Day Drinking on Delmarva

I have an obsession with flags. Todd flies them occasionally. Lots of people do. I don’t happen to, but that’s an aesthetic choice. The problem for me (as I’ve said a thousand times) is that flags are like bumper stickers for your home. People increasingly treat them that way as well, which is bonkers.

At the bottom of it, though, what’s worth thinking about is the lack of thought people seem to put into flying a flag. I wonder what would change about it if we had to flay flags on the houses we looked at rather than the houses we lived in.

In addition to the comical flag that adorns this episode, flags tend to fall into two categories. The first says “I like flags.” These are the homes with seasonal flags, comical or not.

The other, which includes American flags, pride flags, blue line flags, and Confederate flags, says, “If you only know one thing about the person living in this house, it’s this.”

I’ve gotta be clear, I don’t think that’s what people believe; I just think they don’t consider it from that perspective. I’d like to hope that if they did, they’d be more careful about the sweeping generalizations they self-applied.

There’s more here:

Why I regret not burning my neighbor’s Confederate Flag when I had the chance

Desecrating the American Flag Doesn’t Make You More Patriotic

Blue Line Flags Are Cheap, Cops Are Goddamn Expensive

Letting Your F**k Flag Fly

Show Highlights

Todd and I revisit Ocean City just after the turn of the century. We discuss the rise (and eventual disappearance of) DJ Batman and the idea that there was a time when a DJ that just played other people’s records could command a following.

I’m going to be on TV again in a couple of weeks for my book Dragged Into the Light, Truthers, Reptilians, Super Soldiers, and Death Inside an Online Cult. I still have some audiobooks to give away, so if you read this far and want me to send you one, just respond to this email.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

I don’t know why it took so long to think of this. Todd and I have been taking photos as a significant part of our jobs for the better part of this century. We covered events (with differing degrees of enthusiasm) all over the region.

On the face of it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to add a photo section to an audio podcast, but the pictures don’t really matter. The idea is to go back through the years and talk about what was going on when the photo was taken.

In this inaugural episode, Todd talks about his pre-season getaway to Virginia Beach and I talk about how disappointing Salisbury is.

The photo I chose was from one of the great well-conceived and executed failures I’ve been part of. It might have been called the Salisbury Book Festival (or something) but it was sponsored (if I recall correctly) by Delmarva Public Radio and the library.

There were maybe 10 booths, including the local chapter of the Maryland Writers Association. People in booths outnumbered attendees three to one. It was a hot and windy day and at one point we had people stationed at each corner of the tent to hold it down.

The photo I chose was of the entertainment. I don’t recall the guy’s name, but I think of him often. He was performing children’s music for, like, six kids who mostly were in front of the stage because that’s where the toys were.

He was indefatigable, so happy to be playing his music that he didn’t care that he was being ignored. He ignored being ignored and found his bliss like a saint. I don’t do performance art so it’s something I have trouble relating with.

Still, I was mad that so few people came out to a book event. No. I was mad that people thought it was ridiculous to have a book event in Salisbury and that they were right.

As I mention in the show, I developed an obsession with Cumberland, Md. over the years I’ve been traveling there. It looks like a city on the verge. I still consider moving there from time to time.

A friend who lives in the area said Cumberland has always looked on the verge of being cool, but it isn’t and won’t likely be in my lifetime. That’s how I’ve come to think of Salisbury. A place that won’t make the transition.

My working theory is that the cultural costs are too high, as are the economic costs. Maybe we’re past the time when places “happen.” Maybe I’m past the age where I can tell. In any case, here’s to the guy who loves performing kid’s music live for a distracted, disaffected few more than not playing kid’s music live at all.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

Competitive tag (the schoolyard game) is a televised sport. Like on ESPN. That is absolutely bananas. Worse, it’s poorly produced. The premise is that grown 20-or-30-somethings chase one another around for 20 seconds. One person is it. One person runs. Everyone else watches.

The show that I skimmed (thank god for fast-forward on YouTube), featured more delays than competition, which almost makes sense. After all, this is a 40-minute show that relies on maybe 10 minutes of actual sport. It’s as if someone said, “What if we took the worst parts of watching football and made that into a show?”

Todd suggested that the show was designed to be cut up into social clips, which also almost makes sense. The thing is, this kind of contempt for viewers has reached absurd proportions.

ESPN is what makes cable so expensive. When people look around and see what kinds of garbage they put out, it isn’t any wonder cord-cutting is a thing.

The problem for me, though, is the cable company and the internet company are the same for most people. That means that increasingly people who don’t have or watch cable are funding this failed institution.

Grownup professional competitive tag is the symptom. ESPN is the disease. God help us all.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

Todd and I are awful at promoting our podcast, which is too bad because it’s pretty good. It is also in the top 5% of podcasts internationally. According to a recent survey, only about 5% of podcasts have been in production for 10 or more years.

We may not have the listenership of Marc Maron nor the gift for profiting from controversy that Joe Rogan has, but we show up every week and have for more than a decade. It’s worth bragging about.

Todd and I did our first live podcast in 2011 in Burley Oak to the utter bafflement of everyone. Some were waiting for us to play music, others thought we were a local radio show. LITERALLY NO ONE understood the word podcast. Eventually, we just started telling people it was an internet radio show.

It’s Delmarva after all.

As we say in our opening, Todd drinks because he gets to live here, I drink because I have to live here.

More than a decade later, we still show up.

While more than half of the country has listened to at least one podcast, only about 25% of Americans listen weekly. Adjust that for Slower Lower and it’s gratifying that we have as many listeners as we do.

If you’re one of them, thanks for showing up every week. If you’re not, just know that when you do show up, we’ll be there (even if we’re in no condition to drive).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

In this episode, Todd revisits Bethesda and Tony discusses the covid movie you need to see.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

St. Patrick’s Day is the unofficial start of the “season” here on Delmarva. It’s the first big event as people start making their way back to the beach after a long winter.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

Todd and Tony discuss the Freeman Stage redo and all of the cool acts they’ve already landed. Also: A new “Answers to Questions” feature which turned out to be more fun than we’d anticipated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

In this episode, Todd and Tony both talk up the Ocean City Film Festival, which has absolutely exploded since its inception a few years ago.

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Todd sends his daughter to work in a tattoo parlor and Tony overthinks Looney Tunes.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

Todd talks about some of the efforts by beach restaurants to come to terms with covid, Tony talks about his sexy zoning adventures.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com