HBM158: An Illusion

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3 microphones swinging by their cables.  Digital render by Jeff Emtman.  Microphone model by evilvoland.

 

In the midst of a stressful move, HBM producer Jeff Emtman finds comfort in the phasing techniques developed by minimalist composer, Steve Reich. 

Note: this episode contains sounds that cannot be accurately represented by speakers.  Please use headphones.  

Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman

 

Steve Reich compositions excerpted in this episode: 

 

Clapping Music, performed by Steve Reich and Wolfram Winkel

Violin Phase, performed by Jonathan Morton

Pendulum Music, performed by Joan Cerveró, Víctor Trescolí, Isabel León, and Estefanía Sánchez

HBM157: The Raw Whatever

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Light pours out of a cabinet onto the floor, illuminating three tarot cards. Digital render by Jeff Emtman. Cabinet model by Kirill Sannikov via Poly Haven.

 

Allen H Greenfield is a UFOlogist and occult researcher.  He’s also a father of three.  His first child, Alex was the subject of HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos.  In that episode, Alex tells stories from his childhood of chasing strange phenomena with his father. 

Content Note: Language

In this episode, Here Be Monsters host Jeff Emtman talks to Allen to get the “fatherly perspective” on UFOs, black lodges, tarot, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and (most of all) how to be a good parent. 

Prince(Knight) of Wands, 9 of Wands, 3 of Swords. Three cards that Allen pulled from a deck in his mind after Jeff asked the question “Should I have children?” Card images from the Rider—Waite Tarot deck, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Allen Greenfield is currently working on the final installment of a trilogy whose first two entries are Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts and Secret Rituals of the Men in Black.  The forthcoming book is yet to be titled. 

Also heard in this episode: Jeff’s dad, Rick Emtman.

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: Serocell,The Black Spot

 
 

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Plants can be delivered to the 5 boroughs of New York City. Zines can be delivered anywhere in the USA.  

Use offer code HBM50 at signup to get half off your first month’s subscription.  

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HBM156: Heavy Load-Bearing Body

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Four model cows examine a depression in the ground. Digital Render by Jeff Emtman.

 

Berlin’s Schwerbelastungskörper is a massive concrete structure that, today, is hidden in plain sight between a railroad and an apartment building.  It’s one of just a dozen remaining pieces of Nazi Architecture in Berlin.  And it’s not much to look at. It was built in 1941 as a test structure for a triumphal arch that Hitler wanted to build in that spot. 

Content Note: Language and discussion of war / genocide

The Schwerbelastungskörper (“heavy load-bearing body”) is the arch’s test structure.  It weighs about 12,650 metric tonnes, or about 28 million pounds, and it’s the equivalent weight of one of the four massive legs of the never-built arch.

This plan was abandoned as World War 2 accelerated.  And the structure remained, slowly sinking into Berlin’s marshy soil, providing proof of the arch’s impossibility. 

In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman visits the Schwerbelastungskörper, records some impulse responses in the structure’s single room and reflects on his discomfort in finding beauty in another Nazi structure nearby, Tempelhof Airport (now a public park and refugee camp). 

Also mentioned on this episode: The Berlin Airlift, Austrian Tyrol, The Little Mermaid (1989), and Der Herr Der Ringe (Lord of the Rings movies dubbed in German).  

 
 

Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast. 

Registration for the Here Be Monsters Art Exchange is open until November 10th, 2022. 
Sign up here: https://HBMpodcast.com/art/

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

 

HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos

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A beam of green light illuminates a ghost made of aluminum foil. Digital render by Jeff Emtman.

 

Alex Greenfield says that there was no such thing as a normal day when he was a kid.  His dad (Allen H Greenfield) self describes as a “researcher in the shadow world.” And his mom soon grew tired of her husband’s lifestyle, which included a lot of time on the road: chasing rumors of cryptids, ghosts, and aliens.  

Content Note: pervasive language, brief mentions of bigotry.

After his parents split up, Alex, his dad, and an ever changing cast of motorcycle gang members and step-moms kept seeking the occult. 

Some of the topics discussed in this episode: St. Simons Island in Georgia (and reported hauntings), The Okefenokee Swamp (and the ignition of swamp gas), The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident (and subsequent protests), Mono Lake in California (and the UFO sightings  there), and a movie called Being There (wherein the character played by Peter Sellers appears to walk on water). 

Alex Greenfield is the writer of The Sand, 10.0 Earthquake, and other movies.  He also used to be the head writer for WWE Smackdown. Alex’s dad, Allen H Greenfield (aka. T Allen Greenfield), is a UFOlogist and occultist.  He is the author of Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts, The Story Of The Hermetic Brotherhood Of Light, and other books. 

Unrelated to this episode, but do give a listen to the limited series that Jeff’s been mixing for Crooked Media.  It’s called Another Russia, and it’s about the assassination of Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov, as told by Ben Rhodes and Zhanna Nemtsova.  Available now on every podcast app.  

Also, Jeff’s headed back to Berlin, Germany for about a month.  If you know any good stories/interviews he should record while he’s there, send a DM on Twitter or Instagram, or use the contact form.

Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listeners and sponsors. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman

Music: The Black Spot, Circling Lights, August Friis

 
 
 

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All titles from is / ought books are available to buy online via the link below. is / ought books are also distributed via Small Press Distribution (SPD).

Thank you is / ought books for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

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New from is / ought books: James Finnegan’s novel: Das Ka-Ka-Pee-Pee-Tal and Other Works in Progress. Available for purchase here.

