EP 26 The First Year In Review

Episode 26 the Season One Recap is out now. The inaugural season of the Shadow of The Man show is now over, next week Season 2 will launch with the Season Premiere EP 27 with none other than Danger Ranger! Learn about what happened behind the scenes in Season 1 and get a sneak peek at Season 2

This episode recounts the wobbly but promising beginning of this show and all of the startup problems the show faced. Over time these issues were ironed out and the show started to get more regular and professional. The issue of equity in the show is discussed as one of the show’s guiding principles. The future of the show is discussed including a ramp up to even more regularly scheduled episodes. The Shadow Shorts project is introduced with details about how it will unfold on the playa in 2025 and eventually another stream of episodes. There is also a short discussion of a blind spot in developing the show, the fact that some people have come to think of the show as dark (usually just making an assumption off of the name). There is also some discussion of technical issues about the show and the ongoing attempt to improve the quality of the show. This show is a gift to the Burning Man community and there are no plans to monetize it. The show ends with a preview of episodes to come in season 2.

Please visit shadowoftheman.com for all of the details and links.

Email shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com if you want to be a guest or if you have any concerns about the show.

Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, it REALLY helps the show to even appear in search results.

Transcript

Before we start, I would like to ask your help to do two things. First, tell a friend or two who you think might like the show. And second, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The more reviews the show gets, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Thank you, and now on to the show. 

They make the trek out to Burning Man for a week and a day. After a lot of work, oh, there's a lot of play. Party party drama, drama, drama. b****, b****, b****. Year after year, they come back to scratch that itch. They all say their lives have been changed. After many years, lives have been rearranged. That changes what this show is all about. You'll see the impact. of burning up and out. So sit back, relax, and cancel all your plans. These are the stories about the shadow of the man. 

