One of the singular pleasures of working in genre podcasting is that it’s one of the few places, for me at any rate, where the much vaunted Geek community actually is a community. Podcasting is a WEIRD job. You spend a lot of time in airing cabinets or under blankets. There’s a remarkable amount of obsession about breathing required. You sometimes find yourself appearing out of nowhere in locked interview rooms. It’s a whole thing.
Two of the very best UK geek culture podcasts are defined by that very sense of community. The Parlour is a place for anyone and everyone to come and talk nerdy, whether you like comics, films, TV shows, books, video games-whatever your nerdy colours are, they’re accepted here. And who knows, there may occasionally be cake!
Geek Syndicate is a weekly (well most of the time) podcast celebrating and commenting all aspects of geek life. It is one of the longest running geek related podcasts in the UK. The success of the podcast led to its hosts, Barry Nugent and David Monteith, to present two documentaries for the BBC iPlayer channel.
On Saturday 28th April, Stacey Taylor (host of Stacey’s Pop Culture Parlour) will be leading the fight against heart disease with a 24 hour charity podcast. The third SPCP Live Event will be co-hosted by Barry Nugent (of the Geek Syndicate podcast).
“Back in 2014, I was looking for something to do for charity that wouldn’t involve something as terrifying as throwing myself out of a plane or clambering down the side of a tall building, but would be enough of a challenge that people would part with some cash to support it. A friend suggested that I turn my monthly podcast into a live endurance event: 24 hours of non-stop Stacey chatting, with guests, interviews and competitions! Thus, Stacey’s Pop Culture Parlour Live (#SPCPLive) was born”, explains Stacey.
The duo will be chatting all things telly, comics, books, music, video games and more, as well as being joined by guests from the world of pop culture to keep them company. The event will be broadcast live from Stacey’s home in Great Barr to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
“Both my mum and my brother were my heroes, so when Stacey asked me which charity we could support for this event it was a no brainer for me” explains Barry, who suggested the British Heart Foundation as the beneficiary as he sadly lost his mum and eldest brother to heart disease. “It’s especially important when you see some of the scary stats around heart disease.”
Stacey said “I knew that the BHF was the perfect choice, as in addition to Barry’s reasons, I suffer from a rare form of heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White-Syndrome which causes palpitations involving episodes of my heart pounding from between a few seconds to several hours. The resources from the BHF following my diagnosis were an invaluable source of information and anxiety-reducing comfort to me.”
“We hope to be entertaining, to highlight the work the charity does and raise money for a great cause.”
You can tune in from 9am on Saturday 28th April via mixlr.com/spcp-live and can donate before, after or during the show to help us do our bit to combat heart disease at www.justgiving.com/spcplive3 The British Heart Foundation funds vital life saving research preventing, diagnosing and treating heart and circulatory disease including connected conditions such a stroke, vascular dementia and risk factors such as Diabetes. Help us to help the BHF by either spreading the word about the event or donating whatever you can to it.
The hashtags for the event are #SPCPLive #TeamUpAgainstHeartDisease
These are great people, doing a really good thing. Infinity War may be the crossover getting the headlines next week but trust me, this is the one you want to listen to.