Ode to Joe

I've written a few times about my recent (and growing) love of podcasts. I enjoy the fact that I listen to only content about which I care. I enjoy the fact that I can listen when it fits in to my schedule instead of being beholden to some faceless programing manager's whims. There's also a strange sense of connection with those who are going to the trouble of creating the shows. There's a passion to the "soup to nuts" quality of podcasters producing, engineering, performing, editing, and advertising their product that you don't find much in mainstream media. That passion comes across in their voices and permeates the show. There's also the fact that I'm able to listen to the entirety of the production so that I hear everything that they intended for me hear. They invite, some to the point of nearly begging, for listener feedback to improve the quality of their shows and to make sure that people are enjoying them. One gets to the point - even though in many cases you don't know how they look - where you feel that you really know these people. That's why some of the recent news was so upsetting.

A few of the podcasts to which I listen are part of the Farpoint Media group. That's a fancy way of saying that a bunch of podcasters have gotten together and are supporting each other with engineering, producing and so forth. They cross-promote and help each other out on the shows as much as they can (or so it seems, at least). One of the voices that we would hear on several of the shows was a man named Joe Murphy. No one would ever say that Joe was the loudest voice on any of the shows, but there always seemed to be great thought, humor, or both behind the words that he would choose to share. He had impeccable timing in his comments. He would seem to speak up when there was a lull in the conversation and would evoke one of the biggest laughs of the show, or he would give his thoughts on the movie that was being reviewed allowing himself to be honest about why he did or didn't like it. He was interesting, funny, and intelligent, with the savvy to allow the other people involved in the production to shine without it hurting his ego. That's why the fact that I have to talk about him in the past tense is so sad.

Joe recently passed away after going through several months of getting progressively bad news. First, they had found a mass in his abdomen. Then they shared the news that it was malignant. The doctors decided to operate, but when Joe woke up from the surgery, he was told that the location of the mass made it such that they couldn't remove it in its current state. It turns out that he had leiomyosarcoma. Basically, it was radiation- and chemotherapy-resistant. On April 1st, Joe's body couldn't keep up any more. Some of his friends in the Farpoint family (because that's really how it seems when you get to know them) put together a tribute show for Joe. Be sure to check it out so that you can hear for yourself how close the community is. Also, while you're following the insane number of links that I've decided to place in this post, I would be remiss if I didn't point you to the various charities that the family and podcasters are encouraging people to support in memory of Joe.

Good-bye, Joe. I enjoyed the times that you let us in to your mind. You'll always have a special place in our hearts. You'll be missed.