EP 83 The Year In Review

Episode 83 the Year In Review is out now! Host Andi reviews the evolution and future of Shadow of the Man, an independent, non-commercial audio project dedicated to exploring how Burning Man impacts and influences people over time. Moving into its third season, the show utilizes a sustainable, volunteer-driven workflow to document authentic stories through long-form interviews and "shadow shorts"—brief, unscripted testimonials from a diverse spectrum of participants. Andi emphasizes his commitment to equity and intergenerational storytelling, aiming to preserve the foundational connections of the community while bridging the gap between original founders and new attendees. The program serves as a gift to the community, acting as an organic archive that captures the personal transformations and human legends born within the culture of the Black Rock Desert. 

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Photo credit: Dan Cuniberti

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Transcript

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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 have been rearranged. That changes what this show is all about. You'll see the impact of Burning Man 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. So, I am your host, Andy. Yeah, just me today. This is our end of the season 2 and beginning of season 3 uh year in review show. Uh I did my first year in review last year. 

Um the show is going great. Uh it's it continues to go on and it's growing. Uh this is not an episode where I'm going to say, "Oh, well, sorry. I'm hanging up my hat and throwing in the towel. Uh we're continue on and we're we're moving forward. So, let's see. 

So, to start with, I I thought maybe we would go over just uh restate like what what exactly is this show about? Honestly, like over time, the idea of this show has kind of evolved and it's become a lot more like refined. Uh in the beginning, the idea was about uh it was But noticing like, you know, the the changes that the Burning Man has in like people, places, and things over time. I I've pretty much just kind of uh refined that down to a show about how Burning Man impacts slash like influences people over time, you know, and basically the basic question is about like why are we doing, you know, what keeps people coming back?

I I once put like a a meme out on social media a couple years ago. I think it was after Burning Man 2024 when they were asking for for money, you know, because uh it was the first year it didn't sell out and they were having like budget issues and you know, people were going on and on about it's just a big party in the desert like why are you raising all this money to like you know do all this like regional activity and Burners Without Borders and this and that the other thing you know and it's just a big party. I mean come on, right? And so I put out this meme saying it's like, you know, there's some people who've been doing this for like 40 years. I mean, some people who've made this their their their life, their life's work, you know, and w would throwing a party for a constantly rotating cast of like mainly 20 to 30 year olds, although age range has been increasing. You know, it's like just throwing a party like is that worthwhile? Would that keep you coming back like year after year after year? I don't know. It wouldn't for me, right? There's got to be there's got to be more to it than that. 

So, how does this show work? Um, it Well, the show is this is basically is my gift to the community. It's a free show. There's no sponsorship. There's no advertising. Burning Man doesn't pay me. I'm not a Burning Man employee. I'm just I guess you would say I'm an artist. I don't know. Uh and this is my art form. I like I don't know if anything anyone knows anything about me. It's like I like talking to people, you know, and people like talking to me and and so doing like um I mean it's funny like yeah, I do like talking but I'm actually more interested in getting other people to share their stories. 

So, as I often tell my guests like I'm like, "Hey, number one, I'm extremely lazy, right?" And I I don't really like to have to like go back and and edit like all sorts of things. It's like essentially the vast majority of these episodes like after I record them, I just put them into I use GarageBand. I I know it's not very sophisticated, but you know, I have a template that I made and I I put it into Garage And I just kind of chop off like a a little bit in the beginning. Have uh like a a guest release. I I have the the guests like agree to in the beginning. I just kind of cut that part off. Then just paste it in. And then, you know, just manipulate a couple little lines here and there and then boom, you know, make a MP3 and an MP4 out of it, you know, uh and it's ready to go. 

Uh I mean there's also the episode art. And so I always like I'm asking like the guests for an image of themselves. I always ask them I always say the same thing. I'm like, "Okay, yeah, I need a an image of you for the episode art. Uh preferably something from the playa your first year if if you have it." Uh but but you know, anything you want will work, right? The only caveat I have is uh no nudity. The one time one guest tried to do something like that, uh she instantly regretted it and so we had to take that one back. 

Ah, yeah. So, unfiltered conversations. Um, yeah. So, I'm I'm lazy and I don't like to edit, but also at the same time, I want this to be like the authentic story of the guest, you know? This it's not the Andy show, you know? I want it to be the guest's own words coming through loud and clear. And I don't want anyone to think that I'm like doing like creative editing or like manipulating like what people say. Um, another uh thing of like how the show works is um I don't know. 

I'm really going for for equity and like a diversity in this show. I since the beginning I've had a a a strict like 50/50 representation of men and women. I've had people all different backgrounds, uh, colors, creeds, races, places around the world. I mean, I've I've had done interviews with people like in in Malta, in Bali, in Spain, in England, like all all over the the US, in New Zealand. Um, and so this is what, episode 83. I mean, I would like to continue roving around the world and sampling more people. I would love to talk to I've been trying to get Mariano in Argentina. Uh there's definitely a lot of like European burners. I'd love to interview them. Uh more interviews like in in Asia interviews just all over the place. 

And another thing I've been really trying to do with this show like because I we'll get into this but you know but like I I have my theories about you know it's like well what keeps you coming back and why do this and what's this all about? You know it's like I I do definitely do have my little pet theory, but I try not to bias the guests, you know, like with with what I think. Like I try not to like lead them down a garden path, you know. You I I want these to all be like authentic stories and and like reasonings, you know, from people. 

So why why am I doing this show? I mean, honestly, I came back to Burning Man after a 13-year absence, and I kind of looked around and it's like, oh, you know, what can I do? How can I get back in involved? And I, you know, I I tried this or that and it just nothing felt right. And I don't know, I was just really interested in this question of just like how how does Burning Man impact people like over time, you know? And I kind of looked around and I and I and I have, you know, I have a lot of friends from Burning Man and And and I I was realizing even people that I I thought I knew pretty well, it's just like there's there's all sorts of stuff in there story like like I I just never knew. And so one of the prime reasons for doing this show is a genuine like personal curiosity about the guests and you know it's like what makes them tick and then also you to get them from their own mouth just like yeah like why why are they doing this? You know like why stick with it? you know. 

It's also I have this pet theory I kind of came to about Burning Man many years ago like for me personally it's all about something I call the connection right and honestly through it all I mean you may hear it too like through all these interviews it's like one of the most common things people mention you know when I ask it's like why come back and they're just like friends family connections people you meet it's uh It's a some people call it a chosen family. You know, there's many people who come from like many backgrounds, many broken families. People some people are like leaving an oppressive like religion or relationship or or marriage or state or you know and and they're looking to to to get out of something but then but you know in natural human condition it's like you you want human connection and so I think this is what people found on the planet. And so this show is kind of uh I don't know, I haven't really talked too much about it, you know, but uh I don't know. 

This is my kind of experiment to just kind of see just kind of asking people the three basic questions of just number one, what is your Burning Man experience? Number two, what is your pre- Burning Man background? And number three, how has Burning Man impacted and or influenced your life? And then just get them to tell me their story and quite a lot of times. It kind of uh reinforces my actual priors. Although as you can tell if you've been listening to all these episodes, people say all sorts of things.

Another reason why I do this show is I I really want to give a platform to to people to explain their role in all of this, you know. Um I mean, I've been interviewing the gamut from like the the founders of Burning Band like down to like the shadow shorts, you know, where we just like take a random sampling of just people just like walking across the ply like who are you here? Tell me about how Burning Man's impacted you and almost to a person people are like super eager to be like oh yeah I'll tell you about that because it means a lot to me you know uh and I mean I'm also trying to you know put the human in back in the legend sometimes, you know, and also to kind of give like some voice to to the voiceless, you know, there's many people who like kind of toil away in the background, you know, and they they volunteer like, "Oh, I've been working DPW. Oh, I've been working gate or this or that, you know, for years and and they they contribute, they give back so much, but like nobody knows who they are, you know, and you know, we just we all just see the results of it. This is like, oh, the streets are straight and and they're marked and I know how to get from here to there. But like, you know, nobody really thinks about, you know, the people who actually do all of these things and just tirelessly like year after year. And so, yeah, I mean, the idea of the show is to, you know, to give a platform for people to kind of, you know, say loud and proud. It's like, yeah, this is what I've done and I'm proud of it and this is what it means to me and this is why I'm coming back and doing it. 

