A Storied Life by Sonia Brock

BIO
I was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1937. My mother, an American, was a housewife. My father would soon be going off for his 2nd war (WWII) as a bombing and gunnery instructor. He was in the R.A.F. in WWI, joining up when he was 16 years old.

I lived in Chatham from my year of birth until 1957. I lived thereafter for 8 months in Atikameg, Alberta on a Cree Indian Reservation where my husband was teaching. Later, we moved to Detroit, Michigan for a year (He was an American).

After that I lived in the Lower East Side of New York City for 13 years, before moving back to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1972.

I am retired now from working as a Webmaster for the Canadian government. When not Podcasting I am an avid online war gamer (World of Warcraft)

HOW I GOT STARTED IN PODCASTING
I edited the code of an existing XML feed to create my own but there were bits I didn't completely understand, so I bought FeedForAll which made life easier.

I had a directional ball microphone and a Mix Preamp that I bought on eBay. Later a friend gave me a Fostex 450 mixer. My brother gave me a mike stand with boom.

To record and for editing I use Audacity and Adobe Audition

Having given 10 speeches for Toastmasters I was pretty much at home with public speaking and this experience also helped when I became a popular blues history guest on a local blues FM radio show BLUZ Fm with Danny Marks on http://www.jazz.fm where I've done 30 guest spots now.

I've lived a longish life and know a bit about entertaining so the rest is Podcasting history, so to speak.

I have lived a very varied life from southern Ontario
to Alberta bush country, from Detroit
to New York City's Lower East Side.

Currently retired, I do guest spots from time to time
on Toronto's http://www.jazz.fm
on Danny Mark's Blues program

I also grow African Violets

My Podcast site, A Storied Life, is free
and has transcripts as well.

I do digital graphics and some of the results
can be seen on Digital Montages
I'm also active on Flickr

TRANSCRIPTS

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#75 - Why I Don't Buy African Violet Show Plants
All it's efforts have been thwarted until that special Countdown-to-Show clock begins ticking and they are finally allowed to bloom. They will never be this perfect again.

#74 Insulin and Me
How I came to terms with Diabetes II

#73 - The Crash
Not the Stock Market but my Hard Drive

#72 - On Depression
A trip backwards in time to describe depression and those I've know who have had it.

#71 - Linking
When I started surfing the web in the 1980s the Internet and Linking were very new.

#70 - Random Acts
I have witnessed random acts of psychological violence from time to time.

#69 - Familiar Sayings
"Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?" was a familiar saying back in my hometown of Chatham, Ontario.
The joke answer was "Not if it's in cans!" I'm remembering here familiar sayings from my own and other families.

#68 - Voices
On the power of the human voice in radio and in war gaming.

#67 - Photoshop and Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)
While learning the intricacies of Photoshop I apply the knowledge attained to a new hobby Artist Trading Cards

#66 - Computing and The Wicnic
When computers were new at the office and, also,
the pagan Wicnic (Wiccan Picnic)

#65 - Seashells MP3
About Seashells, Weaving, Painting, Pottery and most of all about Hobby fever.

#64 - Crossing the Line MP3
A moral decision led to my facing a screaming mob of Strikers.

#63 - My Virtual Life MP3
This Podcast is about my virtual life. I live online, in a sense, and many of my friends are people I have met online, either through the earlier Bulletin Board Systems or in various Forums, here there and everywhere.

#62 - Harassment MP3
A tangled tale of sexual harassment, management fumbling the ball and an attempted deed of daring do.

#61 - Angel Dust MP3
A short, anecdotal podcast about a love triangle involving a psychiatrist, his wife, their pet ape and the poison, Thallium.

#60 - The Chitlin Circuit MP3
The Urban Entertainment Circuit aka the Chitlin Circuit played in theaters catering to primarily black audiences across the United States.
I include some memories from a night at the Apollo Theatre in New York City.

#59 - Stuff MP3
A lifetime of collecting has left me with too much stuff.

#58 - Les Deux Megots MP3
A very special place in a very special time. A New York city Lower East Side coffeehouse in the 1960's. I was there.

Here's a special Link to more on Les Deux Megots
http://www.chefjuke.com/mom/drop1a.html

and a Link to a tribute to A.H. Blackwell
http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/blackwell.html

#57 - On Gambling MP3
Where I learn about the evils of gambling at an early age.

