Desert Oracle Radio

The Hoover Dam, already dealing with a severe lack of  water on the reservoir side, suffered an explosion and fire this week. And somebody predicted the Hoover Dam was "next" after the mysterious Georgia Guidestones were blown up by some anonymous Taliban cosplayers. Welcome to another summer on Earth! At least we have the sanctity of the night, if we allow ourselves the luxury. Being a night owl...

What has horns and flies overhead at night? The Great Horned Owl, that's who. Although they're horn  shapes and not actual horn material. As far as science knows. Join us at 10 p.m. tonight on KCDZ 107.7 FM or use your phone as the world's most expensive pocket radio, as we examine the bird's-eye view of the world, and what it can do for your state of mind. Hosted by Ken Layne with new soundscapes...

Now that it's good & hot outside, let's wander the high desert boulder-strewn hills of Nevada's Lincoln County. Home to Pahranagat Man, a very specific rock-art figure that fits right in with what this land would become in the 20th Century: Area 51, dreamland for the believers in the E.T. mythology. Hosted by Ken Layne, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patr...

In wintertime, in springtime, and in the magic months of late Autumn, the desert is the finest place in the world. But now we are coming to the other part — the “Bad Place,” as they say in the Bible. A time for weeping and a time for gnashing of teeth. While the humans hide in their air-conditioned mechanical prisons, the roadrunners are having the times of their lives. They...

Tonight we are joined by Kid Congo Powers, legendary guitarist from the Golden Age of The Cramps, The Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and his longtime band Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds. We talk about his new home in the Tucson desert, his 14-minute desert-groove "He Walked In" from 2021, and the importance of Magick & Alchemy. ALSO: Desert Oracle Radio live in Wonder Valley, with...

We are back with a new episode, all about the wonders of the High Desert, and the various aerial portents we call Wonders in the Sky. PLUS: If you're near Wonder Valley tonight, come on by The Palms on Amboy Road, where we are doing a rare live event with RedBlueBlackSilver, 10 p.m. on the outdoor stage, under the stars and whatever else might pass overhead. Thanks to everybody who supports this s...

We are meditating upon some various facts and figures here in the Mojave High Desert this week, from the warm weather in Twentynine Palms to which apostle was crucified upside down and is now remembered with an immense phallic monument to the Egyptian sun god, Ra. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Support the show: https:...

Happy Earth Day, people of Earth. Here's an episode about the desert in winter, appropriate for our spring blast of rain and snow and cold, cold temperatures. This was recorded live at the Whistle Stop in San Diego, near the end of our November-December 2021 tour. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

What happened to Army Private Gerry Irwin on a Utah two-lane, way back in February 1959? There was no plane crash. No passengers. Nothing but Pvt. Irwin, unconscious in the Utah night. Strange things happen on the desert highways. PLUS: Interesting facts about Arizona and Utah, from the 1950s. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

What is the life philosophy of the pinyon jay?  To eat pinyon nuts and somehow make pinyon-jay eggs. The rest is easy, especially with a hundred-and-fifty pinyon jays doing your thinking for you. This episode comes to you from Moab, Utah. Recorded in the studios of KZMU-FM, community radio for Moab and the Castle Valley. And this episode is about . . . . well, what  is it about? Life, de...

In tribute to the Druids who were canceled by Saint Patrick, we will tell some stories. Ghost stories. From those ancient Celtic lands that gave us the Sidhe, the Good People, the Gentry, the leprechauns and banshee, the goddess Brigid and the frightful pooka. Tales from the Dim Kingdom, of the Tuatha de Danaan. And how the Gold Rush of the Sierra Nevada was the birthplace of the "Luck of the Iris...

One good thing about wandering the wilderness is you can escape the despair of society. Walt Whitman did it, as did Georgia O'Keeffe. Did you realize we can stop global warming in as little as three years? A few more years to take it down a degree or so, but "stopping" is a pretty big deal! Also, there is no such thing as an alpha male wolf. So much to learn! Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2022 -...

