Right Reverend Doktor Mother Miller was our special guest. Things progressed about as usual; questions were asked (remotely) and answered (in situ). Then "Doc" Goldie and Sarah Zee paid a welcome surprise visit. Imagine OUR surprise, however, when we were taken to task-- by that selfsame Science Solon, for remarks made in a letter to Ringmonster "Chicken" John. Fortunately, our lawyer was present. Remember, Friends of ADH, to support the Kickstarter effort now underway to put on the most memorable version of the "live" Show yet! And, if it happens, this one'll be on a Thursday, NOT Friday this time, so your long-cultivated listening habitual preferences will not be affronted.

Many things are taking place in the world of Ask Dr. Hal! We have a chance to do the live show, if "Chicken" John's latest attempt-- a Kickstarter solicitation to the fans --pans out. That will be, if it is, in April of this Year of Grace 2017 Anno Domini. Well, here we feature William Blake and Clark Ashton Smith among others. Never say we aren't consistent. Earlier efforts are plowed under, to fertilize the new crop coming up. What is that, to one who reaps not harvest of his youthful joys, though the deep heart of existence beat forever, like a boy's? Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers-- and We linger, on the shore, and the individual withers, and the world is more and more. Thanks for inspiration (and all apologies to) Alexiuss.

...beyond the margin of the Heliopause. A barren planet. A ringed planet, though that's not all that special a distinction; more than one planet actually has rings, and even Earth itself could be said to have rings of a sort. The Sun in such realms appears as a feeble smear of light in the sky, even though it's still the brightest thing around. Fortunately, on the Show we had Jett, and KrOB to navigate in the second half. Neither Puzzling Evidence nor fair-weather sailor Michael Peppe deigned to venture out in the ongoing Cosmic Storm.

Dr. H. Owll began solo, with selections from Blake's Prophetic poem "America." We also heard from the late Whitman McGowan, always missed in this year of Grace, as is the late Jeff Robins (obit. 2002)-- and that vintage rambunctious radio team, the Robins Bros. are heard as well in this anterior end of the program, interspersed with various poetic snippets and sweetbreads. Then, brightening the gloom in the room, in came Zee, our visiting angel Sarah G., the sole guest for the rest of the slot, who enlightened us about many things under Heaven on this Earth (Portrait above by Mark Bryan).

Und zo, upon returning from the Sonoran Desert, Dr. Howland Owll could boast he mostly hosted a host of fellow-travelers. Jett skyed in on wings of thunder, dodging the Puz-Ev Drone. Soon, lovely Sarah Szczechowicz Goldie, also known as Zee, appeared with her well turned-out consort, "Doc" Goldie, the Tile Specialist, both still glamorously outfitted from the Anti-Inaugural Ball they'd been attending... KrOB too contributed to the ambiance. And, admitted somehow, was, we must admit, famed '80's Performance Artist sensation Michael J. Peppe-- yes, Peppe! --who can't keep a Code in the Head. All locks, wards, tumblers and the like being changed, life went on, thrilling as always, if less secure. Refreshments were served.

Dr. H. Owll had to take a powder, as it were. He went to the Arizona desert for a 10-day period, to visit, fraternize and otherwise hob-nob with various alchemists, sorcerers and magicians (but of course no necromancers). Puzzling Evidence took the Ask Dr. Hal! helm with elan. It was a beautiful thing, and the results are HERE...

As the Storm of the Century hits, Dr. H. Owll, KrOB Sabrepop and Jett are safe three stories above the street. High wind rocks the El Dorado Building as the colloquy continues. And eventually the name Ray Harryhausen arises, as it must. Oh, there will be much more on Harryhausen as this series continues, part of our SubGenius Heritage and a classic exponent of stop-motion animation, the great and noble art. To many computer-manipulators, "animation" means moving things around in the frame. But the root of the word lies in "anima," or soul-- true animation is the puppeteer's uncanny art of investing the subject with a soul of personality. And, there's the metaphorical, allegorical, analogical aspect ever hovering... over, perhaps, if it were uncharitably said, those who watched one monster movie too many.

THE LAST SHOW of the Old Year passes... with Dr. H. Owll, Jett, Michael Peppe, and, sitting silently in the corner, Puzzling Evidence. How we wish for a lack of encumbrances, a relaxation of binding gravitational fields, a condition of inherent freedom without reference to codes or regulations. But, though the departing year releases us, we are still hemmed in on all sides. At such times, even as we wish all our listeners and Fellow Travelers the best of hopes for a year which looms with inherent anxiety, we renew our hopes that the Space Goddesses will arrive and descend. 2017's X-Day may well be the "true" one. Pete Goldie appeared for a flash, almost above the threshold of perception, but was then gone. Meanwhile, we hashed things out in the usual fashion, swilling Absinthe and Champagne...

Periodically, the ASK DR. HAL! Podcast returns, in its orbit, to the "bottle" show condition, wherein Dr. Howland Owll, solus, not contending with unruly, chaotic guests, instead mixes and performs the presentation on his own, in its entirety. On this seldom-experienced world, pace, content and music are all from a single source, without such interference as might ordinarily emanate from the Personal Devices of guests. We understand that there are more than a few Listeners who actually prefer these Shows to all the others; for them the recitations from Clark Ashton Smith and other uncompromising explorers of the Noosphere are a holiday from idle on-air chatterboxes. For them are such Shows as these-- perhaps not, indeed, of the reassuring quality generally found in standard programming, but still sufficient to provide protection against the indifferent, overarching, unforgiving vastness and deep, primordial cold of enveloping Outer Space. Three hours.

