Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the sad state
of political discourse. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Election year's in high gear
- Local elections provide personal access
- My kids are scaring Phillion away from fatherhood
- Blown off by the lieutenant governor
- Mass. senate race has been heated
- The power of SuperPACs
- Candidates are puppets of the money behind them
- Dumbing down the message
- Mass. voters went for Republican governors from '91 to '07
- Big speeches with no substance in them
- All political claims need to be fact-checked
- Tough times for journalism
- Dealing with political posts on Facebook
- The conventions are cheerleading camps
- Most voters have already made up their minds
- Congress sucks, too
- Can the government actually get anything done?
- It's not as simple as red state vs. blue state
- Facebook posts aren't changing anyone's mind
- The Democratic platform and mentions of God
- A bitter idealist
- The stuff you post on FB could come back to haunt you - Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Paul Banks - The Base
Cat Power - Cherokee
Aimee Mann - Charmer
Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Paul Banks song is on the album Banks on Matador Records. Download it for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Cat Power song is on the album Sun on Matador Records. Download the song for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Aimee Mann song is the title track of the album Charmer on SuperEgo Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Electric Six song is on the album Fire on XL Recordings. Download the song for free at 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.
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we travel back in time and
analyze two big hits from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world headquarters
- The return of song analysis
- Learning more about Rupert Holmes
- "Escape" tells a depressing tale in a lighthearted way
- Seeking a new soulmate through the personal ads
- Song ends with a wacky twist
- Jay used to belt out Holmes' "Him" in the newsroom of the college paper
- He sings the guitar solo to save money
- Digging into the rest of the album
- Rupert writes about anything like, say, his answering machine
- Holmes did a lot of work in theater and TV
- Wrote songs for "A Star is Born," the Streisand-Kristofferson movie
- "Him" as performed by Barry White
- Clearly inspired by Manilow
- "Copacabana" was a huge disco hit
- Everything was coke-fueled in the '70s and '80s
- Manilow's go-to move was the sweeping ballad
- Manilow's "Bermuda Triangle" was a clear inspiration for Rupert
- Barry found a winning formula
- Gotta love the irony that he didn't write "I Write the Songs"
- We Manil-OD'd
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Divine Fits - Would That Not Be Nice
The Raveonettes - She Owns the Streets
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Divine Fits song is on the album A Thing Called Divine Fits on Merge Records. Download it for free from Chromewaves.
The Raveonettes song is on the album Observator on Vice Records. Download the song for free from KEXP.
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.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we travel back in time and
analyze a big hit from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world headquarters
- The return of song analysis
- What's the deal with Bette Midler?
- Woody Allen's curious role in Scenes From a Mall
- Check out Ric's show More Lost Time
- Trucking was a big pop culture fad for a few years in the '70s
- C.W. McCall's "Convoy" was such a big hit they made a movie based on it
- Discovered by the dude behind the Mannheim Steamroller
- McCall didn't sing so much as talk over music
- Sounds like Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
- Convoy did indeed have a soundtrack album
- Digging deeper into the McCall catalog
- Randy Travis is walking the walk
- Ric: Zappa music just sounds like commercials
- Ol' C-Dub just kept on making trucker songs
- McCall starts doing really bad accents of foreign truckers
- He wrote a song about the infamous George Brett "pine tar incident"
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
A.C. Newman - I'm Not Talking
Yuck - Shook Down
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The A.C. Newman song is on the forthcoming album Shut Down the Streets on Matador Records. Download it for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Yuck song is on the band's self-titled album on Fat Possum Records. 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.
Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss our
favorite solo artists. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Re-recorded via Skype
- Jay: Robert Plant's music has evolved since Zeppelin's breakup
- Brian: John, Paul and George in a three-way tie
- Harrison's All Things Must Pass is a standout
- McCartney's good when he works with others (Elvis Costello, Youth)
- Jay: Favorite solo artist is Pete Townshend
- His three early '80s solo albums were excellent
- Last 25 years have been focused on Who tours
- Brian: Top pick is Frank Black
- He's consistently made good records since Pixies split
- Jay: Rod Stewart's solo career has been mostly awful
- His work in Faces, Jeff Beck Group and first few solo releases was strong
- Brian: Jagger should not be allowed to make solo albums
- Jay: Keith Richards' solo work is good
- Jay: The four guys in Sloan should each release solo records simultaneously a la KISS
- Brian: Steven Drozd would make an interesting solo album
- Brian: Rivers Cuomo should make a stripped-down, non-Weezer record
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Robert Plant - Little Hands
Frank Black and the Catholics - Nadine
Sloan - Coax Me
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
Robert Plant song is on the compilation More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip
Spence Album on Birdman Records. Download it for free from Epitonic.
