Wednesday Podcast: Joi Podgorny

If you're lonely it's not the internet's fault. Joi is a kids online communities specialist, and digital socialite extrodinare.

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"My bread and butter is community, I make people be friends

with each other and talk to each other and have those

kinds of relationships... People are withdrawing to their

computer and I think there's got to be more people like me
who help them make that space more collaborative
and community centric."

For more from Joi Check out her Blog or Twitter

Wednesday Podcast: Jesse Alexander

Jesse is a transgender guy who recently changed his name and pronoun. I know Jesse because he plays drums with Tom Fort in a Chicago band I love called Cobalt and the Hired Guns. We talk about identity, changing names and the gender as a continuum.

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"To use the word switching is to imply that you are one or the other."

Let's Play Two

We're still obsessed with rainouts. There has been a mountain of stuff written about the up coming Cubs Sox series, I wanted to make my own soggy day prediction.

Because today was rained out there is now the possibility of a double header, and while this may mean less money for bouncers, a double header may be good for the White Sox.

Though it pains me to say it as a White Sox fan, I think the Cubs have the better team.  Their starting staff is formidable and their lineup, while under performing, is also better than the Sox.  If there is a phase of the game that favors the White Sox it is relief pitching.  The White Sox have four legitimate big inning pitchers in their pen while the Cubs have two. 

More Innings More Relief

In a double header this advantage could mean the difference in the two games.  Relief is always an important part of baseball, but the importance of good relief is magnified in the pressure cooker of a double header, if you can’t depend on a number of different guys to take the ball a manager can find himself in tough situation.  Their are more innings to cover and so a manager needs a deeper pen.  Without a solid start a double header can turn into a long day for a team with weak relief.  

In the final measure what will really make the difference is how the players play on the day they get this game in, but if you're a White Sox fan you might want em' to play two.

We've Been Gone, But We're Coming Back

Upcoming interview podcasts to look forward to:

Wed. June 17 Jesse Alexander talks about changing his name from Alie to Jesse and his pronoun from she to he. 

Wed. June 24 Joi Podgorney explains why computers don’t have to make people lonely, and tells us how kids online communities are like summer camp.

Other interviews in the works:  Chicago ambulance driver, police officers present at the riots of '68, and local musicians.

Million Dollar Rain Out

Today the White Sox face the prospect of a rained out double header.  It’s ugly outside and it has been an extremely wet spring.  Besides having to reschedule two games, the possibility of a rain out means thousands of dollars in lost revenue for hundreds of people.   How many thousands?  Just think of how many people are affected by a rain out.

Direct Effect

The first, and most obvious loser is the team's owner.  If there is no make up date the team will be forced to host a double header (a rained out double header means two double headers). This means the team must sell twice as many tickets as they would have for individual games, essentially impossible, just to break even.   Less ticket sales means less concessions, souvenirs, and parking.  Every revenue generator for the team is stymied. 

But don’t cry for the owners.  After the second Jordan retirement I promised never to have sympathy for Reinsdorf.  The people who really miss that money are the ushers, vendors and parking attendants who all the sudden have to deal with one less day's pay.  No game means at least a hundred guys and girls don’t get a paycheck, and that's just the beginning.

Indirect Effect

I got the idea to write this article from a friend of the site Dan Jerez, who is routinely cut from his job at a Wrigglyville bar when a game is canceled.  There are easily thirty bars depending on Cubs baseball traffic for summer revenue.  Dan, who works at Casey Moran’s, estimates that on a Saturday night a rain out can cut their staff from 55 down to 40.   Casey Moran’s is hardly the biggest bar on the strip 15 workers across thirty bars make 450 people out of a day's work.

Bars only represent a fraction of the small businesses effected by Cub or White Sox traffic. There are convenience stores, cabs, CTA, souvenir shops, restaurants and t-shirt guys all depending on money from sports fans.  It would be difficult estimate the real cost of a rainout because there are so many small businesses involved.   But, with the sheer number of people involved it's hard for me to imagine that the revenue loss isn’t in the hundred thousands or millions.

Is it too early to start petitioning for Wrigley Dome?

"She Loved" or Musical Orgasm

In his interview Peter Terry talks about hoosier pride, but to me he sounds like Chicago blues. Peter speaks in a low voice, but when the man sings it's hide your daughters time.  I went to see the him at work and he stopped a minute to sing us a song. 

It takes a minute for the people in the video to realize the camera is on so stick out those first ten seconds, its worth it.

After the song Peter hung out, to talk writing, influences and magical Gnomes, that link is below.  I had just interviewed his manager Mike Pallen here, and the conversation just kind of flows from there.

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Managing Musicians: "I Just Want to See People Make it to the Next Level"

Mike Pallen talks about the three Chicago artist and what he does to promote them.

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Mike Manages Grimm Taylor, and Peter Terry. He also does development work for former America's Top Model contestant Sarah VonderHaar. Tomorrow we will have a follow up interview with Peter Terry, and some exclusive video, so come on back!

Today's Podcast Will Be up Later Tonight

Today's podcast will feature local band manager Mike Pallen, Should go up around 10pm central time tonight.

Ahh! Still editing podcast, but here is a rough cut of some of the material we have coming up.