The Road to Now

This is a rebroadcast of episode #6, which originally aired in July of 2016. In this episode of The Road to Now, we speak with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper about his new memoir The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics and the ways that his peculiar & fascinating life interact with the greater history of our country. Gov. Hickenlooper shares his family history, which he traces back to the earliest settlers of the Pennsylvania colony in the 1680s, and talks about a wide variety of fascinating topics including the urban/rural split in Colorado, the Grateful Dead, and his friendship with Kurt Vonnegut. Gov. Hickenlooper also talks about his years as a geologist, working in real estate, opening Denver's first brew pub, and the value that comes from hanging a light on one's weaknesses in the pursuit of excellence. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed our time with Gov. Hickenlooper. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

In 2002, Ashley Capps took a gamble- he rented hundreds of acres in rural Tennessee and put on a music festival. Coming on the heels of the infamous Lollapalooza '99 and an unsuccessful festival at the same site two years earlier, few thought Ashley could pull it off. As you (and the 80,000 people who attended the festival this year) know, Ashley and his partners proved the doubters wrong and created one of the most iconic festivals in modern America. Bob and Ben caught up with Ashley Capps back stage at Bonnaroo to talk about the history of Bonnaroo, how Ashley selected Manchester, TN, and the changes in the live music industry that have happened since he began working in live music decades ago. He also shares his insight on building the relationships that make a major festival sustainable. Bob also shares his experiences playing Bonnaroo with the Avett Brothers from the small stage in 2006 to the main stage in 2019. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

On August 15, 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in the United States to say farewell to the country whose independence he helped secure more than four decades earlier. Over the next 15 months, Lafayette visited all 24 states, meeting with old friends and attending celebrations hosted by Americans who flocked to see the last-living Major General of the Revolutionary War whose close friendship with George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson Jefferson shaped both the American and French Revolutions. Since 2017, Julien Icher has been working to document the 5,000 mile journey that Lafayette took during his farewell visit. Icher, himself a Frenchman, has a remarkable skill set that combines the best of primary source-based research with the technical knowledge required for digital mapping. The result is The Lafayette Trail- a publicly accessible map that allows users to see Lafayette's physical route, as well as the people, places and events he encountered along the way. In this episode, Ben speaks with Julien Icher about Lafayette's contribution to American Independence, his life after returning to France, and the farewell tour that inspired Julien to create The Lafayette Trail. We also speak about the history of Franco-American friendship and why both countries are better when we work together. Julien Icher is the Founder and Executive Director of The Lafayette Trail, which he established in March 2017 at the Consulate General of France in Boston. Julien is in the process of raising funds for phase two of the Lafayette trail, which is a roadside historical marker program to commemorate the legacy of Lafayette's visit to dozens of communities across the United States. If you would like to contribute to, or learn more about this project, visit his GoFundMe page by clicking here. The Road to Now is a proud member of the Osiris Podcast Network. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

As the person responsible for documenting the Obama Administration, Pete Souza spent more time with Barack Obama than almost anyone else, which left him with some deep in sights on Obama and the office of the Presidency. In this episode, Pete joins Bob for a conversation about his work as Chief Official White House Photographer, the state of American politics, and the power of photography. Pete's most recent book, Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents (Little, Brown, & Co, 2018) uses photography to contrast the stark differences between the Presidency of Barack Obama and that of Donald Trump. This episode is the third in our "Wolftrap Series" recorded during The Avett Brothers' three night run at Wolftrap in Vienna, VA. Click here for our conversation w/ Robert Costa and click here to become a Patron and get the "Maycember in Wolftrap" Patreon Extra episode. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher and Bob Crawford. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

Bob speaks with The Washington Post's Robert Costa about the methods used by reporters covering the White House and Capitol Hill. Costa talks about how journalists build and maintain trust with confidential sources inside of the White House, how an article is constructed when multiple reporters share a byline, and everything else that goes into writing the first draft of history. Bob and Robert also talk about music, Robert's early years working in the music industry, and their shared love of Phish. Robert Costa covers politics for the Washington Post, is an analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, and is the moderator for Washington Week, which airs Friday nights at 8 on PBS. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

