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The Robert Hooks Show Podcasts

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Aaron Renn's commentary and insights on our 21st century world, along with his conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers on the issues of today. Covering culture, media, economics, politics, Christianity and men's issues.
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The Spiel

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Each week, host Eric Vespe welcomes a notable guest to the show to discuss a work of film from the career of director Steven Spielberg. The Spiel is an open-ended love letter to one of the greatest film directors of all time and his enormous impact on cinema.
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The Robert Hooks Show

The Robert Hooks Show

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Join your hosts, Michael Ephlin and Bobby Ephlin, with Coach Robert Hooks as they break down your Osceola Seminoles football. The only channel you need to stay in the know about your Osceola Seminoles. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/seminolenation/support
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My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time ...
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A podcast hosted by The WELTHĒ Guy featuring his "people." Guests on the podcast are Influencers in Business, Fashion and Lifestyle who inspire and motivate you to live a WELTHĒ Lifestyle. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themypeoplepodcast/support
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Good ideas are elusive, and you never know when one is gonna smack you in the head - literally. Sometimes, when life is squeezing the juice out of you, and things are going off the rails, it takes a minor cataclysm to put things back into perspective. Then you can reset the whole narrative, and move forward. Christmas, 2019 was like that for me.…
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Join Aaron Renn as he sits down with policy wonk Robert Ordway to explore the vibrant and complex world of America's multiracial working class. Growing up in the steel town of Lake Station, Indiana, Ordway shares his journey from a blue-collar upbringing to working in the halls of power, offering unique insights into the values, challenges, and pol…
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Legendary film producer, director, and documentarian Frank Marshall is my guest on the show today to talk about his working relationship with Steven Spielberg, a creative partnership that goes back to Raiders of the Lost Ark and continues on to this day. Marshall co-founded Amblin with Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. We talk about what necessitated…
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Our artists today represent a very specific category within the folk music genre, which lately has come to be known as “Freak Folk”: one is a contemporary singer-songwriter, and the other is an “ancestral” group (when you consider they derived from the early 1970s, before there was even a category for it); one hails from the U.K., the other from Ca…
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Frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator David Koepp is our guest this week. Koepp is the screenwriter behind Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds, and Spielberg's upcoming UFO/UAP flick as well as the director of the criminally underrated Stir of Echoes. Koepp also penned the script for the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, which hits cin…
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Join Aaron Renn as he dives into the alarming global fertility crisis with Daniel Hess, the voice behind the More Births X account and Substack. In this eye-opening podcast, they uncover the shocking decline in birth rates worldwide, its devastating implications for economies and societies, and what we can do to reverse this trend. From South Korea…
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THE KEROUAC PROJECT: https://www.kerouacproject.org/ JACK KEROUAC SCHOOL OF DISEMBODIED POETICS: https://www.naropa.edu/academics/schools-centers/jack-kerouac-school-of-disembodied-poetics/ The thread of Jack Kerouac’s literary and personal life in the American imagination might be unwound succinctly in the following terms: ambitious and fun-loving…
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Why did religion become obsolete? Dr. Christian Smith, a renowned sociologist from the University of Notre Dame and author of the new book Why Religion Went Obsolete, joins us to explore the cultural shifts that have led to the decline of traditional religion in America since the 1990s. From the impact of neoliberal capitalism and postmodernism to …
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To spur my songwriting juices, I got this deck of "Oblique Strategies" cards, created by Brian Eno, designed to prompt creativity. Here are a few examples. INSIDE / OUTSIDE (Oblique Strategy: “THINK - Inside the work, outside the work”) Inside - outside: it’s hard to reconcile Inside is terrified, though outside may beguile If I stay inside I just …
