Podcasts about Olympic Games

In this episode of The Hog Pod, we sit down with legendary Arkansas women's track & field assistant coach Bryan Compton. With decades of experience, Compton opens up about his coaching journey, the mentors who shaped him, and the evolution of the Razorback program. He reflects on developing elite athletes—including Olympic silver medalist Sandi Morris—and the principles that continue to drive his success. Whether you're a fan of track & field, coaching, or Razorback athletics, this is a masterclass in building greatness.

On today’s episode, Jason is joined by USA Today Sports columnist and author Christine Brennan to promote her upcoming book, ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports’. During the conversation, Brennan discusses how Clark first exploded on the scene as a collegian at Iowa, what about Clark’s game that makes her so captivating, whether or not it matters that Clark is a white player dominating against a mostly Black league, why there seems to be so much misplaced jealousy towards Clark across the WNBA, what led to Clark’s Olympics snub, and much more! Follow Jason on Twitter and Instagram. Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #FSRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the CrossFit Games a sport… or something bigger? In this episode we break down why the CrossFit Games defy traditional definitions of sport and stand alone as the world's most comprehensive test of elite fitness. Unlike football, basketball, or even Olympic events, the Games don't measure who's best at a single skill—they measure who's "The Fittest on Earth". From unknown event programming to the raw versatility demanded of athletes, we'll dive into why the Games aren't just a competition—they're a crucible. A proving ground. A battlefield where athletic specialization takes a backseat to adaptability, grit, and pure, functional capacity. This isn't about scoring points—it's about navigating the unknown and unknowable. Is it time to stop calling it a sport and start calling it what it really is? Tune in and decide for yourself.

Assuming Caitlin Clark is back on the court tonight, she and Paige Bueckers will square off for their first matchup in the WNBA. But these two stars have been running alongside each other on parallel (and sometimes overlapping) tracks since their AAU days in the midwest. Zena, Ben, and Sabreena take a look at how the careers of these back-to-back #1 draft picks stack up – the similarities and the differences – and the roles they both play in the culture at large. Plus, they dive into the reasons why so many rookies are so pro-ready from the get-go. The crew also spends some time talking about DeWanna Bonner's departure from the Indiana Fever – why it happened when it happened, what may have been going on behind the scenes, and where DB may land._________________Visit our YouTube page!_________________References:Caitlin Clark sidelined for Fever-Sparks with groin injury, marking sixth absence this season by Ben PickmanIndiana Fever waive DeWanna Bonner, sign Aari McDonald for rest of season by Ben PickmanCould a new 3X3 women's basketball tourney create a pipeline for the Olympics? by Ben Pickman_________________Get in touch! Leave a comment wherever you're listening, or write to us at: NoOffseason@theathletic.comYou can also find us on social media:-Instagram: @tanooffseason-TikTok: @no_offseason-Zena on BlueSky: @zenakeita-Ben on BlueSky: @benpickman-Sabreena on BlueSky: @sabreenajmVisit the Yahoo Women's Sports Hub Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Texas State receives invite to join the Pac-12, Could Congress vote to fund Olympic sports?, Sacramento State retains Jeffrey Kessler and more.We would love to know what you think of the show and you can let us know on social media @D1ticker.If you are not subscribed to D1.ticker, you can and should subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.d1ticker.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A 31-year-old Kenyan woman has put her name in the distance running history books again despite falling short of her goal. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.

In the run up to the summer Olympics In Sydney 2000, the British rowing team had failed to win gold for over 88 YEARS! Like most husbands, they had a long history of their good intentions never being good enough.   Determined to finally change the story, they based their entire training preparations on one simple clarifying question. This one simple tool allowed them to decide what was going to lead them to Gold….and more importantly, what was not. The type of decision-making clarity is absent in every struggling husband on the planet.   This episode will introduce you to a simple decision-making tool that will turn you into a decisive man your Queen will trust like never before.    Let's begin…..   Want the Quickest & Easiest Path to Becoming the Marriage Transforming Hero of your relationship? Book FREE 50min Heroic Husbands Bootcap Intensive 1-1 Coaching Application call Don't Miss The Upcoming Intake to the brand NEW Heroic Husbands Training and Community platform – Join the newsletter list to receive all the details for joining: Get your FREE “15 Simple Habits to Be The Husband She Brags About” e-book at www.kingsoffreedom.me I want to hear from you! Click the link to send me a 90sec voice message with questions or suggestions for relationship topics you'd love me to cover. Send Mark voice message Now To connect with Mark's Queen and her incredible work: Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers podcast

Mackenzie Little won Commonwealth Javelin silver in 2022 and World bronze in 2023. She won those medals whilst qualifying as a medical doctor.Following her bronze at the Worlds in Budapest, she was due back at the hospital to continue her training, but had to delay her departure for Australia so that she could attend her medal ceremony. She describes how flying back from a Worlds or an Olympics and going straight into a night shift is a very grounding experience with no time to dwell on the highs or lows of competition.After her medal in Budapest, there were patients who couldn't have cared less where she'd just been. Equally though, after personal disappointment at the Paris Olympics, her patients' enthusiasm and excitement for her even being at the Olympics gave her a sense of perspective on what she had achieved.Mackenzie is currently a second year doctor. She explains how she plots a course through life that allows her to continue her medical training and her track and field career. We recorded this episode in Oslo, where Mackenzie had used some of her annual holiday allocation to fly from Australia to Norway in order to compete at that Diamond League meet. On those ‘whirlwind' trips to Europe, as well as competing, she says she gets more sleep than when she's at home working shifts as a doctor. Briefly, having graduated from college in the United States before starting med school in Australia, Mackenzie competed for a European season as ‘just' an athlete, and found that she was ‘rubbish'. Mackenzie believes she is at her best when balancing her academic commitments with the demands of being a professional track and field athlete.Mackenzie won the US Collegiate title twice and was also a room-mate of another former Warm Up Track guest – the double Olympic discus champion Valarie Allman.We discuss imposter syndrome, which Mackenzie feels both ways. She wonders whether her fellow athletes think she's a part-timer, who hasn't sacrificed enough and isn't fully dedicated to her sport. The anxiety is also there in a medical setting – but this time it's the worry that her fellow doctors might think she's an ‘air-head athlete'.The Australian thinks that being a javelin thrower makes the balancing of her two careers possible. If she was, for example, a middle or long distance runner, she knows that there wouldn't be enough hours in day to fit in her training around her day job. Mackenzie believes that the real world demands of medicine, full of situations ‘where you've just got to do it', stands her in good stead in an athletics environment. It might be raining, she may have lost her luggage, but she can switch into competition mode and get it done.Mackenzie isn't sure whether she'll have to choose one path or another, or when that decision might need to be made, it's about what she can achieve now.Image: Bronze medalist, Australia's Mackenzie Little celebrates with her National flag and medal after the women's javelin throw final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 25, 2023. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

Seiko Hashimoto Elected First Female President of Japanese Olympic Committee

This week Andrew talks with Team USA swimmer & Olympic silver medalist Claire Weinstein. Claire is just 18 years old and has become one of the most talked about names in international swimming. She began swimming at age 3 and qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials at age 13 — one of the youngest swimmers to ever qualify. In 2024, Claire won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics — and now she has her sights set on even more. In this conversation, Claire shares the mindsets, techniques, & philosophies that have helped her become one of the best swimmers in the world. You'll hear powerful ideas on making bold decisions, the power of consistency, & how to reach your full potential in anything.  ** Follow Andrew **Instagram: @AndrewMoses123Twitter/X: @andrewhmosesSign up for e-mails to keep up with the podcast at everybodypullsthetarp.com/newsletterDISCLAIMER: This podcast is solely for educational & entertainment purposes. It is not intended to be a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional.

