Put down that chainsaw and listen to me! My guests and I are spending this episode talking all about the life and career of a singular American artist: "Weird Al" Yankovic!

"Weird Al" has been making music for over forty years now and I think his story is genuinely one of the most interesting in music - he's outlasted pretty much everyone he's ever parodied, he's won five Grammys, and he seems to be more popular than ever, selling out Madison Square Garden on his most recent tour. I’m joined by returning guests and "Weird Al" superfans Kevin Eldridge from the great podcast The Flopcast and by musician and writer Dana Stinson to talk all things Al - the videos, the parodies, the non-parodies, the movies, the just-announced Broadway show, and more!

Check out Kevin Eldridge's podcast here: The Flopcast

You can check out Kevin's comedy music band here: The Sponge Awareness Foundation

Dana's on Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/bimbokatan.bsky.social

Dana published a "Hamilton" parody song about Dragon Con last year! Go check it out: You Will Wait

Our theme music is by Mister Michael Brousseau

Per usual, You can email this show at [email protected].

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We are talking to writer, designer, filmmaker, editor and other multi-hyphens I can’t come up with right now Rachel Lichtman!

Rachel’s latest project is Programme 4 - a multimedia video project that creates an entire world centered around the fictional tv station Programme 4. Rachel has been touring with a roughly 90 minute Programme 4 compilation featuring ads, music videos, and opening credits to shows that don’t exist. Rachel’s able to bring to bear her design skills and her filmmaking skills on Programme 4 and I can honestly say there’s not really much like it.

Rachel does a better job describing Programme 4 in the interview than I’m doing here but it’s really unique and cool and she collaborates with a ton of awesome and talented folks like Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield, Ted Leo, Eugene Mirman, and way more than I can list here including former guest of THIS show Josh Kantor. She’s been taking it on the road so if it comes to your town make sure to check it out.

Check out Programme 4 here! Programme 4

Per usual, You can email this show at [email protected].

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This time out I am talking to musician Chris Principe about his time in the band Hooray for Earth and his new solo digital release under his own name - Judge and Jury and Us vs. Them!

It was great talking to Chris about the music that inspired him and the music he’s making. You can find the new single on Bandcamp here: https://chrisprincipemusic.bandcamp.com/album/judge-jury-us-vs-them

Find out Chris's various goings-on over at his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/chrisprincipemusic/

Per usual, You can email this show at [email protected].

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I’m excited to talk to musician and playwright Alexia Rowe! Alexia describes herself as an award-winning third-culture kid playwright and singer-songwriter who got her first production professionally produced while still in college.

Alexia is currently running a crowdfunding campaign for her House Plays initiative - an attempt to make theater more affordable and accessible by embracing diverse performances, community engagement, and unique venues. Check out the link to her kickstarter in the show notes - in addition to House Plays Alexia is a musician, and wrote the award winning site-specific show This Is Not A Bill. She is up to a ton of cool stuff and it was great to talk to her about all of it.

Alexia's House Plays Kickstarter can be found here.

You can find out about more of Alexia's projects at her website: Alexia Rowe

You can email this show at [email protected]

Theme music by Mister Michael Brousseau

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I’m excited to talk to Micah Huang about the upcoming course he’s teaching at Tufts University: Punk Rock: History, Theory, and Practice!

The punk rock class was what brought Micah to my attention - I love talking about the punk scene with people and I was curious about how someone builds a syllabus for a course like that (what do you include, what do you leave out?) but in addition to his punk course Micah’s a musician, storyteller and community advocate so we also talk about how he took what learned from the punk scene for events he’s involved with like the LA Hungry Ghost Festival, a community-driven cultural event held in Chinatown. This was a super interesting conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

Check out the course here: Punk Rock: History, Theory, and Practice

Check out the Hungry Ghost festival here: LA Hungry Ghost Festival

See all the other amazing stuff Micah is up to here: Micah Huang Music

You can email this show at [email protected]

Theme music by Mister Michael Brousseau

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For our 50th episode I'm welcoming back Kellian Adams Pletcher and her husband Brian Pletcher to talk about the new immersive mystery puzzle show they are helping to put on in Boston along with the Secret City Group: The Wedding Party!

The Wedding Party is a 2.5-hour mystery dinner experience at The W Hotel in Boston - it runs from May 1 to June 14. Six live actors play the wedding party, and you, the attendee, play an old friend of the bride who gets pulled deeper into the story as the night unfolds. Expect puzzles, hidden messages, dramatic revelations, and a delicious meal while it all plays out.

