EPISODE #163: AREA 51’s MYSTERIOUS PETROGLYPH: PAHRANAGAT MAN

Now that it’s good & hot outside, let’s wander the high desert boulder-strewn hills of Nevada’s Lincoln County. Home to Pahranagat Man, a very specific rock-art figure that fits right in with what this land would become in the 20th Century: Area 51, dreamland for the believers in the E.T. mythology. It’s EPISODE #163: AREA 51’s MYSTERIOUS PETROGLYPH: PAHRANAGAT MAN Hosted by Ken Layne, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.

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Listen on the radio, 10 PM Fridays, on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave High Desert. You can get the new trade-paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1 wherever you buy books.

EPISODE #162: THE TIME OF THE ROADRUNNER

In wintertime, in springtime, and in the magic months of late Autumn, the desert is the finest place in the world. But now we are coming to the other part — the “Bad Place,” as they say in the Bible. A time for weeping and a time for gnashing of teeth. As the humans hide in their air-conditioned mechanical prisons, the roadrunner is having the time of its life. Roadrunners love the heat of summer, because there’s a feast of lizards and snakes in the daytime, and the usual desperate bunnies and rats at night.

ALSO: The Sermon on the Mount, and Spell #125 from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and some good news about the near future. Thanks for supporting this program on Patreon.com/DesertOracle!

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Now is the time for EPISODE #162: THE TIME OF THE ROADRUNNER. Listen on the radio, 10 PM Fridays, on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave High Desert.
With live soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. You can get the new trade-paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1 wherever you buy books.

EPISODE #161: SOME NEW KIND OF KICK

Desert Oracle Radio - Kid Congo Powers

Tonight we are joined by Kid Congo Powers, legendary guitarist from the Golden Age of The Cramps, The Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and his longtime band Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds. We talk about his new home in the Tucson desert, his 14-minute desert-groove “He Walked In” from 2021, and the importance of Magick & Alchemy. ALSO: Desert Oracle Radio live in Wonder Valley, with Ken Layne and RedBlueBlackSilver.

It’s EPISODE #161: SOME NEW KIND OF KICK. Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle.

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You can pre-order Kid Congo Powers’ new memoir, Some New Kind of Kick, due out in October.

Listen on the radio, 10 PM Fridays, on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave High Desert.
With live soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. You can get the new trade-paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1 wherever you buy books.

EPISODE #160: REAL-ESTATE SCOUNDRELS & FLYING BLACK TRIANGLES

hudson-valley boomerang

We are back with a new episode, all about the wonders of the High Desert, and the various aerial portents we call Wonders in the Sky. Including a black triangle sighting in Los Angeles, reported by our listener “Ellis in L.A.” PLUS: If you’re near Wonder Valley tonight, come on by The Palms on Amboy Road, where we are doing a rare live event with RedBlueBlackSilver, 10 p.m. on the outdoor stage, under the stars and whatever else might pass overhead, for the All Summers Eve Desert Rendezvous festival.

Listen on the radio, 10 PM Fridays, on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave High Desert.

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Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle. You can get the new trade-paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1 wherever you buy books.

EPISODE #159: THAT IT WILL NEVER COME AGAIN

Send in the Clowns, well maybe next year

We are meditating upon some various facts and figures here in the Mojave High Desert this week, from the warm weather in Twentynine Palms to “which apostle was crucified upside down and is now remembered with an immense phallic monument to the Egyptian sun god, Ra?” It’s EPISODE #159: IT WILL NEVER COME AGAIN. Listen on the radio, 10 PM Fridays, on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave High Desert.

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Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle.

EPISODE #158: LAST BLAST OF WINTER

Happy Earth Day, people of Earth. Here’s an episode about the desert in winter, appropriate for our spring blast of rain and snow and cold, cold temperatures. This was recorded live at the Whistle Stop in San Diego, near the end of our November-December 2021 tour.

It’s EPISODE #158: LAST BLAST OF WINTER. And there’s a relevant second episode tonight on our hometown station, KCDZ 107.7 FM, on this Earth Day (Earth Night?): #054: EARTH DAY’S HIPPIE KILLER + THE APOSTLE OF THE CACTI.

Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle.