Anna and Raven speak with Helaina Danetta Rivers, Henri Daniel Lispare Rivers IV and Henniyah Danella Rivers and their parents Karen and Henri as they share their Helluva Story! These triplets all earned their Eagle Scout Status and now they are hoping to compete in the Olympics! Check out this remarkable story!

Anna and Raven went viral on social media @AnnaAndRaven! They tried out the trend of stopping a timer at 4 seconds without looking at it! In the video, Anna counts in “Mississippi's” but find out what other countries count in to represent a second! Anna and Raven speak with Helaina Danetta Rivers, Henri Daniel Lispare Rivers IV and Henniyah Danella Rivers and their parents Karen and Henri as they share their Helluva Story! These triplets all earned their Eagle Scout Status and now they are hoping to compete in the Olympics! Check out this remarkable story! Owning Airbnb properties is the new way to make money and it's something that AI can't take over! Anna and Raven want to know what your Airbnb story is! Amy Corbett and her husband are Airbnb owners of over 45 properties! She shares the crazy things that have happened in the properties, who knew you could redecorate an Airbnb while staying there! You can find her at https://allbelong.directstays.com/!  Are you up to date on this week's biggest news story? Anna and Raven will get you caught up on the trending news stories including a rap video that NYC mayor primary created for Grandmas a few years ago, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom ending their relationship! Anna and Raven asked for a mannequin for a firework safety lesson and had an overwhelming response! Anna lists three news stories that seem almost out of this world, and Raven can only pick and hear about one! Nancy Sevich and her husband own and manage Airbnb's property that has taught that sometimes you have to bend the rules for guests! Rachel and Kevin are dating and moving in together. Money is tight. She casually mentioned that her ex-boyfriend, who has been her ex for almost two years, borrowed $2500 from her to pay his back taxes. He had sworn he would pay her back, but they broke up shortly afterwards and she never got the cash. Kevin says that's wrong, and she should reach out to him to get the money back. It's not like he's a bad guy, he probably just feels weird since she broke up with him. Rachel says that she knows that she broke his heart and says to let it live in the past and call it a small financial loss. It's Redemption Week! Karin and Lance have the chance to win $1300! All they have to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!

This was a surprising crossword, in a number of ways that we will not enumerate here, but dive into in depth in today's episode. There were too many great clues to squeeze into the podcast, so we'll just mention the also-rans but also-great trio of 43D, Acquisition that may solve a mouse problem, PETCAT (meow!); 42A, Olympic blade, EPEE; and 44A, Olympic "blade", OAR (nice juxtaposition!!).Remember, the NYTimes crossword makes an excellent gift, either for yourself, a friend, or a loved one: just wander over to the NYTimes website, they will be glad to get you set up!Show note imagery: An UPROOTER, brought to you by the same company that brought you the Weed Wrench!We love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

This episode is brought to you by Laka Bike Insurance, the specialist bike insurersThis week, Robyn and Will are joined by Ned Boulting. Having started out covering football on Sky Sports, Ned joined the ITV Sports team in 2001 and soon became a reporter for their Tour de France coverage, albeit that hasn't stopped him popping up on Olympics coverage, and one of his favourite unsung sports, darts. Today, alongside co-host David Millar, Ned is the voice of the Tour for countless millions of viewers, although sadly this season will be his last (which we chat about later).Ned has written and performed stage shows Bikeology, Tour de Ned and Marginal Mystery Tour, he ventures into the podcast world with the successful Never Strays Far with Pete Kennaugh and David Millar, and he has also written myriad books. Ned's latest book, The Accidental Tour-ist: (Final) Dispatches from the Road (Bloomsbury) has just been released. Described as ‘a lap of honour', the book recalls chaotic stories and memorable moments from years reporting on Le Tour, the Giro d'Italia, the Flemish Classics and more.With the curtain set to fall on ITV4's free-to-air Tour de France coverage this summer, Ned talks to us about finding out about the news from a friend, and his personal highlights throughout the years as commentator, reporter and presenter.Ned also talks about the seismic - and about time too - shift in women's cycling; the riders to watch at this year's Tour de France 2025; the Tour stages that viewers cannot afford to miss; and his emotions as he contemplates putting down the mic for the last time on the Champs-Élysées.Interview begins at 4.25------------------This episode is brought to you by Laka Bike Insurance, the specialist bike insurers. Laka's collective model means you only pay a share of what it pays out each month (up to a capped amount), and Laka only makes money once claims have been settled. There's no excess, no depreciation and cover is a flexible as you want it to be - you can pause, cancel or upgrade at any time.Visit laka.co/cyclist and enter the code CYCLISTMAG to get your first 30 days' bike insurance cover FREE.------------------ Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door.And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olympic-Sports lede-in: Funding of Olympic sports is being used as a bargaining chip as the NCAA seeks Congressional antitrust help. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.

We're delving into the sport of wheelchair tennis with American Charlie Cooper, who's currently ranked #2 in the world for junior wheelchair singles. He talks with Alison about the sport and his plans to qualify for LA 2028. Plus, we also talk with Dr. Thomas Rietveld, a researcher at the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University in the UK. Dr. Rietveld's PhD thesis examined wheelchair tennis chairs, so he answers our burning questions about tennis chairs that we had after Paris 2024. Follow Charlie on Insta: @charliejcoop Learn more about the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/phc/ Milan-Cortina 2026 has unveiled its art posters. This is a set of 10 works (five Olympic, five Paralympic) created by emerging Italian artists. Check them out here: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/milano-cortina-2026-olympic-paralympic-art-posters-revealed Also, if you're interested in volunteering for the Olympics Closing Ceremony or Paralympics Opening Ceremony, find the application here: https://milanocortina2026.olympics.com/en/news/volunteers-experience-ceremonies-verona This past week was Olympic Day, and the International Olympic Committee celebrated by officially instating Kirsty Coventry as the new president of the organization. Plus, we have updates from Team Keep the Flame Alive - TKFLASTAN has been busy! For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com.   Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!     *** Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics.   Support the show: http://flamealivepod.com/support Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod Become a patron and get bonus content: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod Buy merch here: https://flamealivepod.dashery.com Hang out with us online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod Facebook Group: hhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/flamealivepod Newsletter: Sign up at https://flamealivepod.substack.com/subscribe VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348      

