Rick Ness is the Indiana Jones of UW-Madison. Sure, he might seem like a mild mannered teacher of 18th and 19th century transatlantic literature — but, actually, he’s one of the dudes from Chicago legends Figdish! On this episode, we talk to THAT dude about the ‘Dish’s forthcoming sorta-new third record (Rick will explain), after-parties at Club Shakespeare, releasing the Kraken, paying off your debt to Brad Wood with a few well placed Radiohead covers, scamming A&R guys, Zima, Kevin Cronin’s scatting, deadly microphone stands, and hot August nights with Neil Diamond. Jesus Christ, we love Rick.

Scott’s dropping names again. After last Sunday’s 40th anniversary performance of REM’s “Murmur” (among other things) by Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy & “friends” at the Metro — Scott is lit up and bubbling over with memories of meeting Mike Mills, singing with Mike Mills, and hanging out and drinking with Mike Mills. We invited Jason (Narducy not Narduzzi) over to get a word in edgewise and join us for a (fairly) friendly round of REM drafting (we also learn what song Gabe wants played at his funeral). It’s all about REM this week and we feel… uh, pretty ok with it.

Does a Gen-X man (one that ISN’T Noah Baumbach) have any place in a Barbie world? This week the guys welcome Metro media celebutante Jill Hopkins back to the show to help them with their struggles. Specifically: Scott’s struggle to square his love of Greta Gerwig with his hatred of blockbuster hype and pink-selfie mania, Ben’s struggle against society’s relentless march towards a meme driven cinema, and Gabe’s struggle to stay awake. In the process, Jill struggles to give a shit. PLUS!: Double decker pizza and Beyoncé Draft Day!!! Yesss…

Forced to go guestless yet again — the guys discuss Barbie bleeps, Scott’s relentless name dropping, Irish butter, Gigglesnort Hotel, Ben’s fond childhood memories of wearing a dress and throwing candy out of bi-planes, Indiana Jones vs. Tom Cruise, top ten talk-box jams, Napoleon, Gary Gnu, Michael Shannon eats all the pizza in Indiana, and Gabe’s insatiable need to watch the world burn.

Or: The Airing Of Grievances. Scott’s got a lot of problems with you people and now you’re gonna hear about it. Some of the topics of disgruntlement include Indiana Jones, the 4th of July, Dolly Parton, demons, baby eaters, black pumpkins, Roger Ebert, Jim Caviezel, Gabe-rock, Pesciwood, and the Hokey Pokey. ALSO: Justine and Steve Sleeve join us for a competitive round of “What’s The Best?” (AC/DC edition) and we pay tribute to Rick Froberg. Is this the best episode ever?

The last night of our world tour of two cities had us at The Bur Oak in Ben’s adopted hometown of Madison, Wisconsin — where we welcomed our favorite Queen of the Scene: Ms. Cathy Dethmers. As former owner of both O’Cayz Corral AND High Noon Saloon, Cathy was (and IS) a beloved key figure in Madison’s excellent and influential indie-rock community — and we were honored to have her. PLUS!: Gabe tries wasabi nuts, Iron Maiden vs. Replacements trivia is rigged, One Shot with Scott, a great crowd, and Cathy tries to dethrone Gabe in another round of Lifers Against Humanity.

It’s legend time around here again as we welcome Mr. Greg Norton. That’s right. THAT Greg Norton — trailblazing bass player from one of the all time great American rock bands: fucking Husker Du. What more do you want? Anyway — it was our pleasure to talk to Greg about mustaches, Black Flag, insane tours of the West Coast, the Twin Cities, playing the Longhorn, playing the 7th Street Entry, Replacements rivalries, rivalries from within, Sonny Vincent and Shotgun Rationale, becoming a chef, playing jazz in The Gang Font, Porcupine, cancer scares, bonus cups, talkative Bob, the Joan Rivers show, and Greg’s excellent new punk-rock supergroup Ultrabomb. This is a good one, folks.

This episode recorded LIVE at Gman Tavern in Chicago, IL on June 6 has it all: Bowling, Indian food, the most horrific day of Gabe’s life, Malort, Iron Maiden vs. Replacements trivia, Ben’s hell-ride with Herb, booster seats, ice cream, Shotgun Steve Reidell, UFOFU, a few more rounds of Lifers Against Humanity, and Josh Caterer of Smoking Popes makes his long awaited return to the show. PLUS!!! Another great audience to laugh at our stupid jokes. All in all — a terrific night! Let’s relive the magic.

The guys welcome returning champion (and LIFERS secret weapon that you may remember from episode 5 — aka “that Genesis episode”) Steve Reidell(!) back to the podcast to talk about last week’s LIFERS live shows, Scott’s trip to Tribeca, Dolly Parton’s coleslaw, the age of Carol O’Connor, Zach Waxer, the origin story of Stv Slv, Chip Z’nuff’s car, and the top 3 songs to play if you happen to be DJing a prom in 1982. This episode is simply breathtaking.

After a couple years of dipping our collective toe into this whole podcast thing — we decided to dip our toe into the whole LIVE podcast thing. Recorded live at the Gman Tavern in Chicago, IL. last Monday — this episode has it all. Herb making fruity drinks, Un-punk Gabe getting cute with a Chipotle dung-bag, Steve Reidell making shotgun noises, Kelly Wey pouring a few “One Shot with Scott”s, Ben hosting a few rounds of Lifers Against Humanity, some one-man acoustic jams, and —to Ben’s disbelief— a surprise visit from Chip Z’nuff! PLUS!!! A terrific audience that made us feel good and laughed at all of our stupid jokes. You may ask yourself: What sort of person would show up to this particular brand of nonsense? As it turns out, a pretty great sort of person. And we had a blast.