Another reason uh why I'm do this show is uh I'm kind of hoping in some ways this show provides a bridge between generations like based on all of our shared experience. I mean Burning Man is definitely in flux. Well  Burning Man has always been this like evolutionary kind of thing and it's always changing but like you know now what 30 - 40 whatever years in like the the the main founders like many people who've been doing it for like years and years like they're in their like 60s and their 70s, you know, and we now have groups like the Rising Sparks and a lot of newer and and younger burners coming in. And if this is going to be a sustainable long-term thing, I mean, it's like you have to have new people come in and take over for the old people, you know, but but what if the original thing remains, right? I mean, Sure, it's it's all an experiment and living. Sure, it's all like an evolution. Like every year it kind of changes this and that. I mean, I was gone for 13 years and when I came back, it's like, oh yeah, many many things have changed. But you know what? There's many many many things that are still the same. You know, I think that this whole reason for the show like why are people coming back? It's like what are these like reasons, you know? Like I think those are like the foundational things that need to get preserved from one generation to another, right? 

So, that's yet another reason why doing this show, you know, it's like, yeah, we could talk to all these like old-timers, you know, but also, I mean, I there's people like in the Shadow Shorts, a couple of people, they're like, "Oh, yeah, this is only their their second year." You know, the only caveat I have is like I don't want to really interview people about how Burning Man has changed their life if they just showed up on the playa for the first time. Like, yeah. to have some period of time, you know, to for it to change to actually do something. 

So what's happened with this show over time? Let's go over like a couple of stats and things. So season 1 there were 26 episodes, right? Uh we had 3,137 downloads. Uh, I went I started off in August of 2024 and the original idea was a once a month show, you know, I tried to ramp up slowly, you know, and I I wanted to make this all sustainable because, you know, it's like I have a life, I have a family, I have a son, I have a job, you know, like I this is not there's no like a shadow of the man glass tower here in Pupukea Hawaii, you know, there's no corporate lunchroom, no golden key to the bathroom, you know, for the executives, you know, like, you know, this is just something I'm doing on my part-time here and there, right? 

So, at first I was like, you know, let's just make this easy, right? And I just did like a once a month show. Then after a couple of months, I was like, you know, I I could do two a month, you know? And then I started doing more interviews and more interviews and more interviews and then I I developed uh a backstock of of episodes. 

So then in season two like almost halfway like in January I I well we'll get into that in season two like yeah but um so season one went from once a month to twice a month, right? The most popular episode was Coyote. And uh also on Shouting Fire, we did uh like every other Friday, so twice a month did the Shouting Fire reruns. Yeah, that was season one. So now season two going from August of 2025 to August of 2026. 

So as of today, right now, Sunday, August 9th, uh is was 6,135 down downloads and there's 57 episodes. And the most popular episode in season two is my good friend Jenny Kay. Why Jenny Kay? I don't know. Maybe because she's awesome. She is totally awesome. Uh I don't know. There was a spike earlier this year. All of a sudden it's like now Jenny Kay is like over a hundred more downloads than Danger Ranger. like it's just blowing everyone away. 

Uh let's see other season 2 changes. Yeah, so starting in January 2026, so from uh twice a month show to once a week and these are the full episodes, right? So I went to full episodes coming out every Monday. I mean honestly like how the calendar works, sometimes it's four a month, sometimes it's five a month, right? 

And then uh also So starting the January, I started off uh airing the shadow shorts, which I'll I'll get into shadow shorts a little bit more later, but so yeah, so Burning Man in 2025, I recorded somewhere around 30 some odd like shadow shorts. What a shadow short is is basically I challenge people on the playa. I said, "Okay, in five minutes or less, explain how Burning Man has impacted your life." Right? I just hold up this like little sign that just says name, where you're from, years burning, and how Burning Man's impacted you. And so I just turn on the recorder, I point, and yeah, they answer it however they want. You could say whatever name you want. You could say wherever you want. You say, "I'm like, you know, the the the burning cauldron and I'm from Pluto, whatever. I don't care, you know." And uh yeah, they've been some incredible incredible episodes. So starting this year, uh I made enough that I could uh make it. Yeah, I think yeah, it's enough to to kind of get me to to now to write to to end of August. So, enough for like from January through August, but then I needed more because I was also like, well, I'm taking my son to college this year, so I'm not I can't go to Burning Man in 2026. 

So, how am I gonna get more shorts? So, I actually wound up going to UnSCruz in May where I I collected some more. So hopefully that's going to get me through to I think that'll get me through to like March or something of next year. And then uh my friend, good friend Playa Pete, he was one of the episode first season episodes, very popular episode, one of I think the top five episodes. He's actually going to be doing an awesome job for me going out and collecting shadow shorts on the this year 2026. So, you might be accosted by a jolly man like asking you to record like how you think Burning Man's impacted your life in five minutes or less. 

