Here Be Monsters

HBM159: Final Haircuts

During a moment of personal turmoil, Rocky Villanueva [https://www.instagram.com/rockyvilla.hair] gets an email from a long-time client.  His client is in his final weeks of life, and is getting his last wishes taken care of.  One of those wishes: to look like himself when he dies.   Rocky says that many hairdressers and barbers have similar experiences: helping their clients through the last stages of life and letting them look the way they want to look for a final time. Rocky packs his haircutting tools and bikes across Berlin to spend an hour with his client, giving him a haircut and receiving advice on love and grief.  Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/], Serocell [https://serocell.com/], Phantom Fauna [https://phantomfauna.bandcamp.com/album/new-skins-for-the-coming-ice-age] Sponsor: The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist [https://www.lulu.com/shop/ann-fonsweer/the-summer-diary-of-a-lady-artist/paperback/product-844npqe.html?page=1&pageSize=4] The sponsor for this episode is The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist.  It’s a fictional illustrated diary of an artist navigating love and hatred. The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist is now available at all online book stores. See Jeff’s favorite images from the book, on the podcast website [http://bit.ly/HBM159] Want to sponsor an episode? HBMpodcast.com/sponsor [http://hbmpodcast.com/sponsor] Support Here Be Monsters with a small monthly contribution: patreon.com/HBMpodcast/ [https://patreon.com/hbmpodcast]

The Thaw & Die Grenze

Jeff walks to the edge of Berlin and explains why the Here Be Monsters feed has been quiet for so long.  On the way, Jeff talks about plans for upcoming episodes, looks at the ways that moving to Berlin has changed him, and discusses a pair of films featuring Tilda Swinton: Cycling the Frame [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTjEJ3cEJnQ] (1988), and The Invisible Frame [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacABqJSo9w] (2009). Both movies feature Swinton riding a bicycle around the entirety of the Berlin Wall—or, in the case of the latter, where the Berlin Wall used to be.  Please follow Here Be Monsters on Patreon: patreon.com/HBMpodcast [http://patreon.com/HBMpodcast] Field recordings heard in this episode (starting around the 17:20): a former site of the Berlin wall in Marienfelde  ~  birds and insects near Portbou, Spain  ~  canoe paddling near the in Germany’s Spreewald  ~  geese and peacocks calling on Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel)  ~  dusk crickets near Locarno, Switzerland  ~  a massive pipe organ that was part of Italy’s submission to the 2024 Venice Biennale  ~  public transport boats in Venice revving their engines  ~  Jeff singing in a bathroom while a faucet drips  ~  Water splashing against cement in Banyuls-sur-mer, France  ~  Hiking the Walter Benjamin memorial trail on the France / Spain border  ~  Baby goat at the peak of a mountain on the France / Spain border  ~  A canal boat passing in Amsterdam, Netherlands  ~  An announcement bidding visitors to be quiet while visiting France’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg.   Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/]

HBM158: An Illusion

n the midst of a stressful move, HBM producer Jeff Emtman finds comfort in the phasing techniques developed by minimalist composer, Steve Reich [https://stevereich.com/].  Note: this episode contains sounds that cannot be accurately represented by speakers.  Please use headphones.   Steve Reich compositions excerpted in this episode:  Clapping Music [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH1j06bMHDQ], performed by Steve Reich and Wolfram Winkel Violin Phase [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF479y9Gsr8], performed by Jonathan Morton  Pendulum Music [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU6qDeJPT-w], performed by Joan Cerveró, Víctor Trescolí, Isabel León, and  Estefanía Sánchez 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 [https://www.patreon.com/HBMpodcast].  Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]

HBM157: The Raw Whatever

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 [https://www.hbmpodcast.com/podcast/hbm155-ghosts-aliens-burritos].  In that episode, Alex tells stories from his childhood of chasing strange phenomena with his father.  In this episode, Here Be Monsters host Jeff Emtman talks to Allen to get the “fatherly perspective” on UFOs, black lodges [https://www.wondriumdaily.com/the-link-of-theosophy-to-occultism-and-espionage/], tarot, The Day the Earth Stood Still [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/], and (most of all) how to be a good parent.  Allen Greenfield is currently working on the final installment of a trilogy whose first two entries are Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1940959.Secret_Cipher_of_the_Ufonauts] and Secret Rituals of the Men in Black [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2541438.Secret_Rituals_of_the_Men_In_Black?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=BivSwCPDhb&rank=1].  The forthcoming book is yet to be titled.  Also heard on this episode: Rick Emtman, who is Jeff’s dad. Content Note: Language Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: Serocell [https://serocell.com/], The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/]Sponsor: Pal’s Plants [https://www.palsplants.com/] Pal’s Plants is a Flatbush, Brooklyn based subscription service for potted plants and intriguing zines.   Plants can be delivered to the 5 boroughs of New York City.  Zines can be delivered anywhere in the USA.   Pal’s Plants is customized to your preferences.  They’ll have you fill out a short survey when you sign up so that you can be sure to get something you like each month in the mail.  Pal’s Plants makes a great gift.  Use offer code HBM50 at signup to get half off your first month’s subscription.   Thank you Pal’s Plants [http://palsplants.com/] for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

HBM156: Heavy Load-Bearing Body

Berlin’s Schwerbelastungskörper [https://www.visitberlin.de/de/schwerbelastungskoerper] 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 [https://www.exberliner.com/politics/nazi-architecture-in-berlin-germania/] 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 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triumphbogen_by_Hitler.jpg] that Hitler wanted to build in that spot.  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 [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/14/story-of-cities-hitler-germania-berlin-nazis] into Berlin’s marshy soil, providing proof of the arch’s impossibility.  In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman visits the Schwerbelastungskorper, records some impulse responses [http://bit.ly/HBM144] in the structure’s single room and reflects on his discomfort in finding beauty in another Nazi structure nearby, Tempelhof Airport [https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221031-tempelhof-the-single-site-that-embodies-berlin] (now a public park and refugee camp [https://www.npr.org/2018/08/11/634394533/the-site-of-the-berlin-airlift-now-serves-as-refugee-shelter-and-big-open-park]).  Also mentioned on this episode: The Berlin Airlift [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift], Austrian Tyrol [https://www.lonelyplanet.com/austria/tirol], The Little Mermaid (1989) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/], and Der Herr Der Ringe (Lord of the Rings [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/] 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 [https://www.patreon.com/HBMpodcast].  Registration for the Here Be Monsters Art Exchange [https://hbmpodcast.com/art/] is open until November 10th, 2022.  Sign up: https://HBMpodcast.com/art/ [https://hbmpodcast.com/art/] Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/]