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The idea for this episode came to Jeff in the middle of a recent recording session, when his client on the other end of the line heard a strange sound and asked about it. From there, the episode morphs into a story about the imaginary worlds we conjure in our childhood imagination. For Jeff, he usually found himself standing on the pitcher's mound of his mind, conjuring a tough situation late in a close game. At the end of the episode, Jeff asks where you went in your mind as a youngster. Or still do today, as an oldster. To respond, email your story and the song it should be paired with...to [email protected].

Jeff was recently reminded of this 20-year-old Hoytus episode while officiating a wedding with a warm Joshua Tree desert wind starting to have its way with the perfectly-coiffed hair of the assembled friends and family. By the time everyone got to the reception, the wind was blowing at a steady 20-25 miles per hour and all that perfect hair wound up every which way. For Jeff, his relationship with hair (or lack thereof) was sealed at a very young age.

Jeff has been thinking about trees lately (and Kahlil Gibran quotes, judging from the title of this episode). The beautiful maple that Jeff has been staring at from his studio window for a quarter century started dying in recent years. The whole trauma of cutting back his favorite tree led to a flood of memories about all the other oaks, pines, cherries and maples that have played a role in Jeff’s life.  To see my friend Steve's photography work that I reference in this episode, go to https://www.stevehixonphotography.com/.

In this episode, Jeff laments the demise of the comedy album. Once upon a time, they were huge sellers. No longer, though. This fact did not, however, dissuade Jeff from joining a collective of Seattle writers, actors, and sound designers to make a rather dark and edgy comedy album some thirty plus years ago. This week, Jeff digs through a bit of comedy history before pulling his friends' project back into the light to see (hear?) if the work holds up.

Two decades ago on this very podcast, Jeff told the story of an orphaned baby orca named Springer that got separated from its family, forcing volunteers to attempt a daring rescue, rehabilitation and reunification with the whale’s family. Such a thing had never been pulled off before and while hopes were high, orcas in the Pacific Northwest were already stressed and swimming against a variety of man-made currents. Well, twenty years have now passed and Jeff has an inspiring update regarding Springer's fate!

Jeff’s parents passed just two years apart during the first week of April back in the late 90's. He and his sisters still refer to those seven days as “Death Week.” And it’s a clue into how the Hoyt family does death. Here on the doorstep of their 30th Death Week, Jeff revisits a funnier-than-you'd-expect staged account of each of his parents’ final days.

The Hoytus Interruptus Apology Tour continues with three stories from when Jeff was just twelve years old. He could have listened to the voice in his head trying to steer him clear of doing stupid shit. But for Jeff, twelve was the age when bad decisions that he’d later regret appeared to be somewhat baked in.

Global tourism has more than made up for time lost to the pandemic. The hot spots are teeming with record crowds these days and the pushback from the locals is starting to get ugly. Here in America, some of our national parks have even had to resort to timed entry reservation systems. For a peek into why, Jeff tells three short stories of national park visits that came face-to-face with critical mass.

Every now and again, Jeff breaks away from telling his own stories to tell someone else’s. In this episode, you'll hear from former Presidents of the USA front man Chris Ballew. Interwoven with music from all three phases of his long career, Chris tells of his early rock star days, an encounter with the biggest pop star in the world, and a close call that might have prevented him from getting the best career advice he ever received.

Jeff Hoyt has never met a darkened theater in which he couldn’t fall asleep. For whatever reason, live theater makes his lids grow heavy. It’s usually only for a few minutes, which is fine when you’re ten rows back. But then there was the time Jeff and his teenage daughter found themselves way too close to the action, forcing Jeff to make this episode his first stop on this season’s Hoytus Interruptus Apology Tour.

If there’s one thing about young love, the time spent apart can be excruciating. It’s really hard to go your separate ways when you’re only just getting started. So, when Jeff & Cindy started dating over fifty years ago, their first summer apart was a particularly tough one for Jeff. But then, along came music to save the day! A progressive, symphonic rock band from England gave Jeff something to hold onto during the longest summer of his life.  This episode is meant to be enjoyed with headphones. Turn it up! And many thanks to Annie Haslam of Renaissance for giving Jeff the OK to paint this story with the band's music.

The Wikipedia page for Amanda Knox has 5,000 words devoted to the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, her subsequent wrongful incarceration and conviction, followed by her acquittal, release, re-conviction, and ultimate exoneration. As for Amanda's life since returning home from Italy a decade ago to live the rest of her life? Well, that gets just 216 words. Therein lies the yawning gap in her story that I try to fill during this extended conversation with Amanda, who still to this day deals with death threats and hateful attacks on social media. But she has also moved on to plant roots, build a family and fight the good fight on behalf of the wrongfully convicted. (And special thanks to Rob & Naomi of Moody Little Sister and to Pete Droge for the music heard in this episode!)

Between seasons of my podcast, I'm posting interesting conversations with fascinating people, starting with Amanda Knox. It's been a decade since Amanda came home to Seattle after serving 4 years of a 26-year prison sentence for a crime she did not commit. Putting down roots took some time but she went back to school, got married, had a child and now lives right here on our island.  Here's a tiny slice of my hour-long conversation with Amanda that goes up on the interwebs this coming Tuesday.  (Music in this trailer by Moody Little Sister - thanks Naomi & Rob!)

If there's any one thing that is certain about living on this island, it's that everyone has an interesting story about how they wound up here. To wrap up Season Two of Hoytus Interruptus, here's our Vashon origin story. Big thanks to our island friends Pete Droge and Elaine Summers for providing the music in this episode.  Happy holidays to you and yours. I'll be back with more stories and new ways of telling them in Season Three sometime after the new year.

This week's episode is embarrassing. (But don't those make the best stories?) It's a tale that includes illicit substances (or at least they were at the time), driving under the influence and a lovely smattering of additional cringe-worthy moments... ...all played out in the presence of a Future World Leader. For reasons about to become obvious, I didn't share this story with our kids for a time, at least not while they were immersed in their school's DARE program. Wouldn't have been a good parental look. Now that the statute of limitations has expired, and with permission from Brent (my good friend and former business partner), here's a story that's funny now... ...but was pretty dumb in the moment.