The Journey of the Magi begins. It takes a while to travel at this time of year by camel, the very worst time for a journey-- and such a long journey: the ways deep, the weather sharp, the very dead of winter. And with Dr. Hal coming down with Scholar's Epizootis, too, a drain of energy. But the festal time must be acknowledged. Oh, it was a merry party, avec Jett, Pete Goldie, Puzzo and KrOB, Lynn and... Michael Peppe. Like the Efreets of Peristan, like Djinn of Chaos, the whirling forces of disorder scattered the show to the four corners of the Earth by the time the National Anthem played. That "Manger" you've heard of-- yes, it was one, but it was in a cave. Saves too much building just for a lot of critters. And then... just look what happened...

In-studio guest Right Reverend Doktor Mother Miller shows Dr. H. Owll and other visitors how to live and flourish, all the while hewing to some of the Principles of the Church of the SubGenius. Archival material gives way to an open symposium of the Sacred and Profane...

A feint by the Goldies. Then, Jett, Puzzling Evidence, Nurse Annabella, and Michael Peppe. An interrupted four-way conversation continued. Technical difficulties. Sparks spitting and smoke. Much stimulation. No floor, ceiling or walls. The cosmic spaces leer. The baying of the Hounds of Tindalos. Keep those cards and letters coming in. Our Country, Like It or Not.

In this episode, Storm Clouds are followed by the usual poems and pedantry. And we bring on the great Zero Boy, the Toast of New York. In fact, also the scrambled eggs, bacon and full glass of orange juice of New York-- then almost through his latest pass through S.F. and adjoining regions. With him came the beauteous DJ Claudia M. Costa, who played the flute to boot. Z.B. riffed-- it's his gift. We concluded with the ruminations of Dr. Pete Goldie, Astronomer Royal to the Ask Dr. Hal! Show and related enterprises. And we raised a few glasses, anticipating Dr. H. Owll's Birthday (November 28th)...

We are constantly bombarded with the so-called Cosmic Rays-- this show explored that phenomenon and some of its ramifications. Starting at about 335 miles, or 56 kilometers above the Earth's surface, this alien radiation breaks atoms apart, and the contents rain down toward the surface at the speed of light, including muons. These transient particles, neither super-heavy nor particularly lightweight, have a mass equal to about 208 electrons. Though they have a short life-span, with a half-life of just two millionths of a second, they can cause harm if they happen to strike the wrong bit of genetic material in a cell's nucleus. 240 muons flash through your body every second. But Michael Peppe, famed Performance Artist, was bravely unconcerned about this as he visited our Ask Dr. Hal! studio. With: KrOB Sabrepop, Puzzling Evidence.

Make sure you're where you're supposed to be. Then, much chagrin will not follow. Do your homework first, before trying something new. That's what we say at ASK DR. HAL! In this episode we are once again visited, courtesy of Puzzling Evidence, with none other than, you guessed it-- Michael Peppe. Just imagine the hi-jinks and hilarity. For enlightened adults only.

As has been pointed out, and ignored, many times, skin impressions are not uncommon among the Dinosauria and have been clearly preserved in sauropods, ornithopods, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs, ceratopsians and theropods; and some are preserved with internal organs. Yet in no case is there evidence of structures that could be remotely construed as feathers. Among the more notable theropods that preserve integument is the Lower Cretaceous Spanish Pelecanimimus, which exhibits an integument with a distinctive cross-hatching on the surface, representing wrinkling of the hide, but the surface of the skin is smooth, devoid of scales, much less hair or feathers. In 1996, Alexander Kellner reported preserved skin in a Brazilian theropod, showing under scanning electron microscopy a very thin epidermis, formed mostly by irregular quadrangles bordered by deep grooves in a crisscross pattern. But, as Mark Twain once said, you can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Studio visitor Dr. Penny came to S.F. to see the (now-cancelled) live show. But we had fun on Reloadio Valencia instead. Much poetry, pedantry and periphrastic perspicacity. Making the best of it. From the depths of Time, the farthest reaches of Space, to your quivering ears.

Thanks to our own Dr. Fiasco, we did, in the end, manage a simulcast, of sorts. Curious about what the debut of the stage show was like? We've got the audio. Yes, it's possible to hear most of what went on, though there are patches of sub-standard sound quality which must be endured along the way... NEXT WEEK: we try again, natch-- until we get this by-Our-Lady simulcast thing down! With Chicken John, David Capurro, Pete Goldie, Dr. Hal-- and the hovering ghost of KrOB (maybe we'll get the real thing back for our second show?)over all. A co-production with the San Francisco Institute of Possibility (SFIOP).

The live Ask Dr. Hal! Show was suddenly and unexpectedly cancelled by Chicken John. Will there be others? Time will tell. Certain internal problems must be dealt with. So it's back to "radio" in the meantime (we like Dr. Goldie's useful term for our podcasts, "Reloadio"). Here we continue to explore the too little-heard poetry of the great American poet Clark Ashton Smith, with a rendition from Dr. Hal of his THE STAR-TREADER. And we also let Samuel Taylor Coleridge (seen above)pay us a call, as that poet's DEJECTION: AN ODE was also interpreted... then, poet Rusty Rebar visited us, as well as RV's own Karen Carpenter, the lovely Sarah Szczechowicz-Goldie, KrOB and even Puzzling Evidence, though the latter was, it turned out, only there to observe. Much fun ensued, you bet...

Studio visitor Dr. Penny came to S.F. to see the (now-cancelled) live show. But we had fun on Reloadio Valencia instead. Much poetry, pedantry and periphrastic perspicacity. Making the best of it. From the depths of Time, the farthest reaches of Space.