Postmodern Gypsy

About Postmodern Gypsy

Jordan Poole, a Millennial and an Artist from Appalachian Georgia, takes off to explore the backroads of America in this decade of the 2020’s. He finds an undercurrent of American counterculture’s survival along the path. Travel with him and Priscilla and find hope paved with the open road.

Publisher

Jordan Poole

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Jun 2023

Latest episode

16 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Jun 2026

   The Scent of Revolution: George Washington’s Cologne and the Politics of American Perfume

   In 1780, George Washington bought two cases of American-made cologne as a diplomatic gift for the Marquis de Lafayette. It was soft power disguised as fragrance. Here’s the full story. Full Episode Description In 1780, during an uncertain war for the survival of a new nation, George Washington paused his military campaign to purchase two full cases of perfume. He didn’t buy a prestigious French or British brand. He specifically sought out an American-made blend — and sent it to the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat from the highest echelons of a culture that essentially invented modern perfumery. That fragrance was Number Six, formulated in 1772 by Dr. William Hunter at a small apothecary in Newport, Rhode Island that would eventually become Caswell Massey — still in business today, making it the longest continuously manufactured fragrance in America. This episode traces the full story of Number Six: its 27-ingredient formula, the medical logic of colonial cologne, the diplomatic message embedded in Washington’s gifting choice, and the forensic chemistry required to recreate an 18th-century scent using 21st-century synthetic alternatives. We also examine the uncomfortable tension in the story — Newport’s luxury economy was built on the triangular trade, meaning the symbols of American independence were assembled from the machinery of slavery and global commerce. Topics Covered Newport, Rhode Island as a cosmopolitan colonial hub and Dr. Hunter’s medical practice Why cologne functioned as preventative medicine in the 18th century The 27-ingredient formula of Number Six — bergamot, neroli, musk, clove, and amburgris Washington’s non-importation philosophy and the politics of wearing American-made goods The diplomatic flex of gifting American cologne to a French aristocrat Lafayette’s 1826 return visit to Rhode Island — specifically to buy more Number Six Molecular capture and synthetic substitution in historical fragrance recreation The Newport wealth paradox: independence symbols built on the triangular trade Tags / Keywords George Washington, Number Six cologne, Caswell Massey, American history, colonial history, fragrance history, perfume history, Mount Vernon, Lafayette, American Revolution, soft power, Newport Rhode Island, historic preservation, Postmodern Gypsy, Jordan Poole Category Primary: History | Secondary: Arts

2. 

   9 Jun 2026

   When the City Tries to Demolish Your Art: The Legal Battles Behind America’s Most Defiant Folk Art Sites

   The Watts Towers survived a 10,000-pound crane test. The Heidelberg Project survived bulldozers. Salvation Mountain survived an environmental hit job. Here’s how folk art fights city hall. Full Episode Description In 1959, the city of Los Angeles wrapped a steel cable around Simon Rodia’s handmade towers and applied 10,000 pounds of lateral force — fully expecting the unauthorized scrap metal structure to snap and crumble. The towers didn’t move. The crane started to lift off the ground. This episode examines the bureaucratic and legal battles that determine whether visionary self-taught art survives or gets bulldozed. We look at three landmark cases: the Watts Towers, the Heidelberg Project in Detroit, and Salvation Mountain in the California desert. The Heidelberg Project faced city bulldozers multiple times in the name of blight ordinances before becoming one of Detroit’s most visited tourist destinations. Leonard Knight defeated an environmental shutdown at Salvation Mountain by disproving the county’s own soil sample data with independent laboratory tests. Building codes exist for good reason. But applied without nuance, they can erase the most authentic expressions of American culture. Topics Covered Why monumental folk art exists in a state of perpetual legal illegality The 1959 Watts Towers crane stress test — and the aerospace engineer who designed it Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project and the city of Detroit’s repeated bulldozing Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain and the environmental shutdown he defeated How demolition orders often catalyze the community recognition that saves a site The irony of cities destroying what later becomes their most celebrated cultural landmark Building codes as a language of structural load vs. art as a language of cultural truth Tags / Keywords folk art, Watts Towers, Heidelberg Project, Salvation Mountain, outsider art, building codes, zoning laws, demolition orders, folk art preservation, urban art, Detroit art, Simon Rodia, Tyree Guyton, Leonard Knight, Postmodern Gypsy, Jordan Poole Category Primary: Arts | Secondary: Society & Culture

3. 

   2 Jun 2026

   The Untethered Workforce: What 18.5 Million Digital Nomads Are Doing to Cities, Labor Laws, and the American Dream

   Over 18 million Americans now identify as digital nomads. Here’s what happens to cities, labor law, and civic life when high-paying work permanently detaches from geography. Full Episode Description For most of the 20th century, your zip code was your destiny. The city you lived in dictated the companies you could work for, the salary you could command, and the trajectory of your entire career. Then remote work, the gig economy, and a global pandemic dismantled that equation. As of early 2025, an estimated 18.5 million Americans identify as digital nomads, a 153% increase since 2019. The global freelance and gig economy now generates an estimated $787 billion in annual economic value. More than 50 countries now offer digital nomad visas. This episode traces the structural shift from centralized industrial labor to permanently untethered knowledge work — from the factory floor to Silicon Valley to the kitchen table to wherever you happen to have wifi. We examine global employer of record platforms, the slow nomad movement, the maturation of van life demographics, and the fierce controversies the untethering is generating: gentrification in Lisbon and Bali, cross-border tax liabilities, and the growing precariousness beneath the gig economy’s freedom. Topics Covered How the Industrial Revolution centralized labor — and why that model is crumbling The COVID-19 pandemic as involuntary mass remote work experiment Global employer of record platforms and the elimination of the 50-mile hiring radius The 50+ countries now offering digital nomad visas The slow nomad movement and the maturation of van life demographics Gentrification in popular nomad destinations and the local economic crisis it creates Portable benefits and the precariousness beneath gig economy freedom Tags / Keywords digital nomads, remote work, gig economy, future of work, nomadic lifestyle, van life, slow nomad, geographic arbitrage, employer of record, nomad visa, labor law, Postmodern Gypsy, Jordan Poole, work from anywhere, housing gentrification Category Primary: Business | Secondary: Society & Culture

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

7 ratings