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There is something that happens when two particular voices blend together that transcends all understanding or logic. And, when those voices share the same DNA, the magnetic pull is such that they become one voice. We’ve heard that family blend many times: The Everlys, The Wilsons, The Gibbs, The Andrew Sisters, etc. The list goes on. One of the mo…
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A fascinating discussion with Ian Fletcher, co-author of the comprehensive new book Industrial Policy for the United States (Cambridge University Press). In this episode, Ian unpacks the critical role of industrial policy in shaping America’s economic future, challenging the myths of free trade, and exploring how the U.S. can protect and grow its a…
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2021 was a hell of a year: My wife, Chemayne, passes in December of 2020, during the height of the pandemic; The following year is spent stumbling in a maze of confusion - (to be honest, the smoke is just starting to clear); Some solace is found online with a slavic angel of mercy; Chemayne's cat, Boo, and I (the remaining survivors) learn to toler…
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Join Aaron Renn as he sits down with Philip Howard, founder of Common Good, to discuss the crippling bureaucratic red tape stifling America’s ability to build and innovate. In this eye-opening episode, Howard delves into his Manhattan Institute paper, Escape from Quicksand: A New Framework for Modernizing America, revealing how a compliance-driven …
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THE QUEER AWAKENINGS OF A WILD BOY PURSUING THE NOVA EXPRESS On September 6, 1951, William Burroughs killed his wife, Beat legend Joan Vollmer. At a friend’s apartment, she balanced a glass on her head, at Burroughs’s behest. He had contracted a lifelong mania for guns from duck-hunting excursions with his father, and was never unarmed if he could …
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Dead or alive? Today, we feature one of each: two exquisite female singer-songwriters from the 70’s - one a heroin casualty, and the other a remarkable example of patience rewarded. Judee Sill could have been a Laurel Canyon diva on the order of a Joni Mitchell, but, an unquenchable, self-destructive thirst put a stop to her success; and, Linda Per…
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What a year 2014 was! That's what motivated me to start this diary, which is now going on year 10. It was such a hairy time, in fact, that as a way to process it all, I hit upon the idea of creating a musical diary, using the I Ching - (something I'd been obsessing about) - as my guiding structure. My sister-in-law, Lea died suddenly, but before th…
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Director Jonathan Entwistle (Karate Kid: Legends, The End of the F***ing World, I Am Not Okay With This) joins Vespe to talk about the incredibly divisive Spielberg film, Hook. Spielberg's Hook is a bonafide classic for a whole generation, but if you're not part of that younger Millennial generation it has the reputation of leaving you cold. The st…
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What we’re offering today is something completely different: two outlier artists (although one is a French icon) who created off-kilter, out of the box, almost unintelligible nuggets of artistic brilliance. These cuts are linked, not only by the fact that they both feature sinuous bass lines and orchestral flourishes, but that they are produced by …
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It might come as a surprise to some folks that Steven Spielberg directed the pilot for Columbo, titled Murder By The Book, but that he did and it turned out to be one of the most important projects of his early career as his success with this episode is what got him the gig directing Duel. If you're going to talk about Columbo and Spielberg then yo…
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Join host Aaron Renn as he sits down with Elizabeth Landis, author of The Forgotten Realm: Civics for American Christians, to explore why Christians need to engage more deeply in the civil realm. From local government to federalism, Elizabeth shares her journey from a concerned citizen to a passionate advocate for civic involvement, offering practi…
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Welcome to our new series, “The Beat Goes On,” where we will celebrate the work and enduring influence of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and the other writers whom we identify as “The Beats.” - that crop of artists who worked to expand our consciousness, exploring the hidden possibilities of post WW2 America in the 1950s - Other s…
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Today we live in a cynical world. It’s pervasive, this debilitating disbelief in our institutions, our once assured tenets of groundedness. Now we doubt, not only what we see, but what we hear, and even our own thoughts. Are they indeed our own? Or, have they been shaped by the unrelenting marketers and influencers? Back in the 80’s - even earlier …
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The Spiel co-host, Josh Robert Thompson, is stepping away from the show, but before he leaves to pursue his own creative endeavors he and Vespe take a look back at his time on the show, discuss our favorite episodes, guests, and experiences while he was behind the mic. You'll hear plenty of behind the scenes stories, more Spielberg, Lucas, and Morg…
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This fascinating conversation with writer Sheluyang Peng explores the profound influence of Friedrich Nietzsche on American thought. From Emerson’s impact on him to the way his philosophy found similarities with American pragmatism to his role in shaping modern political and cultural landscapes, this episode uncovers Nietzsche’s surprising connecti…
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BUKOWSKI SPEAKS!!!!! Cause and Effect -For Kurt Cobain "the best often die by their own hand just to get away, and those left behind can never quite understand why anybody would ever want to get away from them" Bukowski writes with no apologies from the frayed edge of society. “Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” …
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THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS I've been keeping a diary and dream journal for ten years. Recently, I hit upon the idea of revisiting and recording passages of the diary in a quest to understand myself better by connecting the dots between dream life and the time awake. The first episode explored 2024; this second entry revisits a passage f…
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It seems as though the 12 bar blues structure is an immovable object, an obelisk of sacred, ritualistic, totemic authority. But the form contains multitudes of variety. Here are two examples of the plasticity of that container, which holds the magic blues elixir and can pour it smoothly, or have it gush out, uncontrollably, like a tidal wave. So, b…
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Join Aaron Renn as he sits down with Geoffrey Kabaservice, Vice President of Political Studies at the Niskanen Center and author of Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party. In this compelling episode, they dive into the decline of moderate Republicanism, tracing the tra…
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In 2005, while visiting the gift shop at the downtown Los Angeles MOCA museum, I came upon a blank journal with a cover fashioned from a salvaged vinyl album by The Allman Brothers. It had the pink Capricorn label. As a lover of vinyl I grabbed it, and decided to begin a journal. It’s been ten years, and I’ve been keeping this diary and transcribin…
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DANNY KAYE: THE BENEFITS OF VERSATILITY David Daniel Kaminsky (1911-1987), known to the world as Danny Kaye, was an entertainer that could do it all. He was as adept at pathos as he was at antic comedy, and he captivated audiences throughout the 1950s with his magic. His signature patter songs, represented by our first number: Anatole of Paris, wer…
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Veronica Cartwright joins The Spiel hosts to talk about her incredible career, from The Twilight Zone to The Birds to Alien and Witches of Eastwick, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and, yes, even Scary Movie 2. Cartwright also shares her thoughts on Steven Spielberg's career, including an incredible anecdote of watching Jaws for the first time with…
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In this eye-opening episode, Aaron Renn sits down with Saagar Enjeti, co-host of Breaking Points and The Realignment, to dive deep into the explosive rise of sports betting in America. Following the 2018 Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgates, sports gambling has become a predatory industry, hooking millions with sophisticated algorithms…
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The “Novelty” song has deep roots in popular culture. Masters of the form, like Weird Al Yankovic, Warren Zevon, Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, and Allen Sherman have illuminated our consciousness and tickled our sense of the absurd. How much WAS that doggie in the window?…., WTF is Marzy dotes and dozy dotes about?…, They’re coming to take me away, Haha…
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Charles Soule (author of the Star Wars: The High Republic series as well as some of the best Star Wars comic books) joins the show to talk all about one of the most controversial and heavily debated Steven Spielberg films: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We all know co-host Josh Robert Thompson goes to bat for this one, but does…
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Join me for this exclusive conversation with former Vice President Mike Pence, as we dive deep into faith, marriage, and navigating life in the public square. In this heartfelt episode, Pence shares his journey to Christianity, the secrets behind his 40-year marriage to Karen Pence, and the truth about the controversial "Mike Pence Rule." He also o…
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What is it about a swing rhythm that sets hearts a flutter? It’s a universal truth. It may have started as an African secret formula, but it was co-opted and catapulted into white western culture by some hip caucasian standard bearers. Here we’ll examine the psycho-physical connection through two seemingly unrelated musical delicacies: one by the u…