Kellian was on the show last year to talk about her show The Cthulhu Luau and she and Brian have been putting on these sorts of live immersive events for the past ten years in the Boston area, Club Drosselmeyer is probably the most well-known and I was really excited to talk to them about this new show.

You can find out about The Wedding Party and get tickets here: The Wedding Party

The YouTube video of Kellian and Brian's viral first wedding dance can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8zft_SvSM

You can, as always, contact the show at [email protected]

Our theme song is by Mister Michael Brousseau

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Babylon 5 was a science fiction television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski. The show ran in syndication for its first four seasons before moving to TNT for its final season.

Babylon 5 was a hugely ambitious show, and sometimes its reach was more than its grasp but I love that it was going for something big. When it worked there was nothing like it on television and I’m so excited to discuss it with returning guest Denise Lhamon, who you may remember from our Charlie Chaplin episode, and with Nathan Laws from the podcast The 42cast. Spoilers for the show abound in this discussion, so proceed with caution.

Check out Nathan Laws over at The 42cast, the ultimate answer to fandom, geekiness and everything: https://42cast.com/

I was a guest on the podcast Wait, You Haven't Seen..? to discuss the classic Hollywood musical Singin' in the Rain: Singin' in the Rain

You can, as always, contact the show at [email protected]

Our theme song is by Mister Michael Brousseau

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Athena Z. Peters from Incantrix Productions joins us to discuss the company's work and their upcoming shows. Incantrix Productions have been putting on immersive/interactive shows in the Boston area for about 10 years and they have two shows coming up in the near future: Romancing Jan, which is coming out the Saturday after this episode releases (so hopefully you haven’t let this sit in your queue for too long) and TAVERN CRAWL, a Dungeons & Dragons pub crawl in Malden. Links for tickets to both events are below:

Romancing Jan: Buy Tickets!

Tavern Crawl: Buy Tickets!

Find out more about Incantrix Productions here: https://www.incantrixproductions.com/

You can, as always, email me at [email protected]

Theme music by Mister Michael Brousseau.

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I am delighted to be talking with Hudson Leick - yoga teacher, intuitive astrologer, dance instructor, and so many other things. In the nerdy circles I sometimes run in Hudson is perhaps best known for portraying Callisto, the best and most iconic villain on the classic television show Xena: Warrior Princess. We talk a little bit about Xena and a lot about all of the amazing things Hudson is doing now, from hosting yoga retreats to emotional healing talks to 5 Rhythms Dance seminars. This one went deeper than I thought it would - Hudson is clearly someone who has a natural ability to connect with people and I was genuinely surprised by how open we both were. While editing I had to ask myself, "Is Hudson Leick my therapist?" (She's not, but she'd be very good at it if she were.) I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

You can find Hudson and sign up for one of her yoga retreats or astrology readings at her website: https://www.hudsonleick.com/

Hudson Leick is scheduled to be a guest at the upcoming Salute to Xena convention this October, where you can sign up for a yoga class, a 5 Rhythms Dance Class or an Emotional Healing Talk: https://creationent.com/events/xena/

You can, as always, email me at [email protected]

Theme music by Mister Michael Brousseau.

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For this episode I have gathered a panel of weapons-grade music enthusiasts to discuss some of our favorite holiday music songs - mostly Christmas tunes but a few more general “it’s wintertime” numbers.

The picks run the gamut from beloved songs almost everybody knows (Johnny Mathis! Darlene Love!) to oddball novelty numbers (Max Headroom! Weird Al!) to songs that should be more well-known because they’re so great. I’m joined in this endeavor by returning guest Guy Benoit, who has written and directed independent films and plays, was the singer for the amazing Providence, RI bands Von Ryan’s Express and Thee Hydrogen Terrors, and whose creativity always inspires and impresses me and by two new guests to the show. Chris Cummins has appeared on my other podcast GLEAMING THE TUBE and I don’t know anyone who is better at unearthing strange and wonderful artifacts and clips from recent pop culture. He’s written for Archie Comics, streams a wonderful array of classic pop culture ephemera at his Sci-Fi Explosion Twitch channel, hosts fun live events in the Philadelphia area and at various Sci-Fi conventions around the country and co-DJs the MTV’s 120 Minutes Dance party with me every year at Dragon Con. And Dana Stinson, aka BimboKatan, is a brass band musician, photographer, and passionate music fan.

You can find most of (but not all) of our songs picks on my holiday Spotify playlist: XMAS

Per usual, You can email this show at [email protected].

The Best Stuff in the World theme song by Mister Michael Brousseau

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.