Completely Conspicuous

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2012. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Golden Gurls, Cloud Nothings, Autochrome, Torche, Karl Hendricks Trio and Guided By Voices.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

- Kumar: New Smashing Pumpkins ain't bad

- Breitling: Golden Gurls do not feature Bea Arthur but do rock

- Kumar: High on Fire brings metallic fury

- Kumar: Check out Henry Rollins' great radio show

- Breitling: Former Books leader Zammuto released terrific album

- Kumar: Cloud Nothings are young and really good

- Breitling: Boston act Autochrome brings the post-punk

- WFNX's demise will result in two streaming stations

- Kumar: Torche is heavy and poppy

- Breitling: Check out Big Science

- Dumb band name: The Internet

- Kumar: Japandroids unleash unbridled fury

- Breitling: Karl Hendricks Trio back with another great record

- Kumar: GBV returns with the classic lineup

- Breitling: Infinity Girl debut features quality shoegaze

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:Golden Gurls - Excited

Cloud Nothings - No Future/No Past

Autochrome - We Are the System

Torche - Kicking

Karl Hendricks Trio - The Men's Room at the Airport

Guided By Voices - The Unsinkable Fats Domino

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

The Golden Gurls song is from the album Typo Magic. Download the song and the album for free at GoldenGurls.Bandcamp.com.

The Cloud Nothings song is on the album Attack on Memory on Carpark Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Autochrome song is on the album Separation Realms. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.

The Torche song is from the album Harmonicraft on Volcom Entertainment. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at TorcheMusic.

The Karl Hendricks Trio song is on the album The Adult Section on Comedy Minus One Records. Download the song for free from Comedy Minus One.

The Guided By Voices song is on the album Let's Go Eat the Factory on Guided By Voices Records. Download the song for free at GBVDigital.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; check out his site PodGeek.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we talk about the state of the book industry. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Henry Clay People, Japandroids, The Hives and Wye Oak.

Show notes:

- Recorded in Beverly, Mass.

- Christian: So many good books go undiscovered

- Kindles and other e-readers have people reading

- Attitudes towards owning music and books change as folks get older

- Jay: My kids are still reading books

- The debate over digital media and artist royalties rages on in music industry

- Different revenue models: Amanda Palmer raised over $1 mil on Kickstarter for new album

- That won't work for artists without huge followings, though

- The popularity of oral histories

- Crafting an oral history involves skill in selecting right quotes, telling a story

- "Narrative non-fiction" is an interesting sub-genre

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:The Henry Clay People - 25 for the Rest of Our Lives

Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and Roses

The Hives - High School Shuffle

Wye Oak - Spiral

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

The Henry Clay People song is from the album Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our Lives on TBD Records. Download the song for free at HenryClayPeople.com.

The Japandroids song is on the album Celebration Rock on Polyvinyl Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Hives song is on the album Lex Hives on Disques Hives. Download the song for free at RCRDLBL.

The Wye Oak song is from the Adult Swim Singles Series. 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 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we talk about the state of the book industry. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Corin Tucker Band, The Raveonettes, Stars and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Show notes:

- Recorded in Beverly, Mass.

- In this age of distraction, it's amazing that people read books at all

- Christian: Education system may be to blame for lack of reading

- Fiction is still a valuable commodity

- Jay: Fun to see my kids get into reading

- Christian: Treating reading like a workout

- Multi-tasking all day makes one less inclined to read later

- Authors were once treated like movie stars

- "Fifty Shades of Grey" started as Twilight fan fiction

- Many best-sellers are autobiographies of celebs

- Christian: Historical fiction is exciting

- Working on a new project, a "novel in stories"

- Looking at African-Americans attracted to Russian promise of equality

- Also working on novel about a murder in rural Alaska

- All about plot

- Success comes at the sentence level

- Many parallels to the music industry

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:The Corin Tucker Band - Groundhog Day

The Raveonettes - Observations

Stars - The Theory of Relativity

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Black Mold

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

The Corin Tucker Band song is from the forthcoming album Kill My Blues on Kill Rock Stars. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Raveonettes song is from the band's forthcoming album Observator on Vice Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Stars song is on the forthcoming album The North on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at StarstheNorth.com.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song is from the band's forthcoming album Meat and Bone on Boombox/Mom + Pop. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Pitchfork.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; check out his site PodGeek.

Guest Ric Dube and I dig deep and analyze two '70s rock classics. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Redd Kross, Chelsea Light Moving and Cat Power.

Show notes:

- Recorded in Shrewsbury, Mass.

