The Hunker Downcast

Inspired by Sebastian Bach (yes, that one) and Debbie Reynolds, we’re resolved to begin work on our off-off Broadway production Thinderella. Please contribute to our kickstarter.  What are your favorite Very Special Episodes of 80s and 90s TV? What can they teach us today?

Segment 1 (approximately one hour)

Let’s talk about the week in horrific police violence from Baton Rouge to Dallas and back again. Along the way we mention a few news items that deserve notation. One is this story about police arresting protesters peacefully standing on private property. Also BRPD’s history of unconstitutional behavior comes up with regard to enforcement of outmoded sodomy laws as well as treatment of New Orleans evacuees after Katrina.

Gun control discussion actually gets us to turn the mic over to Engineer Pat for a few seconds so he can explain a recent Supreme Court ruling on the question of banning domestic abusers from owning firearms.   What is the appropriate policy response? Alli: Fire all the cops and start over. Varg: Sue the hell out of everyone and make em all feel it in the pocketbook. Jeff: Anything but a goddamned Unity march.

Also Twitter is full of “outside agitators” including everybody in this week’s Y@ Speak as well as  Deray McKesson who spoke at Rising Tide X about these very issues.

Segment 2: Speed Round! (lasts about 15 minutes)

David Duke for Congress?

The mayor’s cousin Kenneth has a badge (sort of)

Another Hollywood South scandal involving the Saints

Irvin Mayfield

Steppin on Steppin Out (SOSO):

Alli went to the mall and got yelled at for no justifiable reason.

Varg went to a Chris Isaak concert. Deurty Boys were #OpenforEssence

Jeff went out to eat or something. It doesn’t matter because Jeff and Varg have a plan to destroy Uptown now.   

Recipe Minute: Alli made some noodles.

The Jivewire: (Sponsored this time by We Met In The Air Communications and Such) 

And that’ll do it for this week. Thanks again for listening.

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Yeah so this one was recorded Tuesday, June 21. We’re exactly one week late getting it uploaded. There were problems. They’re mostly fixed now though. Thanks for sticking with us.

Segment 1 (approximately 50 minutes)

What are some annoying ASMRs? What sends you into a “sneaky hate spiral”? Do you know how to apportion blame properly for your customer service challenges? What flavor of regurgitated Doritos would be the best running mate for Donald Trump? And most importantly, what is the deal with Neil Abramson?

In this segment we explore that last question in depth paying special attention to this Tyler Bridges article as well as this one by Lamar White. We use the Neil discussion to talk about everything that went wrong during the legislative sessions this year and, basically, why the Republicans are winning at politics in Louisiana right now. We’re recording during the USA vs Argentina soccer match which the US lost very badly so the whole discussion is appropriately backed up by an atmosphere of dread. 

Speed Round:

-Mayor’s State of the City address from the roof of a Whole Foods talked about “Demographic Tsunamis” or something

-Jeff got blocked on Twitter by the Saints’ PR guy for picking on a completely dignified and certainly not at all funny photo of Tom Benson and President Bush (41)

-Mandatory cursive handwriting

Trump montage bumper via Thomas Tullis on Youtube

Segment 2 (lasts about 50 minutes)

Still talking about State of the City a bit because we have Twitter poll results to share. Also Canada has a thing called Speech From the Throne. The term WLILF is coined.

Steppin on Steppin Out (SOSO):

Madden Tournament at Deurty Boys gallery featuring our pals Ryne @rHancock19, Whit @Whitzerland, Jeremy @jrmyhbrt, and Ros @nolarr who won the big prize. Oh also Linda Hamilton was there. Mayor Landrieu and Neil Abramson were invited but did not show. Neil did come by the next day, though. It was a little weird.

Varg and Alli rip the hell out of Fellipe’s… sort of.

Jeff boiled some crabs.

Alli played bar trivia at Twelve Mile and lost. Would y’all like to do a bar trivia night, Tim en em? Maybe if we invite Neil?