HBM154: Ancient Roman Recipes

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Digital render by Jeff Emtman featuring a public domain illustration of the lovage plant by Joseph Miller (via the New York Public Library’s digital collection)

 

Sally Grainger was originally a chef, but in her 20’s, she was gifted a copy of an ancient Roman cookbook called Apicius. 

Apicius is a bit of a fluke.  It shouldn’t have survived the 2000-ish year journey into the modern era, but it did.  And in this episode of Here Be Monsters, Grainger explains how Apicius persisted due to being a favorite text for monks-in-training to practice their gilding skills.  And thus, this fascinating book of recipes (featuring cooking instructions for boiled ostrich soup, complex sauces, and cucumbers stewed with brains) is still feeding people today.

While cuisine today might seem distant from ostrich soup, Grainger thinks that Roman food often gets inaccurately portrayed as overly decadent or overly spiced.  Cooked correctly, the cuisine is quite balanced, she says.  And in her book, Cooking Apicius, she uses her knowledge of ancient Roman life to put the recipes in context for a contemporary kitchen and contemporary cooks. 

 
 

Sally Grainger cooking Chestnut Lenticulam. An ancient Roman recipe from the book Apicius.

 
 

Also, on this episode, Jeff also reads from a 1932 English translation of Apicius by Joseph Dommers Vehling, which is available in the public domain thanks to Project Gutenberg. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

Have you seen the new HBM stickers? They’re beautiful.  Get yours here.  As of publish date: if you buy 4, one of them will be free.  The discount gets applied automatically when you add them to your cart.

 

HBM153: Klänge from Berlin

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Digital render by Jeff Emtman.

 

The composer Pauline Oliveros thought there was a difference between hearing and listening.  She defined hearing as a passive act, something done with the ears.  But she defined listening as something active saying that listening happens in the brain.  

 

Recording a dog in the Saxony region of Germany.

Sam Parker is a recordist who takes inspiration from Oliveros’ words and work.  About six years ago, on an episode of Here Be Monsters called Sam’s Japan Tapes, Sam shared dozens of recordings he made during his first (and only) trip to Japan.  He released those recordings under the name Observance as an album called Japan, 6/21 - 7/14.

On this episode, Here Be Monsters host takes two trips to Germany, and records the sounds of Christmas in Berlin, New Years in Saxony, and many hours of people and birds just going about their daily lives in the late winter and early spring. 

Before Jeff leaves on his first trip, he calls Sam Parker back, to ask for recording advice before the trip, and Sam offers three tips: 

  1. Take lots of time.

  2. Capture moments of everyday routine. 

  3. Trust your instincts

  • MM:SS - Description. (📸 = Photo)

    08:45 - Train to SeaTac airport.
    09:45 - Announcements on an Air France flight.
    11:00 - Turbulence and people rustling.
    12:30 - Berlin's Brandenburg Airport
    13:15 - A brown swan hissing and chirping
    13:30 - Boats rubbing against wooden piers and a small dog barking.
    14:15 - Cars driving on cobblestone streets.
    14:45 - Ice Skating at Berlin's Alexanderplatz 📸
    15:30 - Swing ride with metal chains at Alexanderplatz. 📸
    16:00 - Riding on the subway, then walking up several flights of stairs.
    18:45 - Radio playing advertisements, news, and Christmas music
    20:45 - A Christmas Eve service in a cathedral with a speaker reading a children's story.
    21:30 - Christmas carols playing as people mill around.
    22:00 - A wedding party in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
    23:15 - A Christmas exhibit with a lit up polar bear and fog machine.
    24:00 - Birds chirping in Berlin's Mauerpark as people walk by.
    25:00 - Crunching frosted leaves on a cold morning.
    25:30 - Walking through a forest in the Saxony Region of Southern Germany.📸
    26:15 - Whistling through hands in the forest.
    27:00 - Buying 5 kilograms of potatoes from a vending machine as a dog barks.📸
    27:30 - Mountaintop shop selling hot drinks and snacks in Czechia.
    27:45 - Chopping kindling. Distant fireworks echoing through the hills in Saxony.
    28:30 - Snaps and pops of a small fire
    29:00 - Distant fireworks to celebrate the start of 2022.
    29:30 - Close fireworks echoing.
    30:00 - A strong wind blowing on a mountaintop in Saxony.📸
    30:30 - A tree swing creaking.
    31:15 - 6AM on the outskirts of Berlin. Traffic starting, crow screaming.
    32:45 - Captive pigeons fluffing their feathers and cooing at Hasenheide Park
    34:00 - Slow motion recording of a sudden hailstorm.
    34:30 - A motorized billboard in a subway station
    35:00 - Accordion player performs in a subway station in Berlin's Mitte neighborhood.
    37:45 - Applause after a play.
    38:15 - A small bird singing several songs.
    39:30 - Church bells ringing.
    40:45 - Wind flapping the torn domes of the Teufelsberg listening station as people sing.📸
    43:00 - Walking through the forest near Teufelsberg as bikes pass.

 
Buy the album!

The recordings on this episode are available as an album called “Field Recordings: Germany, 2021-2022” and it’s available for purchase on Bandcamp, under Jeff Emtman’s pseudonym: The Black Spot.  Until June 30th, 2022, all profits from the sale of this album will be donated to The International Committee of the Red Cross. 

 

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: Remixes from HBM049: Sam’s Japan Tapes.
Photos: Jeff Emtman
Thank Yous: Sam Parker, Johanna Gilje

 
 
 

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