- Check out Ric's podcast More Lost Time

- Digging into Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"

- Irony-free, over-the-top theatrics

- Song is in three parts

- Jay: Remember as a kid thinking it was risque

- Paradise turns out to be hell

- Jim Steinman was known for ridiculously long song titles

- Song goes from rockabilly to disco in the middle, with Phil Rizzuto mixed in

- The debate over third base

- Ellen Foley's odd career

- Third section tries to emulate punk

- The strange allure of Robby Benson

- Meat Loaf's acting career

- Part 2: "Brother Louie" by Stories

- A classic '70s one-hit wonder

- Stories actually had well-known musicians in band

- Louie was whiter than white

- Super catchy chorus

- Ric: This was a "Neapolitan relationship"

- The lesson was about equal opportunity sexing

- Why is the name Louie popular in songs?

- Did Jeff Lynne swipe the ELO string sound from this song?

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:Redd Kross - Researching the Blues

Chelsea Light Moving - Burroughs

Cat Power - Ruin

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

The Redd Kross song is from the forthcoming album Researching the Blues on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Chelsea Light Moving song is from the band's forthcoming album on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Cat Power song is on the album Sun on Matador Records. 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 blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Part 2 of my conversation with filmmaker Eric Green as we discuss his documentary about V66, the short-lived Boston music video channel. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Mission of Burma, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Metric and Ceremony.

Show notes:

- Recorded in Cambridge, Mass.

- Eric's documentary is called Life on the V

- V66 was on the air from 2/85 to 9/86

- Response to the topic has been great

- Doc is almost finished

- Music docs are in vogue

- Rumors that MTV was keeping an eye on V66

- Eric resisted the classic Behind the Music structure

- V66 was based in Worcester, Mass.; bands would visit before concerts there

- 9-year-old Eric got on the air with a phoned-in joke

- Cable TV was much different in the '80s; still hadn't made it to many rural areas

- Memories of USA Network's Night Flight video show

- Music docs: Stop Making Sense vs. The Last Waltz

- When V66 played Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" video, they took MTV logo out

- Eric received a lot of fan submissions of V66 videos on VHS tapes

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:Mission of Burma - Second Television

David Byrne and St. Vincent - Who

Metric - Artificial Nocturne

Ceremony - I Don't Wanna Be Learned/I Don't Wanna Be Tamed

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

The Mission of Burma song is from the forthcoming album Unsound on Fire Records. Download the song for free at Rolling Stone.

The David Byrne and St. Vincent song is from the forthcoming album Love This Giant on 4AD. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Stereogum.The Metric song is on the album Synthetica on Mom and Pop Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Ceremony song is an unreleased track available for free download at Noisey.

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 filmmaker Eric Green as we discuss his documentary about V66, the short-lived Boston music video channel. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Walkmen, Beachwood Sparks, King Tuff and Superchunk.

Show notes:

- Recorded in Cambridge, Mass.

- Eric's documentary is called Life on the V

- V66 was on the air from 2/85 to 9/86

- UHF station that reached throughout New England

- Cable still hadn't reached many towns

- There were other music video shows including Friday Night Videos on NBC

- Videos had been around for awhile but didn't catch on until MTV arrived

- V66 introduced a lot of new music, played diverse styles

- We both watched it as kids

- Run DMC's "King of Rock" was most requested song on V66

- Boston bands were given more attention: Del Fuegos, Til Tuesday, New Man

- Ex-radio guy John Garabedian started V66

- Station did non-music programming likes sports, weather

- MTV began adding different programs in late '80s

- Eventually, V66 was sold to Home Shopping Network

- Something like V66 could never happen today

- Eric worked at Fuse, the video station out of NYC

- Began making documentary in 2008; almost done

- Did many interviews with former V66 staff, as well as viewers

- Collected footage from fans

- Talked to musicians inspired by the station

- V66 teamed up with local radio stations on events

- To be continued

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:The Walkmen - Love is Luck

Beachwood Sparks - Sparks Fly Again

King Tuff - Bad Thing

Superchunk - Misfits & Mistakes

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

The Walkmen song is from the album Heaven on Fat Possum Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.The Beachwood Sparks song is on the album The Tarnished Gold on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.

The King Tuff song is on the band's self-titled album on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.

The Superchunk song is on the EP Leaves in the Gutter on Merge 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss the death of rock radio. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Henry Clay People, Archers of Loaf, Codeine and Los Campesinos.

