Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

LEVAR BURTON (VOICEOVER): Hi.

I'm LeVar Burton.

And this is "LeVar Burton Reads."

In every episode, I handpick a different piece

of short fiction, and I read it to you.

Only thing these stories have in common is that I love them.

And I hope you will, too.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

As an artist these days, there are so

many outlets for expression that simply

didn't exist when I got into the business in the late '70s.

And the change that has most recently sort

of infiltrated entertainment and storytelling

is our ability to create content on our own

and find a way to share it with people.

And that's really important.

I call it the democratization of content creation.

The barrier to entry is so low.

We all have the tools or can, with a very small investment,

have the tools that give us the opportunity

to produce a quality, professional grade

product that we can then share with an audience.

It's permission to read a story, the text, a microphone, just

a quiet environment, and a bottle of water, and I'm good.

My entry into podcasting came about

because I had my eye on the space,

and I was really impressed with the quality of work

that was being done.

And at the time, I was really looking

for an artistic expression where I really didn't

need anyone's permission.

For a lot of the work that I do, there's

a network or a studio involved, and to get the green light,

to get the permission, to get the opportunity

to do that which it is I love to do,

there's a chain of yeses that have to take place.

I was able to pitch this idea, "LeVar Burton Reads," where

I read a short story in every episode.

So it was an opportunity for me with very little barrier

to entry, do something that I love that was creative

and that I could share with other people.

I tend to lean heavily in the area of speculative fiction,

because it's my favorite genre of literature to read,

especially for enjoyment.

But I'm doing this for myself knowing

that it provides a great benefit for others, as well.

At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020,

I made a decision to read live on the internet via Twitter.

"Cece was mad.

Who were those boys to say she couldn't be a pirate?

They had probably never even been on a boat."

And there's just something really comforting for folks,

especially in uncertain times to be

able to engage in an activity that is familiar and soothing.

And for the audience of adults now

that grew up on "Reading Rainbow," for some reason

hearing the sound of my voice is a balm for them.

And I love that.

And so I lean into it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I think the best thing that a person at home

could do for themselves if they were interested in starting

a podcast is know what it is you want your podcast

to be about and offer something of value to your audience.

Right?

Don't think that just because you have a microphone

you have something interesting to say,

unless it is on a subject or a subject matter

that you know well.

It's hard to be the singular presence on a podcast.

I do it because my podcast has a very specific format.

And unless I'm interviewing an author, which

I do do on occasion, it really is

about me introducing the story, reading the story,

and then doing a postscript on the story.

I call them little epistles that I

do at the end, where I comment on how the story moved

me or impacted me.

And sometimes that leads me into a conversation or discussion

about other topics that are related.

So most of the time, you're going

to find yourself, though, with a partner, a podcast partner.

So make sure that this is somebody

that you can get along with, have a history

of getting along with.

After all, you're going to be cooped up in a booth

with that person for hours on end,

depending upon how long you do the podcast for.

So it's just a good idea to know your subject matter.

I don't think it's necessary for one to have sound design,

but if it is appropriate, there is

a wealth of material-- music, sound effects-- that

are in the public domain that can be had for no money that

will definitely bring a finishing,

a grace note to your effort.

Especially if you are doing a storytelling podcast,

if you're sharing stories with folks,

it really does help to enhance it

to locate that audience member in the environment

of the story.

And if you're reading on your podcast, please make sure you

have permissions from the author and publisher.

People have worked hard to produce

this intellectual property.

Find out who the publisher is and contact them.

They get inquiries all the time.

So find out who the publisher is,

who is it that handles the artists that you're

interested in licensing material from,

and they will lead you through the process.

Plan ahead and make sure that your episodes are mapped out,

that you have something of value to offer your audience.

And then, of course, as always, have fun.

Right?

Enjoy what you do, and your audience

will tend to enjoy it right along with you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

This is an excerpt from one of my favorite authors,

a short story of NK Jemison's.

The story is entitled "Cuisine des Memoires."

And in the story, our protagonist

has been invited to a meal, and the restaurant

advertises that they can produce any meal

from any moment in time, if you give them the date.

And he's been instructed to not wander.

He makes a ruse that he has to go to the bathroom,

and he sneaks downstairs to the kitchen.

"I reached the bottom of the stairwell.

I would tell them I had gotten lost looking for the bathroom.

'Very sorry.

You understand.' I reached the bottom step and silence fell.

The kitchen was empty.

I blinked, unsure of my eyes for a moment.

When I opened them, I saw what I had before--

a stainless steel, perfectly modern industrial kitchen

so spick and span, that it's every surface gleamed.