Alli has been doing some sort of fancy white lady exercise thing. Somehow this leads to some heavy thoughts from all of us on diet, aging and mental health. It uh… it gets a little weird.  

Recipe Minute: Alli made a plum cake.

The Jivewire: (Sponsored by We Met In The Air Communications and Such)

Bonus content lead in to this about the NBA Finals.

And that will do it for this week. Sorry about the delay. Thanks again for listening.

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Frivolous cold open this week. Then, it’s Episode 16! Sing with us!

Segment 1 (goes about one hour)

Some talk about beer and music which becomes kind of a shout out or at least reference to the Beer and MP3s podcast.  Then we try to recap the final day of the legislative regular session with NFL FIlms background music but Jeff doesn’t quite get it right. At one point we mention being reminded this week that the health care portion of the budgetary crisis could have been avoided were it not for Bobby Jindal’s political posturing. That came up in Baton Rouge this week.

Bart Everson has an idea to ban cars from the French Quarter one day a week. We argue about that a little bit.

It’s Hurricane Season again. We talk about hurricane names and hurricane evacuations and generally our fondest hurricane memories.

Finn McCool’s (a bar that is relevant to Alli’s interests) has new owners.

Segment 2 (lasts about 30 minutes)

Help our very good friend Chef James (@AccidentalCajun) Cullen raise some money to fry chicken with. If you do, hopefully he will forgive us for picking on him a little.

Steppin on Steppin Out: Varg eats a chili cheese fry burrito at Mutz (with an umlaut). Later he goes to Big Al’s Seafood in Houma which apparently sucked. Also he saw The Lobster at the Broad Theater and filed an on site report.

Alli went to New York City for a work thing. She also went to Georgia on a non-work thing. We all have tips for playing Geoguesser.

Jeff hasn’t been out on account of a smoking cessation project. He managed to make it to Greek Fest, though.

Also there are various TV reviews in this segment.

Recipe Minute: Alli describes making a greek chicken salad. Is interrupted frequently.

The Jivewire: (Sponsored this time by We Met In The Air Communications and Such)

And that’s it. Thanks for listening. Stay tuned after the closing theme for Varg’s on the street interview and movie review with Katie Leese at the Broad Theater.

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Alli isn't here but we're not calling this a "Freebird" episode because Karen Gadbois is sitting in for her "Badstreet" style.  We set out to at least try and fit this week's topics in under an hour. We failed to do that.

Segment 1

An attempt to organize a union at Lusher Charter School failed last week. We talk to Karen about the Lusher vote and the Lens's experience trying to cover charter schools. Charters often don't think of themselves as public entities subject to open meetings laws.   At one point we mention this Five Thirty Eight article about the importance of the teaching profession for the city's black middle class.  Later in the week, International High successfully unionized its faculty.

Ken Havard is a fat guy who wants to regulate the weights of strippers... because "political correctness".. sort of. Ken Havard is a doughy guy. Also we can make his argument better than he can.

Sidney Torres for mayor? The new Torres-inspired TV show is coming out next year.

Bayou Boogaloo Fence: Varg's theory is the fence was about restricting access to Ideal Market.  Boogaloo is "Mid-Summer Endymion" We get a little carried away knocking the Boogaloo and Mid City in general. We're (kind of) sorry about that.

Why do we always celebrate when somebody opens a CVS? Especially when this Wall Street Journal article congratulates us for not shopping at Rite Aid.

City Council approved the Bywater "Poshtel" which may or may not be a "hook up hotel" with its own app. Is there a "constant drumbeat" to push more tourists into neighborhoods? What does this mean for our neighborhood peacocks?

Thanks to the Mayor for personally rescuing the HogsHeadJesus Studio from a potential sinkhole.

Thanks to the NFL for not putting another SuperBowl in New Orleans for a while.

And thanks to Karen for sitting in with us.

Segment 2

Twitter questions: The Lens maps. Open invitation to the Governor to come on the show. Favorite snoball place?

SOSO: Jeff didn't leave the house. Lance went out to Doris Metropolitan and to Bayou Beer Garden. 

The Jivewire: As always, brought to you by Magnolia Builders.

Thanks again for listening.

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This is a full episode but you should stop right now and go listen to all the Freebirds because they are very good. 

Segment 1

Bomb scare at the state Capitol. There’s barely any time to make a 1,000 piece slideshow about it. This is actually one of the least dangerous “visions from God” that happen in Baton Rouge. A lot of bomb scares turn out to actually be the bomb squad’s fault. What is the real life bullshit to bomb ratio?  Jeff has a somewhat coherent rant about Cameron “Frogman” Henry’s TOPS vs hospitals budget ploy. (Later written up here.) Cameron Henry looks like Dabo Swinney. Neil Abramson is being suspicious again.  Meanwhile the Republicans are purging their ranks. What this means for us, mostly, is Bryan Adams karaoke. DID YOU KNOW: Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams share a birthday? This is a true fact.

Two separate child pornography scandals in one week cause Jeff to confuse Chris Young with Chris Roberts. Also it leads to a discussion of the chilling effect of surveillance on intellectual curiosity. Also a bit about the Facebook trending topics controversy.

Segment 2 

Gumshoe reporting from Engineer Pat on upcoming civic hearings and proceedings on the Short Term Rentals issue.

Chris Rose wrote a clickbaity thing about go-cups that was actually a rip-off of another go-cup article from three years ago. Somewhere during the ensuing fray, Rose blames “the Rising Tide folks” We end up being kind of nice to Chris Rose at the end of this.

Actress Ruby Rose threw some french fries at a waiter. Later she apologized to the fries.

Wendell Pierce apparently attacked a woman during an argument over the Democratic primary. We stop ourselves before we get too too far into a Bernie Bro rant.

Stepping On Stepping Out

Varg goes to see The Cure at UNO Lakefront Arena. He also interviewed a concert-goer about the time MCA picked up trash at the UNO Arena parking lot. Listen until the end of the show for that. Lots of 90s nostalgia discussion.

Jeff wins the Hunkerdowncast Round Robin Darts Tournament at the Half Moon. Jeff and Varg do not know Pony by Ginuwine.

Alli is a featured guest on Bar Politics Episode 2 at the Broad Theater. Catch the next Bar Politics at Twelve Mile Limit sometime in June.

Recipe Minute

Varg makes some sort of pork chop in a crock pot thing.

The Jivewire: As always, brought to you by Magnolia Builders.

And we’re done. Thanks again for listening but stay tuned for Varg’s on the street report about the UNO Arena glory days.

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Freebird time again. Lance and Jeff. Jeff is always in these for some reason. He is like Tilapia. Also where Varg lives there is a community peacock.

Segment 1 is all politics

We’re recording on the night of the Indiana Primary.  Ted Cruz has dropped out of the race ending one of the worst weeks in the history of politics for any individual.  Varg has prepared a list of the bad things that happened to Ted. And this was before he elbowed his wife in the face. Jeff talks about Vice Presidential follies but somehow has confused Tom Eagleton with Richard Schweiker.  Anyway, watch this video and tell us did Carly fall or did she jump?

Bobby Jindal started the week talking about how to beat Trump. Ended the week saying he’ll vote for Trump. Is Kasich the last best hope?  (Answer is no, he’s dropping out but we didn’t know that yet.)

Hillary vs Trump is a dismal proposition. Is Hillary a lock? Maybe Does Donald Trump really want to be President? Maybe.

Segment 2  

NFL Draft re-cap: The Saints didn’t stupidly trade up. But then they totally did. Jeff is a little weary of the draft day Twitter feuding. Sean Payton made Vonn Bell pull an Uncle Rico. Varg liked (Phillip) Michael Thomas’s Players’ Tribune journal entry.  Thanks to Ryan at Black and Gold Review for humoring us with this “Bell Curve” graph.