What happens when a combat sport's scoring system fundamentally changes what techniques are rewarded? In this revealing episode, we analyze footage from the Grand Prix Challenge match between CJ Nicholas (USA) and Sol Jungwoo (Korea) that highlights everything wrong with modern electronic scoring in Taekwondo.Through frame-by-frame analysis, we expose phantom points, missing techniques, and bizarre scoring anomalies that have become commonplace in high-level competition. More troubling is how these systems have transformed the very nature of the sport – athletes now prioritize any contact with electronic sensors over proper technique, power, and the strategic movement patterns that once defined Taekwondo.The conversation takes a nostalgic but critical turn as we compare today's matches with footage from the 1988 Olympics and 1989 World Championships. We lament the loss of Taekwondo's "attacking matrix" – the beautiful technical framework where every attack had a logical counter, creating a complex and effective martial art. Today's linear exchanges, with athletes standing toe-to-toe trading front leg techniques, bear little resemblance to the dynamic combat that made Taekwondo an Olympic sport.We also discuss international training experiences across generations, from our own teenage adventures training in Korea with no language skills to watching the next generation navigate similar journeys today. These cultural exchanges remain one of the sport's most valuable traditions even as the competitive landscape continues to evolve.Is Taekwondo losing its identity in pursuit of objectivity? Can electronic scoring be fixed to reward proper technique? Or should we create parallel competition formats to preserve the art's technical heritage? Join our passionate discussion about the future of this Olympic martial art.

0:30 -Quickfire Questions with Laura Turner-AlleyneLaura Turner-Alleyne reflected on her childhood memory of the Barcelona Olympics, which was significant for her as it was the first Olympics she watched on TV. She noted that Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell were standout figures from those games, and she had the unique experience of being coached by Linford later in her athletic career. Laura described Linford as a positive influence and a welcoming presence in her training environment.3:31 -Recent Athletic Achievements at Gotsis CompetitionLaura Turner-Alleyne discussed her recent experience at the Gotsis competition, where she supported American athlete Anna Hall. Hall delivered an outstanding performance, scoring the second-best heptathlon score in history and finishing the 800 meters in an impressive 2:01. Laura noted the significance of this achievement, especially considering the physical demands of the heptathlon.5:11 Insights on Athletic Development and Coaching StrategiesLaura Turner-Alleyne shared her journey from being a sprinter for Great Britain to coaching, including her involvement in the Futures Relay Programme. She explained the rigorous selection process for young athletes, which considers performance data and their training environment. Additionally, Laura highlighted the role of talent hubs across the UK in offering support to athletes, ensuring they have access to necessary resources without needing to centralize training.18:49 -Team Dynamics in Competitive AthleticsMichael Wright asked Laura Turner-Alleyne about the common traits that indicate athletic potential, especially for heptathlon. Laura discussed her experiences with athletes transitioning from middle-distance running and sprinting to heptathlon, highlighting the significance of competitive mindset and genetic factors in speed. She noted that while speed is trainable, there are inherent limits based on genetics.28:11 - Managing Team Dynamics in Relay TeamsLaura Turner-Alleyne shares insights from her experience as a sprinter to guide the GB four by one teams. She highlights the significance of establishing a shared goal, such as winning a gold medal, to create team buy-in. Additionally, she addresses the challenge of managing athletes' egos, particularly when it comes to role assignments in relay races.33:18 -Preparing Athletes for High-Stakes CompetitionsMichael Wright raises the issue of how to prepare athletes for high-stakes competitions, particularly in track and field. Laura Turner-Alleyne explains that many successful athletes have overcome significant challenges, which helps build their resilience. She warns that those who have had an easy path may struggle when faced with adversity, and suggests creating challenges for them through selective competition experiences.37:39 -Managing Athlete Mindset in Competitive EventsMichael Wright raises concerns about how to manage athletes' expectations when they are unlikely to win a race. Laura Turner-Alleyne explains that sprinters must believe they can win, and she advocates for rational discussions post-race to focus on performance rather than outcomes. She suggests using a framework of identifying what went well and what could be improved, emphasizing the importance of controlling the aspects within their reach.43:13 - Strategies for Supporting Athletes with Training LimitationsMichael Wright raises concerns about athletes who are undercooked due to injuries and how to set appropriate goals for them. Laura Turner-Alleyne explains the concept of "racing into shape" and stresses the importance of clear communication with athletes about their readiness and realistic competition goals. She highlights that the relationship between coach and athlete is crucial for performance and confidence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're right back into the bobsleigh this week as we welcome back Aussie bobsledder Sarah Blizzard to catch up on everything that has happened since the 2022 Olympics, as well as how she is tracking towards Milano Cortina in 2026. We find out everything around her role in Beijing and learn just what an alternate bobsledder does during an Olympic Games, and how she was able to get through that period after the disappointment of not making it on the main team. We also find out how her current progress is going and hear her side of her epic journey with our good friend Ash Werner. Added to this we gain motivation from her through her incredible training regimes, learn why a career in front of the camera for sports broadcasts could be on the cards and see what she thinks of Vanessa Amorosi. It's a wide ranging chat that we know you'll love, so get to listening! If you wish to donate to Sarah to help her towards Milano Cortina, you can do so here https://bit.ly/4kfJRTS

Surfing, the ancient art of standing on wood while water moves under you, has somehow endured from Polynesian rituals to Olympic events. From Peruvian reed boards to the chilled-out surf culture of today, it's a long, sleepy paddle through history—perfect for bedtime stories and insomnia relief. Want More?Visit to request a topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topicListen ad-free & support: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/Shop sleep-friendly products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsorsJoin the discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Surfing, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia - Surfing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We conclude the men's lore by getting up to speed with the most recent Olympics and the years leading up to the present day, setting the stage for next season and reminding everyone that losing is like death. Program Watch List2018 Yuzuru Hanyu Grand Prix Finland free skate 2018 Yuzuru Hanyu Grand Prix Russia short program 2018 Cha Jun-Hwan Grand Prix Final free skate 2019 Keegan Messing Skate America short program2019 Shoma Uno Grand Prix France free skate 2019 Nathan Chen Grand Prix Final short program 2019 Nathan Chen Grand Prix Final free skate 2019 Kevin Aymoz Grand Prix Final free skate 2020 Yuzuru Hanyu Four Continents short program2021 Mikhail Kolyada World Championships free skate 2021 Adam Siao Him Fa Nebelhorn short program2021 Vincent Zhou Skate America free skate 2022 Vincent Zhou U.S. Championships short program2022 Jason Brown U.S. Championships short program2022 Olympics Yuma Kagiyama team event free skate 2022 Ilia Malinin Skate America free skate2023 Cha Jun-Hwan World Championships short program2024 Shoma Uno World Championships short program 2024 Adam Siao Him Fa World Championships free skate2024 Ilia Malinin World Championships free skate 2025 Mikhail Shaidorov World Championships free skate

