Completely Conspicuous

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1987. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Okkervil River, Beachwood Sparks and Midlake.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Brian: Birth of the cassingle

- Inexpensive way to buy singles, B-sides

- Brian: Collecting 45s for a jukebox

- Jay: 1987 was big for female pop artists

- Madonna, Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Lisa Lisa, Heart

- Older songs like "Stand By Me" were re-released

- Young Brian bought his first album in '87: The Monkees' Greatest Hits

- New Monkees TV show came and went

- Jay: Made two top 5 album lists, Then and Now

- Jay: Then list (#5 to #1): Def Leppard's Hysteria, INXS's Kick, Cult's Electric, Whitesnake's s/t and U2's Joshua Tree

- Whitesnake was the hard rock version of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band

- Brian's #5: George Harrison's Cloud Nine, despite Jeff Lynne's heavy handed production

- Jay's #5: Husker Du's Warehouse, not their best but still pretty great

- Incredible run of albums over a short period

- Brian's #4: Prince's Sign o' the Times, maybe his last great album

- Jay's #4: Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me; Westerberg's focuses on songwriting and less on aggression

- Brian's #4: Tom Waits' Franks Wild Years; did Izzy Stradlin play on this album?

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Okkervil River - Stay Young

Beachwood Sparks - Make It Together

Midlake - Antiphon

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

The Okkervil River song is on the album The Silver Gymnasium on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) on Goodbye Summer: ATO Records 2013 Fall Sampler at ATORecords.com.

The Beachwood Sparks song is on the album Desert Skies on Alive Naturalsounds Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Midlake song is on the album Antiphon on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) on Goodbye Summer: ATO Records 2013 Fall Sampler at ATORecords.com. 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 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1987. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Guillermo Sexo, Natural Velvet and Speedy Ortiz.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Different perspectives: Brian was 5 in 1987, Jay was in college

- Brian: The impact of La Bamba, movie about Richie Valens

- Kicked off a roots rock revival

- Jay: Big year for alternative rock

- Breakout year for R.E.M., The Cure, The Cult

- Jay: Making the transition from metalhead to alt-rock fan

- No regional radio anymore

- Brian: CDs started catching on, especially when Beatles catalog was released

- CDs provided definitive versions of albums

- Became easier to make mixtapes

- Jay: Huge year for U2 with The Joshua Tree

- Landing tickets for U2 in '87 was no easy feat

- Brian: GNR's Appetite for Destruction actually paved the way for hair metal's demise

- Harked back to sleazier sounds of '70s garage rock

- Jane's Addiction seemed dangerous back then

- Guitar music was moving in different directions

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Guillermo Sexo - Fall Lens

Natural Velvet - Dark Inertia

Speedy Ortiz - Plough (live)

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

The Guillermo Sexo song is on the album Dark Spring on Midriff Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Natural Velvet song is on the EP Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. Download the EP for free at Bandcamp.

The Speedy Ortiz song is on the band's Epitonic Saki Session. 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss actors turned singers. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Sebadoh, Mind Spiders and Diarrhea Planet.

Show notes:

- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ

- John Travolta's music career was dragged out over three albums

- "All Strung Out on You" could've been a Velvet Underground outtake

- Co-writer Nino Tempo had an illustrious acting career as an extra

- Burt Reynolds made an album in '73

- Burt reads from his childhood diary

- Ric serves up crap on my podcast, not his

- Adam West's novelty record

- Other actors who made albums: Telly Savalas, Ted Knight

- Plenty of musicians who became actors: Kris Kristofferson, Jagger, Bowie

- Mark Wahlberg and Justin Timberlake have done well as actors

- Actors turned musicians: Kevin Bacon, Bruce Willis, Keanu Reeves, Russell Crowe, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson

- Rick James produced Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time"

- Eddie had already moved from comedian to movie star

- In "Boogie Nights," Dirk Diggler thinks he's got musical talent

- Murphy and Michael Jackson teamed up in '93's "Whatzupwitu"

- Corey Feldman's musical aspirations

- Ric's list of actresses who shouldn't make records

- Jodie Foster made an album when she was a kid

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Sebadoh - State of Mine

Mind Spiders - Make Make Make Make

Diarrhea Planet - Separations

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

The Sebadoh song is on the forthcoming album Defend Yourself on Joyful Noise Recordings. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Mind Spiders song is on the forthcoming album Inhumanistic on Dirtnap Records. Download the song for free at LargeheartedBoy.

