Saxophones. Am I right? Some people hate ‘em. Some people tolerate ‘em. Join us as we welcome returning champion John McCauley (of Deer Tick!) back to the podcast to discuss the BEST sax solos to ever sex up a rock song. Warning: This episode could get you pregnant.

Picture the scene: It’s 1983 on the East side of town in Zion, Illinois! You’re hanging out at your buddy Russ Spice’s house. Playing Judas Priest songs on your Harmony guitars and watching “The Song Remains The Same” on MTV. Instead of James Dean in “Rebel Without A Cause”, our movie idol is Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli (is it still playing at the Dunes?). Maybe later we’ll ride our bikes down to the lake and swim in the heated shadow of the nuclear power plant and pray that we don’t grow up to be toxic avenging freaks. And then, hopefully, we can scrape enough pot seeds together so we can smoke ‘em through a beer can and get a cheap buzz going — after which, we’ll convince ourselves we have the munchies and try to get Curt to spend his News-Sun paper route money on lunch at Pizza House. It was a glorious time…

Selena Fragassi publishes more books before 9am than most people do all day. Just last year, the always hustling music writer and journalist wrote and published books about Alanis Morissette, Sabrina Carpenter, Greta Gerwig AND her latest:  PEARL JAM LIVE — a hefty and thorough tome covering the band’s 35 year history as one of the world’s best live acts (it also features a forward written by Scott, but we digress). In between all the manic book writing, Selena somehow finds time for her regular gigs writing for the Chicago Sun Times, monthly appearances on WFLD 32 and contributing to every publication and outlet from SPIN to Loudwire. This week we talk to Selena about life moments with Cameron Crowe, fan letters to Donnie Wahlberg, looking Chrissie Hynde in the eye, what to do when Jim DeRogatis trashes all your favorite bands, the ineffable awesomeness of Bonnie Raitt, the sue-happy UN-awesomeness of Gene Simmons, and getting mammogram advice from Debbie Harry. Pretty awesome. PLUS: Ben gets gonged and our buddy John Oakes calls in with a report from the front lines in Minneapolis.

This week’s episode is a two-parter.

In

Part 1: Writer-director Richard Shepard is certainly NOT the kind of director that insists upon himself. He rejects the idea of being labeled an auteur and chooses the path of the journeyman — splitting his time between directing for television, while quietly chipping away at a filmography that is no more insistent than he is. Are you a fan of GIRLS, UGLY BETTY or HANDMAIDEN’S TALE? Then you’ve seen Richard’s work. Do you have a history of stalking around arthouse movie theaters since the halcyon indie-film days of the ‘90s? Then you’ve DEFINITELY seen Richard’s work: THE MATADOR, DOM HEMINGWAY, THE LINGUINI INCIDENT, THE PERFECTION. Do you have a weakness for essayistic documentaries about the even more revered cinema of the ‘70s? Then you LOVE Richard’s work. His seminal documentary on John Cazale (I KNEW IT WAS YOU: REDISCOVERING JOHN CAZALE) is a must for anyone wanting to know more about the late, great character actor. But if you want to know anything at all about Richard Shepard — look no further than Richard’s wonderful autobiographical FILM GEEK (now showing on HBOMax) — a personal remembrance of his father and the ‘70s movie theaters (and movies) that turned a young kid into a movie directing lifer. Not that you shouldn’t listen to this episode. You should totally listen to this episode. (Plus, Richard’s got a great David Bowie story for you.)

And there’s Part 2!: 2025 was a great year for movies (if not the movie business). Grab a pencil and take notes as Scott, Ben and Richard discuss their favorite films of 2025. It’s an informal WHAT’S THE BEST?!? that will give you some great ideas about what to watch next. Also, Gabe coughs a lot and sometimes uses the mute button.

Meatheads of all stripes populate this year’s LIFERS Christmas episode as we say goodbye to Rob Reiner, F U to Trump, and spout all sorts of wack shit to each other. Yup. It’s pretty black over here. And we’re sure we’d feel much worse if we weren’t under such heavy sedation. So join us as we blur that fine line between clever and stupid and NO! we’re not doing fucking Stonehenge! Merry Christmas, Marty.

Stacy Jones grew up thinking he was a drummer. Nope. Turns out he’s a "musical director". And no — that’s not a fancy euphemism for “drummer”. Don’t worry, Stacy will explain it to you. He’ll also talk about Letters To Cleo, Veruca Salt, American Hi-Fi, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Aimee Mann, John Brion, Joan Jett, Fuzzy, Flaming Lips, Sheryl Crow and Madonna. That’s right. He’s played with all of them. (Still no Skunk Baxter sighting, though.) PLUS!: A new American Hi-Fi song?

Punching through the post-Thanksgiving gravy malaise — the guys welcome returning champion Josh Caterer back to the podcast for a third time to talk turkey about the Smoking Popes/Scott Lucas/Menthol shows happening this weekend in Chicago (at the Bottom Lounge) and Milwaukee (at X-Ray Arcade). Sounds harmless, right? Surely, there’s no need for things to get dark. Or for anyone to bring up Eric Clapton. Right?

Just when Vinnie thought he was done with Scott — The LIFERS Podcast pulls him back in! Vinnie Dombroski —vocalist for the Detroit, Michigan band Sponge— is a hustler, baby. He’s a guy who fully subscribes to the inspiration/perspiration formula. Which is to say: Vinnie’s not afraid of a little hard work (he is, however, apparently afraid of food). On this episode we talk to our pal about Sponge’s unlikely origin story, switching from drumming to singing, growing up in the shadow of Motown, touring with Iggy Pop, driving George Clinton to the airport, career advice from Buzz Osbourne, and the joys of not remembering the ‘90s. ALSO: What’s The Best?!? is BACK!!! And we’re coming for you, Detroit!

And that’s a wrap! After two months and 43 shows, the Everclear/Local H/Sponge juggernaut is OVER! Ronnie DiCola and Pete Beeman beam in to look back fondly on our favorite shows, favorite pizza, and anything else that comes to our frazzled mind about a tour that will surely go down as being one of our best ever. Thank you.

Local H is heading down the home stretch of their tour with Everclear & Sponge — so Scott calls in from the van to file one last(?)road report. Note: This episode contains only 3% of your recommended Halloween content. We BLEW IT!!!