#56 - On Aging MP3
On achieving the age of 70 I do a reality check.

#55 - A Winter's Tale MP3
Stories from my life involving winter and ice storms and cold.

#54 - Thieves & Rogues MP3
Thieves and rogues I have know including the story of the saddest small thief

#53 - Burlesque MP3
I had never been to Burlesque and I wanted to see what it was like. We went downtown to this hall that was like an old movie palace. There was even a pit orchestra, absolutely essential for emphasizing bumps and grinds and for the drumrolls etc need by the comedians for their punchlines.

Keywords: Burlesque, skirt dance, vaudeville

#51 - Danny Marks Interview MP3
I have guested for several years on Danny Marks BLUZ FM on www.jazz.fm
Here's an interview with Danny which included 3 song tracks.

#50 - Knitting MP3
Adventures in yarn. Knit I must and I find it is a very sociable pursuit.

#49 - Fortune Telling MP3
My adventures learning to tell fortunes. Beware what you say it may come true, as in the self-fulfilling prophecy.
(More on Les Deux Megots http://www.chefjuke.com/mom/drop1a.html)

#48 - My Aunt Gertie MP3
My Aunt Gertie was a stickler for perfection. She had standards and let you know it.

#47 - Tara, the cat, and Knitting MP3
I have a cat-sized hole in my life that knitting, in part, helps to fill.

#46 - All That Jazz MP3
Jazz in New York City in the 60's

#45 - My Parents Visit Me in New York City MP3
It's a long trip from the corn and tobacco fields of Chatham, Ontario, Canada to the Lower East Side of New York City.
We attempt to bridge the culture gap with mixed success.

#44 - Radical Songs from the 60's MP3
Spanish Civil War Songs, Union Songs and a Country and Western version of the International.

#43 - Fads and Foods from the 50s MP3
Winkles, Smelt, Finnan Haddie, Wrestling, and living better through Chemistry

#42 - Selling Online MP3
For a year I was an active seller on eBay &, for books, on abebooks. Here's a tale of how I fared and how it isn't easy.

#41 - Stitches MP3
Extreme panic as sewing machine malfunctions. On sewing and purses and the need to do so. Sewing from patterns and from my own designs is puzzle solving for me. Each completed project is a puzzle unraveled so to speak. I enjoy this.

#40 - Turn Your Radio On MP3
How I adopted a radio program - Danny Marks' Bluz Fm on www.jazz.fm 91.1 on Toronto's FM dial 8:00 pm to Midnight on Saturdays

#39- Mutual Aid MP3
People and books which changed my life -Ghandi, George Washington Carver and Peter Kropotkin.

#38 - Vampires MP3
Vampires I have known in film, fiction and fact. An overview on dimensions of need.

#37 - Guild Wars MP3
My online addiction to a massive multiplayer war game. An entertaining look at a new way of socializing and a game complexity that rivals chess to some degree.

#36 - Audience MP3
Music at its best is defined by a special synergy between audience and performer.This is a look back at some special audiences I have known.

#35 - Nothin' But The Blues MP3
The Blues have been background music for my life. Kept me going when times were tough. This podcast is a short tribute to the Blues

#34 Precious Memories MP3
How to Get Your Granny or your Senior Citizen Mum to Podcast Her Memories

#33 - A Choir Is Not A Democracy MP3
When you join a church you get instant community, a village. I joined both a local Anglican church and their choir where I, a female, got to sing with the baritones because I had a low voice and couldn't sing parts.

#32 River Road MP3
Towards the end of WWII we lived on River Road in Chatham, Ontario.
This is the story of how I saved my sister from a ferocious sow who was defending her piglets. Here also is the sad tale of Rooster Booster and more...

#31 War Games MP3
I am a war gamer on and off the Net. This is a look back on this area of fun and games.

#30 Day of the Brain Dead Mall MP3
A mild rant on the working life of the marginally intelligent

#29 Christmas Memories MP3
Lincoln Logs and Pickup Sticks and a private audience with Santa Claus in the snow

#28 Listening In - Some Thoughts on World Radio MP3
To say I'm a radio fan is an understatement. I listen in all kinds of ways. Sometimes I lose track of how many ways I listen.

