Completely Conspicuous 215: Could This Be Magic?

Part 2 of my conversation with special guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss the new Van Halen album. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Jay: An impressive outing for a band at this stage

- Not many bands have taken such a long break and returned strong

- Mission of Burma and the Feelies are better than ever

- Where does this rank in VH pantheon?

- Jay: Ranks 7th after first six DLR albums, ahead of Hagar

- Brian: Michael Anthony's harmonies are missed

- Brian: VH should do a tour with Dave and Sammy

- What would you pay $90 to see live?

- Brian: McCartney's current band is excellent

- Arena shows are quickly getting priced out of reach of much of public

- Brian: Bob Mould noted particularly egregious lyrics on new VH single

- Brian: Aerosmith is long overdue for a good album

- Jay: Last good Aerosmith album was more than 20 years ago

- Good run of Aerosmith albums in the '70s

- Steven Tyler has become the dude who looks like a lady

- Brian: This VH album could've been much worse

- The sad story of Jason Becker, DLR's guitarist in early '90s

- Jay: Couldn't have expected the new VH to be any better

- Brian: Interested to hear the follow-up

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
The Hounds Below - For You and I

Dinosaur Jr. - No Bones (live)

Black Mountain - Mary Lou

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Hounds Below song is on the band's as-yet untitled debut album. Download the song for free at Consequence of Sound.

The Dinosaur Jr. song is on the DVD Bug Live at 9:30 Club: In the Hands of Fans. Download the song for free at DinosaurJr.com.

The Black Mountain song is on the soundtrack to the movie Year Zero. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 137: The Boys of Summer

Special guest Brian Salvatore joins me on the fourth anniversary of the podcast to discuss baseball. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Check out Brian's podcasts (The FrankBlack.net Podcast, The Enthusiasts' Radio Hour)

- Brian's a diehard Mets fan

- Game 6 of the 1986 World Series was huge

- Jay sticks by his loser Toronto teams

- The Blue Jays are a small market team in a large market

- Brian: Every pitch means something

- Brian wants a longer baseball season

- It's rare that best team doesn't make it to World Series

- Marlins won Series twice then dismantled team

- Baseball needs a salary cap

- Roy Halladay had to learn how to pitch again

- Steinbrenner made his mark by overspending

- Brian lived in Pittsburgh; nobody cared about Pirates

- Brian: Pittsburgh's PNC Park is best stadium in baseball

- Wrigley Field, Fenway Park have their old-school charms

- Sox-Yankees playoff series in 2004 was amazing

- Jay used to go to Blue Jays games every summer in early '90s

- Brian saw last Expos game

- The Nationals are a sad, sad franchise

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Black Mountain - The Hair Song

Les Savy Fav - Let's Get Out of Here

Mondo Generator - Dog Food

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com, a leading supplier of athletic gear. Use promo code AFCOMP15 to get 15% off any order at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 to get 20% off any order of $75 or more at Eastbay.com, and AFCOMPFL to get 15% off any order at Footlocker.com.

The Black Mountain song is on the forthcoming album Wilderness Heart on Jagjaguwar Records. Download the song for free at Spinner.co.uk.

The Les Savy Fav song is on the forthcoming album Root for Ruin on Frenchkiss Records. Download the song for free at Pitchfork.

The Mondo Generator song is on the EP Dog Food on Impedance Music. Find out more at . The song is courtesy of IODA Promonet:

Mondo Generator
"Dog Food" (mp3)
from "Dog Food EP"
(IMPEDANCE MUSIC)
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 130: Over the Hills and Far Away

I'm joined on the podcast by special guest Matt Phillion as we conclude our conversation about his experiences in Ireland. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- In Ireland, liquor stores are called "off licenses"

- They loves the hard cider

- Not a great beer selection in stores

- No anti-American sentiment

- The Irish call McDonald's "Maccy D's"

- Matt bonded with the immigrants

- Irish don't pronounce "th" sounds

- Fashion: They rock the popped collar

- Matt left a few shirts behind to avoid getting his ass kicked here

- The skinny jeans incident

- Mullets live on

- The women are "makeup ninjas"

- Tales of airport security

- Tough to break into Irish acting scene

- Shocked to get some modeling offers

- Sorting out customs paperwork

- A care package of 6 lbs. of Twizzlers

- Missing Dunkin' Donuts

- Metric still confounds

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Black Mountain - Old Fangs

Japandroids - Younger Us

The Vaselines - I Hate the '80s

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com, a leading supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment. Find gear from top brands such as Nike, Adidas and Asics. Use the promo code AFCOMP15 to get 15% off any order at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 to get 20% off any order at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL to get 15% off any order at Footlocker.com.

The Black Mountain song is on the forthcoming album Wilderness Heart on Jagjaguwar Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Japandroids song is on the band's Younger Us 7-inch. Download the song for free at Pitchfork.

The Vaselines song is on the forthcoming album Sex With an X on Sub Pop Records. Download the song for free from the Vaselines' site.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 49: Driving While Old

I'm happy to say I was able to get out and do 18 miles today, and I felt good. The rest of the day was pretty lazy; we all just hung out and chilled all day. But I was able to finally record an episode of the CC after a few weeks of feeling like crap. Download it directly here (click right and "save as" if you're not already subscribed).

The show notes, if you will...

Topics:
- What to do about senile drivers
- A new approach to reading books
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Bob Mould - The Silence Between Us
- Jason Collett - Out of Time
- Ladyhawk - The Dugout
- Black Mountain - Druganaut
- Fu Manchu - Hung Out to Dry

Promo:
- New England Podcasting

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from Bob Mould is on his new album District Line on Anti Records. The song from Fu Manchu is on their album We Must Obey on Century Media. Both songs are courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The song from Jason Collett is on the album Here's to Being Here on Arts & Crafts Records. The song was provided by IODA Promonet.

Jason Collett
"Out Of Time" (mp3)
from "Here's To Being Here"
(Arts & Crafts)

More On This Album



The Ladyhawk song is on the band's self-titled album. The song from Black Mountain is on that band's self-titled album. Both songs are courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the songs.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling by visiting his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 47: Question the Answers

Finally, the first episode of CC of 2008. Busy, busy, you know how it is.

Anyhoo, you can download it here (right click and "save as") or stream it by clicking on the link above.

The show notes...

Topics:
- The pointlessness of political polls
- Message board culture
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- The Black Crowes - Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
- Black Mountain - Tyrants
- Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
- Maritime - Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts
- Jawbox - Reel

Promo:
- New England Podcasting

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from The Black Crowes is on their new album Warpaint on Silver Arrow Records. It comes courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The song from Maritime is on the album We, the Vehicles on Flameshovel Records. The Jawbox song is on the album For Your Own Special Sweetheart on Desoto Records. Both songs were provided by IODA Promonet.

Maritime
"Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts" (mp3)
from "We, the Vehicles"
(Flameshovel Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at DownloadPunk
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



Jawbox
"Reel" (mp3)
from "For Your Own Special Sweetheart"
(DeSoto Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



The Black Mountain song is on the new album In the Future. The Okkervil River song is on the album The Stage Names. Both songs are courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the songs.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling by checking out his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.