First off, we need to announce a new addition to the recently-updated Casual Arts website: We now have a web forum so we can gather listener comments and recommendations.

Please leave some feedback on this or any of the previous shows.

And it's the interactive nature of podcasting and the Internet that was one of the topics of discusion in this episode. I, the Old Man, took a train to my favorite city on the planet and had a fine little chat (or was it intelligent discourse?) with my good buddy the Funk Doc.

As is often the case, we didn't prepare much for this podcast, we just recorded a conversation that we had begun earlier on the topic of commercial (television) vs. non-commercial (Internet) media.

The Funk Doc recently got an internship at CNN Europe and since I am jealous, I had to dump all over CNN. Actually, I wish the Funk Doc best of luck and I hope he can teach the CNN Germany correspondent how to speak German.

After extended criticism of the American commercial mass-media, we started to speculate on the future of podcasting. Now that the major television networks are using the technology to re-broadcast their audio content and now that the latest web browsers support RSS feeds, will this mean that podcasting will be popularized and we can expect the number of listeners to our show to break triple digits someday?

What happens when Podcast Alley and Podcast.net start charging us to list our podcast?

Is iTunes going to eclipse all the other podcast databases the same way that Google eclipsed all other search engines?

Let us know what you think in the web forum, because the Old Man is worried...

And in light of my pessimistic view of independent podcasting circa 2007, our musical selections included some of the giants of blues music.

The first track was by Robert Johnson and has a title that's sure to make high school students snicker: "Come on in my Kitchen."

Then the Funk Doc planned a special thematic treat for the two songs we typically play halfway through the show: the first was a song called "Worried Life Blues" by John Lee Hooker and then we played a remake of the same song by the legendary Chuck Berry.

(Yes, Chuck Berry)

Finally, a song that is hard to categorize but certainly offers some bluesy elements: "Pistol-Packin' Papa" by Jimmie Rodgers.

Check the playlist and timetable below to optimize your Casual Arts listening experience.

Makes me wanna set a car on fire. I mean, what's with the fez?

Timetable and Playlist:

0:00–1:30 - Intro / Weather Update
1:30–4:00 - Work / Welfare
4:00–5:00 - CNN Europe
5:00–6:30 - Robert Johnson - the UNHAPPY blues musician
6:30–9:00 - Robert Johnson - Come on in my Kitchen
9:00–11:00 - Corporate Media & Exploitation of the Funk Doc
11:00–14:00 - CNN content & News Coverage
14:00–15:00 - CNN Europe / Jealousy
15:00–17:00 - Electronic Media vs. CNN
17:00–19:00 - Motivation of the News Consumer
19:00–21:00 - Common Dreams, Z Magazine, and Media Incentive
21:00–24:00 - Market-driven Media / TV vs Internet
24:00–25:00 - Blues Theme
25:00–28:00 - John Lee Hooker - Worried Life Blues
28:00–30:30 - Chuck Berry - Worried Life Blues
30:30–31:30 - Chuck Berry
31:30–35:00 - TV vs. Internet / Podcasting & Internet Model
35:00–37:00 - Networks & Serch Engine Concentration
37:00–43:00 - Market Forces & Google / Future of Podcasting
43:00–44:00 - Vox Monitor, The SmallWorld Podcast, and
BicycleMark's Communiques / Simplification of RSS
44:00–48:00 - Yodeling White Man
48:00–49:00 - Jimmie Rodgers - Pistol-Packin' papa
49:00–52:00 - Bumpy has something to say
52:00–54:00 - Fin