Completely Conspicuous 361: All My Friends

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss friendship in the digital age. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- How friendship has changed over the years
- Rarely have long conversations with people anymore
- Jay: Have closer relationships with podcast guests than anyone else
- Matt: Internet has helped save friendships
- Letter writing is a lost art
- Email replaced letters for a while
- Fewer phone calls with friends
- Jay: Still stay in touch with certain groups of friends
- Seems like people at work go out less anymore
- Friends you've never met
- Making friends on the Interwebs
- Matt meets people through book publishing world
- Reconnecting with people from childhood can be awkward
- Losing touch with friends who aren't on social media
- Friends from different interests, jobs
- To be continued

Music:
Stag - She Plus Me
Cult of Youth - God's Garden
Young Adults - Void
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Stag song is on the EP Temporary Machines on Pop Maelstrom. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Cult of Youth song is on the album Final Days on Sacred Bones Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Young Adults song is available for free download at Bandcamp.
 

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.

Completely Conspicuous 346: Reeling in the Years, 1996 (Part 2)

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1996. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- Brian: Beck's Odelay was just outside my top 5
- New album's okay, but not great
- Brian: Cake, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Wrens' Secaucus
- The endless wait for the new Wrens album
- Brian was supposed to play piano with the Wrens but got sick
- Sticking up for Stone Temple Pilots' album
- Jay: STP were equal opportunity ripoff artists
- The '90s brought new wave of festivals: Lolla, Gathering of the Vibes, HORDE, Ozzfest
- Jay: No desire to go to Bonnaroo or Coachella
- Nothing better than seeing a band in a club
- Jay: Dug albums from D Generation, Sebadoh, Luscious Jackson, Johnny Cash, Chixdiggit, Brainiac, GBV, Maxwell, Westerberg
- Singing the praises of Live at Drew's
- Brian: Belle and Sebastian, Bill Frisell
- Frisell did the soundtrack to a Far Side cartoon
-  To be continued

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

Music:
King Tuff - Headbanger
Purling Hiss - Forcefield of Solitude
Young Adults - Old Kids

The King Tuff song is on the album Black Moon Spell on Sub Pop. Download the song for free for a limited time at Amazon MP3.
The Purling Hiss song is on the album Weirdon on Drag City. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Young Adults song is available for free download at Bandcamp.

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.

Completely Conspicuous 227: Shapes of Things

Part 1 of my conversation with special guest Adam Tinkoff as we discuss fitness. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Adam's new show Zen@10 and also the Slow Runners Club
- Talking a little rock: Against Me singer switching genders
- Are Bowie Bonds worth anything?

- Adam's mulling a trip to Bonnaroo
- We both met Trey from Phish at different points

- Frank Zappa's influence on modern music
- Adam doesn't buy the new CDC obesity report
- More folks are becoming long-distance runners getting into fitness
- People need to make better dietary choices
- Bigger problem is inactivity of people on Facebook
- Adam: Was seriously into martial arts, then focused on fatherhood in his 30s
- Now back into fitness
- Adam was a podcasting pioneer, talking about weight loss and fitness
- Drinking alcohol can affect how much nutrition your body gets from food
- Formaldehyde: Your last drink
- Giving up alcohol for short periods can benefit your weight loss and fitness efforts
- Soft drinks are full of unwanted side effects
- Everything in moderation
- To be continued next week
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Young Adults - Decay
Guided By Voices - Class Clown Spots a UFO
The Riverboat Gamblers - Comedians
Beck - Lost Cause

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

The Young Adults song is on the compilation NOFUCKINGWHERE, featuring Boston bands covering songs from Ride's 1990 album Nowhere compiled by Jay Breitling. Download the entire album for free at Clicky Clicky.

The Guided By Voices song is the title track of the band's forthcoming album on Guided By Voices/Fire Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Riverboat Gamblers song is on the album The Wolf You Feed on Volcom Entertainment. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) from TheRiverboatGamblers.com. 
The Beck song is on the album Sea Change on Geffen. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
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; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 185: Trampled Under Foot

Special guest Lee Black joins me as we discuss the popularity and unpopularity of soccer. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Mr. Black's first appearance on the show

- Driving to see New England Revolution play Manchester United

- Stuck in Boston traffic

- Women's World Cup stoked interest in U.S.

- When there's no big event, interest tails off

- Women's soccer burst on scene in '99 after US won gold

- Youth soccer is booming

- Lee grew interested in soccer as a young kid after visiting Europe

- No teams in Iowa until years later

- High school didn't have a team until after he left

- In college, Lee was on the school's first soccer team

- Prefers watching World Cup games in Spanish

- Was in Italy when they won World Cup

- Still little interest in the heartland

- Jay: Played youth soccer in Canada

- Moved to Richland, Wash., birthplace of Hope Solo

- Played high school soccer in NH

- Played on indoor and outdoor teams

- Would rather play than watch soccer

- European nature of the game turns off some Americans

- More exposure via ESPN and other cable channels

- Women's game is more popular thanks to '99 gold medal

- Soccer will never be as big here as in the rest of the world

- Popular because you can play it anywhere and it's easy to learn

- In alternate reality, Lee's a hockey goalie

- (Postscript: ManU beat Revs 4-1; U.S. women lost in World Cup final to Japan)

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Tigers

Titus Andronicus - Breed

Young Adults - Let Us Out

Boots Electric - Boots Electric Theme

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks song is on the forthcoming album Mirror Traffic on Matador Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Titus Andronicus cover of a Nirvana song is on the album Newermind: A Tribute Album. Download the album for free by "liking" SPIN's Facebook page.

The Young Adults song is on the band's demo. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Boots Electric song is on the forthcoming album Honkey Kong on Dangerbird Records. Find out more and download the song for free at his 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. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.