Uh, okay. So, other season two things. Uh, so yeah, so the shouting fire reruns was just once a week, right? The Shouting Fire reruns were was twice a month, right? So then once I kind of moved the show up to once a week, I decided, well, maybe I'll make my Shouting Fire reruns go to once a week. So now in Shouting Fire, every Wednesday at 12:00 noon Pacific Standard Time, you can if you go to shoutingfire.com, uh you can tune in and and hear one of the reruns. 

Let's see. Other things about season two. Oh. kind of talked about this a little bit, but the the equity and what I mean by that equity is I just I want to have a diversity of guests. You it's like I want to have a diversity of opinions. I don't want it to all just be, you know, just like one type of person from one type of place, you know, it's it's an older white man from San Francisco. Yeah, there's plenty of those, you know. I mean, uh and and you know, I I wanted to experienced voices that are just across the board, across the spectrum. Um, and and very very early on I made a commitment to like, you know, half men, half women. 

Honestly, it's it's kind of strange. It's like getting finding people to interview over time has changed. It's it's definitely gotten a lot easier as the show has gotten like more play, more popular, but men tend to be easier to to wrangle into an interview than women. I don't know why. I think sometimes it's like women just are a little more like reluctant. But uh I've really really tried and I think I successfully succeeded, you know, in uh having as many female voices as male voices. I also have black burners, Asian burners, Latino burners, trans burnters, uh people from just all all across the spectrum. 

And yeah, I've also tried to build like a sustainable workflow because I mean like if this is going to be like an undue burden for me, then it's like how can I continue this, you know, like how can you keep it going, you know, like I I don't want to burn the candle at at both ends, you know? It's like I don't want to burn out. I you know, it's it's a it's a fun project that I I want to have fun and I want my guests to have fun and I want my listeners to to enjoy it and them to have fun, you know. It's it's not a job, you know. It's it's it's a gift really, you know. So, yeah, I built up this sustainable workflow where I pretty much do on average like an an interview a week and I'm roughly about always about two months in advance. So, sometimes you'll hear in the interviews like like we'll be discussing things. It's like, you know, or I don't know. I try to to to put like timestamps. He was like, "Oh, this just happened, you know, but uh sometimes that kind of comes out, you know, so it might just be like, oh yeah, that, you know, that was recorded like well in advance or things kind of changed by now." 

And then uh yeah, and in terms of like getting guests like at first I just it was people I knew, but kind of going along with this whole theory of like connection And that is one of the main kind of themes behind this whole show connection. You know, it's like one connection like leads to another, you know. I mean, sometimes I cold call people. I just kind like, "Oh, wow. They'd be an interesting person." Or somebody like, you know, they'll suggest something to me and be like, "Oh, okay." And I'll just kind of find them on Facebook or send them like a messenger or this and that or find an email address or this and that. And I got to tell you, I have a pretty low success rate. You know, even if they they kind of look look me up on Facebook whatever and just like oh wow we have like 56 friends in common you know they're just kind of like I I don't I don't know who you are you know but I found that like once I have a a person on a guest an interviewee on you know at the end like that was one of the things I always ask him is like hey is there like is there anyone that you know you would suggest or anyone that you would know and and could you you please like introduce me to them you know that that in being intro still like tends to work way way better. But um yeah, so that's kind of the kind of the process of like how I get guests. It's it's honestly it's like it's very organic. 

And also in terms of like curation, you're just like, "Oh, how do you like, you know, know like which guests to put here or there?" Honestly, it's just kind of who shows up really. I mean, sometimes I have these grand ideas Yes. So, it's like, oh, this month is going to be Burners Without Borders month and, you know, I'm going to interview like four people from Burners Without Borders or whatever. You know, um I don't know the best laid plans just like, you know, camp plan layouts on the player, you know, Burning Man is the place where where best laid plans go to die, right? Um you you can try you you know curating this stuff, you know, and like in the guess and the order, but honestly, it's just kind of like who shows up. I'm like, well, there you go. That's how it is. 

