If you’ve watched a lot of films from the 60s, 70s, or 80s and thought, this music really knows what it’s doing, there’s a fair chance John Scott had something to do with it.

Think about the last fairy tale you encountered. It might not have been a dusty book with yellowed pages. It could have been a Disney film, a TV series, or even a video game. The characters feel familiar, but something is different. The princess hesitates. The villain has a backstory. The ending is no longer simple...

Originally released at the end of the 1980s, Michael Apted's The Long Way Home documented a singular cultural moment: Soviet underground rock legend Boris Grebenshchikov recording in the West during the brief, hopeful era of Glasnost.

Decades later, the film has been painstakingly remastered and expanded from the only surviving 16mm print. Producer Steven Lawrence, who supervised the restoration alongside original editor Susanne Rostock, spoke with me about rescuing a nearly lost film, revisiting history through a modern lens, and why music still matters.

Apted also directed Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. His subsequent work included Gorillas in the Mist (1988), which earned Sigourney Weaver an Oscar. He also directed Nell (1994) and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999), among other things.

Lawrence directed Sun City: Artists United Against Apartheid (1985), The INvisible Extinction (2022), and The Cat Rescuers (2018), as well as Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Rock in Russia (1987) for MTV and the Vis à Vis doc series for PBS.

This interview was recorded for an article featured in VENTS Magazine online.

Today I'm talking about BBQ Brawl: Flay vs. Symon, Season 1, Episode 2, “High Steaks,” which aired August 8, 2019.

If you like big beef, pressure cooking, and a little chaos, this episode delivers.

I’ve also got a cheap, low-effort recipe at the end.

Today, I want to talk about a band that barely existed, released one album, toured sparingly, and still managed to leave a permanent mark on indie music.

In this episode: More ICE stories unfold. I also look at the rise and legacy of George H. W. Bush, and how he helped bring us to our sorrowful state.  I also discuss Michael Dukakis and the Willie Horton smear that sunk his electoral chances.

If you grew up anywhere near a radio, a wedding dance floor, or an ’80s movie montage, you’ve heard the Pointer Sisters.

Calling out fascist tendencies is not “throwing the word around.” Pretending fascism only exists after it has fully succeeded is how it keeps happening.

A correction: In my response, I mentioned Jewish Generals.

There were no Jewish generals commanding troops in the Nazi military, so I was somewhat off. However, there actually were some high-ranking German officers of Jewish descent (Mischlinge, or "half-Jews"), who served due to special Hitler exemptions, which is what I was getting at.

I knew there was something like that, but I sloppily referred to "Jewish Generals."

Specifically, there was Luftwaffe General Helmuth Wilberg and Field Marshal Erhard Milch, who received "German Blood Certificates," while others were dismissed as racial laws tightened.

In this episode, I continue responding to YouTube comments. In the original video this person responded to, I break down the myth of the “anti-tax” Republican and the claim that government waste is some neutral, non-partisan truth.

I look at what actually happens when income taxes are cut: the burden doesn’t disappear, it gets shifted onto workers through sales taxes, payroll taxes, fees, and fines. I explain why calls to abolish the income tax aren’t about smaller government, but about who pays for it.

I also examine selective austerity. There is always money for the military, police, border enforcement, and prisons. But when it comes to healthcare, housing, disaster relief, or social support, we’re suddenly told the cupboard is bare.

Along the way in some of my "reaction videos" to these YouTube comments, I respond to common right-wing deflections — “sales tax is a state issue” (overlooking the right-wing calls for a national sales tax), “government waste is non-partisan,” and personal attacks disguised as economic literacy — and show how these arguments avoid accountability instead of engaging with policy.

This isn’t about party loyalty. It’s about following the money, naming priorities, and asking who benefits and who pays.

@MustardSkaven says in a YouTube comment:

"'fascist' gets thrown around way too much. When a fascist is elected, that's the moment they're supposed to abolish voting, take out all competition to rule and consolidate all power. Obama, Trump, Biden, non of them have done that."

This episode is my response.