Part 1 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff about his upcoming book about the early days of Van Halen. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Check out Greg's Van Halen Rising page
- Book is out Oct. 1
- Greg's a college professor
- Fan of arena rock and guitar as a kid
- In grad school, wrote his disseration and a book about a traveling circus
- Many parallels to a rock tour
- Wanted to learn more about VH's beginnings
- Interviewed people around the scene starting in 2009
- Eventually talked to Michael Anthony, Ted Templeman, Donn Landee
- Started at the bottom and worked up
- Dug into the myths around VH's major label signing
- Eddie's beginnings on guitar
- VH hit a lot of dead ends along the way
- The first big tour really made the band
- The fine art of choosing opening acts
- Getting a book publisher isn't easy
- Putting together the book proposal
- Finished writing in summer 2014
- To be continued
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
The latest installment of Driving with Kumar as I discuss the joys and travails of having pets. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Driving to Ric Dube's to record for our web series Trust Fund Challenge
- We got a puppy almost two years ago
- As a kid in Canada, we got a German Shepherd puppy but she got too big for us and was adopted by someone else
- Got a smaller dog a year later
- Sammy moved with us to Washington state and New Hampshire
- We also got a black lab puppy, Caesar
- Tough junior prom was followed by bad news the next day
- Fighting off marauding pit bulls
- Sammy lived for another eight years
- I lived with a girlfriend who had a cat
- Didn't have any pets for the next 20 years
- New puppy, Charlie, lived downstairs for nine months before moving up with us
- The Poopsplosion
- A Very Charlie Christmas, aka Tree Scares Dog
- Getting drenched on walks
- Hard to work from home with Charlie here
- He sometimes snaps at us if he's cranky
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1993. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape
- Brian's #3
- Frank Black's first solo effort was a sign of greatness to come
- Some songs were written for the Pixies
- Jay's #3
- PJ Harvey's blistering second album
- Brian's #2
- A "pretty perfect album" from the Lemonheads
- Reality Bites really does bite
- Jay's #2 and Brian's #1
- Nirvana followed up Nevermind with a raw, seething album
- Easy to read a lot into Cobain's state of mind at the time
- Jay's #1
- Jay's intro to the Afghan Whigs
- Already differentiating themselves from their peers
- Dulli's lyrics were really in your face
- Whither Rick McCollum?
- Next up: 1982
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1993. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape
- Brian saw his first concert in '93, Paul McCartney
- Sir Paul dropped f-bombs galore on "Big Boys Bickering"
- Billy Joel hasn't released a new album since '93
- Jay: Saw Dino Jr., Mudhoney, Nirvana, Tragically Hip, Living Colour, Urge Overkill
- Saw Lollapalooza '93 in Rhode Island with Primus, Alice in Chains, Fishbone
- Jay: Became aware that 8-year-olds liked the same music I did
- Brian helped out at a record store as an 11-year-old
- Flaming Lips showed up on Beverly Hills 90210
- Jay: Saw Buffalo Tom on MTV's 120 Minutes
- Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast was underrated and depressing
- Brian: Got into Tribe Called Quest years later
- Morphine had a completely different sound
- Cracker had a quintessential '90s song in "Low"
- Radiohead's big rock debut
- Brian's #5
- Primus hit #7 on the charts with Pork Soda
- Jay's #5
- Urge Overkill got a lot of listens
- Brian's #4
- The Breeders broke through in '93
- "Cannonball" was another classic '90s tune
- Jay's #4
- Siamese Dream is a massive-sounding album
- Billy Corgan went for broke with guitar army sound
- To be continued
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