All right, so that's pretty much season two. Like, so so for season three coming up, there's going to be somewhere in the vicinity of 78 episodes. So, Season two is 57, right? Because we moved from twice a month to four month like uh full shows and then added in the the you know you know bi-weekly like shadow shorts that became 57 episodes. So if I just maintain the once a week full episodes and once every two week shadow shorts that's 78 episodes over the course of this next year. Now, there is a this the whole shadow shorts thing. It could turn out that, you know, uh if I collect like a whole lot more. I mean, essentially I I need what 26 shadow shorts to last me like a full year, right? Um that's pretty doable. I mean I think yeah, last year I collected like 30 of them or something like that. But I'm just not sure if I'm going to be able to make it back to Black Rockck City like every year year on year, you know. Um but you know, if if Playa Pete collects me 30 or more like in in a few weeks and then if I I'm contemplating like I don't know, maybe we'll go back to UnSCruz next year or or something else, you know? It's like I don't know what if I collected like 60 of them, you know. I mean, I don't know. May maybe shadow shorts can go to like a once a week as well. What if I collected 100, 200, 300 of them, you know, like uh I mean I I could like package them up and be like, "Okay, once a week, like two of them once a week or whatever." I mean, so that's what I'm saying. So 78 episodes a year. Like if Shadow Shorts goes to weekly, that would be like 104 episodes a year or something. Yeah. Yeah, it's getting to be a little prolific. 

So, but again, it's all with the mind of sustainability, right? I mean, like if I can't sustainably do this, it's like I don't want to burn myself out and just I don't want to just go and go and go and go and reach a crescendo and just be like, "Well, I'm sick of this. Goodbye." And it's just over, right? Okay. 

So, other things for season 3. So, yeah. So, we have the reruns on Shouting Fire, which you can find at shoutingfire.com. Um, Uh but also Metric has started a radio station with Stewards of Black Rock Desert called KBRU 92.5 FM. I think you if you just type in like do a Google search for KBRU 92.5 whatever you could find it. And so uh I I think they broadcast there out of Gerlach. Not sure if it's going to be on the internet or not either but um so he's gonna start replaying some of the the older episodes as well. So, that'll be two rerun outlets. Yeah. And you can actually hear it over the airwaves in Gerlach. 

And then also for season 3 coming up is going to be in November some point, my 100th episode. Kind of funny to think. I've only been doing this like two years, you know, and I don't know. I I think over time like my ability and experience of like interviewing people has definitely like refined and and grown like over time and I don't know hopefully it it comes through. The show reflects that, I don't know you tell me. 

So the shadow shorts, it started in the beginning of season two so I was going back to the playa And I don't know, I I kind of wanted to like help spread the word about my show. I wanted people to to know about it. And I was like, well, you know, how do we do that? Like, do I put up billboards up across Black Rock City? No, you can't do that, you know, I got to be, you know, putting decoder rings in people's like cereal boxes on the Playa. No, no, no. You know, like, so I was like, well, I'm not just going to out there and like hold a sign, you know, be like, "Please listen to my show." Uh, so, you know, I came up with this plan was is like, "Well, you know what? Um, I'm interviewing like Danger Ranger and Harley and and next week Will Roger, you know, John Law and like and all these like bigname people and and you people all across the spectrum from like volunteers to artists to, you know, they don't you know, but but what about just like regular participants, right? And so that's kind of like what began as just kind of almost like a promotional kind of thing quickly morphed into like like you know what this would be a great thing to do to include more inclusion, more diversity, the more just random people, you know, just whoever just an opt-in participatory type of like experience. And uh the shadow shorts have like really taken off.

Then there were issues with the equipment. So I got this digital recorder and I and I got these two like Shure  microphones and the first six or eight of the ones that I recorded on the Playa is just horrible wind noise. I'm not going to replicate it right now. Um so they were just like unusable. I mean only later on after my friend Twan came and visited me and we were messing around with the recorder I was like oh this is how it works like so I wasn't realizing that it was actually recording through the internal microphone and not the microphones I was plugging in so yeah yeah so the the the noise is  pretty bad. But all that was figured out when I did the shadow shorts at UnSCruz. I simplified it and just used the internal microphone and I  plugged in like some good headphones where I can actually like listen to it like recording as it's recording. 

So even though as you'll hear on the Shadow Shorts from the UnSCruz recordings, there is a sound camp that's not actually that close, but it is quite loud and sometimes there's people like walking by with like, you know, megaphones and stuff, you know. But um I think that I I kind of dialed in the equipment so you can actually hear the people's genuine stories like very easily. Also with a minimum of like rustling and and no no wind noise. 

