Not Bad for a Piano Man

He may not have been a paragon of rockdom, but in the 70s Billy Joel knew how to jam beats out of his piano. His songs are already entertaining, and the pop wisdom they impart are at least worth a smile or two. Only the Good Jog Young is the Weekly Wog, and herein you will indeed find a wog that is paceworthy. My personal favorite is his lively history lesson, We Didn’t Start the Fire, whose lyrics about America’s transgressions and banalities he shouts out with exultant glee. Check it out at Podwogging.com.

Sunshine of your Wog

Of the thousands of rock albums that have been released over the years, only a few were instant hits, and even fewer stand up to the test of time. Disraeli Gears by Cream was such an album. Psychedelia had always chosen blues as its starting idiom, and with Cream, led by Eric Clapton, the British psychedelic blues reached full flower. Heady, pulsing with primal energy, poetic, at times otherworldly, Disraeli Gears was a must listen then, and is still a great listen today. The classic Sunshine of Your Love is the best-known song, but my favorites are Tales of Brave Ulysses and We’re Going Wrong. It’s not a particularly long album, so this One Album Wog is a Quickie, with brisk walking but not much in the way of jogging. Find the BPMs for this week's wog at Podwogging.com!

Through the Past, Woggly

There are times in one’s life when certain music takes on an added importance. A song heard only once may stick in your mind for years, giving it a meaning that is unique to you and perhaps those around you who shared the experience. When was an undergrad at Stanford University in 1972, I spent six months on their overseas campus on a small hill, covered with a vineyard, overlooking Beutelsbach, Germany. We only had a few albums with us, and they tended to get played over and over: the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty, the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman, Jefferson Airplane’s Bark, and albums by Derek & the Dominoes and John Denver are the ones I remember. Thus in honor of those days I’ve concocted two woggings sets, one faster (Schneller) and one slower (Langsamer). This week’s Weekly Wog is the faster one, but I’ve posted both. Check it out...und Viel Glück (good luck)!

Let’s Bounce to Blondie

Last week I strutted to Madonna’s stuff. This week I take on another female singer from the same era, Blondie’s Debbie Harry. Like Madonna, Harry has unfailing pop instincts and a brassy attitude. Unlike the Material Girl, she truly rocks—One Way or Another and Hanging on the Telephone will send you into New Wave Pulse-Pounding Heaven. You’ll also hear classy disco (Heart of Glass), reggae (The Tide is High), punk (Rip Her to Shreds) and rap (Rapture) in this set. Put this one your pod for a high-energy Blondie mix! Check it out at Podwogging.com.

What have I done, Ma?

She’s never really gone out of vogue, and her beats are brisk and true blue. I’m talkin’ about that spotlight-lovin’ pop goddess and and ramped-up vamp, Madonna. In this week’s Weekly Wog, power walk your way through eight of her hits for 37 minutes. You won’t find any of her boyfriends, no kisses from Britney Spears, and no Kabbala either—just pure vintage Madonna pop from the 80s. See it at Podwogging.com!

It’s All About the Shoes

To teenagers, this statement is self-evidently obvious. Though it refers here to functionality more than fashion statement, the same can be said for woggers. What you shove your feet into before you hit the path can have a huge effect on your workout. It can mean the difference between a sore toe and healthy one, between a fallen arch and a strong one. A good shoe can make your wog a pleasure; a poor one can turn your joints into a collection of groans.

I get my shoes from a place called The Next Step, out on San Pablo Ave. in Albany. They not only sell me shoes, they make sure I have the right kind of insert installed, adding even more cushioning for my feet. They even warm the inserts up before I put them on for the first time, which allows them to properly mold to my feet. Since inserts wear out before the shoes do, I can always duck in for a new pair.

The brand I get is Asics. They aren’t cheap, but at my age I’m willing to pay a bit extra to ensure my body doesn’t break down before it needs to.

This Weekly Wog on Podwogging.com: Legendary Pink Floyd was known more for romps through auditory space than for beat-solid rock. But there’s enough exquisite woggable material in their mind-freaking bag of musical tricks to make this set possible. So take a short, sharp, shock and Jog Like Hell.

The Somatic Self

We humans may know about Time and Fate and how to put computer chips into running shoes, but we’re still cut from the same cloth as our furry and scaly friends, and unless we disappear into the Matrix we will continue to spend much of our time hauling our bodies around. So let me go Zen master on you: Posture counts! Keep your head up and eyes forward, check for shoulder slump! And don’t forget, Grasshopper, to watch the cat and the dog and the even snake, how their bodies stretch naturally when they move. For us, being bipedal puts extra stress on our bodies as we take gravity head on, so RELAX, dammit!

OK, that felt good. This all leads to the Weekly Wog, of course, and this ÜberWog is dedicated to the rest of the Food Chain: Animüberals. Great songs by the Beatles, David Bowie, The Beastie Boys (of course), Cream, Joni Mitchell and others, all set to your inner Relaxed Beast. 47 minutes, Very Light. Something tells me it’s all happening at Podwogging.com.