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Mike Duncan (00:00):

Hello, and welcome to Revolutions. Random Insert Revolutions Podcast Update Okay, so before we get going on the French Revolution, I have a little grab bag of logistical behind-the-scenes stuff I want to go through that I didn’t want cluttering up the first episode on the three estates. So in no particular order, here is some stuff.

(00:35):

First, the Maiden Revolutions Tour, which I just got back from, was fantastic. We saw the Poet Bridge, where the first English Civil War started, and Fort Royal Park, where John Adams yelled at some ignorant villagers. We saw where Cromwell was temporarily buried in Westminster Abbey before they dug him up and posthumously beheaded him after the Restoration. We went to the site of the Putney Debates, and the Banqueting House at Whitehall, where King Charles was executed. Then we went down to Paris, and saw the Palace at Versailles, and the remains of the Bastille, and the Place de la Concorde, where King Louis and Robespierre were guillotined. We saw Marie Antoinette’s cell, and the chapel where the Girondins sat down to their last meal. In between, we ate, and we drank, and we made merry. There was much merry-making. We’re already planning more tours for next year, another run through England and France for sure, but also an American Revolutions tour through Boston and Philadelphia. So stay tuned, please, because these trips are ridiculously fun, and I want you all to come.

(01:33):

Second, a while ago, brilliant listener Joseph suggested a much better way to number the episodes. I wish I had thought of it before the show launched. Instead of just running numbers in sequence like I’ve been doing, I’m implementing a chapter system that will hopefully organize the episodes much more logically. So the English Revolution episodes will now be 1.1, 1.2, 1.3. The American Revolution episodes will be 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and the first episode of the French Revolution will be episode 3.1.

(02:06):

While I’m at it, the supplementals will all be properly marked so that they sort in the order they were released. I’m sorry it won’t really help you for those who have come this far with me already, but it’ll be better going forward, and better for new listeners coming in later. You always wish you did everything right out of the gate, but the best you can do when you didn’t is to try and fix it, and this, I think, is a pretty good fix.

(02:30):

The next thing is a little bit of a bigger deal. As some of you know, since the start of Revolutions, I’ve been trying to make this what I do. Well, this and being a part-time stay-at-home dad, which, wow, is pretty much the most exhausting job I’ve ever had. As some of you also know, in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve been a fairly terrible capitalist, much to the chagrin of my more business-savvy friends and listeners. There’s no merch, I don’t charge for anything, I’m not selling back episodes, really, I’m not very good at squeezing money out of this thing. But I’ve come to a crossroads. What I’ve been doing with the occasional ads, and you’ll see one attached to the next episode, and generous, but always voluntary donations, has been keeping my head just below the waterline. But unfortunately not above the waterline. So going forward, there are going to be a few naked fundraising schemes. I’ll keep it minimal, and tasteful, but to keep this thing going, I’m going to have to get a little more proactive about the money thing. Like there’s this Gentleman Johnny’s Party Train North American Tour 77 shirt that I should probably just be selling. That way I can do what you all keep telling me you want me to do, which is to stay chained to my computer 24 hours a day, pumping out episodes.

(03:45):

I’ll end with two notes about the coming French Revolution series. First, I have decided to throw out the window any attempt to confine it to 15 episodes. There’s so much to talk about, and so much of it is so wonderfully complicated, that we’re just going to go through it at whatever pace it takes. I would not be surprised if we don’t get to Napoleon until Christmas.

(04:06):

Second, French is not a language I excel at. But in anticipation of the problem, I did come up with a massive list of every person, place, or thing I might possibly talk about, and handed it off to five very generous French-speaking listeners who offered to help me not fall on my face. So to Brian, and Duncan, and Hervé, and JF, and Michel, I want to extend my deepest, deepest appreciation. They will deserve all the credit when I get this stuff right, and please none of the blame when I still inevitably blow it. But at least I won’t be calling it the Edict of Nance.

(04:45):

Okay, so that is everything for now. To sum up, the tour was great, more to come. Episodes will be numbered better from here on out. I’m going to have to get more proactive about the money thing. And the French Revolution will take as long as it takes.

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Tours. Episode Numbering. Money. Parlez-vous français?

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