Pairs With Life

Guest co-host Carrie Flaspohler joins the podcast to discuss our Top 3 Wines for Thanksgiving and the family dysfunctions that pair with them.

JT and guest co-host Ellen Clifford of The Wine Situation count down six of their all-time favorite scary movies and the wines that pair with them.

As I conclude my investigation into how ghosts are supposed to behave, I speak with writer and medium Kristen Nedopak, who shares some surprising insights.

Something strange happened to me not long ago. Something that kind of freaked me out. A bizarre incident that reinforced my growing suspicion that perhaps not all is as it seems here in the material world. I've long been a skeptic about ghosts, or spirits, or lost souls, or whatever you want to call them. I'm an empirical guy. Show me data, show me proof, give me the evidence. But my mind is changing, because of this recent incident and another one that occurred almost ten years ago.

But even as my mind opens to the possibility of ghosts and the spirit world, I have questions. Are there laws that govern what spirits can do? As corporeal beings, the laws of nature and physics determine what we can and cannot do. I can't make an object levitate. I can't walk through a wall. Do ghosts have a similar set of rules? How come a ghost has never come up to me and said, "Hi JT, I'm a ghost?" Is it because they just can't do that.

In the first part of this two-part series, I discuss this strange incident that occurred recently, then take a deep dive into why it may have happened. It's a twisty road, stretching from a haunted castle to Facebook corporate headquarters. The rules of ghosts are not easy to determine. But if we're to solve this mystery, we need to know the rules.

It's no mystery that my new wine brand, Tous Les Jours, brings you fantastic wines at amazing prices (see what I did there?). This week, I feature the 2018 Tous Les Jours Cabernet Sauvignon, North Coast. It's only $19, and shipping is free with 6 or more bottles, or only $9.95 if you're cheap AF and get less than 6. Get you some!

In 1998, Steve Taylor reached up and touched the golden underbelly of rock stardom as leader of the greatest rock band you never heard, The Uninvited. Following ten years of struggle in Los Angeles—the epicenter of the dream/reality splatter zone—his band inked a major label deal with Atlantic Records, pulling back the velvet rope on the most exclusive club in the world.

(I was there the whole time, BTW. Steve's my brother, and we formed the band together).

For two incredible, sweat-drenched and mind-altering years, Steve had fame by the tender bits and squeezed hard. And when it looked like it couldn't get any better, it did: Mia, the achingly-unattainable woman of his dreams, landed in The Attainable Zone. But sometimes, dreams collide in a rush to come true, and what Steve thought he held in the palm of his hands started slipping through his fingers...

Steve Taylor joins me on the podcast to discuss the memoir that chronicles it all: The Uninvited - On The Road With The Greatest Rock Band You Never Heard. And it's not just sex, drugs, and rock & roll (well, it sorta is). It's the story of how life should be a story, and how dreams don't die, though they might change a bit along the way.

The Greatest Rock Band You Never Heard probably pairs best with Jack Daniels, but since they don't pay me, I think you should check out the Tous Les Jours 2019 Pinot Grigio from Lodi instead. Crisp, refreshing, light in alcohol, and only $15 with free shipping. Now THAT's rockin'...

What brings joy to your life (besides OBVIOUSLY this podcast...and wine)? Is it things & stuff? People & places? A big bank account and an even bigger wine store? What are your favorite things? This week, Wine Goddess Carrie Flaspohler joins me to talk about three of our very favorite things - things that make our lives just a little bit better during the Epic Early '20s Shitstorm (which is. the official title of the new decade, by the way). And no, we're not getting paid to pimp our favorite things: these are all brought to you sponsor-free & brimmin' with old-fashioned objectivity.

That said, I'm not above full-on pimping my own wines, including the new Tous Les Jours 2019 California Pinot Noir. At only $15 a bottle, it's the everyday wine your life has been missing, so get you some - in fact, get a lot, because shipping is free with 6 bottles or more. To learn more about Tous Les Jours wines, check it out here.

According to a study released in May 2021, one in nine Americans have tried a poly relationship, and one in six would like to try one. In fact, according to a YouGov study, half of all Millennials do not want a "completely monogamous relationship." So what's the attraction to polyamory? Is it the thought of not having one sexual partner for the remainder of your life? Is it the prospect of sharing resources? Like being able to plunder more than one wine collection at a time? (That's what got me started).

On this episode, I talk to Dr. Elisabeth Sheff, a sociologist who has been studying polyamory trends for over two decades. I also take her online survey, The Bonding Project, which helps individuals understand their own feelings about polyamorous relationships. And what wine pairs with polyamory? The 2017 Fogelson Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville, Napa Valley...because it's...complex. Pick it up now for only $29 per bottle!

After decades of priding myself as the only musician in the world who doesn't have a tattoo, I finally decided to give in and get inked. So what's it going to be? A tramp stamp? A Samoan tribal band around my arm? A screeching bald eagle carrying a banner that reads "Peace Through Superior Firepower" across my chest? The first tattoo is a tough decision.

Actually, it wasn't. I had an idea for my first tattoo that has been simmering in my brain since the 4th grade. The real question is, why did I wait so long? What held me back? Does it have anything to do with how our society views ritual and remembrance? And how come you can't bring wine to the tattoo parlor? I mean, aside from potentially bleeding all over the place? So lame. I'm also joined by Andi Wrede of the Wound Up Wino Podcast, whose wine tattoos are something glorious.

One might say that Chardonnay isn't exactly a tattoo wine, but I'd beg to differ. It's hot AF outside, and the Chardonnay I'm pimping is just too freaking good. It's my new 2020 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Fogelson Vineyard. And at $23 a bottle, you're going to want to tattoo the bottle on both arms.

And speaking of great tattoo ideas, all the cool kids are getting tattoos of the cover art of my book, Pairs With Life. You don't have to get that fanatical, but you may want to consider reading it...

It's the 100th episode of The Pairs With Life Podcast! Who'd of thunk back in December 2018 when this podcast got its start on a kitchen table that it'd grow to the over-leveraged corporate media monstrosity that it is today? To celebrate 100 episodes of unfounded opinions, bad advice, weird-ass stories (along with about a thousand gallons of wine), I'm making a major announcement. Like, major-major. And it's all for YOU! (except the part where I make money from it. That's for me. Sorry). There's plenty of amazing things to come from the Pairs With Life Podcast. The 100th episode is just the start! Thank all of you for making it a possibility!

Summer reading just got better with the novel, Pairs With Life, in hardcover! Get it here!

Check out all the wines I drink on the podcast at Pairs With Life Cellars.

Strange but true, the idea of Natural Wine creates all kinds of controversy within the wine community. Some say it's a misnomer, an oxymoron, or just generally bad-tasting wine. Others say Natural Wine is a fad created just to appeal to Millennials, and that the whole notion denigrates the class, sophistication, and indeed the craft that goes into making fine wine. My guests on the podcast this week—winemakers Jack Sporer and Randy Czech—beg to differ. On the forefront of a new wave in viticulture and winemaking, these gentlemen offer up an alternative theory: that Natural Wine goes a lot deeper than what is or what's not on the wine label, or even in the bottle itself.

Want to try the Fres.co 2020 Sonoma County Primitivo I drink on the podcast this week? Check it out here.

If you haven't purchased my book, Pairs With Life, you suck. Fortunately, you don't always have to suck. You can stop sucking and click here.