The Diarrhea Planet song is on the album I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams on Infinity Cat Recordings. Download the song for free at Amazon MP3.

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 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss actor-turned-singer David Soul's massive 1977 hit song. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Mean Creek, Los Campesinos and Shearwater.

Show notes:

- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ

- David Soul, aka Hutch from "Starsky and Hutch," just turned 70

- "Don't Give Up on Us" hit #1 in April 1977

- Soul started out as a folk singer

- "Don't Give Up on Us" in the same vein as wuss rock by Bread, Dan Hill, Manilow

- Ric: Soul was on Private Stock Records, which churned out pop hits

- Label run by Larry Uttal, who was previously a hitmaker for Bell Records

- Private Stock master tapes were all lost after label went bankrupt

- Soul just had the one hit

- The B-side was weird song called "Black Bean Soup" that sounded like old Robert Palmer

- John Travolta was another actor with a record deal in the '70s

- Travolta was a teen idol after "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"; pre-Saturday Night Fever and Grease

- Big single was "Let Her In," even schmaltzier than the David Soul song

- No vocal range whatsoever

- "Rack jobbers" were big business; putting records in racks in drugstores and supermarkets for impulse shoppers

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Mean Creek - Cool Town

Los Campesinos - What Death Leaves Behind

Shearwater - I Luv the Valley OH!

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

The Mean Creek song is on the forthcoming album Local Losers on Old Flame Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Los Campesinos song is on the forthcoming album No Blues on Wichita Recordings. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Shearwater song is on the album Fellow Travelers on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.

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 Matt Phillion as we discuss our society's obsession with the apocalypse. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Marnie Stern, The Superman Revenge Squad Band, Radstewart and Thee Oh Sees.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Chez Phillion

- Neil Gaiman's American Gods may someday become an HBO series

- Seven stories keep getting retold

- When authors can't finish their series

- John Irving writes last line of a novel first

- Writing novels vs. screenplays

- Barrier to entry in moviemaking was cost of film, with books was publishing

- Now you can self-publish online

- Matt's film Certainly Never was screened at Massachusetts Independent Film Festival

- The satisfaction of slamming down a phone is gone

- Fun at the Boston "Nerd Prom," aka ComiCon

- Nerds rule the world

- Why does The Hobbit require a movie trilogy?

- When reality and satire are easily confused

- Outrage-powered culture

- Viagra has created an army of horny geezers

- Hopefully we won't have to deal with the End Times

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:Marnie Stern - This Was It

The Superman Revenge Squad Band - A Funny Thing You Said

Radstewart - Beer Swindlers

Thee Oh Sees - Castiatic Tackle

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

The Marnie Stern song is part of the Adult Swim Singles Program 2013. Download the song for free at Adult Swim.

The Superman Revenge Squad Band song is a single released on Audio Antihero. Download the song for free at Bandcamp.

The Radstewart song is the EP Whig Crooks and Beer Swindlers on Alcopop. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Thee Oh Sees song is on the album Warm Slime on In the Red 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss our society's obsession with the apocalypse. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Nine Inch Nails, Obits, Girls Against Boys and Wavves.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Chez Phillion

- Obsessing over the end of the world is nothing new

- Harold Camping boldly predicted the end date in 2011...twice

- Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide in '97

- Kirk Cameron and the Rapture

- Recent apocalyptic movies include This is the End and Pacific Rim

- Disaster movies have done big business for decades

- Matt's dog doesn't dig doomsday discussion

- Zombies are all the rage

- Matt recommends Peter Heller's post-apocalyptic thriller "The Dog Stars"

- Matt: Are all our best stories about the end of the world?

