Some Podcasts You Should Hear

It's that I find a new podcast to love because I barely have time for the ones I already listen to regularly.

That said, I'm now hooked on Wings For Wheels, a superb twice-monthly half-hour musician interview show by Dave Lifton, who has as hosty an NPRish voice and manner as I've heard on a non-NPR podcast. He's a listener of "The Strip," and I always give our listeners' shows a shot, but what's impressive is that he really doesn't go all-out music geek to the point that non-music geeks like me feel out of place. Lifton is also one of the only other independent podcasters like us who lands real made-for-podcast interviews with celebrities. I loved hearing from Michael Penn again, I found the chat with Chris Isaak's drummer fascinating and, of course, his and Five Hundy's Tim Dressen's rundown of great Vegas music on Episode 8 (how could it not have been Ep 7, Dave?) made me walk my dogs around the block five times so I could finish. Subscribe to iTunes here or visit the site here.

I also unearthed Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam's podcast, "Alex Beam Reads His Hate Mail." It's only once a month for about 20 minutes, but it's one of the most creative uses of the medium by the mainstream media I've seen thus far. Subscribe to it on iTunes here or visit the site here.

Meanwhile, it's World Series of Poker season in Vegas and poker podcasting pioneer Phil Gordon is back for the third year, this time he's essentially a Very Special Guest for a daily podcast of between 4 and 20 minutes length called the Expert Insight WSOP Podcast. It gives the quick highlights, interviews and some analysis. BUT -- what non-poker fans will be most fascinated by is not all the poker jargon but Gordon's chronicle as he psyches himself up before an event, analyzes his play midstream and then, at least thus far, explains why he lost. It makes this vaunted tournament far more human when a respected pro can sound excited, hopeful, exhausted, dejected and anxious as he moves from event to event. It should only get more intriguing as the Main Event, the $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, begins on July 6. Subscribe to it via iTunes here or visit the site here.


Finally, I didn't mention it at the time, but I sub-hosted for Rob on Podcast411 again interviewing Heather of Rubyfruit Radio on Episode 204. She does a lovely podcast playing all female-sung indy music, largely of the Indigo Girls variety. Hear that here or right-click here and download it to your computer. Subscribe to Rubyfruit Radio via iTunes here or visit the site here.

Happy Listening!

Live from the WSOP VIP Lounge!

As I type, I am waiting for prime rib.

I'm working on a profile for the Boston Globe of Annie Duke and Howard Lederer, the Venus and Serena of poker who were raised in Concord, N.H. That's part of the Globe's New England readership. This sibling success story has fascinated me for years and I'm finally getting to write it, so earlier I supervised a photo shoot (above right) at the ESPN Final Table and then I was brought into the World Series of Poker V.I.P. Lounge for a leisurely, fascinating interview with Howard Lederer. (I had interviewed Annie about two weeks ago by phone.) Both of these interviews will likely be available on the podcast feed in coming weeks as the World Series of Poker heats up.

Anyhow, the VIP Lounge is an interesting place. Each poker player who has entry privileges paid $1,000 in a donation to the Nevada Cancer Institute. It's not a large room -- maybe 40 feet by 20 feet, but it has a pool table and a putting green, free Wi-Fi (obviously) and a buffet furnished by Del Frisco's Steakhouse near the Strip. The hostess just told me as I foraged for a snack that prime rib would be out in mere minutes.

Howard Lederer, (holding court on a couch at left) tells me that the VIP Lounge is like a de facto casino in its own right. Phil Ivey, he claims, was betting $10,000 a putt last night. I was putting earlier with Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, boyfriend of Jennifer Tilly, who surprisingly remembered me from the interview I did with both of them last year for Vegas Magazine at the CPK at the Mirage.

Fortunately, Laak didn't insist we bet. It's hard to believe sometimes that I am the son of a man who, in lean years of my childhood, made his living betting thousands on his golf game. He'd be so disappointed.

Prime rib's here! Yum!

Annie Duke Backs Me Up!

