that comes from the early 2000s, the last hurrah for mall culture, made sense. Skylor, my on-the-spot guest last month at Defiant Records and Craft Beer in Laconia, NH, dove into the business’s exten...

"A Bountiful Book" Analyzing the "Out of Vermont Kitchens" cookbook with Erin E. Moulton The holidays bring up at least a few opportunities to pull cookbooks off shelves in order to find the perfect recipe for an occasion.   These collections of cooking directions are often dog-eared and bulging from the newspaper and magazine clippings that act as addendums to the original text.  Pencil marks cro...

EPS Podcast Shorts "Shipping Spice From Boston" I have a shelf surrounding my breakfast nook at home where various knickknacks and junk store finds are displayed, and items get regularly selected to go with me to my EPS Podcast Live! Exhibits.  One such artifact, a Stickney and Poor’s allspice container from the first half of the 20th century, caught the eye of Jeff from Loaded Question.  You may...

"Up Against the Clock":  McDonald's as a Primary Source both in the US and Sweden McDonald’s has two origin stories in the United States.  The first came in the 1940s as a product of the economic boom immediately following the Second World War and the harnessing of efficiency and quality by Dick and Mack McDonald involving their San Bernardino, California burger stand.  The second is the franchise...

The EPS Podcast Shorts: "I-C-J-P" Jurassic Park is the ultimate blockbuster movie, and what blockbuster movie’s marketing would be complete without collectible cups from a fast food restaurant.  John, our resident dinosaur expert, and creator of much of the music you hear on the eps podcast, sat down with me to break down one such cup from McDonald’s (which might be one of the only such items to f...

Reaching for the Stars III :"Bridging the Gap" Dissecting Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" with James Maynard This week has been all about the stars and anniversaries, so a good combination of the two is releasing an episode all about the PBS program Cosmos on the anniversary of its creator and host, Carl Sagan’s, birthday.  This is the EPS Podcast and I’m glad to have you listening.    James Maynard, the ho...