- In the '80s, fears of nuclear annihilation

- Lots of crazy natural disasters happening

- Fears of a virus wiping out mankind

- Stephen King's "The Stand" explored these issues in '78

- Japanese monster movies came after the A-bomb

- Miami face eater

- Making money off doomsday preppers

- Sales of bunkers, food, weapons, etc.

- Religious "Chick tracts" designed to freak people out

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:Nine Inch Nails - Copy of a

Obits - Spun Out

Girls Against Boys - It's a Diamond Life

Wavves - I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl

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

The Nine Inch Nails song is on the forthcoming album Hesitation Marks on Columbia. The song is available for free download at Amazon.

The Obits song is on the album Bed & Bugs on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.

The Girls Against Boys song is the band's first new music in a decade. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Wavves song is on the EP Life Sux on Ghost Ramp. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.

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 Amanda Guest as we discuss the new online radio station she's launching. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from PJ Harvey, The Moondoggies, Wavves and King Tuff.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Launching her own radio station, BFF.fm

- Taking back real radio

- Hope to bring back the college radio experience

- KUSF is trying to stay alive

- Amanda: College radio had a huge impact

- Amanda lives within walking distance of rock clubs in SF

- Already had discussions with venues about sponsoring shows

- Starting with seven DJs

- One DJ in Massachusetts pre-recording shows

- Even before launch, BFF.fm has generated a lot of enthusiasm

- Amanda: Work full-time gig so she can do this during her spare time

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:PJ Harvey - Shaker Aamer

The Moondoggies - Red Eye

Wavves - Hippies is Punks

King Tuff - Anthem

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

The PJ Harvey song was recorded in support of Shaker Aamer, the last British prisoner being held in Guantanamo Bay prison. The song is available for free download at Soundcloud.

The Moondoggies song is on the album Adios I'm a Ghost on Hardly Art. Download the song for free at HardlyArt.

The Wavves song is a bonus track on the album Afraid of Heights on Warner Bros. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The King Tuff song is on his self-titled album on Sub Pop. 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Amanda Guest as we discuss the new online radio station she's launching. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Black Rebel Motorcycle, Quicksand, Rocket From the Crypt and Dinosaur Jr.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Amanda was last on CompCon in October 2010

- Moved to San Francisco a year ago

- Launching her own radio station, BFF.fm

- Did a radio show at WMWM at Salem State

- Found studio space to rent at The Secret Alley

- Adventures in Console Purchasing

- Have 4-5 DJs lined up to do shows

- Possible launch date is Sept. 1, but you can listen to music there now

- Best Frequencies Forever

- Using word of mouth

- Partnering with San Francisco venues and brands

- Possible remote broadcasts with DJs from around the world

- Focused on underground music

- DJs "pay to play" in SF

- Hoping to get sponsorships

- Still working full-time while getting BFF going

- Lifelong dream to start a radio station

- SF is a lot more optimistic

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Hate the Taste (live)

Quicksand - Fazer (live)

Rocket from the Crypt - Born in '69 (live)

Dinosaur Jr. - The Only Other Way

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

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Quicksand and Rocket from the Crypt songs are on the Converse Represent San Francisco live EP, available for free at Soundcloud.

The Dinosaur Jr. song is an unreleased track available for free download at SkullCandy.

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 Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2013 and look ahead to the rest of the year. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Savages, Veronica Falls and Mikal Cronin.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

- JB: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - Ripely Pine

- Maine native wrote songs while working in video store

- JK: The National - Trouble Will Find Me

- Still digging into this one

- What's the deal with Vampire Weekend?

