Jean Shepherd on iTunes!

Poststructural Pub
1

Quite by accident I discovered two Jean Shepherd archives in iTunes in the form of podcasts that you can download and listen to.

For those of you who are not enlightened, Shep was a writer and radio personality who broadcast for some 30 years in the NYC area. Each week night he’d regale us with stories, letters and sometimes brilliant ramblings. You DO know him even if the name isn’t familiar. The popular movie Christmas Story is a compilation of a few of his stories. Shep himself narrated the movie and has a cameo: when the kids finally get to the store to see Santa, he’s they guy who shows them to the back of the line.

Enjoy!!

2

The Jean Shepherd Show, nightly on WOR radio, was a great guilty pleasure when I was a kid. I’d sneak a transistor radio under the covers every night, and listen until I fell asleep. It seemed so … adult, like overhearing your parents talk about things you weren’t supposed to hear. You just knew it was special. And always very, very funny.

I know three or four other friends now who did exactly the same thing, radio under the covers.

I later had the joy of meeting him when he gave a seminar on storytelling at the Folklore Institute. A wonderful talent, wonderful man. And sorely missed.

I’m not an iTunes user, but the show archives have been available on the net for a while. Thanks for the reminder, Paul.

3

Ha ha! Add me to that list of friends. I had my own transistor with an earphone that I bought specifically for listening to ol’ Shep.
One thing that he introduced me to was the little column filler articles in the NY Times. These were (are?) little items used when they had an inch or so of column to fill. Stuff like “It is illegal to sell mussels on the third Thursday in May in Charleston, North Carolina”.
He got me into looking into the little corners of the world where nobody really expects you to be looking…

4

Thanks for the tip, Paul! I’ll have to search iTunes for them.

(Oh, and did you mean Charleston, South Carolina?)

5

I’d hope so… the Charleston in N. Carolina isn’t very close to the ocean.

…doubt they got many police either :smiley:

6

the ex kept my copy of “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash”. I absolutely love that book.

7

Yeah, probably-- that was the first thing that popped into my head early this morning,before that first cup of coffee kicked in…

8

I’ve been a Jean Shepherd fan for years and years.
I didn’t realize it was online. I’ll have to look for that stuff.

Leopold Doppler and the Orpheum Gravy Boat Riot was one of my favorites.