It's a full house on this week's PicklePod. We're joined by the breakout stars from the Orange County Cup, Rafa Lenhard, Yufei Long, and Jamie Wei. We cover their journey to the pro ranks and the controversial call that is testing Lenhard's resolve. Plus, there is big news in international pickleball as World Pickleball Federation Founder, Seymour Rifkind, breaks down a recent merger between the WPF and IFP to help move pickleball one step closer to the Olympics. Next up, Superpower Co-Founder Max Marchione explains a new approach to personalized medicine that is helping Zane and Thomas hone in on peak performance. Find out how it works and how you can take control of your health with Superpower. Finally, Erik Tice dives deep on all the headlines from the weekend, including Federico Staksrud's departure from adidas, TMZ covering the other Zane's paddle smash, and the eye for an eye nature of pro pickleball. Dial in your recovery, energy, and focus with Superpower. Get started at https://superpower.com/start/dink Try the ball that everyone has been talking about and save 15% with code THE DINK

Tyler Andrews is a good friend with whom I've done trips with to Peru, Ecuador, and most recently, the Atacama Desert of Chile where we climbed up to almost 20,000 feet.  Ty was a self-described high school nerd musician who went on to be an average D3 cross country runner. After battling depression, Ty dedicated himself to becoming a pro mountain runner, which has seen him set numerous FKTs on some of the most iconic tall peaks in the world, including Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, and Cotopaxi. One recent FKT in the Himalayas has been commemorated in the very cool short film “9 Hours on Manaslu” that you can watch on YouTube and is definitely worth 27 minutes of your time. To show his breadth, Ty also holds the record for the Leadville Marathon and has run in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials. He is a La Sportiva-sponsored athlete and is founder of the Chaski Endurance Collective, which coaches ultramarathoners. Which all leads us to this riveting WASP appearance, on which we chat about his recent attempts to set the FKT for running up Mt. Everest, both with and without supplemental oxygen. How incredible does that sound? I won't ruin the story for you, but Ty will talk about the what, when, how, and why for this audacious project and all of the logistics and challenges involved. For some really great content that gets very granular about how Ty did this, I highly recommend you go listen to his 21-part podcast series called Ty's Training: Talking with my Dad.  It's fascinating hearing some of the innovative methods Ty used to train for this quest that pushed him harder than he's ever been challenged before. I'm sure you'll love this story.Tyler Andrews:Facebook Tyler Andres AndrewsInstagram and Twitter: @tylercandrewsChaski Endurance Collective:www.chaski.run/linktreeInstagram: @chaski.enduranceBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram and Threads @stahlor and @we_are_superman_podcastYouTube We Are Superman PodcastPlease support Team Leadville and Warriors' Ascent help prevent veteran suicide! Donate here:https://give.classy.org/BillStahl2025Thank you!Subscribe to the We Are Superman Newsletter!https://mailchi.mp/dab62cfc01f8/newsletter-signupSubscribe to our Substack for my archive of articles of coaching tips developed from my more than three decades of experience, wild and funny stories from my long coaching career, the wit and wisdom of David, and highlights of some of the best WASP episodes from the past that I feel are worthwhile giving another listen.Search either We Are Superman Podcast or @billstahl8

Alexa Brabec grew up in Steamboat Springs, CO where she trained with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. In 2020, she qualified for the US National Team for the first time. After graduating high school, Alexa moved to Lillehammer, Norway to train with the Norwegian Team as a part of a partnership between the US and Norwegian Teams. She competed in the first women's Nordic Combined World Cup in 2020 in Ramsau, Austria, the first Youth Olympic Games for women's Nordic Combined in 2020 in Laussane, Switzerland, and the first World Championships for women's Nordic Combined in 2021 in Oberstdorf, Germany.  Some highlights of her career are winning two silver medals at the 2024 Junior World Championships in the Individual and Women's Team Event, which were the first US women's Nordic Combined medals at Junior Worlds, a 4th place finish in the 2025 Seefeld Triple World Cup, a 4th place finish at the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, which is also the best US women's Nordic Combined finish at World Championships, and finishing the 2024/25 World Cup season ranked 9th in the world.  Get involved and support the show directly at https://bit.ly/givetoHHSpodcast Find all episodes http://www.hearhersports.com/ Sign up for Hear Her Sports newsletter at https://bit.ly/HHSnewsletter Find Alexa at https://awesomesaucelex.wixsite.com/alexabrabecFollow Alexa on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lex_brabec/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How cool is it to seemingly come out of the womb living the triathlon life? Well, for Logan Cunningham, her triathlon roots run deep, tracing back to her grandfather and father. This remarkable athlete's journey in multisport spans over 15 years, exploring the dedication, family legacy, and leadership that define her extraordinary career.   At just 13, Logan completed her first Olympic-distance race, setting the stage for a lifetime of athletic pursuits. She shares candid insights into growing up immersed in the sport, competing alongside future Olympian Taylor Knibb, and the pivotal role her supportive parents played in her development. We delve into her collegiate experience at UC Santa Barbara, where she thrived in a highly competitive club triathlon program, balancing rigorous training with academic life.   But Logan's journey isn't just about personal athleticism—it's about community, leadership, and growth. In this episode, Logan opens up about organizing Amazon's corporate cycling team for the Armed Forces Cycling Classic, growing it from 20 riders to 90 in just three years, and winning the corporate challenge while creating space for others to discover their potential through sport. Her leadership not only built camaraderie but also demonstrated the power of sport in the workplace and the importance of inclusive opportunities. Additionally, you will hear about the unexpected pivot to boxing and why she's stepping into the ring for a cancer research fundraiser this September.   Throughout the conversation, Logan reflects on the deeper themes of resilience, purpose, and giving back. She discusses what it means to stay in a sport long-term, especially when balancing a full-time career, and how personal growth often happens not just through medals but through pivots, pauses, and reinventions. Whether you're new to triathlon, considering a comeback, or curious about how people blend sport with their everyday lives, Logan's journey is a reminder that endurance isn't just physical—it's personal, communal, and ever-evolving.   So,Let's Tri this! Remember to leave a review, share it with your friends, and follow Tri Beginner's luck on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  And send any questions or feedback you have to  tblpodbiz@tribeginnersluck.com.

After a brief hiatus since our fall series on sustainability at the Olympics, Table Stakes is back—and not a moment too soon. In a time when ESG headlines are swirling with uncertainty, backlash, and bold political shifts, we're here to shine a light on the real momentum powering sustainability forward. This week's episode kicks off our new biweekly series, unpacking the key takeaways from Veerless' A Climate of Opportunity report and what's happened in the six months since President Trump took office for a second time. From resilient governors to rebellious mayors, supply chain pressure to Gen Z firepower, we're breaking down why ESG is far from dead—and how the work continues, with purpose.

In this episode with Scott Greenberg, we explore an interesting case study on a real patient of his - a gymnast who had an Achilles rupture and went down the surgical path. We discuss: How to determine surgical vs conservative managementThe key indicators of success for surgical managementReturn to sport after surgical managementThis episode is closely tied to Scott's case study he did with us. With case studies, you can see how top clinicians manage real-world cases and apply their strategies to get better results with your patients.

We spec out the Ultimate Backyard Olympics in a hot night on the patio! Plus, has pickleball gotten out of control?