Hello and welcome to the Shadow of the Man Show. I'm your host, Andy. Yeah, yeah, we get it. That Andy, today's guest is Well, no. Really, this episode is kind of a recap of season 1, a discussion about what has happened, a look towards the future of the show. So, what's what's happen? Let's recap a little bit. Season 1 started off a bit wobbly, I have to admit. I recorded three episodes before returning to the Playa after a 13-year absence. Initially, the plan was to do just one episode a month. I know I had one or two reliable interviews set up and a wish list of like 50 people. That list has now grown to 122 and growing with 34 recorded. Some I got to say some guests were very easy to wrangle. Others required a little bit of back and forth and proddding. Everything was done as cheaply as possible. My first interview on Zoom was with the three version that that cuts off a little less than an hour in. I'd been using my son's microphone that he uses for gaming, which I actually used for quite a while. If I bothered to take notes in an interview, it was on a legal pad covered in scroll. Scheduling was haphazard and down in my phone's calendar. After a few months, I settled on a cadence of two shows a month that slowly became more regular. On the 1st and 15th of each month, December was the first month of such regularity. I was still recording fairly close to release dates, and I only really started to get ahead by April or so. By the beginning of June, the first season was complete with at least three shows of season 2 recorded. Oh, by the way, the season ends on August 1st. I guess the second season starts on August 15th. Yeah. Over time, I became more proficient at using the technology. I got to say, technology is often not my friend. And for many years, I've been joking around that I think I'm supposed to be Amish because technology just frequently fails me or I fail it or something. We just we have a bad relationship. I figured out how use the fun how to use the functions of Zoom. I was now paying a yearly subscription for I managed to actually schedule Zoom meetings and that also helped guests to remember their interview. I started making a script. It's more more of an outline for each show that I then used to make notes on so that I would remember key facts about the guests when it came that usually months later when I had to actually publish the episode. I also had a hard time remembering to include key details reliably each each time I published an episode. So, I then made a PR cheat sheet for each episode so I could remember to include all the important details. And oh, there were always a lot of details. I also made a dedicated calendar just for the show. Just as the the mechanics of producing the show took some time to figure out and develop with I did this all on my own, right? I just figured it all out. The format of the show has somewhat changed over time. The basic format of the three questions hasn't changed, just the order. It took me a while to settle on asking about the Burning Man experience first. In fact, this is now like half of the show. They had a fairly brief discussion about, you know, the background of life before Burning Man. Some guests don't really want to talk about that very much. And then on to what impact or influence Burning Man has had. Each guest is different and the script is a pretty loose guideline. I got to say many guests warm up after a little bit and have very little need for prompting. I just let them talk about what's important to them. Often I'll interject with a question asking to explain something that either I don't know or I think the average listener wouldn't know. And then there's equity. I've striven to build inequity from the very foundations of this show. At a minimum, I've sought to have equal representation of men and women as well as a few trans guests. My second guest was Taia Coleman, a woman of color. If there are any Black Burners out there who would like to be on the show, please, please hit me up. I would absolutely love to have you on. And you can reach me at shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com. I've also been seeking to bring in diverse voices wherever I can. I'm reaching out to members of every Burning Man department, theme camp, regional, and community to bring in as wide a sample of Burning Man experience as possible. I've interviewed a number of veteran burners who have been going to Black Rock City for many years, sometimes decades. A couple of them, it's been more than half of their life. I'm starting to interview more guests. whose first trip out to the playa has been more recent, like within the last 10 years or so. And again, I would like to interview more guests like that. Please hit me up. Another area I am very interested in exploring is the Birdie Man diaspora. Diaspora. I would absolutely love to interview guests who have been burning for years but never made it out to the Black Rock Desert. I would also love to talk to more burners like Christina Acasio, who first experienced Burning Man through their local regional before ever setting foot on the player. If this sounds like you or you know someone like this, please hit me up. I would absolutely love to interview you or them, just send an email to shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com. So, where is this all going? The future. The future. This show is an exploration of the impact in influence Burning Man has had over time. I've tried to cast as wide a net as possible, but I've been constrained by the number of shows available to publish in a twice monthly format. This means 25 shows in season 1. I've also been constrained by the willingness of guests to participate. Over time, the show has published more episodes, and the sporadic reviews consistently came back positive. The reputation of the show has grown incrementally. Combined with production improvements, this has led to an increased rate of interviews. At first, I was attempting to get ahead so that I could have some downtime here and there. I've settled in on a sustainable cadence of interviews that will allow for many more shows. As the profile of the show has increased, it has become easier to book guests. New guests are added to the wish list every week. If they all follow through. I have something like three more years of interviews at the current rate of twice a month. By the time the Burning Man 2025 is over, I will have enough interviews recorded to last through the end of the of 2025 and into January 2026. But but that's not all of it. If I can keep up this sustainable cadence of interviews, I'm planning on increasing the number of published shows to once a week starting in January. But wait, there's more. Honestly, I hadn't planned on going back to Black Rockck City this year. Yeah, I I was conj I'm planning on doing a live show on the plywood flash. More information will come out as details are set. I also have a new project where I want to include as many of you as possible. It is called the shadow shorts challenge. I will be setting up on the 12:00 side of the man from 2 to 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Well, actually more like 11 to 3 on Wednesday. Wednesday is a very, very busy day. You know, in the shade of the man, I will be challenging participants to explain in 5 minutes or less what impact or influence Burning Man has had on them. I will record all of this and package up four at a time to publish. as the year goes by. The concept is reminiscent of NPR's story core idea. Depending upon how many I get, this can be a 20inut show once a month or if I record a lot more, maybe even once a week. So, this year on the plan coming out to the shadow of the man and maybe you too can be on the shadow of the man. Then here's something I hadn't anticipated. The darkness factor. I have to say I am probably fairly thick, but I did not see this one coming. A number of people over the last year has said Shadow of the Man. Ooh, that that that sounds dark. That sounds negative. I I don't know. You know, I I've never seen the show that way to be honest with you. I've used the shadow as a metaphor for an influence cast on one's life. like shade in in the desert, a shadow can be quite welcome. There's no particular story I'm seeking to tell, and most of my shows have been tales of positivity. As I've been telling people, I'm more interested in the phoenix than in dwelling on the flames. It's important to know where you come from and the difficulties that you had to endure. But what I find more fascinating is how that was overcome and the new you. that we all see some technical stuff. Now, almost all of my interviews are done on Zoom. I don't save the video, but maybe in the future I will if there's any interest in video clips. I'm not on TikTok, but I could be. You could let me know on social media. The for the links of all my various social media accounts are all available if you just go to shadowoftheman.com. I often don't audibly respond to a guest, but I gesture in response on video. This is because often the guest doesn't wear headphones and because the equipment I've been using, any sound I make will cut off their audio. I have stepped on many guests comments and I I'd rather have you hear what they say than hear my dumb reaction. I have also invested in a Roadcaster Duo soundboard. Honestly, I'm I'm still figuring it out and and recording on Zoom actually works pretty good. I'm hoping it will help me with two things. One is recording someone on a phone. A few guests can't do Zoom for whatever reason. And secondly, I'm hoping that will help me level out the sound levels so that a guest's voice is not too soft, as has been the case on couple of the shows. I have to admit, I'm very sorry. I'm still figuring out all the technology, but I'm hoping that over time the sound quality is improving. It's really important to me that I put out a quality show. This is my gift to you, and I want it to be the best gift possible. By the time you hear this, I will have conducted 23 aired interviews with another eight completed and ready to air. I've learned a lot over this past year, and And I hope my skills at interviewing have been improving, but you tell you you tell me on social media. And one last thing I want to mention, this whole project, the Shadow of the Man Show, is a gift to the Bernie man community. It is my way to give back to the community that has given me so much over the last almost 30 years. It is also a project to lift voices that might otherwise be lost in the mix, as well as putting the human back into the legend. I have no plans or desire to monetize this show. It is a gift. There will be no advertising, no subscription, just a free show. At some point, if things grow, I might put out there an option to donate in some small amount if you feel like it. But honestly, we're not there yet. I don't know. Maybe you can change my mind. Money is not the limiting factor as of now. Perhaps in the future, I I'll provide a mechanism for listeners who appreciate the gift of this show to the community and make their their own gift back to me to keep it going. But honestly, I don't think we're we're there just yet. Maybe I'm wrong. Change my mind if you disagree. I'm just trying to focus on putting out the best show I know how to make. So, that's it for season 1. This little experiment has been a success and has been redoed for a second season. Yay. In season two, you can look forward to to many, many more shows. We're going to a once a week format in January. And if the Shadow Shorts project works out, that might be an additional show per week starting in January. Season 2 guests so far include Monnique Sheis, Div.A, Marica, Metric, Paradox, Pollock, K Morrison, Wolfie, Dean Bariss, and Tex Burner. These are the ones already recorded. There are many more. are guests waiting to be recorded. I honestly I don't release the the guest names until the recordings are completed. If you'd like to be on the show or would like to introduce me to someone you think should be on the show, please feel free to contact me at shadowthemanpodcast@gmail.com. For any feedback at all, feel free to let me know on one of the various social media platforms the show is on. Go to shadowoftheman.com for all the links and details. And please, please, if you get a chance, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to the show. The more reviews the show gets, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Thank you for listening, and maybe I'll see you on the playa in The Shadow of the Man. 

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or or wherever you listen. The more reviews the show has, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Also, please tell a friend and share this show with anyone that you think might like it. Word of mouth reaches quite far, especially in the Burning Man community. If you would like to contact us, please send an email to shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com. You can also follow Shadow of the Man on social media at Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky X and YouTube. The links for all of these are available at shadowoftheman.com. Feel free to use any of these social media accounts to provide any feedback you might have. Your thoughts on the show are greatly appreciated. Thank you and see you soon for a new episode of The Shadow of the Man.

Thank you for listening to this latest show. We have to make another one, so got to go. Don't worry, for next month we already have one in the can. Very soon you'll be listening to a new shadow of a man.