The Podfather v. the Fairy Podmother

Many in podcasting know Adam Curry as "The Podfather." (See here, and here, and here , for examples) The implication therefore is that he is everyone in podcasting's Podfather. Right?

Well, now I have met our Fariy Podmother! (And NO... it isn't Dave Winer!)

(Okay, Okay! It's like 3:35 a.m. right now, so bear with me... As it sometimes happens I woke up with an idea I have to get into Writely ! And, as usual, if I like it well enough once written, it might become a blog post! --Writely makes that really, really easy to do!-- The thing that wouldn't let me sleep is two very different stories colliding in my head and that little voice in my head will NOT let me GO BACK TO BED until I get it recorded!!!)

So here it is...

If you haven't seen Marlon Brando as the original Godfather movie, or if you aren't familiar with Disney's Cinderella , this collision of analogies may both not make a lick of sense and may also serve to reveal my age and the fact that I have young kids. But, its worth pursuing anyway, because it reflects a substantive contrast in style that has struck me lately and might help make an important point about not being evil...

Back to the colliding analogies: On the one hand, podcasters have a character who is set up as "The Podfather" and who is working to "making them an offer they can't refuse" by way of the PodShow PDN (Which, by the way is a right idea and is among the first to play an important role in providing podcasters a world class infrastructure and a way of making money for all their efforts.)

On the other hand, there is Evoca 's CEO Murem Sharpe (the e on the end of Sharpe is silent. Gratefully, Murem is not!). She routinely declares that everyone has a free voice, and that their voice should be able to be heard worldwide, for FREE.

(If you haven't checked out Evoca yet, you will be stunned at how unbelievably simple Murem and Diego Orjuela, her business partner, have made it for people to podcast. It is similar to Odeo, and yet refreshingly more open and community feeling, as it also provides audio search and Group forming capabilities that facilitate superior community building. Really, it reminds me of the story of Cinderella wherein she is sobbing, believing that her hopes of making it to the ball are dashed, and her Fairy Godmother appears and with her magic makes it all possible.)

So, here the podcasting community is, with Adam as "The Podfather" and Murel as our "Fairy (the y is silent) Podmother." One seems to be all about cherry picking the most commercially viable podcasters and their potential as money making media properties, and the other is about making it so even the most common lowly maiden can get to the podcasting ball.

(Now the little voice in my head is saying, "Enough already!" My friends and bizsociates routinely tell me that I don't know when to let an analogy go, once it has served its purpose. Now, you probably agree with them. And, I must admit that I am tempted to work Dave (Winer) in as Cinderella's late, forgotten, yet benevolent father... Hey! Maybe RSS stands for Really Sinister Stepmother!!! See? Now I KNOW you agree with the analogy criticism.)

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but be struck by the difference between my experiences and encounters with the spirit of the important yet very different contributions of these two very different leaders and their respective visions for what podcasting is and can be.

(I am going back to bed! You? Go check out Evoca. It's really cool! If you are Adam Curry, go back to SL! No harm intended here, dude! Keep blazing the trail.)

The Web Immigrant (Lee Gibbons, CEO, Podango)