For most Americans, the interstate system has been around for for so long that we don’t even think about how it got here. The towns across the land who live on or near an interstate have reaped the obvious benefits of proximity, while many of the towns that are just a little too far off the beaten path still bear the scars of being left behind.

Here comes the story of when Interstate 80 cut a swath through my grandmother’s neighborhood. With help from transportation writer Dan McNichol, we’ll look at just how messy things got during those early days when America clamored for a new way to get from point A to point B.

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Jeff Hoyt
Vashon Island, WA
06.02.09

Here are the songs featured in this podcast. Look for ‘em in iTunes:

“Stray Cat Strut” by Stray Cats
“(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66″ by Nat King Cole
“The World Before Later On” by They Might Be Giants
“Marshrat” by Psapp
“Farm On The Freeway” by Jethro Tull
“Moon Over The Freeway” by The Ditty Bops

I hope the accordion will forgive me now. Growing up in a Polish neighborhood in the Midwest, I grew to love the sound of the instrument and it found endless ways to impose itself onto the soundtrack of my youth. Rock ‘n Roll steered me clear of the accordion for a number of years. At one point, I even convinced myself that listening to an accordion was the musical equivalent of waterboarding.

Somehow, though, the accordion found its way back into my heart and there it remains. This podcast is a kind of love letter to an instrument that somehow still speaks to me.

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Jeff Hoyt
Vashon Island, WA
08.08.08

The music list is long for this podcast. A lot of these tunes can be found in iTunes. Go get ‘em!:

“J’y Suis Jamais Alle’” by Yann Tiersen
“Viens Avec Moi” by DeVotchka
“Squeeze Box” by The Who
“Beer Barrel Polka” by Myron Floren
“Head Honcho” by DeVotcha
“Le Moulin” by Yann Tiersen
“Strizzalo” by DeVotchka
“Cliquot” by Beirut
“La Danse De Mardi Gras” by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
“Raped and Freezin’” by Alice Cooper
“Dancin’ the Devil Away” by Myron Floren
“Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin
“L ‘homme Aux Bras Ballants” by Yann Tiersen
“Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)” by Beirut
“Charlotte Mittnacht (The Fabulous Destiny Of…” by DeVotchka
“Sons and Daughters” by the Decemberists

I love stories. I love writing them. I love telling them. And I love hearing them. In previous podcasts, I’ve told mostly my own stories, and there are plenty more where those come from for later.

With this episode of Hoytus Interruptus, I introduce you to my friend Jim. I’m posting his story on December 7th, a date that continues to “live in infamy” through its association with the beginning of a very, very long journey.

Jim’s story is connected, but tells of a different journey altogether.

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Jeff Hoyt
Vashon Island, WA
12.07.07

Mary and John Wilson
on their wedding day

Here’s the music you’ll hear in this podcast, some of which can be found in the iTunes Music Store:

“In the Beginning,” by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
“Ke’ala’s Mele” by Ledward Ka’apana
“Battle Intro” by Hans Zimmer
“Mapuana” by Henry Allen
“Waimea Lullaby” by Ledward Ka’apana
“The Closing of the Year” by Tori Amos and the cast of “Toys”

I love the desert. There’s just something about vast stretches of open land and sky that calls to me. Perhaps that’s why I struggle whenever I find myself in Las Vegas. All I see there are vast stretches of open slots and no sky (except for the fake ones in the Vegas versions of Paris and Venice).

Is there a place on earth that is more diametrically contrasted with the land that surrounds it…than Las Vegas, Nevada?

Earlier this year, I tested the outer limits of my Vegas Endurance Threshold.

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Jeff Hoyt
Vashon Island, WA
10.16.07

Here are the songs from this show, some of which can be found through iTunes:

“Glass Onion” by the Beatles
“Within You, Without You” by the Beatles
“Vegas” by Two Tons of Steel
“Chant Jam” by Blue Man Group
“The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus)” by Yes
“Dancing Queen” by Abba
“Money Money Money” by Abba
“Too Many People” by Paul McCartney

Growing up in Indiana, Thanksgiving was the holiday that always brought my sisters and me together with my cousins for hours upon hours of good times and goofball fun. We made up games and created delightful distractions that would hold our grumbling stomachs at bay while the feast to come inched ever closer.

Then the dinner bell rang and we kids were sequestered in the kitchen where we were not seen, but definitely heard.

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Jeff Hoyt
Vashon Island, WA
11.20.06

Several of the songs in this podcast can be found through the iTunes Music Store:

“One Prairie Outpost” by Carbon Leaf
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” by Paul Brooks
“Thanksgiving Day” by Ray Davies
“Down” by Harry Nilsson
“Thanksgiving” by Loudon Wainwright III
“Superball” by Aimee Mann
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” by the International TV Orchestra
Plus movie soundtrack music from Carter Burwell and Caleb Sampson