Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

Hey, it's Alan Cross, and this summer we thought we would do something special with the

ongoing history podcast and give you, our fantastic audience, a bonus episode every Sunday

from now through Labor Day. We're going all the way back

to the spring of 2010 and a 15-part deep dive into the history of Alternative Rock. It's the

history of Alt Rock series. So every Sunday, you'll get a brand new episode of this series

that examines every single facet of Alt Rock from the 1950s right up to, well, pretty much today.

And don't worry, because we'll have a brand-new episode of the ongoing history podcast for you every Wednesday as well.

So you're getting two podcasts every week now through Labor Day.

I hope you enjoy.

And thanks for supporting the ongoing history of new music.

If the doomsayers are correct,

something monumental, something transformative is going to happen on December 21st, 2012.

This is the day the Bakhtun cycle ends. The Mayan Long Count calendar finally runs out. After 5,125 years, it comes to an end date. What will happen next is up for debate. Now, it could be the end of the world. Earth may collide with Nuburi, its long-hidden nemesis planet. Some say a black hole may swallow us up, a catastrophic shift in polar magnetic

fields. Others believe we will achieve some kind of spiritual enlightenment, which will usher

humankind into a new era of peace. Or maybe nothing will happen. Okay, so maybe we'll get

another bad John Cusack movie on the subject, which is not good,

and the prospect is admittedly frightening, but it's just a movie.

The reason I'm not too panicky is because history has shown that humans are really, really bad

at predicting the apocalypse with any degree of certainty.

I have my own theory.

...