-You can find tour dates, news, merch, and music, including Slaid's latest album, Ghost on the Car Radio, at Slaid's website: slaid.com or slaidcleaves.com (there's a new website coming soon- stay tuned for that).
-Slaid is back in the studio, making his first album in five years with producer Scrappy Jud Newcomb. This will be Slaid's third album with Newcomb.
-Slaid is back on tour! Tour dates start on the west coast in March and new dates are added all the time on his website. Sign up for the mailing list to stay in the know. He's not on social media much, but you can reach him through the website.
Here's a link to the official Troubadours on Trek Spotify Playlist, where you can hear all the featured songs from every episode in one playlist (songs will be added as episodes air on Patreon):
-Slaid's song pairing for this episode: "Is It Like Today?" by Eliza Gilkyson and the original version of "Is It Like Today?" by World Party (Karl Wallinger of The Waterboys)
-Grace's song pairing for this episode: “War” by The Temptations
-Slaid's featured song is "If I Had a Heart," from his latest album, Ghost on the Car Radio.
Corrections:
- The two factions in "The Omega Glory" (TOS 2:23) are the "Kohms" and the "Yangs" (I said "Kahns" in this recording instead of "Kohms").
- "Balance of Terror" (TOS 1:14) gets its name from the expression that refers to the nuclear arms race of the Cold War. But this episode is not about mutually assured destruction, per se. If I'm missing any other Star Trek episodes that tackle the subject, let me know!
- It's "The Man in the High Castle," not "Man in the High Tower," and it is indeed based on the novel of the same name, written by Philip K. Dick.
- Slaid is entirely correct about Star Trek's Nielson ratings in the 60's. When Star Trek aired on NBC, its ratings were low, and the network cancelled it in its third season. It's useful to keep in mind, however, that at the time the vast majority of TV viewers were watching only three broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, or NBC. So even a show with "low ratings" in the 60's would have commanded a much larger audience than a show with "low ratings" today. So it's kind of hard to make comparisons today. But its true that Star Trek didn't really become the hit show that it is today with its cult following and influence on popular culture until the 70's, when it was in syndication.
- Is Q, and the coinciding Q Continuum, immortal? The much loved character Q, from Star Trek: Next Generation is an omnipotent being with the ability to control time and space at will. Q is part of a collective, the Q Continuum, which exists in another dimension not accessible or understandable to humans. Q is not a benevolent being. He is better described as bored than benevolent. Although he has a fascination with Picard and with humanity and its historical outcomes, he is at times antagonistic and arbitrarily cruel. Trelane, the antagonist of this episode, "The Squire of Gothos," is a precursor to Q. The question of whether or not Q can decline or die has been recently raised as a possible plot line in the newest season of Star Trek: Picard, currently airing on Paramount Plus.