So with the amount of shadow shorts I have now, like I said, that kind of gets me through to like March. And so if I don't get any more, then I just I there's not going to be anymore. So uh my friend Playa Pete is going to be out on the ply this year. Uh he's not going to be I'm not we haven't quite worked it all out yet, but um he's not going to be any place particular. He's probably just going to like wander the playa just like randomly accosting people to take the what I was calling the the shadow shorts challenge. You know, it's like in five minutes or less explain Burning Man's impact on your life. You know, quite a lot of people just readily jump to the challenge like all right, I'll tell you. You know, um and And honestly, I would like to find more volunteers. I mean, I would like to get more of these shadow shorts stories, like more than just at Black Rock City, more than just, you know, regional events that I can make it to that are like close for me to get to from Hawaii, you know, like I I would love for someone to collect stories for me from like Africa Burn or Dragon Burn or Nowhere or you know like any like South America, Europe, Asia. I mean if anyone out there is listening to this and you want to help me out uh drop me a line at Shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com and and we can talk. And yeah, I mean if there's more Shadow Shorts and I guess I'll put out more of these Shadow Shorts episodes. 

Let's see. Other things new things this year. So yeah, my the technology has been kind of evolving. I mean, this whole thing has been a a a personal journey for me as I I always joke around. I always say like, you know, the the the universe I'm I'm I'm definitely sure now the universe thinks I'm supposed to be Amish because like quite frequently just the even the simplest of technology just just fails. Just doesn't work. And then I I'll have like some just random person be like, I don't know. I press the button, but nothing works. And they come, they press the button, and it works. I'm like, so anyway, I've gotten much better at using the technology. 

I do these interviews on Zoom. I've managed to like figure out Zoom like and how it all works and the scheduling so it's like people don't like forget like when the time comes to do the interview like that there's automated, you know, reminders going out. 

Um, I finally after so a long time figured out how to do multi-track recording in Zoom. Yeah, I mean there were definitely a couple of episodes I think Athena was one of them where like the guest voice was like really low and kind of hard to hear and you know mine came through loud and clear but um yeah, so two pieces of technology like helped me prove that. 

So, I I also got a uh a new mixer. It's a Roadcaster Duo. And so, at the beginning of every interview, like I actually I actually check the levels and like and adjust them. I mean, for honestly, for most people, most cases, it it just works out just fine. I mean, there's a couple people I I had to like adjust it like a a little bit, you know, but yeah. And so, that was the advent of like multi- channelannel like recording. and adjusting like levels and and volumes. Something that even I was like reading about in the internet, I'm just like, "What do you mean adjust the levels? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" You know? But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, eventually figured all that out. 

I also got a new microphone. Instead of using my son's microphone he was using for gaming with friends, I actually got a Rode Procaster microphone which uh I don't know hopefully you can hear the difference but I don't know it it sounds good great I like it.

Let's see other tech social media yeah that's another thing that uh over time it took me a while to kind of figure out and then get more consistent with and then when the show was like once a month and then twice a month you know it's like you know I was I was posting things here and posting things there and just I don't know. I didn't want to be like, "Oh, it's that that spamming guy. He's like he's spamming us with his podcast all the time." So, in January 2026 when the the the the long version of the show, the regular version of show went to once a week and then I started up the shadow shorts at like, you know, bi-weekly. I was like, you know, I I can't be spamming like all of these different places and all these different groups, you know, uh, six times a month. So, what I started with was I I made this like monthly promotion kind of almost like a poster, right? So, and it depends upon like each month is different, right, with the calendar. So, some months there'll be like five regular episodes like on Mondays and then uh, you know, four Shouting Fire reruns on Wednesday. days and then you know there'll be two uh shadow shorts episodes on Fridays but like some months there's three shadow shorts instead of two like some months there's four versus five regular episodes or shouting fire episodes so you know each month's a little bit different so each month I'll make this poster and that's what I spam around everywhere like to all these different groups you know to to help get the word out so instead of six times a month. It's just once a month. And then I also put it on the bottom that says like, "Hey, you know, like if you want to get like more up to up to the minute, like, you know, alerts on episodes that are coming out, you know, like please subscribe to, you know, the shows like Instagram and Facebook and we're on Blue Sky and we're on X." 

Although to be honest with you, I think like uh Instagram has the most followers followed by Facebook and then Blue Sky And then X is like a distant distant third. I I don't know. I I I'm just I'm just kind of putting it out there in like on blue sky and and and X. But uh I'm not sure who that's actually reaching. I don't know. If if you're on those platforms and you would like to subscribe, it's like yeah, just just look up Shadow Of The Man or look at our monthly promotions. You'll see there's there's links to to all these different things. 

