ON PICKING UP ADAM SMITH FROM THE AIRPORT ...

Wes Hazard, a Boston-based writer, stand up comic and radio DJ. (on twitter @weshazard and at  www.weshazard.com ) posts onThe Missouri Review HERE 

“So You’re Picking Up Adam Smith from the Airport"

So, you’re picking up one of your favorite literary figures (poetry or prose, living or dead) from the airport before taking them to dinner and conducting an interview. You’re a huge fan and you’re super excited about the assignment, but also a bit nervous. Relax. The main thing you need to be concerned with is having a kickass playlist going on the tape deck when you roll up to the terminal and I’m here to help. I offer no guarantees, but with some deductive reasoning, digital crate digging, and intuition I think we can manage something that leaves everyone comfortable, happy, and bobbing their heads.

Below is a 12 track set that I think should get you from the airport and back again with some stops in between. You can play it in sequence, but it will work on mix-mode as well (this might even be better). The important thing is to have it already playing when you pick them up and to not discuss it at all unless they bring it up first. Basically, play it cool and act like you’ve been there before. I can in no way guarantee that they’ll actually dig this, but I have my hopes. Worst case scenario, just have NPR locked in as station preset 1 in case things get desperate. Best of luck!

Your passenger this week is none other than Adam Smith the Scottish philosopher and academic, widely recognized as the father of modern economics. Smith was a noted lecturer and considered himself primarily a moral philosopher but his name is indelibly linked to The Wealth of Nations, an econ text that’s been praised or dismissed (or both) by just about every school & faction of economics since it was written. Buckle up! Let’s talk about $$$$$$$.”

Comment

It is probably light-hearted but I am too busy just now to follow the links.  I like the idea though as entertainment and invite you to try the links to his list of programmes using the same themes.

Always happy to spread new ideas and themes that demonstrate innovation and new areas of market economies.  After all, that is what got humans from being just animals at the mercies of their environment to becoming socialy-linked in societies that eventually brought us to our current written history via our pre-histories.  True we still have a long-ways to go …