Jeff Elder Isn't Real is a Substack by writer and musician Jeff Elder, a place where the curtain is half open. Part memoir, part creative process, part cultural observation. Warm, honest, and a little strange. Just like life.

In this episode, Jeff reads his latest post, "Turning Thirty in Arkansas" — episode 30 of his ongoing memoir. Jeff picks up the move to Fort Smith, Arkansas: a "guaranteed placement" business school scam, tech support at the local ISP, an unlikely friendship with a coworker named Alex, and the Frustrated Housewives release Deconstructing Dreamland, all leading into the Friday night ritual that would shape the next couple of decades. The episode closes with a tribute to Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.

Audio credits: Intro - Midtown Matinee by Frustrated Housewives, Outro - Dreamland by Frustrated Housewives.

Listen to the "What Was That Song?" playlist, featuring music mentioned on the show: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27yv0JrQRs2FhUfmfutxw3?si=e117d429bc37407e

Subscribe to Jeff Elder Isn't Real on Substack for new posts every week, including audio versions of most every essay.

Jeff Elder Isn't Real is a Substack by writer and musician Jeff Elder, a place where the curtain is half open. Part memoir, part creative process, part cultural observation. Warm, honest, and a little strange. Just like life.

In this episode, Jeff reads his latest post, "Enter La Baumba" — episode 29 of his ongoing memoir. Jeff picks up the Frustrated Housewives story in the late 90s: a rough-sounding demo CD sold for beer money, teaching himself web design to build the band's first website, a scrappy live lineup full of stage schtick, and the reinvention that brought stage names like Adam Baum into the fold right before a move to Arkansas changed everything.

Audio credits: Intro - La Bamba by Los Lobos, Outro - You Dropped a Bomb on Me by The Gap Band.

Listen to the "What Was That Song?" playlist, featuring music mentioned on the show: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27yv0JrQRs2FhUfmfutxw3?si=e117d429bc37407e

Subscribe to Jeff Elder Isn't Real on Substack for new posts every week, including audio versions of most every essay.

Jeff Elder Isn't Real is a Substack by writer and musician Jeff Elder, a place where the curtain is half open. Part memoir, part creative process, part cultural observation. Warm, honest, and a little strange. Just like life.

In this episode, Jeff reads his latest post, "The Dream" — episode 28 of his ongoing memoir. Jeff walks through a brutal stretch of loss in the mid-90s — an uncle, a grandmother, his father — and the wrongful death lawsuit, the home studio, and the song that broke his dying father down every time he heard it.

Audio credits: Intro/Outro music: "The Dream" by Frustrated Housewives.

Listen to the "What Was That Song?" playlist, featuring music mentioned on the show: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27yv0JrQRs2FhUfmfutxw3?si=e117d429bc37407e

Subscribe to Jeff Elder Isn't Real on Substack for new posts every week, including audio versions of most every essay.