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First, a rare interview with Ray Oldenburg himself, made by Karen Christensen in 2012 when she first went to meet him after corresponding for 20 years, and discovered, lost in her archives, shortly before his death in 2022:
Karen’s podcast series on third places includes the last interviews with Ray Oldenburg, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Artist John Tebeau had this to say about Ray’s last book, The Joy of Tippling: “Great news, tipplers! The killjoys, buzzcrushers, pinch-faced scolds, and puritans are WRONG. Knocking a couple back at the local bar is good for you. In The Joy of Tippling, sociologist and inveterate tippler Ray Oldenburg tells us why, backed up with solid research, indisputable facts and real news, all cheerfully served with dash and wit.” Here, on 8 December 2018, John talks about Ray Oldenburg and the idea of gemülichkeit, the quality that makes a good bar great:
