Philadelphia Freedom. My first record.

Life Lab Notes is gearing up to head to Philadelphia, to the Podcast Movement 2018 Conference. We are as excited as lab assistants can get, because travel is a great way to realize a) we have a lot in common with everyone; 2) there are differences, too, which are fun to explore; and ∆) you can get by with fewer toiletries than you thought you needed.

Philadelphia Freedom was my first record, back in grade school. It was a 45. (Google it.) My second record was Cher's Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. These started a life-long love of stories. Tales about humans, what happens to them, how they deal with things. Essential, mythic stuff. Humans tell stories.

We have a special piece coming up for July, written especially for the Podcast Pavilion at the conference. If they choose it, it will be recorded right there, with special thanks to TalkShoe (a cool website for user-generated live and recorded voice content) and HeilSound (providing the microphones). If it's not chosen we'll record it when we get back, full of podcast camaraderie and swag.

Although the green, suitcase-style record player that played those 45s a million times was not mentioned in this special July podcast piece, it was there in spirit. So to speak.