Maddie Musselman Woepse has an incredible story; complete with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Through it all her passion, positivity, composure and resilience absolutely shines through. Truly amazing. Maddie's path to becoming a three time Olympic athlete, a two time gold medalist, Olympic MVP and one of the most decorated athletes in women's water polo. Her accomplishments are based on those very same traits… and she talks about her incredible journey. Maddie met her match in another “hard charger” in her husband Patrick Woepse. Patrick was a celebrated collegiate 2x NCAA water polo champ who went on to swim both the Catalina Channel and the English Channel. The latter crossing was completed with an incredible group of friends, great conditions and “with a cough.” Shortly after completing that swim that cough was diagnosed as NUT Carcinoma cancer, which sadly took his life after battling for 13 months; at only 31 years old. The story of Pat's fight, with Maddie by his side, while training for her third Olympics is a chicken skin memoir. Today, Pat's legacy is vibrant and clearly embodied in the Patrick Woepse Foundation which is focusing on helping others with NUT Carcinoma and operating under Pat's mantra of “We Can Do Hard Things.” Maddie continues to be a positive and inspirational force in so many ways, to so many people, and is an incredible example of living, and leading by Pat's mantra… every day.

Dame Kelly Holmes shares her extraordinary story, from serving in the British Army under a ban on being gay, to becoming a double Olympic champion. Speaking candidly with Nicola Adams, Dame Kelly talks about the fear of being outed, the trauma of hiding her identity and the toll it took on her mental health.She shares her pride about the moment she finally came out publicly.Presenter: Nicola Adams. Producer: Jennifer Nelson. Sounds Producer: Tom Ryan. Executive Producer: Emma Clements.

The Australian Pencak Silat Federation (APSF) held the Victorian championship while working toward getting the martial arts recognised as an Olympic sport. - Victorian Pencak Silat Championship 2025 kembali digelar dengan harapan besar pencak silat bisa masuk sebagai cabang olahraga yang dipertandingkan di Olimpiade.

422. Dawn Staley on Knowing (and Demanding) Your Worth  Legendary coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Staley joins us to talk about what it means to lead—with heart, grit, and unapologetic honesty. She shares: -The one lesson from her mother that shaped her entire coaching philosophy -How she stood up to her university and negotiated equal pay -What losing (and winning) has taught her about grace and dominance -The surprising toll of achieving your lifelong dreams -And how her North Philly roots continue to guide everything she does We also dive into her new book, Uncommon Favor, and why socks, smashed dishes, and LA Fitness-level gym disparities all make an appearance in her story. This is one of the most powerful conversations we've had about integrity, visibility, and becoming the coach of your own life. About Dawn: Dawn Staley is the NCAA National Championship–winning head coach of the University of South Carolina Women's Basketball team, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Her new memoir Uncommon Favor is available now. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to 'Sports Are Fun!' presented by Amazon Business. Kelley O'Hara, Greydy Diaz, and intern BJ were live at Fanatics Fest with gold medalist Jordan Chiles, Gotham FC's Midge Purce, and the PWHL's Elle Hartje. Check back every Tuesday for a new episode of 'Sports Are Fun!' Come see us at Fanatics Fest! https://www.fanaticsfest.com/ Discount Code: SportsAreFun15 These codes are good for 15% off up to 4 tickets per purchase. #nwsl #uswnt #wnba 'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that'll remind you why you fell in love with (women's) sports in the first place. Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women's sports. From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!" Just Women's Sports is the leading digital media platform dedicated exclusively to women's sports. In a world where women's sports have been historically underfunded and under-promoted, Just Women's Sports exists to shine a light on all the stories, athletes and moments that define and fuel the space. Through original podcasts, premium video programming, social media, editorial content, a newsletter, and exclusive merchandise and live events, Just Women's Sports is committed to making it both easy and fun to be a women's sports fan. Listen to Sports Are Fun! here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sports-are-fun/id1522055041 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6RTMyWpdSBY9I4vO528qX3?si=4ffbdaf315814b19 iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-sports-are-fun-68461888/ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a6f36ad8-f5e2-4478-8650-3f6f8805810b/sports-are-fun Add us on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justwomenssports/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/justwsports Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@justwomenssports? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When life doesn't unfold the way we hoped, it can be tempting to see that as failure. But what if it was those moments that actually shape us the most? This week, I'm delighted to welcome Eliud Kipchoge back to the show for a second incredible conversation - recorded just days after he completed the 2025 London Marathon. Eliud is a Kenyan athlete who is widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time. He has won two successive Olympic marathons and 10 major titles. And of course, he's the only athlete to have ever run a marathon in under two hours, which he did back in 2019 in Vienna as part of the 1:59 challenge. But as you'll hear in this conversation, his wisdom goes far beyond running as Eliud shares the life lessons that have shaped his journey - not just as an athlete, but as a human being. You'll also hear: Why Eliud believes discipline is what creates freedom - and how keeping promises to yourself builds the self-trust needed to face life's hardest moments Why failure is not the opposite of success, but, instead, the soil where wisdom grows How running has become a metaphor for life - with its highs, lows, unexpected challenges and the need to keep moving forward How Eliud not being able to finish his last Olympic marathon taught him more than any victory ever could The true power of community, humility, and purpose - and why Eliud still cleans toilets at his training camp despite being a global icon How planning, consistency and positive thinking guide his life - and why he believes ego is something we must all learn to let go of Throughout our conversation, Eliud speaks with warmth, humility and compassion. He challenges the idea that goals alone define success - reminding us that it's the process, the discipline and the way we show up every day that truly counts. Whether you're a runner or not, this episode is an invitation to reflect on your own mindset, your values, and your relationship with setbacks. Eliud shows us that progress isn't always linear - and that real growth often happens in the moments we never planned for. I hope you enjoy listening. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. Thanks to our sponsors: https://join.whoop.com/livemore http://www.vivobarefoot.com/livemore https://drinkag1.com/livemore https://airbnb.co.uk/host   Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/567   DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