On May 18 2016, Ben and Bob launched the first three episodes of their new podcast called The Road To Now. One of the guests in those episodes was a young journalist named Matt Negrin, who Bob met during a visit to the set of Bloomberg's With All Due Respect. In the three years since, Matt Negrin has moved from Bloomberg Politics to Comedy Central, where he is currently Senior Producer at The Daily Show. Even more impressive, Matt has become the all-time record holder for appearances on RTN and has become one of our good friends. In this episode, we celebrate RTN's Third Anniversary by welcoming Matt back to the show. Thank you to everyone who has helped us keep this podcast going for three years! If you want to support The Road To Now, join us on Patreon where you'll get lots of extras to say thank you for your patronage. Click here to support RTN on Patreon! Matt was a writer and content producer on the The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library Book- you can get a copy at The Daily Show's website by clicking here. You can follow Matt on twitter at @MattNegrin. This episode was edited by the fantastic Gary Fletcher. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

In 1776, the US declared independence. Eleven years later, in 1787, delegates from 12 states (we're looking at YOU Rhode Island) got together in Philadelphia and wrote the Constitution. In between those triumphant moments, there was the Articles of Confederation, that "firm league of friendship" that most Americans probably know primarily as something they had to memorize for a history test. HOWEVER The Articles of Confederation, while certainly not a highlight of the American experiment, explain a lot about the American Revolution, the ideas that defined the founding generation, and the ways those ideas changed in the first years of independence. In fact, you can't really understand the US Constitution unless you understand the Articles and why they failed. SO In this episode, Bob and Ben speak with Greg Jackson about this very topic. Greg is Assistant Professor of Integrated Studies at Utah Valley University and host of the podcast History That Doesn't Suck. We hope you enjoy our conversation on the Articles of Confederation! Speaking of great history- why not get an audiobook from libro.fm? You can get three months of membership, which includes one book a month, for just $14.99 with promo code RTN. The Road to Now is a proud founding member of the Osiris Podcast Network.

RTN Theology now is now on its own podcast feed! Subscribe anywhere you get The Road to Now for RTN Theology episodes 12-19 and more! In this episode of RTN Theology, Bob talks with Christian social ethicist-activist, author, and Professor at Iliff School of Theology, Dr. Miguel De La Torre. Bob and Miguel discuss liberation theology and the connection between the theology shared by slaveholders during the antebellum and Civil War periods with the theology professed by many prominent evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell Jr. Del La Torre's 36th book, Burying White Privilege, was based on his article November 2017 article, "The Death of Christianity in the US," which went viral after it appeared in Baptist News Global. De La Torre does not mince words as he takes on white Evangelicals, Catholics, and Protestants, who he believes have made a Faustian bargain, trading the gospel for political influence. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

The data collection practices of companies such as facebook, google and amazon have led many Americans to wonder if privacy is dead. Though these companies are relatively new, this is far from the first time that Americans have felt their privacy to be under attack. In this episode, we speak with Vanderbilt University's Sarah Igo to learn about the ways that Americans have understood privacy from the advent of "instant photography" in the 1890s to the rise of the internet in the 21st century. Dr. Sarah E. Igo is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Program in American Studies, as well as the inaugural Faculty Director of E. Bronson Ingram College at Vanderbilt University. Her book, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America was published by Harvard university Press in 2018. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

Hidetaka Hirota joins Bob and Ben for a conversation about the history of immigration law in the United States and the ways that government officials have decided who could and could not enter the United States. Hidetaka discusses the creation of Federal immigration law and the ways that looking at state immigration policies in the early to mid-19th century can help us understand the Immigration and Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882. Dr. Hidetaka Hirota is Assistant Professor of History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan). His book Expelling the Poor: Atlantic Seaboard States and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of American Immigration Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) has won multiple awards. Want to support The Road to Now and get extra episodes and other content? Join us on Patreon! The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all other episodes, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.