The final Inversally Delirious webisode of 2010 squeaks in! Tra-la, tra-lo!

Lots to celebrate here: an interview with Scott Wallace Brown, Manager of Video Americaine, and a sneak-listen to the Texas Board of Education as they scan a technical manual for "offensive" language. All this, and BedBugs!

Thanks to the South Dakota Health Department for the show graphic!

Reflecting on the brief history of our stately podcast, The Inverse Delirium, which made its debut on the 30th of April, 2010, and has racked up nearly 2000 downloads in all, I'm happiest about two things:

• Discovering automation

• Opening the door

Automation is a software feature that lets me pre-set mixing levels for essential effects like cross-fades—the major reason recent shows have smoother transitions and better mixes. My son showed me this feature, bless him.

As for Opening the Door, that changed the podcast from a me-centered extravaganza--my own Goon Show--to something that lets me pull friends and friendly strangers into my own weird delirium.

I opened the door a crack in #6 (Jobs!), when I wrote a sketch based on real resume-writing techniques that (resume-writing expert) Susan Ireland provided for me, and then recorded both 'sides' of the 'interview' myself. I liked that mix of comedy, characters, and real information.

A few shows later, the task of doing all the voices myself started to seem like a handicap, especially in the area of female voices. So I started to ask friends and colleagues to 'act' for me, giving them lines to read and recording them.

Why not? I thought. New voices help the show.

And with that, I made a deliberate turn away from all-me-all-the-time goonery to something that reached out into the real world (of Baltimore) and dragged real people into the Delirium. And it's so fun!

Thus, in a podcast originally intended as a vehicle for me to show off my voice-over skills, I love the fact that Karen Morley, the President of the Baltimore Bird Club, agreed to play a birder superhero(ine) in #15! She'd never met me, but graciously agreed to take part (once I'd explained the idea a few times).

My wonderful guests for this year's shows include friends like Novella Kourouma, Shishir Sharma, Mohit Gupta, Dawn Gillings, Armando Perea, and the lovely and talented Amazing Betty and her daughter Anne Dugan.

And there were local musician friends like Karyn Oliver, Ken Gutberlet, MosNo, Sahffi, and the sublime Marc Avon Evans.

And finally, reputable Baltimoreans like: Craig Boarman of the Ottobar; Karen Morley of the Baltimore Bird Club; Josh Davidson of BeMore Films; Scott Wallace Brown of Video Americaine, and Spoken word performer Ad-Lib

There was also valuable help and support from Eric Willison, Ty Ford, Susan Ireland, Betty Witzman Dugan, Charlie Barton, Steve Kanaras, and Lisa Welchman.

And I had helpful exchanges with Jen Bloomer at the National Aquarium, Jackie Bonomo at the Audubon Society, and Jerry King at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. I hope to include them in the fun next year.

To all my guests, a deeply appreciative Thank You. And to everyone who listened, Thank YOU!

I intend to continue in this vein of genuine fakery, exploring sights and sounds both real and imagined, with characters and "real" “people” playing "versions" of "themselves."

Finally, since the shows have gotten longer (from 8 minutes to almost 14) and more complex, with friends/voice actors to schedule and record, the official frequency of the podcast is: two to three weeks or so, with occasional breaks.

Season's Gribblings to all. gw

PS. I'm going to TRY to get one more show in before the new year!

Our podcast leads off with a touch of magic, then offers a hard-hitting investigative report on the origins of the "Otto" in Baltimore's celebrated rock venue The Ottobar, before catching up on the Catch Phrase situation. Finally, a perch-down interview with the Maryland State Bird, with help from birder superheroine Karen Morley.

Guest-star: spoken-word performer Ad-Lib as Ron Ventricle.

Special thanks to: Craig Boarman (co-owner of the Ottobar) and Karen Morley, President of the Baltimore Bird Club, both of whom risked grave professional repercussions by appearing.

Finally, our show graffic comes from the website of nature photographer Christopher Taylor.