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Listen Fridays 10PM-11PM on KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree & across the Mojave High Desert, on Saturdays at 9PM on KZMU 90.1/106.7 FM Moab/Castle Valley, Sundays at 8PM on KAPY Valley 104.9 FM in King County, Washington, and on KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno at 2:30PM Wednesdays. Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.

EPISODE #157: PHANTOM CRASH ON A UTAH HIGHWAY

What happened to Army Private Gerry Irwin on a Utah two-lane, way back in February 1959? There was no plane crash. No passengers. Nothing but Pvt. Irwin, unconscious in the Utah night. Strange things happen on the desert highways. It’s EPISODE #157: PHANTOM CRASH ON A UTAH HIGHWAY.

PS — If you turn on KZMU-FM in Moab (or steam online) tomorrow night, there will be some special Desert Oracle audio playing. It’s the KZMU spring Radiothon!

Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle.

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Listen Fridays 10PM-11PM on KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree & across the Mojave High Desert, on Saturdays at 9PM on KZMU 90.1/106.7 FM Moab/Castle Valley, Sundays at 8PM on KAPY Valley 104.9 FM in King County, Washington, and on KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno at 2:30PM Wednesdays. Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.

EPISODE #156: THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PINYON JAY

What is the life philosophy of the pinyon jay? To eat pinyon nuts and somehow make pinyon-jay eggs. The rest is easy, especially with a hundred-and-fifty pinyon jays doing your thinking for you. This episode comes to you from Moab, Utah. Recorded in the studios of KZMU-FM, community radio for Moab and the Castle Valley. And this episode is about . . . . well, what is it about? Life, death, pronghorns, etc. It’s EPISODE #156: PHILOSOPHY OF THE PINYON JAY. Thanks to everybody who supports this show at patreon.com/desertoracle.

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Listen Fridays 10PM-11PM on KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree & across the Mojave High Desert, on Saturdays at 9PM on KZMU 90.1/106.7 FM Moab/Castle Valley, Sundays at 8PM on KAPY Valley 104.9 FM in King County, Washington, and on KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno at 2:30PM Wednesdays. Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.

Thanks for picking up a copy of our new trade-paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1. PS — We’re on Audible, too.

EPISODE #155: DRUID TALES TO WARD OFF ST. PATRICK

In tribute to the Druids who were canceled by Saint Patrick, tonight we tell some stories: Ghost stories, from those ancient Celtic lands that gave us the Sidhe, the Good People, the Gentry, the leprechauns and banshee, the goddess Brigid and the frightful pooka. Tales from the Dim Kingdom, of the Tuatha de Danaan. And how the Gold Rush of the Sierra Nevada was the birthplace of the “Luck of the Irish.”

Listen Fridays at 10PM on KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree & across the Mojave High Desert, on Saturdays at 9PM on KZMU 90.1/106.7 FM Moab/Castle Valley, Sundays at 8PM on KAPY Valley 104.9 FM in King County, Washington, and on KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno at 2:30PM Wednesdays. Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks to those of you who support this operation through our Patreon.

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And thanks for picking up a copy of our new paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1.

EPISODE #154: ANTIDOTE FOR DESPAIR

Georgia O'Keeffe (Evening Walk, Ghost Ranch) by John Loengard, 1966 (printed later); National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Acquired through the generosity of Pat and John Rosenwald; © John Loengard

What’s a good anecdote about an antidote for despair? Here’s one:

It’s EPISODE #154: ANTIDOTE FOR DESPAIR. One of the many pleasures of wandering the wilderness is you can escape the despair of society. For a half day or so, if not forever. Walt Whitman did it, as did Georgia O’Keeffe. ALSO: Have you heard that we can stop global warming in as little as three years? A few more years to take it down a degree or so, but “stopping” is a pretty big deal! Also, there is no such thing as an alpha male wolf. So much to learn!

And much to hear, with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver and a new radio sermon by Ken Layne. Photo: Georgia O’Keeffe (Evening Walk, Ghost Ranch) by John Loengard, 1966 (printed later); National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; © John Loengard.

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Thanks to those of you who support this operation on our Patreon.com/DesertOracle page! And thanks for picking up a copy of our new paperback edition of Desert Oracle Vol. 1.