So season three What what do I have from a wish list? What do I like to see? What do I planning on doing? I'm going to maintain the the cadence, you know, that we have now. It's it's very sustainable like uh the regular Monday like uh like shows which are are typically hour and 15, hour and 20, whatever. John Law went about two hours before I was like, "Okay, we got we got this is long enough." I mean, and and many more ways said than said one I'm no Joe Rogan, you know, I'm not going to be doing freaking threehour shows, you know, like I don't think anyone's going to sit through that and I definitely don't have the reach that he does. 

Um, yeah, I'd like to put a call out uh for guests like if there's anyone if you like the show and you're just like, you know, I'd really like to hear this person's story or like you you kind of you know somebody like, oh yeah, you know, this person would like to be on the show. or I would like this person to be on the show and I can introduce you to them. Please reach out to me at shadowthemanpodcast@gmail.com and uh we'll talk. 

You can also use that same email address to give me some feedback about the show. Uh I mean other than like talking to people like here or there like I don't really know like what people think about the show. I'm just it's like I said like this is just my kind of art project. Uh it's my gift to the Burning Man community. I'm just doing it and just putting it out there. But like every so often I'll come across someone just like I I really like your show. You know, I don't know, maybe you hate my show or maybe you think there's things that can be fixed, you know, or maybe there's some sort of technical thing. It's like, oh yeah, that that buzzing sound, you know, it's like all you have to do is move the dial to like 11 or whatever, you know, like please, I I love and welcome any any and all feedback. 

Another thing I'm think I'm going to experiment around with in season three. So, okay, when I do these Zoom interviews, it records and now I'm do now it records multi- channel, which is awesome. Um, it records the audio, but it also records the video. And for the first two seasons, I've just been routinely dumping the video because I'm like, I don't have the like I mean I guess I do have the storage space you know but like I don't know I thought like going ahead like in time it was just like I'd be using like terabytes and terabytes of of of like data you know I'm like uh you know I mean I didn't think I had enough space so I just routinely just dumped it all. So starting in season 3 starting with uh the first episode season 3 episode 84 Will Roger I'm I'm now actually saving the video what I do with it. Uh, well, we'll have to see. You know, I I would like to put it out. I mean, I guess perhaps like YouTube or or something. Uh, but that's a whole other level of sophistication and like editing and processing and like again like this has to be a sustainable thing for me to do. It can't take up too much of my time, you know? Uh, so I don't know. I'm at least at this point going to save the video. Hopefully I'll have some kind of announcement coming up in some number of months or whatever just be like, "Aha, the show is now video starting in season 3 and then going along with that uh would go into video. I mean it would still be audio, you know, it would still be like a podcast you could find like Apple podcast or Spotify or whatever, but then there also would be like a a separate like, you know, video comment, whatever." Um, and then cuz I understand how everything is done these days. It's like, "Oh, you got to put out a reel, you got to put out reels, right?" So, with the video, perhaps I can start like putting reels out on social media, you know, like the short minute videos. Maybe even get with the times and get a Tik Tok, you know, get an account on Tik Tok and we can maybe have some Tik Tok like reals going. Call them reals. I'm old. 

Uh other wish lists for season 3. Yeah, I would like to actually have a website. I mean, the site is from the the podcasting service and so it it's just basically focused on just like the the episodes and the downloads and stuff, but I would like to actually have a because I have shadowofthem.com and that's been another kind of issue. Like if you just type in shadowoftheband.com it like Uh it basically it forwards it to to Buzzprout, you know, where the show is, but if you just kind of search up it'll it'll come up people like, "Oh, like this is an unsecured website." And so I think a lot of people were like, "Oh, they're trying to he's trying to scam me or something." But uh yeah, that that's why I always put out the the Buzz Sprout uh URL for people to to go to. But I I would like to actually have a a website. And again, like doing the videos, it's like in terms of sustainability, it's like What can I do? Like, how much time do I have? 

You know, and again, I don't know if I said this before, but this is all just me, one person doing all of this, you know, there there's no glass tower. I don't have like minions like you little yellow things with one eye, you know, like running around, you know, like making things happen. Like I I have a wife who's just like, "What? You're still working on that?" You know, like and She's lovely. Hey, everybody loves her. 