- JB: Slowdim - s/t

- "A real nice listen"

- JK: Mikal Cronin - MC II

- Plays in Ty Segall's band

- The Besnard Lakes are an interesting band

- JK: New Sabbath is surprisingly non-sucky

- Old bands getting eclipsed by cover acts

- The Stones should just stop

- New Arcade Fire album expected in the fall

- JB: New Soccer Mom full-length may be out this year

- New music from Earthquake Party and Guillermo Sexo

- JK: Looking forward to new Obits album

- More new Pixies music on the way?

- Superchunk's new album coming in the fall

- New Arctic Monkeys and Pearl Jam albums due out

- JB: Anticipating new Polvo, Johnny Foreigner, Weekend, Golden Gurls

- JB: Predict the John Hughes soundtrack sound is going to come back

- Small venues are where it's at

- Pop country is attracting older fans who used to like rock

- Wear earplugs to shows, kids

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - Rooftop

Savages - She Will

Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

Mikal Cronin - Weight

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

The Lady Lamb the Beekeeper song is on the album Ripely Pine on Ba Da Bing! Download the song for free at Spinner.

The Savages song is on the album Silence Yourself on Matador. Download the song for free as part of the Matador Intended Play 2013 sampler on Amazon.

The Veronica Falls song is on the album Waiting for Something to Happen on Slumberland Records. Download the song for free as part of the Slumberland Records Spring/Summer 2013 Sampler on Amazon.

The Mikal Cronin song is on the album MCII on Merge Records. Download the song for free as part of the Merge Records Summer Sampler 2013 on Amazon.

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 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2013. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Speedy Ortiz, Radiator Hospital, Kurt Vile and Light Heat.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

- Rick Moranis has a new album out

- Rush's only U.S. top 40 hit was 1982's "New World Man"

- Brought to you (not really) by Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

- JK: iTunes crashed, lost all playlists and play counts

- Spotify recently added music recommendations

- Serious signal-to-noise ratio

- YouTube's a great source of cool audio and video

- JB: A lot of great music from Exploding in Sound label

- JB: Ovlov - Am

- JK: Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana

- Featured on JB's Lilys comp

- Many young bands embracing '90s sounds

- JB: Krill - Lucky Leaves

- Bass-playing singers free up space for guitarists

- JK: Palma Violets - 180

- Catchy Britpop that rocks

- JB: Radiator Hospital - Something Wild

- Album title comes from Jonathan Demme movie

- JK: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

- More subdued effort, but still excellent

- JB: Colleen - The Weighing of the Heart

- Former French schoolteacher

- Speedy Ortiz posted a great mixtape on their blog

- JK: David Bowie - The Next Day

- Unexpected but surprisingly good

- JB: Veronica Falls - Waiting for Something to Happen

- Melodic British guitar pop

- JK hasn't purchased any CDs this year; JB's bought fewer than 10

- Vinyl ain't cheap

- JB's listed in liner notes of new Speedy Ortiz album

- JK: Kurt Vile - Wakin' on a Pretty Daze

- Very chill, lots of long jams

- Kurt's brother sells Jell-O shots at festivals

- JB: Light Heat - s/t

- Former Mazarin fronter on his own

- JK: Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork

- Expected hard rocker and got something more interesting

- New QOTSA drummer is Jon Theodore, ex of Mars Volta

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:Speedy Ortiz - Tiger Tank

Radiator Hospital - Your Boyfriend

Kurt Vile - Wakin' on a Pretty Day

Light Heat - The Mirror (live)

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

The Speedy Ortiz song is on the album Major Arcana on Carpark Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Radiator Hospital song is on the album Something Wild. Download the entire album for free at Bandcamp.

The Kurt Vile song is on the album Wakin' on a Pretty Daze on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Matador.

The Light Heat song is on the band's self-titled album on Ribbon Music. Download the live version for free as part of the WXPN/Key Studio Session at The Key.

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.