Trust. It's yet another essential ingredient in building and sustaining elite teams. This week on The Mark Divine Show, Mark does a deep dive into the art and science of trust, drawing from his rich experience with the Navy SEALs, and his book “Staring Down The Wolf”.    Mark shares tales that unveil the true nature of leadership when things go sideways, and unpacks the three foundational pillars of trust—transparency, humility, and relentless follow-through. He discusses how authentic leadership is forged by facing down fears—-particularly the fear of failure.    Using insights from the military and his own personal growth journey, Mark issues a call to action for leaders everywhere to look inward, trust themselves first, and lead with character and courage.   Key Takeaways:  Relentless Follow-Through: Understand that trust is cemented when leaders do what they say, support their teams, and make sure crucial lessons lead to real action and positive change.   Facing The Fear of Failure: Realize that  leaders who are afraid of failure tend to become perfectionists, procrastinators, or careerists, which ultimately weakens teams and limits growth. Authenticity Matters: Recognize that staying authentic, consistent, and operating from humility will spread trust throughout your team.   Trust is Critical in Team Performance: Discover how trust acts as the “glue” for elite teams, and the consequences of lacking it can be mediocrity and underperformance.   Mark Divine is a former Navy SEAL Commander, entrepreneur, and NYT Bestselling author with PhD in Global Leadership and Change who has dedicated his life to unlocking human potential through integrated training in mental toughness, leadership, and physical readiness. Mark's journey began in New York City, where his fascination with eastern philosophy and martial arts set the stage for a transformative path. After a successful stint as a consultant at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, he made the pivotal decision to join the Navy SEALs at 25. Over two decades of service, Mark commanded critical missions globally, retiring as a Commander in 2011. Mark has trained elite organizations including Google, Nike, SpaceX, Boeing, Harvard University, The Olympics, YPO, and many others.Co-founding ventures such as SEALFIT, Unbeatable Mind, LLC, and Coronado Brewing Company have allowed Mark to blend his military expertise with entrepreneurial spirit. SEALFIT, born from his SEAL training insights, revolutionized physical and mental conditioning, impacting diverse groups from executives to athletes.Inspired by his military service, Mark founded the Courage Foundation to support veterans in holistic healing and restoration of purpose. Advocating for mental resilience and compassionate leadership, he aims to impact 100 million lives, fostering a more connected and courageous world.   Mark's Links:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdivine/   Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markdivineshow  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RealMarkDivine/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sealfit/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/markdivineleadership/    Sponsors and Promotions: Marley Spoon: This new year, fast-track your way to eating well with Marley Spoon. Head to MarleySpoon.com/OFFER/DIVINE and use code DIVINE for up to 27 FREE meals! That's right… up to 27 FREE meals with Marley Spoon.   Fair Harbor: Head to FairHarborClothing.com/DIVINE and use code DIVINE20 for 20% off your first purchase. 

The history of the Brazilian gymnastics program, from its humble beginnings in the 1970s to Olympic glory in 2024 This week's episode is a commission from our Olympic Fantasy Gymnastics winner, Liam, who wants us to discuss the history of Brazilian gymnastics. From trailblazers like Daiane dos Santos and Daniele Hypolito who put Brazilian gymnastics on the map, to the current stars, Flavia Saraiva and Rebeca Andrade. GymCastic LIVE in CHICAGO: Tickets on sale now Get Tickets Setting the Scene How the Brazilian teams of recent years embody the energy of badass, confident adult women who do gymnastics as a team sport Why we think Marta Karolyi would probably hate the 2024 Brazilian Olympic team (in the most complimentary way possible) The early days of Brazilian Gymnastics When did Brazil send its first team to Worlds? Why we need a Brazilian gymnastics shrine dedicated to Claudia Costa How did the program start gaining momentum during the 1980s? The tumultuous 1990s: from finishing dead last at 1991 Worlds, to defeating the United States at the 1997 Pan Am Championships, what was going on in these years? The Pioneers of Career Longevity Nearly every Brazilian gymnast who has ever won a World or Olympic medal has continued with the sport past age 25. What does this tell us about the program's emphasis on career longevity? What do Jade Barbosa and Oksana Chusovitina have in common? Hint: it's more than just being a great vaulter The First Stars of Brazilian Gymnastics Daniele Hypolito wins Brazil's first-ever World medal at 2001 Worlds and finishes fourth all-around How the success of 2003 Worlds put Brazil on the gymnastics map thanks to greats like Daiane dos Santos and Lais Souza Innovative skills throughout the years from Dos Santos's piked double-arabian to Oliveira's double-arabian pike half-out The Birth of a Powerhouse Brazil starts bringing foreign coaches in: Oleg Ostapenko, Iryna Illyashenko, how did this contribute to Brazil's rise? Jade Barbosa's incredible senior debut at 2007 Worlds, winning Brazil's first-ever all-around medal In 2008, the powerhouse team of Jade Barbosa, Ana Cláudia Silva, Ethiene Franco, Laís Souza, Daniele Hypólito, and Daiane dos Santos helped Brazil qualify to the Olympic team finals for the first time EVERRR Controversies and DRAAMMAA Did you know Daiane dos Santos had a 5-month ban in 2009-2010 for diuretic usage following a surgery? Jade Barbosa was taken out of the London Olympics because of a *checks notes* apparel sponsorship conundrum? Gymnastics sabotage??!! That time someone cut the power at Brazilian Nationals Struggling Towards the Rio Olympics Era (2012-2015) Things were looking rough heading into the Rio quad No World or Olympic all-around finalists in 2012, 2013, 2014 Brazil did not automatically qualify a team to the Rio Olympics The emergence of Rebeca Andrade, Flavia Saraiva, and Lorrane Oliveira and how their success reshaped the program The Rio Olympic Games (2016) What were the expectations for this team heading into a home Olympic Games? Could Brazil have medalled as a team here? What were the standout performances? Event finals? The Perseverance Era (2017-2020) Rebeca Andrade has not one, but two more ACL tears (2017, 2019) No World or Olympic medals between Barbosa's 2010 vault and Andrade's 2021 Tokyo performance The Age of Brazil (2021-present) Rebeca Andrade's amazing comeback performance at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, taking all-around silver and vault gold 2021 Kitakyushu Worlds: Rebeca's strategy to protect her body and play the long game Andrade wins her first World vault title 2022 Liverpool Worlds: Andrade takes home vault gold, floor bronze, and a fourth-place team placement 2023 Antwerp Worlds: The Brazilian team takes home SIX medals Team silver, Andrade all-around silver, vault gold, beam bronze, floor silver and bronze The Paris Olympic Games Brazil's historic team final performance, Andrade's floor gold, all-around silver, and vault silver What Are the Next Steps for Brazil? Building depth Remember the cautionary tales of the Romanian and Australian programs: don't be too reliant upon veterans to come and save the day; you need to invest in the next generation! Should Brazil's 2025 Pan American Championships performance worry us? Do we think there will be a "Rebeca Andrade effect" in Brazil and inspire more young kids to try gymnastics? Thanks to our sponsor, Huel. Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF + a FREE Gift with code GymCastic at https://huel.com/GymCastic  (Minimum $75 purchase) BONUS CONTENT  Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes Q&A show. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, early bird discounts on live shows, two extra podcasts: Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club?  College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters  RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation  Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim The Gymternet Nations Database RESISTANCE  Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items -  tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts:  Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video

John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw with the last set of semi-final matches in the King & Queen of the Ring, including Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso.Plus: Jade Cargill faces Roxanne Perez in the Queen of the Ring semi-final, Becky Lynch defends the Intercontinental title against Bayley, Bron Breakker vs. Penta, and a sit-down interview with Bill Goldberg. 

Ep. 338 Is AI video ready for primetime—or just a viral fad? Kipp and Kieran dive into the explosive growth and creative possibilities of AI-generated video, and what it means for businesses and marketers in 2025. Learn more on the latest viral AI video sensations (like cats in the Olympics!), the rapid rise in quality and accessibility of tools like VO3 and Hailuo AI, and how AI is revolutionizing short-form content creation and ad personalization for every business. Mentions Want the AI Video Guide? Get it here: https://clickhubspot.com/cko Perplexity https://www.perplexity.ai/ Hailuoai https://hailuoai.video/ Get our guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/customgpt We're creating our next round of content and want to ensure it tackles the challenges you're facing at work or in your business. To understand your biggest challenges we've put together a survey and we'd love to hear from you! https://bit.ly/matg-research Resource [Free] Steal our favorite AI Prompts featured on the show! Grab them here: https://clickhubspot.com/aip We're on Social Media! Follow us for everyday marketing wisdom straight to your feed YouTube: ​​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGtXqPiNV8YC0GMUzY-EUFg  Twitter: https://twitter.com/matgpod  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matgpod  Join our community https://landing.connect.com/matg Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934   If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Host Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar   Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat  ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by Hubspot Media // Produced by Darren Clarke.