Uh, so yeah, a website might might be a nice thing addition. We'll have to see about that. Uh, also another thing I thought of was like what about some sort of like forum for the show, you know, uh, a place where like listeners can kind of congregate and discuss, you know. I mean, I do have like my Facebook pages now, but I don't know. I mean perhaps to to create more of a shadow shadow of the man community might be a good idea, but again, you know, more work for me, you know. 

Uh, another wish list for season 3. I'd like to get shadow shorts from from more places. Uh, I mean hopefully Playa Pete gets a bunch this year. We'll see how it goes. I told him I need a minimum of four and if he could get me 15 that'd be awesome. But if he comes back with like 45 I'm going to be over the moon. I'll be like yeah. But we'll see. No pressure. Uh but is there would there be anybody else out there? Someone be like, you know what? Uh I'm going to nowhere. I'm going to Dragon Burn. Like I'm going to to was it Tier Del Fuego? I don't know. I mean like any number of different like like regional events. It's like yeah, you know, it's like I'll mail you my digital recorder, you know, or if you have one, you can record them. Like it's it's a very simple process and I can just like walk you through it in an email and it's a lot of fun. They just kind of wander around and across random people and say like, "Do you want to take the shadow shorts challenge? Explain Burning Man's influence on your life and impact on your life in five minutes or less. Here's the clock. Here's five minutes. Go." But the  answers are amazing. It's all just completely unscripted, just straight off the tongue, just like, you know, like everyone says the Burning Man's changed their life. It's like, oh yeah, how you know, like here's you have five minutes explain like and if you've listened to the episodes, they're really good. 

And so with that in mind for Burning Man of 2027, I know it's it's it's still a little more than a year away, Okay. But uh I'm making my grand plans to return back to the playa. I'm going to return with my brother and our theme camp, the cult of distraction. And we are aiming to be in the center camp. And we're going to have our doughnut machine. And we're going to have our alcohol-free bar. And uh and then yeah, the the other thing that I'm going to do is collect more shadow shorts. But I think for Burning Man 2027 in Black Rock City what I would like to do is actually do it at this center camp pavilion. Uh I mean I could do one hour a day. If they'll give it to me, I'll do two hours a day. I would love to do like 10 to to noon, you know, Monday through Friday and just put like an open call and we'll put it out there. It's like, "Hey, you've listened to this show. You're listening right now." It's like, "Hey, you want to come out? You want to be on a Shadow Shorts episode? come out to the Center Camp Pavilion and and be on the show and uh I don't know hopefully I can record like a hundred or more of them there and everyone can all participate and join in as well. 

Well, I'm actually talk for 51 minutes. Wow, this is actually a lot longer than I thought I was going to talk for. Um but yeah, that's pretty much it for season two. The shadow grows , you know, I mean, it's season 3. It's continuing to grow. 

Uh, I have a lot of what I call lines in the water in terms of guests. I must have like 20, 30 different people like people who are like, "Oh, yeah, I'll do it, but I can't commit to a time right now." Or especially right now is Burning Man's about to happen. It's like I mean, it's basically a blackout period. It's like I have one interview next weekend like the 15th or something of August, you know, and then the next interview is going to be like in the middle of September because like everybody's busy. Nicknomes, no one wants to do an interview. But uh yeah, there's a lot of people out there. I have a lot of interesting guests coming up. 

Uh it should be another really good year. And look out for it. Maybe there'll actually be video. Maybe I'll actually have a website, you know. Maybe there'll actually be some sort of like Shadow of the Man community forum, you know, and then all come culminating season 3, beginning of season 4. for next year of doing shadow shorts at the Center Camp Pavilion. I don't know. I'll be putting more stuff out there and I'm putting out a call to all of you listeners, you know, like if you want to go out there and collect shadow shorts for me from regional events. 

If you have people you would like to hear from, "This person would make a great guest and I'd love to introduce them to you." I'm all ears. If you have feedback and be like, "Andy, you're an a****** or whatever, you know. I willing to listen to anything that anyone has to say. 

Well, thank you so much for going on this journey with me. I It's not over yet and there's there's many many many more voices out there. I mean, I kind of think about it's like how many episodes can you do? And I was like, I don't know how many people go to Burning Man, right? I mean, especially with the Shadow Shorts, it's pretty unlimited, you know? But yeah, if there's someone out there you really think should be on the show and you would like to help get on the show, please feel free to contact me and feel free to contact me at anything about anything you want at shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com. 

Thank you. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you throughout this next year. 

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcast, Spotify, 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 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.