This Eric Paulsen story looks suspicious to us for several reasons including the station’s official follow up statement.

Airbnb is all over the news this week. These signs popped up during Jazzfest. STR regulations are back on the City Council agenda this week.  Jeff went to The Lens’s  April “Breakfast With The Newsmakers” event covering STRs. A strict set of regulations took effect in Berlin this week. How does one pronounce "Zweckentfremdungsverbot"?

Sinkholes are one of Varg’s top phobias. New Orleans loses roughly 40 percent of its water to underground leaks. Sinkhole prevention seems like a pretty “shovel ready” project. An engineering pundit guessed the Canal Street sinkhole wrong. Jeff nurtured his own pet sinkhole for 5 years. Are infrastructure failures fun or frightening? Is “Sinkhole De Mayo” a good idea, a bad idea or a nothing idea? What is your favorite sinkhole of all time?

Hipsters again.. blah blah such and such. Life is hard these days for young Millennial termites.

Don’t swim in the Jazzfest mud.  Go see Bar Politics next Monday.  Deurty Boys gallery is moving.

And we’re done. Thanks again for listening.

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Hey we’re all back and we’re

Segment

Varg fends off Prince haters on

Segment 2

Jeff and Varg have a wager on

NFL Draft preview.  Because

Seed Round!

Zephyrs name change

Tulane’s Monkey Disease

Gusman in federal

State budget shortfall is only

Steppin On Steppin Out

Varg saw Dave Rawlings Machine

Recipe Minute

Potatoes au gratin

The Jivewire sponsored by Magnolia Builders LLC.

And we’re done. Thanks again for

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Varg can’t be with us because he is out mourning the death of an American icon. So this is a Freebird episode. Except Jeff and Alli forget to mention that. Probably because they are distracted by the fact that they are recording from Finn McCool’s.  It won’t be the last distracted moment.

Segment 1

Alli explains how hockey works. The New York Times seems to think Nashville and Magazine is a “remote” corner of the wilderness. Somehow this leads to a long wonky discussion of public transportation policy. RTA is expanding service. Washington D.C.’s transit system is a shit show. New Orleans is taking bids for a “bike share” operator. Other cities have implemented similar programs and so far the death toll is zero. Alli tries to explain that as well as the “stupidly complicated big mish mash” of transit infrastructure funding. And then we need more beer.

Segment 2

Hockey is still happening. Jeff wants to talk about the NFL draft but, it turns out, he has no idea when it actually happens. We decide that the NFL Draft, whenever it happens, does have something to do with Jungian archetypes, though. Alli lobbies once more for drafting Notre Dame players. The Saints might pick another Stanford offensive lineman. Trading up is stupid. The Rams are stupid. Also the Rams are in Los Angeles again. What does it mean?

Jazzfest is starting. Alli talks about everything she’s going to see on Friday. What is it with frat bros and Pearl Jam? After Jazzfest comes the shitty weather part of the year which no one is looking forward to. We kind of lament not getting to hear from Varg about Prince. We do remember that he wrote a song about football once.

And that’s it for this little experiment. We’ll try to be back with a full episode next week. Thanks for listening.

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Before you dive into this one you should know the sound is totally crap and that we are well aware.  It’s probably Jeff’s fault. We did what we could to try to make the crap recording listenable. We probably did not succeed at that. It’s a shame, though. Because this was a fun show to record and we can’t bear to shitcan what we think is some good stuff just because it happens to sound like we are all talking into a cassette recorder. So we’re putting it out there anyway.  Think of this one as you might an album from your favorite 90s “lo-fi” indie band.  It takes some work to listen but there may be some reward in it.

Joining us for Episode 12 is Josh Murphey the Magnola Builder himself. We talk to him a bit about recent business. He has brought us some beers and foodstuffs to try and rate. One of those things is a package of dried shrimp.  Mostly the whole first segment is people eating.  Also, this week we took everyone’s suggestions for specialty potato chip flavors. We read a bunch of those on the show.