The Frank Black and the Catholics song is on the album Show Me Your Tears on SpinART. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
The Sloan song is on the album Twice Removed on Geffen. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at NoiseTrade.
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.
I celebrate six big years of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss our
favorite solo artists. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Brian contends that Bob Mould's work in Sugar is better than Husker Du; Jay vehemently disagrees
- Jay: Elliott Smith went in a different direction after Heatmiser
- Are Josh Homme or Dave Grohl considered solo artists?
- Jay: Lennon and McCartney both made great albums on their own, but also some clunkers
- Jay: Michael Jackson became probably the biggest artist of all time
- Ozzy's early solo work was terrific
- The ridiculous story behind Sabbath's Born Again album
- Paul Simon's still going strong
- Phil Collins was huge in the '80s
- Brian: Mike Nesmith's early solo work was excellent
- Jay: Nick Cave forged a dark path after The Birthday Party
- Brian: Ryan Adams made a classic album and several good ones
- Mike Watt's soldiered on over the years
- Jay: Stephen Malkmus has been consistently good since Pavement
- Brian prefers the later Pavement albums
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Bob Mould - A Good Idea (live)
Ryan Adams - Shakedown on 9th Street (live)
Mike Watt - Against the '70s (live)
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - (Do Not Feed the) Oyster
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Bob Mould song is on the EP Live at the Bottom of the Hill. Download it for free (in exchange for your email address) from New.Official.fm.
The Ryan Adams song was recorded live at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on 2/21/09. Download
the song for free at Archive.org.
The Mike Watt song was recorded live at the Metro in Chicago on 5/6/95. Download the song for free at Archive.org.
The Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks song is from the album Pig Lib on Matador Records. Download the song for free at 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.
Another
installment of Driving With Kumar as I discuss the generation gap that
exists in pop culture. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded on the way to WFNX Boston Accents farewell show in Allston
- WFNX has been replaced by The Harbor, a "Variety Hits" station
- FNX lasted 29 years
- Driving through another torrential rainstorm
- Generation gap in music fandom driven by a couple of NPR blog posts
- Intern wrote about how she never pays for recorded music
- Ignited industry debate, including a battle of blog posts between David Lowery and Dave Allen
- Another post had an intern reviewing Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions...
- Kid wasn't born when the album came out in 1988
- His love of hip-hop is defined by current artists like Drake
- Couldn't relate to PE's intensity
- I was struck by the lack of knowledge or interest in older music
- Get off my lawn
- As a kid, I was fascinated by music that came out in the previous few decades
- Much easier now to hear music at a moment's notice
- I blame it on sensory overload
- You're going to listen to what your friends dig
- Can't blame kids for not knowing about older acts
- I'm not trying to get my own kids to listen to my music
- Enjoy the rhythmic sounds of nature pounding on my car roof
- The world is much faster
- Technology is advancing at amazing speeds
- Rain stops right as I get into the city
- Remembering the early MP3 players
- Some kids are getting into vinyl and cassettes
- Many old pop cultural references are lost on the young
- It's not too late for kids to learn about older music
- Plenty of great new music out there, too
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Chelsea Light Moving - Frank O'Hara Hit
The XX - Angels
Blur - The Puritan
Mean Creek - Young & Wild
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Chelsea Light Moving song is available for free download from Matador Records.
The XX song is on the forthcoming album Coexist on Young Turks. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Blur song is the B-side of the band's self-released 12-inch Under the Westway. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Mean Creek song is from the forthcoming album Youth Companion on Old Flame Records. Download the song for free as part of the Boston Accents Funeral Party Soundtrack on 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; check out his site PodGeek.
"Fuzzy Freaky"
Buy at 
Buy at 
Buy at 
Buy at 
Buy at 
Buy at 