Last night was the first Vancouver podcaster meetup. It was at the Beatty St Bar & Grill, which I must say had minimal food options for one fish/seafood allergy-prone attendee. Aside from that the Stella came in a big glass and that was good.

The conversation turned at one point to Darren Barefoot’s absence. He was not detained at any border this time, instead he’s down with “flu-like symptoms.” In between discussing microphones and favourite podcasts, we debated the meaning of “flu-like symptoms.” Is it not just the flu? James pointed out that Darren is likely taking the piss. Flu-medication ads always mention “flu-like symptoms” rather than the flu. James also pointed out that weather broadcasters no longer talk about the weather. They talk about “weather events.” So Darren Barefoot is under the weather with flu-like symptoms and stayed home, which is likely best since we’re having a winter storm weather event.

But we did not discuss Darren all night.

I sat at a table with John of Audihertz.net. He has a podcast called Radio Zoom, which you can find on Podcastdirectory.com. I checked it out this morning and I like the music he plays so I’ll subscribe for awhile and see if he becomes a permanent fixture in my listening world. The fun thing about John is that he’s an American living in Canada. His podcast is music based but the personal side is what he describes as “just doing my best to give you more insight on what it’s like to be a boy from Iowa, living in the land of Canada.”

David of Loud Murmurs was also at my table. David, like John, is one of these fabled Americans who left his blue-gone-red state to come to red-gone-blue Canada. He has a background in classical music and is thinking of starting a classical music podcast. He wants to put classical music into context–something like, “listen to this, and this is why it’s important” or really cool. Sounds like something I’d like.

Other folks I met with podcasts are Ted Riecken of IslandPodcasting.com, which is a podcast show about life on Vancouver Island. Exploring culture, natural history and events on the Island. I also met Derek K. Miller of Podcast.penmachine.com, who’s a musician and offers instrumental podcasts. Derek is also podcasting the meetings for the BC branch of the Editors’ Association of Canada. Listen to the EAC meetings. And of course, Tod Maffin, organizer of the podcast meetup.

Things I didn’t know about before:
Daily Breakfast with Father Roderick from CatholicInsider.com.
Quirky Nomads, the story of a family that said, “if the Republicans get any worse, we’re moving to Canada.” And then? They really did. (This is my favourite of the previously unknowns.)
And, Spamusement.com. Poorly drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines.