Badass Records

Everyone that has sat across the table from me for an episode of Badass Records Podcast is a remarkable human being in his or her own way. Some have been even-keel while others have been hilarious. Some have been creators or artists at points in their lives, and some of them still are. Some have been shy and/or lulling, while others likely had more to say than time would allow. No two guests are alike, though, and Cesar (pronounced SAY-czar) Sanchez might be the most joyous human I've interviewed to date.

The contents of our conversation for Episode #30 tell an amazing (to me) story of love and strength and challenge and fortitude and sated flavor of happiness in life, so I'm excited for you to give it either a listen or a watch.

Thanks to Cesar, I learned a good bit about merengue and the king of that genre, Juan Luis Guerra, as well. This guy hails from the Dominican Republic and has had a really impressive career. Cesar chose two of his albums: the 1989 release Ojala Que Llueva Cafe (I Hope It Rains Coffee), and his record from the following year, Bachata Rosa. He also tabbed Fleetwood Mac's Rumors (1977), and mentioned a few other of his American faves, but -- in all honesty -- I think we could've discussed all 14 Guerra albums for even longer than we chatted about his three overall selections.

I'm pretty pumped to be 30 episodes deep, and remain excited to have a few more on the books. This has been a super-fun experience, and a learning mechanism in more ways than I can list, but -- truth be told -- I'd love to have you (or that friend you know that'd be perfect for it) do one with me, too.

So, if you wanna chew the fat with me about your life and your favorite music, hit that e-mail field on the Web site or comment on one of the social-media platforms. Or D.M. me. Or call or text if you have my number. These conversations are fun and healthy and you should have one with me, too.

Thank you.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio. They are clips from a song called "Morse" by Nightmares on Wax, and I poached it from their 1999 record, Carboot Soul (c/o Warp Records Limited).

Long-time good friend Bill Mauch graced my presence for this week's episode, and we had a grand, ol' time talking Metallica, roasting Russell Wilson, and exploring everything from Iowa to family to high-school biology class.

Bill shares his living space with one of the most amazing crews in town, and I can't thank him enough for making the time to come hang on a busy Saturday.

We go back to the late '80s, are in touch via text regularly, and yet somehow I never knew that he had an affinity for country music that's maybe even bigger than his love of the metal kings's self-titled/black album.

And what a badass record it is.

Unrelated, this has been a tough week of mental-health sledding and, as a result I found myself down a TikTok rabbit hole that led me to the Hulu program, Normal People. I'm almost 24 hours removed from binging the lone season, and -- while I'm still unsure if it helped or hurt -- I can't recommend it enough. I know. It's two years old. I don't watch much television. Seriously, though. Amazing show.

Anyhoo, Episode #29 of this podcast was good fun, and I hope you're already giving it a whirl as you read this.

Cheers, everyone.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio clips. They're excerpted from a song called, "Quiet Please," which I've plucked from the 1998 record Galactic put out called Crazyhorse Mongoose (c/o Volcano Entertainment, III).

You know that line in The Green Mile? The one in which Eduard Delacroix -- after stepping out of his cell to walk to his impending death -- tells Brutal, Paul, Dean, and Harry that he wishes he "coulda met you guys somewheres else"?

That's kinda how I feel about Kenton Campbell, which is not to say I'm not grateful for knowing him at all; I am. I just think that -- perhaps under different circumstances, perhaps had a couple of zigs been zags instead -- we mighta been good buddies. Who knows. Maybe we'd even occasionally hoop together.

I say all that to say this: Mr. Campbell didn't owe me a shingle's worth o' shit, but he took time out of his busy schedule regardless, and he swung by for Episode #28 of the Badass Records Podcast, and I'm super-stoked that he did.

I suspected that -- were he to commit to doing an episode -- his selections might include a curve ball or two. I wasn't wrong and I wasn't disappointed.

We discussed Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter II (2005), DMX's Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (1998), Master P's Ghetto D (1997), Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), and Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), and all five were a true treat to dissect with Kenton.

We also talked about parenting and housing and language and life. We briefly visited basketball and culture, and family and what life might be like in the recording industry, and all of it was great fun.

I could bore you with a dozen more details about how I'm blessed that folks -- amongst and within all of the hiccups and rejection -- continue to say, Yes, to be a part of this endeavor, but I'll spare you them.

It's been about a half a year since this thing went live, and I still have faith that the universe is allowing for it to happen because it exists as tiny doses of good stock in humanity. To that end, if you enjoy this conversation (or any others you may've stumbled across), please consider sharing with a friend.

Thank you.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio samples. They are clips from a tune called "Got Messed Up" off of R.L. Burnside's 2000 record, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down (c/o Fat Possum Records), which I can assure you is an essential album from the library of badass records.

Dan Gedman might be the smartest dude I've ever had a sit-down conversation with, and he certainly has the deepest voice of any I can recall, which is a batshit combo if you're in to running metrics on how stupid you think you might be.

Whew.

What a chat, though. I've never gone into an interview thinking I'll be less prepared than my guest, but never did I imagine feeling dumber and less knowledgable than a guest who didn't prepare at all! Yyyikes.

Anyway, Dan is a really awesome dude. He just is. I hate to distill it down to that, but -- if we're being honest -- that's all any guy wants...is to be known and remembered as an awesome dude.

Now, I'm obviously not married to Dan, and I'm not his business partner, but he has always been the nicest guy I run across. He's an A+ host with fine-tuned hospitality skills. He's a funny fellow, and -- well -- goddamn it if he doesn't know the shit out of his music.

Christ.

Dan's a son and a brother and a husband and a father to three and a business partner and a music-savvy cat, but he's also just...he's doing it right. I think. You know...from the outsider standpoint.

He runs this thing called Liquid9. I'm still not sure what they do. They might traffic Russian mail-order brides (Note: Joke! It's a joke! Take it easy...), but I think they produce music videos, among other sleek, industry kinds of things.

Regardless, Dan's for sure a have-back.

I felt humbled having him on, and -- while we covered a few records -- there're for sure more where that came from, and I'm legit' excited about what our next visit might look like. The ones we touched on today include the following:

Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan (1975)

Outlandos d'Amour, The Police (1978)

Tim, The Replacements (1985)

Copper Blue, Sugar (1992)

Midnight Marauders, A Tribe Called Quest (1993)

Illmatic, Nas (1994)

Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams (2000)

Is This It, The Strokes (2001)

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, Bright Eyes (2003)

Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River (2005)

I'd be pleased as punch if you gave this conversation a listen. They don't get much better.

One final note: I fuck up a lot on this thing.

A lot.

It's hard to focus on the questions and listen to the answers and keep the thing moving and be aware of the time and of every thing you have said on every other episode.

Point being, I used to scoff like a little punk at podcasters for such things. And to hopefully make up for that, I want to point out my mistakes when I become aware of them. In this case, Dan wasn't the first guest with biological parents that're both still alive and together. Jason (episode #1) was, but...that was six months ago, and I'm an aging human.

I'm far from perfect. Really far. If you know that and listen anyway, praise be to ye.

Blessings.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio samples. They are both clips from "Next to You," by Poolside, off of their 2012 release called, Pacific Standard Time (c/o themselves).

Lisa Hill is one of my favorite human beings.

I really mean that, and because this is true, it pains me to say that technical difficulties occurred during her interview; her camera wound up having its SD card go haywire.

So...the majority of her video was never accessible for upload. Not sure how the opening third of that content made it safely to the other side and the latter portions didn't, but what's done is done.

I'm pleased that we were able to capture her lovely mug whilst discussing family and life, and I also had the wild idea to drop a bunch of pertinent stills into the software where footage of her should be, so who knows. Maybe that's a new thing I try to incorporate for future episodes.

Anyway, getting Lisa's butt in the chair flirted with harassment, so I'm beyond grateful that she not only ultimately committed, but showed up, and -- I'm pretty sure -- had a pretty good time during our conversation.

Lisa and I logged a few hours under the same service-industry roof a half a lifetime ago, and she was one of my favorite people then, too. In fact, I'd posit most of our co-workers would agree.

Many are the times when I find myself blessed in affirmation of this notion that you should -- essentially -- be nice to people because you never know what they might have going on. Lisa has had a fascinating ride since we last collected a paycheck from the same employer, and the pandemic bubble that might be in all of our rearviews proved no different.

We talked a little bit about family and life and work and -- believe it or not -- we made our way down an alley of the musical avenue as well. She tabbed Beastie Boys's Paul's Boutique (1989) Depeche Mode's Violator (1990), Sinead O'Connor's (She now goes by Shuhada Sadaqat.) Universal Mother (1994), and Keep It Like a Secret (1997) by Built to Spill as her badass records.

It was a pleasure having her join me for episode #26, and maybe one day she'll join me again for another chat.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio clips. They come from the title track of Budapest Eskimos, a 2006 record (c/o Mole Listening Pearls) by The Lushlife Project.

Jason Fetters is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and a gosh-darn, hard-workin' fellow that's been in some form (or other) of a leadership role for the last 20 years.

My guest for Episode #25 of Badass Records Podcast will be the first to trash you, to Photoshop an eggplant emoji onto a picture of your face, and to blindside check you while you search for your family at Oceans of Fun. He'll do all of those things, but he'll also have your back when you need him to.

