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Nothing is sacred unless we set it aside as sacred. As Americans rapidly abandon organized religion — and the formerly sanctified church and temple sites go up for sale as designer homes — where are the places that are truly sacred? The places set aside for contemplation, meditation, festivals, the rituals of life?  There ain’t much. Not nearly enough. But that can be fixed. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & hosted by Ken Layne. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free podcast at Patreon.com/desertoracle. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where's the beautiful part, anyway? Well, start by walking about a mile past the last parking lot or dirt road or residential car-parts dump or informal halfway house or accidental pit-bull breeding farm, and keep going in the direction of the difficult terrain: the hills and the mountains and the boulders. Not the hills covered in radio relay towers, but the ones with nothing up there at all, nothing except more boulders, more spiky yucca trees that slash your arms, gnarled junipers and needle-armed Joshua trees, up to the craggy peak where the stately pinyons stand proud. Keep going that way. On the second half of the program, Patrick Donnelly — here's his Sand & Sage newsletter — from the Center for Biological Diversity returns to Desert Oracle Radio to talk about an international land grab dreamt up by a local commissioner in Lincoln County, Nevada, along with the nation of Denmark, which plans to destroy centuries-old forests of pinyon and juniper on your public lands to mush into "bio-fuel" for container ships. What?! New soundscapes from RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & produced by Ken Layne. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free show via our Desert Oracle Patreon. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver; written & produced by Ken Layne. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well here's an episode that fits with the past couple of episodes, as your host Ken Layne dredges up some tales from too many decades as a writer & whatever else. We got our newspaper/podcaster pal Matt Welch on the line to talk about the turn-of-the-century sensation that got everybody very excited for a little while: Weblogs! It sort of became a long career for a lot of people, and many have never quite recovered. We'd like to think that we recovered just fine. (Back to the desert on our next episode, don't worry.) Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our old friend and mentor Mojo Nixon passed away this week, after playing a blistering set of rock 'n roll for his fans aboard a hillbilly cruise ship. Tonight, we remember the showman, songwriter and deejay who was a towering figure in American underground culture for a long, long time. RIP Mojo Nixon. With soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight we go back three decades, to the strange time when a California newspaper hired a New England psychic to find a little girl who vanished in North San Diego County. This is a a true tale by your host, Ken Layne, who was one of the newspaper reporters working on this mysterious case, along with crime-solving psychic Johny Monti. PLUS: An Assessment of the Situation, and what's coming next for Desert Oracle Radio. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The hermit habit has persisted throughout the four-plus centuries of North American colonization and up to the present day, including such storied American names as Henry David Thoreau, Huckleberry Finn, Georgia O’Keefe, Marta Becket, and Ted Kazinsky ... and many lesser known characters, remembered today only in newspaper stories from the past century. Happy new year from Desert Oracle Radio. Do not listen to the Joshua Tree radio station tonight (Friday 12/29) hoping to hear this episode, as they decided to close early, at the last minute, and they don't have the new show. Listen on your podcast player, like people prefer to do these days. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Night has fallen on the desert, our first big winter storms soaking the mountains and the coastlines, and now we’re getting it pretty good in the southwestern deserts. There may even be a dusting of snow on the Joshua trees and the Yuccas and the junipers at the higher elevations, here and there. But a wet winter is visiting most of the American High Desert this Week of the Winter Solstice ... which used to be the same day as Christmas and New Year's and the Birthday of Dionysus. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight's episode comes to you live from Los Angeles, where Desert Oracle Radio opened the show for "Seattle's Slowest," the legendary group EARTH on its 30th Anniversary Tour for the Sub-Pop album EARTH2, at Glendale's Alex Theater. Sounds by RedBlueBlackSilver, words by Ken Layne. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's better on a desert Thanksgiving weekend than 10 questions regarding the natural and human history of the Mojave High Desert? Get your pencil and notepaper, and enjoy Desert Trivia Night from Thanksgiving Eve at the Tiny Pony, with spooky November soundscapes from RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2023http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Looking down the barrel at 2024, from our perch in the High Desert. Mojave thunderstorms, the strange maxims of the ancient temples, Christmas-tree shopping ideas, and old+new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. This is our 9/11 episode: Season 9, Episode 11. Please consider supporting this show via our Patreon before we go belly up, it's hard out there. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the World War II years to 1965, the artist and humorist and hugely influential architect Harry Oliver published his Desert Rat Scrap Book from a hand-built adobe in the California desert. He called it "the only newspaper you can read in the wind," because the whole thing was printed on a single sheet of sturdy colored cardstock, folded down to mailing size. UFO & Fortean author and Radio Misterioso host Greg Bishop joins us tonight to talk about our shared fascination with .... not flying saucers, but Harry Oliver! New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, written & produced by Ken Layne. This is EPISODE #205: ODE TO HARRY OLIVER, KING OF THE DESERT RATS. Listen to the radio broadcast tonight at 10 p.m. on KCDZ 107.7 FM in Joshua Tree & the Mojave High Desert. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free podcast through our Patreon. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2023  ~ http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Night has fallen on the desert, and here comes the ancient festival of Halloween, as the world begins to die again ... as it does at the tail end of every year. The leaves fall and decay, the green things wither, the sun hides away. And we remember the Dead. Tonight: Samhain tales of changelings and fire, and the Holy Mountain along the Mexican-American borderland. New (& classic!) soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & hosted by Ken Layne. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2023 https://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.