Show notes:

- Radio now competes with iPods, digital radio, Spotify

- The anticipation factor with new music is gone

- Cell phone video has changed the live experience

- Music has become background noise

- We don't pay attention as closely to new music

- As people get older, some lose that connection to music

- Mike: Music education came from hanging out at college radio station

- Remembering the old Boston rock station WCOZ

- In praise of WFMU

- Nick: Listened to a lot of classic rock on stations like WAAF

- Satellite radio is a factor

- Jay: First listened to CHUM-AM in Toronto, then got into the FM rock stations

- Canadian Content Rule was in effect: Lots of April Wine, Chilliwack, Triumph

- Nick and Mike played in the great rock band Lump

- College radio is still great, especially WMBR, the MIT station

- Only Boston rock stations left are WZLX, WAAF, The River (WXRV)

- Jay: Pretty much listened to WFNX all the time during the '90s

- Younger music fans may not feel the loss of FNX

- Used to be fun to listen to radio in other parts of country

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:The Henry Clay People - Hide

Archers of Loaf - Dead Red Eyes

Codeine - Median (Peel session)

Los Campesinos - Tiptoe Through the True Bits

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

The Henry Clay People song is from the band's forthcoming album Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our Lives on TBD Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.The Archers of Loaf song is on the reissue of the band's album White Trash Heroes on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Codeine song is a previously unreleased track from a Peel session available on the reissue of Barely Real on Numero Group. Download the song for free from Stereogum.

The Los Campesinos song is a non-album track released by the band for free download from its website.

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 special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss the death of rock radio. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Bob Mould, Hallelujah the Hills, Zeus and The White Stripes.

Show notes:

- Boston alternative rock station WFNX was sold to Clear Channel recently

- Rock radio has been on life support for quite some time

- Too much radio programming and formats

- WFNX was pioneer of the alternative format

- Nick: Knew of WFNX more by reputation as a kid

- Mike: College radio introduced me to a world beyond classic rock and metal

- Jay: R.E.M. and U2 were first so-called alternative bands I got into

- WBCN was revolutionary back in late '60s and '70s, playing free-form rock

- Eventually became formatted like all the rest

- WBCN switched to alternative format in mid-'90s to compete with FNX

- Eventually, BCN went to more talk: Stern, Opie & Anthony

- FNX went downhill for a while with nu metal

- Nick: FNX had rebounded in last few years

- We old guys don't get newer bands like Mumford and Sons

- FNX wasn't going after geezers like us anymore

- Many more options for listeners now: iPod, streaming audio, Pandora

- The "Mike FM" stations just regurgitate '90s alternacrap

- The much-bigger WBCN went off air in '09, turned into a sports talk station

- The market for rock music has diminished; kids are listening to more hip hop and pop

- Plenty of new rock bands coming out all the time

- Nick: Hard rock is used more in sports arenas and commercials

- To be continued next week

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:Bob Mould - The Act We Act (live)

Hallelujah the Hills - Get Me in a Room

Zeus - Anything You Want, Dear

The White Stripes - Jimmy the Exploder

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

The Bob Mould song is from Live at Bottom of the Hill, a free EP of three Sugar songs from the album Copper Blue performed live on Feb. 24 in San Francisco. Download the EP for free (in exchange for your email address) at New.Official.Fm.The Hallelujah the Hills song is on the album No One Knows What Happens Next on Discrete Pageantry. Download the song for free from IODA Promonet.

The Zeus song is on the album Busting Visions on Arts and Crafts. Download the song for free from IODA Promonet.

The White Stripes song is from the band's self-titled album on Sympathy for the Record Industry. 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 2 of my conversation with special guest Adam Tinkoff as we discuss diet and exercise. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from The Afghan Whigs, The Alabama Shakes, Sunny Ali and the Kid, and Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Adam's new show Zen@10 and also the Slow Runners Club

- Adam: Think before you eat

- Jay: Hot dogs gross me out

- Food processing is a nasty business

- Keep track of what you eat for 30 days

- Mix up your workouts

- Adam: Latin dancing is a great workout

- Adam's a "carousel of crazy"

- He did Internet broadcasting in 2000 before podcasting was created

- Taking a break from Slow Runners Club podcast because of busy schedules

- Kicked off 2012 Spring Clean Reboot

- Group effort to eat better

- First week is easy, but after that it's tough to sustain

- We need to make it easy for people to exercise

- Much has changed in the last 20 years

- Harder to lose weight as you get older

- Body mass index (BMI) is useless

- Body fat percentage doesn't need to be single digits

- Adam: All diet plans fail

- Change your habits, then adjustments

- Getting into online fitness coaching

- You don't need a gym to get fit

- The Biggest Loser made weight loss inspiring

- Bonehead of the WeekMusic:The Afghan Whigs - See and Don't See

The Alabama Shakes - Hold On

Sunny Ali and the Kid - Chai

Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra - Do It With a Rockstar

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

The Afghan Whigs song is the first new recording from the band since 2006. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at TheAfghanWhigs.com.The Alabama Shakes song is on the album Boys & Girls on ATO Records. Download the song for free as part of The ATO Spring Sampler (in exchange for your email address) at ATO Records.

The Sunny Ali and the Kid song is a digital single available for free download at Bandcamp.

The Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra song is on her forthcoming album on 8ft Records. Download the song for free from Soundcloud.

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 special guest Adam Tinkoff as we discuss fitness. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Young Adults, Guided By Voices, The Riverboat Gamblers and Beck.

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 WeekMusic: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.