In this episode of the Growth Now Movement, I welcome back my friend Justin “Coach Kav” Kavanaugh for his fourth appearance—a deep dive into his evolution from coaching Olympic sprinters to scaling businesses and acquiring companies. With more than 20 years of elite coaching under his belt, Kav has guided some of the world's fastest athletes—including Olympic gold medalists and world-record holders—and transformed that experience into a high-impact business model. We explore how Kav seamlessly integrates high-performance athletic principles from the track into boardrooms and business-building. He shares how he shifted from grueling hours of speed training to intentionally designing businesses that run without constant oversight—because the real win is in time and financial freedom, not just growth.

In this engaging episode of the Born Primitive podcast, Bear and Tony sit down with Bert Sorin.Bert shares how Sorinex—short for Sorin Exercise Equipment—sprang from humble beginnings in his father Richard's garage to becoming a powerhouse in strength‑training gear. Bert described stepping into the family enterprise, fusing his own athletic journey—from D‑I hammer‑throw All‑American to Olympic trials contender—with his father's unrelenting DIY ethos. Their story, he shared, reflects the trials, tears, successes, and unwavering persistence needed to build a lasting legacy—and illustrates what it really takes to create, scale, and sustain a family-run company in a demanding industry .To learn more about Sorinex check out: https://www.sorinex.com/To check out our brand visit: https://bornprimitive.com/And you can  learn more about Born Primitive Tactical by visiting: https://bornprimitivetactical.comFollow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/bornprimitive/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCruGgs2p3VVVy-v6YTiKuQwPRODUCED BY IRONCLAD

In this extended conversation, Carson Daly talks with US Figure Skater Amber Glenn, a two-time U.S. National Champion and rising Olympic contender. Amber opens up about her decision to step away from the sport to focus on her mental health and her historic return. She also shares what it means to represent the LGBTQ+ community, and how she coped during the tragic plane crash that claimed members of the figure skating community.

In the 3rd hour, Dover and Cecil discussed why the Broncos are still getting disrespected. The fellas talked about their favorite shooting video games. If Nikola Jokic or Nathan MacKinnon don't win another title, who's legacy will be hurt the most? The guys talked about how there will be tryouts for the Team USA flag football for the Olympics. 

0:00 ... Show open ... Bruce Bernstein introduces co-host Michael "World B" Freer and our special guest Dave Wohl, the former player, coach, and general manager. 0:56 ... Dave reflects on the just concluded NBA Finals series between the OKC Thunder and Indiana Pacers.  Dave felt that these two teams may meet again in the Finals at some point. 2:06 ... World B points out that OKC may not even have shown the best version of what they can still become as a team.  Dave praises OKC GM Sam Presti for the way he built the Thunder into a championship squad. 4:36 ... Bruce points out that NBA players voted Tyrese Haliburton the "most overrated" player in the league and silly they look now.  Dave explains how Haliburton's growth whas been so much fun to watch. 5:59 ... World B asks about whether the league has to address the length of the season given the number of high profile injuries.  Dave explains why that may not be feasible but suggests a lengthy break midway through the season so players can mentally and physically recharge. 8:40 ... Bruce points out the uniform numbers of the three players who suffered the achilles were all "0."  Dave points out how achilles injuries can be so random. 9:53 ... Shai Gilgeous Alexander was originally drafted by the Clippers and traded to OKC in Sam Presti's greatest move.  Dave goes through some of Presti's moves while also defending the trade with LA due to the wishes of owner Steve Ballmer. 12:45 ... Bruce transitions to the Kevin Durant trade where he went from the Suns to the Rockets and asks Dave if this closes the gap between the Rockets and the Thunder.  Dave likes the deal for Houston but thinks they may miss Dillon Brooks and his defense. 14:59 ... Did the Rockets simply give up on Jalen Green?  Dave feels Durant gets them closer to a title more quickly than Green ever could. 17:17 ... How does this deal affect the future of the Phoenix Suns franchise given their bad salary situation? 19:10 ... The New York Knicks' pursuit of the coaches from five other teams has affected their relationships with a lot of teams.  How much damage was done?   The Knicks didn't have a plan and now whomever they sign will be their 6th or 7th choice. 21:50 ... In spite of the Knicks mis-steps, they're still a premier eastern conference team, so is it better for the NBA to have a lot of teams that COULD win as opposed to fewer elite teams like OKC that could be a future dynasty? 24:06 ... Bruce asks Dave about Tom Thibodeau's decision to bring Josh Hart off the bench and whether the fact that Hart suggested the change might have caused Knicks management to question Thibs' leadership. 27:25 ... The Lakers will be sold for $10 billion and as a former member of the Lakers organization, Dave has some thoughts on how the "Mom and Pop" nature of the team might change under a more corporate ownership.  Jeanie Buss will still represent the team as their "Governor," but her input on basketball decisions might be affected. 29:54 ... How will the price tag for the Lakers affect the entry fees for the next NBA expansion teams, which are expected to be Seattle and Las Vegas? 32:08 ... Dave sounds off on what expansion teams are like to work for since he worked for the Miami Heat when they were an expansion team.  He feels that expansion teams start with a clean slate and can build their own unique culture.  Dave hired Erik Spoelstra as video coordinator and explains why Spo' appealed to him as a young potential hire. 34:27 ... The NBA Draft is on Wednesday night and we discuss five "bottom feeder" teams and what their goals should be in the draft.  Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz are first. 35:51 ... The Washington Wizards are next ... members of their management all worked in OKC and Dave feels they'll follow Sam Presti's model. 37:08 ... Washington is a major market while Oklahoma City is not.  Does that affect the Wizards' ability to use the OKC model, which requires patience. 39:04 ... The Charlotte Hornets are picking at #4 ... and have missed the playoffs the last 9 years ... they have some talent on the roster so they'll probably draft for a position. 40:32 ... New Orleans picks at #7 but Zion Williamson's lack of reliability really hurts this franchise and also negatively affects his trade value. 42:20 ... Philadelphia is a "bottom feeder" in name only as they were devastated by injuries last season.  Can they use the #3 pick wisely and get healthy in time for next season?  Will they have to use the trade market more than the draft in order to improve? 44:02 ... Philly's Joel Embiid was one of several Olympians who were injured this season but Dave feels that their injuries were not the result of their Olympic obligations.  Dave explains how players who work hard all summer can wear their bodies out even though they're not playing in games. 46:41 ... Bruce asks everyone for their overall thoughts on the season that just concluded.  Dave felt it was a "season of change." 47:52 ... World B feels like OKC is built for a run that could result in multiple titles. 49:30 ... Bruce wants to give Pacers coach Rick Carlisle his flowers for a sensational coaching job this season and how he will end up in Springfield one day. 50:22 ... Bruce wraps it up ... thanks everyone ... teases the NBA Draft and next week's show ... TRT 51:23            

