SlapperCast

This week we talk about an upcoming new version of our song "Everyday is Christmas (Since You're Gone)", the difficult listening of Bruce Springsteen's early material, and Patrick's memories of seeing Blaze Bayley perform with Iron Maiden in the '90s contrasted with seeing YES perform this past week.

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This week, we talk about the brilliant comedian Doug Stanhope and the thrill of hearing him talk about us on his podcast, upcoming tour plans for January, and next year's IRELAND tour. We then do the usual round of song kills & revivals before Patrick leads us through a series of "lightning round" questions. Special guest star this week: Heide's golden retriever Ben, here to talk about his upcoming DVD release.

Doug Stanhope talking about Blaggards on Day 29 of "Another 30 Days in the Hole" (starts at 9:06):

Join BLAGGARDS in Ireland in Fall 2023:

Chad's new podcast Prodigious Saps:

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Special Guest: Heide Riggs.

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SlapperCast Episode 191 was recorded in a leisurely manner this past Sunday night in Patrick's living room, which we haven't done in awhile. After Patrick tells us how his laptop got destroyed by a falling mirror, we touch on our latest bit of big news: we're FINALLY going back to Ireland next Fall, and we hope you'll join us. It's going to be a blast.

Also for the first time in a long while, we have a couple shows coming up at two Molly's Pub locations (Molly Maguire's and Molly's Conroe). This prompts Patrick and Chad to talk about the great Eamonn Finnerty, co-owner of Molly's Pubs, who was instrumental in helping Blaggards get off the ground in Houston, starting with Patrick's earlier band On the Dole.

Chad announces his new podcast Prodigious Saps, a nerdy Superman-inspired show he launched this week with his old friend Brendan Jones, former lead singer of local Houston band Zsu-Zsu's Petals and co-founder of the Tesla City Stories. The first episode is out now as an audio-only podcast and a full video on YouTube.

Also discussed: the documentary "Under the Volcano" about George Martin's legendary AIR Studio in Montserrat, the Police, Motörhead, Paul Simon and Orville Peck.

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Episode 190 was recorded on the way home from Home Sweet Farm Biergarten in Brenham, TX, a fantastic music venue that we will be returning to as often as possible.

Many thanks to Susan Smith Cates for providing the video footage from the show!

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Special Guest: Kevin "Turbo" Newton.

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SlapperCast Episode 189 was recorded right after we picked up Heide at Dallas Love Field on the way to our gig at Lewisville Western Days, and again afterwards as we drove her back to the airport before driving home to Houston. Yes... she literally flew in and flew out the very same day just to play this one gig with us. Jet-setting is becoming one of Heide's superpowers.

Special guest this week for the very first time: Patrick's daughter Tara Devlin, who joins us to kill/shine a light on some music, and also contributed video footage of our show in Lewisvile. Thanks Tara!

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Special Guests: Heide Riggs and Kevin "Turbo" Newton.

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This is a quick but highly spirited episode we recorded immediately upon leaving our three day stint at ScotFest in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Special guest this week is our own "Merch Maiden" Laurie Valenzi Buell, who pulled some strings to get us in to see ZZ Top Saturday night at Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa.

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Special Guests: Heide Riggs, Kevin "Turbo" Newton, and Laurie Valenzi Buell.

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SlapperCast Episode 187 was recorded on the way to Sherwood Forest Faire and on the way back. It was a LONG but amazing day. SPECIAL GUEST STAR: a cascade of funny incidents where it had to be pointed out there's no THE in Blaggards.

The night before we'd played at Molly's Pub in Kingwood, and didn't get home until 2:30 AM. We then had to leave for Sherwood at 8:30 AM, each of us getting maybe two hours of sleep in the meantime. The final segment was recorded on the way home with a brilliant night sky featuring the moon and Jupiter that shows up remarkably well on the video.

In the middle, we included a staged promo clip that Sherwood Forest Faire posted during the day, featuring Patrick & Kevin talking up the festival before being interrupted by Piper Gunn, a bagpiper from Branson, MO. That's followed by some Patrick Devlin stage banter moments during our last set as the sun sank below the trees. This includes a cameo by our friend Snicker Furfoot, Sherwood's Master of Ceremonies, who appears again at the very end of the episode.

Song picks:

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Special Guests: Heide Riggs and Kevin "Turbo" Newton.

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Episode 186 was filmed in the van last Friday right after we left No Label Brewing in search of some fast food. We talk about our great experience playing at No Label, and during the song killing segment we discuss the merits and faults of Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses. Songs resurrections this week from Benny Mardones and Richie Barrett.

ALSO: a few words for our dear old friend and fellow lifer musician Davee Bryan, whom we recently learned is terminally ill with cancer. Patrick met Davee when Patrick was bartending in Houston during the early 1990s, and Davee later essentially served as Patrick's mentor when Patrick first started performing live. Years later, after being introduced by Patrick, Davee and Chad did an acoustic duo for several months before Blaggards got started. Chad also contributed backing vocals to Davee's 2004 album Is Anyone Driving This Bus? produced by Jack Saunders. Davee later moved to Lake Worth, Florida, where he has been writing and performing ever since.

This episode concludes with a clip of Davee performing his excellent original song "The Only One" at the Foundry in Athens, GA, September 2015, filmed by his daughter Missy (original video).

DAVEE BRYAN - Is Anyone Driving This Bus? (Full Album)

Benny Mardones - Into the Night

Richie Barrett - Some Other Guy

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Episode 185 was recorded in the van immediately after leaving our beloved O'Bannon's Taphouse in College Station. This was drummer Kevin Newton's first gig with us there, and suffice it to say, the Aggies did not disappoint.

Special guest stars: a pub full of Aggies singing the War Hymn with us, filmed by Lauren Severin for O'Bannon's.

Song picks:

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Special Guest: Kevin "Turbo" Newton.

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SlapperCast Episode 184 was recorded while driving through winding mountain roads shortly after we left Bitterroot Celtic Games & Gathering in Hamilton, Montana.

You can enjoy the view with us on YouTube:

We got home last night after driving about 30 hours, dropping Heide and Kevin off at Denver International Airport about midway through. Patrick and Chad drove the rest of the way, down through Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. It'd been awhile since we'd done one of those marathon cross-country drives… they can be rough, but this one was surprisingly smooth and enjoyable.

As we talked about in last week's episode, this was drummer Kevin Newton's first tour with us (his very first show was in Wichita, KS). Kevin, a great drummer with terrific stage presence, has been working his ASS off learning the songs, and practically moved heaven and earth to fit this tour into his busy schedule, and we are beyond grateful. Both he and Heide absolutely SLAYED it and were an absolute joy to travel with. Suffice it to say we're all VERY excited about moving forward with this line-up.

Song picks:

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Special Guests: Heide Riggs and Kevin "Turbo" Newton.

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