Annie Duke is the most successful female poker player ever and, it turns out, a fascinating interview. I spoke to her for more than an hour yesterday a variety of venues including Vegas Magazine, the Boston Globe and "The Strip" podcast. The chat will go up on the show near the end of June.

But given the grief I got for the post in which I wondered why people watch live poker (they're known as "railbirds"), I wanted to blog this.

FRIESS: I have to ask. I understand why people poker on TV because you can see the hole cards and all of that. But the railbirds, the people who watch live poker…

DUKE: That confuses me. It baffles me. I can’t do it. Erik Seidel a couple of years ago won a bracelet at the World Series and I was in the audience to support him. And it was excruciating. You can’t see any of the hole cards! What makes poker really fascinating is that you know what your hole cards are and you’re trying to figure out what the other people’s hole cards are. So you have some of the information. It’s decision-making under relatively extreme circumstances of uncertainty. When you’re watching, you have zero information. You can’t figure out anything out.

For the record, I've now asked this question of Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold and Duke. And they all professed similar curiosity. (Hear "The Strip" episodes with each of those WSOP champs by clicking on their names or right-click to save the file to your computer.)

Anyone out there who does this want to explain it to me? Really. What are you watching?!?

My Awesome Little Bro

I'd been meaning to post these and this holiday-weekend lull seems just the time.

As many of you know, I have a Little Brother (from Big Brothers Big Sisters), Jamie. I "got" him when he was just 6 and this August he turns 17. He's graduating from high school next month (a year early) and he's always been really into dance in addition to the more typical teen-boy pursuits of skateboarding, video games, odd hairstyles and girls.

This is a unique, amazingly self-possessed and easy-going kid and I'm incredibly proud to have been a part of his upbringing. He has also, over the years, been a fixture in my writing, whether it's when we snuck into 21 pools on the Strip and graded them for the L.A. Times or when we went backstage at the Boom Boom Huck Jam for the Boston Globe so he could meet his motocross and skateboarding idols. He and his family were also incredibly supportive of my need to speak out when some religious right nutjobs attacked Big Brothers Big Sisters for allowing gay adults to be mentors, which I did in an op-ed piece that ran in several papers around the nation and led to a CNN appearance.

Last weekend, I joined his family at the historic Boulder Theatre (owned by Desi Arnaz Jr.!) in quaint Boulder City for his recital. Here are a few pictures of him doing his moves. I wish I had a program so I could tell you what's what in here:

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Wow!

I have two stories out today on this weekend's Rock, Paper Scissors national championships here in Vegas this weekend -- one for the Boston Globe and one for the Chicago Tribune -- and I'm leaving the house now to go cover the event for Monday's The New York Times.

Yes, Rock, Paper, Scissors is getting its close-up. There's $50,000 and a free car at stake at the thing at Mandalay Bay. Will probably use some audio on next week's "The Strip," too. These people take this stuff very, very seriously. Well, some do. Others are just here to enjoy their free Vegas weekend.

Gotta run. After that, I'll stop in at the Gay Pride festival at the Clark County Government Center today. Miles hates that stuff, won't go with. Will report back later with impressions.

WHHSH Violator No. 1 on "The Strip" LIVE tonight!

OK, he's not a violator. In fact, Jeff Candido and his co-writer Jason Hoff are probably the only ones who can legitimately claim to have used the "What Happens Here Stays Here" thing the "right" way since back in 2002, when they were young pups at R&R Partners in Vegas. (See my Boston Globe piece about them at the time.) Candido went on to a job with Arnold Worldwide, a very large East Coast ad agency.

Candido will join us at about 7:45 pm PT to discuss how WHHSH has affected him and why he supports our efforts to use it, uh, correctly.

Join us in the live chat at LVRocks.Com by clicking "CAM & CHAT" starting at 7 pm. We'll also have comic Joe Piscopo live at about 7:15 pm. Plus, the trivia question, a new poll and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week. If you miss it, of course, the podcast will be up later tonight as always. Subscribe to it in iTunes or in Yahoo.