#27 - New York CIty, Junkies and Narrow Escapes MP3
New York City's Lower East Side in the '60s was kind of rough and this Podcast reflects that.

#26 - NYC and Bitsy the cat's cartoon-like escape MP3
In New York City my cat narrowly escapes a hot bath. Introduced, suitably enough given the current headlines, by a blues number involving tenements and bedbugs.
Song "Tenement Blues" © Sonia Brock

#25 - The Russia Trade MP3
This Podcast is about running a website for the Canada Russia Business Forum

#24 Ghosts MP3
How I came to haunt myself and other ghost stories

#23 My Radical Days MP3
My Anarchist days in New York City and later, in Toronto

#22 My Father, William Fricker MP3
A family secret and stories of WWI and WWII. Leap castle and a smelly ghost

#21 - Traditional Jazz, Vince Hickey and the Blues MP3
Getting started in traditional music

#20 - African Violets, Tough Love MP3
This Podcast is about growing African Violets. You have been warned.

#19 - Martial Arts, eh MP3
I signed up at a Tae Kwon Do gym. Now started a rigorous physical regimen unfamiliar to my sedentary office body. It was like paying to join the Marines.

#18 - Working for Ma Gov MP3
Some tales out of school about working for the Canadian Federal Government

#17 - Chatham Stories MP3
Chatham was a city of 30,000 souls. more rural than urban, if truth be told. The number 30,000 was very important since it defined Chatham as a real city and not just a town.

#16 - Reunion of Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson at Gerdes Folk City in NYC MP3
The 60's folk boom and a magical reunion of two great blues artists

#15 - CB Radio Days MP3
Early adventures in radio. Dungeons and Dragons over the CB Radio.

#14 - Port Dover in the 1920s - Part 3 MP3
Feather Beds and boyfriends

#13 - Port Dover in the 1920s, plus some perilous excursions MP3
Family Life in the 1920's in Port Dover and St. Thomas, Ontario - with some perilous escapes!

#12 - My Mother's Grandmother - Mary Faulkner MP3
A trip back in time to 1915 or thereabouts from my mother, Phyllis Fricker's memoirs

#11 - How I Almost Became a Folk Musician MP3
That Christmas I had been given a ukelele, an instrument made popular at that time by a TV host called Arthur Godfrey. I discovered that folk music consisted primarily of three chords and, guess what? I knew three chords on the ukelele!

#10 - Magick MP3
Magick happens to you. When you focus you embody the center of your focus, which changes your world view and that ends up changing your world.

#9a - Diabetes MP3
On learning that I had Diabetes

#9 - Cloth Dolls MP3
When I was smaller my mother used to read me the Raggedy Ann stories and the most fascinating part for me was, when the people were away, the dolls would stop pretending to be not alive and 'come to life' .

#8 - How I Got Into Podcasting MP3
I got an Mp3 Player and had to put something in it. I already listened a lot to Internet radio shows, especially talk shows. Technical Notes plus

#7 - My Prison Pen Pal MP3
On death row in Raiford, Florida I spotted a man called Tod, an artist who read science fiction.

#6 - My Early Days with Computers MP3
How early adoption of computer technology changed my life, for the better, I should add.

#5 - Atikameg MP3
I went to live on a Cree Indian Reservation 200 miles north of Edmonton, Alberta.

# 4 - Introduction MP3
I was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. My father was British and, my mother, an American.
We often teased her about being a Yankee and she rose to the bait indignantly every time.

#3 - I Will Always Be A Member of the Bloody Pirates Club MP3
My father always wanted a boy. This was common knowledge in the family. I was the first born and the first disappointment. As soon as I was old enough to understand the problem I determined to remedy the matter by becoming a very thorough tomboy.

#2 - New York City - Dobro Guitar MP3
How I learned to play guitar using a high-action dobro guitar

#1 - Chatham, Ontario MP3
Greasers, 50's Straight Kids, Blacks and the Detroit AM Sound, plus Gospel Music vs Opera

Feed: http://www.soniabrock.com/Podcasts/chatham1.xml

My Mother's side of the Family

My daughter is a professional stained glass artist.
This is her site
http://www.yulokod.ca

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Quartette's Newest CD

Down at the Fair

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2. Twenty Shades of Blues

6. Who's Foolin' Who

8. Tell My Lord

10. My Invitation

13. I Can't Wait