Denizens of a specific neighborhood uptown nearly rioted over some bread. We rapturously read through and enjoy Brett Anderson’s hilarious article about  the controversy over changes (?) at La Boulangerie bakery.  The conclusions here are 1) Nextdoor.com is terrible. 2) The universe will eventually sort everyone out.

A recent UNO survey says New Orleanians are more pessimistic than they’ve been since 2004.  Crime is a major reason. But does that mean we should be spending more money on police?  Not everyone thinks so. We explain the Police/Fire frankenmillage on the ballot this weekend citing columns on the topic by Bart Everson and Arielle Schecter.

Meanwhile, Mitch Landrieu hasn’t been as visible lately. Is he ok?

Random Festival Generator fun.  Where Are They Now documentary Shrimp and Petroleum Fest queens.

The entertainment segment is now called “Still Steppin Out” or possibly “Steppin on Steppin Out” we really don’t know anymore.

Josh had a long relaxing bike ride around town. Varg went to a Wrestlemania party and officiated a wedding. He also has a new favorite bar. Alli went to Houston (again.) She also put up some shelves and went to the City Park Garden Show. Jeff injured himself running the Crescent City Classic and has concluded therefore that all food is bad. Jeff and Alli went to see the initial production of Bar Politics at Cafe Istanbul.

Josh shares a secret way to listen to some of the extra long Hunkerdowncast episodes.

The Jivewire brought to you by Magnolia Builders LLC

There’s a lot more in this episode for those of you with the fortitude to tolerate the poor audio. But for those of you who would prefer not, trust us, we do not blame you. But please join us next time when we promise we’ll build it better.

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Welcome to Episode 11. Please tell us about our levels. Engineer Pat worked hard on them. We think Alli’s singing really benefits.

Segment 1

Is the drummer the “loser position” of a band? It apparently is when Jim Letten does it. The weather service controls everyone’s phone. New Orleans is under attack by Jade Helm.

It’s Super Tuesday Three (Make Tuesday Super Again) Results are coming in as we record so we try to keep up a bit. John Kasich really hates The Roots. Also he looks a lot like character actor JT Walsh.

The legislative special session failed to fix the budget. We talk a little about how and why that happened. It happened because the House Republicans are toddlers and it’s never good when toddlers show up in the news.

Segment 2

Daylight savings inspired discussion about technological obsolescence. Impromptu film review of The New Kids (1985) starring James Spader. Saints free agency is happening and Alli still hates every Stanford player. She makes the case for drafting Jaylon Smith despite his injuries.  Drew Brees will endorse anything no matter how sketchy. The scam reminds us of a charter school naming exercise that happened on Twitter this week. Anyway, it’s possible that every quarterback is actually a terrible person.  Mark Sanchez is the new Jeff Garcia.

WWOZ is in some sort of turmoil. We take the opportunity to discuss whether or not WTIX is actually more “authentic” than the Nolier-Than-Thou OZ these days.

Segment 3

Twitter questions: 1) New Orleans James Beard Award finalists. We endorse Isaac Toups. 2) Why is Jeff so smug? 3) OPSB funding plans 4) Airbnb regulations

That’s Entertainment (Perhaps re-named “Still Steppin Out”): Jeff went to the Irish Channel Parade. Lance ate at Taqueria Del Fuego, saw Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious at Dos Jefes and then saw Meschiya Lake show at Chickie Wah Wah. Alli did the Lafitte Greenway hike, volunteered for the Once In A Brew Moon event at City Park, went to an International Women’s Day brunch, built a raised bed garden, and learned how to drive a stick.

The Jivewire brought to you by Magnolia Builders LLC:  Be sure and listen for the part where Jeff almost forgets about and then utterly fails to deliver his own stupid  joke for this week

Thanks again for listening

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