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Why can't America build like it used to? What happened to our mojo? In this eye-opening episode, special guest Tanner Greer dives deep into the cultural and institutional decline that’s left America struggling to get things done. From building the Empire State Building in a year to endless delays today, we explore what’s gone wrong—comparing the de…
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THE REVEREND OF KARMIC YOUTH- 1The Interpreter 2Starry Eyes 3For You 4Bloody Hammer 5The Wind And More 6Night Of The Vampire 7You're Gonna Miss Me 8I Walked With A Zombie 9Stand For The Fire Demon 10 When You Get Delighted 11 To Think 12 Warning 13 True Love Cast Out All Evil 14 Loving Isn't A Part Time Thing 15 The Looking Glass Song As lead singe…
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SPLENDOR OF BOHEMIA PRESENTS- "IN THE BEGINNING"- RICH BUCKLAND'S 2009 TEST EPISODE FOR WHAT WOULD LATER BECOME THE PODCAST SERIES THE WORLD COULD EASILY LIVE WITHOUT- OR CAN IT? WITH WILLY DEVILLE, LENNY BRUCE AND OUR SPECIAL GUEST CHARLES MANSON-DIG THIS!By Rich Buckland and Bill Mesnik
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'69 AND THE CRIME ETCHED IN TIME - "When I Was 17, It was not a very good year" Rich Buckland Well. Here is something I've yet to get over in all the years since I first read the grisly details of Sharon Tate’s murder in the Sunday newspaper’s Parade magazine when I was just a wacky hippie teen and beach Boys fanatic. Cult-leader and killer Charles…
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Ok, folks, we’ve got an unlikely pairing of unrequited torch anthems with an almost 40 year time span between them, featuring points of view which diverge 180 degrees. The first, from Cock Robin, showcases synthesized sounds which seem like they were caught in amber in 1985, and the second, an astounding display of songwriting and vocal pyrotechnic…
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Join Aaron as he sits down with William Wolfe, Executive Director of the Center for Baptist Leadership (CBL), to discuss the future of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the fight against liberal drift in the church, and the intersection of faith and politics. From grassroots reform to meeting President Trump in the Oval Office, William shares …
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Incredible composer Bear McCreary (God of War, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Battlestar Galactica, Happy Death Day) knows a thing or two about composing badass scores. Vespe challenged him to come up with top 5 favorite John Williams/Steven Spielberg collaborations and the resulting episode sees McCreary putting his Top 5 against Vespe' To…
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Here is a “Sunny Song”, wherein the fleeting sunlight is a dappled reminder of the evanescence of existence. They’re all gone now: Bill Evans (piano), Tony Bennett (vocals), Henry Mancini (Composer), and Johnny Mercer (Lyricist), but their beautiful creation lives on to remind us to gather our rosebuds while we may. Sadness, and gratitude run in eq…
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In this episode of Aaron Renn's series on religious minorities in America, he speaks with Josh Hammer, senior editor-at-large at Newsweek Magazine and author of the book Israel and Civilization. Josh shares his personal journey from an assimilated Jewish upbringing to becoming fully observant, discusses the challenges of practicing Judaism in moder…
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The Spiel welcomes Anthony Breznican, Vespe's Kingcast co-host and entertainment reporter extraordinaire at Vanity Fair, to talk about Amblin's Innerspace. This weird-ass movie was directed by Joe Dante and produced by Spielberg and is all about a shrunk down Dennis Quaid getting injected into Martin Short's butt and that's just the start of this c…
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When it comes to infidelity: can we have our cake and eat it too? In the following two songs, written by the incomparable Don Covay, this theme is explored. The two men narrating these tales of inconstancy are in turmoil - one cheater feels guilty, while the other betrayer is suffering from hurt pride - because his woman is playing the same game. T…
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In this first episode in a new series exploring the religious minority experience in America, I sit down with author, educator, and entrepreneur Haroon Mogul to discuss his experiences as a Muslim in the United States. Born to Pakistani immigrant parents in Connecticut and raised in New England, Haroon offers unique insights into navigating dual id…
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Right here, squaring off, from opposite sides of the Atlantic, we present: Dueling tag-teams of zaniness — wearing fanciful disguises, winking at traditional forms, and tweeting in a birdlike falsetto… Good stuff! BEDAZZLED The Faustian satire Bedazzled, created by genius comedian Peter Cook (who plays the Devil trying to bargain for souls), makes …
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Join host Aaron as he interviews Christopher Schlect, Senior Fellow of History and Director of the Classical and Christian Studies Program at New St. Andrews College. They discuss Schlect's fascinating doctoral dissertation "Onward Christian Administrators," which explores how business management practices transformed American Protestant churches i…
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