Sci Fi for the Spry

Science fiction and techno music have been married ever since those cheesy flying saucer flicks from the Fifties employed nerds to create the first spacey sound effects. As the technology improved, those spacey sounds found their way into mainstream pop music, and when the first synthesizers burst on the scene, a new musical idiom was borne. Soon, the music became more than just a movie soundtrack—they were an end in themselves. This week’s wog celebrates sci fi songs from a variety of performers: Jefferson Starship, Kraftwerk, Blue Öyster Cult, Alan Parsons, and others provide the “serious” side of sci fi, while Zager & Evans, Styx, The Bonzo Dog Band, and Electric Light Orchestra poke campy fun at it. Robots, Time Travel, Spacejacking, Dystopias...it’s 52 minutes of über good wogging fun! Beam over to Podwogging.com now, Number One!

Fools Wog In

Hey, you just won a free iPod! And an invitation to participate in the IPWC (International Podwogging Championships) to be held in Sydney, Australia, this Thursday, April...uh...first. Oh well. Maybe I’m a fool for thing king I could fool you. But I have a nice little wog to celebrate April Fools, which you can find at (natch) Podwogging.com. In this week’s wog you’ll find all kinds of songs about fools, from Ricky Nelson’s Fools Rush In, to completely different two songs with the name Ship of Fools by The Doors and Elvis Costello (and it could have been three with the one by the Dead) to Martha’s Foolish Ginger by Tori Amos. Also with tunes by Bonnie Raitt, the Stone Roses, Robin Trower, and Steely Dan, It’ll give you 39 minutes of motley fun on the wogging trail.

Spring Forward with Donovan

I couldn’t wait for a reflection day in Summer, so the first wog of the Spring is by Donovan, that Groovy Bard from England. It’s just that Donovan’s breezy ‘n’ sassy folk rock songs feel more springlike than anything else I can think of. If you’re like me, you’ll wear your love beads like heaven, get your fat angel off the couch, and feel like a sunshine superman once you finish this more mellow than yellow walk. And may your beach at sunset never end...at Podwogging.com.

Wog ö’ the Irish

I tell ya lad, there’s nothin’ like a breakfast boiled early and a couple of fiddles to get me blood goin’ fer a very vigorous podwog out in the country now. So do as I say and hie over ta Podwogging.com so you can get your fill o’ the latest ÜberWog that my lad James here has cooked up fer ya. Faith, besides the Chieftains and the Pogues and Planxty, fine Irish lads all, bless ‘em, you’ll also discover a few Irish lasses, like The Corrs, the Cranberries, and Enya. Oh, and just to show you he’s not so old as all that, he’s included some special contemporary artists like Snow Patrol, Ronan Hardiman, and Damien Rice. Nearly an hour of Irish music of all stripes—it’s a perfect way to celebrate St. Patty’s Day, so what are ya waitin’ for?

Streetwise, Beatwise

If you’re like me, sometimes you don’t have time head out to a running track or a nice soft trail in the woods. So you learn to survive on the urban pathways. This week’s wog celebrates the streets in pop songhood, from the Dead’s Shakedown Street to Bob Seger’s Mainstreet to Donovan’s Sunny Goodge Street. The streets can be mean or they can be liberating, it all depends on how you handle yourself, which for woggers means keeping your eyes open for cars, bikes, and road hazards. And while it may not be fun to jog in place at a traffic light, your life may depend on it. Get your streets and beats at Podwogging.com.

Brownie Points

Whether contemplating his girlfriend’s pregnancy or fantasizing about escaping on the road, Jackson Browne pretty much embodied the zeitgeist of the 70s: wanting to find spiritual fulfillment, yet not willing to quite give up the creature comforts brought about by America’s economic perch sustained by global military domination. Ah, life as the guilty conscience of America can be tough. Good thing he knew how to rock out, as this week’s wog surely demonstrates: to balance the agony of The Fuse or Rock Me on the Water we have the kick-out-the-jams Redneck Friend and The Road and the Sky. You don’t have to walk on water, just get your sneakers out on the roadside and wog. The roadmap is at Pogwogging.com.

Bet you can’t wog to it just once...

All too often, exercise music ignores melody for rhythm: thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-step-step-step-step-ho-hum. Why not let your heart sing to the song while your feet jog along? That’s why this week’s wog, Hooked On Melodics—and it’s a Wog-a-Thon at that—features some of my favorite pure melodies in pop music, without sacrificing a steady beat. The Beatles, Guster, Collective Soul, Sarah McLachlan, Til Tuesday, UB40—these are just a few of the artists who will stroke your eardrums while you walk and jog. It’s 63 minutes of brisk exercise bliss, and you’ll only find it at Podwogging.com.