The Basic Premise

Post-Arlen Monologix is a monologue format audio podcast. It is what has become known in the common era as “infotainment”, which is to say the content is both informative and entertaining.

The premise of Post-Arlen Monologix is a description of conditions in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in the Twenty-First Century AD, specifically oriented to the years beginning in 2009 with the conclusion of the thirteenth and final season of the animated television series “King Of The Hill”. The observations are reported as the perspective of a character identified only as “Maverick88”, an aging building maintenance guy who is a Texas transplant from New Jersey by way of Georgia and Tennessee.

Past, Present, and Future

This Post-Arlen Monologix Project is, in one sense, nostalgic, in another sense, contemporary ground-reporting, and finally, it is intentionally restrospective to an audience in the distant future. In fact, the ultimate worthiness of this project is as a series of historical snapshots, ranging in time from the 1960s through the 2020s and hopefully, if the creek don’t rise, well beyond that.

The core element, the subject matter which is recent-to-current, is information relative to Dallas-Fort Worth (and Texas as a whole) starting from the year 2009. This is primarily a guide to Texas things in the years following the end of the “King Of The Hill” television series, which took place in a fictitious Texas city called “Arlen” and concluded its final season in 2009. The phrase “Post-Arlen” is a descriptor of Texas in the years following “King Of The Hill”. In those years, Texas experienced a massive cultural shift due to an influx of transplants in search of the massive opportunity available in the major cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. The mass migration resulted in urban-sprawl, which is to say, an ever-encroaching suburbia.

Texas Things

Maverick88 is one of the transplants, but he is unique in some ways. First, he came to Texas in search of the old, romantic (perhaps fantastic) ideal of Texas: of cattle ranches, desert sunsets, bold adventrue, wide open spaces, and the like – rather than the suburbs the other transplants crave and he (sadly) finds himself trapped in. Secondly, he came with the intent to assimilate, to seek out the heart of what it means to be Texan and strive to become those things where others, instead, seek to bring their ‘old world’ methods into play, to change Texas. Additionally, he is not some Johnny-Come-Lately, but rather has been in DFW since 2007, better than fifteen years. Maverick brings some useful information to recent transplants and to those considering a move to Texas, covering a wide-array of practical topics including wildlife considerations (snakes and bugs and all), landscape and gardening, the Texas perspective on weapons, traditional Texas music and venues, weather hazards and emergency resources, alternative dining options, local events, crime and social conditions, headline news, cooking and grilling and smoking tips, Texas history, Texas-based businesses, Texas pop culture, fishing the lakes, commuting DFW, and much more – indeed, whatever, whenever. The list is growing weekly.

The Art and Science of Unpopularity

The basic humanity of Maverick88, however, insists that among all of the practical information relative to modern Texas there must be also personal reflection: stories, nostalgia, insights, observations, musings, opinions, and, of course, attitude.

Maverick88 has never been, to date, a very popular individual. A maverick, by definition, is an outlier. It can be reasoned that he is, rather than an “influencer”, instead an “unfluencer”. Now it’s up to you to ponder that notion and get down with the meaning. What exactly might an “unfluencer” do?

At the end of the day, Maverick is a tired old Building Maintenance guy, a Workaday Joe with no particular accomplishment, no particular notoriety. In fact, he may well be regarded as a rolling stone, a common loser, and likely the last person you would ever seek to glean advice from. He is so many of the things that bring discomfort to people: a recovering addict/alcoholic, a born-again Christian (worse still – an Orthodox Christian), a gun enthusiast, a conspiracy theorist, a biker, and he is old as dirt.

He is also from New Jersey, which is not only socially disconcerting to most folk otherwise, but ends up being the back-drop of so much of the nostalgia. So, older New Jersey people may find some favor herein. The point is that much of the actual person telling the tale is in the tale, so more than a Texas report, you will get a helping of New Jersey things, of recovery things, of Jesus things, of gun things, of biker things, of old Generation-X things, of Maverick88 things in general.

There, too, are more favorable background elements and subsequent topics. You will hear about things related to the hobbies of ammo reloading, guitar & music composition, PC tech, leather craft, knives and tools, kayak fishing, woodwork, landscaping and gardening, rock music, country music, motorcycles, dogs, creative writing, livestock, and more.

Regardless of whether the subject matter is, at times, either favorable or unfavorable to you, you will definitely get variety and you will definitely get attitude – and that alone may make it worth the price of admission.

This is a private and personal endeavor, a hobby of audio snapshots that is not addled by the need to generate revenue. Creative artistic independence, as a rule, must not be hobbled by indebtedness.

Comments, critique, and inquiries may be submitted to Maverick88 through e-mail at: maverick88@post-arlen.com

A Radio Station Inside A Book

Post-Arlen Monologix is a part of a network that serves a greater purpose alongside many similar monologue podcasts, forming the basis for a potential internet radio station, the elements of which are already archived in a published volume called “The Overnightscape Underground” or “ONSUG” for short.

The greater ambition of the ONSUG project is to serve the future as a collection of voices from the past. The ONSUG publication is an index of all monologue releases included in the project and is updated periodically in new editions.

The Overnightscape Underground is a collective of disparate voices. ONSUG does not represent a particular sub-culture. The voices of ONSUG are varied, with the only commonality being the will and ability to present monologue episodes consistently over time. Perhaps that, in itself, requires a certain type of person, but the attributes necessary have yet to be explored, let alone identified. The characters are, indeed, very different from one another, and in the final summation, a report to the future from the past will be somewhat thorough, if not somewhat perplexing.