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So, there’s a place in the Earbud Lair – a horrible place. A place where time moves so slowly that a lurch or a crawl seems like a sprint. The memory of sunlight and fresh air is a thing of the past. You’re so starved for not only nourishment, but human contact that when you see a picture of Gollum you think, “Someday I wanna be like that handsome fella.” This place – we have a name for it – we call it The Editing Room. And that, dEar buds is where we have been for the past ten thousand years. Sure, it only seems like three months your time, but in The Editing Room … well … like I said, things are different.
BUT WE’RE OUT! First thing we did was gasp. For fresh air. Like a lot. Then we wept as we saw our loved ones and then later we wept some more when we saw our reflections in the mirror. We ate, drank and then slept.
How’s that? You don’t care? You don’t CARE!? Oh. Well, let us start over.
Hey Earbud listeners! Fans and followers! Those who have succumbed to the cult of the theater of the mind! We have a brand new episode for you. The first of our last three of 2016. RENAISSANCE MAN is the title and it was written and directed by Aaron Woolfolk. Aaron blew everyone away with last years’ podplay, THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON WITH SAM (hey Aaron, people STILL are clamoring for a sequel) and RENAISSANCE MAN promises to outdo that. This story is as thought provoking as it is unsettling, but still clever and full of wit. So we decided to ask Aaron how he came up with the idea [NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE EPISODE – LISTEN TO THAT FIRST].
Well, I think Renaissance Man came about as a confluence of three separate ideas I’d been kicking around for years. The first is my appreciation of certain works of music and films, and me thinking what I think all artists think at some point when considering the works of our idols: “I wish I’d made that.”
The second is the great awe I have for certain artists and the depth of their talent. People like Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Prince, etc. When you think about what those people have contributed to the world, it’s truly incredible. I mean, I think it’s amazing to write just one great piece of music that becomes part of the cultural DNA of the human race. Doing that just once is a major accomplishment. Now, to write two? What are the odds of that? Of course, that’s an even greater accomplishment. But those people I mentioned above have written dozens! Dozens!!! Actually, let me qualify that. They’ve written dozens of songs that would qualify as “the hits.” But they’ve each actually written hundreds of great songs that are recognized and beloved around the world! (With all of them, their greatest works weren’t among “the hits.”) How does that happen?! Like I said, to just do it once is an amazing thing. But to do it hundreds of times? Of course, they are all geniuses. But with my storytelling mind and my love of sci-fi, I’ve always found it fun to consider alternative theories. Like, maybe Lennon and McCartney found a secret key to multiple universes, and they simply “lifted” great works from those realities and claimed them as their own. Or maybe Prince made a secret deal with some god of music or some ancient demon to be his muse, and in exchange he had to do something in return. You know, just little sci-fi theories that are fun to make up.
The third is my love of alternate dimension stories, like the “Mirror, Mirror” episode of Star Trek.
So Renaissance Man just came about after years of me separately thinking about those things. One day it just clicked, all three of those things came together, and I came up with the story.
We had the esteemed pleasure of working again with John Costello (Super Bad Day) on the final edit and mix for this one – big thanks to him and all his hard work.