Tonight we visit with the friendly ghost of John Muir, specifically regarding his many excursions in the California deserts. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver for this cold and windy week in the American Southwest. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2022 • http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Su...

It's the prettiest time of year in the High Desert, with longer days and the last winter precipitation setting it all up for springtime. What will it look like, in a thousand years? Probably pretty much the same, minus the Airbnbs and vintage shops. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver with some drumming help on the last act by S.W. Lauden.   Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=...

Back from our brief convalescence to bring you prayers in the night — Ancient Egyptian prayers & psalms, in this case. And some tales of Mullah Nasruddin, the Sufi mystic philosopher & fool who lived early in the last millennium. Now is the time for EPISODE #151: AN OBITUARY FOR WISDOM. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Sure are a lot of mostly abandoned churches out here in the California desert. A lot of good community real estate. How do you take over churches? Like the little old run-down church—a religious non-profit—just sitting there. Nobody’s using it. Maybe all you’ve got to do is find the person who runs the joint. Maybe it’s down to the last person, the organist or whoever...

How long has Sekhmet ruled over humanity? Five-thousand years! That’s when She is first known to us, appearing in something like her current form, in Upper Egypt, 2,930 B.C., worshipped by the multitudes in her great temples until the coming of the Coptic Christians and then the followers of Allah, when her cult went underground. But it never went away, and now is Her Time. PLUS: Strange tal...

Take a look around, the void is closing in. Jason Boland joins us from Texas to talk about The Light Saw Me , the tale of a cowboy taken up into the sky—a tale told by Jason Boland and the Stragglers on their new record, which features some narration from our host Ken Layne. As Hank Williams sang, "I saw the light." But what are those strange illuminations seen from Joplin, Missouri, to Marf...

Live from the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, here's our final show of the 2021 Tour, with your host Ken Layne and live solstice soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Occultists and mystics, cultists and coyotes, all gathered together in uneasy alliance on this Christmas Eve. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26080998 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

Like the beaver, we can change parts of our environment. Like the birds, we can move to other lands or at least try. And sometimes those Other Lands are the arid lands, the American Desert. PLUS: Kendra Atleework, author of the wonderful book about the Owens Valley/Eastern Sierra called  Miracle Country , joins us for the second half of the program. AND: New eerie soundscapes by RedBlueBlackS...

Looking for God in the world? Watch the coyote. Huehuecoyotl, that’s its Holy name. Old, old coyote. Lord of the arts, god of music and dance, our guide through adolescence and onward to adulthood. King of the Prank, patron of the promiscuous, lord of the Friday night party. Canis latrans  is the  new name, from the 1800s.  Coyotl  is the ancient American name. Tickets on...

Here's a bonus episode recorded around the campfire at Halloween a while back, with a new intro & close recorded Halloween 2021 for our local radio station, KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree. Desert Oracle Radio is ON TOUR 11/26-12-17, tickets on sale now for a night of strange tales & weird sounds with Ken Layne. 11/26/2021 • San Diego, CA / Bridges •  Buy Tickets 11/27/202...

Well look at that, it’s Halloween again. Remember when they said on the news or whatever how Halloween was finished, because this was no time for a holiday that, uh, remembers the dead? Tonight we're joined by  New York Times -bestselling author Tod Goldberg, who has written such acclaimed desert crime thrillers as  The Low Desert, Gangsterland, Gangster Nation, and Living Dead Gir...

We release this dubious beast from the Patreon secret tapes of the year past, to celebrate the holy season of Halloween, the time when the veil is thin between the realities. Desert Oracle Campfire Stories, Halloween 2018 C.E., was recorded live around the campfire at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, Calif. The instrumental soundscapes you hear along with the crackling campfire and the murmurs of th...

The ill counsel of a desert place, that would be howled out in the desert air . . . . Night has fallen on the desert, in this spookiest of seasons. Tonight we travel by the power of darkness and disinformation to Archuleta Mesa, in the Jicarilla Apache town of Dulce, New Mexico. We're going down, beneath the mountain, to see if the reptilian aliens and the gray aliens and the Air Force disinf...