In this episode, I talk with Dr. Phil Ford. Phil is an associate professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is the author of the book Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (a cultural history of hipness from the 1930s through the 1960s), the long-running blog Dial 'M' for Musicology, and various essays that have appeared in Representations, Journal of Musicology, Musical Quarterly, and elsewhere. With J. F. Martel he is working on a book titled Weirding, to be published by Strange Attractor Press.

Phil is a pianist, rabid Wagnerite, crap Buddhist, degenerate fight fan, and avid consulter of the I Ching. He wishes that just for once he had an enthusiasm that he didn't have to apologize for or explain to his academic peers. He is also the co-host of the podcast Weird Studies. 

In this episode, we discuss Nick Lowe's song "The Beast in Me". 

Episode Highlights: 

• The UFC and the recent Dana White controversy 
• Carl Jung's notion of the shadow 
• Ursula LeGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea"
• Hal and Sidra Stone's Voice Dialogue therapy 
• Zen Buddhism 
• Alchemical transformation 
• The universal religious impulse 
• Much more!