I've never known a Northlanders (Editor's Note: For non-Kansas City folks, there's a special breed of humans that -- for one reason or other -- have chosen to make their dwelling place on the wrong side of the Missouri River; it's creepy and backwards up there, and that's just the kindling for that dumpster fire.), to be so stylish, so suave, and so punctual, but Mr. Fetters is all of those things and more.

He pointed his unnecessarily large truck in the proper direction and landed in my driveway to talk Dr. Dre's The Chronic, Chiefs football, his pipe dream, and much more. I had to leave my eight-year-old son in charge of the house whilst we spoke, so if you'd do me a solid and give this thing a view or a listen, I'd appreciate it.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio clips. They are both from a track called "Sagittarius by Moonlight," by The Olympians. It's the closer to their self-titled 2016 record (c/o Daptone Records), which ranks high on the charts of badassery. You know...if you're into that kinda thing.

Eric Barkley is a son, a brother, a father, a lifelong chef, a one-time lover of baseball, and a guy who'd rather be nowhere else than casting his line in the lake.

I was lucky enough to steal some time away from the chef, and he swung by of an evening so that we could talk R.E.M., Metallica, and Tool for Episode #24 of Badass Records Podcast.

Eric was kind enough to walk us through his service-industry education and experience, and if you stick around for the end of our conversation, you'll find a nugget or two regarding gear for trout and bass fishing.

As part of our musically based chat, though, I learned some cool things about Maynard James Keenan and his primary outfit. Fascinating guy. And so is Chef Barkley. I learned some cool things about him, too.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio. They are both samples from a track called, “Marching into the Hate Machines (Into the Sun),” which comes from the 2005 Thievery Corporation release entitled The Cosmic Game (c/o ESL Music, Inc.) and features The Flaming Lips.

George Clarke is a son, a brother, a father, and the General Manager for Charlie Hooper’s Bar & Grille.

I once had the pleasure of cheffing for George at another neighborhood location, and that short-lived stint forged a friendship that has managed to last a decade (and counting).

George -- like many of his service-industry counterparts -- puts in long hours, and so the fact that he went out of his way to not ignore all of my annoying text messages and eventually committed to a date and time (and showed up!) did not go unnoticed in the least.

We talked a little bit about seeing concerts across many years and listening to music in our youth, and we may’ve also touched on the occasional difficulties of shaving layers of the party life off of the quasi-expected professionalism of a restaurateur. As my guest for Episode #23, George had tabbed 311’s self-titled record, Pearl Jam’s Ten (both 1991), and A Live One by Phish (1995), all three of which were good fun to mildly dissect.

A hang with the GeoClarke is all but a guaranteed good time, and this Badass Records Podcast chat was no exception. If you enjoy(ed) it, please consider sharing with a friend.

Cheers.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio. They are both samples from a track called, “El Gaucho Rojo,” which comes from the 2000 release entitled Muy Divertido! by Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (c/o Musica Tropical).

Christian Joseph dropped by the Badass Records Podcast studio for episode #22, and we discussed his affinity for skin ink, motorcycles, music, and the life of a restaurateur.

The man with more middle names than you have professed his love specifically for Morrison Hotel (1970) by The Doors, Guns 'N' Roses's Appetite for Destruction (1987), and White Pony (2003) by Deftones, but that wasn't all we discussed.

We talked about live music, professional endeavors, and the challenges that being a family member can sometimes present.

Christian is a son, a brother, a father, and the owner of Plate Restaurant Group. He and I go back about eight or nine years, and have seldom passed up an opportunity to crack wise with one another. I couldn't be more grateful than to be gifted the time of such a busy individual who came by my place to bullshit for a couple of hours. It was truly a blast.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro audio clips. They are from "The Fat Boy Goes to the Cinema," and "Get Some Money to Her" off of Albumen (1996) by The Egg, c/o Indochina.

Brad Buckner is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a retired kindergarten teacher, and a lifelong musician that fancies -- among many other things -- the kick drum of the late John Bonham, and the cymbal work of the deceased Neil Peart (R.i.P. in peace to both of those unequivocal legends).

Double 'B' dropped by in a virtual-stranger sense and kicked it with me for episode #21, and we chatted about Led Zeppelin's first record, Rush's Moving Pictures, and Axis: Bold as Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. And, boy was it a good time.

Mr. Buckner is the foothold of a couple of local KC music outfits, KC Green and Tiki Brawlers. You can keep up with both bands via their respective Facebook pages, and check out the Brawlers' stuff on YouTube.

Please consider giving this episode of Badass Records a listen or a view, and if you happen to dig it, please tell a friend. Thank you for stopping by.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the intro/outro videos. They are samples from two tracks off of Liquid Soul's 1996 self-titled debut, "Equinox," and "What a Story," respectively (c/o Music from Mars).