I don't get sent documentaries very often, but recently I was sent two, one was JessZilla and it is releasing Friday, June 27th, so be sure to check it out. JessZilla is about Jesselyn Silva, a 15-year-old national boxing champion whose Olympic dreams are cut short when she gets a cancer diagnosis. It will be available on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube Movies, and Vimeo.I usually post drinking rules because it's part of the podcast, and while I do discuss them in the interview with Emily and Ben, I am choosing not to post them on here in the show notes. I don't feel like it's a film you will want to drink during, due to the nature of the documentary and that Jesselyn did pass away on August 13, 2024. Honor Jesselyn in the best way you see fit, you can donate to the childhood cancer fund in here name (https://curechildhoodcancer.org/about-cure/named-funds/jesszilla-fund/), watch and share the movie with others, or however you'd like to.When I finished this documentary I emailed the PR guy I had been in contact with back and said, “That was such an incredible and inspiring documentary. I hope that many people will watch this when it's released.” So please be sure to check it out, it is sad, but I think everyone will be glad they watched it.Spicy Passion Fruit Margarita (butternutbakeryblog.com):I picked this drink because of the purple flower used for garnish, since purple was her favorite color, and due to the fact that Jesselyn was passionate about her family and boxing, not to mention that Ben said it needed to be something that gave a punch. Ingredients 2 jalapeño slices (about 1/8” thick)3/4 oz fresh lime juice1/4 oz agave nectar1 1/2 oz blanco tequila (or mezcal if you want a smokey flavor), for a mocktail version use a zero proof option or a citrus seltzer1/2 oz orange liqueur, or use orange juice for the mocktail version2 oz passion fruit pureeTajin for the rimDirectionsAdd the jalapeño slices, lime juice, and agave to a shaker. Muddle the jalapeños to release more flavor.Add the remaining ingredients along with ice and shake for about 30 seconds.Use lime wedge to line the rim of a cocktail glass. Then place the glass upside down in some tajin to coat the rim. Fill with ice.Strain the cocktail into the glass and garnish with a purple hibiscus or another purple flower of your choosing. Enjoy.As always, drink responsibly and with others. Follow or subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter at @Line_Drunk.

Andy Scott and Barry Jones are joined at Daniel Dubois' gym by this week's special guests Don Charles and Kieran Farrell.The panel are joined at The Farm Gym in Borehamwood by Dubois' trainer Don Charles who discusses how camp is going ahead of the undisputed world heavyweight title clash with Oleksandr Usyk. Co-trainer Kieran Farrell reveals what it is like being part of the camp and we speak to Daniel's younger brother Soloman who is pursuing a career in the sport.We also round-up all the latest news from the sport after Olympic champion Galal Yafai suffered a shock defeat to Francisco Rodriguez in his hometown of Birmingham.

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha

Since this year we won't be having either a summer or winter Olympics, we decided to talk about them to start drumming up some hyper for them!See Eric & Nate LIVE in LA 6/29: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spiritualizations-with-nate-varrone-and-eric-rahill-tickets-1320522140269For more Joy go to https://www.patreon.com/joytactics

Hour Two of the Good Morning Football Podcast begins with changes for the Ravens. Hosts MJ Acosta-Ruiz, Isaiah Stanback, Terron Armstead, and Rashad Jennings wonder who could be the team to breakthrough in the AFC. We hear Darius Slay's thoughts on the Steelers securing Aaron Rodgers. As we prepare for flag football to join the Olympics, we're joined by Izzy Geraci and Kodie Fuller. The Good Morning Football Podcast is part of the NFL Podcast Network See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy National Hydration Day. Erin gets sent a Prime Hydration package. Erin takes her kids to a nostalgic trip to a local fair with rickety, dented rides.Q&A tackles DNF'ing a marathon (wear it proudly), Reebok's discontinued 9-inch Lux shorts (no pockets for women!), and running breaks, weighted vest walks are Erin's fix.  Erin announces her “Seeing How Strong I Can Get By Doing The Least” series, a 30 day minimal effort plan. Erin reveals she's writing a book with local co writer Amy (Shoutout Amy), due spring 2027.  Her kids play a “wombat game,” mimicking wombats' butt smashing prey killing tactic on bouncy balls. Erin binges HBO's American Paul, a reality show about Logan and Jake Paul's family, hooked by their relatable marriage and kids phase despite their unhinged dad.Sports talk heats up: Ashton Hall, the viral Saratoga Springs water guy, loses four races to streamer IShowSpeed, who raced Noah Lyles and wants Usain Bolt to coach him for the Olympics. Clara Adams, a 400m state champ, gets disqualified for spraying a fire extinguisher on her shoes post race (a nod to Maurice Greene), sparking outrage over track's prudish rules. Coco Gauff's French Open win comes with a tiny “teacup” trophy, not the massive one shown on TV, baffling Erin and Mike. Chess boxing, a 2003 Berlin born sport alternating chess rounds and boxing knockouts, gains a cult following via TikTok. Grand Slam Track's LA event cancellation shocks the duo, who loved the electric Philly event; Michael Johnson cites financial strategy for 2026, but rumors swirl about investor issues.In the “In This Economy” segment, Erin rages at Klarna's name and predatory buy-now-pay-later model, with users defaulting on debts. The US penny faces extinction by 2026, costing more to produce than its worth. Aldi faces a lawsuit from Mondelēz (Nabisco) for copying Wheat Thins, Oreo, Chips Ahoy, and Nutter Butter packaging. A heartwarming No Bad moment features an Amazon driver invited to a Memorial Day cookout by a hospitable family, loading his plate with chicken and corn amid mamba sauce chats, 19.4M views prove its viral charm.

As Customs and Border Protection warns of an unprecedented sleeper cell threat, revelations mount about the Biden administration releasing unvetted Iranian nationals—some potentially on the terror watch list—into the U.S. In this explosive broadcast, Tara and JD Vance lay out how Democrats are actively shielding those tied to terror networks, while simultaneously reviving Barack Obama's controversial Global Engagement Center to silence dissent and censor conservative speech under the guise of “national security.” Tara draws a bold through-line from Obama's regime-change bombing of Libya, to Chuck Schumer's outrage over Trump's precision strike on Iran, and the broader Democrat-Iran alliance. With figures like the Ayatollah enjoying full access to platforms like X, while Trump and critics of trans ideology face digital exile, Tara paints a chilling picture of selective censorship and foreign favoritism. Meanwhile, cultural tides shift as free speech wins major ground—highlighted by Olympic champion Simone Biles deleting her X account after a public reversal in a debate with Riley Gaines. From cultural collapse to national betrayal, Tara argues the left has lost control of the narrative—and is turning to censorship as its last hope. This episode isn't just commentary—it's a wake-up call: Democrats aren't preparing to fight Iran. They're preparing to protect it.