And it was completely empty.

There were no chefs at work, though,

I knew I'd heard voices.

There were no plates half-filled,

no pans sizzling over leaping flames.

There were no flames.

If this kitchen had ever been used, there was no sign of it.

I took a step forward, and the kitchen changed.

Where there had been bright light and gleaming

antiseptic surfaces, now basket-crowded shelves

lined sooty stone walls.

Only light in the place came from a few candles

and a briskly burning fire at the hearth--

hearth nearby.

Where there had been a starkly empty chamber,

now three men bustled frantically

about a claustrophobic kitchen, one of them shouting orders

in French--

true French, not the New Orleans patois--

at two others who hasten to obey.

The pan that he moved back and forth over a black iron stove

was a flame, its ingredients filling the air

with the aroma of garlic and cilantro and perhaps brandy.

'What?' It was the most intelligent question I could

come up with.

'Who?' The chefs ignored me.

They were too busy.

Where had the steel kitchen gone?

What had just happened?

I would have to brave the head chef's wrath for answers.

So I took another step forward, intending

to touch the man on the shoulder.

But as my foot touched the floor tiles,

the kitchen changed again.

And this time, I stiffened in a shock so profound,

that if I had been an orthodox man,

I would have said that God had tapped me on the shoulder."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

One of the reasons I love this story in particular,

"Cuisine des Memoire," is that the concept,

the conceit of the story, is so out there, so fantastic.

And what she manages to do in this story

is present a tale of this really unusual, fantastic event--

the ability of this restaurant and its kitchen

to reproduce any meal from any period in time.

At the beginning of the story, it's

offered to produce Marie Antoinette's last meal.

And so our hero decides to really test the kitchen.

And he decides to order a meal that only two

people were present for, him and his beloved.

And his beloved and he are divorced,

and so he knows that they have no opportunity to contact her.

And so he orders a meal that they shared together.

And what we discover throughout the course of the tale,

is that this is indeed a fantastical place,

and the way these meals are prepared and delivered

may have, in fact, do have some kind of supernatural bent

to them.

So for those reasons alone, I love this story.

It's also set in New Orleans, which

is one of my favorite cities.

And I love food.

And the descriptions of the meals

that NK includes in the story are really

fun to read out loud and savor as I'm reading the words.

You know?

"Garlic and cilantro and perhaps brandy," right?

So it's an opportunity to really, in that moment,

experience those smells, experience--

have that experience recreated in my imagination.

The expression that is important in podcasting really--

because you only have you're listening ear

as an audience member.

So what you want to do is be as expressive as you can.

And, of course, on my podcast, we

do a little light scoring just to sort of locate

the listener in the environment in which the scene or the story

takes place.

So here's what I really want you to take away from this section.

And that is that the skills that one

uses in reading aloud to children or adults

or podcasting, they're really all the same.

Right?

It's just you adjust them slightly

for the environment in which you're performing.

And so it's not like there are different techniques

that you use for one thing as opposed to another.

The skill and the level of comfort and comfortability

with what you're doing remain constant.

They're consistent.

It's how you apply them in each given situation that

determines they're appropriate and most natural use.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Podcasting is so popular these days,

almost everybody, it seems, has one.

So there are a couple of things to really remember.

When I am recording a podcast, on the day I record,

I don't drink any cold liquids.

Physics.

Heat tends to expand things, cold tends to contract them.

The vocal chords in the larynx, you

don't want them contracting, creating that tension.

On a podcast day, I like a nice hot tea,

either licorice for me, because I love licorice.

Or there's a wonderful tea that comes

from a variety of manufactures that's specifically

for actors and singers, called Throat Coat.

When I'm podcasting, I sit in a chair for four and 1/2,

five hours reading a story.

I generally read it twice.

And one of the key elements to doing that successfully

is comfort.

Comfortability.

Right?

Where comfortable clothes, have a nice relationship

to the text, to the material.

Also the sounds that are picked up by the mic

have to really be mitigated.

You'll notice that I took all my bracelets off,

because that will be picked up by the mic.

So when I'm recording for my podcast,

I always remove all of my jewelry, my bracelets.

The microphone is so sensitive that it picks up

everything, even the rustling of pages when you're turning them.

Now I've used regular paper before,

but I just find that the technology

of the tablet computer really lends itself

to the podcasting activity.

And I really don't make a distinction necessarily

where bound copy or digitally processed copy are concerned.

Obviously, it's the text and my ability

to connect to the text that's most important,

not the device on which I read it.